Nicole found her niche in sales and management at a very young age. She managed restaurants and small boutiques in high school and college. After attending James Madison University in Virginia, she attended Russ Berrie Institute of Professional Sales in New Jersey. While taking classes, she organized a family demolition business and within 6 months was managing all aspects of the office, including accounting and dispatching, and the demolition sites. Her passion for business, combined with her interest in working directly with clients, led her to the growing mortgage industry. Nicole was only 23 when she entered the lending business, becoming a mortgage industry leader almost immediately. Starting in internet-based mortgage sales, Nicole was among the top producers in the country in her first 12 months. In 2007, she finished #1 in her company (out of more than 130 loan officers). A Letter From Nicole about her newest venture: Over the last 18 years in the mortgage industry I have done just about everything from consumer direct sales to cofounding a mortgage company as its head of operations to underwriting. For the last four years I have been a loan originator and branch manager here in Charleston, SC. I live in Mount Pleasant with my husband and my three daughters. I love real estate, both as an investor and a mortgage professional. As many of you know, the covid world has been tumultuous for the mortgage industry. For some perspective, in Q4 of 2020 the mortgage industry originated almost 1.4 trillion dollars worth of mortgages. In 2023, for the entire year, the industry did 1.5 trillion. As a result mortgage companies went from making around $4,000 per loan to losing almost $3,000 per loan, a change that happened in less than 2 full years. Most mortgage companies are still losing money on each loan originated today. "All great changes are proceeded by chaos." - Deepak Chopra As I mentioned earlier, I have been doing this a long time. I was in the business the last time things radically changed, during the great financial crisis. The changes that resulted from that period (Dodd-Frank and historically low rates among other things) are what led to the rise of non-bank mortgage lenders. These non-bank lenders (Quicken Loans, Movement Mortgage, Loan Depot, etc) picked up tremendous market share over the next decade and became the leaders in the space. It is my opinion, as of today, that non-bank mortgage lenders are no longer set up to continue that dominance and growth. Higher interest rates and fewer originations have led to pricing compression, and non-bank mortgage lenders are getting hit the hardest. I share the same goals as most loan originators. We want to be the person people come to for the best service. We want to be the person known for finding a way to get the deal done. We want to be known for doing both of those things, while maintaining really competitive pricing. Today, the best way for me to do that is as an independent mortgage broker. As an independent mortgage broker I can work with over 200 different lenders, who will compete with each other, to give my clients the best possible rates and terms. Non-bank mortgage lenders also send their loans to these same investors, but they are forced to spend millions of dollars on compliance and technology that is ultimately absorbed by the borrower. By working directly with those companies I can remove the middle-man and the bureaucracy and pass the savings along to my clients. Additionally, I will no longer need an assembly line of people to help me get a loan closed. This will allow me to spend more time making sure the needs of each client are adequately met. I don't know how long this period will last, and I have learned not to make predictions about the future. What can predict is that as long as I am in the mortgage industry I will make whatever changes are necessary to ensure I can take the best care of both my clients and my referral partners. The real estate community here in Charleston is packed with some of the best people in the world and I am optimistic and excited about our future. Thank you all for your continued support.