Christi sits down with James Pulsipher, Regional Manager of Fidelity Mortgage in Grand Junction. Hear about what's going on in the mortgage industry and Western Colorado real estate, plus learn more about the upcoming James Pulsipher Cancer Center at Community Hospital.
You can reach out to James and his team via their website or call them at 970-242-7000.
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, visit our YouTube page for this and all our podcasts!
Christi sits down with James Pulsipher, Regional Manager of Fidelity Mortgage in Grand Junction. Hear about what's going on in the mortgage industry and Western Colorado real estate, plus learn more about the upcoming James Pulsipher Cancer Center at Community Hospital.
You can reach out to James and his team via their website or call them at 970-242-7000.
If you prefer to watch your podcasts, visit our YouTube page for this and all our podcasts!
The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews and incredible tales from Colorado's Western Slope, from the mountains to the desert. Christie Reese and her team here from the Movers Shakers and characters of the Grand Valley and surrounding mountain towns that make the Western slope the place we all love. You'll learn, you'll laugh, you'll love with the full circle. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Full Circle podcast. I'm your host Christie Reese, and I'm really honored today to welcome my friend and, uh, someone that I'm just, uh, in such admiration of in our industry. And that is James Pser, owner, owner of Fidelity Mortgage here in Grand Junction. Welcome James. Thanks,
Speaker 2:Christie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, uh, gosh, where do we start? Um, let's start with how did you get into mortgage lending?
Speaker 2:You know, I think everyone got into real estate a little by accident, so, um, same is true with me. Ultimately my family was in the industry and, and, um, as I started college is what I knew how to do and decided that I liked it better than what I was educating to do and stuck with it. So, which was
Speaker 1:What, what were you studying?
Speaker 2:Um, I was actually a political science major going to law school, so mm-hmm.<affirmative> underwriting loans during that time and decided that again, the mortgage industry had as much or more potential and, um, it was something I was good at and enjoyed. So I'm stuck with it since.
Speaker 1:Was it, did you find it challenging enough, uh, compared to what you, what you perceive the law to be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. You know, I think the, one of the best challenges about our industry is that it's as different as the people you deal with. So, you know, even 29 years later, I'm still, you know, and most days going, wow, I've never heard that one before.
Speaker 1:Right. It's people and properties. Yeah. And so you get new stuff all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And it's, it's a learning experience, but also keeps it from being boring. Um, certainly not any monotony in what we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah. What's your favorite part of
Speaker 2:It? Just the people. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, honestly, you know, it's, it's wonderful to just affect the lives of other people in a positive way and, you know, people that we help, you know, are, are overall just super grateful for what we do and, um, that's our warming for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Things have changed a lot in lending and in real estate with the advent of technology and all kinds of stuff. How have things changed for you on, in, in your company and, um, in the way you do business with the technology that has improved? Yeah,
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know, there's always been a lot of change in the industry, you know, since the start, but certainly regulation and technology have been pretty pivotal in, you know, moving what we do. The good news is technology advanced as fast as the regulation are faster. So the tech kind of helps us automate some of the regulatory burden, um, and get through that. And certainly not just with development of tech, but also when the pandemic started we really had to adapt and do things differently. And, you know, we've always had the ability to do, you know, business a little more digitally and fluidly, but, um, that necessity sort of brought that to the front of mind for everybody. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was pretty cool. Like, oh, we can do this. Yeah. All
Speaker 2:Digitally and people embraced it differently cuz they were less afraid of the technology than they were of covid. And so, um, we really got, it's a good way to put it. Yeah. We really got a lot of people engaged in understanding the ease of technology. And you know, one of the things that I like to say is that we give people sort of both mediums, you know, that that tech is there, everyone likes to engage the technology, but no one likes to only engage technology, right. There needs to be some personality, um, and some process engaged with that as well. And so, you know, we like to use both to make it convenient. That's still personal.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. Well, I think you have such a reputation for making it personal. It's amazing. I mean, I think anybody that works with you, whether it's a client or an agent, we're like, how does James always return all of his phone calls you, like, we know how busy you are, but you get back to people and that it's amazing. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it, you know, it's important because it, are we busy? Yes. Is that an excuse? No, because no one's, no one's transaction matters more than your own. So it needs to be personal. We need to be available.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, tell us a little bit about Fidelity Mortgage and, um, what your structure is and, uh, how many, uh, loan officers you have Yeah. And what's going on these
Speaker 2:Days? Yeah, so I mean, we've been in Grand Junction since 1986, so definitely have grown up with the community. It was definitely a little bit of a, a crazy bet to start any business in Grand Junction in 1986 for everyone that knows what was going on back then,<laugh>. Um, and so it's been nice to really have grown with the community both as far as, um, the real estate industry, our community involvement, and then, you know, just the people that, um, not only that we serve, but that have become a part of our company. And so, you know, we've grown over the years. Um, we have combined forces on a corporate structure with, um, some other partners over the years that have really helped us, you know, advance and change our ability, you know, to really be a full service mortgage bank and truly give local execution, you know, on a larger level for a lot, for a lot of times you either chose, you know, local or the capacity and, and ability to do things and, you know, we, we kind of really marry both knowing that we want to be local, but we also, you know, need to have that full suite of services to be able to offer people. And, um, and, and you know, that's been, that's been really great. So it's, um, it's been a wild ride, but it's been fun. Uhhuh<affirmative>.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And you built, you're building, uh, downtown, a lot of people know the Fidelity mortgage building. What year was that constructed?
Speaker 2:I think we finished construction, moved in in late oh seven mm-hmm.<affirmative>. So, um, which is weird to think back that it's been that long, but, um, but it has yeah.
Speaker 1:15 years. Yeah. 16 years and you have, um, other tenants in the building. Uhhuh<affirmative>. Yeah. But you have, because we don't see you that much anymore. We used to come into your office with clients and because things have gone so digital Yeah. It's rare that we see each other and sometimes not even at the closing table anymore. Right, right. Um, what, what is your, what is your office set up like and how do you have people coming into the office? Or do people mostly work from home these days?
Speaker 2:We do, you know, when we were, we were fully in office prior to the pandemic and, and that was always really important and it, it changed the consumer experience, but also changed, you know, our ability and perception on how we needed to work together as a team. So we give our base of, um, base of staff really the option. And there are some things that, you know, we have to by virtue do in person, but otherwise it really gives people the choice to choose how they work best. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, that's been nice to accommodate, you know, especially with school schedules and shifting dynamic and even weather as we sit here on a snowy day<laugh>. So, um, so we really, um, it's probably about a third of staff that's in the office on a day to day. Some people are there daily, some are are there almost never, and then some kind of, you know, pick and choose their schedules. So it's been a nice sort of shift of work environment and the mobility of tech has really helped that too. You know, we've been, you know, paperless loosely saying that, um, for a long time. But we're, we really are paperless now, and so the ability for us to, you know, grab our computer and go and be fully capable at any location it is, is more real today than it's ever been. And so, um, so it's nice to have the option for
Speaker 1:Both. And people used to come into the office to fill out applications. Yeah. And everything's online now. Do people still go in and fill out application now?
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, and again, that's the, the beauty of being local. You know, sometimes that's people's comfort level and we're certainly happy to do that. Um, for most people though, it's, it's faster and more simple, you know, to, to do the online and then it's more of a follow up meeting or discussion, um, you know, to really see both. But again, the nice part about being here is, you know, if that's your preference, then we can certainly accommodate that the same way. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:<affirmative>, what do you think is, um, sets you apart, uh, from your competitors or just, you know, uh, from a customer service standpoint? I think you have such a good reputation and what, what's important to you, uh, to have happen in a, in a lending transaction? Yeah,
Speaker 2:You know, I, I think it all starts with knowledge. Experience is certainly a part of that. That there's, you know, a lot of people that, um, get into our industry that, that really don't have the requisite knowledge to, to do it. And a lot of the horror stories you hear, you know, people getting told they can have a loan that can't. Yeah. Um, and some of the misinformation that's out there really just comes from lack of knowledge, um, with the people they're dealing with. And so we take a lot of pride in our entire base of staff really knowing what they're doing. And, you know, you know this from us working together for forever. You know, we don't tell somebody to go buy a house if they can't actually complete that transaction. And so, you know, our reputation stems from that. We, we mean what we say and we say what we do. So yeah. It, it
Speaker 1:Works well. We have, I think, experienced that just in the last week<laugh> with one of our agents saying, you know, so-and-so national lender told them they could qualify or vice versa, telling them they can't qualify and then we check with you all and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Looks good. Yeah. There's a knowledge is knowledge is key to what we do, and it has become so intricate from a regulatory standpoint that knowing the little loopholes and the, you know, when you cans and when you can't is super important.
Speaker 1:Well, we all feel that from you too. I mean, we, we, I remember going through real estate school and then when you go do CE classes and they talk about, you know, how you speak about lending to your clients, to your real estate clients. And honestly, my answer is, call your lender. Call James. You know, like, I don't wanna be giving them that advice on the rates or whether they can or can't qualify, you know, I mean, we used to do a lot of that. Agents used to do a lot of qualifying. Yeah. And I'm really glad that we got taken out of that loop because I, I think that we don't have the knowledge.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And, and really just as an inexperienced lender can do, you know, you, you stand to over undersell the situation in a negative way. And so, um, you know, we want to talk to people and give'em that educated basis to be the, that smartest and best equipped buyers in the market that there are, and you're gonna make better decisions, um, you know, when you're buying process and long-term planning mm-hmm.<affirmative> around real estate if you have that knowledge.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So everybody wants to know all the time what's, what's happening with rates, what's going on. Um, forecasting is always challenging. We don't have crystal balls, but tell us about the current state of the market, what you're seeing and what you're anticipating coming
Speaker 2:Up. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's no secret that we've seen a, a spike up in interest rates. Um, yeah. A lot of people ask me when the covid rates are gonna return. And, um, n nothing, don't
Speaker 1:Hold your breath<laugh>. Nothing
Speaker 2:Else was normal during covid that included interest rates<laugh>. Um, that was a good thing in that time. Um, we don't expect to see those rates again, but we do expect to see some moderation. We think that, um, the government's reaction from a Fed standpoint, it was a little bit of a, you know, they, they waited too long to do anything and then they did too much too fast. Um, the market's already seeing that. So the nutshell rates are high cuz of fears of inflation. And so as you're seeing the news, anything that's gonna calm that fear of inflation is gonna calm down interest rates. And so we've seen rates moderate about a point, point and a half, um, from their highs. You know, interestingly enough, in the last couple of weeks we've seen, you know, an unemployment report and an inflation report that showed a little stronger than expected results. And we saw the market react upward of that a little bit. And so I think we're gonna continue to see a little bit of an ebb and flow just as the market adjusts. And if you're watching just the broader markets, not even interest rates, you're gonna see good day, bad day, good week, bad week, just on that sentiment. Right. While we anticipate the overall trending rates continuing down in the next eight to 12 months, um, I, I think it's gonna be a little bit of a slow haul and there's gonna be a little bit of back and forth as the market just absorbs that. And, you know, the good news is the change in rates have created a different market dynamic. So as a buyer especially, there's a lot more opportunity out there than Yeah. You know, what there was a year ago. And so, um, you, you've just gotta look at the opportunity and the change that we've seen and, you know, figure out how to capitalize.
Speaker 1:Right? We talk about that a lot. And every, every time the market changes, there's an opportunity for somebody and we have to think about where that opportunity lies and con reach out to those people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And you know, like I said, there's, there is a, a different dynamic in the market than we've seen really probably for four or five years. And so as buyers are looking at that and taking advantage of it, um, it's, there's some unique opportunities out there. So a lot of people think that it's a bad time to be in the marketplace and as a buyer, nothing could be more untrue than that. Yeah,
Speaker 1:For sure. Um, so what do you think are some of the best things that buyers can do to prepare, uh, to purchase in this market? What do they need to get in line and, and how can they be prepared to make strong offers and
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. So obviously the, the best buyer is an educated one. And so we want to start that with them. You know, talking to a real estate professional, um, calling the Chris East group and saying, all right, I'm ready to buy. What do I need to know? Mm-hmm.<affirmative>, you know, let us educate you from there. That certainly falls into our arena because you want to know what your ability is and we really want to talk to you about what's your long-term plan, you know, what are your goals in real estate ownership? Cuz we want to be here not just for this transaction, but the next one and the next one. And we wanna show you how to build long-term wealth in real estate. And so that all starts with knowledge and education. And so spend some time do some legwork, let's talk through how that needs to look so that when you do start looking at houses, you're ready to act when the opportunity is right. Number one. And you know, what you're getting into number two. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:<affirmative>, it sounds like you play a little bit of a financial advisor role in a way. Would you say that's
Speaker 2:True? Yeah, definitely. You know, for most people, if they wanna look at their financial portfolio, there's more value in real estate than any other sector of their balance sheet. And so, um, we, we absolutely have to be a part of, of that dynamic to, to know what their overall yeah. Plan is gonna do and how we can best serve that
Speaker 1:Well. And we, in the real, on the real estate side, we end up a lot of times feeling like we're, we're in therapy, right? Because we're dealing with sit a lot of situations with families, um, deaths, divorce, new kids, retirement, moving across the country, all kinds of things. And we are concerned with people and their, their wealth. Um, and you have to be thinking about, you know, how much do you really wanna spend on this house? And not a advising people on whether they should go to the max and things
Speaker 2:Like that. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, the, the transition in real estate when you're in a real estate transaction, like you just said, it's when things in your life are changing. And even when those are positive changes and sometimes they're not, but whether the change is good or bad, there's a lot of emotional anxiety around that. And so how do you, again, I think knowledge is the solver of that because if you come into that situation, um, with a plan knowing exactly what your abilities are and your limitations are, then that can kind of ease some of the anxiety of, oh my gosh, what should I do on top of the stress of whatever life events occurring in mm-hmm.<affirmative> and just again, help you make a smarter long-term decision.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's, uh, it's crazy sometimes that we can meet with somebody that really hasn't done any homework. You know, sometimes we'll meet with people that say, I haven't sold a house in 30 years and, um, I, I don't know what's going on in the market. And same on the buy side. People that really haven't done any homework at all, they just feel ready. Um, so we do try to educate them as well. Yeah. Um, we wanna make sure that we are giving them some market knowledge as well as product knowledge, but we love handing them your way so that you can really educate them on the lending products. So that's great. So James, you're licensed in more than just Colorado, so you can do originate loans in a lot of states across the country. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And so for most people, you know, we're able to deal with a lot of their family and friends and certainly if you're going to or from other areas, we've extended license to where our base of people tend to be coming or going from mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, or retiring to everyone says, why do you license in Florida? Well, we have a lot of people that retire in Florida, so, um, we want to be a part of that. That's the culmination of that plan. So for people that know people in other areas, um, for most states we can, we can still accommodate your mortgage needs and, and that way you're not going to someplace strange anew and trying to get advice from somebody you might not know or
Speaker 1:Trust. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>. And it's nice to have someone that you do know and trust. Do you have any challenges with being an out of town lender in a, in another area?
Speaker 2:Y you know, we definitely have to introduce ourselves in a different way. You know, we're fortunate with our footprint in the Grand Valley that most people don't go, gosh, who's Fidelity mortgage? Yeah. Um, that's different in other markets, but generally having a conversation with the agent and letting'em know, you know, that we're not a box lender or an internet lender, kind of giving them a little bit about our resume and letting'em know where we're at. Normally in the course of a five minute conversation, people know they're dealing with somebody that knows what they're doing and we overcome that pretty easily.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about box lenders for a second. Um,
Speaker 2:<laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Uh, boy, how do you describe them? I mean, they, they serve a certain purpose and I'm sure that they, they do a good job for some clients, but our experience overall has been that, um, they, they have a hard time staying on a timeline mm-hmm.<affirmative> and they don't know the local market. Um, what do you see as the challenges when you're up against, you know, someone comparing you with a big box lender cuz they think they're gonna get a better rate or Yeah.
Speaker 2:You
Speaker 1:Know, see something
Speaker 2:On tv. Absolutely. And, and I tell people that when they're looking, especially on the internet at, at things about mortgage, it's kind of like looking at supermarket tabloids. They're interesting and fun to see. There might be a little bit of truth in it, but you know, a lot of times it comes back to some of the things we've already talked about. You know, I, I had just the other day somebody say, Hey, can you match this that this big box lender did? And we said, well, yes, but that's totally the wrong loan for you. And it's, it, it's kind of like a do-it-yourself mortgage when you go with that platform. And again, that that's not always a bad thing, but it generally lacks the base of knowledge to say, why would I do this versus that. Um, and, and really making sure that that fits an overall plan and mortgage is more of a process than a plan than it is a commodity. So it's not like deciding whether you want brand or generic at the supermarket. It's, there's really more to it. Right. And
Speaker 1:Honest, there's there's not just you or you and you have one product each Yeah. And it's this rate.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And there's so much more on the line. Mm-hmm. You know, the, the quality of advice matters because you don't want to go and borrow$400,000 and figure out after the fact that you did it the wrong way.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. And what, what are some of the things that you've seen go wrong with, um, those kind of folks? Cuz I know we, we talked a few minutes ago about, you know, sometimes we have deals that we can't get done. We're at the, at the, almost at the closing table and the lender drops the ball and then we go, James,
Speaker 2:Right. You know what? There's a number of things that we see go wrong in that situation. You know, the, the worst is what you just said. You get down to the end and they said, ah, we know, we told, we told you we could give you this loan, but in fact we can't. That's obviously the last thing anyone wants to hear.
Speaker 1:And I think one that we heard, uh, the one that happened to one of my agents recently, I think they said something about, oh, we, we checked on your student loan or something and, and decided they couldn't qualify the last minute. And it was like, well, why didn't we know this ahead of time? Yeah.
Speaker 2:We see a lot of things that should be day one or two questions that get missed until the end. And again, that's, that's lack of experience. A lot of those box lenders are call centers. Um, so you're getting somebody who's reading a script, they don't necessarily know the mortgage process. So it, it, it's pretty face value to understand where that could fail. Um, the other thing, you know, even if is timeline, you know, obviously when you agree to buy a house under a deadline to do that and a lot of lenders just don't apply importance or recognition to that. And so we see a ton of times that those lenders are just unable to perform in time and, you know, you risk the chance that your seller's gonna say no thanks and move on to the next buyer,
Speaker 1:Not gonna extend.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, um, we see that happen a lot. And, and then the final thing that we see, which is unfortunate, is just a lot of bait and switch. You know, we take a lot of stock in knowing that if we tell people we're gonna do something or deliver something, then that's exactly what we do When we stake our reputation on that, um, you know, again, those call center lenders aren't gonna be afraid to tell you one thing and do another. And so even if they perform, a lot of times they don't perform in the way that they promised and it's sometimes too late to do anything about it. And you're left holding the bag with something that really isn't what you thought you were gonna get or really wanted.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's really scary when you think about it that way. A call center with one of the most important purchases you might ever make, um, with somebody that doesn't have near the knowledge about products and service that you do, that's a, that's a big risk.
Speaker 2:Just swing by Vegas on the way to that box lender, put it all on black, see if you can double your money and then, you know, it, it's a gamble either way is my point. And, um, definitely don't gamble with something that's that important.
Speaker 1:Agree. Agree. Um, what do you enjoy most about your job? Um, I, you talk about the people earlier, um, but it's, it's pretty high stakes and high energy. Do you get a lot, do you stress a lot about your job?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I would say that it's, it's not a low stress reality. I, I think, you know, having done it as long as I have, there's, there's less stress and more just kind of a, you know, roll up our sleeves and get through it. You know, we're not as worried about the outcome, you know, because we do have the knowledge and experience to say, okay, we've gotta do, you know, these things. I think, you know, more than anything I have stress for, you know, what the people are going through, you know? Mm-hmm. If, if they really want a house and they aren't sure that that's the right thing or they can't come to terms with a seller, you know, again, just sort of seeing that anxiety, um, you know, that, that's hard because you, you just, you know when you're the same way
Speaker 1:And you do get emotionally involved with your
Speaker 2:Clients too. Yeah. We have a lot of empathy and I, that's not a bad thing, but it's, it's, it's really hard to kind of always be the sound voice or reason when sometimes you want to just go, yeah, you're right. This is, this is hard. Um, cuz the circumstances sometimes are, but you know, the biggest thing we can do is just, just take the difficulty out of that wherever's possible
Speaker 1:And that's gotta be really gratifying. Yeah, I know. I mean, it's when you get somebody into a house Yeah. Oh gosh, yes. It
Speaker 2:Feels so good. Yeah. Yeah. And their joy is, they know why we do what we do. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:<affirmative>. Absolutely. So what's next for Fidelity mortgage? Are you expanding? Are you, are you doing some teaching around the country? I mean, for, for the company and for you personally in the industry? Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I, um, in, in the last probably seven or eight years have started to do and continue to do a lot of stuff just around the country with, um, industry peer groups and masterminds. You know, we've enjoyed a lot of success and that's a, a big pay it forward for me. Um, and, and we believe in that in, in multiple aspects of what we do. So, you know, what's next for Fidelity Mortgage is to continue to honor our base. Grand Junction has always been home. Um, and we've always served the community well. We of course want to continue to do that. Um, for myself personally, I, you know, have taken on some other things, um, around the country. I have a, a full team here that continues, um, you know, to make sure that, that the home buyers in Mesa County are taken good care of.
Speaker 1:Great, great team by the way, James. Thank
Speaker 2:You. Yeah. Super. Yeah, they do super, they do an awesome job and, you know, it's fun for me and we always learn and bring new things back to the industry. I know you're the same, you're involved in a lot of stuff around the country and, um, it's great to see that that energy and ideas from different people can work in our market. Yeah. So it, it's, it's fun to do, but it also, you know, lets us kind of put more toys in our toy box and, you know, bring different things to the process and just make sure that we're, we're innovating while we're, while we're doing our day-to-day.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I love being part of a coaching network and I, um, the masterminding is fantastic and with all the changes in markets and regulations and as we said peoples and people and properties, uh, it's important to keep up with stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And we definitely, you know, that's a huge part of just making sure we're giving people the best advice that's out there, you know, is knowing the marketplace and so helping to educate other people, you know, outside of the area and sharing their ideas and process just helps us make sure everybody is as sharp as they can be. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, can we, can we shift to a little bit more personal, um, subject, I'd like to talk to you about your involvement with Community Hospital. Okay. And what's going on out there? Yeah, that's super exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's been a really exciting project. I've been involved with the foundation for a number of years and, um, have we involved with, um, the new cancer center that's going in out there. Um, we're super proud to, you know, be a partner with them on that and, and we're excited to see the doors open there
Speaker 1:For sure. Yeah. And your name's gonna be on the building.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a little, uh, little unsure about that, but they, um, they talked me into doing that and, you know, it, it's, it's been an amazing outreach from the community with, um, you know, learning everyone's stories and how that organization has helped to influence other people's lives. And, you know, we talked about our pay it forward from an education standpoint, you know, the, the community's been super good to us and so it's, uh, it's definitely a big way for us to say thank you back. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, it's amazing. Um, what's the estimated completion, do you know?
Speaker 2:Um, I think with weather and Covid we've had some setbacks, but I, I wanna say that we're looking at the first part of 2024 mm-hmm.<affirmative>, um, for them actually starting.
Speaker 1:They have a lot going on out there with their early childhood center Yeah. And the cancer wing, it's really cool to drive out there and see this, this,
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. If people haven't seen it, and I, I get that their name is community as well, but, um, good name because their community involvement is phenomenal and it's nice to see them embrace the growth in the community and it's a great organization to be involved with for people too, if they're looking for someplace to give time or money. Um, a lot of worthwhile causes there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So, um, what do you do in your free time, James<laugh> free
Speaker 2:Time once this
Speaker 1:Little little bed that you have? Yeah,
Speaker 2:Right. You know, um, I, I enjoy traveling and, um, so
Speaker 1:We haven't gotten to ski.
Speaker 2:I know we keep promising to get on the slope, so, um, especially especially with the snow right now. Let's Yeah, let's make it happen this year for sure. So, um, you know, love getting anything in the outdoors, um, skiing, hiking, um, and you know, just like spending time with friends. I, as you know, I love to cook, so, um, yeah. Just, there's never enough free time to spend with the people you care about, but, um, always have fun.
Speaker 1:Very true. And you have a lot of family here still in the Grand Valley. Are any of your family members still involved in the business?
Speaker 2:Um, they aren't. My mom was in the business for, um, for many, many years with me, and she's been retired for I think 12 or 13 years now. And so, um, I'm the lonely only p for surviving a mortgage banking, so I'm, I'm carrying that torch.<laugh>.
Speaker 1:What else do you wanna share with us about Mortgage or James?
Speaker 2:You know, I think that from a mortgage standpoint, it's just, just to tell people don't be afraid. You know, you don't know what you don't know. Um, ask questions, um, engage people in good resources and, um, and, and don't, don't be afraid to, to take that risk and, you know, understand the opportunities that come with that.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think, uh, my advice too would be don't be afraid to, um, like you said, ask questions, but there's a lot of people I think assume they should know stuff. Yeah. They don't know and they're afraid to ask. No. Um, cuz they don't wanna sound stupid. But you really do need to dig and share everything, right? Like, you've gotta be honest with your lender and your realtor. We need to know your financial
Speaker 2:No, and, and don't be afraid to ask. We never sit down with somebody, whether it's your first transaction or your fifth, where we expect you to have all the answers. You know, quite the opposite. That's why we're there. Um, so there's not a question that's gonna offend us. Um, I'd rather ask and get it answered or have you asked and realize that you did know the answer. But let's have the discussion just so that we're a hundred percent sure that that's the case. Cuz um, if you haven't spotted a recurring theme, neurologist power<laugh>. So, um, you know, make sure you're armed with that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So if people want to learn more about your company, if they want to apply for a mortgage, if they want to call you or any of your amazing teams. So you have a team that is, um, the, the Pulser team. Yep. But you also have independent, uh, loan originators at your company. Yep. How many now?
Speaker 2:Um, there's 11 of us, I believe. So, um, a great team of people. They all do an excellent job. Um, we take a lot of pride in knowing that if you're dealing with Fidelity Mortgage, you're dealing with somebody who knows what they're doing is gonna take good care of you. Um, and, and that's important to our brand.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So how do they get in touch?
Speaker 2:I mean, you can always give us a call. Um, 9 7 0 2 4 2 7,000. You can find us on the internet. Fidelity mtg. Mm-hmm.<affirmative>
Speaker 1:Pretty easy to find. Yeah. Every once in a while someone says, I couldn't find your phone number. I'm like, really
Speaker 2:<laugh> or you can call the Christie repo. Everybody here knows how to find me.
Speaker 1:Right? Yeah. We
Speaker 2:Have a cell phone, right.<laugh>, they can track me down. I assure you.<laugh>.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for joining us today. Um, it's been a pleasure to work with you over the years. I just can't speak highly enough of, uh, the job that you do, the service that you offer, and the, the great way that you treat our clients.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Thank you. We've been, uh, proud to be your partner, so thank you. Many, many more years. Yes,
Speaker 1:<laugh>. Let's keep it going. All right. So if you have questions about mortgages, you just, I mean, really, if you just need information, James and his team would be happy to help you. But if you wanna apply for a mortgage or you wanna get started on a real estate journey, call either one of us and we'd be happy to help.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thanks for having me. Thanks
Speaker 1:James. We'll see you next time on the Full Circle podcast. Thanks for listening. This is Christie Reese signing out from the Full Circle Podcast.