Happy New Year to all my credit union mortgage lending friends, followers and colleagues! I sincerely hope your new year has started off on the right tentacle.
After spending several years here on Earth and enjoying just as many New Year’s celebrations, I decided to emulate one of your annual traditions by lowering some type of object down a long pole as the countdown to the new year commences. I placed the brightest LED light I could find inside my atmospheric reentry helmet and strung it up on the communications array of my spaceship. It was going well until I was notified by authorities that the light was confusing incoming aircraft who believed our parking lot was a runway.
In addition to performing many different traditions on the New Year’s holiday, most of which are focused on bringing good luck to those carrying them out, a lot of other things happen at the start of a new year. Making resolutions is a popular one, for example. On the business side of things, planning and forecasting are typically well underway and ready for implementation. For the mortgage industry, the forecast for 2023 has been less than desirable, to say the least.
This year is certainly setting up to be challenging for credit union mortgage lenders, but with challenges come opportunities. We need to remind ourselves every day that even with challenging market conditions, our members still need homes! That need is a constant in our industry – make sure to never forget that as you plan for and progress through 2023… and beyond.
To make sure you remember this, I’m asking you to stop reading (momentarily, of course, as there is more good content to come), grab whatever type of sticky reminders you use and write the words, “My members need homes and they need ME!” Place this somewhere you see daily and then continue reading.
[Pausing for a two-minute break.]
Welcome back! I never thought I’d ask my readers to step away from my blog. It’s like asking an intergalactic aviator to slam on the brakes while moving at ludicrous speed. But I had faith in every one of you and was confident you’d return. So, let’s continue, shall we?
As you know, this blog’s purpose is to provide credit union mortgage lending tips, insights, information and more with the goal of helping you become a GREAT mortgage lender. To kick off 2023, I want to put the blog into hover mode for just a moment and look back to a month earlier, December 2022.
At myCUmortgage, we celebrate our successes whenever we deliver upon any of our five brand pillars – Exceptional Leadership, Comprehensive Solutions, Expert Guidance, Partner- and Member-Focused Service and Peace of Mind. In December, we were contacted by a member who was dealing with some circumstances, the type of circumstances that could deviate any of us from our well-laid plans and way of life. We’ve all experienced this to a degree at some point in our lives. Fortunately, the member acted quickly and contacted us for options on moving forward because, after all, we strive to be there when life throws our members a curve.
In this case, a team of myCUmortgage experts went into action. They quickly realized this was not a typical scenario and really thought outside the box for a solution. Doing so led to the resolution of the issue at hand, and when we contacted the member with the news, he broke down in tears and thanked us for delivering a Christmas miracle.
And THAT is what being a great credit union mortgage lender – Originations and Servicing – is all about. Huge shout out to those myCUmortgage experts who were involved in this real-life service story: Adair, Anne, Brian, Sharon and Jenna!
I encourage you to use this story as you progress through the new year. Let it serve as inspiration to keep doing what you do, building relationships, thinking outside of the box, getting more members into homes in this purchase market and helping them keep their homes. You can also write down your own service stories to remind you how meaningful your work is.
This reminds me of the ending of the holiday movie, Scrooged, where Bill Murray portrays a modern-day (you guessed it!) Scrooge. After the three spirits successfully help Murray’s character see the true meaning of Christmas, he addresses the audience in a way only Bill Murray could pull off! In summary, he says that the Christmas miracle can happen to you…
…to which I say, “The MORTGAGE miracle can happen for you and your members as well!”
Here’s to a great new year of helping more members with homeownership!