Interest rates and their recent uptick are always part of the conversation when discussing mortgage options. Veteran lender Frank Bennett and his wife Karen (married for over 38 years) have been a mortgage team for 31 years. Collectively, they have served over 8,100 families and continue to advise these past clients on achieving and protecting wealth through creative mortgage strategies.
“Low interest rates have been the norm since the 1990’s and are headed back that way soon,” says Bennett. “Today’s home buyer has spent months planning their home purchase - improving their credit scores, saving funds to close and find that perfect home. With the recent spike in interest rates, they find themselves at a crossroads.” The timing of Destin City Lifestyle’s conversation with Frank was ideal because after 35 years, his depth of knowledge allows him to help clients move forward. He can listen to complex financial goals and match them up in real-time with suitable financial products.
Element Home Loans (est. 2007) has rolled out several products this year designed to ease the stress of recent interest rate changes. These solutions range from allowing borrowers to temporarily buy the rate down, to offering 100% loan products. The highlighted product is the 5-year rate drop pledge. This bridges the gap between buying your home today and capturing the appreciation. As rates are projected to improve in the near future, EHL will refinance your mortgage with no lender fees when that happens. In other words, don’t miss out on the opportunity to make a great investment due to a temporarily higher payment. The gains are far exceeded.
Frank also offered some thoughts on how EHL aims to make the mortgage process less stressful. He noted, “The mortgage process has a lot of moving parts.” Once a loan type is settled on, EHL walks each client through the process, communicating loan status regularly and answering questions.
Further, EHL continues to surpass client expectations by reviewing all accounts annually to look for changes that could maximize the benefit to their clients. Frank and Karen joined Larry Sutton, the Division President of Element Home Loans in 2008. “Frank is very passionate about his role as an advisor,” Larry comments. The combination of operational support, products and passion is the key to this team’s success.
Element Home Loans allowed Frank and Karen to grow beyond viewing each transaction separately to being an invaluable resource throughout the lifecycle of a client’s financial future. This is important because home lending is much more than just buying a home. Later in a person’s financial journey, it’s about buying a second home, leveraging equity to improve their financial position, or investing in real estate. Whatever the goal, Frank is fueled by the ability to be a part of his clients meeting their goals.
Kari Painter, who is fairly new to Element, has already learned that the title ‘Lender for Life’ also includes meaningful relationships and a family-like atmosphere at EHL. Frank truly appreciates having people return to him as their lender as many as 30 years after their first home loan. Kari has heard about Frank and Karen both celebrating and crying with employees and clients through countless birthdays, funerals, and weddings. She has found it easy to settle into a company that builds caring into its DNA.
The family-style environment they have created is so atypical that Frank hesitates to talk about it. He feels words fall short of communicating it authentically. Of this, he said, “It sounds corny and trite to say, ‘Oh. I care.’” But people feel the camaraderie when they walk into the office. Frank feels it when meeting with the other branch managers. Kari felt the welcome when she met her corporate support team in Atlanta. And, the ‘caring’ shines through in the stories.
EHL Division President Larry Sutton oversees 26 offices in 5 states, but his contribution to this story shows his passion to continue to grow EHL. He starts their culture of caring at the top and creates opportunities for employees to achieve their dreams. He met with Frank several times for coffee to discuss Frank coming on board. He finally had to say, ‘Frank, I like having coffee with you every once in a while, maybe it’s time you come to work here.’ We know that Frank did and it has been a wonderful fit. Frank and Karen Bennett have found personal fulfillment with Element Home Loans where most just find a profession.
I have lived being a 'Lender for Life'...I want people to come back to me time and time again.