High Net Worth Yields High-touch Treatment

Within the world of private banking, expectations of high-end customers seeking large mortgages often dictate how deals are done.
Private bankers must be flexible enough to meet the customer-driven demands of the business. Doctors don’t make house calls anymore, but private bankers sure do. Even for the wealthy, one of the most important decisions is which bank they use when purchasing a home.
The private banking market is both lucrative and competitive. Rates can be similar from one institution to the next, making level of service, sound advice and expertise the key, said Robert Spears, senior vice president for Arvest Private Banking.
“It’s an attractive market and everyone wants a piece of it,” he said.
Arvest entered the private banking business in 1992, and has since seen the endeavor grow as much as ten-fold, said Payne Brewer, executive vice president and loan manager.
However, the recent slowdown in the area real estate market makes private banking customers more leery about financing upscale home purchases, Brewer said.
“There’s a little more caution among those buyers because they see the market moving,” he said.
These customers are more conservative with their buying decisions because they are concerned about too much upper-end inventory, he said.
Even still, many are purchasing upscale properties through Arvest.
Xochitl Baxter is a senior vice president and private banking manager at Arvest Bank-Fayetteville. She has seen customers who decided to buy a new house before their old one sold and are now stuck with two houses.
Others have been dissuaded from buying by such experiences.
“The deterrence is hearing about the market,” Baxter said.
Two or three years ago, people didn’t have a tough time selling their properties, and Baxter said this is likely why some customers haven’t upgraded to a larger home.
Some homeowners spent thousands of dollars improving their properties to see the homes appraise for only slightly more, or in some instances, even less.