April 25, 2006
More unfriendly “posturing” between GF & WW
As it played out on Mortgagemag’s Net Branch Forum:
“Remember that it would take a net branch company like Global or Premier over 7 years to collect $100,000 in net fees from a branch.” I do not know anything much about Premier, except thatthey have had their problems over the years.I don’t know how you do your math but Global, to use your example, has over 400 branches. At $1500/month, that’s over $600,000 per month.You get an “F” in math and also logic. To imply by innuendo that Global might hold back funds because of a conclusion of your bad math is ridiculous. Perhaps you are really Joe McCarthy reincarnated? I know Mitch Freifeld, the CEO of Global personally. Global is doing very well and it does not need to hold back money due a branch in order meet corporate expenses.
On the other hand, I do know of circumstances where funds to a branch manager where withheld after termination to cover the costs of a buy back resulting from fraud in that branch. In one case I knew of, the funds withheld did not come close to covering the buy back anyway.
If that seems draconian to you, it seems equally stupid to me to allow employees in a position of trust to wreak havoc on your reputation and the fiscal health of the company.
If you are going to make accusations, the get the facts first and get the math right.
WW
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$1500 x 12 = $18,000 $18000 x 7 = $126,000 Gross fees collected from one branch over 7 years. Net fees would be much less and take way more than 7 years to collect $100K. That is what I said. Is it not? You should fetch your glasses and read my post again. I did not accuse Global of anything. Did I? I was just using two companies as an example because I happen to know their pricing models.And I love the way you paint these firms as nothing but pure angels of good will and ethics. they don’t ever take advantage of their lopsided contracts because they are just higher beings than the rest of us ( as your “friends” they would have to be) and need to protect themselves against the evil loan officers and branch managers. PPPllleassse…..
www.brokerwatchdog.com
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GF,
In the McCarthy era, Joe McCarthy accused people of being communists if they worked in the same room with someone who read the “Daily Worker”. You employ the same innuendos in your post, accusing by association.I do business with a lot of NB companies. Some I know a lot about. About many, I know little. You have no basis in fact to say or even imply that a specific company is or is not holding back funds for no purpose other that enrichment. You mentioned one specific company, that I happen to know a great deal about.My old posts that you used to support your arguments are almost two years old. Since that time Global’s model has changed, as I predicted that it would have to. It has changed in significant ways. Some of these are are stricter financial controls over branch funds to be sure that everybody would be paid. They instituted much tighter compliance processes to be sure they stay clean. I hear your carping about these “wretched” companies stealing bread from the mouths of poor souls who are unfortunate to have sold themselves to these evil companies. LO’s and BM’s are hardly defenseless as Jim and others have proved in the past.
There is plenty of crap on both sides of the equation. There are good and bad companies and there are good and bad LO’s/ BM’s. When you link someone in an accusatory statement, be sure of your facts. Just because this forum gives you a measure of anonymity doesn’t mean you have the right to make groundless statements.
PPPllleassse…..
I tend to take the company’s side in most of these discussions because that is my viewpoint. I know lots of originators who are fine, honest folks. I wish I had a branch company with only those people. I also know that a company has to protect itself from predatory employees. You can’t tell by looking at them that they would do anything, say anything to get a deal.
How would you protect your company from such persons? Well, let me see, I might put a few things in my employment agreement to insure compliance and minimize the battle damage.
On one point we might agree. Every person who joins a company, has an obligation to himself or herself to read the agreement they are about to sign. If you don’t like it and they won’t change it, don’t sign it. By my last count, there are over 400 branch companies out there, so you have lots of choices. Knock yourselves out. If one doesn’t at least read it first, they cheated themselves. You don’t know the rules. And if you don’t know the rules, you can’t play the game successfully.
In a lot of ways, the mortgage broker industry is still like the wild west of the 1880’s. People get away with a lot of shenanigans because nobody is watching. This is changing. Someday we’ll live in a perfect world where birds sing and music plays and everybody plays fair, whatever that is. In the meantime companies and their employees need to play by the rules for their game. Contracts are just one way to do this.
WW
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Ok. enough of comparing me with McCarthy because I would have been the first one to kick that MF’s behind, if I had lived back then and if I had a violent nature. You watched that movie more than two weeks ago but can’t get it out of your mind. Hey?“You have no basis in fact to say or even imply that a specific company is or is not holding back funds for no purpose other that enrichment.”I never said that.You are trying very hard to make it appear as if I am spreading lies, which is totally untrue. I am simply stating my opinion about what is going on in the industry and I use examples of “what could happen” to better explain my views. That is all I do. “Since that time Global’s model has changed”. With all due respect, your main problem was with their pricing model (”I don’t see how Global can make enough money to stay afloat. There are costs that somebody has to pay.”) and that has not changed. You always claimed that the flat fee companies would go out of business because they could never afford to cover the costs of compliance, etc. I, on the other hand, always said that the future is bright for the flat fee companies as long as they could manage their business.
Time will tell, who was right. And once again, I have never accused Global of anything YET.. Although, their claim of providing “100 free leads”, when that is nothing more than a list that anyone can buy for $10, is rather misleading. A lead is someone who has shown interest in getting a mortgage. A list simply contains names of homeowners. When a company cannot be sincere or upfront with its marketing, it is usually an indication of its “slick” culture. Then again, I don’t know for sure.
www.brokerwatchdog.com ____________________
Hey…this is just like the good old days! Nothing beats a good round of verbal posturing. Actually I see merit to both sides of the conversation and I think what WW’s point in earlier posts is that you cannot fully support a branch in terms of compliance and other issues without the consistency of controls relative to the proper margin. A company can only effectively manage certain corporate cost with the assistance of good managers as business people. Unfortunately, sometimes those controls have to be dictated via corporate policy in lieu of relying on the good common sense that is often in short supply. Sloppy business practices on the production side of the equation will always have a cost associated with it on the administrative side (because someone has to clean up the mess)…which in turn will eventually be reflected in the margin/pricing mode…which takes you back to the original question of how much margin is enough marginThe bottom line is that the amount of margin required is directly proportional to the efficiency of all parties responsible for the production, integrity and delivery of that piece of business. Which takes us all the way back to the discussion of the quality and integrity of the managers, LO’s and support staff in your business. The better the people are that you hire, the better your business will be… which will ultimately attract the best people!Gary Coggin National Recruiting Manager gcoggin@gateway-funding.com 800-355-5626 ext. 1200 215-275-4402 Cell
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