By Dave Hershman

In the previous column, we defined the term sphere. 

We now will go a little deeper and discuss the seven segments of one’s personal sphere.

Friends, family and neighbors: This part of your sphere is comprised of those with whom you have the closest relationship. Covey would say that you have built up an “emotional” bank account them. This can be the most important segment of the sphere because the members have a vested interest in helping you succeed. And many times, it is under-utilized because call reluctance keeps some people from calling on the personal segment of the sphere.

Previous customers: This segment of the sphere is well defined in practice and literature. Sometimes this segment is interchangeable with the term sphere. There are many “customer relationship management” programs available to help sales and business people keep track of and deliver value to this segment.

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One important point: If you are new in your present industry, be sure to include the previous customers from your previous industry. These are people you have served and with whom you have developed a relationship. Starting with these customers puts you on “second base” instead of home plate.

Present and previous co-workers: This segment would include everyone you have worked with in this industry and previous industries in which you worked. Many have worked with hundreds of different people. You might have helped someone start a career. Perhaps you have promoted someone. These relationships can be turned into dollars because you have good will built up.

Every time an originator leaves the mortgage industry, the sphere they have built up disappears unless you take the initiative to work with him and turn him into a referral source.

In reality, the group of “previous practitioners” makes a great referral source because they are familiar with screening prospects and they are known as having expertise in the industry. Don’t let your previous peers from this profession or your previous profession go untapped.

Previous prospects. Previous prospects are important for two reasons. First, if they choose not to do business with you, they might change their mind sometime in the future. Perhaps they decided not to purchase at all. Keeping in touch with this segment is essential.

On the other hand, there are prospects that you were not able to help because of one reason or another. Perhaps they had bad credit or no savings. You should be referring these people to those who can help them (perhaps credit counselors), so they are more likely to become clients in the future. Those who receive your referrals that are comprised of those you can’t help are helping you with your future business and can become important referral source on their own. It is said that “someone’s garbage is someone else’s treasure” and that's why this can work well.

As you are reading this article, your eyes should be opening wider as you see your sphere expanding in scope.

About the Author: Dave Hershman is a VP of Sales for Weichert Financial Services and founder or OriginationPro (www.OriginationPro.com), providing marketing content and training programs for the industry.  Email him with questions or comments at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Fixed-rate mortgages have fallen to their lowest levels since early 2018, according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey from Freddie Mac.

“The combination of cooling inflation and slower global economic growth led mortgage rates to drift down to the lowest levels in a year,” said Sam Khater, chief economist for Freddie. “While housing activity has clearly softened over the last nine months and the lingering effects of higher rates from last year are still being felt, lower mortgage rates and a strong job market should rekindle demand for the spring homebuying season.”

News Facts

• 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.37 percent with an average 0.4 point for the week ending Feb. 14, 2019, down from last week when it averaged 4.41 percent. A year ago, the 30-year FRM averaged 4.38 percent.
• 15-year fixed-rate mortgage this week averaged 3.81 percent with an average 0.4 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.84 percent. A year ago, the 15-year FRM averaged 3.84 percent.
• 5-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage averaged 3.88 percent with an average 0.3 point, down from last week when it averaged 3.91 percent. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 3.63 percent.

Optimal Blue has created Optimal Blue Mortgage Market Indices to provide consumers and mortgage professionals with greater visibility into key drivers of mortgage pricing. OBMMI was designed with the aim of providing an unprecedented level of daily insight into mortgage transactions.

Based on actual locked rates with consumers across more than 30 percent of mortgage transactions across the U.S., OBMMI offers a comprehensive, accurate, timely, and interactive analysis of mortgage pricing.

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“This is an important milestone in Optimal Blue’s transformation from a pricing engine to a digital mortgage marketplace,” said Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue. “We are uniquely positioned to introduce these new benchmarks and trust they will be of value to a broad range of participants looking for transaction-based mortgage price data.”

In this groundbreaking inaugural release of OBMMI, Optimal Blue provides multiple mortgage rate indices developed around the most popular mortgage loan products and specific borrower attributes. Each of the 16 mortgage indices are represented with the national average of mortgage rates locked by consumers each day and include the change from the previous day.

Indices can be compared through compelling interactive and configurable visualizations. For example, users can easily select pre-defined or custom-time periods to isolate specific market movements or illustrate unique trends, such as the well documented jumbo-conventional spread inversion that exists.

“Complete with the industry’s largest product and pricing library and backed by an unparalleled commitment to accuracy, Optimal Blue’s platform ensures that consumers are presented with the best-fit financing alternatives and that lenders consistently deliver the best price,” said Bob Brandt, vice president of marketing and strategic alliances at Optimal Blue. OBMMI will help both audiences better understand trends and pricing in the mortgage market.”

Optimal Blue operates a secondary marketing automation platform.