When a New Tech Roll Out Goes Horribly Right

New industry leading technology will transform how Paramount Bank handles mortgages. My last blog was a bit of a love letter to my team for their stellar work during the pandemic, and I’m still on that train, but for a slightly different reason. I mentioned in a previous post that we’re in th...

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Veterans, Surprisingly Now is a Great Time to Buy a Home

Paramount Bank is making it easier and more fiscally sound for veterans and active service duty members to get mortgages. In these uncertain times, people are focused on how they can take care of themselves, their families, and ideally, their communities. Eventually, however, the coronavirus pand...

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Self-Isolation May Slow the Spread of COVID-19, and Give Rise to Another Kind of Loss of Life

Veterans with PTSD and people who struggle with addiction are particularly vulnerable during this unprecedented time of international self-isolation. I’ve made my position clear on America getting back to work amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But there’s something just as serious and worthy of o...

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It May Sound Heartless, But We Have to Get Back to Work

We need to get back to work. Before you judge me for making that statement, hear me out. For starters, I don’t have all the answers. There is no one right answer, and no one person has all the information we need to recover from the pandemic. It’s something we must do together, and we need to b...

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How Paramount Bank Stepped Up During the Coronavirus Crisis

If you’re scared right now, don’t feel bad. Fear is a reasonable response to what’s happening right now. Thanks to the rapid, global spread of the coronavirus things are uncertain in almost every industry. Finances in particular are unstable for many people and organizations. Mortgages, inte...

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Are You Doing These 4 Things to Keep Your Financial Resolutions on the Right Path?

Are your New Year’s resolutions still holding strong? Only around 8% of resolutions succeed by the end of the year, and more than 60% fail before the six month mark. We’ve just surpassed what Strava, the popular app for cyclists and runners, calls “Quitters Day.” That’s the day of the y...

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3 Skills All Veterans Have That Make Them Great Business Leaders

On Veterans Day, I posted about the importance of helping veterans succeed in job interviews, and the importance of hiring managers understanding a veteran perspective. When we can overcome this challenge together, more companies will see that hiring veterans improves the bottom line. Veterans ma...

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Translating Military Skills Into Civilians Jobs

Happy Veterans Day! It would be no surprise to my friends for me to say that the most developmental period of my life was spent in the United States Army. The opportunities I have been afforded professionally and those in my future are all in debt to the skills I gained in the armed forces.  Thi...

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AI is Transforming Home Loans. It’s Time to get on Board.

Like “The Cloud” before it, artificial intelligence (AI) is a computing tool that has become a buzzword in nearly every industry you can think of: law, healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, etc. Financing is no exception, especially in the home loan sector. And it’s taken too long to catc...

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When All Signs Point to a Weak Housing Market, Why Are Home Loans Increasing?

According to recent reports, the number of Americans who choose to use a home loan to buy a new home instead of using cash is increasing, and has been doing so for the last couple years. The home loan is nothing new; rates have been lower in the past; the country as a whole has a housing shortage. ...

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Three Things Paramount Bank is Doing to Create a Winning Culture

In a world where technology changes on a weekly basis the way we interact with each other, process data, and consume information, there is a drive for companies to find a sustainable competitive advantage through technological means. That is why the best companies in the world focus on areas that...

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This National Suicide Prevention Week, Get Headstrong

This week, September 8-14, is National Suicide Prevention Week. As a military veteran, that cause is near and dear to my heart. The statistics surrounding the mental health epidemic of military veterans are well defined. Among the states that report, there are 22 veteran suicides a day. With stat...

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The Power of Going with the Right Team, In Life and Real Estate

Before you play the game, any game, it’s crucial to choose the right team. My days playing Army football taught me a player can be the greatest in the league but nobody will fully value his legacy if he played for a losing team. It happens on the field and in life. An individual’s success on ...

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3 Reasons Why Borrowers Need to Find an FDIC Insured Bank

Borrowers and originators shouldn’t fool themselves – FDIC insured depository banks are always preferred to traditional mortgage brokers and shadow banks. The benefits of being and working with a depository bank far outweigh any perceived benefits of shadow banks, which operate outside of est...

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Veterans Have More Options to buy a Home Than Anybody Else

Serving in the military has made me who I am today. I’m always going to be grateful for the experiences and lessons I took away from my time in the service. That said, and as I’ve mentioned in a previous article, the financial education taught in the military is subpar. If I had been more knowl...

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My Advice to Millennial Home Buyers

The generation we refer to as millennials are 23-38 years old, are entering the prime income-earning years of their lives, and are quickly becoming the largest home-buying demographic in America. This is a generation that has become accustomed to sensationalism and has grown numb to panic-inducin...

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The Modern Home Loan Customer is Demanding Two Things

The home loan process can be summed up in a few words; stressful, long, slow, complicated and confusing for most home buyers and owners.    According to a Homes.com study that surveyed 2,000 homeowners, 40% of Americans say that buying a home is the most stressful event in their lifetime...

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The Untapped Potential of Military Home Ownership

Back when I was in the military, there was no financial education provided to us active duty service members. In the years since then, that hasn’t changed. Those who want to learn about financial education are required to seek it out themselves. If I had known what I know now, I would have made d...

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How Does one Create the “Team of the Future?” Here’s What We’re Doing.

“When building a team, I always search first for people who love to win. If I can’t find any of those, I look for people who hate to lose.” – Ross Perot The new opportunity I’ve taken as President of Paramount Bank Direct allows me to draft my own team. This is both exciting and challen...

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It’s Time to Reimagine the Mortgage Experience

Recent estimates show that 90% of people will want to do business with a company that includes no human interaction by 2020.  With this in mind, Paramount Bank is reimagining the mortgage experience. We are crafting humanized technology powered by machine learning that results in a dynamic exper...

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The Power of a Fresh Start

Over the course of my career, I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with some truly inspiring, talented, and driven professionals, both within my company and without. Now, with my new opportunity at Paramount Bank, I have the chance to create an environment that will attract thos...

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Advice for Veterans This National Military Appreciation Month

Excited to share my first post on Paramount Bank's revamped blog! --------- As a military veteran myself, I have a great appreciation for all those who preceded me and all those who are currently serving our country. My appreciation doesn’t end with the veterans, fallen soldiers and curre...

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How to Make the Most of Valentine’s Day

On Valentine’s Day, we so often think of those we hold close to our heart. The day is celebrated as a time to give and receive love. One of the easiest ways that we can show our love for a special someone, and everyone, is through a thoughtful and generous gift. Of course, I’m talking about ph...

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Unexpected Military Skills and Lessons

Many people form their opinion of the military’s values and teachings based on a few ideas: discipline, teamwork and leadership. Those are not wrong, to be sure. You learn a lot about how to work together, how to pick up the slack, and how to be strong in the face of uncertainty and hardshi...

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The Greatest Job in the World? Mentor

As the new year begins and we dive head first into our resolutions and goals, I have one more for everyone to add to their lists: Find a mentor and/or become a mentor. It is rare for anyone to find success without help, but we often think that asking for that help is a sign of weakness — and...

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The Advent of Advanced Technology in Mortgaging

Technology, in many markets, is being embraced steadily. There are endless tasks that used to take big meetings and hours of analog work to finish that have since been digitized for the better. Depositing checks, scanning papers, doing taxes. All of these can practically be done from our phones no...

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The Future of the Mortgage Industry

Real estate is one of the last standing dinosaurs in the business sector. Nearly all other industries have made their products ultra-convenient, accessible, and user friendly. The modern consumer is keen on two things: speed and efficiency. When they want something, they want it immediately. None o...

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Mortgage Industry Consolidation is Coming

From an outsider looking in, you’d probably describe the mortgage industry as temperamental at best. And you’d be right. We can predict a lot about the mortgage industry, but even then, rates and financing change for many reasons that cannot be easily controlled. It is also an old industry. Th...

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Choosing Between Being a Business Leader or an Employee

Leadership isn’t for everybody and there’s no shame in that. Coming from a military background I know some are born natural leaders with outstanding charisma and machismo, while others function better in supporting roles. They’re more proficient at completing tasks than delegating them. When...

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5 Veteran Owned Businesses you Should Support Year-Round

This past weekend we celebrated the veterans who have served our country. Veterans Day weekend is an important time for us to reflect and be grateful for all they’ve done for this nation. It’s also often the only time we do this. As a veteran myself, I see the overwhelming support we received o...

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Be a Loud Brand, but be Careful

Regardless of whatever industry in which you find yourself, success is often measured by the market share your business possesses. Beyond the spreadsheets and the shareholder value, it all boils down to how much you control in the market. There are very few monopolies in any marketplace, which mea...

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Veteran Business Owners and What you can Learn From Them

This Veterans Day weekend, I want to take the time to highlight a few prominent veteran business owners who you might not have heard of.   According to the Department of Defense, about 0.4 percent of the U.S. population has served in the military. Yet more than 2.5 million U.S. businesses are...

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Should You Buy a House Soon?

There are few greater pleasures than owning a house and making it your home. The “right time” to find your perfect place is obviously impacted by your personal set of circumstances, but there are also external elements in the housing market that might come in between you and your dream home. I...

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Consequences of the Trade War on Housing

The American economy is a complicated beast. It doesn’t take an economist with a PhD to figure that out. At the current moment, we are experiencing economic rifts that the average person isn’t used to, namely our current trade wars with China, Canada and possibly the EU. We were paying too muc...

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What Millennials Don’t Know About Home Ownership

A historically low percentage of millennials are purchasing homes these days, and it’s not difficult to see why. No other generation has seen that much wealth destroyed around the concept of owning a home. These are the people who were younger when the housing bubble burst, but still old enough ...

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Bringing the American Dream to Veterans

It was an honor to be interviewed by the MReport for their October issue. I spoke with them about where the mortgage industry is headed, how to meet the needs of military homebuyers, and the lessons I took away from my own time serving this country. Click here to read the full interview....

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3 Reasons why Veterans are Bred to be Business Leaders

You might be surprised by the number of former military service members in the ranks of management at Amazon. The number is an astounding 50–60%. And it’s not just Amazon. There are many companies that are realizing that veterans make great managers and business leaders. That is because v...

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Commitment to Action-Driven Leadership

There’s nothing better than sitting in the stands, braving the cold and cheering on my favorite team as they celebrate a victory. That’s what I call a good day. As a former Army West Point Black Knight’s letterman, I always take great pride in a win. But as a business leader, I often find myse...

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The Team Leader

The charisma of a leader is certainly a powerful asset for a growing business. We live in a time where superstar CEOs and startup founders enjoy a sort of celebrity status. There’s a lot to learn from them but pop culture focuses on one quality they all have in common: charisma. It makes for...

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The Power of Giving Back

Inspiration to give back derives itself from caring about someone else’s needs. Mahatma Gandhi told us to “be the change you want to see in the world.” Think about others, feel where you are most drawn, and then make a point to stand up and get involved in even a small way. I like to say that...

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Why every business must learn to be a team of teams.

As a leader, you should prepare your team members to be strong leaders. Strong leaders build strong teams. But, your guidance shouldn’t stop there because strong teams often compete to be the best, forgetting that they are a team of teams. In the military this concept is understood as combined...

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Mortgage Lending in the Modern Era

I am very grateful to have been able to write this article for CIO Applications about mortgage lending in the 21st century. Click here to read the full post....

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BBMC named a top lender

We're proud that BBMC Mortgage was named one of the top ten mortgage lenders based on customer reviews. There's no better feeling than knowing our customers are happy. Read the full article here....

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Paying Tribute

BBMC-sponsored NASCAR racer, Jesse Iwuj, recently paid tribute to Aaron Toppen, an Army private first class who was one of five American soldiers killed in a June 2014 friendly-fire airstrike in southern Afghanistan. Read more about the story and BBMC’s work with veteran causes in this article....

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Team Hero

BBMC is proud to sponsor NASCAR driver, Navy veteran and local hero Jesse Iwuji and lucky to have him on our team. Click here to learn more about Jesse's brave rescue, and how his Navy and NASCAR experience prepared him to act fast....

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What is Preventing More Veteran Entrepreneurship?

Veterans understate, investors don’t quite understand. Here’s how we can resolve this. The job of every entrepreneur is to tell their story in a way that investors, banks and other interested parties will understand and believe in it. Veteran entrepreneurs struggle to do this. Why? The cult...

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How to lead a team built for survival

Groom all members to be the next man up. My time on the football field for Army West Point and throughout my military career not only taught me how to be an effective leader, but also how to be the next man up. It’s a concept of organizational structure that was born out of the military and a...

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West Point’s Secret Leadership Lesson

We were overwhelmed. On purpose. You only have 24 hours in a day. How are you going to spend your time? This question is asked often, but most people still don’t manage their time correctly. The key to time management is critical thinking and prioritization. How you use time can make or brea...

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BBMC Mortgage Named Ellie Mae Classic Military Day Sponsor

"BBMC Mortgage is committed to serving active and retired members of the military and our programs allow us to express our gratitude in very tangible and meaningful ways. Through our sponsorship of the Ellie Mae Classic, we’re looking forward to getting more of our active and retired veterans and ...

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Should you get an adjustable-rate mortgage when interest rates are rising?

I am committed to helping people get into a home they can afford, fulfilling their American Dream. But understanding how to finance that home can be tricky. Even in a rising rate environment, an adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, still makes sense. Check out more of my thoughts on this subject in t...

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