Message To My Friends:

Message To My Friends:

Cal Haupt

Chairman & CEO

Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc.

Since graduating from GA TECH, I always wanted to work with teams.  My fondest and best memories were created from being with my football teammates thus I knew the same connections had to be the same in work.  Call it my surrogate to Football and team sports that were no longer my focus.

I knew working out early in my teens and speed training prepared me for sports and opened the door to attend Citadel and GA Tech.  At Ga Tech, I realized preparing for my future was not going to be weight and speed training but knowledge of finance, organizational management, how the world works, and abstract thinking.

My banking career and Southeast Mortgage helped me better understand how we are all connected and helping others develop their knowledge base and skill set increases opportunity for everyone.  During this time, there were always the super stars that only did what was in their best interest and more times than not used sketchy tactics to raise themselves up at the expense of others.

These experiences crafted what I believe to be a common truth in life and to be successful in work and with your family.

My job and responsibility to my TEAM and Shareholders is to ensure Southeast Mortgage is on the right and best sustainable path.  The strategy has to be innovative and ahead of the curve, provide my TEAM with a safe and fair workplace, and prudently grow shareholder value through monetization of opportunity that ultimately creates opportunity for the whole TEAM (Village-I wrote this in 2006 Click to Read).  For most of my career, competitors never understood what my TEAM understood working close to me.  I have a compass that is governed by some general rules that I will not compromise.  I want to pay it forward by sharing this brief narrative of what I have learned so far in my career and the personal rules that govern my life.

My personal rules that "I Believe" create a successful future in life and work.

1. Always tell the truth (The truth may be embarrassing but you will sleep better)
2. Do what you say you will do (Be reliable)
3. Be kind to all living things (I save turtles, help hurt animals etc. Good Karma)
4. Take care of your team and they take care of others and the whole team rises
5. Pay it forward (Teach someone something you were taught that helped you)
6. Always do the right thing  (Even if its not a policy do what is right for those who have your back)
7. Never worry what others think or say, be yourself  (Be you its more interesting)
8. Take Care of Yourself (Eat Well, Have a great bed to get great sleep, exercise)
9. Be bold  (Speak up against unjust attacks, bullying, lies)
10. Hug your family every day and tell them you LOVE THEM

 Cal

Who Do You Work With?

2 or 33 - Put the odds in your favor

If you had to choose a TEAM to compete with that would give you the best chance to win and share in the rewards of success, what is your logical choice.

Choices (Click for Definition)
A.    2   LLC Members
B.         Family Owned Business
C.  33   Shareholders that Share a Common Vision

If it were a basketball game, who would probably win?
If it were a dodge ball game, who would probably win?
If it were a baseball game, who would probably win?
When you have to compete in the Mortgage Industry?

Employee ownership has its benefits.  It is hard to compete with a large team that possesses a diverse skill set that has a passion to be the best.

Can you join the LLC?  NO
Can you join the Family?  NO
If there is no path to ownership or being a part of ownership, what does that say about the value placed on your contribution to the LLC or somebody's family.  Are you really part of the TEAM? 

Choose you, Choose your Family, Choose

www.southeastmortgage.com

Best Career Advice: "I WILL GET IT DONE" Cal Haupt

In my career, I never said "I will do my best", I always said, "I will get it done".  

There is always a way to solve a problem, improve a process, or create an new opportunity.  

My Mentors never had to worry about a task assigned to me.  As a result, they assigned more tasks to me which created opportunity for advancement and monetary reward.  Be invaluable to your Mentor.

Cal Haupt, Chairman and CEO, Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc.
a shareholder "employee" owned corporation

www.southeastmortgage.com

Straight Talk - Video Series

Know what kind of company you work for

Why Companies grow themselves out of business

Helping others grow

Advantages of Non-Bank vs. Bank Mortgage Origination

www.southeastmortgage.com

"Not What I thought I would See"

www.southeastmortgage.com 

If You Don’t Innovate, You Die - Proven Success Requires Innovation to Adapt

Jeff Brown, Senior Vice President at Southeast Mortgage and our lead Builder Relationship Development Officer, sent me this article.  Although Metro Atlanta is the most resilient housing market in the US, the article points out an important and fundamental "Hello" moment that Southeast Mortgage saw 4 years ago.

"All professions have to adapt to the current needs of their clients and partners.  We observed the patterns of our own millennial work force and realized Social Media and Other Practices were critical to driving sales to our partners and creating client awareness for our Licensed Loan Originators, MLO, Team.  Our other observation was organic clients are the key to the growth of a successful mortgage service provider like Southeast Mortgage.  Program oriented pitches to first time buyers that we see from a few seasoned mortgage personalities create unproductive activity and insignificant benefit to any participant.  

Following a client for life strategy supported by a co branded awareness program creates organic growth for our MLOs and Partners instead of the "program oriented pitch with no follow up after close".  Although someone has been successful for 20-30 years in this business, adaptation and the technology is essential to remain relevant and remain successful in the changing mortgage services market we are in.

If you look at the Permit Trend below, you can see a strong building cycle is coming online.  Loan Originators have to embrace the new normal and the "Exposure / Social Presence" Builders and Realtors need to drive their sales.  Simply posting a selfie video was a thing a year or two ago but has now evolved into Professional Movie Quality video presentations that project the image and quality Builders and Realtors need and want.  Southeast Mortgage made the large investment needed years ago to support the innovation required to be best in class for our TEAM.  The view is much better in the front of the pack than from rear."  Cal Haupt, Chairman and CEO, Southeast Mortgage of Georgia, Inc.
www.southeastmortgage.com

Atlanta, the former No. 1 new-home market, remains a barometer for the nation. At 25,000 permits, Atlanta is still the third largest new home market in the U.S., but almost nine years into our “recovery,” we are still 50% below our pre-bubble normal

(Atlanta permit chart). This is in spite of nearly a decade of positive job growth, positive in-migration and population growth. All of MarketNsight’s 18 cities across the Southeast exhibit this trend. Most cities are still anywhere from 30% to 60% below pre-recession levels. Whom are we missing?

Old Normal versus New Normal
In our “Old Normal” before the 2003 to 2006 bubble, first-time buyers and first-move-up buyers made up 60% of all new home sales. In that old normal, people typically bought their

first home at the age of 25, started a family and moved to their second home (first move-up) by the age of 32. Currently, they account for less than 40% of new home sales. Today’s first-time buyer is 33-years-old and getting older! We are missing many of the 25- to 32-year-old buyers who previously accounted for 60% of all new home sales. We call that age group today...millennials. Moreover, we will never achieve our “Old Normal” sales numbers in this country without them.

If You Don’t Innovate, You Die
We can simply look to our retail sector to see the desperate need for innovation. We are witnessing a complete reset in that all-important industry, with some 8,600 brick and mortar locations closing last year[1] and that pace quickening this year. Changes in shopping habits, driven by technology and millennials, have caught many traditional retailers unprepared. We would do well to take note of this in our own industry.

Source:

Welcome to Housing's New Normal - Can we break our 10-year cycle of mediocrity?

By John Hunt