Make the Most of 2014

There’s been a lot of doom and gloom talk these days. On the one hand, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) expects to see $1.2 trillion in mortgage originations during 2014, a 32 percent decline from 2013. While MBA ex- pects purchase originations to increase 9 percent, it expects refinance originations to fall 57 percent. Specifically, MBA expects that purchase origi- nations will increase to $723 billion in 2014, up from $661 billion in 2013. In contrast, refinances are expected to drop to $463 billion from $1.08 trillion in 2013.

Further, new rules and regulations are expected to drive up the cost to originate, making it more expensive for lenders to originate fewer loans. Credit analyst Jack Kahan with S&P noted, the new rules will increase expenses, extend fore- closure timelines and prompt servicers to select the foreclosure option over loan modifications and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure in future circum- stances. S&P, which looked deeply into how the January launch of the rules will impact mortgage finance, warned that more borrowers are going to have a hard time accessing mortgage credit. And when they do, it will take longer and cost more in some cases.

I know, it all sounds bad, but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. In a white paper entitled “Success Guide For Maximizing Sales in 2014” put out by RAIN Group, there are some great tips that I think are worth sharing. In putting together the white paper, the company studied over 700 major purchases from the perspective of business-to-business buyers to find out what re- ally happened in their buying experiences. These buyers represented $3.1 billion in purchases. The research suggests that in order to maximize your sales in 2014 you have to:

Check out http://www.progressinlending.com/TME1213/TME1213BusinessStrategies.pdf for the full article.