Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Brittney Hansen, Branch Manager at Fairway Independent Mortgage CO

Episode Date: June 23, 2023

Brittney Hansen is a dedicated professional serving as a Branch Manager of the Alpine Group at Fairway Independent Mortgage Company. She is a self-proclaimed “Home Buying Hype Woman.” With a passion for helping others achieve their dreams of homeownership, Brittney is committed to providing exceptional service and expert guidance to her clients. Her strong belief in the core values of Fairway drives her daily interactions and decision-making processes.With over 8 years of experience in the mortgage industry, Brittney possesses a wealth of knowledge and expertise in all mortgage programs. She understands the unique challenges and opportunities that individuals and families face when seeking to purchase a home. Her goal is to make the mortgage process as smooth and stress-free as possible, ensuring that each client receives personalized attention and tailored solutions that align with their specific needs and financial goals. She believes in operating with integrity, transparency, and accountability, fostering an environment of trust and mutual respect. She takes pride in maintaining open lines of communication, actively listening to her clients’ concerns, and providing them with the information they need to make informed decisions.In her spare time, Brittney runs a female entrepreneur company called The Success Collective with her cofounder Jessica Daniels. Brittney also enjoys spending time with her boyfriend and her dog Billy Idol, exploring all the outdoors that Colorado has to offer, and volunteering for charitable organizations, she currently serves on the board of 3 non-profits. She believes in giving back to the community and making a positive impact in the lives of those around her and builds her business around the Go-Giver mentality.Britney loves serving her clients and nothing makes her happier than seeing smiles at a closing table. Brittney’s clients will be cheered on through the home-buying process with their own personal hype woman who is there every step of the way.Learn more:https://applywithbritt.com and https://www.successcollective.org/Colorado Real Estate Leaders https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/colorado-real-estate-leaders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-brittney-hansen-branch-manager-at-fairway-independent-mortgage-co

Welcome to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group, bringing you interviews with Colorado's best real estate and mortgage professionals, empowering you to understand the current trends in the housing market so you can make the American dream your reality. Enjoy today's episode. Well, it's a great day in Colorado and welcome to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders podcast. Today we have with this Brittany Hansen, who's a branch manager at Fairway, independent mortgage. Brittany, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me, Mike. Excited to be here. Yep. I always love learning from people and their life experiences. And most of the time, it's like,

hey, when third grade when we did our, what do we want to be when we grow up? It was not to be the manager of Fairway Independent Mortgage. So tell us a little bit about your story and your background and how you got into the mortgage industry. Well, I was a five-year-old wanting to do mortgages. I think I wanted to be a ballerina growing up. So my mortgage story is kind of fun. I got into it because my older sister had been a mortgage for 18 years. And she had built a really long career. She was a branch manager at the time. And before this job, I was actually a flight attendant because I used to do marketing for an airline and I decided I wanted to travel the world and do a little fun job for a minute. And she kept getting mad at

me because I have two bachelor's degrees. And she was like, hey, at some point, I think you should use your degrees and come into mortgage. So it took her two years. She finally, I convinced me I moved out to Colorado from Chicago. And that's kind of where my mortgage journey started. And for some reason, our brains just get mortgage really well. And we're able to, you know, look at unique ways to make a loan work for borrowers, however they work. And it's just kind of a weird thing genetically that works for us. Yep. Kind of like how your brain is wired. Like me, don't tell me numbers. I can't do accounting or anything. But, you know, so the creative brain. So when you got into the business, what are some of the things now that excite you on how you serve

your borrowers? I honestly love the unique situations. You know, everybody can do an 800 score conventional 20% down. So I kind of, you know, I like getting my brain activated and kind of figuring out those more unique ones and helping them get into a loan. But I also, you know, I love working with VA families, big time, part of their journey. Also, um, a big. Um, a big. niche of mine is helping females that are single by their own house and kind of empowering them into that. So it's been kind of a fun journey. And that's what really gets me excited is honestly helping people get into homes. It's not a transaction to me. It's the family. I like to know their dogs name. I like to know how many kids they have because this is a big life event. And I like being there

for my clients. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. And I know that you can't say, I will only do loans for single females looking to buy their first home. But when those do come up, it really is. And it really is. And is neat to go, you know, I bet you've heard this before. I had no clue that I could do this. You got me in my home. Wow. And now my fur baby or my, you know, child or my son or daughter, we now have a safe place to live. So talk a little bit about some of those rewarding things when you help those borrowers. I, you hit the nail on the head there. I absolutely love when people are honestly so can't believe that they can qualify for a mortgage. And it's really fun when, you know, you go through the process, it can take 15 minutes.

And they're like, what? I can buy a house. And I'm like, yeah, it's not as hard as you think it is. And, you know, there's been some really fun ones I've been part of, um, emergency adoptions where they had to get into a bigger house. So they had enough bedrooms. Those ones are really fulfilling for me. You know, that's changing a child's life, but also a family's.

So it's really cool as a loan officer. You know, it's not all just finance and transactions. It's getting to hear people's stories and kind of being part of that story. really is what does it for me. You know, I've heard it said so many times. It's all about, you know, was the Maya Angelou quote, people will forget what you said to them, but they'll never forget how you made them feel. And that's exactly what you're talking about.

It's like, you know what? I can do a transaction. I can fill out a application and collect documents and send it in. And, hey, we got you to the closing table next. Well, that's cold and stoic and hard. but let's get to know each other and let's help you with this transformation to whatever that it is. What is your story? And I bet that it's rare that you have two loans and clients that are exactly the same because everyone brings their own nuances to the story. Exactly. And I absolutely love that quote too. So good quote there.

And it's honestly an honor for me to be part of their story is how I view it. I'm so grateful getting to give back, especially to our service members. Just I know how hard military life is that I consider an honor to try and make the process as easy as possible because of all the sacrifice that they give for each of us to live in this beautiful country. Yes. Well, let's talk a little bit about that because I think people sometimes, and this is shocking, sometimes people that are in the military don't even know the benefit of a VA mortgage. A hundred percent they don't. Yeah. And it's like, why? You know, you can buy a house with zero down and it's not even, oh, we have to get this grand approved.

No, it's a zero down loan because of your service to our country. So talk a little bit about your VA loan program. So we're actually in the top three VA lenders in the nation, which surprises people because we don't have VA in our name. But we love our veterans at Fairway, zero percent down. The other thing that I kind of bring to my clients is I've done so many. VA loans at this point. It's about 70% of my business. I know the VA handbook front to back, which they can be a little bit complicated, but for me, they're easy now because I do them a lot, that I think that working with a lender who actually does VA is a big thing too. I hear a lot of

horror stories when, you know, you have the online lenders who, yeah, they can do the program, but they don't really understand it. So I'll tell a borrower one thing, and then they like what they have to say better. Then I get the call the week before closing that they can't close the loan. because the information I had was correct, which is such a disservice to our military members, in my opinion, which not to talk bad on people, but I think working with a loan officer with a VA loan that actually knows VA is very beneficial to the veteran, also for the entire real estate transaction. I think the other thing that kind of sets fairway apart with VA loans is we don't just say that we support and love veterans. We actually run a nonprofit called American Warrior Initiative.

To date, we've given over 300 service dogs away, which those cost about, 10 grand a pop and VA benefits and cover it. Wow. That's huge. For us, giving back to our veterans while also being able to serve them with home loans, it goes hand in hand. And we don't just write checks.

We're actually there in front of them. In fact, we're actually throwing a big event here, a fundraiser in August on the 10th for local Springs veterans. So there's an education program and then also service dogs. That's how we give back. So I think, you know, kind of working with a company that actually cares about you too as a veteran and doesn't just see you as a paycheck, I think so really an aspect

as well. You know, and actions speak louder than worse. You can say, oh, well, we don't treat you. But when you're doing events like this and you're giving, you know, you don't have to go give service dogs. When you're expending your time and energy and emotions and money to support the veterans, that's putting your money where your mouth is and you're walking the talk. I think that is spectacular.

What is one of the biggest things that when someone, you mentioned like sometimes lenders aren't able to get a loan to the closing table. What are some of the things that you are doing to make sure that it is a seamless transaction? I get everything up front. I'm kind of an old school lender, and I've actually lost realtors over it in the past because I won't just write a letter. I get all the documents, everything up front. And I don't say someone's okay to go out and look for a house unless I know 100% I can close the loan. And knock on wood today, I've never had a deal fall apart. And I think it is because I do gather and do my due diligence at the beginning, because there's nothing worse than a family going under contract, starting to build the dream of what that home is going to be for them

and then pulling the rug out from under them. I think it's really cruel. And I just think it pays to take a little more time up front, make sure we have everything in a row to also give our clients their peace of mind. The other thing we offer that's kind of cool is the fairway advantage where we actually pre-underwrite the loan in advance like you're under contract. So then we actually can guarantee you're going to close. And that does give a lot of people peace of mind because the loan buying process can be very nerve wrecking for some people. So I found that when I put them through the pre-underite and I'm like, you're for sure able to buy a house. I can physically hear the breath come out like, feeling the relief with it. Yeah. And that pre-underite is like the

not just like your opinion. We pulled credit and I think I can do this. We're good to go. It is let's show the underwriter your income. Let's make sure that there's no weirdness in the income. Let's make sure all of these things. And I think that's a huge, like you said, peace of mind because it's like people, I feel like also people don't realize the difference between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval. What you're describing is, hello, Mr. or Ms. real estate agent who's getting ready to put this under contract.

We're good to go. Yep. And I've beat out a lot of offers with that letter. And then with our conventional products, we also have a cash guarantee too. where basically fairway with an addendum for specific borrowers, we will guarantee we're going to close it. So we'll either give the seller 10 grand or we'll buy the house from them. So I think adding those in to help your clients, especially because we are coming into a very hot market because we do have a housing shortage. We've just had some rate paralysis. So houses have been

sitting a little bit longer. But I think being able to give, you know, your clients, whatever edge we can in a hot market is so beneficial to them and also takes a lot of the stress out of the entire transaction. Love it. Well, you mentioned that you sometimes work with single females helping them buy their first time or their home for the first time. So talk a little bit about your work with female entrepreneurs. I know that's a passion of yours as well. Yes. So I actually co-founded a company called The Success Collective, which is a female entrepreneur networking company, and it's modeled after the book, The Go-Giver. So the basic concept is by pouring into others

and your community, your business will grow naturally and genuine. So, for me, whenever I get to help women buy a house and a lot of some women are awesome and they're like, I'm buying a house. This is happening. Then I have others that are like, I don't know if I can do this. You know, I should probably wait until I'm married or this. So I love just having the conversation of saying, you know, don't let yourself be behind the curve because real estate is such an important aspect of asset building, especially for your future,

that I love giving the tools and seeing the proud look at the closing table on a female's face, doing it on our own. It's just a special spot for me. And not to say that I'm not proud of my single men that are at the closing table as well. But they've got their own collective that they could go join. Right. Exactly. But it is really fun empowering a woman to buy a house on her own.

And I think it's just a really cool thing. Yeah. I mean, you know what? I think it's interesting that you said that because it's like, no, you're not saying, I don't want to work with or I don't appreciate that. Like veterans, when you do a VA loan, Does that mean I don't let of course not. It just means that you have a special affinity and place in your heart for veterans,

females, entrepreneurs, wonderful. And I think that is spectacular. And when you can, that collective, that mastermind, that feel, that accountability, encouragement, when you can bring that together and everyone wins. And I love that you bring up the go giver because I have probably read that about 19,000 times. I've interviewed Bob Berg twice on my podcast. Love, love, love his whole philosophy.

Go give her sell them more. or go-giver leader, go-giver influencer. What a wonderful concept that is. So I think that is just spectacular that you are doing that. Oh, thank you. Yes. I mean, those concepts apply to so many things in life that I've rare to find where I can't find something from the go-giver to apply in every aspect.

So what are you thinking or what are you experiencing when you are working with someone as helping them either buy their first home, buy a second home? and you've talked about all the ways that you are making sure that you're being upfront, transparent, parent, and honest, and all of those things, once you get people in a home, are you finding that then now they're coming back to you and saying, hey, we bought a home four years ago, five, six, seven years ago, we need to now move up and get a different place, or we need to just, you know, refinance this home. What are some of the ways that once people are in a home that they're needing to come back

from where are they buying an investment property? Are they buying a second home? What is that kind of timeline? look like. Oh, that's a great question. So I think something that kind of makes it unique is, like I said, I've not transactionally based with my clients. And another thing that's unique about me is I'm actually not a lead gen lender, so I've actually never bought leads before. So most of my referrals have been hand referrals, either from a referral partner, previous client, friends, family, that I think it kind of creates a unique piece to it as well that we create a pretty good bond. The other thing I like to go over

with anyone, especially a first-time home buyer, is I kind of like to put a little, plant a little seed in their head of the easiest way to build an investment portfolio is to buy this house, live in it for a few years, flip that into a rental and then buy your next one with your 5% down. That's your easiest way to buy it that I like kind of empowering people, especially your younger couples or, you know, younger females, younger single males, anybody. When they're first buying that house, especially like mid-20s, those are things that I wish I had known at that age. Like, where would I be today if I had started flipping properties into investment?

I could have a whole portfolio now that I'm almost 40 that I like to plant the seed and I also keep a really open door that I'm always available. I call myself your lifetime lender that if you ever have questions or you want to see, you know, we're not in the position now, but what does it look like to qualify for an investment property or an Airbnb? I like to keep that door open because I absolutely love talking real estate and investments. So for me, I think it's a fun skill set that I can pass on to them of trying to get creative of creating some more passive income sources. Because everybody needs that these days. And you know, doing it the way that you mentioned, we could probably do a nine-hour,

you know, a conference on just that one point alone. But rather than, oh, let me buy an investment property, I need this much down and let me, you're doing it kind of in reverse. You're living in a property for a certain amount of time for tax benefits. And then you're going to go, hey, why don't I move to this one and retain the first one as an investment property? And so you just kind of baby stepping along the way. You don't need to, you know, learn all kinds of going to investment seminars.

Just kind of go, I'm living in a house. Let me just go live in a new one and retain the other one as maybe rental or an Airbnb or something like that. Yep. And I just think it's the easiest way because, you know, either you can save 25%, which is really hard for a lot of people or you can save up 5%. Yes. Which would you pick? And I think we know the answer to that. Well, Brittany's been such a great pleasure talking with you today.

what's the best way that someone, if they're listening to this, would be able to learn more and then reach out and connect with you. Yeah, so you can find us at our website, which is apply withbrit.com. You can also reach me on myself, 719505-6-924. I'm also across all social media handles under Brittany Hanson. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on today. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. Thank you for having me, Mike. It's been so great to be on. Thank you for listening to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group. To learn more about the topics mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.