In This Chapter

I’m taking an entire chapter to talk about time management, because it’s that important. I know I keep telling you how busy you’ll be as a mortgage broker, but I worry that you think I’m exaggerating. But if you’re as successful as I know you want to be, then you’re going to need some way to squeeze more minutes out of the day.

I’ve always got at least 30 deals in the hopper. My calendar is stuffed with realtor open houses, business lunches, lender meetings, realtor education sessions, and other networking opportunities. I’ve also got to make time for marketing, keep up with industry research, plus all the details of running a business with a staff of a dozen people … and by the way, my family is my first priority and I love to race cars. I’m not giving up any of it, so I’ve developed ways to work smarter, not less.

There are five basic goals of learning to use your time wisely:

If organizing your time well makes such a difference, why doesn’t everyone do it?

But don’t fool yourself. I’ve certainly pulled my share of all-nighters and have worked three weeks straight without a day off. Am I at my best under those circumstances? Nope, not even close. For those who thrive on tight deadlines and crisis management, that only works for short bursts. As a way of doing business on a regular basis, it’s ineffective. To be successful, you’ve got to be able to think clearly, make strategic decisions, and argue effectively. Overtired and burnt out are two conditions that are counterproductive.

One helpful exercise will help you prioritize your time. Figure out your hourly pay. When you know what an hour of your time costs you, it will be easier to determine if a task is worth the effort or not. It might be something that you should hire someone else to do for you. That’s one of the reasons we have loan processors in our office. They handle much of the necessary backup paperwork, while the mortgage brokers are working directly with clients and starting on the next deal.

But also remember, there’s not always an immediate payoff for time spent. Here’s an example, and it’s happened more times than I can count. One Sunday, I spent the entire afternoon sitting in a realtor open house for a really lovely, new 4-bedroom ranch with a swimming pool. Price? $750,000. A young couple came in to look around. The realtor showed them the house, then the couple stopped in the kitchen where I’d set up my handouts, my business cards, and of course, some coffee and donuts. Business rule #1: Buyers travel on their stomach. Offer free food and they will come.

We chatted. It was quickly apparent that this couple was just spending the afternoon wandering through open houses for fun. They weren’t interested in buying, although I ran their figures through some scenarios to see what they could afford, which quite frankly wasn’t much. They each took one of my business cards and I went home that day without any new clients or, for that matter, any donuts. Three weeks later I got a call from someone whose name I didn’t recognize. Turned out he was the woman’s boss who was about to buy a house (more expensive than the one where I’d met them) and she had highly recommended me. Who knew chocolate glazed donuts with sprinkles could be so effective?

My point, and I do have one, is that figuring out how much you earn per hour is a starting point. But don’t give up an activity just because you don’t see immediate results.

Here’s a simplified way of looking at this. There are about 200 workdays a year—and that’s just using the usual Monday-Friday, 37.5 hour workweek. That’s about 1,500 hours in a year.

Now calculate your hourly rate—in two ways. First, what you actually earned this year; then, what you hope to earn within 3 years. For example, if you earn or hope to earn $60,000 a year, you’re making $40 an hour!

There’s a difference between being busy and being effective. You need to focus on the important things. You could work 12 hours straight, skip lunch and dinner, and still not accomplish what needed to be done that day to earn a living.

There’s a theory called the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. Essentially it says that 80 percent of consequences stem from 20 percent of causes. When applied to business, it’s interpreted to mean 80 percent of unfocused effort generates only 20 percent of results. Conversely, the other 80 percent of results are generated by the focused 20 percent of effort.

There are a ton of time management books on the market, but nary a one that is written just for the mortgage broker. So I’m giving you my best tips for making your day work smoother and more efficiently, given the realities of a complex business.

On a daily basis, I’m confronted with loads of material that I have to wade through, and much of it is technical. Every day I read the Wall Street Journal, review the latest reports from the Federal government on the indexes I follow (see Chapter 9), study new mortgage regulations from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or state boards, check the current interest rates from the 40+ lenders I routinely use, and learn about the latest loan products that these companies are offering. Of course, I also need to read The New York Times, as well as my local community newspaper, plus the realtor publications and mortgage industry newsletters.

Here’s what I’ve learned about reading technical stuff. First, it’s deadly dull. There’s no attempt at any literary turn of phrase or entertainment value. It’s the information, and if it’s a government regulation, it’s in legalese. I need to understand this material, but it’s easy to skim it too fast and miss the important details that make a difference.

This book is written for busy people. There’s a preview of what’s ahead at the start of every chapter, a summary at the end of the most important points covered, a detailed Table of Contents so you can find what you need, and a complete index so you can zero in on specific topics.

But since most publications aren’t as well organized, here’s how I handle complicated, technical material.

Keep in mind that reading effectively will help you wade through and better understand technical and often dense material.

I know this is becoming a paperless industry, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t be inundated with “virtual” paper. The inbox of your e-mail account will be routinely swamped. If you don’t filter and control it, the odds of missing an important message are sky high.

First rule: Don’t mix business and pleasure.

With all the info from lenders, realtors, appraisers, title companies, industry sources, and so on, that will be flooding your inbox, you don’t need to mix in jokes from friends or news from Mom. Keep a personal e-mail account and use that.

Master Outlook Express. This e-mail program is designed to organize, filter, file, and much more. It’s probably one of the most underutilized software tools, but one that can save you time and money. For example, you can create multiple inboxes so that by setting “rules,” for incoming mail, messages from individual lenders can go to their own inboxes. All newsletters can go to another inbox. The goal is to declutter your inbox. When you have hundreds of e-mail messages in your inbox, the temptation is to hit delete, increasing your risk of missing important info.

Less is more. While a single opening line of pleasantry is fine, learn the art of pith. Keep your messages to the point and focused. Run a spell check before hitting send. It makes you look less professional if there are typos in your mail.

Schedule e-mail. Set aside a few times a day to check e-mail, rather than responding to every ping. It’s disruptive to your concentration and focus (and an easy way to procrastinate). Be sure to include checking e-mail when out of town. The backup if you miss even a day can be overwhelming.

Use your PDA to check e-mail when out of the office. You can take care of routine e-mail while waiting for a meeting to start.

The telephone is a lifeline for mortgage brokers—and a huge waste of time, too.

When possible, set telephone appointments to avoid playing telephone tag. When you do have to leave a message, state a convenient time for callbacks so that you don’t continue to swap voice mail messages.

Organize your thoughts before calling so that you can leave a thoughtful, specific voice mail message. Suggest that they leave the answers to your questions on your voice mail or contact you via e-mail if it would be easier.

Let your answering machine/voice mail pick up calls while you’re in meetings or trying to concentrate. Don’t be a slave to your telephone.

Time management expert and author Kate Kelly (Organize Yourself!, John Wiley & Sons, 2005) also suggests:

Here are six tips that will give the customer the message that he’s called the right office:

Difficult business relationships complicate your life and can detract from your success. But they’re also a fact of life. Coping with vendors and clients who are unresponsive, disorganized, or incompetent adds stress to a stress-filled job. Co-workers who take the “dog eat dog” concept too literally can make going to work a nightmare.

The sections that follow describe some tips for resolving common difficulties.

This is a service business. Dealing with clients who don’t “get it,” no matter how many times you’ve explained it, is frustrating. Dealing with clients who would try the patience of a saint is par for the course. Your goal is to keep them as clients, while minimizing their impact on your blood pressure.

I’ve had underwriters lose all the paperwork and then declare that they never received it. I’ve had title companies not complete their reports in time to meet a closing deadline. I’ve had the Internet connection for my office go on the fritz and couldn’t process any loan applications.

And quite frankly, most of my clients would say, “who cares?” They came to me expecting me to help them get a mortgage, and they honestly don’t care whose fault it is that things have gone haywire. They just expect me to fix it. So rule number one: forget the blame game. They don’t care and they’re blaming you anyway.

If you’re consistently not getting the response or quality of work you need from an appraiser or title company or other provider, you need to spell out your issues. It does no one any good for you to remain silent. If after voicing your displeasure the situation continues, it’s time to move on to another service provider.

Conversely, there are times you need to figure out how much the hassle is worth. I once worked with an appraiser whose analyses were outstanding. He was especially good about determining comparables in a wildly fluctuating market. But he was consistently late. I told him that his delays made it difficult to meet client deadlines, but despite his best assurances, nothing changed. So I did. I found other appraisers who worked more quickly. But there are still times when I’m concerned that a cursory appraisal may not take into account the full nature of a changing neighborhood, and I go back to my first guy. But when I do, I always build in extra time in the application process. Sometimes the hassle is worth it—most times it’s not.

Generally you can’t walk away from lenders if their products meet your clients’ needs.

The last thing on earth you need is a toxic co-worker or boss. Even if you like your job, if the work environment is poisonous, you’re not at your best. But before you tender your resignation, try these ideas.

You know what your own hourly rate is. Could you be more productive if you had help?

Are you spending hours doing your own taxes when you could hire an accountant to do them for you—and possibly take a deduction for the expense?

Would it help to hire a high school student to help with mass mailings to clients at the holiday times? Or to do filing for your home office? Or set up your computer?

Is there software that would simplify tracking your business expenses or a new computer that would speed up processing?

Consider hiring high school students or retirees part-time on a permanent or per-project basis. These workers can save you time especially if it’s a clerical job that doesn’t require significant training.

If time is money, then there are points in your career when you have to invest money in order to gain more time. It’s a small example, but one I learned the hard way. The first year I owned my company, I handwrote the addresses on every holiday card I sent—and I sent over 600. It took me hours, and needless to say I wasn’t in much of a holiday mood myself. The next year, in early November, I hired a teenager from the Youth Employment Service at our local high school to combine my client, vendor, and lender lists into one, create a mail merge, print out the labels using a calligraphy font, stuff, label, seal, and stamp the cards. It cost me $50 but was well worth the cost.

Be careful not to go into debt in order to get more real or virtual help. But spending money to regain valuable time is often worth it.

The Least You Need to Know