Happy Halloween, Earthlings! As you can probably imagine, Halloween is the one day of the year when I – a simple alien from the distant planet of Amicitia – can slither around the town and not receive any apprehensive looks. The truth is, I get MORE looks on this day than most… looks that are followed by compliments on my costume. I’m not sure if I should be flattered or upset.
It’s also the final day of what has become known familiarly as “Spooky Season.” If you enjoy this time of year, it’s really a sad moment in time as you take down and store your Halloween decorations until next year; sulk over the fact that you’ve distributed all your miniaturized candy bars to the neighborhood children and left none for yourself; and realize that scary movies are no longer going to run on television every hour of every day. This last one will hit me hard this year.
Much more than previous years, the various networks that I’m able to draw in with my satellite dish have been running scary movie marathons, most of them focusing on a general theme, such as movies with scary houses, ones featuring specific creatures or flicks from specific writers/directors. After recently watching several movies under the theme, “Michael Versus Everyone,” I found myself particularly impressed with a director named John Carpenter.
Apparently, he’s quite the rage in scary movies but was a real revelation to me. I won’t go into the specifics about any of his movies, as that could potentially scare away many of my loyal followers. However, being as mortgage-minded and driven as I am, almost as soon as I heard the name Carpenter, I thought of home builders. I know, my cranium works in odd ways, but stick with me here.
At the onset of the challenging purchase market we’re still experiencing today, the focus of the mortgage and real estate communities became existing homes. Unfortunately, that’s part of the issue at hand – there is still an inventory shortage, leaving many credit union members who are pre-qualified struggling to find the home of their dreams. Through all of this, I kept asking myself and eventually started bringing it up with my mortgage colleagues, “What about home builders? If you can’t find a home, why can’t you build your own?”
Of course, there are various factors for your home-seeking members to consider, such as locations of the new developments, the types of homes being built, the costs and time associated with constructing a new home and the general lack of knowledge of the process. I often point out that most Earthlings only go through the homebuying experience a few times in their lives; this number is even lower for those who opt to build their own homes.
But stop a moment and look at the list of considerations I just listed. Apart from the additional time it takes to build a new home, purchasing an existing home has all the same concerns: Location, type/size of home, cost and lack of experience with the process. So, my question becomes, why are we not looking at homebuilders as potential partners in our credit union mortgage lending endeavors?
I’ve emphasized many times the value partnerships with industry leaders brings to your credit union mortgage lending business. Typically, this conversation is geared toward establishing relationships with Realtors, which simply makes good sense. Guess what? A member can use a Realtor during the purchase and building process of a newly constructed home! In fact, that’s a partnership benefit that is not often considered, as we generally associate Realtors with existing homes. But having a Realtor as a partner gives your member not only an additional set of eyes on the project but also insights into things they should or should not consider based on what’s popular and trending with current homes on the market (e.g., floor plans, interior design, amenities, etc.).
Another important factor to consider is that the Realtor is not only your partner but also represents you. They can help you identify and recommend builders, set expectations and generally make life easier. And a good builder will embrace a partnership with the member and their Realtor, making it a genuinely pleasant experience for all involved.
That said, I have some building to do of my own: Building my knowledge of John Carpenter movies and checking out as many as I can in the 12 or so Earth hours I still have left this Halloween Day. Stay spooky, my friends!