Staying flexible for the right people
With a new direction, it was time to invest in the right intellectual capital. Sanders went out and found some of the best people.
“I learned to just really find some experts,” he says, “and let them come in and work on solutions with the banks — to whiteboard things, tailor-making solutions for our customers.”
One of those hires was Jim Smith, a known expert in loan modifications. There was one slight hiccup; Smith’s deal-breaker was that he wouldn’t move from Colorado.
Sanders says his business is so centered on people, he agreed to be flexible.
An office focused on loan modifications was opened in Bloomfield, Colo., which grew rapidly, drawing from the great talent base in the area. Today, with two Colorado offices, Urban Lending employees more people in The Centennial State than in the original Pittsburgh office, which continues to focus on mortgage originations.
Having multiple offices in different states might seem like a challenge, Sanders says, because you’d like to be the team leader every day, going in and keeping the troops charged up. But the key to multiple locations is putting great people in charge.
“I think in this day and age, with technology, and the way people move around and the great communication they have, it’s not the barrier it was years ago — even five years ago,” he says.
In fact, Sanders is looking to expand further with Urban Lending by setting up a brick-and-mortar presence on the West Coast, where the company is starting to work with some major banks and lenders.
Managing your workforce based on customer needs
Balancing changing customer needs can be challenging — and exhilarating, which keeps the business fresh, Sanders says, but one of the biggest parts to being profitable is correctly managing your workforce.
For Urban Lending, there are certain outside forces at play, like how much banks are outsourcing mortgage work, and the market’s balance between mortgage origination and default.
“In a perfect world, you’d love to have products and services on both sides that are equally good, but it’s always a balancing act to kind of see what’s coming and be heavy on one side, or be known to be an expert and market leader on the default side or origination side,” he says.
