Editorial
Front Page - Friday, January 7, 2011
Platinum Financial Funding takes fear out of financing
Erica Tuggle
Vice president of Platinum Financial Funding, Brian Owens, and owners Brandon Born and Matt Hamilton all put the upmost dedication into making sure that their clients understand their options when it comes to financing, putting them one step closer to home ownership. These men, along with all the experienced and knowledgeable staff at Platinum, work especially hard during this period in real estate to take the fear out of financing options.
- Photo provided
The hot real estate topic on the tip of everyone’s tongue lately is lending. There seems to be many willing buyers out there, but they are scared off from attempting to obtain loans because of the stories circulating about the difficulty of finding the financing for their dream home.
But associates from Platinum Financial Funding are stressing to their clients that they will find all the options available for their clients and can therefore clear away those fears of loan stress that are on many of our minds.
Platinum Financial Funding is a local company with a wide reach. Established in November 2008 by Brandon Born and Matt Hamilton, they now have offices in Nashville, Tenn., and North Palm Beach, Fla., in addition to the Chattanooga office at 1913 Gunbarrel Road. Together, these three locations have a combined mortgage experience totaling 200 years. It’s safe to say they can answer any number of questions a nervous client may have.
Their home office in Chattanooga has flourished and grown quickly because of the hiring of key producers in this market such as Brian Owens, Mechalah Campbell, Dennis Purvis and Michelle Hurt.
Owner Brandon Born says that in addition to this, they have been very fortunate to hire experienced processors and an in-house underwriter to help streamline the process of closing their loans in a timely manner.
“Our turn times for a loan are about seven to ten days faster than a traditional lending source,” he says. “Another key factor was obtaining a warehouse line, which gave us the ability to fund our own loans instead of being a traditional broker in the lending business.”
Platinum Financial Funding is licensed in Florida, Tennessee and Georgia, and is approved in FHA lending. Born says that gaining the FHA status was critical for Platinum, as the recent woes in the economy drove the lending market to these FHA endorsed loans.
“We were able to capitalize on this and take pride that our loan originators are experienced in all of the FHA lending guidelines,” he says.
Born grew up in Ringgold, Ga., where he attended Ringgold High School and then graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in business management. He also played basketball for the Mocs. Born pursued a career in residential development after graduation and has over?12 years?experience?in the Chattanooga real estate development and mortgage?lending community that he brought into forming Platinum.
Owner Matt Hamilton grew up in Cleveland, Tenn., where he attended Bradley Central High School. He then graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a business degree in marketing.
Together, and with a know-ledgeable staff in tow, these two owners are bringing a lot of clarity to the Chattanooga loan scene as they strive to maintain the principles of good communication, consistency and competitiveness. In addition to these, Born says customer service is the key in this business at the end of the day, and since money is the commodity they deal in, it comes down to how customers gain access to this money that sets Platinum apart from all the others.
“Regarding communication, the entire loan process is software based, which allows our company to be updated constantly,” he says. “This allows us to give the client quick and accurate updates, and good information like this goes a long way in today’s market, when so many lending guidelines are changing.”
Born says Platinum is a big fan of the “less is more” philosophy in their company and as such they operate a very efficient operation which enables them to keep their overhead as low as possible.?
“By doing this we are able to offer clients competitive rates and quick turn times which results in a win-win situation. We feel by staying lean and competitive on our end customers will appreciate this and continue to refer business to us.
?“We don’t try to reinvent the wheel … we only try to get the wheel moving a little faster.? Time is money in this industry so our entire staff takes pride in being consistent from the start to finish,” he says.
Being locally owned also goes a long way in making Platinum a success with their employees and customers. As a privately held lending company, they set their own rates, lend their own money and have in-house processors and an underwriter able to turn files around quickly instead of having a wait from an out-of-town source.
“I don’t know how many other lending companies have all the key components in the same state, much less being under the same roof,” Born says. ?
Platinum also has access to several national correspondent lenders and smaller local portfolio lenders. They provide flexible pricing to meet each customer’s specific needs and work to help each make sense of all the possible mortgage financing options available so that the program they select fits short and long term financial plans.
Throughout the lending process, they provide clients with regular loan updates as they reach the major milestones from pre-approval to loan closing, Born says.
Their Web site makes this process even easier. At www.platfund.com, interested clients can start an application online 24 hours a day to get the ball rolling on their financial needs.
Born says the most common fear they hear is the client worrying about bing able to close the loan per the contract date.? He says since Platinum is the lender in these cases, they control the final closing details, such as the closing package and funding the loan, which this alleviates the risk of missing scheduled closing dates.?Since that fear is resolved, now everyone can begin their lending process with much less anxiety.
Born enjoys playing golf and spending time with his wife, Cam, and their three boys, Barrett, Bolton and Banks, ages 5, 3.5 and 1.5, he says with a laugh.
For more information on all your financial options, visit www.platfund.com.
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