Every Story Needs an Editor

Context and perspective! Those are two concepts that are more and more important by the day as we now live in a time when it’s so incredibly easy to take things out of context and see them solely through someone else’s perspective. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all political on you – I’ll leave that up to the unbiased press and media who don’t like competition.

Recently, I came across a photo on the internet that showed a gentleman sitting at a table in what looked to be a quad or campus common for a high school or college. Because the photo is taken from a distance, and the poster attached to the front of his table was designed in a particularly confusing way, it looked like all the poster really said was “Free HIV”. My first thought was (and it’s quite possible yours would be the same), “Are there hordes of people lining up to PAY for HIV? I would think the ‘free’ part was sort of implied.” Then I thought, “Free or not, that’s not really the best way to pick up on women.” After thinking I was possibly the funniest person on the planet, I looked more closely at the photo and was barely able to make out that it was “Free HIV testing” being offered. (Still not the best way to pick up on women, but I’ll give the guy points for creativity. Or, if they were trying to get the message out to get tested, they might not be hitting ALL their demographic with the confusing presentation of their message.)

A few years back, on the BBC’s website, they had a headline that read: “Sewer was blocked by large Pooh”. (I’m not making this up. Type that into Google, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.) Beneath the headline, they placed a photo of some type of large outdoor receptacle which contained a large stuffed animal of Winnie the Pooh, which one can safely assume was the reason for the blockage – or at least hope it was. Obviously, without that photo, one might think the editor didn’t catch the misspelling and be intrigued to find out just how large it would have to be to cause a blockage of a sewer. Before this week’s newsletter descends into murkier territory, I’ll move on. You get my point, though, right?

Context and perspective! Quite often, in the mortgage business, we hear A LOT of things taken out of context or told from just one person’s perspective that are just plain wrong. For example, one might hear a real estate agent say, “Whatever you do, don’t go with a VA loan. They’re a complete nightmare!” To that agent, sure, she may have had a horrible experience with ONE VA loan 17 years ago that has left her scarred – bummer! However, we absolutely LOVE to do VA loans, and we’ve found them to be one of the easiest products to present and process. If someone who is eligible for a VA loan, upon hearing that agent’s rant, dismisses the possibility of going with a VA loan, they could be spending a lot more than they need to spend to get into the home of their dreams. Along those same lines, when someone says, “My parents bought their first house with an FHA loan, so I’m going to buy my first house with an FHA loan,” they’re allowing someone else’s perspective to determine their destiny and REALLY limit their options.

In both the cases of the table advertising Free HIV (testing) and the headline discussing a sewer blockage, what both could have used was editing. In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where Robert gets married and Raymond gives the Best Man’s speech, Raymond reflects on their childhood and talks about how he and his brother use editing to remember only the good parts: “We only remember . . . the food. We don’t remember when mom would yell at dad not to scratch his read end with a spatula in the bakery. Editing.” As mortgage folks, we need to help agents and borrowers do some editing to help make as many stories come out with a happy ending. That’s no fairy tale either! With that said, though, after reading this, you’re probably never going to look at Winnie the Pooh or a spatula the same again. Sorry about that!