Meet Don Hoff of Colten Mortgage

Today we’d like to introduce you to Don Hoff. 

Hi Don, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
After almost 20 years in the US Air Force life threw me some curveballs and I my family and I moved to Nashville in 2019 to start over. The five years leading up to our move to Nashville I had gone through a lot of major life changes–first was my divorce, a new wife, a new baby, and an abrupt end to my career in the military. I started to rely on substances to cope with the PTSD I developed in the military, which ultimately cost me my career after 18 and a half years of service, I was a highly decorated airman and never imagined that I would not reach my retirement date of 20 years. Life came at my wife and I quick, we were in a small town in the middle of nowhere New Mexico with a new baby, no job, no direction, and feeling like a black sheep after what we had just gone through. 

My brother and his family live in Mt. Juliet, TN and without many options, my wife and I decided to move to Nashville because my brother thought he could help me get a job where he works. We packed up our belongings and the 100k in debt we accrued and headed east. We moved sight unseen into a house near downtown Franklin and I started looking for jobs. During the six months, I was looking for a job I was driving Lyft and Uber to support my family. It seemed like the black cloud just wasn’t lifting and the bills were mounting. 

June 2019, I responded to a job posting for a mortgage loan officer assistant. It was an industry I was always interested in and almost got into it before the crash of 2008. When I was pretty sure I was losing my military career I went back and completed my MBA with an emphasis in finance. After my interview at Colten Mortgage, I went home and talked to my wife telling her it would be $500 a week to learn the industry while I worked on passing my licensing tests. We were pretty much out of options at that point and I called the co-founder/branch manager Jim Stuart and let him know I’d take the job. 

Shifting gears from a military career to a sales world where I would be generating my own leads was foreign to me, I admittedly wasn’t spending the time and effort on that part of the business and Jim noticed, I will never forget an email I received when my wife and I were driving home from the lake one Sunday afternoon. It basically told me if I didn’t get my act together and work my tail off, I would never succeed in the business. I took heed and the switch happened for me, I put the blood, sweat, and tears into making sure I didn’t fail again. Jim knew exactly what he had to say to ignite the fire inside me, and boy did he. 

I went to every networking, happy hour, business event, open house, coffees, lunches, dinners– you name it. I wanted to make my name known, I wanted to be not only be a great loan officer but I wanted to be the next face on billboards you see around town. Slowly over the course of two years, my business started growing, my referral partner list was expanding, my knowledge of the industry was increasing and I was starting to gain the traction I needed. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Absolutely not– I was putting myself out there, I was taking a risk to do something I had never done before. I was used to the military telling me when I could eat, what to wear, where to live, and now I was in a place where I had to talk to strangers and build relationships to build business. I was shut down, rejected, and cancelled on more than I’d care to remember. But I never stopped, for every “no” I received–it made me hungrier and I would make five more appointments and hope one of them would be a success. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our mission at Colten Mortgage is to make the loan process as stress-free as possible for our clients and partners. We use innovative technology to make the loan process smooth and simple, but we never underestimate the power of the human touch. Direct communication with our Loan Officers and Processing team when you have questions or need updates is our biggest priority. 

At Colten, we’re all about teamwork, transparency, and thoughtfulness. We want our clients to feel like they’re part of our family, and we’re here to support them throughout this exciting process! 

Colten Mortgage has a solution to help you reach your goals, no matter what stage you’re in. Our Loan Officers are always available to help you determine the best possible solution for your needs now and in the future. Some of our specialties include: 

Purchase & Refinance 

First Time Home Buyers 

New Construction Loans 

Home Improvement & Rehab Loans 

Second Homes & Investment Properties 

Single Family & Multi-Unit Condos 

Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Life is full of detours, when you think you have your life planned and figured out that’s when you will be thrown your biggest hurdles. They might seem like at the time the worst thing that could happen or you can’t imagine how to do things different– that is when you will find your true strength and some of your greatest successes. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://coltenmortgage.com/loan-officers/don-hoff/
• Instagram: @donhoffthelender
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donhoffthelender

Image Credits
Mario Devon
Hunter Berry