by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
As the president of his own mortgage company, Bishop Lending Group and president of the Jacksonville Housing Partnership, Ben Bishop doesn’t have a lot of spare time.
“You have to be very selfish with your time,” said Bishop, who has been president of the Jacksonville Housing Partnership for two years. “I think you have to be very careful about what you commit to. You can commit to a thousand things, but if you can’t be of any value because you can’t show up and be a benefit, then what’s the point? I funneled back on a lot of things that I would normally get involved with. Right now it is my family, being a good husband and father; my job and the housing partnership.”
As the president of the company, his job is to support the staff. He likes to make sure the loan officers have the tools they need to be successful including marketing material, a good work environment and right investor relationships.
Even though he will step down from the Jacksonville Housing Partnership at the end of this year, things won’t slow down that much as he was selected for the Leadership Jacksonville class of 2005.
“That is probably one of the biggest things that has ever happened to me in terms of just being able to participate in it,” he said.
His participation in the Jacksonville Housing Partnership has been like second nature to him, allowing him to take what he does professionally and bring value and knowledge to the organization.
“It’s just a real good fit,” he said. “We have a real challenge in Jacksonville with being able to provide our citizens with affordable housing. Affordable housing is another component of what we do. We actually own three apartment communities where we are able to provide lower rent with a quality living environment with the hope of taking people out of those units and placing them in affordable housing.”
The goal of the organization is to provide affordable housing in Jacksonville, but that’s not it.
They host the “Paint the Town” event where they go into a different neighborhood and paint from top to bottom anywhere from 50-70 houses. “It’s phenomenal,” said Bishop. “It’s usually in a low-income neighborhood where the community activists for that area are trying to make a turn for the better and bring it up.”
The organization also does rehabilitation and renovation of homes that are owned and occupied by the elderly.
“We do about 100 houses a year,” said Bishop. “I believe in giving back to the community and I enjoy it. It is personally rewarding.”
Bishop opened his company’s doors two years ago at 1502 Roberts Dr. in Jacksonville Beach after leaving a position as executive vice president of CNB National Bank.
“The opportunity was there,” said Bishop. “The market place was growing. I had spent 10 years with community banks and six years with Fidelity National Bank and three and a half years with CNB. I think the opportunity in the market place coupled with the likelihood of CNB being bought, which happened, just made the timing right that this was the right opportunity.”
The company specializes in residential, commercial and private placement mortgage lending
“We do private money for people who have a unique situation,” said Bishop. “We’ll do hard equity lending which is our investor rehabilitation financing. A lot of investors will buy houses and renovate them and it’s hard to get a conventional loan for that type of financing. So we will provide them with our own money. We also do private placement for any real estate secured loan that makes sense, but doesn’t fit in the box. We’ve probably done over $6 million dollars in private placement money.”
The company either uses its own money for these types of loans or they have private investors that invest through us to the customer.
Starting a new company can be scary but Bishop is not worried. He said his company is relationship driven and that most of his business comes from referrals.
“Most of our business is from word of mouth and from the relationships that we have,” he said. “We are not trying to compete with the Countrywides of the world. We have carved out a good niche, which is mostly beach-oriented business and our average loan size is about $300,000. A lot of that is reflective of the market we are in. We are mainly a jumbo type lender, a non-conforming type lender.”
His company consists of Mike Deegan (yes, he is Ch. 12/25 weatherman Tim Deegan’s brother), vice president; John Cox, senior loan officer; Miranda Roach and Brooke Bishop, support staff; and Pete Dawidowicz, Barbara Wentworth and Peter Collins as loan officers.
“We are always looking for good talent,” he said. “It’s a good place to work. We know what we are doing and are professional. If there is someone out there that is looking for that type of home then we are probably a good place to be. We are planning on expanding and contemplating branching. We feel like Southside and Westside would be good markets for our branch offices.”
Prior to banking, Bishop attended Auburn University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and communication. He then joined the U.S. Navy where he was active for one year and in the Reserves for the next six.
“I thought I was going to be a sportscaster when I got out but it didn’t pay anything, so I went into banking,” he said.
He started his lending career with Barnett Bank’s management training program. He then worked in their real estate lending division. After Barnett, he left to join Florida Home Loan Corporation as a loan officer.
“When I became a manager, I was a producing manager,” he said. “So, not only did I manage and recruit staff, but I also originated mortgages as well.”
Following that, he joined Fidelity and then CNB.
His past experience as a loan officer and in larger companies has given him a good handle on what his loan officers need.
“I know typically what they are dealing with,” he said. “Hopefully, I can give them good insight and advice on how to go out and find business or how to handle the business coming in the door. My management experience didn’t necessarily prepare me for getting the copier fixed, adding additional phone lines or dealing with tax returns. But that is what makes this fun and exciting. The real estate market is very strong right now and I don’t think it is going to cool off any time soon.”
He is a director of the Jacksonville Association of Mortgage Brokers and a trustee for the St. Johns Country Day School in Orange Park.
Bishop has been married to Brooke for 11 years. They have two children, Cord, 6 and Darby, 5. When he is not working, he enjoys playing guitar, fishing, golfing and boating on his 21-foot Sea Pro boat.