Marketing question related to mortgage broker business:

BACKGROUND:

I am a loan officer in the mortgage broker business.  We provide
financing to Michigan residents looking to refinance, consolidate
debt, purchase a home, and get money for home improvements.  We have
access to programs to accomodate almost all types of credit, from
excellent to poor.

QUESTION:

I am looking for unique, fresh ways to generate business, or what we
call leads.  There are many common ways to aquire leads and I have
tried the following;  Purchase leads from lead generating companies,
call from lists, work with realtors, mailings, past clients, generate
leads from own website, etc.  I still feel that their should be
different and more unique ways to find people who are looking to
refinance, purchase a home, etc.  So my question boils down to this: 
What are some unique ways to generate mortgage related leads that
could provide me with ample amounts of quality leads.

PERFECT ANSWER:

My ideal answer would be several creative ideas that take a unique
perspective at generating business.  Something that could potentially
set me apart from the competition.  My ideal outcome from the answer
would be to take the idea, and try in in 'the real world', and
ultimately generate substantial quality leads.

I will not give a negative reply without asking for follow-ups if not
satisfied.  The interprative nature of this question is understood and
thus the answers will be giving lots of flexibility.

Hi, 

What the heck, I'm game. I love creative thought. 

First thing I think about when I hear the word "mortgage" is house
buying. And the only reason I'm buying a house is because I'm moving..
so far so good.

When people move these days, especially to a new state or even a new
city in that state, they jump on the Internet to find out things,
like,
Where are the kids going to school
What are the school systems like, where do I sign my kid up
What is the crime rate in the city/state/neighborhood
Driver's Licence, where do I get that? 
Register the Car?
Smog Laws?
Baby-sitting? Day Care? 
Truck Rentals? Costs ? 
Special Interest Groups (AA, NA, Churches, NRA etc)
Government, Voting, Library.. on and on and on and on. 

There is a lot to think about when you move. Mortgage is just one of
them. But when people find answers from a single source, they tend to
stay with that source if they can.

So the idea, a website, Moving2Michigan.com or something like that. 

Create a website that links to or has all the information anyone would
need to move to (or within)Michigan. All of it is on the web in one
form or another. Yahoo for instance has a Neighborhood center which
gives all the details of a Neighborhood.
http://list.realestate.yahoo.com/re/neighborhood/main.html

Schools systems are now on the web with all the needed information
there
http://www.ddc.com/schoolscolleges.html

Just about all the answers are out there. The idea here is to create a
single website that combines them in one from or another (meaning by
presenting the information on the site, or linking to that information
from the site, so I only have to go to one place.)

Then, Let visitors know that you sponsor/own the site and would also
be happy to do their mortgage as well. The trick here really, is to
make it as soft a sell as possible. It should be something like "And
oh yeah, that Mortgage problem? we got that covered too" sort of
thing.  Natural human tendency will bring in the leads, because you've
already made their lives a whole lot easier, and taken much of the
stress that comes form the "unknown" out of moving. Most people know
they are going to move long before they start looking for a house.
Make is so you are the answer person and they'll keep asking the
questions, which will eventually lead them to the Mortgage question as
well.

The website itself would be rather low in cost and basically static.
Set up a form though that a person could fill out and ask a question
about moving to Michigan, which is not on your website, then post the
answer to your website.

In fact, most of the base line design for such a site is already out
there in the OpenSource area. I know one that would work very well for
this sort of thing.
http://www.movabletype.org/

It is designed as a blog site or weblog site, but is very
customizable, so you could add all kinds of static pages and stuff to
the site with very low cost and low effort, as well as a running news
thing on the blog pages.

The Aegir CMS system is one of those build on top of the Midgard
system
http://www.aegir-cms.org/Documentation/ 
 
And it would create and maintain a website like this as well. And it
is free.

So the resources are there for this, and the foundations are there for
this, all you have to do is put the two together. You create on the
Internet a valuable resource, one people are searching for all the
time, and you have people searching for you all the time.

thanks,  and I hope I pass the audition. 

webadept-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by helios2-ga on 12 Sep 2003 08:10 PDT

Thank you for the creative answer.  I like the idea quite well.  My
only concern is that there may not be sufficient traffic to generate
considerable leads.  It appears there are only 111 searches (Oveture
June statistics) for moving to michigan.  Other variations report even
less.  Your answer is definately not without merit though.  A properly
designed, marketed, and informative site could generate mortgage leads
as well as advertising income.

I will rate you answer with the highest rating, but thought I would
ask for any other ideas you might have first.  While I very well may
pursue the idea you mentioned, it is more of a long term lead
generation system.

Thanks again

---

Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 12 Sep 2003 09:43 PDT

Yeah

that's true, low searches for moving to Michigan.. very true. 

129984  michigan 
40553  state of michigan 
14727  michigan job 

6462  detroit public school 
2180  michigan school 
 2092  michigan public school 
 1649  michigan school district 
 1371  michigan high school 
 1230  university of michigan law school 
 1127  michigan high school athletic association 

 
 10315  michigan state 
 10231  southfield michigan 
 9938  frankenmuth michigan 

 
 11540  brighton michigan 
 10931  south haven michigan 
 10562  brooklyn michigan 


11893  city detroit 
5207  detroit weather 
2961  detroit radio station 
1984  detroit public library 

See, people aren't going to really search for "Moving to Michigan"
because, they don't expect to find it. They feel, and currently they
are right, that doing moving research on the Internet is going to be
just like doing things when they move, 200 phone calls, 400 lines to
stand in, 300 wrong windows and, 200 wrong forms.

I doubt that they will ever find you using moving to Michigan, because
as you point out, they don't type it in. On the other hand, they
obviously will find you, from those stats above, and once they do,
they are going to stick to you like glue, if you do that site right
and make it comprehensive. But the kicker will be the question form.
If they don't find it, ask where it is. That will keep them there.

Anyway.. another idea? Ummm.. sure why not. Can I have until this
evening because I'm coding right now and that is sucking up all my
imagination.

webadept-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by helios2-ga on 12 Sep 2003 11:15 PDT

I see your point and agree.  I think it is a well thought out and
creative idea.  I really might pursue it.  You can take all weekend
for another idea if you wish.  Don't spend too much time on it.  I
like your creativness and will give you the highest rating even
without it.  I would give it to you now, but I am not sure if you can
reply after I do.

---

Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 12 Sep 2003 13:00 PDT

Thanks, and thanks for the time. I'll do some thinking and come up
with something else. Most of my life is spent on the web. Boring I
know, but that's the facts. I'll try to come up with something off the
web, something .. well.. interesting :-)

webadept-ga

---

Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 13 Sep 2003 02:00 PDT

Notes to self, why to people refinance?

To retire existing liens 
For making repairs and home improvements to property 
To obtaining a reduction in interest rate 
To pay off a mortgage subject to a balloon payment 
To consolidate credit card debts 
To obtain cash for financing family related expenditures such as a
college education, etc.
Improving cash flow, 
taking advantage of tax benefits, 
debt consolidation
Eliminate Private Mortgage Insurance premiums. 

I'm not sure this is a great idea, but it crossed my mind so I'll give
it up.

Using Yahoo's Neighborhood base you can search out neighborhood areas
that are of a certain income level and ownership percentage verses
rental. In fact if you find some guy like me who knows Perl, he can
rip it out of there in no time at all.

Now we have a list of Neighborhoods which are of "refinancing"
stature. That's what I'm trying to focus on right now, refinancing.
One of the things on my list up there is "Eliminate Private Mortgage
Insurance premiums." We want to remind people that this is a payment
that they are currently making every month, that they really don't
have too. Many folks forget about this one. We also want to catch them
in a good mood and make sure it is with something they will keep
intact for a while, and show to a few people. Something.. cool.

We have a list of Neighborhoods, so, we now also have a list of high
schools which are in those neighborhoods. Football season is upon us.
High school football season.

http://www.eztshirts.com/compressed/helmet.html

The image there is a paper insert. There are two, one on top and one
on the bottom. The T-shirt can be anything, but I wouldn't make it too
much of an add for your business. But it would need to be something
that could be worn by several schools because of screen printing
costs. Something generic, like,
"Support High School Football", and maybe your name on the back or
something.. but remember who you are giving it too.

The place you advert, hard, is the back insert card. This is where you
remind the parent that refinancing can save them this Insurance
Premium.

The top insert card should be the high school's helmet. Since this is
paper, and just inserted, I believe that setting it up for 100 of
these and 50 of these and 25 of those, is no big deal, not like it is
for screen printing. You would have to call them to make sure, but I
believe this is the case. If it is not, then the whole idea crashes I
think, because of cost.

These are cool. These compressed t-shirts. Sprite did this not too
long ago, by compressing t-shirts into the shapes of cans and putting
them in the high school vending machines, with 2 quarters taped to
each one, so the kid could still get his soda. Most didn't un-wrap
them, they walked around showing it to their friends and parents and
parents friends. It was a huge success for Sprite. The ones that did
unwrap them, wore them, talking about how they were compressed and how
cool it was. Very big success for Sprite. In fact, they are still
doing it.

For the T-shirt itself, you use the cheapest t-shirt they have. We
aren't going for quality here, we are going for shawag.

Pass these out at the football games. 

Just a thought, like I said, not a great one, but it would get leads
I'm sure if the market research was done right.

webadept-ga

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Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 13 Sep 2003 02:10 PDT

Ya know, if you do that right, instead of just handing them out, but
rather, tossing them into the crowd.. You'll actully see people
begging for you to advert to them.. :-) kinda funny really.. okay..
maybe it's not, and it's just late.

webadept-ga

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Clarification of Answer by webadept-ga on 13 Sep 2003 02:19 PDT

Man I have all kinds of ideas for these t-shirts. Here's another.. 

Get together with Home Depot, or some place like that in specific
areas. Use their logo on back, they pay for that, Your's on the front
(this is the silk screening part of the t-shirt). Use the back insert
card for your advert and compress the shirt into the shape of a
hammer.

Have the store pass them out to the regular joe customers who buy wood
or pluming supplies. Not the contractor types showing up in the back.
Make sure it is Wood, cabinets or plumbing supplies. Home owners,
doing home improvments.

Thanks for some great ideas.  You obviously spent a great deal of time
thinking it through.  Very creative!

I work in the finance industry and specialize in search engine
optimization.  I think the site is a great idea but feel you would
need to focus on a different type of search.  First, why not try to
cash in on traffic focused on consumers currently looking for
mortgages in Michigan?  Here are searches from Overture’s search tool:

2935  michigan mortgage rate 
1571  michigan mortgage 
677  michigan mortgage company 
345  mortgage rate in michigan 
271  michigan second mortgage 
259  mortgage broker michigan 
206  mortgage lender michigan 

Secondly, let’s look ask a dumb question.  Why would a consumer be
looking for a mortgage?  Cause they’re looking for a home of course! 
Check out the frequency of these searches:

7217  michigan home 
3518  michigan home for sale 
1650  home for sale in michigan 

Lastly, let’s try alternative searches such as ‘real estate’:

15682  michigan real estate 
3294  northern michigan real estate 
2037  real estate in michigan 
997  michigan real estate listing 
650  west michigan real estate 
613  grand rapid michigan real estate 
581  lansing michigan real estate

As you can see the traffic is there.  Building a web site that ranks
highly for these terms – now that’s the REAL question!  Anyway, I
thought I would provide you both with this information in hopes that
it keeps the creative juices flowing.  Good Luck!

Use a sharp knife. My Grandfather use to tell me that. When you are
going to cut your own throat, use a sharp knife.

webadept,

I'm not sure what you meant by your comment but I wanted to assure you
that I meant no harm or dissrepect by my post.  I was sincerely trying
to help.  I'm new to 'ga' and if I have crossed any boundries I
sincerely apologize.

Have a great night. :)

No disrespect taken and I hope none received by you. My point here, as
in the answer is, those sites don't work, as can be easily seen by the
thousands which are on the web currently doing nothing for the broker,
or the realtor. The Internet community simply doesn't work that way,
that's all.

To change the site into that venue would not be a new idea, it would
be an old idea, which currently isn't showing a real profit.

Thanks for all the ideas and the extra comments by all.  I actually do
own a finance website which has decent positioning.  I am always
looking for ways to improve, however.  My website is
www.mihomefinance.com if you have any comments.  Thanks again!

Hello all,

I have been selling mortgage leads for about 3 years and I have about
a year in buying leads.  Two jobs that forever changed the way I view
marketing.

The big thing about leads is timing.  When someone is intersted in
doing something now, the likelihood of actually moving quickly to
close is much higher.  The concept is what i call velocity marketing. 
This saves both time and also money because it speeds up the amount of
business that can be done when compared to stagnant forms of
advertising like magazine and publications ads and paper forms of
leads like internet and telemarketing leads.

However, price consciousness in the lead buying world actually creates
 that emphasize smaller testing budgets and a higher level of scrutiny
and lower cost per leads... as low as possible in most cases.

Without sounding a bit like plugging my products, I have stumbled upon
a pretty solid warm transfer program that has achieved a 100%
retention rate with 2 clients thus far.

These warm transfers have a recorded message for each transfer and
usually last about 5-10 minutes in length.  If you request, i can send
you all of the transfers we have completed thus far for the
mid-atlantic region.

The key is to target inbound and outbound calling in a media melee,
leveraging larger media buying powers to acquire calling data and
television and radio media.  The telemarketers we employ are located
in Florida and are American and the satisfaction level of my clients
is high.  The cost structures i've developed long term are $70 per
transfer - 100 lead minimum and $80 per transfer at 50.

Leads like these work because you are paying per transfer lasting over
1 minute.  These leads are qualified and solid leads that work.

Contact me with questions and other marketing ideas that produce results.  

I would not recommend investing in something you can't see an
immediate return on.  And referrals and facts and figures can go a
long way if you know the facts.

Why put the cart before the horse? I would advise not spending money
on something like search engine optimization and focusing instead on
the end product. If you want business (mortgage leads), then just buy
it. www.mortgageleadplace.com is a great source. They do the whole
thing with emails, so you can get exactly the leads you want within a
certain geographic area, demographic, etc. That?s how I secured my
incoming business. What if people search less during a given month for
mortgages online? With Search Engine Optimization, I assume you?d
still have to pay right? It seems like the roundabout unstable way to
get mortgage leads.

Even though this is an older post, I thought I would check to see how
things have progressed.  If you have employed any form of search
optimization, and were looking into the old "tried and true" methods
of swapping links - let me know and I might be able to accommodate.  I
operate a website - www.MichiganHouseHunter.com that is completely
centered around the customer, and doesn't focus on agent vanity. 
Currently, I have a complete accounting of the properties available in
Macomb County, and a large percentage in the neighboring communities. 
Feel free to take a look and let me know.  You can reach me at
info@michiganhousehunter.com