Kelli Biglane

I have been working from home and on the road since 2009, as a real estate investment coach and instructor. My job duties vary each day, but they generally include a great deal of online research and lots of time interacting with clients via telephone and email. I have to do a lot of problem solving, and organization is paramount to my success. I really enjoy helping others and making their lives easier by utilizing my skills and knowledge. In addition to that, I handle all bookkeeping, scheduling and travel needs for the company. When COVID hit, the company pared down to just remote mentoring and is only done part-time now.

This position required constant problem solving for property owners and guests. Each day included guest complaints about location, safety, repair issues, travel-related problems, etc. and my job was to find a quick solution to make sure their stay was as enjoyable as possible. I coordinated with dozens of repair and maintenance teams, cleaning crews, property owners, pest control, municipal entities, and guests on a constant basis. It involved immense customer service skills and attention to detail, along with the ability to enter and log all activity in a software system so our entire team could remain up to date. I recently left this position as the hours became too difficult to manage. We were required to work 12-hour shifts 4 days in a row every week, and it was no longer sustainable.

I opened this company for a colleague that owned/operated both commercial and residential real estate firms. I was able to run the company with only myself and one closing assistant. My duties included all necessary reports due to our title insurance underwriter, as well as the State of Florida; all compliance issues; interfacing with clients (buyers /sellers /realtors / lenders/surveyors/etc.); preparation of legal documents; title examination; conducting settlements (closings) with all required parties; notarization and warehousing of loan and document packages; marketing/sales; accounts payable/receivable/bookkeeping; payroll. The business ran smoothly and profitably, however my husband and I chose to move to our farm in Ocala for a change of pace, as the Lee County, FL real estate market was hit especially hard at that time.

I ran Fee Simple Title from its inception in February 2003 and later purchased the company from the owner in April 2005, nearly doubling the profitability and exposure within 90 days. My duties were as described above (VALID TITLE), however I chose to eventually close it and open Valid Title because of a slowing market and a need to tighten and consolidate expenses with a partner. During that period, I also handled multiple short sales and ran a small loss mitigation firm called Lender Mitigation Services, Inc. I have a working knowledge of the short sale procedures inside the banks, and I enjoy creating a rapport with various lenders and their asset managers.

I was responsible for multiple loan officers, processors and support staff from the company's inception until April 2005, when I chose to work solely on title insurance and stop running two businesses simultaneously (I managed both Biglane Mtg and Fee Simple Title at the same time). My duties included management of all staff; compliance on files; interfacing with clients (buyers/sellers/realtors/lenders/etc.); processing loans; assisting and consulting with all loan officers on a regular basis to ensure optimal program selection for borrowers and to ensure ethical and professional results from all applications taken; advertising; marketing; credit repair/improvement when needed; pricing loans with over 100 lenders with programs varying from FHA/VA to FMHA, Commercial, Conventional and occasionally subprime. I created an atmosphere that was geared toward providing a professional yet warm and friendly experience to all customers, where the clients’ needs came first.

I managed a thriving mortgage brokerage office by training and motivating a staff of over 20 loan officers and 4 processors in all aspects of mortgage lending. The company focused primarily on residential mortgages, with careful attention being paid to accuracy and getting the best loan for the borrower. I became an expert on conventional and government underwriting guidelines, and was able to use my title background to aid my efforts even further. A strong relationship with dozens of realtors helped to maintain a high loan volume and repeat business due to a successful closing record. My duties were as stated above (Biglane Mortgage Services).

I was sought out by the regional manager of Associated Land Title, which was the largest independent Title Company in the State of Florida at that time, to take on management of their Fort Myers office. I inherited a budget deficit of over $100,000.00, along with a staff of 12. Within 30 days, I completely reconfigured the budget, lowered the staff to 7 (including myself) and nearly doubled the incoming business. I was able to turn a very large deficit into an extremely profitable branch (we became the top producing branch out of 47 locations) and I left it with over $100,000.00 in profits about a year later, when I left the company to pursue a career in mortgages.

I was initially hired to be a closing assistant, and soon became a closing officer for the primary branch in Fort Myers. There was another branch in Cape Coral, which I also worked at as needed. I left the company to gain more experience with a larger title company that dealt with commercial and development business, which I saw as a welcome challenge and an opportunity to advance my knowledge and career.

I assisted one of the owners with secretarial duties initially, and was promoted to processor within 90 days. I was assigned to three different closing officers over the course of my employment with LandVest Title, and I moved from the Bonita office to the Fort Myers office after one year to assist the senior partner as her personal processor. I learned closing and document preparation duties and was heavily involved in marketing and fundraising events on a regular basis. My duties included ordering payoffs, status of liens and judgments, title searches and taxes; light document preparation; interfacing with clients as a liaison between the closing officers and the realtors/buyers/sellers/lenders; assisting the marketing director with planning and preparation of advertising campaigns; typing, etc.

In addition to being the main receptionist, I assisted all of the attorneys and their secretaries with any typing/secretarial duties needed. Each of the three partners specialized in different types of law, so I was lightly trained in all three: Probate/Estate Planning/Family Law; Real Estate Law; Banking and Corporate Law. Duties included taking all pertinent documents from closed real estate transactions to the courthouse and placing them of record; all banking deposits and office deliveries/pickups; answering phones (10-line switchboard); preparing and filing all mobile home titles with the local authority for proper lien placement and ownership entitlement; typing from dictation; all basic reception duties.

This position was obtained directly out of high school. I learned to create and coordinate events/parties/weddings in a posh venue. This involved menu planning, seating arrangements, dealing with a variety of clientele, etc. It was a lot of fun and very rewarding. I also achieved Manager On Duty status after six months, where I would act in place of the hotel's general manager once a week in his absence. This entailed oversight of all departments and employees. I intended to go into hospitality management as a career but was offered a job at a law firm and wanted to try that out.