Executive stresses that mortgages are not merely "transactional"
For Luisa Hough (pictured), partner and board member at Xeva Mortgage, the personal is just as important as the professional when it comes to long-term success.
“The most important lesson I’ve learned is investing early in proper support,” Hough told MBN. “Not only do I have a personal assistant, who is my right-hand woman; our firm, Xeva Mortgage, has an underwriting centre which has given me the ability to grow my business substantially. Investing in good admin and underwriting support allows me to still provide the one-on-one support that my clients need from me.”
In Hough’s more than 17 years in the mortgage industry, she admits that the part of the work she enjoys the most is “guiding and advising my clients and building long-lasting relationships.”
“I am not a transactional broker. I am there for the life of their mortgage – a true trusted advisor,” Hough said. “I look out for my client’s best interest and I have built a network of people around me who I can trust to properly advise my clients.”
Aside from mortgage professionals, Hough’s crack team includes financial planners, insurance advisors, accountants, lawyers – “anyone with the necessary services to help my clients with most everything else they need in addition to their mortgage.”
“I love the idea of being able to help people financially buy their first home, buy a bigger place to suit their growing family, and buy vacation/investment properties,” Hough said. “For me, it was all about building relationships with people who shared the same values and goals as me and my family. For instance, the goal to build their real estate portfolio and help their family and friends do the same.”
This intimate approach gives Hough a unique position from which to instruct her clients.
“I focus on determining people’s short term and long-term goals when it comes to their finances,” Hough said. “I help and guide my clients to achieve their financial goals. I focus on completing annual reviews and discuss: where they are income-wise, property value-wise. I monitor their financial situation – we discuss their savings and investment strategies, and we re-evaluate their financial picture constantly to make sure that they are reaching their financial and real estate goals.”
However, while immensely helpful for clients, this strategy has its share of challenges as well, mainly in trying to “separate my work from my personal life.”
“I was finding I was becoming very emotionally involved with my clients and all aspects of their lives,” Hough said. “I felt their troubles were my troubles, and their wins were my wins; it was an emotional roller-coaster.”
Not being able to “turn it off” eventually bled into Hough’s private time.
“As much as I love my work and my clients, I realized I needed to figure out how to separate the two,” Hough said. “I worked through this by seeking out the help of coaches and invested in great self-help and mindset classes/courses. It helped me focus on the [proper] mindset: scheduling appropriate times for work, and also scheduling time for myself and time to be with my family. I am still a work in progress; however, I have come so far in this regard.”
