Welcome to Forward Mortgage Group: Our Commitment to Transparency, Financial Education, and Technology
Ryan Hillard: Hi, I’m Ryan Hillard with Ford Mortgage Group. You’re going to be seeing a lot of videos come out on different topics related to mortgages, the mortgage process, and the home-buying process in general. But before I get into those, I wanted to provide you with a little bit of an overview on what the Forward Mortgage Group is all about and why I started it. There’s a lot of information and a lot of clutter in the mortgage space that typically leads to a pretty clunky, cumbersome, and a very frustrating process. For that reason, the Forward Mortgage Group is based on three underlying principles and beliefs:
- Transparency
- Financial Education
- Utilizing Technology
Transparency
Ryan Hillard: Starting with transparency, we will always be upfront about what we’re doing, that there are no hidden fees, and help you understand exactly what you’re looking at as we go through the process.
Financial Education
Ryan Hillard: On the financial education front, I believe that personal financial education should be taught at the high school level. Not everyone will go on to a four-year university, and even if you do, or if you did, not everyone will be in business school. And even for those of you that did go on to business school, I can tell you that specific items related to personal financial education are not taught there. The general concepts are, but not the specifics. I was a double major in finance and marketing. I also have a master’s in finance, and I can tell you that nowhere along the way in any of those classes did we talk about personal financial management. I’m talking about things like:
- managing your credit score
- how to responsibly use credit or credit cards
- setting up savings and retirement accounts
- Getting an auto loan
- how to get a home loan or a mortgage.
Technology
Ryan Hillard: When it comes to technology, we want to make sure that this is as easy and streamlined for you as possible. From getting started online, using software programs to help explain mortgage scenarios, and moving through closing, we’re always looking to make this process as clear and simple as possible.
Ryan Hillard: After talking with a lot of my clients, another reason for these videos is that I believe people do not start the mortgage process for a few different reasons. First, they simply just don’t know where to start. Next, once they’ve decided to dig in and begin doing some research, they realize there’s so much information out there that they get overwhelmed and just shelve it for a later date. Finally, they still believe in old myths, like needing 20% to put down that are no longer applicable. We’re going to cover all of these things and more to help make sure that you have a great experience, come out with a better understanding of the mortgage process and have a clear mortgage plan going forward.
Ryan Hillard: If there are any topics that you’d like me to discuss, if there were anything that went wrong in your process, or have questions about anything at all, please reach out to me at 720-201-7261. You can email me. I am me. Leave a comment. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you.
