Are you actively pursuing the FSBOs in your marketing area? You should be...because you'll generate a never ending supply of inexpensive purchase mortgage leads if done correctly.

Here's a really great tool to add to your marketing bag of tricks: "Hold a conference call for FSBOs." This idea can be used in other niche marketing areas as well.

One of the best decisions you can make if you're originating mortgages is to invest in a quality set of magnetic car signs. Now...I know what you're thinking...you're not sure you'll like the look. Well, if that's true, you need to shop around a little bit and have a real professional, design and create your signs.

Before you click the "back" button or the big red "X" to close this subject for ever, let's take a minute and review some of the advantages of using this type of advertising:

1.

There are many things you can add to your mortgage business card to create a greater awareness and generate the very best available marketing mileage.

As you know, your business card could be an unusual shape, size, or color. It could be folded, printed on both sides, produced as a magnetic card or a see-through card. It could be a laminated card or even converted to a rolodex card.

If you're anything like me, you probably love to brag and tell people including your co-workers, how well you're doing. It's only human nature. But if you're currently marketing to For Sale by Owners (FSBOs) or about to start your program, here are some good reasons for keeping your efforts under wraps and cloaked in secrecy:

1. For Sale by Owner marketing is a niche with very little competition.

You've done your due diligence and put together a great list of 50, or 100, or maybe even 500 contacts in your database. Now it's time to keep your name in-front of these folks so that they'll think of you when it comes time for them to make a mortgage decision.

Remember, about 1 in 6 contacts on your list will be making either a purchase and mortgage decision, or a refinance mortgage decision this coming year.

You may be very happy contacting and schmoozing Realtors/Agents/Builders and begging for their business or, possibly purchasing leads and then competing with three or more originators for the mortgage. But, there are many loan officers and mortgage brokers working with prospects, home buyers and sellers, many months before they even think about contacting a Realtor/Agent.

Today, the designing and printing of advertising signs has never been easier and the cost has never been cheaper. In my community, code enforcement keeps both the mortgage and the mattress sale signs off of the street corners and fines the perpetrators. That shouldn't be a problem using these two sign ideas.

1. Use empty shopping center store fronts to promote your mortgage business.

Whether you're new to the mortgage business or been sitting on the sidelines for a while, this is a great time to get involved and jump-start your mortgage business.

The U.S. housing market is still encouragingly active...thirty year interest rates although fluctuating are still well below 7.00%...home equity interest rates have risen enough to force many folks to refinance and eliminate the higher rate line of credit.

One year from now, many of you will be in exactly the same position as you are now. You'll have the same or similar job...you'll have the same friends...and, you'll have the same income.

Nothing will have changed for you at all. And, assuming you want things to change and want to improve, that's really a shame.

How can I make this disturbing prediction?

My experience with my mortgage mentoring students and the mortgage people I have trained has shown me this simple truth: Most folks in the mortgage business get stuck in a rut and are reluctant to invest money in their personal training and improvement, their marketing skills, and the tools to help them originate more loans.

There is no doubt that email is one of the greatest things that the computer revolution has done for personal productivity. I'm not going to list all the reasons email is good. If you're active in the mortgage business, reading this article online, or surfing the internet...you know them already.

You're probably an avid email user. But, used improperly, email can also be a killer for your mortgage business.

It's time to "Google" yourself. Go to google.com right now and type in your name. Click "Enter" on your keyboard or "Google Search" on your screen. The result that is displayed is your online identity or profile.

If you don't believe some of your mortgage prospects are checking you out using Google...think again! Thanks to Google, it's become ridiculously easy for prospects and customers to find out more about you as a mortgage professional, just by typing your name into the Google search engine.