Global 100 honoree bought his first home at an early age
At an early age, John Keratsis (pictured) demonstrated that he would excel in the housing industry.
“I don’t know what it is but even as a kid I’ve always had a fascination with houses,” he told Mortgage Professional America. “I’d dream about a house and putting an addition on a house. That’s just kind of how my head works.”
By the time he got to college, he was able to indulge his housing fantasies in earnest: “When I got out of undergrad, I moved back to Boston and saved up enough money working summers that I bought a two-family in Somerville.”
Built in the late 1800s, he noted, these were literally two-family structures – the left side was the first floor while the other side led to an upstairs portion of the structure. Located just northwest of Boston, the town is famous – or infamous – for being the early running grounds for the Winter Hill gang led by notorious mobster Whitey Bulger, Keratsis noted.
Catching the real estate bug
He was hooked. “I ended up buying a bit of a bug,” he said. While mulling over grad school, he rented out a unit in his newly purchased property. He would end up buying a second property and then several more – prompting him to open up his own real estate company called Cornerstone to sell his properties.
“As I was doing these closings, I realized there were title fees and attorney’s fees and everything else which were all transactional,” he recalled. “I met someone who said, ‘you should really get into the title and insurance business.”
With the same youthful enthusiasm that initially propelled him into the game, he formed Boston National Title.
A partner of influence
It was then that he would meet a billionaire investor who would help propel his career path to new heights. “We survived 2008 and kind of flourished because we had a backer like him,” the Deephaven chief said. “Banks at the time were looking for a lot of capital. He was willing to open up his Rolodex and introduce us to some of those banks.”
By virtue of that partner, he built out a private wealth channel he’d later sell to a Blackstone company called Incenter in 2016. He would spend five years running lender services at Incenter. Then, Incenter merged with Finance of America.
That’s when Keratsis opted to accept his current post as president and CEO of Deephaven Mortgage.
It’s little wonder that one day he would land on the Global 100 list of the top practitioners in their field, a rarefied listing of professionals researched extensively by MPA and its sister publications. In being named to the list, he is one of only 24 US officials so honored. Oh, and also as top officer at Deephaven Mortgage.
“It’s been an interesting chain,” he said. “It’s been a lot of luck and a lot of mentorship along the way. But how I got in it was through a love of real estate and started buying dirt.”
Add modesty to the list of traits that likely has helped him excel.
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