Bridget: Welcome back to CCM Talks. I am Bridget Linton and joining me today is branch manager Steph Noble. Now Steph, you are ranked in the Top 1% of Oregon lenders, so I just have to start off by saying congratulations. That is such a huge honor.
Steph: Thank you. Yeah, Top 1% in Oregon — actually in the nation, too.
Bridget: Oh my gosh, good for you. And you and your team, you’ve really grown over the years. Can you talk about where you started versus where you are now?
Steph: Yeah, that’s a good question. I actually started in my first career as a labor and delivery nurse, so in a whole different industry. Started as a labor and delivery nurse, loved the real estate and finance industry. Actually, a friend of mine introduced me to the real estate industry, and I started work as a lender and realized what sort of opportunity there was in this industry and started working as myself, as a single loan officer, and then after ten years, decided I would start to grow a team.
About ten years ago I started the team, and I have some of the people that started with me originally. So I’m really proud of that, that some of the people that started the team with me still work with me.
Bridget: And obviously, that shows what a great leader you are, that people want to continue to work with you and grow with you. How do you motivate your employees?
Steph: You know, it’s changed over time. Initially, we just wanted to, like, build this team and see if we could make it more efficient. And then every year we try and make it even a little bit better. Like, there are some years we’d be like, okay, we’re just going to make everything just like 1% better every single month, you know?
But right now, I mean, there are team members that have been with me for a long time, and they want more professional growth. So we’re looking for ways for them to have more professional growth and for us to help more people in our community. We do work mainly in Oregon. And so how to help more people that we are focused on become homeowners in our community.
Bridget: I love that, to have small goals, accomplish them, and keep going from there.
Steph: Yeah, you don’t have to make big changes. Sometimes you just like little tweaks, especially if you, if you’ve been doing it for a while, it doesn’t take big changes to make a big improvement.
Bridget: And so you’re great at motivating others, but what motivates you?
Steph: I think personal growth as well. I mean, one of the reasons I came to CCM was to have some more growth within my team, with myself, helping people become homeowners who don’t necessarily see themselves reflected in, like our general culture or general environment. So that’s one of the things that motivates me.
Bridget: And so you started this on your own, but obviously, now we’re so lucky to have you at CrossCountry Mortgage. So what was it about the company that made you want to join?
Steph: I had some friends that joined CCM, but really just having some opportunity to have more personal growth, to create my own team, to create my own brand within CCM. Those are some of the reasons that brought me to CCM. But I will say, like some of the things that keep me here are those same things, like having more growth, being represented, being able to show myself and be represented here. And just really a lot of the technology and the resources that are provided at CCM, really helped, like make the work be easier, which is nice.
Bridget: And something I love about CrossCountry Mortgage is the culture and the team aspect of it. Seems like everyone wants to help one another. Can you talk a little bit more about the culture we have at CrossCountry Mortgage?
Steph: Yeah, I think it’s definitely a entrepreneurial type of community. Lots of people who have their own personal growth goals and feel like they can express those here at CrossCountry. I mean, it’s just very pro loan officer, you know? I think one of the things that I learned early in my career was like, don’t ever tell a potential homebuyer no, find a way to tell them yes. And I feel like CCM really exemplifies that. And they find lots of ways for us to be able to tell homeowners yes — or potential homeowners.
Bridget: And something that you regularly, regularly promote is a safe place. Can you talk a little bit more about that?
Steph: Yeah, kind of more reflective of like one of the reasons I came to CrossCountry Mortgages. I want to be able to help more people become homeowners who don’t necessarily see themselves reflected in the community a lot of times. We’re an all-female team, so all seven…
Bridget: Oh my gosh, that’s amazing.
Steph: Yeah, all seven of us are ladies.
Bridget: Girl power.
Steph: Yeah. And we really promote, like, helping other women become homeowners. A lot of times we think of being, going to men for financial advice and just having a place where you can be go-to for financial advice for women, be supported by women. Also, gender non-conforming, queer individuals, as we really focus on being able to provide support for people in all communities, but specifically those communities too.
I myself, when I bought my first house, I happened to come across a female loan officer. I went to my bank, I did all the wrong things, but I felt lucky to find someone. But I realized like intentionally putting that out there and making ourselves available to women, gender non-conforming, queer individuals and really providing a space of being recognized. We promoted on our social feeds. It’s really just something we find to be very important, and we want to be able to help other people see, be seen and be recognized.
Bridget: You are incredible. I did not know that. And I’m so happy that I asked that question to learn a little bit more about it. And in that light, we want to continue to learn a little bit more about you. Can you share a fun fact about yourself?
Steph: Oh, Jesus. I don’t know. My wife works with me. She and I have both the same name. Share the name Steph. We’re the Stephs. I’m from a very large family, so I find, like, I’m one of eight children, and so being able to relate with a lot of people is very, you know, helpful I find in this career. But I don’t know if those are fun facts.
Bridget: No, they are.
Steph: Those are some facts.
Bridget: I love the Stephs. That’s my favorite fun fact about you and your wife. Well, thank you so much for all you do here at CrossCountry Mortgage. You’re always helping others and motivating others, and we need that here at CrossCountry Mortgage. So we appreciate it.
And if you want to learn more about careers at CCM, make sure you visit CCM.com and we hope to see you on our next episode of CCM Talks.
