It’s time, I’m overdue.
First, hello! Yes, I realize it’s been a while since I last sent out anything. Last sendout was in mid-June. The summer has really whipped by, with a mix of being too busy at work, busy with the kids at home over summer, and maybe taking just a few days for myself too.
I have a lot to say, all the time. Maybe too much. And too many of these days I start writing an article after some inspirational thoughts hit me, and then my phone rings. Someone needs mortgage advice? Poof! I’m out of creative mode and focused on my caller. The article will wait.
Maybe that’s why my writing is consistently inconsistent. I’ve aimed for a send-out every two weeks, and it’s been almost two months since my last.
So before the phone rings again, before I focus on the next caller, I’m going to get this article out, if it’s the last thing I do. I do have about 7 calls to catch up on, and if you happen to be one of those people, don’t mind if I call you on Sunday, please. I’m catching up.
I wrote some content as far as a few months ago, and for some reason, I’ve been reluctant to just send it out. I overthink, I ponder. Stop overthinking David!
Which is what I’ll try to do. So over the next month or so, I might be sending out more often than before. Hope you don’t mind! There’s just too much juicy stuff to keep to myself.
To say there’s been a lot of chatter these days about AI would be a HUGE understatement. It’s everywhere.
To me, AI is many things. I used to watch Star Trek growing up (still do actually), and Data was a good example of AI. He was knowledgeable and helpful to the crew. He could do lots of things that humans could not. Besides the physical superiority to humans, he could access vast amounts of knowledge in less than seconds.
But Data also had his limitations. He couldn’t feel. He couldn’t empathize with his crew mates. He was slower to make decisions at times. His reaction time could be slower at times. He lacked, for better words, the human touch.
At this juncture, I think anyone smart enough knows AI is vastly limited in it’s capability to replace most jobs that humans do. Zeroing in, I’m going to focus on what I do, mortgage brokering, and do a deeper dive of two examples (broken into two different articles) of why I know AI isn’t quite taking my job. Yet.
I had a client the other day tell me what result Grok gave him for his specific mortgage transaction/question.
“Grok, give me all the lowest mortgage rates available in Lloydminster”. (Now, this wasn’t the place that my client is purchasing in, but I really like the name, Lloydminster, and I tend to change details like this when I tell mortgage stories).
I guess the first mistake here is that the client doesn’t give Grok enough information about his transaction. Grok gives an equally simplified answer.
The shortest distance between two places is a straight line, and Grok is somewhat treating the question and answer much in the same way. It haphazardly gives my clients rates from two online competitors, but doesn’t really explain some crucial information to my client that greatly affects the outcome. Thereby, my client is actually more misinformed at this point.
Little does the client know that the geographic location for his AAA mortgage application doesn’t really matter. It could be in London or Lloydminster, and the banks would still be obliged to give you a mortgage no matter the location (side note – we’ve done mortgages in some pretty remote places). Grok doesn’t tell him this. Grok also doesn’t tell him things like, services to the property, and if the place is seasonal, does matter.
Fun fact: Lloydminster is located directly on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The border basically splits the town in half. I’ll have to read more on how the municipality deals with provincial issues, like health care. Anyways, I digress.
Grok doesn’t know to tell my client that if he doesn’t debt service the mortgage (as a rental or a second home), he won’t be eligible for the rates that our robot finds from an online provider website, or in fact, from the 5 big banks, either. Grok quickly races to his answer and haphazardly spits it out, because his overlord tells him that he has to give his answers quickly, because people are impatient.
Another danger here is that Grok assumes he knows the answer (which he doesn’t), and doesn’t give disclaimers. Disclaimers are very important in this mortgage brokering game. Grok skips a bunch of crucial information, and takes a whole lot of time to come to that conclusion.
One important disclaimer that Grok misses is that the mortgage rate will be affected by the size of the mortgage and the type of transaction (is it insured, insurable, uninsured, a rental, second home, or primary residence?). Pretty important detail to miss, no?
I’m getting a bit of a kick out of this story because I realize that if someone actually does take the time to try and find some real answers using AI, they are going to have to load it with all the right questions, which takes more of their time.
Moreso, can Grok tell my client if he qualifies for the mortgage? Dare I say, absolutely not.
There’s a ton of lender minutia that Grok has no idea on, like, some banks are willing to bend debt servicing guidelines for the right clients. That’s a really big one, actually. Even if Grok had somehow miraculously determined that my client’s debt servicing ratio is 46%, he would have looked at all the guidelines published out there, and told my client to give up. 44% is the max, mister. You’re outta luck.
Little does Grok know that ONE or TWO banks in some cases allow debt service ratios up to 50%, only in some cases. Am I going to tell you which banks those are? Of course not. That’s why you have to call me, it’s proprietary information.
While my client had good intentions, and while Grok may or may not have good intentions, the result was the same. Misinformation and out of context rates. Basically, Grok got it totally wrong. Thankfully, my client eventually saw that, and called me.
One reason someone might feel compelled to use AI for this is because they think they can trust that the AI is unbiased in it’s answers.
Truth is, I don’t know.
What I do know, is that my advice is unbiased. If you don’t believe me, check out all the reviews of people who DIDN’T get their mortgage with us. I know when it’s time for me to step aside and to tell that person to just deal directly with their bank for a better deal. THAT’S unbiased advice.
I say sayonara all the time to potential business, if I know I’m not adding value. I give the client 15 minutes of my time explaining them the ins and outs of their mortgage transaction, and then quietly bow out of the scenario (and ask for a google review).
When you know I’m willing to give up a paycheck, when my client’s time and money matters more than my own time and money, you know my advice is unbiased.
I’m not going to tell you not use AI to help you with your mortgage. Rather, I’m going to tell you to give AI a shot with your mortgage question, and then, call me. I’ll go over your situation with you and give you my insights. Then, for grins and giggles, we can compare the answer that AI gave you, to see how close or far off it was.
Am I a broken record? When you call me, we go over, everything. You don’t even have to ask me the right questions, because I already know all the questions that you need to ask me, and I bring them up. I explain to you the ins and outs of getting a mortgage. I explain to you the ins outs and in betweens on your own financial situation. I explain to you all the possible outcomes. And throughout, we’ve had some laughs, because unlike Grok, I have a natural sense of humor.
I get into so much detail, valuable detail, that by now, Grok’s CPU will be overloading and he’ll give you the dreaded blue screen of computer death. Sorry, Grok and any AI don’t come close to the value you’re going to get when you take 15 minutes on the phone, with me.
I’m going to end it there because I’m starting to feel like the bully in the playground picking on the kid that’s not quite smart enough. Sorry, Grok. Good thing AI doesn’t have feelings, so it’s not really feeling anything despite all the insults I’m volleying towards it. Let’s leave some of this AI bullying for another time? My next article on this is going to be a doozy. (Note – I was never the bully, I was often the target, until I learned how to throw a punch).
Stay tuned. Have a great rest of your Sunday. And if you have a question, ask me, by simply pressing REPLY to this email, and throw in your question, or even better, just ask me to call you, or call me yourself. 2508587160. I still answer the phone.
Signing Off For Now,
David Steinberg, Better Than Grok At Mortgage Brokering
Owner, Lead Broker
Olympic Mortgage
My Contact: david@olympicmortgages.ca. 250-858-7160
As always, feedback is very appreciated! Just hit reply and tell me if you loved it, are indifferent, or hated it!
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