CAMB, CAFFEINE & KEY CHAINS

I went to the CAMB Expo yesterday at the Anaheim Convention Center. I went for two reasons; to see what vendors were still in the game, and for one seminar in particular. While not normally a big convention guy (although the FHA key chains will hopefully remind selling agents to return the keys to the lock boxes from whince they came), it was refreshing to see and hear that familiar business buzz again. Lenders, title, escrow and supporting vendors were talking the talk. While smaller in number, I think the vendors there realize we've all made it through a very trying time...a rather polite way to put it.

More valuable than the nifty scratch pads though, was the seminar series that was available all day. The one I found most valuable was the "Red Flag",or FACTA, Compliance seminar. While a 9:00 a.m. compliance seminar on anything isn't a replacement for caffeine, it was incredible helpful. Brad Kelso of Informative Research was the presenter and did a great job of outlining this new federal mandate. In short, by 8/1/09, any of us that are involved in any kind of consumer lending (real estate related or not), must have a policy & procedures manual in place. So on top of sustaining your business, mowing your yard, and the upcoming camping trip to El Capitan State Beach (sorry, self-indulgent moment there), we have to spend the time to work up a P & P manual. But all is not to worry. As part of his presentation Brad showed us where to go on his site for help.Click here. I have to say that, as of now, Forefront Mortgage has not used Informative research. Based on the presentation and on line tool box, we will. Brad is also emailing out the Power Point presentation in the coming days. I will post that in a follow up.