ABurrows@BoulderWest.com

I have learned the mortgage business the hard way: from the bottom up, inside out. Mortgage work is everywhere and always an apprenticeship, with no substitute for actually doing the work over time.

After graduating from college in 1990 (I studied Business Administration and Marketing at the University of Nevada Reno), the adventure began: five years at Old Stone Mortgage. They were very successful, but a small company, which meant my "job" was really several: everything from processing loans to finding them.

We relocated to Colorado in 1999. "We" has been another useful form of apprenticeship: my husband, Karey Brown, is a builder, and every evening for 8 years I have learned a new item on the extraordinary list of things that can go wrong during construction projects.

From 1999 to 2006 I worked for Greenco Financial, a multi-office mortgage bank. I did every inside task that there is to do in a mortgage bank. The founder, my boss, started in the trade in the mid-1970's, and a key part of operating well in the mortgage business is a thorough understanding of its evolution, from days of actual "lenders" to the modern era of Wall Street securitization. You can't get them approved and closed unless you know where they're going -- really going, not sales-pretend.

Now in sales with Boulder West, I use those fifteen years of back-office experience every day, especially in one, crucial mindset: determination. Also, one key skill: there are so, so many ways for a loan to run into trouble, misunderstanding at the top of the list... the only way to keep all the parties on the same page, borrower, seller, two Realtors, processor, underwriter, title company, is anticipation.

That's me. Anne Burrows. Determination and anticipation. And I laugh often -- no better way to deal with the stress -- unless I can find some time to play outside with Thelma, my 5 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever. And, if our mood is right, Thelma and I might be inclined to invite our better half (Karey) along.