How Lizy Hoeffer Empowers Women and Hispanic Homebuyers

Bridget: Welcome back to CCM Talks. I am Bridget Linton and I’m so excited to be joined by Lizy Hoeffer. Lizy, you are so successful when it comes to the mortgage business, but let’s start with being named a Top Latino Mortgage Lender year after year. Why is it so important to you to help Hispanic borrowers?

Lizy: Well, I’m one Hispanic and I’m actually from Nogales, Arizona, and a lot of the time in my career, I’ve been doing mortgages for about 22 years now. There hasn’t really been a huge focus, even though I’m in Arizona and it’s a very large Hispanic community, to really focus on bringing the Hispanic community up. We’re one of the lowest income generating populations, and we’re also very, very committed to homeownership.

And so for me, it’s a lot about helping my culture, helping the Hispanic population grow in wealth. And it’s really important to me. It’s my mom, a single mom, who we got out of poverty through owning real estate, and it’s one of the only vehicles to do that.

Bridget: And it’s so amazing what you’re doing in the Hispanic community. But then to work for a company like CrossCountry Mortgage, who is so supportive when it comes to the Hispanic community. What does that mean to you?

Lizy: Yeah, I mean, not all companies are. You know, I’ve worked for many companies where, like, they didn’t have a focus on presenting materials that were in Spanish. And, for anybody who worked in the foreclosure crisis, it was really, like it was such a tragedy to see so many youth who had translated these mortgage documents to their parents, experiencing their families have short sales or foreclosures. And having materials and documents that they can sign in their like primary language is just it’s vital and necessary if you want to have a successful transaction. So for me, working at a company that cares about that is, is everything.

Bridget: And you care so much about the Hispanic community, but you also know about women power, too. You lead the number one female-led mortgage team in Arizona. For any other females that are looking to get in the mortgage business, what would be a piece of advice you would give them?

Lizy: Yeah, this is one of the only careers where you can start off as a receptionist and end up one of the executives. I mean, it is limitless in the possibility for earning and a lot of single moms, I mean, this is an opportunity to change your life, to be a provider.

And so I will say that it does come with sacrifice and a lot of really great organization and planning skills, which most mothers have. So I will say that this is one of those careers where you can really advance yourself in a huge way if you’re willing to commit, and put in the effort.

Bridget: And I love that about you because you give such great advice. You’re so motivational, and you do that is important to you to help coach other women. So talk about the more of the things that you’re doing when it comes to coaching other women.

Lizy: Yeah. So we, I run CCM NOW, which is our Network of Women, and it’s a resource group committed to the success of our female employees, whether that’s in sales or it’s in underwriting or admin. I mean, wherever you find yourself, there should be a roadmap to excel or grow. And so for here, like this has started off as just like an email chain to, you know, spread resources that then grew into a small, collective monthly call. And now it’s a full on calendar with a ton of support and resources.

And for me, I mean, I was the receptionist that had big ambitions. And to see what I’ve been able to do with my career, from having help from other people, I mean, for me, it’s just the give back that I hope will help other women really succeed. And the fact that we’re 56% women at CCM, it’s huge and it should be a focus for us.

Bridget: And you talk about your growth, you know, starting from where you did in the mortgage business to where you are now. So accomplished. How is CCM helped you grow in your career?

Lizy: So, CrossCountry just really hasn’t held me back. I mean, it is a choose your own adventure. There’s a ton of resources, a lot of really great performers, and it’s really helped me just open my eyes to what is possible and then have a boss is willing to back me up with whatever I need. And so for me, it’s just really been the choose your own adventure path that I’ve always wanted. And I just couldn’t imagine working anywhere else and being able to be this free and also this accountable.

Bridget: And when you think about the future of CrossCountry Mortgage, what are you most excited about?

Lizy: You know, it’s really neat to see somebody else’s dream and vision come to reality. I remember meeting Ron and him saying that he was going to own the biggest independent mortgage broker/company in the country, and at the time, I think we were in the top ten. And I personally had only known of CrossCountry because of The CORE. And so it wasn’t really a big name. And just to see it blow up the way that it has in such a short period of time, I’ve only been with CrossCountry for five years, is really cool and it’s also very inspirational. Like, I think people forget how inspiring Ron is, you know, and all that he’s done for us as people, the company, I mean, the community. It’s really neat.

Bridget: And it does. It always starts at the top and then it works its way down. And what I love about CrossCountry Mortgage is seeing everyone come together and work together as a team. Can you talk a little bit more about the culture at CCM?

Lizy: Yeah, I mean, I love that everyone’s always about helping another person. So I know that I can call Scott, you know, and ask him about P&L help. I know that I can call Brett and ask him about pricing or ask him about product. I mean, everyone’s just an open book of resources, and whenever I’ve wanted to start something or whenever I’ve wanted to bring people together, I’ve always had a ton of support.

This is a culture about winning and helping each other. Like it truly is what most companies talk about in terms of teamwork and family. I mean, this is the only place I’ve ever experienced that, and I have had personal tragedy in the last couple of years, and I never felt like more people cared about me than this company.

Bridget: Oh, I love to hear that. And we’ve been talking about your career a lot, but we want to wrap up the interview with a fun question. Can you share a fun fact about yourself?

Lizy: Yeah, I’m a twin and it mostly surprises people that I’m Mexican.

Bridget: Oh my gosh, I did not know you were a twin. I did know that you had Mexican background. That is so awesome.

Well, thank you so much for being such a great mentor, inspiration, and for everything that you do here at CrossCountry Mortgage. And if you’re watching and you want to learn more about careers at CrossCountry Mortgage, make sure you visit CCM.com and we hope to see you on our next episode of CCM Talks.