During the transaction

As your clients prepare to house-hunt in earnest, get them preapproved. If your clients have been in a credit-rebuilding program, notify them as soon as they have reached the threshold for loan qualification, and begin the preapproval process.

Use the house-hunting, offer-submission and transaction time periods to
review important information you first shared with your clients during the pre-transaction phase. Continually reinforce the positive outcome -- the right home purchased with the right mortgage, made possible because they have taken the time to become financially literate.

Keep demystifying terminology and methodology. Explain the steps of preapproval and final approval, describing the lender's decisionmaking process in consumer-friendly language.

After the transaction

Your clients' need for financial literacy doesn't end with the transaction. Your role as their mortgage adviser and advocate shouldn't stop there, either.

Ongoing marketing to clients should highlight information and topics that were important before and during the transaction. A simple e-mail that says hello and links to a worthwhile news story often is appreciated. More-elaborate e-newsletters can do a better job of capturing attention and conveying professionalism. But don't delay post-transaction contact programs for want of a snazzier marketing piece.

Books also make great gifts and learning tools. Sending your clients a best-seller about financial literacy and wealth-building can help keep them focused on those topics and on the great service you provide.

Financially literate clients are informed and optimistic. They are also happier home-
owners who appreciate your services and are quick to refer friends and family to you. Ultimately, they're proof that brokers have done their job well.

Paul Wylie is a mortgage and real estate industry entrepreneur, consultant, and author with more than 25 years of experience. Wylie founded Metrocities Mortgage as a mortgage broker in 1989. The company grew from six employees and $125 million in annual loan production to 1,400 employees and more than $10 billion in loan production across the United States by 2005. To learn more about Wylie, visit www.paulwylie.com, e-mail paulwylie@paulwylie.com or call (818) 878-9581.

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