Why don’t Loan Officers Blog?
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Right now, Realtors are kicking the rear end of mortgage brokers with useful information online. Sure, sure, a lot of what Realtors say is the tired and tedious “economic reason to buy a house,” which doesn’t fly right now, but there are a ton of fantastic agents blogging daily. This list doesn’t even scratch the surface.
But mortgage people? We have the doomers and gloomers, the X broker, Lenderama, and Brian Brady. But despite a ton of natural advantages that we lenders have in this industry–namely, the ability to close loans in many different states, the fact that compensation is (still) good, and yet…
…nobody bothers. I think I’m one of three total blogs, regardless of quality, in Ohio, and the other one was started by me. Having a conversation with great agents all over the country is fun, it’s ineresting, it’s profitable, and you can add value in many different ways.
So why don’t brokers/loan officers have as many (which means good) blogs?
Oh, and I’ve got a great post coming monday.
Well thanks Chris!
There certainly aren’t as many lender types blogging as agents. Not sure why that is.
But try out http://www.AZMortgageGuru.com from the epicenter of real estate blogging - sunny Phoenix, AZ. He’s got a good one…
Long before lenderama, I used to sell web sites to loan originators. They were, rigid, static web sites with no customization. Except one. The About Us page could be changed any time. The thing is, most LO’s kept the same, canned text that came with the web site.
I think it’s a matter of how people’s heads are wired. The lending industry attracts analytical minds while the RE industry attracts creative minds. There are exceptions, and a lot of mediocrity on both sides, but blogging is about being creative.
The other part is because talking about mortgages is hard. Really hard. It would be much easier to talk about real estate, or car shows, or local politics. The thing is, LO’s could do that, and they might be just as successful as a good mortgage blogger.
The first mortgage blogger (Alex Stenback) spend much of his time talking about real estate. The first real estate blogger (Hanan Levin) talks about just about anything except real estate. They both continue to blog today. That should count for something.
I think this quote might sum up a potential reason:
“Do not give people a taste of your greatness, only to recede back into mediocrity.” IttyBiz
I suppose it’s for fear of opening yourself up…by doing so you inherit more responsibility and you open yourself up to criticisms. But if there’s something that I’ve learned, it’s to have an opinion and stick to it.
Anyway, enough of my ranting… Happy Blogging!
Interesting observations. We are currently importing all of our mortage websites into our new wordpress based product (LeadPress) for these very reasons. Once loan officers have the ability to blog and create new web pages on the fly in a truly user friendly environment, we will see if anything changes!
Some of us do
Chris, I am a loan officer new to blogging. I started out on Active Rain - where there are a lot of others - and just started my own blog.
There are probably a few reasons why there aren’t more blogs from LOs. First they don’t see the value. It isn’t the way we’ve typically operated and it is hard to know that it will add value or pay off over time. Secondly it is hard work. It takes time to write and read other blogs, and that is time that could be spent doing other things.
I’ve been searching around for other mortgage blogs and I have found some, but a lot of them are blogs that haven’t had posts for months. Then again I’ve seen the same on the real estate side.
Too busy closing loans right now. Things are hopping in Upstate SC…no time for blogging. If it ever slows down maybe I’ll try it.