by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Ben Stephens opened B. Stephens Mortgage Brokerage in Amelia Island three years ago. Alan Vanderheiden joined him in March of 2007.
They are both mortgage brokers and the partnership is working out pretty well for both of them.
“Particularly in this environment,” said Vanderheiden. “We have found it has been very advantageous to be a broker.”
The other part of their team is Jamie McCarthy, the company’s processor.
“Between the three of us, we have over 25 years of mortgage experience,” said Vanderheiden.
Being a mortgage broker in today’s market brings less risk than maybe working in a mortgage company or a bank.
“We do have a lot less risk,” said Stephens. “Our overhead is relatively low. There are no billboards and we keep it fairly lean and that’s helpful. Depending on whom you ask, between 60 and 70 percent of all mortgages originated in the United States are originated through brokers or very small companies, not lenders and not banks.”
With the current market situation, Stephens and Vanderheiden acknowledged that communication between all parties involved in the real estate transaction is crucial.
“There is a little more hand-holding going on and a little more education taking place both with the client and with the referral source,” said Vanderheiden. “The lenders are being much more cautious and the underwriting guidelines have gotten tighter.”
They said this makes their job a little tougher.
“Part of our job is to educate our customers that this process is different than it was two years ago,” said Vanderheiden. “I try to set the right expectations of what to expect over the course of this loan by telling them, ‘I’m probably going to call you and ask you for more documentation. I’m probably going to call you and ask you to explain why there is something unique to this transaction. Don’t see that as a threat to your ability to get a loan, just realize that it is part of the process today.’ I help them to be at ease and confident in this process when there is so much opportunity to be anxious, uneasy and uncertain.”
Stephens said it seems that everyone’s workload has doubled.
“The Realtor has to show twice as many homes,” said Stephens. “The appraiser has to list twice as many comparables with twice as much verbiage. As mortgage people, we have to do twice as much work prepping files and giving them all the documentation we think they are going to need and then going back and asking for something else.”
Currently, the company works with eight different wholesale lenders, but are always looking for new ones.
“We have to find the right lender with the right service proposition, the right product and the right price to meet our customer’s needs,” said Stephens. Either way Stephens and Vanderheiden work together to keep their company going. Stephens said he tends to spend a little more time finding the money for the company while Vanderheiden spends more time finding the clients.
“We leverage each others strengths to compliment and make a real partnership,” said Stephens.
Both Stephens and Vanderheiden were with the now - defunct HomeBanc Mortgage in the past. Stephens got in the mortgage business in 1993. He worked with two other companies before joining HomeBanc Mortgage in 1995 in Atlanta.
“I worked with HomeBanc Mortgage initially as a loan officer and then as a producing manager,” said Stephens.
In 2001, Stephens opened the Jacksonville office for HomeBanc Mortgage.
“My job was to recruit and start everything up from scratch with a lot of help from the HomeBanc Mortgage team,” said Stephens. “Alan was one of the first nine loan officers hired. I met Alan because our wives are good friends.”
Stephens left HomeBanc in 2005 and opened his own company.
“I wasn’t comfortable with the way the larger mortgage companies were starting to position themselves,” said Stephens. “I didn’t like the way they were aligning themselves with real estate offices and builders. The customer is not going to come first when you have that arrangement. I didn’t like it. I like working for the customer. The second reason was that my house is right down the road and I am now able to spend more time with my three children.”
Vanderheiden stayed with HomeBanc until March 2007, when he decided to join Stephens’ company.