Dana Georgiou, Senior Director of Business Development for Invigorate Finance, is someone you may think was born into the lending field. With over three decades of experience and roles across all aspects of lending including sales, marketing, lending operations, credit, and compliance, Dana has worked in all channels of the mortgage business including Agency, non-Agency, Business Purpose, and Non-QM.
But when asked about her beginnings in real estate and mortgage, Dana said she came into the field by accident and always envisioned herself as a college professor. Shortly after college in New York, she moved back home to Texas and was approached by someone she would not have expected to offer her a job – her old softball coach.
“He said ‘would you like to come work for me? I’ll teach you everything I know about the mortgage industry’. At the time, I thought it would be a temporary job, but it evolved into a career and lifelong journey of learning,” Georgiou said. “I had the opportunity to touch every facet of commercial and residential real estate in those first years, and those lessons have stuck with me to this day.”
By dealing directly with home buyers in those early days, Dana said she fell in love with the idea of helping people obtain the American dream of owning a home. While exploring these different realms, she also said it allowed her to gain a unique perspective on the market.
That unique perspective continues in her role as Senior Director of Business Development with Invigorate Finance. Invigorate is a closed loan mortgage conduit Aggregator and Asset Manager and a rating agency-approved due diligence company for AAA rated securitization. “The team has decades of experience in the full lifecycle of mortgage and real estate and these powerful combinations allow for us to offer an innovative suite of loan programs and strategies. I am excited to continue my journey at Invigorate,” noted Georgiou.
“I’m somewhat of a unicorn in the industry, because rarely do you find someone who hasn’t picked a lane,” she said. “Many have spent their careers in one space, say sales or operations, but throughout my career, I have been able to sit at many different tables and in many different seats. This has been invaluable as we navigate periods of economic uncertainty and markets that constantly change.”
By garnering a more holistic picture of the playing field, Georgiou said she has been able to weather the storm and see the bigger forces at play – a mindset that is limited by those who have spent their careers in one segment of the real estate or mortgage space.
“I would encourage anyone who is coming into the mortgage business, whether it’s private lending or mortgage lending as a whole, to try to find companies that will allow you to sit in different seats,” she said. “This allows you to be so much more well-rounded, especially if you can view transactions from different points of view. Often, staying in one lane can lead to having an overly narrow-minded view of the housing landscape, a borrower, or a particular transaction.”
One example of how this broader perspective has assisted her, she noted, has shown itself in the past few years – a period marked by significant real estate and mortgage demand but with a ‘cooling down’ in the past several months. Being able to approach supply corrections with a sense of positivity, she added, can make an enormous difference in how firms react to these external market conditions.
“The evaluation of real estate has become a key focal point in today’s conversation,” she said. “Appraisal data can be supported in several ways, but it doesn’t necessarily make it an accurate view of the property itself. The trends I’m seeing in the marketplace now are hypersensitive to making high-quality loans to experienced customers who have been put on the sidelines by a diminishing return on investment.”
In addition to this diminishing return on investment, Dana said her team is keeping an eye on the landscape surrounding regulation in real estate. This is important, she added, because of the over-regulation that occurred after the 2008-9 financial and housing crisis.
While keeping an eye on market trends is important, Dana added that she does not overlook the importance of mentorship, especially early in your career. She often finds herself returning to lessons learned during those early days with her softball coach and added that educating the next generation of lending talent is a ‘badge she wears with pride’.
“I feel proud when people feel comfortable enough to come to me with their concerns, and how we can create professional and personal relationships that transcend any market condition or specific deal,” she said. “Despite the paychecks I have received in this business, what is so much more valuable and fills my heart is seeing people get their start, grow in their roles, and helping them throughout the process and beyond.”
Throughout her career, Dana admits that she has often seen women feel intimidated by the old attitudes that pepper practically every field. This can be counteracted, she said, by making sure that the voices of women are heard in every facet of the lending field.
“I was raised by a Navy Veteran who told me I could be anything and do anything I put my mind to,” she said. “I worked with him from a young age, and I always believed that I was strong enough and capable enough to learn and keep growing, and never leave anything on the table. My journey hasn’t been without struggle, and I’ve watched a lot of women get passed by for promotions and a seat at the table, and that is something I continue to fight for in the industry and beyond.”
In addition to making sure women continue to have a voice in lending and real estate, Dana said she also advocates for those just entering the space to take on new opportunities and learn to work outside their comfort zones.
“I think what we fail to realize is how young this private lending space is, and how much more we have to grow,” she said. “When I look towards the future, I think about how we can create more opportunities, more jobs, and help even more people secure the American dream through real estate investments or by building real estate legacy wealth. I feel proud to be part of that story.”
