Directors Mortgage thrives despite plunge in home sales
By Adam Worcester, Contributing writer, Portland Business Journal
At Directors Mortgage Inc., employees embrace the slogan CANI: Constant and Never-ending Improvement.
The I, however, could just as easily be changed to G: Constant and Never-ending Growth.
Since Mark J. Hanna founded the company in 1998, it has swelled from a 1,200-square-foot Lake Oswego office to 17 branches in Oregon and Washington.
Three years ago, Hanna had 65 employees. By the end of 2010 he employed more than 200.
And in the first quarter of this year alone, Hanna hired 18 workers and opened two new offices. And more are coming.
“Our goal is to do more volume than any lender, public or private, in Oregon and Washington,” said Hanna, who grew up in Portland. “We want to be the best in the backyard, so to speak.”
Hanna said Directors Mortgage has yet to suffer an unprofitable year. Revenue has surged from $10 million in 2008 to $46 million in 2010 – a whopping increase of 460 percent. Locally, the company closed $1.3 billion worth of loans last year, an amount bested only by behemoths Wells Fargo and Bank of America, and up from $946 million in 2009.
So far this year, the company is on pace to surpass 2010’s totals, Hanna said.
Though growth stagnated in 2007-2008 during the subprime mortgage crisis, Directors Mortgage avoided layoffs. In fact, Hanna said he has never laid off a Directors Mortgage employee.
His company weathered the storm by refusing to handle subprime and adjustable–rate loans, and by stressing exceptional customer service.
“We practiced integrity before it was popular,” Hanna said. “It sounds corny, but it really paid off for us.”
Directors Mortgage specializes in residential loans, purchases, refinances and debt consolidation. Brokers write their own loans, and deals close within an average of 27 days. A Mortgage Assurance Program ensures homeowners that in the event of a job loss, their mortgage payments will be covered (through the nonprofit Rainy Day Foundation) for up to two years or $12,000.
From the beginning, Directors Mortgage has been relentlessly local. It loans only within Oregon and Washington, though it will handle loans in California and Idaho for Washington and Oregon residents. “Knowing the local market, and a little bit about local properties, is critical,” Hanna said. “We can fund more loans and make more exceptions.”
Lake Oswego resident Holly Woolard benefitted from one such exception, when Directors Mortgage helped her secure a home by circumventing a prescribed 90-day wait period.
Woolard, who had been approved for a conventional loan, said she was “jerked around” by three previous lenders before the seller referred her to Hanna and company. Directors Mortgage closed her loan within a week and a half.
“They were the only ones who were able to get me the house I wanted,” Woolard said. “Mark always answered the phone when I called, or called me right back after I left a message. I had to chase down people at the other companies.”
Stellar service has earned Directors Mortgage a A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. In 2007, the BBB named Directors the winner of its annual Oregon customer service award, an honor of which Hanna is particularly proud.
Hanna said future plans include growth northward and southward. Directors Mortgage recently opened a Eugene branch and has seven offices stretching from Vancouver to Silverdale in Washington state.
It will be controlled growth, he said, but not necessarily slow.
Hanna compared his company to tire seller Les Schwab, which started as a small Oregon company and is now ubiquitous throughout the Western United States.
“We want to be the choice for your mortgage needs in both Oregon and Washington.” Hanna said. “Even if you don’t go to Les Schwab, you probably know who they are.”
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