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Tony
Cussimanio was the driving force behind the success of Texas Best
Loans, a mortgage brokerage based in Cedar Park near the Austin
area. For Cussimanio, a mortgage and real estate professional by
training, the market downturn in 2001 served to expose unrealized
potential in his business. He initiated new growth by expanding
his company into real estate, a sector that became the driving force
behind his mortgage business. Mr. Cussimanio's strategy consistently
accelerated the firm's revenue for three consecutive years.
He has grown a once small company into an expanding powerhouse that
is impervious to the market environment.
"I entered the mortgage profession in 1997. When the market
slowed down in 2001, the refinance business came almost to a halt.
In an effort to compensate for the downturn in the market, we shifted
our focus to real estate.
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"In addition to providing a repository of rich information,
we also use our mortgage website to generate new leads, as well
as to furnish file updates and loan status to our current mortgage
clients. Because our mortgage business is primarily generated from
our referral partners, we haven't solicited much refinance business
in over five years! My personal annual volume of $30 million consists
of 80 percent purchase and 20 percent refinance. Roughly one-fifth
of my business is subprime.
"Our real estate website is extremely valuable in driving
prospects to our mortgage portal. All our marketing pieces,
ad placements, direct mail, and search engine optimization, have
resulted in abundant traffic to our real estate site. We retain
our visitors at the site with interactive maps, MLS searches, and
other 'sticky' features, and the site is set up so that our visitors
receive custom updates on new listings.
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