Time is of the essence. This phrase seems especially relevant in today’s mortgage industry. The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study(SM) recently revealed a decline in overall customer satisfaction compared to that of 2008. This has been largely attributed to the increase in time it takes most lenders to get from submission to close on a home loan. The average time required to close a loan has gone from 30 days in 2008 to 47 days in 2009.

Forty-seven days is a long time to have to wait. So, what’s the hold up? Increased lending criteria have weighed down the process for many lenders who are not accustomed to such careful practices. In effect, customers have become dissatisfied by the level of customer service they are receiving due to the lengthened process.

Fortunately, if you are purchasing a home, you do not have to look forward to a 47-day wait to get to the closing table. Despite trends of an increased time span, some lenders are actually decreasing the time it takes to go from submission to close. Shore Mortgage, a direct lender in the business for over 25 years, has reduced their time to an average of 19.8 days to close. That’s less than three weeks! United Wholesale Mortgage has been in the business for over 9 years and boasts the fastest closings in the nation, closing loans submitted by brokers in an average of just 8.4 days, which helps the brokers better service their borrowers. Imagine applying for a loan, then walking into your closing meeting a little over a week later.

Research from this J.D. Power and Associates study revealed, a vital factor in an efficient and satisfying customer experiences is communication. This comes as no surprise, considering Shore Mortgage and United Wholesale Mortgage both recognize the importance of quality communication by offering around-the-clock availability for their customers.

You’ve waited long enough to finally be able to purchase your home. This part of the experience should be enjoyable, not stressful and drawn out. Shouldn’t it?

Source: CNN Money. money.cnn.com

When he is not in the office, Jeff Zanni is most likely on the water doing any variety of water sports from water skiing to fishing to riding sea scooters. He’d always dreamed of owning a home on the water, and now he does. The realization of Jeff’s dream inspired him to empower others to achieve their dreams of homeownership. Each time he hands new homeowners the keys to their first home, he relives the feeling of pure happiness he felt when he was once on the other side of the table.
Jeff Zanni is a Senior Loan Officer at Shore Mortgage. He joined the Shore Family in June 2005, a little over four years ago. Jeff works at the Birmingham location. He enjoys being able to work with new and existing home owners alike. He is known as an innovator in his position because of his dedication to finding a way to make home ownership dreams come true, even in unique situations.

When he is not in the office, Jeff Zanni is most likely on the water doing any variety of water sports from water skiing to fishing to riding sea scooters. He’d always dreamed of owning a home on the water, and now he does. The realization of Jeff’s dream inspired him to empower others to achieve their dreams of homeownership. Each time he hands new homeowners the keys to their first home, he relives the feeling of pure happiness he felt when he was once on the other side of the table.

“I never thought that I would be in the mortgage business, but I’m glad I am,” Jeff says. He notes that his work is not just about helping people secure loans, but about putting a roof over their heads so that they can start a new life and family.

Jeff is a problem-solver. He comments, “In order to really help people in this business you have to be creative and really think outside of the box.” It is Jeff’s creativity that has helped many people get loans for their homes.

An example of that creativity and never-say-die attitude was when Jeff was working with a client who was refinancing a manufactured home to lower her monthly payments. When the appraisal was done, it was noted that there was an in-ground pool behind the home that was cracked and in poor shape. This would prevent the refinance from happening unless this safety hazard was taken care of. Jeff’s client became very discouraged; she needed to refinance because she needed the money just to survive. How could she possibly afford having the pool fixed or filled? Jeff told her not to worry, that he would think of something.

He awoke the next morning with an idea. He called his client and asked her to drive around her neighborhood looking for a builder that might be digging a basement or a pool and to ask that builder if he needed somewhere to dump the backfill. She was not confident that there would be any builders in her area, but agreed to give it a try. Within the next hour, Jeff received a phone call from his client excitedly detailing how she’d found a builder who was more than happy to be rid of his backfill, and had filled her pool. By the end of the next week, the refinance was complete.

Jeff’s innovative ideas not only spawn from his creative mind, but also from his strong desire to help others. He looks for every way he can find to reach out to others. One way he does this is by visiting Ford Motor plants to help employees refinance their homes to make their payments more affordable. He began making trips to plants in Romeo and Dearborn after having a conversation with an acquaintance at the birthday party. He discovered that there was a need for refinance assistance at these plants and pursued this avenue.

Another way that Jeff reaches out is through the Lake Orion Chamber of Commerce. He is an active member for the Chamber of Commerce, attending meetings and luncheons, and hosting a booth at their annual business fairs. His booth is, of course, for Shore Mortgage—he hands out promotional pens, pamphlets, and cards, while offering his expert advice on mortgages. Jeff makes an ideal representative at these fairs because of his sincere belief in Shore. He attributes the company’s reputation to “our commitment to customer service and because we offer clients the best available options every time.”

Jeff is also involved at his church where he serves as a Eucharistic Minister, giving out communion. He especially enjoys being able to give kids their first communion and being there as they introduce religion as a part of their lives.

What stands out about Jeff is that he really enjoys what he is doing, whether he’s making home dreams come true or slicing through the water on his boat with kids in tow.

It has been nearly a year since the CEOs of the Big Three flew their over-sized private jets to Washington begging for bailouts. Now that the bailouts have had time to set in and reconstruction of these flawed companies has been under way, how are they doing? Have these three big automakers done enough to create companies that will be sustainable in the future?

Take a look at what’s been going on at the Big Three:

Chrysler

U.S. Brands: Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep

Headquarters: Auburn Hills, Michigan

Bailout: $15.2 billion (repaid $1.5 billion)

Declared Bankruptcy: April 30, 2009

Post-Bailout Company:
In June 2009, Italian automaker Fiat took a 20% stake in Chrysler in exchange for partnering with them on new products. In this partnership, Chrysler LLC has become Chrysler Group. Chrysler’s former CEO and Chairman, Bob Nardelli, has been replaced by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, with former Chrysler President Jim Press as his Deputy CEO. Fiat brings to Chrysler billions of dollars worth of advanced technology, while Chrysler offers the Italian automaker opportunities to market more of their brands in the U.S. The company plans to unveil a revised business plan this November, though has done little to cater to the demands for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.

August 2009 Sales: Down 15% nationwide from August 2008.

The Outlook: Predictions for Chrysler seem to be the most dismal. Upon acquiring a stake in Chrysler, Fiat was said to be “surprised” by the lack of effort that had been put into a recovery. “Chrysler is over, basically,” says Industry Analyst Todd Turner of Car Concepts Automotive Research of the Chrysler brand. “Within five years, you’re going to see nothing.”

General Motors

U.S. Brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC

Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan

Bailout: $49.9 billion

Declared Bankruptcy: June 1, 2009 (came out of bankruptcy on July 10, 2009)

Post-Bailout Company:
Former CEO Rick Wagoner resigned as a part of the bailout agreement and was replaced by GM’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Fritz Henderson. This past July, NGMCO Inc. purchased GM, changing its name to General Motors Company. A new strategy is in the production of smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, and the new Chevrolet Cruz is due out next year, as well as a plug-in model of the Chevy Volt. Having the long-standing reputation of being primarily a pick-up and SUV maker, this change could sustain the company.

An additional note, The New York Times reported recently that GM will be calling back 2400 laid off factory workers to meet a surge in demand after the recent Cash for Clunkers stimulus.

August 2009 Sales: Down 20% nationwide from August 2008.

The Outlook: Stephen Spivey, Senior Auto Analyst for business consultant Frost & Sullivan, comments, “It’s way too early to say if they’ve done enough in bankruptcy.” We’ll just have to wait and see if GM has made enough progress to have a future.

Ford Motor Company

U.S. Brands: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo

Headquarters: Dearborn, Michigan

Bailout: None.

Declared Bankruptcy: None.

Post-Bailout Company:
Ford remains the only automaker of the Big Three to have avoided bankruptcy. In July 2008, Ford has taken the initiative to embrace the production of more fuel-efficient cars and announced in July 2008 that it would bring six of its models to the U.S. Recently, the Department of Energy granted Ford a $5.9 billion loan to help them reequip many of their factories to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

August 2009 Sales: Up 17% nationwide from August 2008.

The Outlook: Moody’s Investor Service has upgraded Ford’s ratings from “negative” to “stable,” stating that, “the period of greatest risk in Ford’s restructuring has passed.” Ford seems to have the best odds out of the three for long-term survival.

Photo by: madaise // CC BY 2.0
Sources: CNN Money/ Assignment Detroit. money.cnn.com. Wikipedia. www.wikipedia.com

The economy has hit us hard, especially in Detroit. Flocks of Detroiters have left their houses behind in search of work elsewhere. With all of these comfortable homes being abandoned, trees, vines, and shrubs have taken up occupancy. James D. Griffioen, a local photographer, has termed these houses ‘feral houses’.

With the plants taking up residence, the appearances of these houses have completely changed inside and out. Some of the plants seem to want a taller home, as they have taken foundations right from the ground, raising entire houses! Other plants think the houses are too big, and have split them down the middle! Of course, some houses have been feral longer than others, even the ones that have become feral more recently are still quite extraordinary.

Dan Gould from psfk.com makes an intriguing comment: “Detroit is in a very interesting state. It’s simultaneously decomposing, and evolving into a new city.” Detroit has seen its share of hard times, but has always bounced back. Could Detroit be changing from the Motor City to the Feral City?

See more feral houses at James D. Griffioen’s website!

Photos By: James D. Griffioen
Sources: Sweet Juniper!, psfk.com

You are a responsible homeowner. You work long hours to pay your bills on time, no matter if it means making tremendous sacrifices to do so. Lately, the economy has transformed your daily life into a struggle to keep your head above water. You see bailouts for banks who have mismanaged their finances, and stimulus packages for people who have twiddled away their funds—but where is the help for people who have been careful with their money and are still struggling? Who is looking out for you?

Well, someone is. That’s right, there is someone out there who understands your struggles and believes that the responsible people striving to maintain their finances are the ones who deserve assistance. In fact, they are even targeting the area of the U. S. that has been hit the hardest by the recession: Southeastern Michigan.

It gets better! This white knight of the recession is even a mortgage company—gasp! Shore Mortgage of Birmingham, Michigan, to be exact.

Shore Mortgage is a full service mortgage company that offers both new mortgages and refinancing services. In February of 2009, they implemented the program “We Understand” to assist ‘forgotten homeowners,’ the ones who have kept up with their bills, are working, and have been making timely mortgage payments. The initial goal was to award $100,000 of assistance to 100 families in southeastern Michigan. This goal was surpassed during that same month, and Shore Mortgage was able to grant 112 families up to $1000 each. It has been part of their effort, as the #1 FHA lender in Michigan, to give back to the community.

President of Shore Mortgage, Robert Rahal explains their objective:

“We are passionate about the people who do everything right. They go to work every day (many take on second jobs), cut back on their spending so that they timely pay their obligations, and their reward for being responsible is that they are ignored. Today’s national spotlight continues to be on foreclosures, but no one is talking about assisting these conscientious people as they have no foreclosure nor repossession issues. They have not overextended themselves. They simply go to work every day, and keep current on their obligations, handing down these responsible traits to their families. They are truly the forgotten people. It is this important middle class segment of our country’s population, the backbone of our society, who deserve some type of acknowledgement. We want to recognize and assist them in our small way.”

Now it’s YOUR turn to cash in! With the success of this program its first time around, Shore Mortgage has decided to extend their “We Understand” program in order to help even more homeowners in the southeastern Michigan area. A minimum of $20,000 will be given away to families by the end of 2009. The only requirements for applicants is that they are residents of Wayne, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw, Livingston, Genesee, Monroe, St. Clair and Lapeer counties in Michigan and are current with mortgage payments. The deadline for application is September 15, 2009. Here’s your chance for some well-deserved relief!

For more information on the “We Understand” program:
telephone 1-866-784-4132;
fax 1-866-784-4133;
email weunderstand@shoremortgage.com;
website www.shoremortgage.com;
or mail 770 S. Adams Road, Birmingham, Michigan 48009 Attn: We Understand Program.

With all the talk in the marketplace of all these bailouts, you have to ask yourself is it really a good thing?  The financial bailout that happened less than a month ago is now pouring over into a bailout of the automotive industry.  Does this make sense for us?

A good friend of mine told me the other day that if he could, he would go ahead and buy millions of dollars of stock in GM.  A year ago I would have said the same thing, but then I learned how to read financial statements.  Just because something is cheap, doesn’t mean it’s undervalued.  Go to the grocery store and you’ll know what I mean.  You see that bread for 10 cents?  Well, you better hope you can eat it all within a few hours before it goes rotten.

The problem here is that the lawmakers aren’t looking at the automotive industry with unbiased eyes.  Instead they see GM as a pinnacle of US manufacturing and they don’t want to see that go away.  Last time I checked you’re not supposed to value a company based on emotions but instead on the value that it brings to its shareholders.  Here we have a company that has been dragged down by poor management and terrible inefficiencies.  Is this a company that I want to reflect as a cornerstone of American ingenuity?  Hell no, I prefer to put that title on companies like Google and Microsoft.

How is it that the US car makers have been able to continue on this downward spiral and just as they hit bottom they get a bailout?  It makes absolutely no sense!  Granted, people will say that we can’t let this happen because more jobs will be lost in Michigan.  Well, I have a feeling that if GM went under some other automotive company (that actually makes money) might step in and save some of those jobs.  Sure it won’t be all of them, but it’s time that the Michigan economy starts doing things right!  Why keep pouring money into a business model that is flawed, it’s a proven fact!

In either case, I firmly believe that companies should be held responsible for their own financial woes.  I’ve worked at GM before; I have seen the ridiculous inefficiencies that they allow to happen it’s quite frightening! If they get a bailout today, we will see this same thing happen again in 15 years, count on it!