The Point of Life, Children, Money, Politics, and Locking Loans

This is a guest post written by Clarion Mortgage CEO, David Marr. David is nice enough to allow us to re-print internal emails and commentary that he sends out to Clarion LO’s and Management. Company specific and proprietary information have been removed.

Trace: In addition to some great insights, David brings up some great points about locking and its role in mortgage broker survival, a topic I hear very few people talking about today.

Listening to talk radio this morning coming in to work, the topic was European lifestyle versus American.  I found it particularly important and pertinent to our current circumstances, so I thought I’d throw out one of my pseudo-philosophical missives to hopefully stir the depths.  This topic happens to hit my personal sweet spot because it touches on some elements I find critical: the point of life, children, money, politics, and locking loans.

As you may be following, the country is deciding at some collective level whether to follow the European model of higher cost of living in exchange for an increased safety net versus higher level of freedom to succeed or fail which requires and offers a higher level of individual responsibility.  As the population ages the opportunity to make up for lost opportunities, forgone choices, and plain ol’ mistakes is diminished.  How that is handled is more than just about money, it’s about choosing the kind of people we want to be.

Of course Americans want all people to be well fed, live in decent homes, have good educations, get adequate medical care, and live a reasonably good life.  Who could argue otherwise?  It just gets a little more complicated when someone other than the person involved decides what’s desired, what’s appropriate, what’s enough.  As in Europe that situation leads to powerlessness in individuals and, once institutionalized, pointlessness.

So what is the point of life, really?  We are born, we learn stuff, do stuff, and die.  If there is no point to life, there’s no reason to postpone the pursuit of the good life.  And if the good life is assured by the state, then why put forth the extra effort to store enough nuts for yourself and others if someone else will take care of that anyway?  Indeed, doing so would just draw attention of the taxing authorities who might take the extra nuts away anyway.  No, better to just live life to the fullest for today and enjoy “La Pura Vida”- the good life.  Better to focus on the next relaxing vacation than concern yourself with saving for some uncertain future.

Is this some extreme hypothetical point I’m making that is not really a valid question?  No.  Europeans live for today and don’t subordinate today’s pleasures for tomorrow’s well being.  How so?  Children.  To have a family, young people must postpone for a very long time today’s pursuits of career, economics, travel, and personal enrichment for the sake of bringing someone into this uncertain world.  Talk about an act of faith!  Having children requires the belief that the world will be stable in the future.  To pour yourself into another human being for a couple of decades at the expense of personal pleasures is to live an extremely hopeful life.  In a high cost society, young people postpone child bearing until they can afford children.  The longer the delay, the more the decision moves away from a biological choice and more into sociological one.  And what are Europeans collectively deciding?  Not to have children!  All European nations, including Russia, are not reproducing children at a rate that will replace the population.  In two generations, traditional Europeans will be almost extinct.  It’s a fact, look it up. It is the ultimate democratic vote on the referendum of life.

I believe the point of life is to live for something worthwhile, to subordinate self to something greater- an idea, a hope, a child.  Though the individual is not likely to change the whole world, he can change his world.  She can decide to make a stand and live her life in such a way that demonstrates values beyond self indulgence and present pleasures.  That idea requires a positive hope that one’s efforts will matter and circumstances will, if nothing else, be better for the next generation.  In my opinion America provides hope for the future because our current systems imperfectly allow individuals to live a life with hope that our efforts will matter.

My world, the place I have chosen to make my stand and declare who I am and what I’m about is in my family and my extended families of Clarion and Catalyst.  Clarion Mortgage, a call to action, is an idea; Catalyst Lending, a catalyst for positive change, is an idea.  The idea that mortgage people can come together to pool their efforts in order to derive greater economic benefit for themselves and their customers.  It’s the idea that quality should reside at the originator level to ensure professional service to the community in return for economic benefit.  It’s the idea that if you help enough people get what they want, you will more than get enough of what you want.  It is the idea embodied in the biblical imperative to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”.  It is the idea of win/win for all the stakeholders in the chain of value.  And mostly, it is the idea that by demonstrating character and integrity in good times and tough times, i.e. that the system is fair, then the individual will be willing to stay and invest in a hope that things will work out eventually.  That’s the American idea.

The mortgage business has changed from a sales minded system to a banking minded system.  The abrupt change has left many concerned about their own long term viability.  Concern is a good thing.  It heightens your awareness to be on the alert for information that will help you adapt to environmental changes.  The brokerage business will survive IF it subordinates short term benefit for long term well being.  Locking.

Locking has emerged as the focal point of the survival question.  Can brokers compete with banks on loan pull through?  It’s a question of faith really.  The instinctual desire to do whatever is necessary to generate short term benefit, to keep the deal and close it, must be overcome with the faith that things will work out better if you subordinate short term self interest to long term collective interest.  That’s a pretty big step of faith.  Many can’t do it without short term negative consequences.  That is why European countries are providing economic incentives to produce children in an effort to balance out the equation.  It’s a tall order to motivate people to choose long term well being over short term pleasure.  I’m not hopeful about Europe, but very optimistic about Clarion and Catalyst. The reason I am optimistic is because I believe, and I know many LO’s believe, that Clarion and Catalyst are working for a larger idea, not just short term profits.  We are working together to make the business a good and fair place to devote our energies.  This week we will roll out our system to manage the lock issue.

One last assertion: I think parents come to realize - by pouring yourself into something worthwhile, by foregoing short term pleasures for something not quite describable, by stretching yourself for the sole benefit of something larger than yourself, a child - you grow them physically while they, in turn, grow you spiritually.  And, it’s not something you can easily walk away from, you’re committed.  And that makes all the difference in the world.  Committing yourself, mind body and soul, to a person, an enterprise, an idea, is the path to fulfillment.  It is the difference between success and significance.  It is that to which I am dedicated.  Join me.