A Loan Officer and Real Estate Agent Relationship: Choose Your Partners Carefully

Building a successful loan officer and real estate agent relationship requires time, trust, and most of all, a mutual understanding. Without these things, you’ll both be wasting your time. 

So, as we are in the middle of one of the busiest starts to a year that the mortgage industry has seen, it’s time to set your priorities. Pick and choose which referral partners are truly worth investing in. And then, dive in with them head first. 

What Does a Successful Loan Officer and Real Estate Agent Relationship Look Like?

If I asked you right now, you would be able to tell me the one or two agents that you always love working with. What made you choose them? 

Here are the common reasons that loan officers love working with real estate agents, and vice versa. They…

…have the same goals.

…communicate well.

…enjoy helping get people into their new homes. 

…are motivated to close.

If your loan officer and real estate agent relationship doesn’t look like this, then you should reevaluate. 

Only Work With People You Love

We can hear the dissent as soon as you read that. It’s true, you should only work with people you love. If you’re just getting started, struggling to find business, or facing a tough mortgage market, then there are exceptions to this rule. But, in today’s mortgage market, no one should be spending their time working with referral partners that they don’t love working with. 

Every loan officer and real estate agent relationship that you are nurturing takes time. Check-in phone calls, face-to-face meetings, sending emails, helping to develop marketing…you know the drill. Stop chasing after partnerships that aren’t giving you a good ROI. You don’t have enough time for that. Let go of relationships that you don’t enjoy. Focus on the valuable partnerships. 

Determine Who Your Most Valuable Partners Are

In addition to whether you enjoy your loan officer and real estate agent relationship, you also need to track how valuable your partnerships are. 

The best way to do this is to leverage mortgage software powered by data. Develop tracking to find out which of your referral sources are bringing in the most business. 

Once you have these insights, you can focus on your most profitable ones. Pour time and resources into your most high-yield relationships. And if there’s a realtor partner who isn’t bringing in as much business, despite a great relationship, strategize how to nurture that partnership. 

Decide Who Is Out

Now that you know who your most valuable partnerships, it’s time to cut. This is the tough part, but deciding to stop calling and chasing after a loan officer and real estate agent relationship will give more time to work with the partners that bring you the most value. 

There are two main considerations to make: 

1. Are they sending you high quality leads? 
2. Are they consistent with their referrals? 

As difficult as it is, narrowing your list of real estate agent partners will be freeing for you and your schedule. 

Stop Calling

Now, you need to stop calling and helping the agents that you’ve determined to move on from. That doesn’t mean that you won’t pick up the phone if they call you, or give them the cold shoulder at an event. However, you don’t need to push yourself to extend help, resources, or time to referral partners who aren’t helping you out in return. 

Bottom Line

Working only with partners that you love will free you up to focus on your most valuable relationships. Plus, an amazing loan officer and real estate agent relationship really only works if both parties are in it fully. So, cut out the less ideal relationships, and move into the rest of the 2020 with an incredible group of partners.