ViaNova Capital Group, headquartered in New York City, is led by industry-veteran Karey Geddes. Holding a B.A. in Finance and Minor in Economics from Pace University, Geddes has a proven track record in residential lending, specifically focused on building and managing mortgage conduits. Prior to establishing ViaNova Capital Group, Karey helped launch and build the WinWater Home Mortgage conduit from the ground up; in less than a year it went from a startup to over $1 billion in Jumbo A origination volume competing against the largest banks in America.
Prior to WinWater, Karey was a founding partner of The Winter Group, where she and the other partners grew the self-funded venture from $15 million to over $150 million in just three years; as ViaNova Capital continues to expand, Karey sat down with Originate Report to discuss her storied career in real estate, the lessons she has learned over the course of two decades, and building a new company as a single mother.
“Working on Wall Street was very intense; it required long hours, especially at the start,” she said. “After leaving the street to build out The Winter Group, I found myself working just as many hours as we laid the foundation for a broker/dealer and mortgage conduit trading in many products such as Jumbo A, Alt A, 2nd liens etc..”
After many years of burning the candle at both ends, Karey decided to take some time off to travel and regroup leaving the market in 2006 and returning in 2010. Having a couple of different opportunities, nothing seemed to fit until WinWater. Although the conduit (WinWater) was a great operational success, with interest rates where they remained, there was no money in the trade and she decided to look at some other opportunities. Frustrated with the 30-year duration trade at that time– Karey began to investigate the fix and flip space, a short term product which at the time, suffered from a sever lack of institutional capital available to those originators. Karey said she began to crunch the numbers and build a business plan for ViaNova Capital Group LLC.
“ViaNova is a mortgage conduit created for fix and flip lenders. When I began doing research I was attracted to the short duration nature of the product, the borrower profile, the opportunity to rebuild communities and the desire to help the small to medium-sized originators grow their businesses by recycling their capital through my conduit. I started making phone calls and realized that there were a great deal of lenders who had $1-$5 million in friend and family money, but once that capital was deployed another loan couldn’t be made until something in their portfolio paid off; that was when the conduit idea started to really take form.”
After the business model for ViaNova came to fruition, Karey said she searched for the best possible partners and capital sources to get the company out of its theoretical stages – first, she turned inward with some self-funded capital. But then she found a home with Cohen & Company LLC, where she found valuable partners and the initial capital to get ViaNova off the ground..
“As of now we’re continuing to grow this product line [fix and flip] – we’re working towards somewhere north of $50M a month but have capacity for more,” Geddes said. “We’re more of a boutique shop, some of our competitors are backed by bigger institutional players. What we’ve traded on effectively in my past – which continues to this day – is really strong customer service.”
This customer service, Karey explained, begins with a 24/7 online origination toolset that allows originators to quote ViaNova rates at the table with their borrower. Additionally, Karey added, the ViaNova staff prides itself on being able to answer credit questions in a timely manner – often, these questions are complex and a lack of answers could mean concern for a potential deal.
“There are so many lenders out there right now and it is a very competitive landscape – if you cannot answer a borrower’s questions on the spot, they are likely to go to another lender,” she explained. “We have all been trained to be very responsive to our originators and their needs. We’ve received many compliments on the technology, as it is very user-friendly, and originators can enter just a few simple loan characteristics into the system and it returns a rate at which we will purchase that loan.”
Recalling her experience on Wall Street, Karey said “The journey to ViaNova wasn’t always straightforward; as a woman in the mortgage banking space, working harder, longer and more efficiently seemed to be the only way to gain recognition over the male counterparts. At times it was very frustrating.”
According to research from Catalyst, women only held 12.2 percent of CFO roles globally in 2018. Additionally, in the top 20 global financial service firms, women only accounted for 18 percent of executive committees, up slightly from 13 percent in 2014.
Although men disproportionately serve on executive committees in the financial sphere, women do make up 62 percent of certified Realtors – additionally, according to data from Biz Women, earning potential for women in the real estate sphere is much greater.
Even though Karey said she sometimes had to work harder than her male counterparts, the battles she has fought have only made her a stronger person. “Hard work, dedication and focus can take you anywhere. Never give up even when someone is standing in your way, find a way around”.
“The issue of gender always hangs overhead. It’s really how you place yourself and what attitude you have towards it,” Karey said. “Decades ago, it wasn’t viewed as much of an issue if someone made a comment or joke but today it is a very different landscape. I had to take it on the chin a little bit and move forward, just stay focused.”
Staying focused, however, became difficult while transferring from one position to another; in different facets of the real estate world, she added, the culture that existed did not always favor equity for a woman determined to “get the job done.”
“When I moved into sales it became challenging because men tended to be covered by other men in many different aspects of business,” she said. “I adapted to those environments and quite frankly, had fun throughout the process – we worked hard and played hard. I gained the respect of my clients and peers.”
Karey attributes her present-day success to that winning attitude and her willingness to as hard as she needed to get the job done. “My career was on a rocket pace back then,” Karey noted. “I saw the trajectory I was headed toward, and was excited about it and didn’t mind putting in the hours. Growing up 20 miles outside New York City, I always knew that NYC was where I wanted to be; I saw that horizon, and just wanted to be there.”
Karey’s other passion outside of the real estate sector is being a mother. Although she said building this business as a single mom has been rife with complications, she spoke fondly of the triumphs that she has experienced along the way as well.
“I prioritize my family above all else, while trying to stay healthy and find time to take care of myself,” Karey said. “It’s a balancing act, that’s for sure. In my twenties and thirties I would regularly work 15-20 hour days. When I started putting together ViaNova I attempted to do the same thing, but forgot one very important fact; I was a single mother in my forties,” Karey recounted with a good-natured laugh. “So inevitably, I had to slow things down and allow the process to take longer. It was an interesting lesson to learn.”
These days, Karey pursues a variety of other interests in her time outside of work. One of her favorites, for example, is hosting holiday gatherings at her house and cooking for the whole family. “I come from an Italian background, where food is a central part of family tradition,” Karey explained. “So as you might imagine, my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. I usually host Thanksgiving dinner and prepare almost the entire meal. I like that there are no gifts involved, no fuss… just family time together,” Karey said with a smile.
Those who don’t know Karey well might be surprised to learn how large of a role that sports and physical fitness plays in her day-to-day routine. “Back in the heyday of Wall Street, before the crash, I started watching heavyweight boxing matches with my coworkers. I was fascinated by them and quickly became a fan – but I wasn’t content just watching. Before long I signed up for a boxing class and started training, and I’ve been doing it ever since. It keeps me from hitting people out in the real world,” she joked wryly. “But all kidding aside, it is incredibly therapeutic for me.”
Aside from boxing, Karey likes to shake things up with an impressive range of other activities. “I love skiing and practicing gymnastics with my daughter,” Karey said. “I also enjoy swimming and clay shooting.”
Karey said that although her initial projections for ViaNova were “aggressive,” her ability to expand the business through personal customer relationships and an intense attention to customer service has helped the company get to where it is today.
Although this may be the case, Karey reiterated that ViaNova’s current success would be impossible without the mentors and partners she has gained throughout the process.
“I’m very fortunate for the partners I have at Cohen and Company,” she said. “they have shown a tremendous amount of trust and patience in the process. I’m in the city three times a week, and I work from home twice a week, which allows me to be there for my daughter; picking her up from her activities and spending time with her. This provides for some balance – it’s challenging but it’s worth it.”
Harkening back to the mentors she has worked with throughout her career thus far, Karey said one of the biggest pieces of advice she has for aspiring and seasoned professionals alike is to “listen to those around you who have seen and done it all.”
“My first mentor taught me everything I could possibly need to know about mortgage loan purchasing agreements and settling whole loan pools. That training prepared me for career in sales because I knew what was important to the client and getting deals closed,” she said. “That knowledge helped spur my mortgage banking career. Following that, I had other mentors who helped me to perfect my sales approach.”
One of the biggest lessons she learned in sales, she added, was to listen to the desires, concerns, and general input from the client. The origination sphere is crowded, and given the number of competitors in the space, she said learning this lesson could not have been more important.
“My career trajectory, from trading assistant to transactional manager to sales and into management, has helped me build and run an entire platform,” she said. “I think it’s important to understand all the facets of a company from top to bottom.” “The conduits I have built in the past were the result of someone else’s vision, this one is mine.”
Drawing from her previous experience within the origination space, Karey said all of them have “intertwined” into what ViaNova is today. Paired with these experiences, however, is the proliferation of technology in not only the real estate world but every line of business.
The ability to collect data and disseminate it amongst peers and clients has made ViaNova’s ability to expand intensify, she said. Additionally, she added, the technology has allowed her to increase efficiencies which could not be said for certain processes before the age of cloud computing and APIs.
“I think the role of technology is going to continue to expand, and I believe as an industry are all working towards the paperless mortgage. Everybody wants to be able to take a mortgage application online, process it, and close it as well.”
Moving forward, Karey said ViaNova is looking forward to improving its technological prowess as its client list grows and their product offering expands. At the end of the day, she said, what ViaNova’s main goal boils down to is providing the best customer experience possible.
“We continue forward with that momentum in mind,” she said. “I look forward to what the next chapters hold.”
As a woman in real estate what would you tell other aspiring young women? Karey remarked, “Be strong, have conviction and compassion, but stay focused every day and execute your plan one step at a time. Be willing to do any task, great or small, and one day you’ll wake up and see your plan was realized. Should you need advice or guidance along the way, do not hesitate to get in touch.”
kgeddes@vianovacapitalgroup.com
For more information about the services offered by ViaNova Capital, visit their website at www.vianovacapitalgroup.com/
