Manufactured Housing News

Manufactured home lenders work with a unique type of borrower and shouldn’t depend solely on traditional methods to collect information or evaluate applications. Building trust through direct, clear communication with applicants helps lenders better understand and meet their needs.

Here are seven key tips to help you connect more effectively with your manufactured home borrowers.

Tip #1: Develop and implement a differentiation strategy.

If your loan portfolio includes different types of borrowers, it’s important to create a tailored strategy for each group. Since manufactured home buyers have unique needs compared to other borrowers, a focused approach helps you offer lending solutions that address their specific challenges. 

Tip #2: Adopt a borrower-focused approach.

Nowadays, many potential manufactured home borrowers are in the market for affordable housing alternatives. If your loan portfolio doesn’t include lending solutions for these borrowers, you may want to consider partnering with a lending institution that specializes in manufactured home financing, like Triad Financial Services. Our experienced financial experts can help you choose the right manufactured home loan programs that fit not only the needs of your potential borrowers but also the needs of your organization.

Tip #3: Address previous financial issues.

A recent report shows that many U.S. households are still facing financial stress after the 2007–2008 crisis. Because some manufactured home borrowers may have past credit issues, it’s important to prepare them for the loan terms available to applicants with less-than-perfect credit.

Tip #4: Carefully analyze loan applications.

The financial section of a loan application shows each borrower’s income and expenses. Understanding this information helps you offer manufactured home loans that borrowers can afford to repay comfortably.

Tip #5: Employ different communication methods.

Each manufactured home borrower is unique. Therefore, you can’t expect to communicate with all borrowers using the same means of communication. While some people choose to get in touch with their lenders via phone, others prefer sending emails or using online contact forms. To encourage borrowers to contact your staff, make sure that you combine different communication methods and assess their effectiveness regularly.

Tip #6: Counsel potential borrowers.

Proactively communicating with a prospective manufactured home borrower can help you better understand his or her needs and wants. As a result, you’ll be able to direct him or her toward the right loan program. This has a two-fold beneficial effect: 1) it reduces your default rate for manufactured home loans; 2) it allows you to establish yourself as a trusted advisor, which may persuade more manufactured home buyers to choose your lending solutions over those of your competitors.

Tip #7: Implement employee retention strategies.

In the study, “Do Relationships Matter? Evidence from Loan Officer Turnover,” Alejandro Drexler and Antoinette Schoar explain that borrowers develop relationships with the staff they get in touch with, and not with the institution itself.

By retaining your most valuable employees and encouraging them to continue to nurture strong relationships with new and existing customers, you can get all the answers you need to make your product and service offerings more in tune with your borrowers’ needs.

At Triad Financial Services, we have a team of dedicated experts who can help you set up the right strategy for listening to your potential manufactured home borrowers, identifying their needs more effectively and telling them more about your offers. For more information, feel free to contact our friendly professionals today.