Officially, Kate McCue has been in the mortgage business for nine years. However, her introduction to the industry came much earlier — in kindergarten.
“My father used to bring my two sisters and me to his office on Saturdays to sort through loan payment envelopes,” she recalls. “My dad explained to us at a young age how people paid for their homes and we worked for donuts and juice.”
Now 31, she serves as vice president of McCue Mortgage — the New Britain-based company that her grandfather founded 60 years ago and her father, Bill, now runs. And she’s poised to take the reins in a generational handoff that has her proud father smiling.
Kate McCue says it was those early years when she learned to share her family’s passion for the mortgage business. It was a passion that carried her through high school internships at the company, booming housing markets, and a subprime mortgage crisis. And while continuing a family legacy has special significance, what keeps McCue most engaged and excited, she said, is the opportunity to help Connecticut residents become first time homebuyers.
“I remember the feeling of buying my own condo,” she said. “It was one of the most exciting moments of my life and to be involved in that process of homeownership for others is just a great experience.”
As one of the largest independent mortgage companies in Connecticut — with a particular focus on first time homebuyers — McCue Mortgage has over 11,000 clients and provides more than $500 million in loans annually. Last year, the company provided mortgage loans to 1,500 first-time buyers, accounting for nearly 6 percent of all mortgage loans in the state, according to the Warren Group, which tracks data and trends about the Connecticut real estate market. Those numbers were good enough to place McCue as the state’s third-largest residential mortgage lender in 2009.
Despite its size, McCue says, McCue Mortgage focuses on personal customer attention. “Our company has built a reputation for honesty, integrity and customer focus,” she said. “I think our customers see us as local, approachable, reliable and realize we’re here to help them.” That help includes monthly educational outreach across the state, conducted by McCue staffers, to help first-time homebuyers understand the home buying process and the many factors involved — from income and credit reports to making a bid.
“Buying your first home can be very stressful process, and we feel it’s important to provide advice and coaching,” In some cases, McCue noted, the company has worked with clients for two years to make sure they are buying a house they can afford.
Such a business approach runs contrary to the subprime lending practices that left many people in Connecticut and nationwide unable to afford their homes, the precursor to the global economic slowdown. In fact, in 2007, as the housing market started to crack, there were 71,000 subprime mortgages in the state — largely among low- to moderate income families — and many were delinquent or in danger of default. “I think people really rely on their mortgage company to give them good advice,” McCue said. “Unfortunately, many people were put into mortgages they didn’t fully understand and couldn’t afford, as their rates adjusted up.”
In November 2007, when Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced a $50 million Connecticut Families refinancing program, administered through the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, to assist subprime borrowers, McCue Mortgage was one of a select few lenders authorized to participate in the program. In the program’s first two months, McCue said, the company received over 800 calls from people looking to refinance adjustable rate mortgages.
The refinancing trend has been consistent and has been a growing part of McCue Mortgage’s loans — as people have switched from variable rates or looked to lock in historically low rates. In 2008, refinanced loans accounted for 18 percent of McCue Mortgage’s overall business; in 2009, it had grown to 21 percent.
“The biggest challenge we faced [during the subprime crisis] was how to help people stay in their homes,” McCue confessed. “But it’s also been the most rewarding part.”
These days, Connecticut’s housing market seems to be making a comeback. In March, single-family home sales increased for the third month is a row and, McCue notes, prices seem to be stabilizing.
There’s also been an uptick in housing activity in response to the federal government’s first time homebuyer credit. McCue Mortgage has closed 1,500 loans for people looking to take advantage of the $8,000 credit. Additionally, last year, according to the National Association of Realtors, 52 percent of Connecticut home sales were to first time homebuyers, McCue Mortgage’s target market.
Such positive signs has Kate’s dad, Bill McCue, the patriarch of the family business, looking both backwards and forward. He sees parallels between today’s government intervention in the housing market and the emphasis on first time homebuyers that greeted him in 1977, when we took over the business from his father.
“Within two weeks of taking over, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, then in its infancy, announced it would be releasing $300 million at 7.5 percent interest for first-time homebuyers,” the elder. McCue recalled. “Although my father had transitioned the business to focus on commercial lending, I jumped into that [residential lending] trench and have stayed there.”
Under his leadership, Bill McCue has grown the company from a staff of three and a half to more than 80 employees today. In 1977, he estimates, the company did 50 to 60 loans per year, totaling $2 million to $3 million. Today, he says, the company typically handles 2,000 new loans per year, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
While he acknowledges much of the company’s growth came on his watch, he credits his father for laying the foundation of McCue Mortgage’s success. “In reality, the company I took over was a well-established company,” Bill McCue said. “By 1977, my dad had built a strong line of credit and a solid reputation.”
And now, after nearly 40 years in the business, McCue is looking to turn the business over to the next generation. “I’ve largely turned the day-to-day operations of Kate and our executive vice president, Kim Neilson.” He sees the complementary skills and experience of both women as a great asset to the company and its future.
“Kim has been with McCue Mortgage for nearly 25 years and is a critical part of the company; there is no part of the business or the company that she hasn’t been involved in,” McCue said. “Kim very much understands the insides of the business — the process — and Kate is great at building external relationships; they work great together.”
For Bill McCue, the biggest thrill of looking forward is seeing his daughter emerge as a leader. “I love to see how Kate thinks about the business and how she prioritizes things,” Bill McCue said. “Far more important than business is family, and to have a daughter involved in what you do is great,” he added.
He also thinks his daughter’s marketing degree and understanding of technology make her well-suited to serve the needs of the next generation of borrowers. “I think a real challenge in the future [for our industry] will be how to communicate with and sell to a generation of people who live through computers and look for everything online,” Bill McCue noted. “With her educational background, Kate brings a real knowledge about where we’re communicating, the tools we’re using, and how it impacts our business.”
For her part, Kate McCue — who oversees quality improvements through smart technology, innovation and automation — is constantly evaluating how to make things easier for the company’s customers, a lesson learned over many years watching her father.
“We work every day to act in the best interest of our clients,” Kate McCue said. “That’s one aspect of our approach that’s not going to change moving forward.” It’s a philosophy that has been passed down from one generation to the next in the McCue family.
“I learned around the dinner table from my father that homeownership can make a difference in people’s lives,” said Bill McCue. “And Kate learned those same lessons at our dinner table.”
He expresses every confidence that, when the time comes, his daughter will be a great leader for the company. “She wants to lead, she wants to take over. That’s important,” McCue said. “I want my successor to be like a player in sports who, at the end of the game, wants the ball.”
Kate McCue, it seems, is ready for the ball — and a chance to carry on the McCue legacy. But the rewards are likely more than donuts and juice.