Wayne von Borstel is the vice president of operations for Carter and Pearson, the company responsible for millions of people’s mortgages. He has been in the mortgage industry since 1990. He talks about his career, the fall of Lehman Brothers, and what he thinks will happen next with mortgages. He is a lifer in the mortgage business and was one of two co-founders that changed how mortgages were structured. When he left school, it wasn’t easy to find jobs in credit ratings, so he went into real estate lending instead, where he quickly found success.
- Career
Wayne von Borstel has been in the mortgage business since 1990, more than 20 years. He worked for several firms before he and his brother-in-law started Carter and Pearson. His brother-in-law was an investment bank vice president about to leave the business in 1990 when Wayne offered to pay him $500,000 if he quit his job and started their own company. They had no assets or money but knew they could do it because they had unique ideas on how mortgages should be structured.
- Achievements
He has received numerous honors and awards for his work. Crain named him one of the “GROWING PIONEERS OF THE MORTGAGE INDUSTRY” for his involvement in the mortgage business. He was also named one of The Baltimore Business Journal’s “20 Under 40 Who Are Changing Your World”. He was also named a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and currently serves on their national board. Borstel has achieved this success in the mortgage industry with a philosophy contrary to how most businesses are run. His philosophy is, “whatever you put into whatever you do, you get out.”
He has shown this by putting together a firm that goes above and beyond what is asked of them and puts in extra effort without any hint of additional reward. They were able to change how mortgages were structured, which is a big feat because it means they were altering the way lenders evaluate risk, which the lenders will only do voluntarily because they desire to maximize profits.