Orion’s management and our AEs are often asked by our brokers about their clients using the internet to find a loan program from a lender versus using a human broker. Real estate agents have the same issue, as this is similar to the intricacies of finding the right property and negotiating the right contract. To be blunt, and brokers know this: negotiating a real estate purchase contract or borrowing a large sum of money over the web is full of potential pitfalls.

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Brokers know that securing a mortgage to fit an individual scenario has its complexities. Every deal is different, and there are no “cookie cutter” solutions. Financing the purchase of real estate is not like buying printer ink cartridges for your HP printer or booking an airline ticket to Seattle. Most buyers, or those refinancing, do not fit the criteria needed to qualify for the advertised rates promoted by on-line lenders that spend tremendous amounts on marketing. Pause your TV screen the next time one of their commercials is on and read the fine print at the bottom.

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Experienced brokers have learned that just about every client has some issue in their background, or glitch during the process, that needs a trained and experienced human broker to guide them and help them through the lending maze. If you do get that rare case where the buyer has good ratios, solid credit history, employment history, money for a down payment and closing costs, then your focus shifts to getting everything done on time and controlling the things out of your client’s control: computer glitches, appraiser mistakes, underwriters who do not know all the guidelines, title company miscues, and wires go to the wrong place.

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What matters is the character and methodology used to handle these issues. Technology has improved the quality of nearly everyone’s life. If the internet went down it would just about be “game over.” Or certainly the game delayed until we could revert to how we did things 30 years ago. Having a broker in your client’s corner, whether it is a good broker or a real estate agent, is very important since whatever the issue is, they’ve probably worked through it in the past.

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Orion’s AEs often see brokers encouraging their clients to use the internet to help with certain aspects of the lending process. Fortunately, Orion has the technological tools to help our clients and make your client’s lives easier. And our AEs hear stories from Orion’s brokers all the time about how important the human touch is.

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