“I empower the customer. I help them create their ideal outcome,” says John Moony, senior VP of mortgage lending at Guaranteed Rate Affinity. “Anyone can take orders and shoot out numbers. I’m not interested in that—what I want is for them to come away with more knowledge, a better experience at a low price in order to start this new chapter of their lives.”
Moony studied music in college and worked as a musician after graduation. One day, he got a call to become a junior loan officer for a brokerage, and the rest was history—although he says mortgages and music do have something in common: they’re both simultaneously an art and a science.
Approaching the mortgage business as an artist has served Moony well—he’s able to explain the complex, abstract concepts of his clients’ transactions in a way that’s easily digestible. Moony begins his client calls by opening the floor to them, to hear what’s most important to them, so he can help them achieve their goals and create as much value as possible. “Buying real estate is a process-driven event, and there’s certain aspects of every deal that we don’t control,” he says. “So, we want to create every win that we can, using every tool at our disposal. This is what’s helped build my business as 100 percent referral-based over the last 17 years.”
Through that patient, caring, personal touch, Moony has repeatedly gained the strongest endorsement of all: Return engagements, from the first-time homebuyer to a seasoned real estate investor, who rely on him for their next transaction—and the one after that. “More and more, our marketplace is seen as a commodity,” Moony explains. “The difference is in the execution and quality of care that someone brings. In the homebuying journey, people are so much more than the last piece of a math equation.”
Moony currently leads a group of 13 loan officers in Chicago. He works to empower each of the members of his team to be the most “them” they can be, growing as businesspeople and as human beings.
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.
