Partner Spotlight: Ian Ashton-Caliber Home Loans

Tell us about your background in mortgage lending

I first entered the mortgage business in 2001 as a senior in High School at the age of 17 – my uncle was an executive for what was Chase Home Finance (now known as Chase Bank) which operated mortgage offices throughout the state of Michigan.  He needed help with setting up offices, moving furniture, you name it and I did it.  Seeing the energy, activity, and potential for earnings in the offices I worked in had me immediately hooked, and within my first year at Oakland University I changed from an Engineering major to Business.  I spent about 15 years at Chase, initially as a Processing and Underwriting Assistant, then a Loan Officer Assistant and ultimately becoming a Loan Officer around the time I graduated from OU.  After completing a corporate program to develop Lenders into Leaders I was presented with a promotion and relocation to Northern Michigan, putting me in charge of Mortgage Lending for every Chase branch north of Flint.  After 2 years I realized that managing bank branch Loan Officers would not afford me the ability to achieve my goal of building the premier Northern Michigan mortgage lending team, so I moved to Wells Fargo, where I spent the next 2 years planning my next move.  In August of 2016 we officially opened Caliber Home Loans first Northern Michigan branch.  Today my team has office locations in Traverse City, Petoskey, Cadillac, Manistee, Lake City, and Manton.

How do you stay current with changes in the mortgage market and industry regulations?

I consider myself a very active ‘industry insider’ – I don’t just read about what the market is doing, or what guidelines are being updated, I live it.  From the time I wake up until I go to bed, you’d be hard pressed to find me not engaged in some aspect of our business.  I actively write content and commentary for multiple sources, am a member of several industry trade organizations, and most importantly hold Active Mortgage Lending licenses in Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois which allows me to originate loans exclusively for The Geno D’Angelo Group.

Can you walk us through the mortgage loan process and how you work with clients to find the best loan options?

I am of the belief that Mortgage Lending is a relationship business; while technology plays an important role in what I do the key to a smooth transaction is in knowing your clients.  When we start the pre-approval process I have a litany of questions, some seemingly unrelated to buying a home, but all extremely relevant to the process.  I often say “If I know where the landmines are, I can navigate around them.”

The actual mortgage process is really quite simple when you break it down, so here it is;

Step 1: Initial Conversation – This is where I’m going to learn about your goals and identify any potential obsticles we may need to work through – while many lenders will skip this part and jump straight to Step 2 I simply can’t.  Not only is it my job to help you buy the home of your dreams, it is my responsibility to help ensure you are able to keep that home until you are ready for the next one.  Getting to know you is a huge part of making sure I put you in the best possible financial position.

Step 2:  Pre-Approval – During the pre-approval process I will get all of your loan file information (things like Social Security Number, Birthday, Residence and Employment History as well as Asset information), review your credit file and scores, and request documents to verify the information you share.  While this sounds like a lot, we are generally able to complete the pre-approval interview in about 10 minutes and 95% of the buyers I work with have an approval issued the same day.  Potential buyers will sometimes ask why I want to review documents when another lender they’ve talked to only asks for information verbally – the answer is simple: when your loan eventually is reviewed by an underwriter, they are going to be looking at the documents I request – it only makes sense that before I sign your approval I perform the same type of review that my Underwriting team will be doing – this simple steps allows us to avoid 99% of the drama normally associated with getting a mortgage loan. 

Step 3: Find the House! – This is where your Realtor comes in, but as you start to look homes I encourage you to stay in touch with me; when you are ready to write an offer on the prefect property I’m going to first give you an estimate of the amount of money you’ll need to purchase that home, as well as an approximate monthly payment for that specific home.

Step 4: Offer Accepted – As soon as you have an accepted offer I am going to work with you and your Realtor to get any additional documents we may need, lock the interest rate (this simply means that I will be guarunteeing you an interest rate while the loan is in-process), order appraisal (if required), title insurance, home owners insurance, and work with my underwriting team to issue the Final Approval of your loan.  During this time I’ll also introduce you to my Assistant (Sara) and Loan Processor (Amanda) who are truly the heros of this operation and ensure that the remainder of the process goes smooth

Step 5: Closing! – Congratulations, you are now a home owner!  Closing is when we all sit down and you sign the final paperwork.  It is my goal to attend every closing, but if I’m unable to be there in person I will ensure that I am available virtually!

Can you give an example of a particulary challenging mortgage loan you have processed and how you overcame any obstacles in approving it?

Fortunately with the way my process is built the vast majority of the clients I get to work with have a very straightforward process, however on occasion we do have difficult scenarios to solve for; one partiuclar situation that comes to mind was a recent closing for a single mother in need of housing for her family so she could leave an abusive relationship – without going into too much detail, we were able to approve her where other lenders weren’t simply by asking questions – in my initial discussion I was able to identify a potential solution to solve her specific qualification issue (debt to income ratio), and after further review with my underwriting team we presented a scenario that worked for all parties; it was a very complex transaction, but the closing was certainly one I won’t forget.

Can you discuss any special programs or options that you offer for first-time home buyers or low-income borrowers?

We offer several programs specifically for first time and low to moderate income buyers, including:

• MSHDA (Michigan State Housing Devolopment Authority) with and without Down Payment Assistance
• MSHDA Mortgage Credit Certificate
• FannieMae HomeReady 
• FreddieMac HomePossible