The Perks of Working With Family!
It sure seems that the mortgage and real estate business is ripe for families working together. There are so many teams that consist of mothers and kids, husbands and wives and often entire families working together. There are lots of perks when working with family, but there can be drawbacks too. Sometimes hurts from childhood can rear their ugly head in a business meeting or the big brother decides that acting like dad is a good idea...not that that has ever happened in our family business! There is so much good that if you can get past the "family stuff", you will find that there is always someone to have your back, if you go on vacation your clients are taken care of, and there is always someone to go to happy hour with after a long day!
I started in the mortgage business in 2001. I had been doing a lot of traveling with my outside sales position and the hotel stays were getting old. It was time to do something different. My sister Amy co-owned a contract mortgage processing company and needed help. At the time I knew nothing about mortgages and she and her business partner taught me more in a few weeks than most loan officers learn in years! It was the height of the refinance boom and we were BUSY!
Flash forward to 2005. I loved my job and loved working with my sister and I was pregnant. As a mom of "advanced maternal age", it was important to me to spend as much time with my new baby as I could. I didn't want to quit. I was faced with the age-old dilemma of working mom's everywhere. How do you make it work? For me, it was easy (well, maybe not easy, but an easy decision!). Since I worked with my sister, I was blessed to be able to bring my daughter to work with me! Talk about multi-tasking...nursing, typing and taking phone calls at the same time...you do what you have to do! One of the great things about being able to take my daughter to work was the extra attention she got from my co-workers, especially of course, her Aunt Amy. To this day, Sydney and Aunt Amy have a very special relationship!
When Sydney was about 9 months old and started crawling, we decided that their office was not the best place for a baby. I went to work with my brother Anthony. He and I would be the only ones in the office and I would be able to continue to bring her to work with me. Doubly blessed! I started as his processor until I got my mortgage originator's license. We worked together to help our clients get the best service possible.
About 6 months ago, Amy came to work with us as our Senior Mortgage Processor. With more than 20 years experience in processing loans, a strong work ethic and an ability to deal with both her big brother's and her older sister's personality, I knew it was going to be a great fit! She did not disappoint! Our clients love her, our realtor partners and title partners love her, the underwriters give her gold stars! She is amazing!
Amy and her husband Scott are now the proud parent's of AVA CATHERINE THERIT, who was born on December 29, 2012, weighing in at 7 lbs/7 oz of pure beauty (not that I am biased!) Amy will be able to bring her daughter to work with her when she is ready. I will get to quiet her when Amy is on the phone, as she once did for me. I will get to snuggle and cuddle and watch her grow and change. I can only hope that Ava and I will have that same, special bond that Aunt Amy and Sydney have.
Now, if you happen to call in and hear a baby in the background, you will know one of the perks of working with family!
Introducing Future Mortgage Processor.....Ava Catherine Therit!
Pictured above: Top: Ava on her first stroller ride, 1 week old. Left: Ava (1 day old) Aunt Catherine, Ava's middle namesake, and my beautiful sister...look at that smile! Middle: My brother-in-law Scott, proud papa, Ava, hours old! Right: A very excited Sydney holding her new cousin....
Just days before the birth, Aunt Amy and Sydney were having a talk about what the baby would be, a boy or a girl....Amy: Sydney, you will still love the baby if it's a boy, right? Sydney: Of course, I will just love it more if it's a girl!
This is just one of the many perks of working with family! Many blessings little one! Aunt Bridge LOVES you!!
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