Aaron Duez has been the Outside Lender of the Year for the past three years. He came in to the mortgage industry 11 years ago as a mortgage broker and he says that helped him take on the toughest of deals.
“Back in the broker days, you had to take on the hard deals. It was the only way in at the time,” said Duez. “I think that’s what gave me the challenge. You couldn’t just take a credit report for what it said. You had to dig down deep to see why the report scored the way it did and explain to the client as to how they could change it in 30 days to 120 days. This is how I began to build customers for life.”
Not bad for a guy that seems to be at the top of his game here in North Florida while working for the No. 1 Lender the last three years, according the “Book Of Lists.”
“It’s nice working for the No. 1 mortgage lender,” said Duez. “When you have one of the most recognizable logos in the nation and are top ten in the world, people know who you are. After that, you have to deliver!”
And deliver he does.
“With the competition going for the same business, I stay focused on the Bellman Factor. It’s all about the relationship that I create with my clients in the first three minutes that can make a deal or make my client in to an advocate.”
Everyone in Aaron’s branch seems to be doing pretty well these days.
“I can honestly say I love working with this group,” he said. Aaron’s philosophy is that he does not manage unless he’s needed and he works side-by-side with everyone as a mentor.
Duez is also a branch manager of the Ponte Vedra office, the No. 4 branch in the nation for Wells Fargo in new construction purchases units.
Aaron gives a lot of credit to others around him.
“I am very lucky to work with a great group of managers in our area,” he said. “When you have mangers like Colette Horn and Toni D’Andrea, you can wake up and know that if you have a problem, between the three of us, you are going to find an answer. Everyone’s experience is a little different but we are always there for each other.”
If you were to walk in to Aaron’s office, you would see many pictures of military planes. He wanted to be a pilot and has spent many hours in F-18 flight simulators in the past.
“I went in to the Marines with a goal in mind that once I completed basic training, I would go in to officer candidate school and become a Mustang,” he said. “Much like management, when you are an officer in the armed services, you know what your troops are going through. Unfortunately, I didn’t have 20/20 vision, which derailed flying, but life is going to be full of disappointments and opportunities.”
The other pictures in his office are of his family.
“I am very blessed with a great wife, Tracie, of six years, and two great daughters, Kylie, ten, and Cassie, five. They remind me about what’s important. I could have a bad day but when they meet me at the door with a hug, what else is there to be mad about?”
Aaron feels sorry for his wife who he gives a ton of credit to.
“She is raising the three of us,” he said. “Running a branch full of loan officers is easy compared to being a stay-at-home mom. I have to go to work just to get a vacation after taking care of everything when she’s sick. I had to have her sign a waiver that she can only get sick twice a year.”
After the day-in and day-out job at Wells Fargo, his job at home is one that takes effort as well. “It’s funny when I’m around them, I’m not the big producer, the big guy at Wells Fargo,” said Duez. “I hope that my family will always just see me as a great Dad. I have a lot of work to do on that one. Otherwise I am just an average Joe with a personality.”