Loans4heroes Missions statement. Our goal is to lead the industry in inovative loan programs provided with integrity, honesty, and service. By charging less, giving more, and turning every hometown hero into a long term homeowner.

The movie Jerry McGuire has always been one of my favorite movies. I didn't realize at the time why the movie inspired me so much, until a watched again the other day. I do remember thinking that the sports agents depicted in the movie, and mortgage brokers, seemed so share very similar characteristics. I had a similar epiphany as the character Jerry McGuire, when is wakes up in terror realizing that his industry full of greed, somewhat corrupt, and a “cynical, cynical business with fierce competitors”, and that he was just another shark in a suite.

The mortgage business has been a huge part of my life for over twenty five years, and has paid for my children's education, my home, cars, vacations, and a pretty good life. However our industry has also changed, from one of providing quality service based on trust, honesty, and a true desire to help others live the American Dream, to being “all about the Benyamin's:, money, points, fees, more fees, rebates, and not the buyer/borrower.

Mortgage broker had a place in the world because we provided crucial services, to people who needed help buying or refinancing a home. Many did not know where to go, or how to take the first steps toward getting a mortgage. We gave home buyers a choice and a venue where they could shop for the best possible loan scenarios. We offered the ability for a buyer to have multiple choices from multiple lenders without having to apply to ten different banks in town. We received better rates, better pricing, which in tern we could pass onto the consumer for a modest fee. If a home buyer went to their local bank and applied for a loan and was turned down. In many cases they would walk away from the buying process assuming they did not qualify.

Mortgage brokers offered a unique service because the could foresee some of the problems in a buyers application, and ask the right questions to get the right answers, in order to get the buyer approved for the home loan in which they had previously been turned down. We would help buyer fix minor credit problems, or instruct them on which debts needed to be paid down so the banks could see the buyer a credit worthy. It stopped being about the buyers dreams, years ago, and more about the mortgage broker’s greed that tuned the whole system up-side-down. Now we are living in the after math of a system that was and remains fundamentally broken.

I had a dream for my company that somehow turned into a misguided nightmare. The not so pretty past and the inspired future of Loans4Heroes:

In the wake of the 911 tragedy, I was inspired by the heroic efforts of our essential service providers (fire fighters, police, Emit’s, medical professionals, and teachers) during this crisis, and wanted to do something to contribute to the cause. So I decided to create a self funded grant program for these 911 heroes, to help with the costs of buying a home. I started to give back to each client a portion of our fees to use toward closing cost. Although the initial contribution was small, it was meaningful to me. As the program gained popularity, I encouraged my Realtor's to contribute a portion of their commissions to the program and together we really started to make an impact to reduce the costs of buying a home for our clients. Within four years the Loans4heroes program and Realtor partners granted over $6,000,000 dollars in grant funds. I was extremely proud of our accomplishments; however, with rapid growth and great success, pitfalls sometimes follow.

As the program grew, so did our advertising budget, overhead, and the number of competitors and to be completely honest, my ego. Several local mortgage companies attempted to duplicate our success, by coming out with their own version of the hero program which never lasted more than a few months. They didn't understand why we were doing what we were doing, or how the program really worked. All they knew was our company was growing fast, and that they wanted a piece of our niche. What they were not willing to do is give up the necessary monies to fund the grant program to make the program work.

In looking back to those years, I can easily see that I made several critical mistakes that I hurt the company and contributed to our poor customer service. We quickly began to generate more business than we could handle, though to some, this may appear to be a blessing in hindsight, it was more of a curse. Our customer service went to hell, borrowers fell through the cracks, some forgotten, and some I found out later, never even received a return phone call.

My loan officers became complacent and filled with gluttony, cherry picking the easy loans and discarding the rest. I was so focused on helping as many people as I could, I didn't think to check our company pipeline reports, which would have revealed to me, how poor our service and call to loan conversion ratios had become. I continued to pay for more and more advertising to continue to drive buyers to our website. Our company mission veered off course, and we became part of the problem rather than the solution. I personally became “Jerry McGuire” before his Epiphany. Ego invested in my companies’ success, and for a while began to buy into the hype of how wonderful I was for creating such a worthwhile program. The program was never supposed to be about me, it was about giving thanks to those who do so much for us, with very little gratitude or acknowledgment.

Even though my intentions were always honorable, I got lost in the accolades and in crushing the competition. I received calls from every real estate magazine and publication in town wanting to advertise our program because it was so great; however each ad came with a price of course. By 2005 I was spending almost $50,000 per month in advertising to bring more business to the company generating at times up-words of six hundred calls per month, and successfully helping less than 15% of our clients.

When what was happening finally hit me, I was physically sickened by the poor service we provided to our clients. I was so self-absorbed with building a legacy, I lost site of the big picture. Serve those who serve us with such distinction. Many of theses missed opportunities and relationships have been lost, and may never be recovered. By the beginning of 2006 we started to see signs of the mortgage meltdown, and our lenders started to drop like flies. The money we were giving to our heroes, along with our advertising budget, and overhead started to crush the companies reserves, and my wife told me I needed to start cutting back our advertising or we'd be doomed.

Instantly, fear set in, because my thoughts were, what if my mistakes of the past years come back to haunt us, and we have no return customers. Any successful business owner should know that if you serve your customers well, they will in turn serve you.

I felt at the time, that I had built a road to hell on good intentions. It did not matter to me anymore that we had given back over six million dollars in cash to our heroes, what I focused on was the relationships we had lost, that 85% of buyers we did not service well. The real estate market began to seize up, and credit was next to impossible to obtain, when would I be able to correct my mistakes, and get a do over? To prevent any more damage to the company reputation and trust we had built with the clients we did served, we elected to remove the Loans4heroes program from the market, because we could no longer provide loans to even the buyer that walked on water. It was time for reflection, to lick our wounds, go back to the drawing board and somehow correct our mistakes. I would look to the future and wait for the right opportunity to re-enter the market with a renewed commitment to our customers. Place our focus on do loans, better, faster, and cheaper than our competition and, place enfaces on what our clients communicated to us was important to them. The real estate market has changed forever, and we need to change with it.

We created our own Jerry McGuire-esk Mission Statement Much like the character Jerry new philosophy was one of more customer service; more personal attention and less fees. These standards of conducting business in the mortgage industry have been lacking for decades. We need to know what's important to our clients, past, present, and future. Our programs need to be created with input from those they meant to serve. Our new Zero4Heroes Program must be design our mortgage program around the needs and desires of our customers.

I chose to tell our story in an effort to be more transparent, and to re-gain the trust of our clients. To ask the questions we should have asked in the beginning. What do you want? How can we serve you? With this blog post, it is our sincere hope that you let us hear your voice, and give us your feedback. What is most important to you the consumer, when it comes to choosing a mortgage, Mortgage Company, product, and services?

I can only imagine what it will be like to actually have our mortgage program designed and created with and by our customers. In September 2009 we plan to launch our new beta program the Zero4Heroes Program. Our goal with this program is to eliminate the unnecessary fees and costs that usually come with purchasing a home in California. Especially for those of you who provide critical service to our cities, community, and country.

There will be No origination fees, No broker fees, and No miscellaneous junk fees for home purchases in the amount of $250,000 and up. Our goal is to take off the SHARK SUITE, and become a company that is once again willing to navigate uncharted waters and lead the industry with innovative lending practices, and providing exceptional service to our customers.

So what do you think about no fees and great service for our California heroes?

Our heroes consist of teachers, fire and rescue, military, law enforcement officers and civilian employees, medical professionals, and homeland security personnel; all whom will benefit from our new Zero4Heroes Program. Your thoughts, feedback, suggestions and comments are welcomed and requested. Tell us what's important to you when it comes to getting a home mortgage. Help us design a program that fits your needs and desires. I have learned several valuable lessons through my experiences over the past few years, and I think it is safe to say, If we build it they may come, however if you build it they will stay.

I thank you in for reading this post and helping us grow and become a program the truly serves our heroes in California, a hopefully the country, with your feedback.

www.911hero.com

888-242-5282

cfwartson@loans4heroes.com