Spotlight On: Quinton Harris, Vice President – Northeast Florida, Bank of England Mortgage
August 2024 — In an interview with Invest:, Quinton Harris, Northeast Florida vice president of Bank of England Mortgage, highlighted several milestones over the past year, including recognition as a top workplace and also the bank’s top location for 12 consecutive years. Looking ahead, the bank plans to expand its banking services in Jacksonville, aiming to enhance community impact and job creation.
What have been some main highlights or milestones for the bank over the last 12 months?
We are proud of the fact that we are one of the top places to work and have won that award a number of times. We have also consistently been the top location for the Bank of England Mortgage for the last 12 years. Through the tougher times in the economy, we never had to pivot or move our benefit packages for our employees and continued to support our charities and local community, funding programs for veterans and the University of Florida. These are big wins and I’m grateful for them. As far as production is concerned, we are still the No. 1 retail lender in the area when compared to surrounding counties. We are still owning our piece of the pie, although it has definitely decreased overall from what it once was in terms of volume and units.
Which of your loan products are seeing the most success?
Conventional loans still lead, but what we have found is that the buyer who is going from their first home to their second or third home exited the market in 2022 because interest rates had gotten to a point that it didn’t make sense for them to move up. The idea of a high 7% or 8% mortgage rate is not attractive to those individuals, so they left and haven’t come back. For that reason, the first-time homebuyer is making up the bulk of the market.
In our market in particular, we still have 30% cash buyers, which is double the percentage we are normally dealing with, and that has been an up-ticking trend in Jacksonville for a long time. The bulk of the competing 70% is all first-time homebuyers, so you are looking at people with not as much money to put down and who are looking for affordability. Our market has had an affordability gap, and that is why we are seeing those loans rise in popularity. State funding loans through the down payment assistance programs are the bulk of our business, about 25% of it. Their program is an exciting one because it is the return of the Hometown Heroes program that was big in the last two years because it bridged that affordability gap and provided down payment assistance through the state. That is a product we look forward to having back.
Do you see the area of Jacksonville as a buyers’ or sellers’ market?
We have classified the inventory into about four categories here in Jacksonville. The first is the cash buyer, who is loved by real estate agents and who are mostly in the luxury market, which is not normal for us or in general but that is what’s happening. Another is the seller who is locked in. They are putting their home on the market to see what they can get but don’t necessarily need to move. They are taking advantage of the current market to sell their home far above what they bought it for. Because they don’t have to sell, they aren’t budging on their asking price, leading to contract fall-outs, which is happening in a lot of markets. I think this is the second year in a row that we are leading the nation as the net migration city. What that is creating is buyers coming in whose context with the going prices in this area is the context of the prices in the areas they are leaving, which are the major metropolitan areas. These buyers consider the asking prices post-relocation as a steal and are buying. That makes more sellers raise their prices to that standard and makes the local buyers pause. That demand will subside, but right now, we are seeing an influx of people who accept the current market and those that are resisting the current market.
The third category is the person who is listing their home at a reasonable price and are being bombarded with offers that continue to rise as more offers come in and drive up the desirability of the property. And the fourth category is the condo market, which is really taking off in the southwest Florida area. They are growing and the listings are growing, but they are just sitting because of the Miami Rule surrounding condos. In 2021, there was an older condo building that collapsed because of structural neglect. The state now evaluates these buildings more closely and requires special evaluations that aren’t being met by these condos coming onto the market. The HOAs are having to levy fees onto the homeowner to fund the necessary changes and in some cases, those are massive, causing people to leave and not buy in, leaving the condo just sitting. This is creating a condo conundrum.
[fusion_images order_by=”desc” picture_size=”auto” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”yes” autoplay_speed=”3000″ flex_align_items=”center” columns=”1″ column_spacing=”0″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”no” lightbox=”no” margin_top=”” margin_right=”” margin_bottom=”” margin_left=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” caption_style=”off” caption_title_tag=”2″ fusion_font_family_caption_title_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_title_font=”” caption_title_size=”” caption_title_line_height=”” caption_title_letter_spacing=”” caption_title_transform=”” caption_title_color=”” hue=”” saturation=”” lightness=”” alpha=”” caption_background_color=”” fusion_font_family_caption_text_font=”” fusion_font_variant_caption_text_font=”” caption_text_size=”” caption_text_line_height=”” caption_text_letter_spacing=”” caption_text_transform=”” caption_text_color=”” caption_border_color=”” caption_overlay_color=”” caption_align_medium=”none” caption_align_small=”none” caption_align=”none” caption_margin_top=”” caption_margin_right=”” caption_margin_bottom=”” caption_margin_left=”” parent_dynamic_content=””] [fusion_image image=”https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CAA24_Invest-Insights-S6-Web-Banners-7.jpg” image_id=”64377″ image_title=”” image_caption=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” alt=”” /] [fusion_image image=”https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CAA24_Invest-Insights-S6-Web-Banners-10.jpg” image_id=”64380″ image_title=”” image_caption=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” alt=”” /] [fusion_image image=”https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CAA24_Invest-Insights-S6-Web-Banners-9.jpg” image_id=”64379″ image_title=”” image_caption=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” alt=”” /] [fusion_image image=”https://capitalanalyticsassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CAA24_Invest-Insights-S6-Web-Banners-8.jpg” image_id=”64378″ image_title=”” image_caption=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” alt=”” /] [/fusion_images]
What are your top priorities for the future?
We just celebrated our 15-year anniversary and have established a brand and reputation. Our goal is to bring on our full platform with full banking LPO (Loan Production Office) centers to Jacksonville. That is exciting because it gives us an opportunity to serve the community other than through mortgages. We were slowed by the pandemic but we are now at the point where we can go through with that again. It will provide more jobs to the community as well as additional services.
How do you attract and retain top talent?
That is my top priority because it is an important job, but also the hardest job because once you develop that talent there is someone who wants to take them. What I try to do is create an environment where they appreciate the environment here so much that they don’t listen to that competition. We have a hiring pattern of training talent up and that has created longevity. I think that is testament to what we have done here.
What is the key reason for your success?
It’s our people because they are the lifeblood of our success and they are what makes our company. What they do on a daily basis drives the organization. I’ve never seen what we have here anywhere else. I am fortunate to work with people like this.
For more information, please visit:
