Marketing with Realtors
Co-Marketing With Real Estate Agents
If you are a loan officer that works with Real Estate Agents to help their clients obtain mortgage financing to purchase homes in your area, you likely have done some co-marketing with real estate agents.
The main example of co-marketing we see are flyers that market both the real estate agent and the loan officer / mortgage lender that offers to assist home buyers with their financing needs.
We also see Financing Available ads built into an Open House Flyer for a home with sample loan scenarios offered in the flyer.
So what rules do we need to be concerned with here? Rather than discuss all the rules, lets discuss the relevant questions that I would ask:
- How is this particular piece being distributed to consumers. Will it be a “take one” flyer available in a real estate office or open house? Or will this piece be emailed to consumers or posted to social media?
- Has all required NMLS licensing disclosures (for both the individual loan officer and his employing and state required advertising disclosures been added to the piece?
- Does the real estate agent list any required licensing disclosures next to the real estate agents name and the Real Estate Company’s name.
- Who is paying for the various costs involved with preparing, printing and distributing the flyer or other marketing piece to consumers? Is the cost shared in some way between the real estate agent and the loan officer/lender?
These questions should help in your analysis of the co-marketing piece you are considering doing with the real estate agent. Think about what rules are triggered here when you reviewing your co-marketing piece so you can be sure to address these rules and any apparent regulatory risk present in the co-marketing pieces on which you are working.