Leveraging Social Media Presence for Business

Having a social media presence attracts opportunities. Twitter in particular has introduced me to many people with common, shared business interests – they come out of the blue and we become close friends very quickly based on our business compatibility. Many “social media experts” promote consulting, or how to get rich quick schemes based on social media. I’m surprised to see very few leverage their experience and their social media influence to develop businesses not based on social media advice.

So… I’ve started a Mortgage and Refinance services business. I’ve been involved in the real estate industry for over 6 years as an entrepreneur, business owner and consultant. For the past 2 1/2 years, I’ve authored the Transparent Real Estate blog, and chronicled how the real estate industry should adopt the social media and make the business of real estate less murky and more transparent.

I have five reasons for starting a mortgage business:

1. Make the mortgage and refi procurement process completely transparent. I have always professed that finding and closing on a mortgage should be as transparent as buying any off the shelf product with a fixed price tag. Most consumers have no clue about the various fees (some are junk fees like “doc prep”), even hidden fees that have given the mortgage industry a somewhat treacherous reputation.
2. Provide professional, experienced service. The barriers to entry to become licensed as a mortgage broker or loan officer are fairly low, and timely service is sometimes lacking. Frankly, it’s not that simple to get a loan in this recession, and that’s where expertise and service becomes the key satisfaction determinant.
3. Create a new sales and marketing paradigm. Leveraging the lessons of 2.0, we will strive to educate the consumer about the mortgage procurement process. And we won’t contact the consumer unless they ask us to. We won’t have an email marketing campaign or aggressively spam in any way. We’ll endeavor to change the hard sell culture.
4. Launch of a revolutionary Wholesale Mortgage Rate Engine. Almost all consumers don’t realize there are wholesale loan rates. Through consulting, we advised on the development of RateWindow, a revolutionary Wholesale Mortgage Rate Engine that launched this month. Finally every rate can be fully disclosed to the consumer. We wholeheartedly base our quote system on RateWindow; standard quote engines like Bankrate and Lending Tree don’t provide wholesale quotes and sell your contact info as leads to anybody who wants to buy them.
5. Help consumers purchase a home. I believe the next 24 months will be the best opportunity to purchase a home in America because this recession will eventually bottom out.

If you are researching mortgages and refis, please visit our Wholesale Mortgage Rate Engine at http://mortgagetransparent.com/ratewindow.

Tagged as: Bankrate, housing, Lending Tree, loan, mortgage, RateWindow, Real Estate, Recession, refi, Social Media, Transparency, Transparent Real Estate, Twitter