Chairman's Letter, Updates: Education

Education Committee Update
February 2010

The strength of our industry lies in the knowledge of our people and to that end, CMLA strives to educate our members so they have the tools and resources to best serve the mortgage community and each of their customers.    Currently, most of us are focused on the changes brought by RESPA reform and implementation of the new Good Faith Estimate and HUD-1.  CMLA  is proud to have sponsored or led multiple classes  educating members not only on the ‘overview’ of the new forms, but on actual use of the form.  Following classes in both December and January, many attendees stated “I’ve attended several of these classes, this is the best presentation I’ve heard—I actually know what to do with this form now!”   

While our recent efforts have been focused on the monumental changes with the RESPA reform, we have remained active educating our members in other areas as well.  The Future Mortgage Leaders Program entered its third year with a strong class of eight mortgage professionals who have already completed one-third of their curriculum and activities.  Under the leadership of Carol Peterson and Dave Gallegos, our FML’s have started their community service project, which involves financial and fiscal education of students at West High School.  Former Chairwoman Deb Meogrossi successfully launched both the Executive and Operations/Compliance Forums, providing members with an opportunity to join the best of their industry colleagues to share ideas, strategy and knowledge.

Future classes will include sessions on social media, presentation skills, FHA changes, condominium and project approvals, sales and marketing, with the most immediate focus on  national registration, licensing and testing.  We are also excited about a collaborative partnership with other providers to offer pre-licensing and continuing education credits to our members.

We are most excited for our new venue with the CMLA Lending and Education Fair, to be held Friday, March 5th, 2010, which will not only provide attendees an opportunity to visit with vendors and learn more about valuable services and products they may offer, but will also allow them attend classes and workshops, including a mini crash-course for the National Test, as well as forums on Affordable Housing, appraisals, sales and marketing, RESPA reform and other sessions. Please plan to attend!