Michael Bencks

Vice President, Residential Lending
Molitor Financial Group

Hard work is second nature to Molitor Financial Group’s Michael Bencks. While in college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he held multiple jobs, including part-time positions at Carle Hospital as well as in retail and restaurant service, to help subsidize tuition expenses. Bencks applies this strong work ethic to his residential lending career because, as he puts it, “I’ve always wanted a profession that would allow me to help friends and family, so providing the best possible financing for them makes me feel like I’m really making a positive impact on their lives.”

Bencks’ career path since majoring in finance has been rooted in improving others’ quality of living. He previously worked in healthcare, first to train physicians and nurses in the proper use of medical equipment and later to sell orthopedic devices like spinal hardware. That sales experience, he says, helps tremendously when explaining finance structuring to clients, especially new buyers. “I remember when I was a first-time homebuyer, and even though I’m in the industry myself, it can still be pretty stressful, so I make sure not to forget that when I’m working with a first-time buyer.”

Those first timers, he has come to realize, ultimately create a cadre on long-term clients. “New homebuyers purchasing condos in the city will eventually become sellers and upsize to a bigger condo or single-family house in the suburbs, so I’ll usually have two or three transactions with the same clients,” Bencks explains. But regardless of his clients’ purchase experience, they still rely on his industry knowledge to help them avoid potential pitfalls. “Things people do that seem totally benign and harmless can delay or even kill a deal, so it’s my job not to let that happen.”

The father of a new baby girl and an active contributor to organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project and Empowered Poor, Bencks points out that “integrity,” “experience” and “direction” are not only Molitor’s driving forces, but also the differentiating values by which he and his colleagues abide. “I wouldn’t offer somebody a loan that I wouldn’t take myself or give to my mother, and there’s no exception to that,” he says. His outstanding reviews on sites like Yelp attest to his success, thanks to happy clients. “I love my career and the people I surround myself with each day. If you can build a team of like-minded Realtors, attorneys and mortgage brokers who all focus on making the client happy, then success will surely follow; it’s impossible not to.”