Tony Thompson, CMB, of NAMMBA: DIVERSIFi is the Road Map for Lending and Realtors in 2023

Tony Thompson, CMB, founded the National Association of Minority Mortgage Bankers of America in 2016. NAMMBA is a purpose-driven organization dedicated to inclusion of women and minorities in the mortgage industry who are advocates for sustainable homeownership in local communities. Its mission is to increase the engagement of women and minorities in the mortgage industry by actively being involved at the local, state and national level of the Mortgage Bankers Association. To learn more about NAMMBA, log on to www.nammba.org.

When I was working in the real estate finance industry, putting together sales teams, setting goals, and going out to work with borrowers, I would have loved something that could show me if I was wasting my time, or even headed in the right direction.

It would have taken the sting out of so many closed doors and lost afternoons, trying to sell the wrong lending product to the wrong demographic.

While I haven’t yet found a wand, crystal ball, or magic mirror that can tell me if I have the right target market, I’ve been working on something that is SOOOOOOO close.

(And a bit less woo-woo.) 

It’s data. SO. MUCH. DATA. And data is the key to success!

Fortunately for you, this data has been organized to tell a story. You won’t have to dig through dozens of graphs, spreadsheets, or company memos to find the answers you’re looking for.

It’s all on a map.
And this map can show you:

• where your CRA mortgage opportunities are;
• where more education around lending and selling might be needed;
• what the best products to market would be, based on census data;
• who your best partners in real estate and lending will be for the market you cover.

NAMMBA and iEmergent have been working to create a tool (called DIVERSIFI) that will allow anyone in the real estate finance business to better understand the market they serve, reach more of that market and create connections and relationships with them.

Instead of blanketing your market segment with everything you offer (or missing areas of town with low competition but high-profit margins), you could more accurately pinpoint which areas will respond to different lending products.

Having the data is one thing. A lot of companies collect data. But then they sit on it because communicating it to a sales team or a marketing department is too difficult.

Having access to the data in a format that is easy to find, easy to use, and easy to take action on? That’s a game changer.

We designed DIVERSIFi for teams just like yours to use in creating actionable strategies.

It’s a data tool that you can actually use…no magic wand necessary.

Companies wanting to learn more, visit: https://www.iemergent.com/diversifi.

(Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect policy of the Mortgage Bankers Association, nor do they connote an MBA endorsement of a specific company, product or service. MBA NewsLink welcomes your submissions. Inquiries can be sent to Mike Sorohan, editor, at msorohan@mba.org; or Michael Tucker, editorial manager, at mtucker@mba.org.)