It’s almost cliché in the mortgage industry to refer to your company as family, but for Paul Volpe, it’s more than just a platitude. Volpe has been at Arizona-based Nova Home Loans since 1998, following in the footsteps of his big brother Jon, who joined Nova after a career in the Canadian Football League. Originally, Paul wanted to be a veterinarian, but a filial bond pulled him toward a different calling.
“I was a freshman at the University of Arizona,” Volpe recalled,
“and around that time, our father had gotten sick with cancer, so my brother kind of took me under his wings to be another father figure in that aspect.
“He basically said, ‘Hey, you should get into this mortgage business. I think you could really succeed in it.’ That’s when I switched my major from pre-vet sciences to business and started working there mostly full time while I was in college.”
Even after joining the industry, Volpe didn’t aspire to be an originator at first.
“I was kind of on the back-end side for several years,” Volpe said. “This was right when they developed the automated underwriting systems and it was a new technology. I was kind of a younger guy that was into that, so I figured it out pretty quickly. I didn’t actually become an official loan officer until 2001.”
He has proven himself more than capable since then. In 2019, Volpe originated 1,092 loans totaling $265,035,349 — good for fourth and 20th, respectively, on Scotsman Guide’s annual Most Closed Loans and Top Dollar Volume rankings. Volpe and his team have a consistent track record of excellence, ranking in the top 20 in dollar volume each year since 2012.
Our numbers in our markets show you the importance we place on working hard. We didn’t just get there by not being good at our craft.
His brother Jon isn’t doing too badly either, having worked his way to CEO of Nova in 2003. The younger Volpe said that he loves working with his brother, and he credits his late father for instilling in his sons the persistence that has helped them find success in the mortgage sphere.
“My dad, he was a postmaster of a small little town south of Tucson called Green Valley,” Volpe said. “And he had a very hard work ethic. My dad, I think, only missed maybe two days, if that, for being sick in 20 years of working there. He was a very hard worker, very detailed and focused.
“I think he definitely instilled that in my brother Jon … and that kind of trickled down to me, too. I definitely attribute a lot of my success to him. And my mom, too — she was a small-business owner. Both of them taught me that things aren’t given to you. You have to work hard for it, for sure.”
Volpe said that Nova’s success is proof positive that perseverance works.
“You can look at the markets we’re in — you know, based in ‘little old Tucson,’ some might say,” he said. “We’re not based in L.A., Phoenix, New York, Chicago, or these other big metropolitan cities. But we love our town, we love the people here, and we love working to help them and their families find homes, just like we love doing for all the markets we serve.
“I think that our numbers in our markets show you the importance we place on working hard. We didn’t just get there by not being good at our craft, and we love it. Getting those hard files done that somebody else can’t get done or helping a family buy their first home, that’s something that I really enjoy.” ●
