St. Paul, Minn.-based Oak Grove Capital, a provider of real estate financial services, recently hired Jeff Patton as its managing director of conventional/market rate housing. Patton will partner with Neil Cullen and be responsible for leading Oak Grove Capital’s conventional/market rate multi-family originations.
Patton comes to Oak Grove Capital from Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, where he was a senior vice president and directed the company’s agency lending programs.
Patton recently spoke to Minnesota Real Estate Journal about the goals he has for his new position.
Minnesota Real Estate Journal: What are you most looking forward to in your new position? Jeff Patton: The most exciting thing to me is the opportunity I have to come in and build on the platform that they have already put in place here. They have built a great small, entrepreneurial company. I want to do that same thing but with a bigger, conventional platform. That’s what they brought me and Neil (Cullen) in to do. The chance to expand the opportunities available at Oak Grove is something that I am looking forward to.
MREJ: Is it a challenge to grow a business unit like you’ll be doing? Patton: Oak Grove has a great seniors housing platform already. The company has a great affordable housing platform. It hasn’t yet had a focused effort in the conventional space. Neil and I are focused on expanding our presence within the conventional multi-family production for Fannie, Freddie and FHA. These will be new markets for Oak Grove. This may entail putting people in areas where we already have some coverage, but giving them a different focus. It is exciting for me to take on this job. We have a strong FHA platform here, too. We are going to focus on building that FHA production as we expand our conventional production. Those efforts will be taken on at the same time.
MREJ: It sounds like you already have a lot of tools available to you at Oak Grove Capital. Patton: We are not starting from scratch. There are some really good people here already. We are asking some of those people to take on new and expanded roles. We are giving them opportunities to help the company grow. We are now focusing on how we go out and hire direct producers in markets in which we want direct coverage. We are looking to identify other companies that may become good correspondent relationships for us. It’s a combination of growing he people we already have, hiring some new people and establishing some new relationships with strong regional mortagge bankers.
MREJ: What do you enjoy most about working in this field? Patton: For me it is all about the reslationships. With me being in this business for 20 years, it’s also about helping young people grow in their careers, establishing relationshps that are built upon trust. It’s about maintaining that trust over time.
