By the time many of you are reading this, the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will be officially underway. For two straight weeks, we can all indulge in watching the best athletes from around the world playing your favorite summertime sports. Which events are you most looking forward to? Mine is one of the new events, Breaking (a.k.a., Breakdancing). After viewing Earth’s historical documents in preparation for my residency here, I was drawn to your hip-hop music which was accompanied by humans spinning on their heads on pieces of cardboard. Fascinating.
Coming from a planet that doesn’t have anything comparable to the Olympics, I find the games are a perfect illustration of perseverance. These athletes are driven and passionate about their events and have prepared themselves over the course of four years, battling through the physical and mental tolls such training can put on a human. Four Earth years is a long time to prepare oneself for what can only be described as a brief, shining moment in the Olympic arena. In comparison, those moments are but a blink of an eyestalk compared to the amount of time each athlete invests in practice and preparation.
What I find fascinating is that these Olympic moments – no matter if they are in victory or defeat – will be some of the most memorable moments these individuals experience in their lives. I asked a few of my human colleagues about their most memorable moments, and things like their wedding day, the birth of their children and even their first car topped the list.
There was one additional moment that consistently ranked in their Top 5: Purchasing their own home.
At myCUmortgage, we think a lot about credit union members purchasing homes and living the American dream. I know our new President, Ben Rempe, does. His idea that homeownership should be one of the top moments in a person’s life is much more than an idea. It’s a fact, and it drives the myCUmortgage experts every day… and it should be driving your credit union as well.
Stop and think about purchasing your first home – I’ll bet a case of moon pies that you remember all the details, from your initial decision to pursue homeownership to getting the keys to your home to the days and weeks that followed walking through your front door for the first time.
These are powerful moments, and for credit union mortgage lenders, these are exactly the types of moments that should be driving us in everything we do to assist our members in their quest for homeownership. Very much like Olympic athletes, your members are preparing for their own event, not in the athletic arena but rather in your cities and towns and neighborhoods. They are going for the homeownership gold, and it’s your duty to help them realize their memorable moment on the podium.
Olympic athletes have an internal passion that drives them to practice hard and perfect their skills. Members seeking a home have a similar passion, and although they have the drive within them, they still need what every Olympic athlete has: a coach. No matter the skill level of an athlete, if they want to achieve the level of being called an Olympian, they still need coaches to serve as their guiding light, a calming force and an expert of the game.
In the world of credit union mortgages, YOU are that guiding light, assisting members with applications, documents, loan products and so much more. YOU are their calming force when stipulations arise, appraisals are afoot and down payment becomes a concern. YOU are their trusted expert of the mortgage game, answering all their questions while providing a thorough education throughout the entire process.
YOU are their coach… and they need you and your passion for helping more members with homeownership. When you’re watching the Olympics, keep an eye on the emotions of the athletes and the responses of their coaches. You can do that same thing for your members. Always remember that you’re playing a huge role in making an everlasting memory for them. Do that and the passion will naturally arise inside of you as you and your members go for home loan gold.