Innovator in Association

1. What made you get into the condominium industry?

The short answer is -- A customer’s need and my drive to provide the best service to the customer.

But in reality

there was no short answer; it was a long process. One day while I was a junior lender at NBD Bank, an Association Treasurer walked in and asked to apply for a loan. As the association was a current customer, I happily sat down with him and listened carefully to his request, took detailed notes, asked a bunch of questions, shook his hand and said I would ask my boss about it. I walked in my boss’s office and after a quick conversation, he said, “We don’t do that.” I asked, “Why not?” He said, “It’s never been done before.” So, I had to turn the loan request down and it bothered me. Not turning down a loan as I had turned down many before, but for that reason. Just because it has not been done before does not mean it shouldn’t. Historically, it was well known that banks were not particularly on the

44 | COMMON INTEREST®

Banking By Pete Santangelo, Community Advantage LINDA SCHIFF Community Advantage of Barrington Bank & Trust

I had the pleasure of working with LINDA SCHIFF for seven years and always enjoyed her quick wit and knowledge of the condominium industry. Her professionalism and integrity always left a lasting impression. Linda and I have remained in contact through the years and when asked to write about her I thought it best we sit down and let you get to know her a little better. MY DISCUSSION WITH LINDA:

“cutting edge” of new product innovation. Generally speaking, a new regulation rolled around and the banks reacted to change. So I went back to my boss and said I would like to learn more about this, and he said, “Sure, go ahead.” And I did. I spent evenings and weekends the next nine months in public libraries researching community associations: how they were formed and where, governing documentation, state laws, not-for-profit acts, meeting minutes from municipalities and zoning committees, Urban Land Institute studies, and more. After all this research and analysis, and a few meetings with a handful of professionals (most memorably Ron Foster and Jordan Shifrin), and soon the pieces were coming together. By the time I was done, I was convinced there was not only a way to lend to community associations, but I had also developed a risk management model to provide the framework for the credit criteria and underwriting guidelines. Then I used my background in Economics and Urban Studies to analyze this market’s future. My research at the local government

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