Many mortgage providers, banks, and other companies that offer financial help actually push people into predatory loans and packages that are bad for them over the long term. There is currently $16.6 trillion in mortgage debt outstanding in the U.S., and many people are locked into higher debt than they should be.
That’s why Mike “Mortgage Mike” Roberts went into the industry.
Mike and his wife Tobi co-founded City Creek Mortgage so people could have a mortgage provider they could trust. They were frustrated by the number of people in the industry that didn’t seem to have the best interests of their customers at heart. I reached out to Mike to interview him for this article and give his insight on the mortgage industry.
Getting Started in Mortgages
“I actually began in construction,” says Mike.
“Through the end of the ‘80s into the early ‘90s, I was in that industry and just watched over and over as these companies concealed information, charged more than they quoted and didn’t communicate with their customers. So I left construction for the mortgage industry.”
Mike and Tobi hired on for another company working in the mortgage field, leaving construction behind entirely. Then in July of 1998, City Creek Mortgage opened its doors. The couple decided that to really change the industry they would have to go independent.
There were tough times, especially when they went through the housing crisis of 2008. Many companies laid off their staff, but City Creek managed to retain all of their people.
The company’s values are defined by something Tobi articulated in an interview: to be the most “trusted, respected and loved mortgage company in Utah.” Those values are the center of everything they do.
Putting Stability Center Stage
If City Creek Mortgage’s philosophy could be summed up in one word, it would probably be “stability.” The company staked its survival on the ability to keep all its employees through the 2008 financial crisis, and when many other employees in the industry were laid off City Creek kept theirs.
Stability matters for their customer philosophy too. Some lenders lean on predatory practices and only care about getting the loan. City Creek works to get lifelong customers. Even if they only take out one mortgage in their whole life, they focus on making customers, not just sales.
City Creek believes in loyalty to its employees and customers. “We’ve found that doing business the right way is also the right thing to do to stay in business,” says Mike. “If we show care for our employees and customers, they’ll keep coming back to us. Trust is a two-way street.”
You can’t treat customers or employees like commodities and expect the end product to be good. That’s a lesson Mike and Tobi have internalized and used to build City Creek into the trusted loan operator they are today.
A Relationship, Not a Commodity
“30 years is a long time,” says Mike. “You’re handing a significant portion of your financial future to a stranger when you’re taking out a mortgage. Our goal is to build trust no matter whether they go with us or not.”
City Creek focuses on keeping the relationship going with their clients through client parties and other get-togethers that happen over four times a year. The focus is on overall financial health and letting City Creek be a partner for the long term.
The long-term relationship includes extra services for the customer. City Creek reviews every mortgage at least once a year, checking to see if there are opportunities for the balance or the payments to be adjusted so the customer can have better financial health. Then, they structure changes so there are no closing costs.
The world of finance can be turbulent. Sometimes it’s not in a customer’s best interest to take out a loan. When they bring a customer on or check them for a mortgage, City Creek will find out whether a mortgage is actually something worthwhile for that client.
Once they have the information on that person’s financial picture they let them know of any hardships that could develop and give them tips and steps to take to improve that picture. Then when they want to get a mortgage in the future they can come back and get one with better financial health.
“We give just as much in the way of advice as we do closing deals,” Mike notes.
“When you’re relationship-focused and not loan-focused, the choice becomes easy. It’s not a transaction. It’s a lifestyle. We work to stay up to date with our industry, build trust with our clients and be a pillar of stability in the financial services community. That’s what makes us different — I often say other people can copy our ‘how’, but they can never copy our ‘why’.”
Not every financial services company has the care for its customers that City Creek exemplifies. Loans can be complicated, but they’re far simpler when you can trust that a company has your best interests at heart and not their bottom line.
This mortgage lender strives to be different, and they’re succeeding.
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This content is sponsored by M Rafiq.
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