Mortgage Field Services by Charles Dickens

Mortgage Field Services by Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.”

Most people probably know Charles Dickens as an author, and a great author at that.  When you run across a mention of Charles Dickens and his books you are likely to find the statement that “his books are never out of print” – meaning of course that they continue to be popular and in demand.

Once again I have been thinking too much about the mortgage field services business and it occurred to me that Charles Dickens’ quote describes exactly what is going on today in the mortgage field services business. So, right now, I think that Charles Dickens was probably also a soothsayer.  I could never in a million years come up with a better definition of the here and now in the mortgage field services business.

Oh, by the way, if you just stopped by for a casual visit, you might want to close up your browser and come back another time.  This one is gonna be a long one.  It’s been itching my bones for months and it’s time to get on with it.

I think of myself as a writer.  Not a published writer mind you but I write nonetheless.  A lot of writing.  It’s the AADD, I think.  So, I would like to change the ending of his famous quote.  Here goes:  “we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going directly to hell.”  Okay.  There it is.  I’m talking about the mortgage inspection business, it’s going to hell!

Just to let you know how serious I am about rejoining the battle, just a few minutes ago I  lowered the price of my manual to less than half of what it was.  It’s now $35.  My apologies to those of you that just bought it yesterday but this is all a knee-jerk reaction to the month’s events.  Why did I do that?  Well, it’s time for me to get serious again about battling the black hats in the mortgage field services business.  You know, I can talk a lot, but I’m almost speechless about how bad things have become.  I’m going to do my best though.  My manual’s original intent was to warn people what they were getting into if they decided to pursue the mortgage field services business.  Then, if they decided to proceed after what they had read in the first part of the book, the later parts described how to proceed.  What to do, say, don’t do – that kind of stuff.  Now honestly, I’m just like the rest of the bad guys.  The price of my manual has been increasing for years and has been the highest priced reference manual on the market for a couple of years.  So I got greedy like everyone else.  I lost sight of the original intent which was to fight the bad guys by educating my readers.

Let me mention that I started this campaign years ago when the worst of the worst companies took advantage of an elderly retired couple.  The company promised them wine and roses and after the couple (in their 70′s I might add) took money out of their retirement to purchase fax, license, phone lines, computer, internet service, e&o insurance, liability insurance and a couple of pencils, the company never sent anything – wouldn’t even take their calls!  Well, it’s beginning to be like that again; maybe worse; and definately with a new twist.

Here’s another thing.  This is for all the newcomers that just started in the last couple of months, or last week, or even yesterday – it doesn’t matter.  You won’t believe me now but it won’t take you long before you will have a reason to recall what I’m saying:  “You’re next”!  Sure I know you think it’s not going to happen to you.  Keep a quarter in your pocket.  If you can find a phone somewhere you can call the Salvation Army to give you a room after some of these companies get through with you!

The “new thing” now is for the national mortgage servicing companies to lay out areas they need coverage in and include the areas where they have been unable to get anyone to work since the beginning of time.  They are, I’m sure, spending an awful lot of time making sure that the inspector gets a little of the good stuff and lots of the bad stuff.  They are re-arranging everything so that they can claim “complete coverage of the United States”.  One company told me I had no choice - I had to work the area 65 miles away and go do one inspection there once a month.  Well guess what?  I do have at least one choice I can think of.  Shove it!

Another company must have thought I really believe everything they tell me.  After the fact, they informed us that they had put the entire inspection business out for bid.  They assured me that they sent us the email that foretold of the bid process.  What a shame – they used to be one of the best and now it looks like they are trying to stake out the low spot in the mud hole.

Then, another “me too” company sent a list of zip codes to look up by their area territory numbers and let them know if we will work it their way.  Nope, I’m not going to drive 85 miles one way once a month just so you can look good to your client!  I thought it was particularly effective that the spread sheet they sent was printed in a 6pt font.

Does anyone besides myself think it is strange that all these companies are converting to this new strategy within weeks or days of each other? Competitors? Looks like a conspiracy to me. Conspiracy might not be the right word. The dictionary definition of conspiracy is “A secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act”. I can’t say if it’s unlawful or not but it sure is a curious turn of events!

I can’t really say what is driving all of this madness.  It might be the lenders: the banks, the mortgage companies; I don’t know.  But that’s as good an explanation as any I guess.  We have all recently seen overwhelming evidence of how dishonest and greedy some of them were (are?).

I would like to give you a little something to look at; maybe help you form your own opinion.  Mosey on over to http://www.cubicyard.us/ and take a look at some of the links called “Company Snoopers”.  I think it will be a real eye opener for you.  There’s so much legal action going on I don’t think the New Orleans Super Dome could hold the legal staff.  I’ll be putting some of those Snoopers here on this site you can keep up with these companies.  There’s sure to be some news eventually.

There’s still hope.  There’s still a few really good companies – the kind of companies to stand beside on the skirmish line.  I’m afraid they are a dying breed.