Francis Lora, Business Development Manager & Mortgage Banker

It's 15 minutes past the hour and every where in the world people are going to work to succeed. No one goes to work to fail.

In our studio this morning we have an exceptional and motivated person named Francis Lora. I was very impressed with Francis as we met at a recent HPNG event in New York City. He enjoys sharing ideas and helping people achieve their goals. Francis is also an aspiring writer. Thanx for joining us today Francis.

What is the name of your company and what products or services does it
provide?
I currently work for Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc, a medium sized mortgage bank and community lender headquartered in Astoria, Queens that offers mortgages for the purchase and refinance of 1-4 unit residential properties, Condos, Co-ops, Multifamily homes and Mixed Use properties, as well as for the purchase of commercial or other investment properties; Lyons even offers construction loans. Other loan programs that are unique and quite often sought after include our 40 year fixed rate mortgage and our competitive no income verification loan programs. The best part is that I am working for a company whose mission is, “to make homeownership an affordable and sustainable reality for all people” and a company that services the majority of its loans. Therefore, should you or anyone you know be purchasing or refinancing a property in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut and think you may need our services or if you would like for me to set up a seminar, please feel free to email me at FLora@elyons.com or to give me a call at the office at (718) 267- 2000 or at (917) 690-8726. We would be more than happy to help.

What role do you play in your organization?
As a Business Development Manager and Mortgage Banker at Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc, I am finally doing more of what I enjoy: I spend part of my time marketing and part educating people on the home buying process and originating mortgages. I build relationships with realtors and the community and dedicate my time to creating a dynamic where everyone benefits from our programs and services. I even get to enjoy my passion for writing producing articles to educate the community and am currently working on a children’s book to teach about mortgages and the home buying process aimed and young Latino / Hispanic children. My job allows me the flexibility to be creative and help my community as well as the support to accomplish my goals.

As a successful person, how did you get started?
Like most successful people, I started with ambition, curiosity, and several dreams; I started off with a lot of drive, but too many directions. If you were to look at my resume, you would see the evolution of my dreams and aspirations as well as my transition from living with “hand-me-down” values to living life according to my beliefs. The one constant thread and theme that has followed me from one pursuit to the next has been my passion for writing. My ability to write has been a gift and a skill I have always tried to put to good use wherever I go. In everything I have ever done, I have always incorporated some element of my writing; in fact, I continue to do so to this very day and will certainly continue to do so for years to come. Writing has served me well on both my professional and personal journey:

When I was younger, I always wanted to work, so I started as soon as I could. At the age of 14, I was a Library Assistant and a Spanish tutor at my school. I still think my resume and cover letter were the keys to get me the job (even though it did not hurt that I spent a lot of time in the library as part of my community service). In any case, working in the library, I learned to pay close attention to details, and I had access to a wealth of knowledge in the volumes of books I helped organize. Being in a library, I spent most of my free time reading. I particularly liked the Psychology books, the Motivational books, the Business books, and the Self-Improvement books.

Then, because my family always thought that I would be a lawyer, I interned at a couple of law firms. However, my time there made me realize that I did not want to pursue law. Being a lawyer was not as exciting a job as they made it seem on television. I was a big “Matlock” and “Law and Order” fan, but those summers made me realize that being a lawyer and practicing law required more and was about more than they let on about on those shows. Being a lawyer involved a lot of writing, but most of it was writing briefs and “legalese” for contracts and that was not quite how I wanted to spend the rest of my life.

Next, I tried business and Wall Street: I spent a summer working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and a summer interning at Goldman Sachs. I liked business very much, especially working for Goldman Sachs. In fact, I thought that I wanted to pursue business all the way through graduation. But when I did not get the position at Goldman Sachs that I wanted, even after having been a Goldman Sachs Scholar, I changed my plans yet again. I guess working at Goldman was something that was not written in the stars for me.

So the summer right before graduation, I went to work with my cousin, a top producing loan officer, in South Jersey. It was then, working as her assistant, that I realized that I wanted to pursue real estate. I guess I should have known that real estate was in my blood; after all, my father is a Building Manager for Newmark and Co. and my Cousin is a top producing loan officer. But more than that, I had been eyeing real estate with dreams of owning and fixing up buildings ever since I was a young boy. Now I have
finally come to realize and accept my love for real estate.

However, with most of my family living in New York City, I realized that it was not going to be feasible to live in South Jersey and commute to the city every weekend. Therefore, I left my job in South Jersey to return to the city. While I was in between jobs looking for the right company to work for, I became a published Writing Entrepreneur ("Freelance Writer") featured in several publications: I was featured in such publications as Urban Latino Magazine; Sofrito, an insert in El Diario, a Spanish language newspaper; in Latino Leaders Magazine, a magazine that runs profiles of successful Latinos; and the Manhattan Times, a community newspaper serving Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill, and Spanish Harlem.

The son of Dominican parents who immigrated to New York from the Dominican Republic in 1969 and the first in our family to be born and raised here and to attend and graduate from college here, failure has not been an option for me, especially not after attending and graduating from Columbia University. Finally, now at Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc., I have found a place where I can combine my two strongest driving forces: my passion for writing, with my love for real estate which is in my blood. Today, I consider myself fortunate to have found my way to Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc., a community lending institution with a pleasant work environment that provides the members of its staff with the opportunity to do what they love everyday and the support that they need to succeed in business and in life.

How did you learn what it takes to succeed?
I cannot say how I first learned to succeed or from whom. Probably the first time I learned the lesson was when I fell as I was learning to walk and I got up and tried again until I got it; so, I guess you could say that I have learned from life. However, learning to succeed is a lesson that is learned over and over throughout your life because there is no one route to success or any “cookie-cutter” formula either. Most recently, I have learned to succeed from George Sophocleous, one of the partners and owners of Lyons Mortgage
Services, Inc. He has been very much a role model to me and to countless others in the company by taking time out from his busy schedule to help every single one of us strive towards our full potential. He sat with us on various occasions during our training, he invites us to visit with him and to bring him our questions and concerns, and he is a constant motivating force.

Perhaps what I love and respect the most about him is that he constantly reminds us that we must be flexible and be able to think outside the box in this business because as he puts it, “the way we did business yesterday is not the same way we do business today and will not be the same way we will do business tomorrow.” But more importantly, by keeping Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc on the cutting edge with proprietary technology that helps us provide better costumer service, he helps us achieve our mission “to make
homeownership an affordable and sustainable reality for all people,” and to stay ahead of the trends. His other contribution to making himself, me, and Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc., so successful is his effort to create an atmosphere at the company where people can, as he says quoting Aristotle, “find pleasure in what they do in life.” I, for one, find a lot of pleasure in what I do at Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc, and I am not the only one. In fact, it is that same atmosphere and commitment to making our experience and those of our clients “pleasurable” that brings us clients and then brings them back to do business with us again and again.

What personal/family activities do you enjoy?
I enjoy writing in my journal, helping my little brother and sister with their homework, and spending time with my friends.

What experiences in your life have helped you expand who you are as a
person?
When I was younger my parents were very overprotective, so that made me less than popular; in fact, I had very few, select friends because of their standards. They scrutinized all of them and hand picked only the ones they thought would be good for me and criticized the rest. Having been kind of an outsider, some what of a “nerd,” and seemingly socially challenged when I was younger had a tremendous impact on my life. It led me to working even harder on my social skills and focusing on creating more positive social interactions. Also, I think feeling as if I were not accepted has helped me
become a more sensitive person and to be someone who is more aware of other people’s feelings. In short, I am glad that I have had to work at my relationships because doing so and working on my interpersonal skills from a young age has made me even more of a success today. I am grateful to my parents.

What are your concerns about the world today?
I have two main concerns about the world today: the lack of adequate public education and the fact that people have for the most part a low quality of life. I do not think that in the United States in general, and in New York State and New York City specifically, we invest enough in our public education system. Also, with most people suffering from the lack of a good work-life balance or living in debt and with many people living in near poverty conditions, I feel more should be done to improve everyone’s quality of life.
The goal should be to improve education amongst everyone and improve everyone’s quality of life.

If you had all the time and all the money you needed, what types of things
would you do? Consider money as no object.
If I had all the money I needed, I would donate even more to the various charities and organizations that I believe in; I would invest a significant amount in Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc. to have the company help me distribute my money to the community. I would also purchase several properties, some of which I would dedicate to affordable housing and educational communities and community centers. In addition, I would establish my own school to serve as a model for all of the other schools and a library dedicated to the Hispanic / Latino community, its history and diverse culture. Lastly, I would settle down to continue to teach our community and to write and publish several books I have in mind, not all of which have to do with real estate. Of course, I would
take my summers off to travel the world and rest (I would not want to burn out after all, and I would need to have new experiences to write about and new sources of inspiration to share).


Are there any tips or advice you would like to offer people?
Although it will sound a little clichéd, I would advise people as George Sophocleus, one of the partners and owners of Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc. has advised me quoting Aristotle, “You must find pleasure in everything that you do in life.” I think it is excellent advice and one of the best pieces of advice I have found repeated often throughout my career and throughout my life. In fact, I think it is advice that has achieved the status of “age-old wisdom.”

Are people more interesting than product stories?
Of course people are more interesting than product stories; they are without a doubt the foundation of all of our businesses.

What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
I see a long future with Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc. ahead of me, and I would like to one day own several of my own properties. At some point, I would also like to settle down and write and publish various books that I have in mind, some of which have nothing to do with real estate. Also, I would love to leave a school, a library, or some other learning institution in our community as part of my legacy.

What obstacles do you have to overcome to achieve your goals?
The three obstacles that I must overcome repeatedly are people’s negativity, skepticism, and cynicism. Some people just cannot bear to see some one other than themselves succeed, even if the reason those people are succeeding is by helping their community. Also, when I first approach them, most people are very cynical about my intentions and skeptical about my ability to deliver on my promises. I have to be careful not to let all of the negativity out in the world get me down. I have to keep up my enthusiasm by focusing on all of the good that I and my company have helped to accomplish. Luckily, I have a strong support at Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc.; everyone in the company helps me keep a positive thought, because as I learned from an organization called CityKids, “a positive thought cannot be denied!”

Which people have been role models to you?
I have had various role models in several areas throughout my life; however, I do not have adequate time or space to share with you who they are and to honor them with the praise and thanks that they deserve. I will, however, mention two that I feel have had the most impact in the direction that my life has been taking most recently: my cousin, Madelynn Tejeda, a top producing loan officer, and George Sophocleus, one of the partners and owners of Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc., and one of the people that I most admire. I am grateful to my cousin, Madelynn, for introducing me to the industry and
showing me what it is possible to accomplish within it. And, I am grateful to George for the guidance and hope that he has given me for what I can accomplish at Lyons Mortgage Services, both personally and professionally; by hiring me as a Business Development Manager for Lyons Mortgage Services, Inc., he has empowered me to do a lot of good in my community and to “find pleasure in what I do in life.”

What are your favorite books, computer programs, or forms of entertainment?
My two favorite books are The Road Less Traveled by Dr. M. Scott Peck and Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. I love The Road Less Traveled by Dr. M. Scott Peck that I have made it a ritual to re-read it every New Years, and I love Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within that I refer back to various sections of the book almost daily. I think both of these works and several others have had a significant impact on the course of my life.

What is it that you are most passionate about or gives you the greatest
enjoyment in life?
What I am most passionate about and what gives me the greatest enjoyment in life is real estate and writing. I am passionate about real estate because it is in my blood and because fixing and owning buildings has been a part of my greatest dreams ever since I can remember. And I am passionate about writing because it is an art of creation, recreation, and communication as well as a gift and skill that has helped me to succeed in most of my endeavors to date and I am sure for years to come. Together, like “Yin and Yang,” real estate and writing help make me balanced, make me whole.