W. Leslie Long

Educational Background
Marlin High School - Class of 1996
Baylor University - BBA Class of 2000
(Real Estate & Entrepreneurship)

Work History
TexCorp Financial - Mortgage Loan Officer 2000 - 2002
International Home Capital - Mortgage Account Rep 2002 - 2005
Brazos America Mortgage - Mortgage Broker 2005 - 2008
Gateway Realty - Real Estate Broker 2006 - 2010
Austin's On The Ave - Owner / Operator 2008 - 2011
Brazos America Management - Real Estate Broker 2010 - 2015
1st University Credit Union - Mortgage Loan Officer 2015 - 2016
SMP Mortgage, Inc - Mortgage Loan Officer 2016 - 2017
loanDepot.com LLC - Mortgage Loan Officer 2017 - Present

I was born in Waco, Texas and grew up in Marlin. I graduated from Marlin High School in 1996 and chose to attend Baylor University. I graduated from Baylor in 2000 with a BBA and majored in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship. While at Baylor, I was a member and an officer in Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Immediately after graduation I began working in the wholesale mortgage business as an account executive. I was working in the Austin area for 2 years before moving to Arizona to help open a new office for a California based mortgage banker. In Arizona, I quickly took on new responsibilities and gained new skills as an account executive, underwriter and closing coordinator. After 3 years in Arizona, I decided to move back to Waco and open a retail mortgage company of my own.


 
I obtained my Texas Mortgage Broker's license in 2005 and opened Brazos America Mortgage. I started small, but eventually reached up to 8 loan officers working at any given time. A year later I was able to obtain my real estate broker's license and started Gateway Realty with local Entrepreneur and home builder Cody Turner.

After several years of operating the businesses, I purchased a building in downtown Waco with full intentions on moving our offices downtown. However, I could see the overall mortgage market was tightening their guidelines and mortgage banks were slowly going out of business. I lost several of my loan officers and real estate agents at this point and the overall business climate all but pushed mortgage brokers out of the market. These were tough times in the mortgage business and all of my wholesale lenders eventually closed down.

I continued on with plans to renovate the downtown building and move my real estate operations to the second floor of the building. However, the main focus was going to be the bar and grill on the first floor that eventually came to be known as Austin's On The Avenue. Along with Austin Brock, we opened the new business in the fall of 2008 and ran it successfully for 3 years. At that time we sold the business and I returned to working full time as a real estate broker and property manager. With several commercial buildings and three apartment complexes under management, my newest venture was certainly keeping me busy.

After a few years of property management I needed to make a decision about my long term plans and what I really loved doing. At this time rates were at an all time low and the mortgage market was experiencing a refinance boom. The refinance boom also strengthened the purchase loan business and guidelines were gradually being eased. The home sales market in Waco appeared to be heating up and I did not want to miss out. I had been keeping up to date with the mortgage news and local market conditions, so it did not take long for me to decide to get back in to the business. I completed all my educational requirements, passed the new loan officer exam and started speaking with mortgage companies that wanted to expand. I initially began working with a local credit union in their mortgage department, but I decided to make a change and move to a traditional mortgage bank. Along with my branch manager, Tony Psaromatis, we plan to expand our business in the Waco real estate market and provide exceptional service to our clients and real estate referral partners.

W. Leslie Long
TX