Happy together

Mortgage collective focusing on West for slow, steady growth

No Mann is an island.

That's the belief that has propelled Mann Mortgage from a one-man, one-office business to a multistate corporation. In 2005 alone, the company financed more than $800 million in mortgages.

Mann Mortgage is a cooperative; all its branches operate collectively to do one thing: help people with mortgages.

"It's like a farmer's union," said Don Mann, president of Mann Mortgage.

"As a farmer's union, a bunch of farmers get together and sell products together. That's what we did in the world of mortgage business."

Today, Mann Mortgage has branch offices in six states and more than 200 employees.

The branches work cooperatively and share common expenses.

"When they work collectively, all the branches benefit more than they would as individuals," explained Kalispell branch manager Jason Mann, Don's son. "That's how we're truly able to offer the best rates. We still conduct ourselves in the manner of a small business with all the benefits of a large corporation."

Don Mann started the company in 1989. For two years, he originated and closed loans on his own, operating as a mortgage broker.

He wanted to be a mortgage banker, though, and soon found other men who were interested in working as mortgage bankers.

The difference, he explained, is that a mortgage broker can't close a loan in his own name.

He closes it in the name of some national investor. Mortgage bankers have their own funds and close loans in their own names.

To help himself and his companions operate as bankers, Mann formulated his cooperative business plan.

He was inspired in part by his upbringing; his family ran an automotive supply business in North Dakota. Their business was one of a group of automotive supply companies that collectively provided inventory, Mann said.

Mann Mortgage operates on the same principle. An individual branch might not have enough money to close a particular loan, but together the corporation has the funds to do so.

"I can find a person in some community in Washington, let's say, who is already a broker in that community, is already established in that community, who wants to move into the realm of mortgage banking but doesn't necessarily have the assets or the ability to do that," Mann said. "By joining us, they achieve that.

"It allows them to be in the mortgage business as a mortgage banker without necessarily having the finances individually to do that. Collectively we do, individually we don't."

The first Mann Mortgage branch opened in 1993 in Helena. Branches in Billings and Missoula were established soon after.

"We found people in each major city in Montana that wanted to participate," Mann said.

Through business associates, Mann started meeting people outside the state who wanted to join the cooperative. Branches in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Colorado soon joined.

"It's just kind of one of those ideas that grabbed hold," Mann said. "We haven't spent a lot of time marketing; we just got into a lot of branches by word of mouth."

Wyoming joined the corporation effective March 1, when a branch opened in Powell. On the same day, a Mann Mortgage branch opened in Grand Junction, Colo.

The company is hoping to move into California, Nevada and Arizona by the end of the year, Jason Mann said.

"It's the first time in a couple of years that we've started to aggressively grow the company," he said.

The primary reason for this, he explained, was that for about the past three years they simply had too much business to consider expansion.

"The volume of business was so great that we had a tough time looking at just handling the mortgages we had, much less expanding," he said.

This isn't a problem, though. Mann Mortgage always has been content to increase at its own pace.

"We've grown as fast as we want to grow," Don Mann said.

"We've never been one to grow at an exponential rate," his son added. "We'll start in each of those (states) slowly and gain momentum from there."

Part of maintaining that slow but steady growth Includes focusing on the West instead of trying to spread across the country.

"I think when you look at our area, the Pacific Northwest, it's a growing area," secretary Tom Greiner said. "As long as we continue to do it right but smartly, we shouldn't be suffering any recession-type feeling or slowdown in business.

"You have all sorts of competition in the valley, and there's room for that," he added. "As long as we treat the consumer right, we're going to succeed."

Treating the consumer right has always been the goal, Jason Mann said.

"We just do the best we can for each individual customer given (their) varying circumstances," he said. "You conduct yourself on a daily basis, understanding what you do can affect your reputation. … It comes down to being flexible and delivering what you promised."

The company looks for that attitude when considering new branches, Greiner said.

"It's that cooperative spirit," he said. "We look for mortgage professionals, people in the mortgage industry, that want to do the right thing, that are looking forward to working with clients today and tomorrow.

"In our organization, we have the same philosophy: to do it cooperatively," he added.

"We all work together to achieve those home ownership goals for consumers, and we share common beliefs in the industry and integrity and honesty. By sharing in expenses and sharing in these goals, we can't not succeed."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinter-lake.com.