Confessions of a Mortgage Banker: Face to Face
Posted on 30. Jun, 2011 by Christopher "Doc" Apodaca in Consumer Protection, HU Educators
A computer, a fax machine, and a pulse. This is all you need in our modern day and age to take out a mortgage. You use your computer to review rates, shop online for a good deal, and receive emails from your lender. The fax machine is used if you don’t have a scanner to send in any forms you may need to sign. The pulse is of course necessary for obvious reasons.
When my parents bought their first home they went into the bank, sat down with a banker, and crunched numbers. I remember because I was sitting there in a chair bored out of my mind. As boring as it was for me then, I realize now the importance of being able to sit and know who you’re working with, on both ends.
As a banker I want to know the entire story, your goals, your purpose for buying the house. If you come into my office, expect to hear about my education, how I’m overprotective of my two sisters, and how much I love old cars. Why? Because nothing is as irritating as working with someone that I know is not motivated, dedicated, and sincere in their intent to purchase a home.
As a buyer, you need to know who to hold accountable. Your mortgage is a huge deal! You should NOT just go through the phone book or search online for a random person to handle one of the largest investments a family will ever make. I say “family” because if you don’t make that mortgage payment…it affects everyone.
Also, when you’re buying a home you want to know that if something goes wrong or you need to hold someone accountable you can literally just walk in to their office and talk to their manager. As opposed to having them not answer your calls or emails.
By me saying “This is my office, this is my desk, this is the team whose hands will be managing your loan. You are welcome here anytime.” You have the peace of mind needed to trust that you’re not going to get tangled up in a call center based 3,000 miles away that will in turn send you to a place overseas, then hang up on you “by mistake”. Your mortgage and home buying experience is important to us, for there to be any other take on that is well…creepy.
Today’s confession is this…I know that these are destructive aspects of a loan because I’ve experienced first hand what it means to let a client down. To hear the stress in their voice, the disappointment in their eyes…not something you want to repeat. It happened once with, of all people, a Veteran of our Armed Forces. Coming from a long line of veterans (back to the Civil War), I can’t think of a greater personal disappointment. Long story short, their loan closed and they have become friends. This was by far the worst loan experience, for both me and the buyer. I take to heart the moment when I looked them in the eye while shaking their hand and said “I apologize, this will never happen again.”
It hasn’t.
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