Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Shank.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Long story short. Once upon a time, a high schooler named Chris Shank was dead set on being a teacher. After knocking out some pre-college education to get my teaching license early, I decided that I wasn’t really a fan of the bureaucracy of teaching, and decided to pursue a career more conducive to my mental and physical wellbeing… I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.
I *absolutely* loved being a Marine- I traveled the world, learned some awesome skills, and stuck my nose into so many crazy situations I can’t even begin to detail in a short text window. Unfortunately, my decade-long career as a Marine ended when I had to make a tough medical decision to risk cancer or say goodbye to my stomach and small intestine. Electing the latter, I found myself unable to deploy and undergoing a medical retirement.
I landed in Clarksville, Tennessee, where I assisted my dad with his insurance agency for a few years and, in so doing, met the woman of my dreams. It was two months after our wedding that I finally found my next calling as a loan officer.
Being an LO is an absolute dream for me because it’s a perfect blend of my two favorite professions- teaching and helping people. It’s no secret that real estate is a key factor for financial success. Whether it’s buying yourself a home that will appreciate in value over the years (or, at the very least, to invest into something beside rent), or snagging an investment property (or twelve), there’s no denying that these purchases are big deals in peoples’ lives. As an LO, I not only get to help those clients achieve their dreams, but it’s my pleasure and moral obligation to help educate them about everything that they need to know to ensure that they keep making well-informed financial decisions moving forward.
Maybe it’s a consequence of “growing up” in a field where coming home at the end of a mission isn’t guaranteed, or perhaps it’s because I woke up on the darn operating table halfway through that fateful surgery, but I’m under no illusion that I’m going to be on this earth forever. It’s common knowledge that children benefit from the smart financial investments of their parents. If I can help a family achieve some level of generational wealth by way of my talents and effort, then I’m doing something good. If I can help them achieve that generational wealth-level of success *without* anyone dying to get there, then that’s just bonus points.
Bottom line, I’m the craziest loan officer you’re likely to ever meet. I regularly charge my clients under the market average, I actively encourage my clients to shop me (I’m a firm believer in my team and the products we offer- I’m not afraid of competition) and I consider it my personal goal to advise my clients so spectacularly that they succeed to the point that they no longer have need of their crazy loan guy.
Also, let’s be real- my team is absolutely amazing- best group of in-house professionals that you’ll ever meet. Additionally, the company that I represent has access to more lenders than any other broker in the US, which makes it VERY easy for me to scour the marketplace for deals perfectly suited to each client.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I mean, dropping from 225lbs down to 135 in a little under six months wasn’t the best feeling, neither were the interesting challenges that I discovered come with the whole “not having a stomach or small intestine thing” (did you know that the human body can’t absorb iron and calcium simultaneously?).
Professionally, there was a serious adjustment to becoming a loan officer. To start things out, it’s one of those “eat what you kill” professions, which meant that for the first several months of being an LO, because I didn’t originate any loans, I didn’t make any money. Bills got a bit tight.
One of the lasting challenges that I face is the time investment. To put it bluntly, I really don’t have an off switch- when I say that I work 16-18 hour days, it’s pretty darn accurate. That said, going back to that moral obligation thing- who am I to turn down a call at three in the morning when a client just woke up in a cold sweat because they’re nervous about buying a home?
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The only reason I’m a homeowner right now is because I bought my house using a VA loan, so please understand that I have a bit of personal bias. That said, I believe that VA loans are the absolute best government-backed loan program, not just because of how easy it makes veterans to become homeowners, but because how much gray space exists within the VA lender’s manual.
If you’ll indulge me, I want to give an example. Last summer, I was reading through said manual when I stumbled across an inconsistency between two different pages. When I delved deeper, I discovered that the VA actually has a different definition of a key lending concept than the other government-backed loan programs. I wrote a white paper on this difference and, over the course of three days, shared my info with 198 different Tennessee realtors. Of those 198, only two were actually aware of what I had found- the other 196 (whether they admitted it or not) were operating under some pretty hefty misinformation. I say “hefty misinformation”, because five of those realtors had the guts to admit to me that not only were they wrong, but their unintentional ignorance cost their clients, collectively, over $18,000. Heck- I even caught a pair of loan officers, ones who “specialize in VA loans”, propagating some of this misinformation, even though *they* should have known better.
Because of this, I first became an expert at VA loans, and because of *that*, I ended up picking up some recognition in the lending sphere (Google “christopher shank loan officer” if you’re curious).
After that, a chance encounter with a real estate developer and a hopeful builder turned me on to the world of commercial lending. Since then, I’ve had my hand in finance projects ranging from single family rental units to luxury neighborhood developments and everything in between. Right now, I’m involved in a few pretty cool projects, such as an elder care community and Tennessee’s first concrete structure fabrication project.
What I’m most proud of and what sets me apart from others are one and the same- I’m relentless. Okay, in my terms, I’d describe myself as “crazy”, but one of the loan officers that I mentor recently called me relentless when it came to chasing down answers, and that word stuck. With all humility, I’m good at what I do. I found a way to structure my fees in a way to undercut my competition, bring extra value to my clients, *and* make sure that my family doesn’t starve for my generosity. I devised a program where I can help people selling their homes by giving lender credits to their buyers, even if I’m not immediately that buyer’s crazy loan guy. If I don’t know an answer, I learn it quickly and share that information freely. Heck- I was recently selected by Nexa Mortgage as one of their new coaches, so now I have the privilege of spending ten or so hours each week teaching my peers how to do more business and do better by their people.
Oh yeah- I also like to talk. In case you haven’t been able to tell that by now.
How do you think about happiness?
I find happiness in solving problems and securing wins for my people. Anyone can become a loan officer, given they’ve kept themselves free from financial crime and can pass a somewhat challenging exam. To me, what separates a loan officer from *the* loan officer is how completely you follow a file through the loan origination process to a solid win at the end of the day. Fighting an underwriter may be exhausting, but leveraging rules, regulations, policy manuals, legal precedence and a solid bit of charismatic flare is 100% worth it, if at the end of the day you can watch a family buy their first house. I sleep very soundly at night, knowing that I regularly give everything I am to take care of those who put their trust in me.
Speaking of people who depend on me- I may find happiness in helping my clients, but I derive meaning from my family. My wife, Sara, and my two AWESOME tiny humans, Jeromey and Cierra, are the reason why 90% of my dreams are mortgage-related. The harder I push to be the best loan officer I can be, the more I can give them an even better life than the outstanding one my parents gave to me when I was little.
Pricing:
- If you’re looking at securing financing on a home, I happily offer second opinions- if my 284 lenders and I can’t beat the current offer on the table (I’ll really be surprised), but I’ll not only admit that, but I’ll teach you a thing or two to share with your loan officer to make that offer even better.
- If you’re selling your house and we get along well, I’ll happily offer a 1% lender credit to the folks who want to buy that house, given they qualify and they elect to use me as their loan officer.
- If you’re a realtor, I’ll extend the same offer to your listings.
- If you’re a realtor, I have a few free tools that I’d like to give you access to that bring direct benefit to your clients.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mortgageadvocacy.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christopher.shank.754/
