A Conversation With ... Steve King

Tell us about Great Southern's residential lending division.

I have 33 employees, and they're really charged with just the origination and processing of mortgage loans. It's not really the servicing side.

How long have you worked in the banking sector?

I've been in banking about 14 years. The first five (years) were in mortgage origination, and the rest have been in management-type positions. I really wanted to be an engineer, and then I decided I can't sit at a desk all day. I like talking to people too much.

Why did you decide to relocate to Springfield after Great Southern acquired Team Bank?

When this (position) became available, it interested me because (Great Southern) is a bigger bank. My prior bank was $650 million or so, and Great Southern is obviously much larger, at $3.3 billion. The volumes are higher, and it's more of a challenge.

What is your day-to-day role with Great Southern?

I really love making sure that people can get into a home. You've kind of got to empathize with the stresses of getting into a home or refinancing a (mortgage). ... I'm here to provide customer service, so if a borrower needs a loan, I can help them. But obviously, my main role is managing the department and managing the originators and the processing staff, and meeting Realtors and people out the community to really help Great Southern grow the department.

How do you describe the current state of residential lending?

Right now, the pendulum has kind of swung to the conservative side. So really, we're getting back to lending as it was maybe in the early 1990s, and getting away from some of the more risky programs that have been out there. ... We're really going back to manual underwriting and making sure that people really qualify for the homes that they go into, versus where we have been in the last 10 years. ... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac really kind of loosened up the guidelines; that's the same thing other lenders did during that time period. And it's brought us to where we are today. Everybody's kind of tightened up and gone back to the fundamentals of underwriting and lending based on good credit decisions.

Is there still money available for home mortgages?

Yes, there's definitely money available out there for people who qualify within the new guidelines. There are (Federal Housing Administration) and (Department of Veterans Affairs) programs and bond money out there for people who may not have a 700 credit score but are middle of the range. ... Rates are still historically low, products are still available out there to put people in 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages as long as (their) credit (qualifies).

Let's talk about interest rates, which were at 5.26 percent for a 30-year-fixed mortgage on Sept. 2.

Everybody's perceptions of interest rates have kind of been skewed recently. In the 1980s, they were up pretty high, and then, 7 percent, 8 percent, 9 percent were really low rates. I remember back in the late 1990s, we saw 6 and a quarter, and everybody went, "Oh my gosh, we're never going to see (this) again," and then, here we are in the 5's and the 4's, so it's skewed as to what a really good rate is. Right now, a really good rate is in the 5's.

Given current rates, are you seeing brisk refinancing activity?

It kind of goes in combination with those really low rates - everybody refinances. But there are always people who are at a little bit higher rate and maybe don't realize the benefit of refinancing. ... As long as it's beneficial to the borrower, it's something that we look at, whether it's saving money on the payment or reducing their interest rate.

Tell us about your family and your hobbies.

I have three kids: Katie, 13; Kevin, 10; and Kyle, 9, and my wife is Jenny. They love Springfield and Nixa and this whole community. With the transition we've had and the short time frame in which we've done it, they love it here. I'm a big lake person - Table Rock Lake, Beaver Lake, Bull Shoals - my whole family loves the lakes.