Six Siblings Find Success With Mortgage Company Broyles Mortgage Brokers Loans $50 Million in First Year

Broyles Mortgage Co. is owned by Hank Broyles and his five siblings: Jack, Dan and Tom Broyles, Betsy Arnold and Linda Mayes. Mortgage lending may seem like a strange choice for a family with such strong sports connections (yes, their father is that Frank Broyles) but the Broyleses felt like it was a natural thing to do.

“We were just real interested in getting into the mortgage lending business as a family,” says Hank Broyles, who was formerly with Llama Asset Management Co. “We felt it would be something we could do and do well at.”

Although Hank Broyles is currently the only family member who works at Broyles full time, he says his siblings are very involved in the business. Tommy Broyles spends several afternoons a week in the office, and Dean Broyles hopes to receive his real estate and brokerage licenses soon and join the firm by the end of the year.

“We talk back and forth and make decisions together,” says Hank Broyles. “And Dad [Frank Broyles] stops by all the time. He loves the business and loves to talk about it.”

Hank Broyles says his father, who is athletic director for the University of Arkansas, has been a tremendous resource during the past 1 1/2 years. The children have frequently consulted him and asked his advice on various management and business issues.

“We tried to create a relaxed atmosphere here. As a small company, we felt that is what we needed to do,” says Hank Broyles. “Our associates get a lot of freedom. As long as they get the job done, we are not particular as to how much time they take off or when they take off. It’s more of a notification than a permission issue.

“We don’t run a clock. Everybody’s on a salary. They’ve got kids, they’ve got doctors’ appointments, they’ve got softball games. … We hope that kind of management will make them appreciate the kind of freedom they have and make them work hard to keep it. The interesting thing is we’ve never had it abused. When they have a choice, they have always worked more than they would have if we had forced them to be here.”

Lots of luck

In its first year of business, Broyles Mortgage Brokers did $50 million in residential mortgages, a figure that makes the firm one of the top companies in the area. Five months later, the company opened a commercial mortgage division that did $95 million worth of business in its first year.

“We have been extremely fortunate,” says Hank Broyles.

The family spent a lot of time and energy researching mortgage brokerages and the local marketplace before they opened their own office, but, Broyles says, in the end, it was the experience of the staff and luck that carried them through.

“You can look and look and plan and plan and plan, but in the end you just rent a space, put the furniture in, open the doors and hope for the best,” laughs Broyles.

In the beginning, the family relied on the company’s experienced staff to lead them through the process. Pam Welch, Paula Kennedy and Jan Skopecek have been with Broyles since the beginning, and each of them has a tremendous amount of experience in the mortgage business.

“As much as we wanted to put into this, we never could have done it without Pam, Paula and Jan,” says Broyles. “We brought the drive but they brought the capability.”

Broyles also credits the company’s heavy advertising for much of the firm’s success.

“In the process of getting the firm to work, we have relied upon advertising,” says Broyles. “In most of the papers in Northwest Arkansas we have an ad every day, with additional ads on Sundays.”

Hank Broyles estimates 90 percent of the company’s customers have come from these promotions.

“Advertising is like an engine of a train: When business is good, you still keep advertising because, if you don’t, you will lose momentum,” says Broyles, who credits that philosophy to William Wrigley, president of chewing gum giant William Wrigley Jr. Co.

“[People will] just remember they will have seen the name Broyles Mortgage. They will have seen it over and over again. And when they need our service, it will pay off.”

Variety of loans

“The benefits to being a broker in this market are that we have a number of different lenders that we work with, probably 10 or 15, and each of these lenders has about 150 different loan programs, so we have a lot of stuff to choose from,” explains Broyles.

“The reason for having so many is that most of these specialize in one or two or three types of loans. We have to be competitive on every type of loan that comes to us and so we do everything from $150,000 or more homes down to a $35,000 home purchase for the first-time home buyer.”

Broyles brokers mortgages for all types of customers, says Broyles. That’s everyone from the person who has never missed making payments of any kind to the person who just declared bankruptcy.

“You have to think of credit like you think of insurance rates,” explains Broyles. “No one ever plans to have an accident in their car, but when they do, their rates go up. They are higher for a while ’til it moves off your record. … The key is you still get the loan.”

The company attempts to make the process as painless as possible: Customers don’t do any paperwork; employees fill out all of the forms for them.

“We pull the credit report as soon as they authorize us to, and that will let us know what kind of loans they will qualify for,” says Hank Broyles.

Conduit specialists

On the commercial side, Broyles specializes in conduit loans, a particular type of commercial mortgage that uses the property as collateral.

Conduits are a relatively new innovation that has emerged in the past five years. Broyles says conduit loans, also known as commercial mortgage-backed security loans, generally offer 20-, 25- and 30-year amortization schedules with 10-year balloons. The loan covers about 80 percent of the cost of the project, and, since the building itself serves as collateral, there is a considerable reduction in personal liability.

“If you default, they simply take the property,” says Broyles. “So they wouldn’t do a really specialized property like a high-tech day care center. They want a building they can lease or sell — just in case. But most people don’t default. It works out really well.”

Broyles Mortgage Co. has done commercial mortgages for properties in Chicago, Orlando, Oklahoma and Shreveport as well as numerous locations around the state of Arkansas.