Author Archive

What’s the “brick” that could catapult you to success?

June 28th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

Technology is one of a very few places to look for a competitive edge. I embraced it early in my career and found that it helped set me apart.

A couple of Twitter connections (Jwean and Andrewtberman) reminded me the other day of my very first cell phone, a Motorola “brick”, like the one pictured here. It was only the second one in New Mexico and yes, it was expensive. All it did was make and receive calls, the battery only lasted about 40 minutes, and it weighed about two pounds.

My Realtor referral partner, Neal Goldblatt, had the first one sold in our state. He came by my office, showed it to me and told me I needed to get one. I asked why. He responded … “so I can call you any time of the day or night.” Neal ran an office with 10 agents. I was getting 12-14 referrals a month from him, so I went out and bought one. They were $3000.

This was 1985, and I went out and spent 3% of my annual income on that cell phone. I carried it to every breakfast and lunch that I shared with my Realtor prospects and referral partners to demonstrate how “in touch” and efficient I was……..worked like a charm.

The lesson here for any business professional is to consider technology early and never hesitate to invest in your success. That’s why we are now embracing social media. My mantra has always been that “Communication is the lubrication in every well-run organization.” I believe that you get ahead by recognizing how it is that your constituency is communicating and then get on board.

I’m 61 years old. I began honing my business building communication skills before there were fax machines. Back then I used a courier service to get my flyers delivered to my prospects. Now I use e-mail, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and an interactive Website.

If this old dog can learn these new tricks, so can you. Give them a try.

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Greg Frost Sr.: Learn to succeed

June 28th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

The great breakthroughs in your life will come when you realize that you can learn anything you need to learn to accomplish any goal that you set for yourself.  This means that there are no limits on what you can be, on what you can have, or on what you can accomplish.

Goals are nothing more than dreams, to which you have attached a time limit.  Set your goal and then seek out all information that you can to learn all that you can about your chosen endeavor.  Then you will be ready to go out and achieve it.

Start by finding out all you can about what the most successful people in your arena did to become successful. Do what they did, over and over again, and you will eventually enjoy the same results.  Emulate the best and you will become one of them.

I was noted as the 1^st Billion Dollar mortgage originator back in 2000.  I had been originating since 1985.  I built my business in a full doc business environment before FICO scores, AUS systems, slim doc, no doc, fast and easy, stated income etc.  My personal origination expertise was gained originating the same products that we are all originating today.  I was able to distinguish myself, in my market, by putting a recognizable face on the word “service”.  I did this by succinctly defining my service with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly activities that my clients (Realtor Referral Partners) and our mutual business (Borrowers) could readily recognize and appreciate.  This strategy will work for you today.

Do you feel challenged by your current environment?  Are you struggling with your business model?  Are you concerned that you will not be able to function in this new era of massive regulation changes and their inherent risk?  Are you struggling with redirecting your sales and marketing efforts to a more productive opportunity pool?

I am President of a production Division of Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc.  In addition, I am their VP of National Training.  I think that I am uniquely qualified to offer you a dynamically profitable business model along with market tested production mentoring, the combination of which should give you every advantage.

Go to www.frostmortgage.com and let’s get acquainted.

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Greg Frost Sr.: Training industry leaders, planning for the future

June 21st, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

Things are always cooking here at Frost Mortgage, and last week was no exception. I wanted to share a couple of experiences in particular that I’m excited about.

Last week, I was the guest speaker at the Casa Latino National Franchisee meeting held in Orlando, Florida. We shared current mortgage industry information and conducted my Productivity Sales Training based on the 6 Scientific Principals of Ethical Influence.

This week I am in the airport and on the way to meet with the Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. executive team for a 2-day Master Mind conference in Salt Lake City on Monday and Tuesday. Strategizing for continued industry leadership is the meeting goal, which includes design work on a new 580 FICO score FHA product that will be originated and serviced by Primary. I believe that a manually underwritten, common sense FHA product, without the severe FICO score overlays that are currently being imposed by the big Banks, is essential to simulating mortgage production and home sales. During the first 65 of the 77 years FHA has been in existence there was no FICO score a and no automated underwriting. Loans were manually underwritten to the FHA credit manual, and still should be.

Coming weeks are no less packed. What’s on your agenda?

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National Home Values

June 15th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

The housing market continues to do battle with strong headwinds. Unemployment hovering at the double digit levels, disruptive appraisal requirements, more challenging loan underwriting and in many areas, foreclosure or distress sales exerting their negative influence. On the bright side, for buyers, lower prices combined with historically low interest rates have pushed true affordability to record levels. Here are a few other points to consider:

1. While falling values predominate across the country, there are only six states where values fell by more than 10% over the last year.
2. Unlike other investments, housing puts a roof over your head. That has always been its primary function. Yet, along with that benefit it is still an investment and in comparison to most others, it has compared favorably. Over the last 5 years, the vast majority of states still show positive appreciation with half even showing double digits. The same can not be said for the stock markets.
3. Over time, home prices across all states have risen at average annual appreciation rates ranging from the high 3’s to over 7.5%.

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Broker/Owners and Producers: Thrive or Survive?

May 7th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

Are you a Broker/Owner or Producing Branch Manager who is looking for a platform from which to catapult and grow your business for the next 5 years?

If so, you owe it to yourself to take a serious look at our Branch Partner business model.

• Top 20 National Lenders
• Billion Dollar Monthly Funding Capacity
• 2 Day Underwriting/ 1 Day Re-submits
• Very Competitive Pricing

In addition, you can count on my assistance at building a business plan that will allow you to thrive rather than survive. Please visit this page, designed just for you, today to learn more:

http://frostmortgage.com/branch-opportunities-e1/

If you are a Top Producing Originator who wants to enter the Mortgage Banking world under a Full Eagle, FHA/VA approved lender, please visit:

http://frostmortgage.com/loan-officer-e1/

Greg Frost

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Wait time halved for some distressed borrowers

April 19th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

Great news for mortgage shoppers who have been hampered by a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transaction–Fannie Mae is potentially cutting your hold time in half.

You’ll have to put 20 percent down, but if you can, Fannie says you don’t have to wait four years before getting a new mortgage as was previously required, but only two years. That should make homeownership a possibility again for a whole new group.

Here at Frost Mortgage, we’re always excited to see a new way to help borrowers, because our business isn’t just closing loans, but also opening doors. We’ve been doing just that since 1991, and we make it our specialty to understand all the ways we can help. So if you’ve been held back by a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure transaction and you’re wondering whether the new rules could help you, please call us today.

Discussion: 1 Comment »

Housing in 2009: Better than you may have thought

April 12th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

The housing market has been fighting some particularly strong headwinds. We have unemployment hovering at the double digit levels, disruptive appraisal requirements, more challenging loan underwriting and in some areas, foreclosure or distress sales exerting their negative influence. Despite all this, the overall results for 2009 were not as devastating as the media would have you believe. Here are a few points to ponder:

First, while falling values predominated across the country, there were only three states where values fell by double digits. Many other states saw only fractional or small declines and a few even saw nominal appreciation.

Second, the financial news media likes to focus on the very significant rebound in the stock markets last year yet only rarely reports that over the last 5 or even 10 years an investment in the S&P 500 has gone nowhere. Conversely, all but 6 states have shown appreciation in home values over the last 5 years with many exceeding 20% and a few even totaling over 30%.

Finally, over time, home prices in all states have risen at average annual appreciation rates ranging from the high 3’s to over 7.5%.

From California to Florida, if you’re looking for a loan officer, we’re here to help. Frost Mortgage: Find out today why we don’t just close mortgages, we open doors.

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First-time homebuyers: the majority of our FHA loans

April 7th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

First-time homebuyers make up 81 percent of Frost Mortgage’s Federal Housing Administration loans, according to our latest information. Of them, 51 percent are minority borrowers.

I am very proud that we are bringing this value to our community.

From California to Florida, if you’re looking for a loan officer, we’re here to help. Or, if you have other questions about FHA or VA mortgages or you’re interested in a Branch Partner opportunity with the best in the business, we can help with that as well. Frost Mortgage: Find out today why we don’t just close mortgages, we open doors.

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Social media at Frost Mortgage: Leading the field

March 29th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

Social media isn’t just part of the future—it’s already here. Some 400 million people around the world are on Facebook—180 million of them here in the United States. A Pew Research Center study recently found that, for the first time, the Internet is more popular than newspapers for current events. It’s a new era.

Frost Mortgage will lead the industry in using these new tools to their maximum to help you. Whether you’re looking for a loan or looking to be more effective as one of our net branch partners, our social media efforts will help you better connect with Frost Mortgage. We’ve always prided ourselves on the best service around, and we’re excited about these new ways to better serve you. To get involved today, please investigate the following:

• Please visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frost-Mortgage-Banking-Group/10150115624210241?ref=ts . That’s a mouthful, but as we reach a critical mass of fans, we’ll be able to shorten that to an easy-to-remember URL like “http://www.facebook.com/FrostMortgage.” We need just 25 fans to get there, so this won’t take long. Please, become a fan. From there, you can also find my personal page—I’m one of Frost’s fans (of course), and I’d be honored if you would “friend” me.
• We’re also growing our Twitter presence. You can find the company at http://twitter.com/FrostMtgGroup, and my personal Twitter account is http://twitter.com/GregFrostSr. You’ll see news and information on both of those accounts, so I encourage you to follow them and share the links. We’ll follow you back, too.
• We will soon debut our YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/FrostMortgage, so please stay tuned. (You can subscribe now to avoid missing any of the content.)
• I am also on LinkedIn. Please find me at http://www.linkedin.com/in/GregFrostSr.

To make this even easier, we’ve included a “Follow us online” section in the column at the right of this page that will take you through to our pages.

We have also contracted with a new social media manager, Will Reichard of CrossCut Communications, a growing Albuquerque firm that’s a leader in this area. If you have any questions or ideas, please contact him at will@crosscutcommunications.com or by phone at (505) 715-6195.

And as always, if you’re looking for the best mortgage in the business or a great professional opportunity in the mortgage industry, please contact me or one of my team today–either through one of our social media channels or by traditional means like the telephone. Either way, we look forward to helping you. Thank you for your interest.

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Mortgages are available despite confusing news

March 15th, 2010

Written by Greg Frost

We’re watching a slew of housing news from around the country and seeing mixed outlooks. National Mortgage News Online reports (here; subscription required) that housing starts were up slightly nationally, pointing to increased stability. In places like Southern California, where Frost Mortgage has several branch partners, home prices were up for January compared with last year, but still down from December. Here in our home base of Albuquerque, New Mexico, home sales are showing signs of “modest recovery.”

What does this mean to you as you look for a Veterans Administration (VA), Federal Housing Authority (FHA), 203k Rehab or USDA Rural Home Loan? From our perspective, the recovery news is likely to remain unclear for some time. Only after the fact will we be able to tell that real recovery has begun. In the meantime, life must go on, and despite the doom and gloom we see every day, conditions are actually great for borrowers. Rates are at historic lows, however, government withdrawal from mortgage backed securities in the coming weeks could precipitate a modest increase.

In short, as I wrote recently, it’s just not possible to “time the market.” We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs since we opened in 1991, and we’ve learned that what works best in the long run are the time-tested rules. And so, if you’re looking for a loan, please call me today at (800) 659-3767 and I’ll help you figure out what makes sense for you today.

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