Boot Camp

I get a kick out of an ad currently running on TV. It shows a bunch of people at Computer Purchasing Boot Camp.   The Drill Instructor marches the people around, yelling at them, telling them that when they get through, they won’t get ripped off when buying a computer.

Now I’m all for education and proper buying techniques, but let’s be serious, just how much can you get ripped off when buying a computer.   I mean I’m seeing lots of desktops for $500 and laptops for a few hundred more, and these are from reputable companies.   Even if you want a top-of-the-line, all the bells and whistles, multi-media computer, we’re still only talking in the $2,000 range.   Even if you get ripped off, how much can you lose, a couple of hundred dollars? How much time are you willing to spend to save a couple of hundred dollars? Some, but certainly not 8 weeks.

By comparison, getting ripped off by a mortgage lender can easily cost you $10,000 or more. Don’t you agree that’s something you would be willing to spend some time on? Maybe I should start a Mortgage Boot Camp.    It wouldn’t have to be 8 weeks long, just a few hours, but it would create a real high return on investment for my trainees.

Basically, that’s what I do with my clients and what all the other top people in the mortgage business do.   We run our clients through a boot camp, getting them mentally tough to analyze their situations and make the best decisions. The first aspect is   to get them discipline. We don’t talk about programs, we set goals, look at the future and try to figure out where they want to be five or ten years down the road. That way we can select a loan that bet helps them meet those goals.

Once we determine that, we can determine the lender that has the best rate on the program they have chosen. In making this choice, we look at the possibility of special discounts that may be available to them, discounts for good credit, low loan to value, or special pricing for purchase transactions.  

Next   we review their resources, strengthen aspects that might need it.   We look at how best to use cash, paying discount points for example, so as to get a lower rate.   We have a spreadsheet to make the decision easier.   We want to develop marksmanship skills so as to hit the target.

Finally, we try to figure out when to lock in the rate.   No one can predict the future, but when you look back at rates over any 30 period, it is quite obvious that some days that are better than others for locking. We look at the current period in the same way, trying to be as opportunistic as we can.

When you add up the consequences of those decisions in terms of both upfront costs and interest paid over some reasonable period, the results are almost always over $10,000, much , much more on larger loans.   So when you get a mortgage, seek out a loan rep that will put you through the same kind of boot camp.

‘Ten-hut!