Lender Spotlight: Travis Laible

Travis Laible, Loan Officer | NMLS# 118359

Academy Mortgage * 360-281-1458       

TravisLaible.com

How long have you worked in mortgage lending? I have been playing mortgages for just over two decades. I started my career January of 1998.

Do you have any specialties? My focus is on our local residential purchase market. Almost half my clients are first time buyers. I work with a lot of conventional, VA, USDA, and FHA buyers.

What advice do you have about choosing a mortgage lender? There are a LOT to choose from. Banks, Credit Unions, Mortgage Lenders and Mortgage Brokers. There are significant differences in almost every option the consumer is going to be contemplating. Interest rates, available products, turn times, processes and over all knowledge of the Loan Officer and their availability. I chose to work at Academy as it allows me access to most all purchase options with very competitive rates and the entire process is done in house.

What is the most unusual situation you’ve encountered while working mortgage lending? I have had some unusual situations and met some pretty unusual people in this business. One that still sticks out was a letter of explanation we received on a collection that was filed by Comcast Cable. Apparently there had been a standoff with the police department at his mobile home a few years prior. Gunfire was exchanged and the cable box took a fatal direct hit. He spent some time “away” and refused to pay for the cable box since he wasn’t the one that shot it.

What do you see in the future for real estate sales/prices? We are starting to see some price reductions for the first time in quite a while. I am seeing fewer multiple offer situations but they are still often happening.  There is a ton of new construction still happening which is adding to the current inventory. I think that we may see the prices stabilizing a bit and not taking such huge yearly increases that we have seen the past couple years.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working? Hobbies, volunteering, family, fun? I love hanging out with my family and friends. I have an amazing Fiancé Tara, and we have two boys, Corey and Noah. We try to stay as active and busy as possible. We love to ski/snowboard, golf, camp, skateboard and ride bikes. We love music, barbeque and laughing. We spend as much time as possible outdoors.

What do you like about living in this area? I have lived in Vancouver all my life and love it here. We live in Salmon Creek and love the area around us and the schools that our boys attend. We have traveled to lots of places around the country but have never been anywhere else that I could consider home.

Anything else you would like our readers to know about you and your company? Academy is really growing in the Pacific Northwest. They are an exceptional organization to work for. Academy maintains a 5 star Zillow rating with over 16,000 reviews and climbing. They put a lot of focus into giving back to communities all over the world.