Diana Dilallo of PrimeLending won Lender of the Year in the annual Laurel Award competition of the Sales and Marketing Council. She is an agent in the company’s Amelia Island office.
Where she’s from
Westchester, N.Y.
College
Graduated from Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y. with a degree in Economics with a concentration in Mathematics.
First job
“After college, I moved into Manhattan and began a career with Mellon Bank, where I worked on their wealth management team as a Sales Analyst.”
And then ...
“I joined UBS in 2005 where I worked as a sales analyst for a team that managed over $1 billion in assets under management.”
How did she get here?
“I met my future husband in the spring of 2005 and we took a vacation to visit my mother who lived on Amelia Island. At this time, I did not know that this trip would change my life forever, but it did, and it was for the better. My husband, Mike Tarzia, now an agency owner of Brightway Insurance on Amelia Island, was smitten with Amelia Island and the surrounding areas. I had always enjoyed the area as well, so when he suggested we move from up north down here, I did not give him much push back. Originally our plan was to buy a condo in Fernandina and use it as a second home until we could secure jobs down here and get our finances in order.”
How did she get a job?
Our mortgage was with Wells Fargo and they offered me a job to work in their office on Amelia Island prior to us closing on our condo, and I accepted it. So we left Manhattan and moved down in March 2006.”
Finding a place
“Mortgage originating apparently was what I was destined to do because I learned the business very quickly and truly enjoyed what I did each and every day, and I still do. To me, there is nothing more satisfying then sitting at the closing table, across from my customers, and watching the smiles on their faces as they are handed the keys to their new home. I believe that my true passion for what I do enables me to have the success that I have achieved and my enthusiasm passes through to my customers and my referral partners.
How’s it going?
“I had the best year of my career in 2009 when I closed over $62 million in loan volume, 330 units in total, and 260 of these units were for new home purchases.”
Why so good?
“In a market where we continuously hear negative industry criticisms, I feel fortunate that my business has grown since I began in 2006, and attribute it to my hard work and dedication to my business and my referral partners. Each of my customers are just as important to me as the ones before and the ones that follow after, and this is equally true with my referral partners. My Realtors and my builder partners believe in me and my services, and I could not have had this success without them on my team.”
How so?
“At PrimeLending, I have control over the process that allows me to close loans in under 30 days, competitive interest rates, access to in office processing, closing, funding and dedicated underwriting.”