TheMReport

36 | TH E M R EP O RT O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T ORIGINATION THE LATEST Standing Out to Buyers What can lenders do to differentiate themselves in today's market? A new report says it's all in the customer experience. L enders must improve the customer experience—es- pecially if they want to increase purchase origi- nations and grow in the face of declining refinance activity, a recent STRATMOR Group Insights Report revealed. According to the report, low borrower satisfaction, delayed closings, and other factors can have a significant impact on a lender's competitive edge. "In a slower growth environ - ment that relies more on purchase originations, the winners are going to be those lenders that are able to steal market share from their competitors—and the key to doing that is having a strong fo - cus on borrower satisfaction," said Garth Graham, Senior Partner at STRATMOR Group. "While pric - ing will continue to be a factor in lenders' ability to compete, pro- viding borrowers with a superior customer experience will play a much more significant role than ever before." A huge part of why the cus - tomer experience is so important? Graham said it's social media. "One reason customer experi - ence will be key to competing going forward is that prospective borrowers have more convenient and widespread access to lenders' customer experience ratings via social media and online sites that enable borrowers to rate their lender experience," he said. In its Insights Report, STRATMOR outlined what it called the "Seven Commandments for Achieving Borrower Satisfaction." A detailed how-to on pleasing today's mortgage borrower, the commandments tell lenders to: provide up-front checklists to customers, get in touch well before closing, avoid asking for redundant documents, keep customers informed throughout the process, and close on time, among other things. "While these commandments are not surprising," Graham said, "what may be surprising is the hit that lenders take on bor - rower satisfaction levels and the potential reputational damage they face when they fail to adhere to one of more of the command - ments. With borrower experience so easily shared online these days, lenders striving to outpace the competition will need to intensely focus on these commandments." Case in point: STRATMOR's monthly MortgageSAT bor - rower satisfaction survey recently showed that delayed closings se- verely affect borrower satisfaction scores. For example, borrowers with refinance loans that closed 15 or more days late reported a satisfaction score of just 73. Where Staging Makes a Difference Staging the living room can make the most impact on a home sale, followed by the bedroom, kitchen, and yard. T hough the concept of home staging is by no means new, not all decorating endeavors have the same impact. Accord- ing to the National Association of Realtors 2017 Profile of Home Staging, the room that makes the most impact when staged is the living room. If the budget allows it, agents should then focus on the master bedroom, the kitchen, and the yard—in that order. The area that can be skipped if neces- sary is the guest bedroom. So what did the profile reveal was the next most important factor in successfully staging? Target the common denomina- tor. Thirty-eight percent of buyers' agents said staging had the largest impact on the buyer when it matched the buyer's tastes—so agents should focus on pleasing the majority. When staged properly, 39 percent of sellers' agents that NAR polled feel that staging greatly decreases the time the home spends on the market, while 23 percent said it slightly decreases the time spent on market. Overall, two-thirds of respondents felt that staging helped move their properties. "Realtors know how important it is for buyers to be able to pic - ture themselves living in a home and, according to NAR's most recent report, staging a home makes that process much easier for potential buyers," said NAR President William E. Brown, a Realtor from Alamo, California, and the Founder of Investment Properties. "While all real estate is local, and many factors play into what a home is worth and how much buyers are willing to pay for it, staging can be the extra step sellers take to help sell their home more quickly and for a higher dollar value."

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