Don’t Take It Personal
I recently closed a loan that I thought would never close.
Not because I couldn’t get it done…
But because the client kept switching lenders in the middle of the transaction.
I first picked up the file after she had already been denied by another lender. She was under contract and had less than 20 days left to close when she came to me.
So my team and I went to work! We pushed the file to the top of the priority list. Worked hard. Moved quickly. Explored every option possible.
But eventually we hit a wall.
Her debt-to-income ratio just didn’t work. I tried different programs that I had available, and we still couldn’t make it happen. That’s when she switched lenders again.
And that bothered me.
While I was still trying to figure out a different loan solution for her, she was already shopping somewhere else. After all the time, effort, and energy we had invested, it felt personal.
So I wrote the deal off and moved on (kinda – it still hurt!).
Then something unexpected happened.
Lender number three didn’t work out either… and she came back to me. But this time, I approached things differently.
I stayed professional.
Kept communication strong.
Worked the process.
But emotionally, I kept my distance because I fully expected her to leave again.
Still – we kept moving forward. And eventually… we got it done.
At the closing table, she looked right at me and thanked me sincerely. She told me no one else had shown her that level of care and commitment, and that without my help she wouldn’t have ever gotten the house.
And in that moment, it reminded me of something important.
A Real Christian Businessman can’t allow hurt feelings to dictate how we treat people. That’s hard for me sometimes because I’m a “feeler.” I care deeply about people, and when I feel used or overlooked, it can stick with me.
But business is still business. And we’re still called to treat people with kindness – even when they don’t return it the same way.
“A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself.” Prov 11:17 (ESV)
Kindness isn’t weakness.
Professionalism isn’t passivity.
Sometimes it means setting our feelings aside and simply doing the job we were called to do.
And often, the outcome ends up better than we expected.
This one certainly did.
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