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AMERICA’S TRADE PUBLICATION FOR HOME LOAN ORIGINATORS

BROKER BANKER’S COMPANY OF THE MONTHBROKER BANKER’S COMPANY OF THE MONTH

STEVE JACOBSON – CEOSTEVE JACOBSON – CEO

1 BrokerBanker | Volume 113, 2007

Midwesterners are often referred to

as “Salt of the Earth” people, in ref-

erence to their reputation for being

consummate neighbors, and hard

working by nature. Sun Prairie, Wiscon-

sin based Fairway Independent Mortgage

Corporation embraces this reputation,

though its reach extends far beyond

the Midwest with more than 100

branches nationwide.

The core convictions that are the foundation

of this more than ten year old mortgage

banker/broker are homogenous from coast

to coast, making Fairway Independent

Mortgage Corporation an example of a

company who says what they mean, and

mean what they say. With a company

philosophy that declares, “We are only

as good as our last loan,” Fairway has

demonstrated time and again, that its three

strongest virtues; support, sincerity and

swiftness are a winning combination for

originators and consumers alike.

SUPPORT: IT’S A TEAM EFFORTNo one understands better than Steve Jacobson,

President of Fairway Independent Mortgage,

that without sincere support from the entire

team, consumers won’t receive the swift

service that they deserve. A former Univer-

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation

Speed, Support and Sincerity Offer

STABILITYfor Originators in a

Shaky MarketBy Jennifer Hadley

2

BrokerBanker

Volume 113, 2007 | BrokerBanker

sity of Wisconsin basketball player and co-captain, Steve

founded Fairway with the best interests of the entire team in

mind. “We’re a complete team; Fairway, the investor, and the

customer. We work together to make the dream of owning a

home a reality,” he says.

But in order to make these dreams a reality for clients, the

branches of Fairway need strong support from Fairway’s cor-

porate office, which the team duly provides, with no excep-

tions. In fact, one of Fairway’s six internal Core Convictions

is, “Work For The Benefit of All Employees, Customers,

Vendors-Not Selected Groups.”

In order to satisfy this conviction, Fairway has an entire

department devoted to supporting its branches, so that

the individual branches can then provide the service

their customers deserve. In fact, according to Steve,

“The success of our branches is so important to the

success of our organization that we’ve created a

branch support system whose sole purpose is to

assist our branches with anything they need

to transact a loan; from investor log-ins,

through post closing.” Continuing, he says,

“Our branch support team is comprised of

dedicated individuals who each specialize in

various areas of the business. With this team

effort, we’re able to assist our branches with loan

placement, file issues, or with anything to help

ensure their success.”

At the helm of this branch support system is Chris Janssen,

Senior Vice President-Branch Support, who concisely sums

up the role of his corporate team at Fairway, by stating simply.

“Our branches don’t work for us. We work for them.” That

means the support is provided in not only the areas of human

resources, payroll, accounting, training and compliance, but in

marketing, technology, accessibility to hundreds of lenders, and

hands on support with individual loans, when necessary.

In terms of marketing support, Fairway’s biggest strength is,

quite frankly, its reputation. In 2006, word of mouth referrals

alone accounted for more than 50% of Fairway’s total volume

Continued on Page 3

one of Fairway’s six internal Core Convictions is to “Work For The Benefit All Employees, Customers, Vendors

– Not Selected Groups.”

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3

solutions to branches, rather than having to

wait for paper documents.

However, all of the cutting edge technology

in the world won’t make a mortgage close, if

the support team doesn’t have hands on experience originat-

ing and closing their own loans. Fairway stands apart yet

again, in that all of the members of the branch

support team are experienced in either process-

ing, underwriting or origination. “Unlike some

huge companies, where the people who are mak-

ing the decisions have never done a loan them-

selves; at Fairway, we all know how to support

our branches, because we’ve all originated loans,”

Chris explains.

Finally, support to branches is provided via ac-

cessibility to the outstanding relationships Fair-

way has forged with its lenders. Since lenders make up 1/3 of

the team that Fairway has worked so diligently to build, they

receive the same support, courtesy, and professionalism that

the branches and customers receive.

SINCERITY: STRAIGHT SHOOTING SCORES BIGAt a time when the integrity of some mortgage companies has

been challenged, either for their advocacy of exotic loans, or

third party originations; Fairway is really an old fashioned,

production of 1.6 Billion. However, in order to keep those past

client referrals coming, Fairway’s corporate team supports all of

its branches by providing a wide variety of marketing tools.

Fairway provides marketing support to branches through the

use of such marketing systems and programs as Turning Points

CRM, Loan Toolbox Platinum Plus Marketing programs, and

custom email campaigns. “One particularly

unique tool is a powerful post-close follow

up system, explains Kathy Bultman, Marketing

Director.”

Support to branches also comes in the form of

cutting edge technology. Encompass software

has been incredibly well received by more than

90% of Fairway’s branches. “We’ve imple-

mented Encompass to enable our branches

to originate and process paperless files, which

provide both speed and efficiency to not only our branches,

but also to the customers and clients our branches serve,” says

Brad DeBroux, Encompass Systems Administrator.

Encompass has been particularly useful in helping Fairway

satisfy another of their internal Core Convictions, which states

that, “Everyone Must Be Willing To Serve.” Because Encom-

pass is web based, the branch support team can literally log in

and view a file in just minutes, thereby providing speedy

Pictured above from left to right: Laurel Meyer SVP Operations, Gary Nelson Vice President/National Sales,

Chris Janssen Sr. VP Branch Support, Wendy Werner VP Branch Development,

Len Krupinski CFO, Steve Probst National Sales Manager, Steve Jacobson President

AMERICA’S TRADE PUBLICATION FOR HOME LOAN ORIGINATORS

BROKER BANKER’S COMPANY OF THE MONTHBROKER BANKER’S COMPANY OF THE MONTH

STEVE JACOBSON – CEOSTEVE JACOBSON – CEO

BrokerBanker

Volume 113, 2007 | BrokerBanker 4

require a fast

response. Our team

has a sense of urgency and a commitment to excellent

service. We provide the systems and the culture that enables

each of our branches to grow. Speed and efficiency are integral

to that success.”

There’s no disputing that Fairway’s size plays a key role in the

ability of its branches to close loans with remarkable speed.

“Part of the benefit of being such a large lender is that we can

leverage our size to offer our branches the fastest turnaround

times for getting files through underwriting, closing and fund-

ing,” say’s Steve. Moreover he continues, “We frequently

receive calls from branches that have received loans that have

fallen through with another lender. In most cases, we have

been able to close those same loans within 24 hours; assisting

customers in obtaining their dream of home ownership.”

But, to Fairway, speed is nothing without service, and to that

end, they place the utmost importance on making certain that

the customer is receiving exceptional service, from start to finish.

One such way they work to put customers at ease is by reduc-

ing the possibility of last minute complications. This is made

possible due to the best practices of having closing docs ready

as early as possible. “We routinely have the papers to the clos-

ing agent one or two days before the closing,” Steve explains.

Continued on Page 5

Pictured Left:

Fairway Branch Support Team Members:

Aimee Curtis, Jen Schultz, Laurel Meyer,

Teresa Cornell, Nicole Ganser,

and Ashley Breneman

common sense mortgage company. The most obvious reason

Fairway has been spared these damaging accusations can be

traced to the company’s foremost Core Conviction; “Truth

Must Be The Basis For Everything We Do, And Must Not

Be Compromised.” Just for good measure, they followed this

up with their 2nd Core Conviction which declares that, “No

One Should Benefit At The Expense Of Others.”

These convictions -which leave little room for interpretations,

may very well have helped the Fairway team avoid the hard-

ships that other branch companies are currently facing.

To this day, Fairway maintains that more than 90% of their

production, which comes from 47 states, falls into the category

of conventional A-paper residential mortgages.

The decision to stay on the proverbial “straight and narrow”

path of mortgage lending continues to pay off for Fairway.

They have realized respectable, steady growth since their

incorporation in 1996. But more importantly, they were able

to utilize the time when many other companies were scram-

bling to provide every loan product on the market to clients,

to focus instead on delivering superior customer service. After

all, a 3rd Core Conviction demands it; by stating that, “Every-

one Deserves To Be Treated With Respect.”

SPEED: THE NAME OF THE GAMEAccording to Steve, “We recognize that all loan-level issues

Pictured Left:

National Sales Manager Steve Probst

with Motivational Speaker Steve Harney

Pictured Right:

Fairway Corporate Accounting Team: Sorphea Pho,

Dean Anderson, Brit Kramer and Len Krupinski

Pictured Below:

Fairway Corporate Members:

Liz Steinhaus, Wendy Werner,

and Michelle Polich

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STABILITY WINS EVERY TIMEFairway’s speed, size and the sincerity of their branch support

has provided more than 500 employees with professional

stability. They’ve also capitalized on their strengths to build

lasting relationships with lenders who value the professional

courtesy that Fairway’s loan officers and originators exude.

And for the more than 10,000 consumers who funded a loan

with Fairway Mortgage in 2007, The Independent company

provided quick turnaround and superior service, despite the

increasingly tumultuous market. Steve, for his part, couldn’t

be more proud.

“As a lender, my goal was to build relationships, offering quick

turnaround time and fast response to my clients. In regards to

Fairway as a whole, our objective has always been to provide

an atmosphere in which each branch could create the Fairway

Experience, to be exactly what they wanted it to be for them-

selves and their families. The strength of our company is our

people,” he says.

And for all of the people who make up the branch and

corporate team, Fairway promises in its final Core Conviction

that, “Our Culture Will Always Be One Where We Encour-

age People To Grow And Develop.” But, ever cautious of mak-

ing sure the entire team benefits, Steve says of the

future of Fairway that, “Our main objective has always been to

support and serve our branch network. Because of our com-

mitment in this area, we’re not going to grow at the expense of

neglecting our current branches. If adding more branches will

benefit the existing ones, then we’ll continue to strive for that.”

Any way you slice it, the individuals who collectively comprise

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation have created a

company that is deserving of its reputation for being a branch

company which provides stability for employees, exceptional

service for customers and professional courtesy to its lenders.

“There’s an intrinsic reward system based on how you take

care of people,” says Steve. “And our job is to take care of

them better than anyone else.”

Clearly the Fairway team is excelling at that job, by proving

time and again, that they are a company of professionals who

are indisputably worth their salt.

CONTACT:Steve Jacobson, President

Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation

866-912-4800

[email protected]

Pictured Left:

Fairway 2006 Partnership

Hall of Fame Recipient

Dawn Rivera of MGIC

Pictured Left:

Cindy Porterfield-AVP

Warehouse Lending

Pictured Right:

Vickki Marconi

& Steve Jacobson

Pictured Right:

Fairway 2006

Partnership

Hall of Fame Recipient

Dennis Schwartz of

Schwartz & Associates