Memorial Day Makes Big Impact!
It’s been a long time since I have seen this level of activity coming out of a Memorial Day weekend. The sheer numbers my clients are reporting of new inquiries, pre-approvals, and contracts in the first two days back from the weekend are really incredible! Granted, my clients are but a small subsection of the loan origination universe, but over the last 15 years I have never recorded these kinds of numbers. So based on the numbers from my originators, here are a few takeaways:
- The average of new contacts over this weekend has been right about 2.3 per originator from Saturday to Monday. This past weekend it was 3.1
- The average number of pre-approvals issued Friday through Monday was just short of 5 and this past week it was 5.8
- The average number of new contracts hitting on Tuesday before noon was 2.2. This week it was 3.2.
- The real shocker came in contracts arriving after noon on Tuesday. It had been about .4 and this week it was 1.5.
That is an increase of about one entire unit in each category! That was 2.5 more contracts dropping per originator over this weekend! Now I know all markets are different, but also know that in some parts of the country there was severe weather that may have reduced some of that possible activity. The pull through this week will tell us more, but the purchase market is really moving along well in the areas my people are serving!
This group is 42 originators working for different companies or banks from New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Oregon. They are pretty diverse in their business in general, but they cover 14 states in a variety of markets and average closing 127 units a year. So these are solid people and production activity can always be seen arriving in spurts; but I make a point of tracking holiday weekend activity and this past weekend was HUGE!
So prepare yourselves for a good bit more activity than you might have thought this season. We aren’t at peak yet, but as more and more schools end for the year we get closer and closer to when we see the crossover of pre-approvals and contracts. The good news is, we saw a bigger than usual build in pre-approvals so far this year so be sure you stay connected and help everyone find that home they desire and be sure those that do buy, use YOU for that loan. Pre-approving the borrower is 90% of the work with none of the pay. The last 10% of taking the deal from contract to closing gets you ALL THE MONEY!
Use the tools and the strategies we have talked about and take advantage of a great market!
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