Playing With Grenades

There is a blog post appearing on Seattle Bubble titled "Ever met someone who likes to play with live grenades? Here's somebody: Agents Who Originate Loans"

It seems some agents have had problems with real estate agent / LO's. (loan originators) The story goes on and talks about the law suit that many of you have seen where the buyer filed suit against their agent alleging that the agent mislead the buyer on price. The story goes on and says that the agent also was the loan originator on the transaction. The following is my response to this post in light of some of the negative comments from agents:

Like every service provider out there, there are good and bad. I read these comments and can relate to these experiences because of "issues" on my own listings where an unethical real estate agent has also worked as the loan originator (LO) I operate both a real estate company and a mortgage company. We always put client interest ahead of our own interest and do not engage in ANY practice that is not to the benefit of our client. We offer our service as loan originator to our clients when it is going to save them money, result in a faster and smoother transaction and improve the quality of the overall service that we provide. One of the biggest challenges we have is overcoming some of the objections created by the dishonest and unethical LO's (and real estate agents) in the industry. As far as "playing with live grenades" there is no "grenade" for the honest agent who knows the mortgage business cold and knows when to refer a borrower elsewhere, for instance EVERY TIME it is in the borrower's best interest. The reason we created the mortgage company in the first place was because of inconsistent, overpriced, apathetic service. Since 1996 we have originated loans on over 70% of our real estate sales and on average save our borrower at least on third of what they would pay elsewhere. We also believe that true authority withstands questioning and will gladly provide an approval by an independent underwriter when our offers are presented, and yes, we underwrite and fund our own loans. I am sorry that many of you have had bad experiences with agent / LO's but please consider the source rather then painting all with the same brush.

What are YOUR experiences?