Welcome back to our Partner Spotlight! In this series of blog posts, we highlight some of our incredible partners, both personally and professionally, to discover a little bit more about them and showcase their agencies!
In this spotlight, we meet Charles Garneau from Legacy Mutual Mortgage!
Charles Garneau
Legacy Mutual Mortgage
1. Tell us about yourself (background/education/experience).
Bachelor in Economics and Mathematics at Florida Southern College. Graduated in 2015.
2. How long have you been in your current position and/or the industry?
I have been in the mortgage industry helping clients get financing since November of 2015.
3. What do you like most about living in Florida?
I love the weather, but mainly love all the friendships I have made since I moved down to Florida from Quebec City.
4. What advice do you have for anyone looking to buy/sell/refinance right now?
Right now is a challenging time to buy a home, so having clarity in the numbers and making sure to buy in a monthly payment that feels comfortable for the whole family is what's most important.
Educating our clients on the impact owning has on their family's financial net worth is also extremely important. Higher rates usually mean more leverage to the buyers during the purchase; that allows them to get creative with the mortgage structure by implementing buydowns, seller credits, and potential home repairs during the contract negotiations.
5. What three traits define you?
Problem solver
People pleaser
Consistent
6. What would you be doing if you weren’t in your current job?
I would be in another financial sector. I love numbers but I also love working with people so it would have to encompass a little bit of both. Potentially financial advisor or real estate investor.
7. What is the most challenging and/or gratifying aspect of what you do?
We are working in a field where emotions and finances mix during the process of buying a home. We are dealing with other people's money so we are often the balance and the sponge to all those emotions. I see us loan officers and realtors as the anchors to those families' dream of buying a home. They are the boat leading the way but once we find the right home, we are here to anchor them during rough waters all the way until our final destination.
8. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
I would love to learn how to play guitar, but our crazy schedules usually don't allow us to do that.
9. What are your favorite indoor/outdoor activities?
I love playing tennis, pickleball and mountain biking. At home, you can often catch me watching movies with my wife or playing video games.
10. If you wrote an autobiography about your life, what would you title it?
Growth and Grit
11. In your opinion, what is the coolest design trend you are seeing in homes today?
My wife and I love historic homes so anything that has a lot of character and history is usually what we lean towards. We also are fanatics of wine that we enjoy with friends and family so a well crafted wine cellar in the house is something we would love to have at some point in the future.
12. Where is your favorite place in the world to be?
I am always going 100% while I am in the office but I love going in forests and just breathing in the fresh air. My wife and I went to Muir Woods in California and I could have stayed there for days on end.
13. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?
It would probably be Roger Federer. He has always been an idol for me on how he changed the game of tennis and how people perceived it.
14. Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?
Ryan Reynolds, that would be funny since I have been told by several that we look alike.
15. What are your top 5 favorite TV shows or movies in no particular order?
Shutter Island
Breaking Bad
Peaky Blinders
Prison Break
Haunting of Hill House
16. What are your top 5 favorite bands/artists or podcasts in no particular order?
Hozier
Drake
Linkin Park
Coldplay
Post Malone
17. Where is your favorite place to eat?
Council Oak locally, and my wife and I went to this restaurant called Tableau in Louisiana and they made us feel super special so that will always be my top choice.
18. Describe your perfect day.
Focused work in the morning, play pickleball or tennis in the afternoon, go eat dinner at a fancy restaurant and relax at home watching a movie at night with my wife.
19. What is the most unusual or exciting thing you’ve encountered during a transaction?
The most exciting is always when you make their dream come true. When you do what we do every day, it is easy to sometimes disconnect and not see how important this milestone is for most people. I love hearing their sigh of relief upon receipt of the financing clear to close, whether that is through tears of joy or screams of excitement over the phone.
20. Anything else you would like our readers to know about you and your company?
We became Legacy Mutual Mortgage recently and the transition has been very exciting for our team and I. I am a lucky man to get to work with all those incredible people every day. They are all rockstars and they inspire me to continue to grow professionally and personally.
Amazing read, Charles! Being an anchor is such a great metaphor for the role that professionals in real estate embody everyday. Excellent insight into the industry, and it's always a pleasure to get to know our partners on a deeper level. Thank you for giving us a peek into your world!
Interested in being highlighted in an upcoming Partner or Realtor Spotlight? Reach out to our team for more information!