The past year was one filled with personal growth for Robin Baran, who learned not to take things personally. “I learned that I offer a huge value to clients, as well as when to walk away from the users and abusers,” she says.
By listening more and talking less, Baran, vice president of mortgage lending for Guaranteed Rate Affinity, learns each client’s personality type and uses that knowledge to determine how best to help them. “The engineers and educators want details and want to read contracts line by line, while the creative types want me to show them where to sign and trust that I won’t steer them wrong!” she says.
Baran moved to Guaranteed Rate Affinity in 2020 and has since doubled her business. “I feel like our best years are yet to come,” she says. Baran has 20 years of lending experience and has built a business that is 100% based on referrals from real estate agents and past customers. She has literally sat on each side of the transaction table and has a clear understanding of everyone’s roles. Baran started as a Realtor and worked in corporate relocation for several years before pursuing a career in lending. “Often, the lenders don’t think it’s a big deal to not meet closing dates or respond quickly to questions,” she says. “They don’t understand the planning involved with moving vans in the driveway, kids enrolling in new schools and the domino effect of one closing providing funds for the next closing.”
Baran educates clients on the process and always tells them the truth, not just what they want to hear. “I will never issue a preapproval letter unless I am absolutely sure the loan will go through,” she says. “I do not subscribe to the theory that you take the loan and see what sticks.”
An empty nester, each year she tackles a new hobby or skill.
Guaranteed Rate, Inc. is a private corporation organized under the laws of the state of Delaware. It has no affiliation with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture or any other government agency.
