Some of the most exciting and impressive mortgage-industry stories of recent years have centered on companies that have adopted innovative, interesting approaches to the business. With help from Dustin Dimisa, who founded and has served as its CEO, for instance, a lender named InterContinental Capital Group has been shaking up the industry since its 2005 founding. A quick look at that company’s take on mortgage lending will reveal why it has been so successful.
A Veteran of the Industry Strikes Out in a New Direction
Dimisa joined mortgage-business giant Countrywide Financial soon after graduating from college in 2002. He became a member of the company’s Full Spectrum Lending Division, a group that would soon became legendary throughout the industry.
Dimisa worked in a variety of roles while at Countrywide, acquiring in each skills that would serve him well in the future. Whether managing operations and business-to-business sales or mastering the intricacies of regulatory compliance, he always sought to excel with every project.
Within the space of a few years, Dimisa had risen so high within Countrywide that he was named to its prestigious President’s Council. That posting saw the young mortgage specialist collaborating with and advising the company’s senior leadership.
Having accomplished so much so quickly, Dimisa decided that it was time to seek new challenges. With an entrepreneurial spirit burning within him, he founded InterContinental Capital Group with the help of some partners.
A New Take on How Best to Lend to and Serve Consumers
Dimisa’s years at Countrywide had been truly formative, and also quite instructive. He had seen how lending at the kinds of scales Countrywide was known for could give rise to certain characteristic types of disconnection. Even Countrywide customers who were generally satisfied with the loan products and services they received sometimes felt that the lender was not attuned to their needs and preferences.
InterContinental Capital Group was founded largely to provide a more responsive, customer-focused alternative. Dimisa had seen many times over how even well-intentioned, personally engaged mortgage brokers could end up becoming distanced from their clients for structural reasons.
With InterContinental Capital Group, Dimisa resolved to make listening to clients a core part of the corporate mission. Even long after the company grew to employ hundreds of employees, Dimisa would personally contact several clients every working day to learn about their experiences.
The Proof of the Pudding
This intensely personal approach to the leadership and operation of a mortgage brokerage turned out to be an especially effective one. Dimisa’s commitment to staying in touch with customers allowed him to learn things about the industry that escaped virtually all of his peers in leadership positions at other lenders.
That helped InterContinental Capital Group grow more rapidly than just about any observer had thought possible. Within the space of a decade, the company had become a nationwide leader in the industry and was originating tens of millions of dollars in mortgages each month.
While there are other mortgage brokerages that have produced impressive results of their own in recent years, InterContinental Capital Group’s story is a particularly striking one. Recognizing that the established players in the industry had strayed from an especially important value allowed InterContinental to overtake many of them in short order.