Looking In

February 23, 2024 by

In my role as a transactions underwriting associate, I underwrite Fannie Mae loan assumptions and transfers of interest on existing loans. For example, when there is a property sale where a new sponsor wants to come into the deal and assume the existing debt, I underwrite the new parties to make sure they’re acceptable.

Before joining Lument in June 2022, I served in the Marine Corps for 16 years—12 as an enlisted Marine and four as an Officer. I spent time in California, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. I also served abroad in Afghanistan and Japan.

Okinawa was my first time out of the country—it was such a cool experience, from the culture to the people, to all the stuff to do there. I can’t speak highly enough of it, particularly since I met my wife there.

While in the Marines, I earned my undergraduate degree at The Ohio State University, where I majored in Japanese language and literature. Later, after the Marines, I went back to Ohio State and got my MBA.

I entered Lument through its Associate Development Program (ADP). I first heard about the ADP in 2021 while interning over the summer with Lument during graduate school. After the internship, I was offered a place in the program.

My experience with the ADP was invaluable: The program offered me the ability to explore different areas of commercial real estate, including the asset management side, where I am now. And I learned was that every deal is truly unique. That novelty continues to keep things fresh and interesting for me.

I can say without hesitation that Lument’s culture is very welcoming. In my nearly two years on the job, I have had nothing but great interactions with everyone I work with. Even now, I frequently ask my coworkers questions and they’re always happy to help me build my expertise. That generosity speaks volumes about life at Lument.

To be sure, within the commercial real estate industry, there is always room for improvement, especially in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. In that regard, the industry can learn from the Marines.

That’s partly because the military does a tremendous job of pulling in people from all backgrounds. Recruiters are always coming to your door, calling your phone, and sending you letters. As a result, the military was very much on my radar when I was in high school.

In contrast, when I started learning about commercial real estate, I had no point of reference. To draw more diverse workers, I would encourage Lument and other employers to focus on getting the word out about their industry and its educational requirements.

Speaking of education, I learned to speak Japanese not while in Okinawa as you might think, but while obtaining my undergraduate degree. I literally spoke no Japanese while stationed there!

January 22, 2024 by

My role consists of many various tasks and responsibilities. As an executive assistant I support Rick Warren, a senior managing director and the head of real estate capital markets. In addition to Rick, I support the production and credit teams in our Irvine office. On the production side I am involved with coordinating local conferences such as CMBA and CREF and I provide regional level support with MBA and NMHC. I appreciate the opportunity to travel to different cities across the country, meet new colleagues and support the conferences we attend. The support I provide to the credit team involves processing deal related invoices for third party reports.

As the office manager, I make sure the Irvine office runs smoothly, making for a comfortable and informative workplace. The office culture has changed in recent years (since COVID) as most employees now work three times a week in the office. My role includes making sure mail and packages are distributed, equipment is functioning, the kitchen is stocked, and working with property management. I will be the liaison between corporate management and property management, contractors, and various vendors during an upcoming office “facelift.” Whatever needs to get done – bring it on.

I’ve been at Lument for 14 years—that says a lot. At many companies, executive assistants and office managers tend to get lost in the shuffle. At Lument, however, they really care about employees as individuals. The culture is also very collaborative, when a challenge arises, everybody comes together to find a solution. I take satisfaction from my job in different ways and am proud that I keep the trains running on time. People know that I’m always there to lend a helping hand. I try very hard to make everyone feel welcome, comfortable, and well equipped to get their jobs done.

Forging relationships with colleagues is one of my favorite parts of the job. I love the camaraderie that develops from our in-office social events for various holidays throughout the year. For the big holiday parties, I’ll often do the cooking and decorating the office myself.

As more people work remotely, it can be harder to feel connected, particularly if you’re new to the company. We try to gather at least once a month for an in-office lunch. These meetings give us a chance to talk more casually about both how work is going and about our lives in general.

Giving back to local communities is another part of the Lument culture. Our office participates in the local Habitat for Humanity projects, and we are active in local community service engagements.

November 14, 2023 by

I am a product manager for the predictive analytics at Lument. Essentially, I serve as a bridge between Lument’s software development team and the end users of our products. My nine team members and I focus on maintaining and improving Artemis—the company’s internal application for market data and quick property valuations.

A big part of my job involves meeting with stakeholders—including Lument originators, asset managers, and underwriters, as well as external investors—to better understand how they use our tools. For example, I often interview clients and ask about their investing experiences.

I also do a lot of what we call “acceptance testing.” The goal is to make sure that stakeholders like what we’re building and that we’re putting things in the most intuitive places for them. Basically, there’s a lot of discovery that I do to figure out how we might be able to streamline our technology.

Before joining Lument in 2021, I had no experience in commercial real estate. I did my master’s degree in electrical engineering; after graduating, I worked at several advanced research labs, where I worked on topics like driverless cars, quantum computers, and neural implants. Later, when I decided to pursue software development at the corporate level, I was looking for a company that really prioritizes technology and innovation—and I’ve definitely found that here.

In the business and tech world, artificial intelligence is obviously very hot now. Unfortunately, using cool tools like ChatGPT is harder for our industry; we deal with a lot of proprietary information that we must safeguard and keep private. But we are definitely exploring how generative AI can be applied to save us time and improve our offerings.

Beyond the fun of solving difficult technical problems, I think my favorite part of the job is that people here are easy to talk to, as well as entrepreneurial and experimentative. That culture is visible in the kinds of conversations I have with colleagues. Our originators, for instance, frequently come to me and say, “How about doing this a different way?” Or they’ll say, “What would it take to change that up?”

This spirit of creativity and openness to trying new things makes my job easier, as well as more interesting and impactful. My engineering colleagues at Lument are some of the most capable that I’ve ever worked with—and I’ve worked with some really smart people in industry and academia. Overall, it’s a fantastic team to be a part of, both on a personal and professional level.

October 24, 2023 by

I run the day-to-day accounting operations for Lument’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage banking businesses. This includes managing and reviewing transactions related to the lifecycle of loans—from application to rate lock to closing to settlement. As part of these duties, my four-person team, based in New York and Dallas, is responsible for gathering supporting documents to ensure that ~~all~~ transactions are recorded correctly and are available for our auditors. Risks and controls have to be at the forefront of accounting.

One aspect of my job that I really enjoy is the ability to learn from the people I work with. Everyone can teach you something interesting. “A motivated and talented staff can be the difference between success and failure” I’ve learned a lot about how to manage my own staff from Jim Briggs, who is Lument’s chief accounting officer. I’ve worked with Jim for 14 years; in good times and bad, he always uses the kind of language and tone of voice that makes everybody feel at ease, which is super important to me.

As both a Hispanic woman and an immigrant, I’ve certainly had to overcome many challenges throughout my life to get to where I am now. But at the same time, I’ve been blessed to work for a company where I don’t feel my managers focus on my ethnicity or on other labels that might be attached to me. Instead, I’m treated as a unique individual who is measured simply by how effectively I do my job.

However, my path to a career in commercial real estate was definitely not a direct one. I moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic when I was 12. And when I first enrolled at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York, I planned to become a teacher. However, I eventually changed track and graduated with a business degree. While in college, I worked for a medium sized accounting firm proofreading financial statements and doing bookkeeping services for an Airline based in Spain. Later, I worked as an auditor at Ernst & Young. In 2004, I joined CharterMac, a predecessor company of Lument. Next year will be my 20^th anniversary here.

The good news is that I continue to feel very welcome. That’s partly because Lument has built a strong culture of inclusion. That’s evident in the resources they offer to help everyone grow and thrive. For instance, Jennifer Shapiro-Lee, a psychotherapist, was hired to offer weekly wellness classes at no charge to employees. Through Jennifer, I learned valuable lessons on important topics like work-life balance, self-care, and gratitude. At the end of the day, you need to feel happy where you work, and people need to feel comfortable.

I’m a proud mom of 13-year-old twin girls, who keep me busy. I also love giving back to the community. I’m a hair donor. On weekends, I’m very active in my church, where I teach first communion and confirmation classes, U.S. History and English to non-native speakers. Other hobbies of mine include dancing merengue music, cooking delicious Italian food, and knitting. In fact, last winter, I knitted warm winter hats for everyone in the New York office’s mailroom—never a bad thing for the cold months ahead! Some ladies at the NY office are enjoying knitted Airpods holders.

September 27, 2023 by

Before joining Lument predecessor Hunt Real Estate Capital in 2018, I spent years working as an underwriter. Eventually, though, I reached a stage where I was ready to take my career in a different direction, which meant taking a step towards the production side.

It’s a career turn that’s definitely been for the best, offering me great opportunities for professional growth. In my current job in FHA affordable multifamily production, I wear a few hats. I serve as an internal resource to Lument’s FHA originators, assisting with screening, structuring, and executing refinance and construction loans. I also work closely with the FHA multifamily analyst team on initial loan sizings to provide loan summaries for clients.

Another hat involves taking meetings and calls with originators and their clients, educating them on HUD programs; on some transactions, I stay involved through closing and construction. Finally, I support Lument’s FHA production platform with marketing efforts, with internal and external resources like underwriting models, and by being a company ambassador to HUD offices around the country.

There are many reasons I enjoy showing up for work. I love helping people. I also love solving problems, especially knotty math ones. And I have the good fortune to do plenty of both in my role. But what I probably enjoy most are the frequent, stimulating interactions that I have with Lument’s originators, underwriters, and their clients.

One way I add value to the company is by taking nuanced, complicated loan products and explaining them to colleagues in a way that they can quickly and easily digest. Over the past few years, I’ve also helped grow our FHA analyst support group to the point where it’s now well established. I’m proud of my team’s collective achievements: 2020 and 2021, in particular, were especially great years for our FHA business.

As for what it’s like to work at Lument, it’s a big company that nevertheless manages to be genuinely welcoming. I can also attest that Lument is filled with really good people who are truly fun to work with. And that makes coming to both my physical office in Washington, D.C., and to my virtual office a joy. This camaraderie manifests itself in other ways, including support for Lument’s DEI initiatives and engagement with nonprofits like Habitat for Humanity. It’s obvious from their actions that my colleagues care about each other, as well as the communities they work in.

My group is also extremely entrepreneurial. That’s because the more originators that we can assist in executing FHA transactions, the better we do. In fact, we operate like a small consulting team within the firm. Our mission is to continuously improve Lument’s FHA underwriting machine. And it’s on our shoulders to achieve it. Thankfully, leaders here at Lument are always very encouraging to people with new ideas.

August 18, 2023 by

I’m an associate director in Platinum Client Asset Management, which is part of Lument’s loan servicing asset management group. As part of my duties, I oversee a team of four who deal with repeat, high-volume clients (which typically means 10 deals per client or more).

Lument’s platinum clients receive white-glove service from my mostly Kansas City-based team, which acts as a one-stop-shop for clients’ needs—from tax issues to insurance questions to everything in between.

I joined Lument in October 2020, after working in loan servicing for PNC Bank and, later, KeyBank. I’m especially proud of the improvements we’ve made to the platinum program over the past few years; for these, it’s been a real team effort all around. For me personally, this past May was a very exciting month. I received Lument’s 2023 Excellence Award for customer commitment and was also promoted to associate director.

Perhaps the best part of my job are the people I have the privilege of working most closely with: my teammates. Our bond has only strengthened over the past three years, as we coped with the tragic passing of Jeff Redmond, my former boss and mentor. Thanks to these close relationships, I really do have a “family-type” feeling on the job—and it’s one reason why working at Lument is special for me.

More broadly, Lument also has a very attractive culture across the organization. It’s truly welcoming and team-first. For example, if I have a concern or issue—whether big or small—I never hesitate to call up a team member, my direct manager, or a manager on another team for advice or just a sympathetic ear.

Lument has built a growth-minded, learning-oriented culture for its people as well: At the end of the day, you get out 100 percent of what you put in here. To that end, Lument consistently provides opportunities for its employees to learn, grow, and develop greater expertise about their industry; indeed, at Lument, there’s no shortage of great courses on offer to make it easier for individuals to grow their careers.

It’s a company that encourages employees to have an entrepreneurial mindset, too. A few months ago, for instance, I had a “light bulb” moment about how my team and some of the teams we work closely with could improve our collective workflow. When I communicated my proposal a little while later, the reception was great—not because my idea was flawless, but because Lument wants its employees to take initiative and embrace change.

There’s also more to life than work. I have a 15-year-old son and Lument makes it possible for me to have a fulfilling work-life balance. One area where my son and I bond is over music. Like me, my son listens to and appreciates diverse musical genres. I have a playlist for any mood, any time: alternative, R&B, country…you name it. When I was a kid, I enjoyed playing the violin—though don’t expect any concerts from me these days at Carnegie Hall!