TRUMP, THE LOAN RANGER
nypost.com
April 1, 2006 -- The Donald and his family want to write your next mortgage
More important business matters than people getting fired on reality television go down in Donald Trump's boardroom. Sometimes, ideas hatch that are meant to change industries. Consider The Donald's latest venture, Trump Mortgage.
Not content with just developing real estate, Trump now wants to finance your next home.
"Trump Mortgage is going to stand for success and take better care of people than anyone in the mortgage industry ever has," Trump says of his new mortgage company, which has already written around 150 mortgages before its official introduction to the public next week. "We're going to simplify the process, and change the way people think of getting a mortgage."
(DITECH already makes it easier than ordering a pizza eh?)
You can thank E.J. Ridings, now the president of Trump Mortgage, for getting Trump into the mortgage game. In 1999, when Ridings was buying a four-bedroom, 31/2-bath Colonial for $395,000 in Rockville Centre, L.I., with his new wife, his mortgage rate was changed at the closing table.
"Here was this joyous occasion where we were buying our first home together," says Ridings. "When we got to the table, our mortgage broker, who seemed like a good guy through the process, didn't even show. Well, the final rate was a half-point more than we set it at, and my lawyer tells me I'm supposed to tip the title guy. I was like, 'What's going on here?'"
What was "going on" has long plagued the decentralized mortgage industry. Last-minute rate changes, terms consumers don't understand and the notion that service doesn't matter has, for many, made the process of getting a home loan more of an ordeal than going to the dentist.
"So many of my clients have horror stories about getting their mortgage," says accountant Kevin Granville, who runs the Granville Group, a financial-planning business. "Getting a mortgage was considered painful."
Ridings, who ran cleaning companies after college and became a stockbroker at Morgan Stanley, wasn't just upset after his bad mortgage experience. He wanted to change things.
"The mortgage business is a rudderless, leaderless industry," says Ridings, who first took a job with a small mortgage boutique firm to learn the ropes. "People feel safe with real estate. What they don't feel safe with is how to get it."
OK, but how do you go from having a good idea to running a mortgage business for Trump? Being in the right place at the right time helps. Ridings, on a sales call in Trump Park Avenue, recognized Donald Trump Jr. in the lobby and introduced himself.
"After a few months, Don and I talked about the tremendous opportunity to lead the mortgage industry in a new direction from a residential and commercial perspective," Riding says.
A year and a half later, the two presented it to The Donald.
"We thought it out thoroughly before we brought it to my father," says Donald Jr., sitting in the conference room of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue with his father, sister Ivanka and Ridings. "Obviously, my father's going to scrutinize everything heavily. Especially when our name is attached. Very heavily."
According to Ridings, Trump wanted to make sure everyone associated with Trump Mortgage understood that ultimately they work for him and represent the Trump name, the Trump brand and his family's word.
"Trump has become a great brand," Trump says. "Sure, because of the show, but more because of the success of a 25-year period as a great real-estate company. That has to continue here."
Donald Jr., who with his father and sister oversees Ridings and the 50-plus employees who work at Trump Mortgage's Wall Street headquarters, believes Trump Mortgage will make Trump products accessible to more than just the high-end luxury market.
"Now we have a product for the rest of the world who is not just buying a $5 million property," says Donald Jr.
Trump Mortgage has worked on home-equity loans as low as $30,000 and mortgages for homes as high as $10 million. The firm will also hold seminars for their customers on new happenings in the mortgage market, as well as host cocktail parties at Trump developments. Ultimately, though, it's about service.
"It was definitely white-glove," says Steven Hazan, an apparel executive who bought a seven-figure home in Bedford, N.Y., with the help of Trump Mortgage. "They found the best option for me. It was painless. Documents were even hand-delivered. I felt special."
In order to ensure that service is consistent, Ridings has set up an "apprentice" training program where new employees go through a rigorous week of classes.
"In the mortgage business, you have to be accountable and trustworthy," Ivanka Trump says.
Trump Mortgage teams with the most sales and repeat business will be more highly compensated. But maybe this is the big question: How would Ridings do on "The Apprentice"?
"Very well," Trump says. "I needed a guy like this. The mortgage industry needed a guy like this." |
