After spending a good part of the last month, teaching classes, taking classes, studying endless hours and finally take two exams to be licensed as a mortgage loan officer (after 20 years of actually doing it), I am back- with a vengeance. What is my new goal? To advocate for mandatory education of first time homebuyers!

As I have stated previously, there is now mandatory pre licensing education and licensing of mortgage loan officers nationally. There are many valid reasons to educate mortgage loan officers and I agree with the reasoning, disagree with the process, and balk at the timing. However, the results may come out with a smaller group of (somewhat) prepared and (slightly more) educated professionals. The fact is that the mortgage industry has been hit big- with some stats showing about 70% loss in employment. Moving forward, there should be a bit more fall out and then a leveling out of those who actually can make a decent living with a much smaller population. Let’s face it the big moneys days are gone for Wall Street, banking and real estate and will not be back (as they were). So, those that stick around are doing it because they love the job, are good at what they do and are happy with the income flow. 

What we hope is that those mortgage loan officers that are left in the industry will be both educators and servicers, helping consumers purchase home that are within their means and understand the process while doing so. No longer will homebuyers simply rely on strangers to make their decisions for them. They will be properly educated by professionals.

But what about the homebuyer? Shouldn’t they be slightly educated (aware) before they enter into the transaction? Should the first time home buyer not perform due diligence for themselves and make sure that they are ready willing and able to buy a home before they enter into professional relationships? I say yes! The consumer should be just as accountable and responsible as the real estate professional when entering into a transaction. I have been teaching people how to buy a home for decades and applaud those that pay and show up for a three hour seminar- by choice. However smart these individuals are, should some type of pre- home buying class be mandatory? If I were to put together a 3 hour webinar on first time home buying and offer it for free online, I wonder how many people will sign up and watch it from home or their office. Mmmmmmm….what an idea- I think I will do just that. Stay tuned and feel free to email me with suggestions or questions.