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About Me: Christopher Thomas, Loan Officer
Why I Love My Job.
When shopping for a mortgage, there are so many avenues to choose from when finding a mortgage. You can use a broker, bank, credit union, direct lender, or hard money. I love my job because we have put ourselves in a winning position for our clients, real estate agents, and ourselves through the broker channel. By keeping our company small and eliminating overhead (think: sales managers, CEOs, telemarketers, processors, marketing, human resources) we can truly deliver 1-on-1 service start to finish for a great experience and all at a very low cost to the consumer. After all, most mortgages are sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae - so why not use us to get the best terms possible!
I am a natural born competitor and love to help my clients WIN at all costs. I truly believe this is the best place to have it all - speed, service, technology, communication. A lot of clients and real estate agents are accustomed to picking one or two of these items and that is not acceptable! We are here to change the game and do great things. We are small but mighty!
About me.
I grew up in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. I graduated from Michigan State University (go Green) and instead of pursuing a job in my field I decided to enter the work force. Since then, I have enjoyed playing soccer in the Detroit City Futbol League, flipped a home in East English Village from the Detroit Land Bank Authority, and bought a home of my own in Grosse Pointe Park, MI with my partner Katherine Thomas with our two dogs Jofa and Abby.
I am proud to say that with support of my family, friends, and community - I am approaching eight years in remission from Hodgkins Lymphoma and am thankful for the chemotherapy and radiation care provided at the Van Elslander center. We are enjoying living in Grosse Pointe Park and raising our son and daughter. We have a new found love for Pickleball at Patterson Park and always love a bike ride around Belle Isle, but most of the time we are doing the best we can at parenting and balancing work and life!
How I fell into mortgages.
I was working in steel fabrication as a shop manager at Airtec in Detroit, MI and felt like I was stuck with no upward trajectory. I loved the work and getting my hands dirty everyday, but I was looking for a career instead of a job. My then girlfriend Katherine Shabo (now my amazing wife and CEO of Iris Mortgage) found me a perfect opportunity as a loan officer at a small mortgage brokerage in West Bloomfield, MI. After learning obsessively about mortgages and finding my niche I decided to join my wife on her new adventure after five years of originating loans!
Why I do what I do.
I am in love with structuring a loan that is custom tailored to my client. Whether it is a purchase or refinance, there is nothing better than finding the perfect solution for my clients and realtor partners. I have always wanted to be a “helper” my entire life and this is my way of doing it—one mortgage at a time!
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Serving Veterans.
I assist in actively moderating a Facebook group of nearly 50,000 veterans to help answer their homebuying questions WITHOUT solicitation. I am very passionate about serving veterans as my grandfather James (Navy) and William (Army) served in WWII. I want to educate real estate agents to be confident and comfortable with VA loans. I constantly stay up to date with VA guidelines to best serve my veteran clients.
The group is for Active Duty, Veteran (all), spouses/surviving spouses, and all other VA qualifying statuses for the purpose of disseminating and clarifying information related to the VA Home Loan Guarantee. This is a house built for veterans. A Human source of VA Home Loan Intel for you to exploit for knowledge and growth.
New members must answer all 3 questions within 24 hours of their request in order to join the group.
There are 2 rules: No Soliciting, No cussing.
ETHOS: We create a new standard of service and integrity for Veterans utilizing their VA Home Loan Guarantee.
MISSION: #VettedVA exists to 'Vet' or verify all information for the Veteran Consumer.
VISION: The VA Home Loan Guarantee is where we plant our flag 1st because we believe equal access to affordable homeownership opportunity is inherent to each individual and the lowest common denominator for financial success in America. Further, we believe Veterans are identified, targeted, and discriminated against as a definable 'class of consumer'.
A status as "Veteran" should not be significant when purchasing or refinancing a home. Discrimination, price gouging, and violation of privacy with trigger leads all seek to harm, remove, or molest the contractually earned benefit of the Veteran in ways that do not benefit them.
VettedVA seeks to resolve these issues through Community, Collaboration, and Cooperation. We seek to create a new standard to serve Veterans utilizing their VA Home Loan Guarantee. VA benefit terms and services are clearly defined; Veteran's service purchased these Equal Credit Opportunity Rights and benefits through their years of service. We will ensure their benefits in homeownership are available to all Veterans in the way the commander initially intended.
Veterans can join the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Vettedva/about
Real Estate related professionals can join a separate group here for questions and answers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/700775170692149
RECOGNITION
HOUR Detroit: Real Estate All-Stars
I have been recognized as an HOUR Detroit Real Estate All Star in 2020 and 2021.
Grosse Pointe News: Pointer Of Interest
I was featured in a Thanksgiving article reflecting on my cancer survival story. More to come soon.
