Patrice Yancy has been mortgage consultant for First Mortgage Group for seven months and has been in the real estate industry for over 15 years. Most recently she worked as an underwriter for with NBank, but has been an underwriter for six years with various companies such as Chase, Wachovia and Washington Mutual.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I develop relationships with Realtors and builders and originate residential loans.” She specializes in customers who are coming out of or are in bankruptcy by finding them government loans that will help them.
WHY BECOME A MORTGAGE CONSULTANT?
“Because I felt I could service the individual better as a mortgage consultant than as an underwriter. I do more counseling on their credit to help them get ready to be able to purchase a house. Since I underwrote the product, I know the product, so I put them in the right product, not just any product.”
HER HISTORY?
After college, she went to work for a commercial real estate company in New York City. They sent her to school to get her real estate license and then she became a real estate agent full-time with a Century 21 office. Then she got her broker’s license and opened her own company, Tomlin Realty, for five years. “As a real estate broker, I wanted to learn the financial end of the business to be able to help the customer and then I got more interested in the processing end of the loans. I relocated to Atlanta and got my first job as a loan processor. I did that for about four years.” She then relocated to Tennessee and became a manager of 16 loan officers at a mortgage company before relocating to Jacksonville where she got a job underwriting with Washington Mutual. She stayed in underwriting for six years before becoming a mortgage consultant.
COLLEGE
She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Virginia Union University.
Did You Know?
• Real estate agents use many methods to market a home. The Internet outranks all other marketing methods in popularity. Yard signs and open houses were used in more than half of recent sales transactions, and newspaper advertisements were also used in slightly less than half of home sales.
(2006 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers)
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT LENDING?
“Talking with customers and really feeling like I am really helping them. I really become a consultant to them.”
HOW DOES YOUR PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE HELP?
“It helps right away because when I pick a file, I am so detailed about the way I put the whole package together because I know what is expected when it gets to the underwriter’s desk. I feel like I am able to counsel the customer from an underwriting standpoint about how they’ve taken care of their credit and what they can do to get it back on track.”
BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE EVER RECEIVED?
“Always give great customer service.”
IN THIS BUYER’S MARKET, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO DRUM UP BUSINESS?
“I think you have to develop a niche like I did in dealing with customers who have had a bankruptcy.”
ADVICE FOR NEW LOAN OFFICERS?
“Give good customer service and develop a niche. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions.”
ADVICE FOR REALTORS WHEN DEALING WITH LOAN OFFICERS?
“To believe that loan originator knows what they are doing. Realize that we are in this together and that ‘Together we Can.’”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS?
The Northeast Florida Association of Realtors and the Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors.
- by Michele Newbern Gillis