As we come off of the New Year celebration and begin to focus on growing business in 2015, we'll no doubt stumble across the barrage of predictions regarding how the housing market can be expected to perform in 2015. The conflicting forecasts delivered and stories told about the direction the market is headed can leave us scratching our heads. Who should we believe?
At the end of the day, I believe that it's all about accuracy. Our natural tendency may be to believe the forecast that tells the better story--maybe the one that we want to hear or the one that sounds the easiest to adopt. But we've got to fight that temptation and look instead for the truth. Who is giving us a realistic prediction of the market that we can actually build our goals and strategies around? That's the question.
Recently, on my Lykken on Lending radio show, I got the opportunity to interview senior loan officer Logan Mohtashami. Over the years, Logan has gained attention for telling it like it is and predicting the trends in the industry with remarkable accuracy. That's the kind of information you want to follow--information that is accurate and useful, not simply information that is easy to swallow. Look for the truth--even if it hurts.
Our industry has always been a tough one--subject to the whims of the economy and the regulatory climate. Over the past few years, it has only gotten tougher. To make the best decisions as leaders in the industry, we don't need sugar coating. We need good, quality, reliable information about what is happening and is likely to happen in the future. We need the truth--let's be open to it when we stumble across it.
David Lykken is 40-year mortgage industry veteran who has been an owner operator in three mortgage banking companies and a software company. As a former business owner/operator, today David loves helping C-Level executives and business owners achieve extraordinary results via consulting, coaching and communications, with the objective of eliminating corporate dysfunction, establishing and communicating a clear corporate strategy while focusing on process improvement and operational efficiencies resulting in increased profitability. David has been a regular contributor on CNBC and Fox Business News and currently hosts a successful weekly radio program, “Lykken on Lending,” that is heard each Monday at noon (Central Standard Time) by thousands of mortgage professionals. He produces a daily one-minute video called “Today’s Mortgage Minute” that appears on hundreds of television, radio and newspaper Web sites across America. He may be reached by phone at (512) 501-2810 or by e-mail at [email protected].
