In an age where the act of being “social” actually does happen in the comfort of your own home, office or car, the opportunity for business growth is increasingly more obtainable. Today, more than ever, the sales and marketing field has a real opportunity to take public relations to the next level, the individual level. The days of group categorization by way of one brand are long gone. In our current economy, we, as sales professionals, represent our company’s brand along side our own.Read more

During the 1996 Summer Olympics, I saw a young athlete with his brand new silver medal around his neck and a massive smile on his face. He was so thrilled with his achievement that he was mixing and mingling with everyone he met on the sidewalk. Perfect strangers were shaking his hand, slapping him on the back, and having their picture taken with him. I did not know who he was, but it was clear that he was relishing the highest point of his life to date.Read more

Last month, we talked about the Fed pulling the plug and pondered what would happen with regard to the markets. Of course, predictions about the future are all but impossible in any market. However, we were quite comfortable letting everyone know to be prepared for a higher level of volatility. Despite this level of comfort, we were not prepared for what we will now dub “Scary Thursday.” Who could have foreseen the Dow plummeting 400 points in a matter of minutes?Read more

Seventeen years ago, I became the president of my community association. It was a lively organization with scores of activist members who were busy gentrifying an inner city neighborhood. One of my responsibilities was to deliver a monthly speech and conduct a formal meeting with a loud and raucous crowd.Read more

One of the best ways to use social media is to add value to your target audience in a classy, non-threatening way. Endless status updates about miniscule details of your life or sending out mass invites to non-first-time homebuyers about your first-time homebuyer workshops is not classy. In fact, it can be annoying. Your social media contacts will quickly tune you out and “hide” your status updates—effectively cutting off your ability to communicate important messages that may be relevant to them.Read more

I cannot believe that 12 months have passed so quickly. It seems like yesterday that I took the oath of office as president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB). During this last year, we have faced many challenges, but these challenges have presented us with many opportunities to build a better future.Read more

As I approach this, my last article as Certification Committee Chair of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB), I am amazed at how quickly time seems to fly by in our daily lives. As we have all been preparing for SAFE Act Licensing and watching events in our industry unfold, time seems to be moving more for us than we may expected. Reflecting on the basic priorities this past year or two has strengthened some individuals, saw others leave our industry, and still has everyone evaluating what we should continue to do.Read more

Consider, for a moment, your next Facebook, Twitter or other social media status update declaring: “[Your name here] was featured on CNN today!” A seed of excitement that they know someone famous is now planted in the brains of whoever reads that post; that seed will sprout one day and find itself growing into a conversation they may be having with a co-worker, friend or family member of theirs.Read more

Each month, National Mortgage Professional Magazine will focus on one of the industry’s top players in our “Mortgage Professional of the Month” feature. This month, we had a chance to chat with one of our advertisers, Kelley Berkheiser, Branch Development Manager of White Plains, N.Y.-based Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company. Kelley oversees the hiring, licensing, transitioning and marketing of Guaranteed Home Mortgage’s offices in 27 states nationwide.Read more

It is becoming significantly more difficult for those attempting to sell or refinance a home to get an appraised value that meets lender requirements to qualify for a loan. This development is impacting borrowers’ abilities to purchase or refinance homes, and is slowing the stabilization of the housing market. The roots of this growing problem are a lack of comparable home sales data due to a reduction in the number of non-distressed home sales, and significant increases in the sales of foreclosed homes and short sales.Read more