These two constantly answer the call
It may be premature to mention Rick and Patty Arvielo, co-founders of New American Funding, in the same breath as legendary business duos like Proctor and Gamble, Hewlett and Packard or Beyoncé and Jay-Z, then again, maybe not.
Under their guidance, they have grown New American Funding from a 40-employee call center in 2003 to the national mortgage banking powerhouse it is today. Although it only started its retail operation in 2012, the company is now is the largest independent purchase lender in Southern California, and that footprint of success is now being replicated across the nation, where New American Funding counts approximately 2,900 employees working across some 165 branches, landing New American Funding six consecutive times on the Inc. 5000 list of “Fastest-Growing Companies in America.”
New American Funding’s rapid growth raises two questions: How are they doing it, and how can the company’s emergence as one of the nation’s truly great mortgage companies benefit you?
Complementary personalities and skillsets
Both Rick and Patty are serial entrepreneurs. Since starting his first business when he was 16, Rick has always been inventing and implementing ways to optimize business services through technology and marketing. Meanwhile, Patty has worn every conceivable lending hat in her rise to the top of the mortgage industry’s executive ranks. Together, their skills and passions have formed the perfect marriage, both literally and figuratively.
Rather than lead by edict, they lead by example, Rick driving the company’s technology and marketing initiatives, and Patty spearheading sales and operations, to help New American Funding’s Loan Originators provide their clients with an Amazon-like mortgage experience.
At the tip of the technology/marketing spear is the GoGo mobile platform, a series of apps making it possible for Loan Originators to do everything on the go and in the field that they once could only execute from their offices, such as managing their pipeline, tracking their loan files, performing soft credit pulls, issuing prequals, e-signing docs and initiating the latest cobranded email campaigns. Responding to only an address, New American Funding Loan Originators can also send their clients Property Profile Reports, containing the home’s estimated value, comparable neighborhood sales, ownership, mortgage and tax history, and other key school and community data.
Agent Intelligence, a vital feature found on GoGo LO, will even inform Loan Originators as to all the top Real Estate Agents in their market, as well as the Loan Originators currently serving them. They can leverage this intel to optimize and ramp up their marketing and recruitment efforts.
For their part, Real Estate Agents have jumped on the GoGo LO bandwagon through a sister app, GoGo Partner, to promote their open houses on their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, as well as grow their list of contacts through GoGo Partner’s open house electronic sign-in sheet.
Based on the field’s input, which including feedback from Patty who still originates loans, the GoGo suite of apps is constantly being enhanced and improved. Turning this feedback into new tools that LOs can use exemplifies Rick’s and Patty’s leadership style. When they see a problem or challenge, they don’t just address it, they attack it.
Answering the call from California to D.C.
Perhaps, the best way to gauge Rick and Patty’s all-in commitment to New American Funding and the mortgage industry is through their involvement at both the national and local level. Among their many leadership roles, Rick is the 2017-2018 Chairman of MORPAC, the Mortgage Banking Association’s (MBA) political action committee, and Patty is a member of the board of governors for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). She also sits on the MBA’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Through these and other outreach activities, Rick and Patty are striving to give every New American Funding employee a greater voice in shaping not only the mortgage industry, but their careers in it. This commitment to the growth and success of New American Funding’s employees also goes to the heart of the company’s NAF360 culture, which simply translates as “Treat everyone you come into contact with, with dignity and respect.”
Although Rick and Patty have clearly set the vision for the company, employees proudly drive it. A sense of ownership pervades every phase of the company’s operations. Nearly all company systems – processing, underwriting, funding, servicing -- remain in house, because employees have been trained, empowered and entrusted to be strong decision-makers.
New American Funding further brings home this personal touch for Loan Originators by conducting mortgage statement and thank-you card campaigns on their behalf. Also helping to keep them top of mind with their clients, the company at its expense automatically posts every positive review a Loan Originator receives to their favorite social media accounts.
In such a supportive and uplifting culture, New American Funding Loan Originators are thriving and connecting with customers in new ways, supporting not only their housing dreams with great home loans, but their communities where they live and work through programs like Lending a Helping Hand. These ongoing initiatives and interactions have helped make New American Funding not just one of America’s fastest-growing companies, but also one of its most admired ones.
If that’s a company – if that’s a family -- you want to join, give Rick and Patty a call.
