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Most Recent Question: Marketing Your Business
Dear Dawn
I am a mortgage originator and have been searching for advice on how to market my business. I have not been successful in finding any information on how to get "new purchase" business. Can you offer any advice?
Thanks
Cindy
Hi Cindy
If you are looking for new purchase business, the best place to look is among the other professionals in your industry who would be among the first to come into contact with new homebuyers -- real estate agents.
Often, the people who are looking to purchase a home are not locals and are not necessarily familiar with the service providers in the area. They will perhaps locate a property they are interested in through listings online or in various other places, and they will contact the realtor listed in the ad asking to see the house.
As they proceed through the transaction, they will need referrals for pretty much every service they require -- title search and title insurance, pest inspection, appraisal, etc. And early on, they may want to deal with somebody local when it comes to seeking financing for the purchase. This is where you would come in.
So, I would suggest that you could certainly advertise in your local newspapers and in the kind of circulars often produced by Chambers of Commerce specifically for folks who are new to the area. But I also think that probably one of your best sources for new business might just be the network of relationships you can build with the independent real estate agents in your area.
Stop by to visit with them, leave them your card, send them business when you can and you can expect that eventually they will do the same for you. And, with the service bundling that is currently being contemplated by those proposed new RESPA regulations (assuming the revised regs get past Congressional scrutiny), having your network firmly in place may make the difference between the life and death of your business a little way down the road.
Hope this helps, and best of luck to you.
Cheers!
Dawn Rivers Baker
Editor-in-Chief
The MicroEnterprise Journal
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