http://residentialfinance.com/ http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=435 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=435 COLUMBUS, OH February 1, 2010 Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) (http://www.residentialfinance.com), an award-winning nationwide mortgage lender specializing in refinance financing, was selected by ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) to receive an Excellence in Practice Award. This award recognizes results achieved through the use of practices and solutions from the entire scope of workplace learning and performance. RFC was selected for creating a highly customer-centric sales training program. This program was based on thorough and continuing training and reinforcement components which increased the year-over-year sales-per-loan-officer productivity by 51 percent, and increased revenue per agent by 38 percent. President, Mike Isaacs, said, We are proud to be honored with the ASTDs Excellence in Practice Award. Isaacs continued, The training program empowers our mortgage loan agents by helping them to develop excellent listening skills required to build strong relationships with customers. Continuing education ensures agents stay up-to-date on changing mortgage products and that they are using the techniques and training provided correctly. The result is a better, more consistent customer experience which has consequently enabled our agents to increase productivity and sales a winning situation for all. ASTD is the worlds largest association dedicated to workplace learning and performance professionals. ASTDs annual awards are judged in a blind review process conducted by a panel of experts from companies in the ASTD Benchmarking Forum, ASTD staff, and other training, learning, and performance improvement experts. About Residential Finance Corp: Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) is the nations premier home mortgage lender offering a variety of home mortgage options including government-insured including Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) loans, as well as Jumbo, and conventiona Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=397 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=397 In the past eighteen months, the mortgage industry has undergone the greatest changes and challenges since the Great Depression. With our industry poised at the crossroads of financial services and housingthe nations two most challenged sectors of the economy, mortgage professionals everywhere are concerned about the future. The executive team at Residential Finance Corporation discusses the current state of affairs and where the mortgage industry may be headed in the coming months and years. REGULATORY Michael Isaacs, President: Residential Finance Corp. is very optimistic about the industrys future. Offsetting every challenge are tremendous opportunities for the companies that are both well-prepared and flexible enough to weather unforeseen obstacles that will continue to crop up. Challenges such as the rapid influx of new legislation require lenders to keep up with all regulatory and legislative changesincluding those looming on the horizon. Regulatory compliance with these new laws can impact your business on a daily basis. Some of the recent laws affecting our operations leave gray areas and inconsistencies that need further clarification and simplification. Until the stream of new laws and regulations stabilizes, it will be difficult for us to deliver the range of services that we want to provide, lower pricing and shorten time-to-close. We need to see stabilization on both the legislative and regulatory fronts. David Stein, Vice President: Regulatory challenges are creating so many new hurdles for mortgage bankers and brokers that compliance is almost out of reach. Each arm of Congress, each regulatory body of the federal government, and each state has their own agendas. Unfortunately, these regulatory bodies sometimes work at cross purposes. As regulatory requirements become more onerous, many good companies wont be able to comply and will disappear. Rates go up when competition goes down. As fewer lenders are left standing, consumers will Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=384 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=384 COLUMBUS, OH July 21, 2009 Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) (http://www.residentialfinance.com), an award-winning nationwide mortgage lender specializing in refinance has named Douglas Harris to the position of Chief Operating Officer. Harris has broad experience and expertise in the mortgage industry and operations leadership. For nearly a decade Harris held senior management positions with US Bank, the nations sixth largest bank, where he most recently was responsible for leadership and PandL for two of the banks divisions and was a key team member in helping the bank grow its assets from $14B to $170B. Harris says, Residential Finance Corp. has an incredible commitment to quality, and I am excited to be part of this mortgage lenders executive leadership team. With my experience in growing a company, I look forward to providing vision and leadership to help RFC move to the next level. Residential Finance Corp. Vice President, David Stein, says, Doug Harris has broad industry experience across-the-board, including mortgage origination, production, and secondary marketing, and he spent 10 years running operations at US Bank. He has a proven track record in operationsenhancing infrastructure and building production and profit at growing companies in the mortgage industry, as well as in banking and investments. We are pleased to welcome him as an integral member of RFCs management team. Additional Promotions, Hiring Plans In addition to Harris appointment, RFC has promoted Joseph Smith to the position of Secondary Marketing / Closing Department Manager, Jarrod Holt to the position of Manager, IT Help Desk / Systems Administrator, Joe Buxton and Kelton Graham to the positions of Branch Manager. The mortgage company has also hired Sandy Finan as Licensing and Compliance Manager and Judith Tribble, Esq. as Corporate Counsel, and plans to add more loan officers in both its Columbus and Tampa locations. For more information, please contact Rus Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=389 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=389 Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=388 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=388 COLUMBUS, OH September 1, 2009 Six key executives at Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) (http://www.residentialfinance.com) have been locked up as participants in the Muscular Dystrophy Associations (MDA) Lock-Up fundraiser in a unique community-wide event that raises funds for Jerry's Kids. This fun, themed program invites local business and community leaders to agree to be arrested for having a big heart. Competing for bail money fundraising donations were company President Michael Isaacs, Senior VP and General Counsel David Stein, VP Sales Obi Egbuna, Chief Operating Officer Doug Harris, Chief Financial Officer Darren Fleishman, and VP and Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Manna. RFCs executives helped raise nearly $9,000 for MDA, topping the mortgage lenders fundraising goal by 183 percent. Jessica Manna also chairs teamRFC, the mortgage lenders Charitable Giving Committee. Manna said, RFC employees are consistently participating in and supporting many causes to help others. For this fundraiser, we had fun doing a photo shoot depicting our executive team in mock mug shots and sending out an appeal seeking bail money in the form of donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. This is a great cause and were very excited by our results in raising such a large amount of money so quickly! We utilized Social Media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well as traditional means such as email marketing and personal requests to our networks to both raise donations and awareness for MDA. To promote healthy competition amongst the executives, we created donation bar-charts with each participants mug shot to remind them of their donation status and encourage a little healthy competition, Manna stated. While the Lock-Up was a fun and morale-boosting fundraiser for our staff who normally spend their days focused on helping people with home mortgage loans, this is a serious cause and we are honored to help support Jerrys Ki Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=385 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=385 COLUMBUS, OH August 25, 2009 Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) (http://www.residentialfinance.com), an award-winning nationwide mortgage lender specializing in refinance, today announced the expansion of its legal department with the appointment of Judith Tribble as Senior Counsel and Sandy Finan as Licensing and Compliance Manager. Judith Tribble has a wealth of experience in handling varied legal, regulatory and compliance issues. She has been an attorney in banking and financial services for more than a decade, and has served as in-house counsel with two regional banks. As the mortgage lenders Senior Counsel, Tribble will be responsible for supervising all aspects of compliance and regulatory issues. Sandy Finan is a certified paralegal, and most recently led licensing and compliance efforts for BMW Financial Services. As Licensing and Compliance Manager at RFC, Finan will oversee day-to-day issues for the mortgage lender, including enforcement of compliance guidelines for both corporate and loan officer licensing. Residential Finance Corp. Vice President, David Stein, says, Residential Finance is pleased to welcome seasoned legal experts Judith Tribble and Sandy Finan to our legal team. Recent changes in industry and economic conditions have kept legal and compliance staff at every mortgage company extremely busy. The coming year will see this trend continue, as the mortgage industry faces even more stringent systems and rules. I am confident that our staff is the most talented and dedicated in the nation. Stein continues, At RFC, our goal is to provide our borrowers with an excellent experience when they obtain a mortgage from us. Behind the scene, our legal department oversees rapidly changing regulations and ensures compliance to help make that happen. About Residential Finance Corp: Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) is the nations premier home mortgage lender specializing in FHA mortgage refinance. The award-winning lender Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=357 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=357 COLUMBUS, OH July 8, 2009 Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) (http://www.residentialfinance.com), an award-winning nationwide mortgage lender specializing in refinance, has announced job openings for 20 experienced and highly-successful loan officers at the companys Columbus headquarters. RFC will be conducting interviews at the Columbus Job Fair on Wednesday, July 15th from 11am until 2pm, or candidates can call 1-888-261-5656 to schedule an interview. Celebrating its twelfth year in business this year, RFC was named the 2009 American Business Award winner for Sales Department of the Year, winning the prestigious Stevie Award. RFC has also been recently recognized with LendingTrees Spirit of LendingTree Award and the Tampa Bay Business Journal named RFCs Tampa branch one of the citys Best Places to Work. At RFC, we believe that ongoing, high-caliber training helps give our sales teamand our customersthe utmost advantage in finding and writing the right mortgage loan at the right terms for each borrowers unique set of circumstances and needs, said Residential Finance Corp. President, Michael Isaacs. Our commitment to this philosophy enabled us to win awards, but more importantly, to win the trust and respect of our customers and the loyalty of our employees. Obi Egbuna, vice president, sales, adds, We are looking to expand RFCs award-winning sales team, with jobs for highly experienced and knowledgeable sales professionals. We seek motivated individuals with mortgage industry expertise who share our commitment to excellence in sales and customer service. Job-seeking, mortgage professionals who join RFCs sales team can expect: - Unlimited earning potential - 200-hours of intensive paid training, plus ongoing support - Personal coaching from renowned mortgage training coach, Dale Vermillion - Career training and advancement opportunities Highly competitive benefits package that includes: - Medical, dental and visio Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=382 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=382 Columbus, OH June 30, 2009 Residential Finance Corporation (RFC) (http://www.residentialfinance.com), a nationwide mortgage lender specializing in refinance loans, won the Stevie(r) Award for Sales Department of the Year in The 2009 American Business AwardsSM. To win, RFC beat nine other Stevie Award finalists, including the US Postal Service Sales, Careerbuilder.com, and The Hartford. In accepting the Stevie Award, RFC President Michael Isaacs said, In 2008, as the mortgage industry was downsizing, we invested in training and development and recruited veteran sales leader Obiora Egbuna as Vice President of Sales. Making these investments was a tough decision, due to the economic climate, but we were committed to equipping our Sales Department with the resources they needed to succeed in these challenging times. In the end, the enhanced training and leadership, together with enhanced marketing, boosted our productivity by more than 50-percent. Our sales increased. More importantly, our quality skyrocketed. Isaacs added, Residential Finance Corp. is honored that our sales department has been recognized as the nations best with this prestigious business award. Despite the downturn in the economy and the turbulence in mortgage refinance lending, our company remains dedicated to providing the utmost in training and support to help every member of our sales team to achieve their best, while delivering the finest possible customer experience. Under the leadership of Obi Egbuna, and special coaching from mortgage industry expert Dale Vermillion, our sales department just keeps getting better. It is a fitting tribute that the American Business Awards has singled out RFCs exceptional team of mortgage refinance professionals with this years Stevie Award for Sales Department of the Year. In the past three months, the mortgage refinance lender has also been recognized as a finalist for the Business First - 13th Annual Corporate Caring Award, and achieved sec Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=386 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=386 As published in Scotsman Guide's Residential Edition, July 2009. Obiora Egbuna, vice president of sales, Residential Finance Corp Great sales results come from making a commitment to leadership excellence. In rough times such as these, sales managers must be proactive in developing and leading their sales teams to achieve their goals. With this economy, a sales team is more critical to your company's success -- and perhaps its survival -- than ever. Mortgage brokers who manage employees or who are seeking the skills to do so can play a crucial role in determining their team's and company's success or failure. Here are six key elements of leadership excellence that can help you prepare, manage and motivate your sales-team members in the next few months and beyond. 1. If you don't have great people, find them: Managers have three options with employees: Groom 'em, broom 'em, or do nothing and watch as mediocrity lowers your team's standards and drags you into a slump. Mediocrity is a disease that dampens vitality and sucks the innovation and energy out of any team. Ensure each team member contributes to your company's success. With so many talented individuals eager to prove themselves in our current marketplace, it's imperative for those who must rebuild to have the right networks in place to scout, select and recruit a powerful sales force. Just as professional sports teams seek the best talent they can find, so should you. 2. Develop your talent: It's not wise to throw a team member into the field without the support of ongoing coaching and training. To build and nurture a great sales team, managers must continuously train, coach and motivate their employees. Play to their strengths and work on their weaknesses. Keep them fresh, up-to-date and at the top of their game by using internal and external training. By doing this regularly, you can ensure that your team has the industry and sales expertise necessary to open and close sales confidently. Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:15:00 EST http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=86 http://residentialfinance.com/_press.cfm?id=86 Refinance lender adds key staff, implements extensive ongoing training, achieves record productivity and revenue; named finalist in Sales Department of the Year award category. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:15:00 EST