CORINNE CORDON, BROKER/OWNER
I am involved in all of the processes at Capella Mortgage. My primary responsibility is running the company, providing direction, and marketing our products. I have a B.S. in Business Administration, with a minor in Management Information Systems, cum laude. I have been lending on real estate since 1996, but I never intended to become a loan officer. I started my career in computers back in 1980, programming code for different businesses. I did that for 15 years, and then accidentally got into lending because I was frustrated with the run around I was getting from my own loan officer. I quickly realized that lending was my life’s calling. I could work with computers all day, I got to crunch numbers and work with money, and people loved talking to me about their situations and trusted me to help them with their financing needs. If you love your job, it doesn’t seem like work, and that is why I work so many hours. Besides, I take it seriously when someone needs money, and in my industry (hard money), when people need money, they need it fast.
I was one of the first ones to bring Fannie Mae’s Automated Underwriting to Las Vegas. In 2001, I started working to become a broker, and I opened up Capella Mortgage right after 9/11. I didn’t even know if I should open, as everything was in turmoil at that time, but we were successful right off the bat.
In the first 6 years we did mostly A paper, conventional loans, with a few commercial loans and hard money loans scattered throughout the years. We only did two of the pay option arms ever as we couldn’t stand putting people into 3 year ARMS with 3 year prepayment penalties just so we could get 3 point rebates.
We survived as a company between 2007 and 2008 – barely – and at the end of 2008, we started doing private money loans with our private investors as that was the only way we could lend money. Everyone else was afraid to lend their money. We weren’t. Since 2009, we have made over 2400 private money loans, and we have evaluated 1000’s more. And out of those 2400 loans, we have had 5 or 6 foreclosures. We credit that to many things: we don’t believe in prepayment penalties, we help our borrowers get something they cannot get elsewhere (a home), we treat them with respect, we answer our phones (wow), and we don’t lose your paperwork!!! In other words, we follow the basics.
n 2013, we decided to go back into conventional, FHA, and VA lending, and we started slow, to test the waters. It was still extremely difficult to qualify customers, but over the months it has gotten better. We love brokering to Niche Lenders – the ones who are looking for unusual loans like 203k, Jumbo, Stated, Manufactured, etc. – as well as to the top A paper lenders with the very best rates. Bottom line, we just love doing mortgages, plain and simple. So give us a call at 702-214-4700, you can talk to me or any loan officer you prefer.
MATTHEW DALE, LOAN OFFICER
Matthew is a licensed loan officer and has been with our company for 7 years. He is the Qualified Employee of the main office and manages the investor relations department. He is also a “drift” car racer!
It isn’t easy being a loan officer; you have to work for free a lot. The only time you get paid is if a loan closes, in fact, lending is the only occupation I know of where you do not get paid for working. Either you become good at it and learn the guidelines so you don’t waste your time or the customer’s time, or you go hungry. I have become one of the busiest hard money lenders in Las Vegas because I have a LOT of private investors and borrowers that are happy with the program and the service; I keep their money invested in good deals; and I deliver the money to the closing table. You would be astounded if you knew just how many times we have had to save the day when loan agents told their customers “yeah, I can get you hard money” and then never delivered the funds. But we like saving the day. I especially like it when we get to help someone who has been told “no way” by their loan officer. If the deal makes sense, then we will do it. But if you are the type of customer that is committing fraud or is trying to pull a fast one, and never intend to pay us back, watch out because we are very good at figuring it out.