Early Birds: There was a table full when the author arrived this AM and no one bragged about being first or last, though Renata Faeth came in fashionably late.
President Dave Goodwyne rang the bell for a moment of silence and to bring the meeting to order. He had a joke about how a mortgage lender is similar to a Realtor, except for the humor.
Guests: President Dave brought his daughter Natalie. Pat Wright of Hello Cookie came for the 2nd time and brought cookies for a morning desert. Connor Peterson was a guest of his father, Jon.
Honorary Members: Mark Simon, Ron Britz, Russ Bremner, and Martin Peyer all came today.
Announcements:
- Pick up 2 of the new canary yellow member directories if you haven’t already.
- Golf outing is planned for June 17. Get your foursome together.
- There will be a board meeting on April 24.
- Don Thiets announced that his brother with Meals from the Heart will be having a food packing event on April 30th in Lake Elmo. Contact Don if you would like to volunteer or contribute.
- Boat Cruise will be happening anyday now as the ice is leaving the marina.
- Todd Anderson had Bert Christiansen (a former member) drive for him at the Final Four and he says hi.
Business Networking: None today.
Business Exchange: Jim Christianson started us off and was followed by Neil Roers, Bob Alexander, and Tony Rubin.
Business Updates: What’s new in your business?
Table Introductions: Table #3 was introduced by Bob Alexander with a theme of “What’s your mission in life”.
Pot of Gold: Mark Simon drew 5 cards and Russ Bremner was the big winner. If you are curious, Russ (a frequent winner) would give you lessons on how to fold your card for a price.
Craft Talk:
Mark Simon introduced our craft speaker, Jon Peterson, of New American Funding.
Jon was born in Barnum, MN and got his start working in a Cemetery digging graves and fixing headstones. Since he didn’t want Gravedigger as his only job title on his resume he went to Saint Cloud State University.
Jon is married to DeAnn and they have 2 sons, Connor and Alex. They are all great Minnesota Twins fans and Jon has made most every opening day game.
For 33+ years he has been in the residential mortgage business. For the majority of the time he was part owner of Marketplace Home Mortgage which sold to New American Funding in 2018.
New American Funding (NAF) is a family owned California business that operates in several states with over 3,000 employees. They have originated over 115,000 loans with over $28B in value. They rank quite high in employee satisfaction surveys.
NAF offers guaranteed underwriting, fast turnaround, and mobile apps to monitor the loan process, and still the same great service from Jon and Connor.
Jon also gave us information on credit score guidelines and current market rates.
Call Jon for some great service when you want to purchase and/or refinance a residential property.
Register to Jon Peterson at jon.peterson@nafinc.com or 763-360-9652.
Looking ahead
April 17 will be Wells Fargo Advisors (Tony Rubin) at the Edina CC.
April 24 will be OFFSITE at the State Capitol and hosted by Solomon Strategies (Jim Erickson).
May 1 will be Smilekeepers (Susanne Bonfe) at the Edina CC.