continued from page 22
BluFi Lending Opens New San Diego Location
JUNE 2012
Mortgage Professionals to Watch
JAMES
Equator has named Anna James vice president of marketing and Chuck Harkins as director of operations.
HARKINS
GEORGIA MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
24
BluFi Lending, a direct lender for home loans, has announced the opening of a new office in Mission Valley, San Diego, Calif. and the new hires of Branch Manager Scott Ellwood and 10 new staff members, including management, back office, and sales positions such as loan officers. Ellwood will head recruitment efforts and manage the new office. Ellwood has 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry with more than $3 billion in retail mortgage loan closings. Previously, he served as a mortgage banker at Gateway Funding, a loan officer at PNC Mortgage, and vice president of business development at All Western Mortgage. At BluFi, he will take an active part in growing the company and supporting its customers. “Opening a new office in Mission Valley enables us to better serve our customers and recruit new employees,” said John Lee, BluFi Lending president and chief executive officer. “San Diegans are recognizing that now is a great time to buy or refinance their home, and BluFi is expanding to support the increased demand. We have a history of delivering on our promises and closing loans quickly, so it’s important to maintain that standard. Scott and the well trained staff at Mission Valley will help deliver great BluFi service to our growing customer base.”
Real Estate Mortgage Network Inc. (REMN) has announced the additions of Account Executives Larry Fontaine (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Matthew Baron (Orlando, Fla.) and Laura
Brooks (Molena, Ga.) to REMN Wholesale. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has appointed Denise Dunckel as senior associate director of Congressional affairs and communications. zIngenuity Inc. has named Scott Friedberg as vice president of operations and contract underwriting. MCT Trading has announced the addition of Tawab Abawi to its capital markets trading team.
ABAWI
NASN currently employs more 25 people and Pilgrim was recently named a 2012 Top 50 Entrepreneur of Tampa Bay by Business Leader Magazine.
Donald H. Layton has been named chief executive officer of Freddie Mac.
LAYTON
heard on the street
Gary B. Fabian has been named chief financial officer of Stearns Lending Inc. PHH Mortgage has named David E. Tucker as its new president. Interim President Smriti Laxman Popenoe will resume her responsibilities as PHH Mortgage executive vice president and chief risk officer. Clayton Holdings LLC has named Jenine Fitter as senior managing director of business development. Dan Palmer has joined Inlanta Mortgage as branch manager for Inlanta’s Greater Chicago area. Christopher Bowser has been named branch sales coach for Churchill Mortgage. ICBA Mortgage Solutions has named Ron Bricker as northeast regional account manager. GSF Mortgage has named Ted Talbott branch manager/loan originator for GSF’s branch in The Woodlands, Texas and Michelle Baer as branch manager of GSF’s downtown Milwaukee, Wis. location. The Appraisers Guild of America (AGA) has named Elizabeth Green as industry liaison. Mark Coupland has been named vice president of business development for LoanSifter Inc. WFG National Title of Washington, a subsidiary of WFG National Title Insurance Company, has named Tom Hollenbeck as senior account manager of the company’s lender division. Kenneth F. Sawan has joined Urban Financial Group Inc. as vice president of retail sales.
Alec Cheung has been named vice president of marketing for eLynx, a portfolio company of American Capital. Loan Resolution Corporation has named Jamie Reed executive vice president.
Heard on the Street/Mortgage Professionals to Watch column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com
Your turn National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites its readers to submit any information, events, passages, promotions, personal or professional occurrences that seem appropriate
pursuing excellence
and/or other pertinent data to the attention of:
Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.
continued from page 16
these people be as poised to refer you to their family, friends and coworkers as when they themselves are entrenched in the process and their Reticular Activator is totally engaged. Phone calls and e-mails are nice, and certainly part of the process in communicating with our clients and business partners, but there is something infinitely better—the handwritten thank you note. A handwritten thank you note, sent and received during the course of business, is a secret little weapon of intimacy, and a way to “touch base,” but on a much deeper and meaningful level. There is something else going on in the brain when someone receives a handwritten thank you note. Imagine, for a moment, someone walking to their mailbox to fetch the new Pottery Barn catalog, the Visa bill, the ever-so-personal letter from Geico addressed to “Current Resident” and a flurry of other recyclables—but there is one envelope amongst the fray that stands out as its’ size is small and its’ impact is meaningful. When this happens—when they see your handwritten envelope and tear it open to reveal a handwritten card— their brain secretes a trace amount of dopamine into their system and makes them, literally, feel good. We’re not talking about a mindnumbing rush where their body goes limp and they temporarily lose consciousness, but rather, just a small spot of dopamine to remind them, “Yeah, it feels good to receive a handwritten thank you note—especially compared to the stuff that typically litters my mailbox.” Continuing on with the psychology theme, you may want to consider an addition to the handwritten note, possibly including a business card magnet and/or a small token of appreciation; a $5 Starbucks cards, for example. The business card magnet is a concept as old as the scriptures, but if Ivan Pavlov taught us anything, it is people will—as though on autopi-
lot—take your magnet and slap it on their fridge. Even if they don’t know you very well, even if they don’t need your services right now, they will use your contact information to secure their children’s school picture or latest artwork and when they do need you, they’ll know right where to find you. Additionally, sending a small token of appreciation in the way of a Starbucks card, or something of the like, is a nice gesture on your part. Perhaps the receipt of a gift, albeit nothing more than a cup of coffee, results in a tugging at the heart of the recipient to, somehow, even the score. A referral maybe? The coolest thing about the handwritten thank you note is they’re so easy to do. Set a personal goal to write, at a minimum, five handwritten thank you notes each day. They don’t all have to be significant, nor do they have to be to a client. There are a number of people and reasons to write a thank you note; like the escrow officer or closing attorney who went above and beyond in the 11th hour, or the buyer’s agent who covered for the listing agent at the appraisal appointment, or the CPA who provided an important document in the nick of time. There are an overwhelming number of cool techniques, strategies and approaches to sustaining success in this business. I like to think one of the primary cornerstones of your business model should be the handwritten thank you note. The brilliant simplicity of the handwritten note is captured in Maya Angelou’s famous quote, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Write thank you notes. A lot of them … thousands in fact. Casey Cunningham is president of XINNIX, a provider of mortgage sales and leadership development programs. She may be reached by phone at (678) 3253501 or e-mail casey@xinnix.com.