Putting a Face on Real Estate since 1995.™
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Putting a Face on Real Estate since 1995
Supreme Lending A S S O C I AT E S I N P R O G R E S S - A d v e r t i s e r P r o f i l e b y R i k i M a r k o w t i z
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t has been a good year for Supreme Lending. In 2013, the full-service mortgage bank was named a top mortgage company, ranked by number of loans and units, by Austin Business Journal. In North Texas, home to corporate headquarters, the company won two prestigious awards, including “The Dallas 100 Award” from Southern Methodist University’s Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship. It’s an honor that recognizes the fastest growing companies in the area. The nationwide lender was also named by Dallas Business Journal one of the “Best Places to Work in North Texas.” Distinctions like these don’t happen overnight. About seven years ago, John McClellan, an Austin-based mortgage lender, was searching for a bank to partner with. The Central Texas native started packaging mortgages around 1995 serving, as he describes it, as a “mortgage middleman.” No longer content just brokering deals, but rather, more interested in developing more lasting relationships with clients, McClellan began looking at banks all over the U.S. “Scott Everett, the owner of Supreme Lending, really struck me as somebody who was ahead of the curve, technology-wise.” After meeting and recognizing they had similar sensibilities, in 2006 McClellan opened the first Supreme Lending branch in Austin. Today, McClellan’s office is
continually a top-four producing branch. McClellan’s team consists of 14 loan officers, five loan officer assistants, four processors and two processor assistants. While each loan officer has his or her own niche, all share McClellan’s philosophy of generating business from referral partners and staying on top of new programs. While 2013 was the year Supreme Lending was recognized for its quality of life and financial growth—for McClellan’s branch alone, the volume of loans closed will be up about 72 percent from 2012 and triple 2011’s numbers, 2014 is gearing up to be a different kind of challenge. When more of the Dodd– Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act rolls out, every mortgage lender in the country will be contending with new procedures that will almost require reinventing the way lenders close deals. Right now, Supreme Lending generates nearly $4 billion a year in mortgages. In order to keep those numbers on a steady incline, McClellan and colleagues are relying on proprietary technology to better streamline brand new policies. “Every year we have a theme for the company as a whole,” says McClellan. “Because of new compliance issues we’ve had to deal with over the last three or four years, this year our theme is about technology and automation.”
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New compliance issues means more paperwork. Without contemporizing existing protocols, loan officers will be sidelined. “It is going to take more steps to close a loan with new regulations, which will make it more expensive for the customer.” The good news is that with new technologies, Supreme Lending has found a way to carve out more savings for the customer. While the mortgage banker’s automations will cut down on manpower, it will also free loan officers to sell more. So instead of worrying about how new policies will be a hindrance, McClellan is anticipating growth. “I’m looking to hire at least five or six loan officers over the next six months. Dealing with January’s qualified mortgage initiative is almost enough for any loan officer or branch manager to handle. McClellan, a 2011 Williamson County Association of REALTORS board member, takes the challenge head-on. “I don’t think the general public has any idea what the QM or QRM is. Real estate agents I’ve spoken with have heard something about it but they really don’t know either. I think the only people who are really in touch with the new laws right now are people in the mortgage banking industry.” McClellan’s insight here gives him a unique advantage for educating not just potential buyers, but colleagues as well. On his Saturday radio program, “The Real Estate Zone,” McClellan and co-host Kevin Bown have been discussing topics that are important to players in Central Texas real estate for more than nine years. Regular segments, such as “The Consumer Credit Corner,” explore ways to keep credit scores high. “Be a Flipper, Not a Flopper,” provides advice on how investors can be more successful re-sellers. The program, which airs from 3 p.m. to
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John McClellan, Austin Branch Manager
4 p.m. on KLBJ 590 AM and 99.7 FM, offers instructional podcast packages that have been downloaded more than 200,000 times. The real test of McClellan’s success as an Austin Supreme Lending branch manager is the customers’ experience and, to an extent, employee retention. A customer survey, which is sent to every borrower after closing, shows a 98.2 percent satisfactory rating. One way the Austin branch scores so high is the company’s culture. McClellan explains, “we preach on a daily basis to our loan officers and support staff that our culture is, ‘care about your client and take pride in our industry as a whole.’ To accomplish that, I try to create an environment where my processors actually want to come to work because this can be a very stressful business.” At the Austin branch alone, the average rate of employee retention is at least five years. “I’ve got one guy that’s been with me for 12 years and one that’s been here nine and a half. It’s a phenomenal feeling.” RL
MileStone Community Builders values lasting relationships with our Realtors®, a special thanks this holiday season.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING MILESTONE BECOME THE 6TH FASTEST GROWING COMPANY IN AMERICA!
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