Archives for April 2018
Ep 45: How Do You Know You’re Working with a Mortgage Professional You Can Trust?
When Your Mortgage Provider is Also Like Your Mom Minus the Nagging
Carrie Guarrero is not only a top mortgage lender with the CG Home Loan Partners at Fairway Independent Mortgage, but also a top career coach with Fairway Ignite. She helps guide professionals and clients through the bumpiest roads to success as they define it.
Why a Great Mom is a Great Coach
As a mother of 7 and a mortgage profession and coaching leader for 22 years, Carrie is always looking out for everybody. To Carrie, great parenting and coaching are very closely related. Parenting involves asking a lot of questions, encouraging, inspiring and holding her kids accountable. It is putting her children before herself – what is important to them, what do they want to achieve, and helping them towards those goals. With coaching, she focuses on her client’s objectives and helps them clarify the steps that need to be taken to attain those objectives.
Carrie believes that both coaching and parenting are more about listening than they are about teaching. That is why at Fairway Ignite, listening is one of the things they work on every single day with their coaches. She emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding where their clients are coming from so that they can help guide them, encourage them, inspire them, and cater to whatever it is they may need at any given time. Just like how Carrie puts her children before herself, she does the same for her clients.
Changing Lives
Everyday, Carrie wakes up to the objective of changing lives with her coaching. Parenting and coaching are both great passions for this inspiring woman. In fact, in her coaching company and close circles, she is known as Mama C. It’s a nickname that she got from one of her clients and since then, has stuck. To her mortgage clients, she is the mom you need when you don’t want your real mom involved. As mortgage loans are one of the biggest financial decisions that most people make in their lifetimes, having a mortgage mom like Carrie to give you information helps a lot in making an educated decision. She looks out for you and you’re sure she has your best interest at heart.
Carrie shares that the most rewarding thing that always takes her back to the heart of coaching is when a client gets real with her and is open to receiving what they can do to make a difference in their lives. It’s those moments that she believes she is able to actually making a big difference. Talking about production, accountability, and numbers are given things she can offer and there’s always a place for those. But for a client to actually open up, be vulnerable and ask what can be done, that’s the essence of coaching.
It is not always about the technical aspects. It is more about having her clients’ backs, helping them make the best decisions and looking out for their best interests.
Always Looking Out for You – Just Like Mom
The first thing Carrie asks her mortgage clients is this, “What are you comfortable with?” Any company can supply reliable information and competitive rates and fees but many don’t bother to ask what the client is comfortable with. Carrie and her team, however, go into the nitty-gritty and make sure you are agreeable with what you are investing – that you are okay with your down payment. Carrie wants to make sure you are comfortable long-term and that your payment is something sustainable for you – like a mom would.
At the CG Home Loan Partners at Fairway, they usually present three options and clients get educated on these. As mortgage coaching is an education process, Carrie makes sure that her clients understand the little tweaks that can make a huge financial difference. This is exactly the kind of information people are looking for from an expert or a parent.
This is long term; this isn’t just a transaction. At the end of the day when selecting a mortgage professional and who you’re going use to provide financing, it’s a given that people supply competitive interest rates and fees and loan programs and all of that good stuff. Who do you want to have your back? This is a relationship. This is long-term.”
It’s not everyday you get to know a mortgage officer who would genuinely ask questions about you and get to know you and not just ask about your mortgage. For long-term commitments like buying a home, it’s good to know that there are people working in the industry who want to take care of you for the long haul.
Questions? Call Carrie at Fairway Independent Mortgage: 952-853-0222
NMLS #209015. Equal housing lender.
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Home Finance Expert Carrie Guarrero Explains 3 Things You Need to Be Ready for When Building Your Dream Home
Have you ever dreamed of moving into a brand-new home? – Or transforming the home you have? The appeal of new floors, fresh paint and the latest trendy finishes is hard to resist. Some people have the do-it-yourself bug that sustains entire cable TV channels while others prefer to visit and gain inspiration from model homes and let a builder take it from there. Whether you prefer to be hands-on or take a supervisory role, there are many common misconceptions, mistakes and pitfalls along the way to making the dream of a new or remodelled home a reality and finance expert Carrie Guarrero of Fairway Independent Mortgage knows exactly what they are.
Mortgage lending – and homeownership in general – is really Carrie Guarrero’s family business. Carrie joined her mother in the lending industry at a very young age, and she gravitated toward builders and providing the information and support they needed to help consumers finance new homes. Carrie was a fixture at model homes and job sites, helping builders and clients navigate what can be a confusing construction loan process. Carrie worked with thousands of people during the construction boom of the late 1990s and she’s been through the process herself:
“My husband and I built our home from scratch in the early 2000s. It’s impossible to get everything right on the first attempt and it’s definitely not all sunshine and roses. Thank goodness we’re still married!”
With the build and remodel renaissance underway in places like Edina and Southwest Minneapolis and the traditional home shopping season ramping up, Carrie understands what people are looking for and how to help them make it happen. Helping new construction buyers is one thing, but living through a major build project herself increased her ability to connect with customers and help them along what is often a rollercoaster ride.
Here are some common scenarios that arise when building a new home or doing a remodel:
Transitions: It’s normal to experience a gap between your new home being ready and your old home being available. Carrie, her husband and their five children lived in residential suites for a month until their new home was finished so she truly empathizes with her clients. Delays such as material delivery or a contractor getting sick are common, but they can have a big impact on your living situation (and sanity). It’s important to be aware and prepare for obstacles.
Lending. There are different requirements and processes for construction and rehab financing and it’s critical to deal with a loan officer and support team who are well-versed in these loan types. Choosing an experienced group like Carrie and her team who understand the unique experience of major construction projects will help make the loan process as seamless – and pleasant – as possible.
Prices. The end price of your project is almost always higher than the initial price. Everything from lighting to backsplashes and hardware can jack up prices, so it’s important to take details into consideration and plan for the possibility of overruns.
It may be hard to imagine why anyone would want to build or take on a major remodel after considering all that could be difficult or go wrong, but Carrie says there’s really nothing like it in the end:
“It’s your dream home! It’s virtually impossible to find an existing house that has everything you want. Building – or even a big remodel – gives you a blank slate and you get to design it to your specifications and style.”
After over twenty years in the industry, Carrie has more passion than ever when it comes to being part of helping people on their personal paths to homeownership – whatever that looks like. Construction and renovation financing is a wonderful way to build or create the home of your dreams; but the process is different than a common purchase home loan and it’s important to have expert guidance backed by years of experience in that arena. Carrie and her team bring decades of experience and exceptional service for the best possible customer experience. There are a lot of moving parts to construction and renovation loans and everyone’s situation is different, so it’s critical to make sure you get the right financing for your project, needs and goals. When it comes to mortgages for new construction or rehab, don’t try it at home…or rather, don’t try it on your own.