Throughout 2021, we are celebrating Dave and Rob’s 25^th year together in business. As their longest standing staff member, I’m reflecting on how our staff and office have changed over those years.

I started with the company in 2002. Our office was downtown Muskegon in the Noble Building on W. Western Avenue, which is now home to Pigeon Hill Brewery. Now, when you’re sitting the brewery enjoying a beer, that’s where our desks used to be. It’s a cool facility now, but back then it was…not as ideal.

We had a shared bathroom with the entire first floor, and the bathroom also served as our kitchen for washing dishes. When Dave’s long time processor Tiffanie started with us in 2003, we made an office space for her in what was previously a broom closet. The walls may have been moldy, but luckily, she stuck with us.

We moved into our current location on Harvey Street back in 2004, which I believe is the only full location change we’ve had. Our sign has changed a few times though, as we moved through a few different company names. We had some growing pains finding the right fit, but as Michigan Mortgage we have seen an incredible level of success and growth and are here to stay for many years to come.

Our staff has been the most notable area of growth. Back when I started, I was one of only two staff members. At the time we also had about five Loan Officers (plus Rob and Dave). You don’t always realize how much we’ve grown until we look at group photos. Getting a photo of the entire staff went from 4….to well over 24!

Rob and Dave realized early on that growing their teams with additional support staff was a successful business model, versus attempting to add and support more loan officers. I say without a doubt that the staff we have now in 2021 is the best staff we have ever had. Our focus for each job position is laser sharp, our closing and marketing departments exists where they didn’t before, and the best part — we all genuinely enjoy each other and the work we do for our community.

We also have five staff members who have been with us for over 10 years (myself, Tiffanie, Joslyn, Ronda, and Hayley). When we talk about the growth of our staff, part of that means adding staff. But perhaps the best part is seeing the growth of the staff members themselves.

Joslyn started as a teenager, and now runs the entire office as our Operations Manager. Tiffanie and Ronda have perfected the loan process as part of Team Lehner, and their clients rave about them. And Hayley transitioned from a valued Loan Officer Assistant to an incredibly successful Loan Officer in Holland.

Opening an office in Holland was one of the biggest steps we made toward growth. Adding a location can be a risky decision: going into an unknown market, adding additional office expenses, transitioning two full time staff members to loan officers, etc.

From day one, there was no doubt Amy and Hayley were going to be successful in leading our Holland branch, and they certainly have been. They are both President’s Club members (loan officers who close at least 100 units each year) for two years running and have garnered many Best of the Best Awards in the Holland market.

It can be mind-boggling to imagine where Michigan Mortgage will be 25 years from today. I have no doubt that our trajectory will continue to upwards, and we’ll continue to serve the West Michigan community for a long time to come.

Reflecting back on technology sometimes shows our age more clearly than wrinkles themselves. To hear someone talk about tech from back in the day gives you more insight into their age than if you had a copy of their actual birth certificate (think Atari video game systems, televisions without remotes and rotary dial phones).

As we celebrate the 25^th year of Rob and Dave’s partnership in the mortgage business, let’s take a moment to reflect (and laugh) about how the changes in technology have impacted the mortgage industry.

Michigan Mortgage is currently a leader in cutting-edge technology in the mortgage industry.

One of our biggest strengths, especially with the pandemic we’re still surviving, is our mobility, both for clients and staff. When COVID hit, we didn’t miss a beat with getting our employees the tech to work remotely and changing to virtual appointments with clients and our teams via Zoom.

Our app, Pro Snap, has helped keep us connected with realtors wanting to run proposed housing payments, and clients being able to electronically sign application forms, and upload documents from their phones.

However, such conveniences have not always existed for us. I’ve been working for Rob and Dave for 19 years. When I started, our office was downtown Muskegon in the Noble Building. The tech set up we had there was already a vast improvement from the first few years Rob and Dave worked together, at which time they each had a home phone, a computer, and a fax machine in their basement home offices.

We each had a desktop computer, since back then laptops were a luxury item, and we worked with single monitors (which I shudder to think about). The monitors also took up more space on our desks than was reasonable — no flat screens back then!

The phone system…well, I don’t believe we can call three cordless handsets on one desk a phone ‘system’. To transfer calls to each other literally meant walking the phone down the hallway. There were no voicemails either. Messages were relayed via pink message pads, or after hours via a call-in pager number.

We thought we were so cool when we upgraded to Nextel cell phones. Ignore that they were each the size of a brick. And the constant two-way chirping did get old after a while.

Our many repeat clients have probably noticed improvements in our technology over the years as well. The biggest difference has been going paperless. Instead of having literally hundreds of pages to print for the clients to sign at application and closing, we’ve converted to almost all electronic signatures.

We’ve probably saved more than just a few trees by going paperless. We used to make physical copies of all signed documents, plus all of the borrower documents, appraisals, title commitments, etc. We then had to retain those records for years after closing, so we had a whole room that used to house just our closed files, that we later were able to convert into two office spaces.

Going paperless didn’t affect just us either — the entire industry shifted how we delivered documents to one another. When I started, we had an appraisal company we worked with regularly who had a staff member whose main job it was to drive his motorcycle around West Michigan and deliver physical copies of appraisal reports. Title companies would do the same-drop off copies of commitments to our office. And submitting files to underwriting back then meant we had to either overnight or fax 100+ page loan packages in for review.

All in all, the advances in technology these past two decades has translated to cost savings and more importantly, time savings. Instead of making copies, handwriting loan applications, and juggling up to five physical phones on one desk, we’re now able to focus more attention and service to our clients and realtors.

— Sarah Beahan, Loan Processor