Thank you for joining the Nebraska Association of Mortgage Brokers (NEAMB) and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB).  By doing so, you are now aligned with 25,000 of your fellow leaders in the mortgage industry.  With support from top professionals like you in all 50 states, NAMB has become the voice of the industry, working on Capitol Hill and in the media to protect and serve the interest of mortgage brokers across the nation. 

As President of the Nebraska Association of Mortgage Brokers for the 2009-2010 year, I wanted to say thank you for your membership in 2009 and for the year to come.  Many of you have been members since our re-inception in Nov of 2007 and for that we thank you as well.   You, like the Board of Directors and our Committees, fully understand all the issues we face in our industry.  You also know that 2009 was a very eventful year for us as Mortgage Brokers from new laws and regulations in addition to significant guideline changes.  If we all work together we can continue to promote industry professionalism, education, legislation, membership involvement and oh yeah, making money.

Next year we are seeing more to come with new RESPA and SAFE Act Rules to follow.  Most of your annual dues go directly to National in order to keep fighting bills in Washington and to protect our interests while also to continue receiving updates from NAMB throughout the year.
2010 promises to be another eventful year.  As the membership of this association, we must continue to stick together to make sure our voices are heard to everyone from Regulators, Media, Real Estate Agents, and Consumers that Mortgage Brokers are good people, do good work and provide a vital role in real estate finance. 

A special thanks to all of our sponsors is needed, by sending them business in return for supporting us and our organization.

As for the exciting news of 2009, NEAMB is a registered provider of Continuing Education and Pre-Licensing Education Course Provider of NMLS.  We are going to be offering a 20 hour all encompassing course in the spring and summer for members and non-members that need education hours for the SAFE Act.  Also, we are in the midst of organizing a Prep Class to prepare you for the Federal and State Test in which you will need a passing score of 75%.  We are very excited to offer these classes to our members for a much discounted price, put together by our Education Committee.

More exciting news is the relationship we have developed with the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance through our Legislative Committee and the Board of Directors.   For those of you that attended our Fall Conference, John Munn, the Director of NDBF, spoke and applauded us for our works as Mortgage Brokers and the open discussions we have had with them to protect our industry and consumers.  This has been a great stepping stone as now NEAMB will have a strong voice with the Department for future endeavors, laws and rules that will oversee our industry.

As members I commend you for making it through these tough years.  I know many of you have heard these tough years are some of the most difficult we have ever seen, but through a strong organization as ours we will all make it through to more prosperous times when the market returns to a so called normal state once again.  2009 has been a great year and I look forward to working for all of you in 2010.   Happy New Year!

Brent Rasmussen, CRMS
President