“It’s definitely the people. I enjoy the friendships here, but I also like what we do as a team.”

We’re pleased to spotlight…

Colleen Caine, Underwriting Specialist

“I've worked in different parts of financial services and real estate throughout my career. I was a licensed Realtor at one point, and then I went into the title business for a while. After that, I went back to school to get a paralegal certificate, and for about ten years, before I came here, I was a paralegal with a real estate attorney. I got to experience a lot of different things in that job. And, this is interesting, my first job out of high school was working as a bank teller. I had a job working for Firstrust Bank in the Rittenhouse branch.”

Your experience with Apex Commercial Capital:

“It's been a positive one ¬¬overall. I started here in 2016, and I've worked in different parts of the company. I started in the back with the REO team and the Collections team, so I definitely bring some of that experience into my current role as an underwriter – knowing what could happen after the closing. That risk assessment is one of the first things I do when I look at scenarios.”

Your role and responsibilities at Apex Commercial Capital as an Underwriting Specialist:

“As an underwriter, it’s my job to evaluate the deals when they come in; to work with the sales and processing teams, and try to see if we can get a deal closed and get it done quickly. My evaluation involves looking at the real estate, the financials of the borrower, the outlook of their business, things like that. How I look at a deal also depends on whether it's an owner-occupied business or if it's an investment property. It's an important part of the process – whether or not we're ready to take the risks on any given scenario.”

What is your favorite thing about your job, and why?

“It changes every day, which is great. One day I'm looking at a brand-new file. Another day, we're at the back end, getting ready for a deal to close. Right now, I’m spending a lot of time looking at appraisals and handling appraisal reviews. There are all kinds of tasks that I could do today and may not do again for another five days – and I get to do other interesting things throughout the loan process.”

What would you say is your favorite thing about working for Apex?

“It’s definitely the people. I enjoy the friendships, but I also like what we do as a team. We work hard together on all these commercial mortgages, but we also have our monthly parties, and the employee engagement, and all of that adds up to a good work environment. Prior to my time at Apex, I came from a much smaller office where there was less camaraderie. So working here has been a good experience on that front. ”

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of work?

“I spend a lot of time outdoors. I love walking with my girls. We're out in the parks – we're nature lovers. Just the other night, I was doing a nature hike at night. It was wonderful. It was really cool.”

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