Counseling a top priority for Action Mortgage

Subsidiary gives Sterling physical presence in growing community

MOSES LAKE — Jay Smith has a nice view of the lake and a breeze flowing into his office.

In fact, the whole thing looks good from his side of the desk.

Smith, the sales manager of Action Mortgage, located at 409 W. Broadway Ave. Suite A, saw the opening of the business' new office in the middle of July 2004.

Action Mortgage is a subsidiary of Sterling Savings Bank, he explained.

"They have not had a physical presence in the area for the last six, seven years," Smith said. He worked for Washington Mutual as a loan officer until Sterling Savings approached him to ask if he'd be willing to open an office in Moses Lake.

"Moses Lake is a very much growing community," he said. "(Sterling) sees the potential for Moses Lake as a growing community, but they also realize that without a physical presence here … they weren't getting a large part of the business. So they wanted to make central Washington, Moses Lake particularly, the hub city for Action Mortgage."

Smith said the company is going places, and has a wide range of programs, including bank portfolio loans.

Smith said he started out as a union pipe fitter in the Hanford area, working up and down the coastline, and spent three years at ASiMI during their upgrade. He stepped out mainly for his children, as his eldest entered high school.

"I wanted to stay home and provide, so I could have a family instead of coming home on the weekends or every other two or three weeks," he recalled.

He spent a year working in life and health insurance before realizing it wasn't for him. He walked into a mortgage broker's office in town and asked if there were any opportunities for him. The answer was a resounding yes.

"So I planted both feet and swam like crazy," Smith said.

Two years later, he was offered the position at Washington Mutual, and three years after that, the opportunity at Action Mortgage surfaced.

Smith said he likes working with numbers and with people. Not only does he get to work as a mortgage bank position where he can help people with mortgage loans, but he also sees it as a counseling issue.

"I have come from the other side of the desk, where I've sat there, getting loans and not fully understanding what happens (on this side)," he pointed out. "So I do a lot of counseling when I do this."

Just helping people understand all that goes on, including available programs and weighing the pros and cons, is what Smith considers rewarding about his work.

"Not all the time do I do a home loan for them," he said. "I might find a better program for them just by going to the bank … Not opposed that if I don't have a good program to sending them to another lender, either, if I know that somebody else has something else that benefits them."

Action Mortgage employs three loan officers and one processor. Smith said that the community response has been very good since opening.

"There's a big need in this community," he said. "Not only because of the financing, but just to help people. Help them get good pricing, good products, good answers. Just providing good customer service, there's a need."