Beeline Story: Patrick from Newport

When Patrick attended a Beeline intro night, he had already found the home of his dreams. But he didn’t realize he was going to tick off finding his lender as well. We sat down for a virtual chat with Patrick, who just kicked off renovations on his investment property in Naples after securing a loan with us, to talk about his experience. Take a peek into the Beeline journey, and some enviable descriptions of seaside life, below. 

• Loan: Purchase
• Loan Type: 30-year fixed
• Location: Naples, Florida

Firstly, congrats on the recent purchase of your new investment property! Can you tell me a bit about the journey of deciding you wanted to look at a property down in Naples, and how you found The One? 

So really the journey started about 25 years ago. I work in Newport, Rhode Island, where there’s the water, a lot of sailing, and lots of restaurants — and I own a restaurant there. My brother is a Head Chef down in Naples, Florida, so we headed down there on vacation to visit him and fell in love with it.  

We walk a lot — sometimes miles every day — and last Christmas we were were walking by this neighborhood and found this condo that was for sale. And it turns out the person selling it was a realtor — so I got to know them and we put it together from there.   

While the Naples place is an investment property that we can rent out, I feel weird calling it one. I tend to look at the weather report every day and see the weather and the sunshine and that’s really where I want to be. 

It really seems like it all came together after a long time. Are you currently living in your new place or are you still in Newport? 

I’m currently still living in Newport, which is where my businesses are, but safe to say it’s getting cold here — so now I’m thinking about getting down to the warm weather.  

Tell me a bit about the property search? Did you have any must-haves you were looking for? 

Not really. For us, it was all about the location. We’ve been coming down here for years, and had a list of neighborhoods that we liked but we were really patient. We really waited for the right one to come along. The condo might need a little bit of work, but really it’s not that much to do.  

So, how did you come across Beeline? And what was your Beeline experience like? 

Nick, one of the founders of Beeline, was actually having what I guess you could call an ‘open house’ to introduce Beeline at one of the local restaurants here in Newport.  

I attended just to check it out and ended up leaving as a customer. I really liked the website, the design, and the introduction — especially the cat. Beeline was really promoted as being an easy process, and when I actually did it, it really was that easy.  

I have a big soft spot for Brad the Cat too! How did you find the process compares to past lending experiences you’ve had? Why did you decide to hone in and go with us? 

When I first saw the Beeline promo video, it talked about how simple and easy the whole loan process could be. What I’m seeing with banks now is a lot of confusion, and with confusion comes more time taken, and time wasted. I really wanted this property we had found, so didn’t want any delays.  

I had noticed people wanting to invest in places like Newport, where I am now, and Florida, where the property is, as people look to live in more open spaces. I was seeing prices start to go up and so I wanted to get this place as soon as possible in the fastest way. So I went down to my bank, who I have multiple existing accounts with, and they couldn’t beat the rates Beeline was offering.  

Once I got that purchase-ready approval, I could start moving on with a lot of other things and it really fell into place quickly.  

A digital experience can definitely make a difference at a time where we’re all looking to limit social interactions and the in-person meetings that are involved with traditional lenders as well. How did you find the digital process? 

Yes, it can really help. I would have loved to meet TJ and the team, but being really busy and running in different directions, it was great having them email me, text me, and call me to say ‘Don’t worry about it, everything’s moving forward’ — I really appreciated that.  

On top of that with COVID and needing to be safe, it was really helpful. I didn’t even need to go to the closing — it was that easy. I could imagine how much easier it would be without COVID.  

We’re stoked to hear that. So once you got that approval, what type of loan were you looking for? 

We were wanting a long-term loan with a minimal loan amount to suit us either living there or renting it out.  

I did some prior research into neighborhood rentals and they tend to rent out very quickly, especially being on the water. My thinking is there are two types of people; those who want to live on the water, and those who are — so we’re planning on fixing up the place and making sure we had the option to rent it out if we wanted to. 

You mentioned you would have loved to have met TJ and the team. What was your experience like working with TJ during the whole process? 

Part of the experience that stood out was working with TJ, my Loan Guide. When I was looking to get this loan, I was concerned with two things. One was COVID, and the other was a knee operation I had to undergo which meant I had to leave my primary job for awhile. I wasn’t sure if that was going to be a problem — and TJ said ‘no problem’ to it all. 

I’ve never heard someone say ‘no problem’ as much as he did. So things moved along really quickly.  

I also often have my phone on silent, or I’m jumping in and out of meetings, but TJ always left a message and whenever I called back he was always there to pick up which was great.  

Talk me through the day when you finally signed everything off and got the keys. You’re a seasoned pro now — but did you still get excited and celebrate that moment? 

Well, my wife did! It was really the house of her dreams so she was extremely happy. I’m always thinking about what the next move is. We’re currently working on getting the electricity sorted and putting the new docks in. I think when I’m sitting outside in my boat on the docks and having a beer that’s when it’s going to be that ‘Ahhhh’ moment and be able to take a big breath.  

Getting the loan is the first hurdle, and one I’ve done many times in the past with multiple banks and different properties, and this was the easiest by far. I recently was able to get down there earlier this month for a walk-through of the progress, and looking out that front door to Naples Bay, yeah — it was pretty neat. I did most of my work that day sitting on the wharf where the docks are and thought ‘This is the way to work.’  

So, what’s the plan from here? Do you see yourself moving straight in once the reno is done, or renting it out? 

We’ll live in it I think, but it depends on COVID. If it gets to March or April and we can’t leave the state, I would rent it out and then go down there afterward when we can.  

I’m really hoping to be able to do a lot of my business satellite down there — that’s what my wife is hoping anyway. I do have other properties up here too, and I’m 53 — so not that old — so I don’t think mentally I could retire yet. 

Oh, you’ve definitely got loads of time left! Do you think you’ll expand your business down to Naples then? 

Exactly! Yes I really do — My brother down here asks me ‘what’s the plan?’ every time I see him. I really can’t sit still and like planning and talking about things so yeah I think so.  

Finally Patrick, the all-important question; I know that housewarming parties are kind of out of the question now — but what’s your go-to housewarming tips or songs for when people can celebrate?  

Now that’s definitely my wife’s question. I’m always entertaining at my restaurant where we can sometimes host up to 600 dinners a night, so my wife takes on the entertaining at home. But she has already named the house! 

A house name — great idea! What’s name did she go for? 

It’s ‘Kicking Tires’. The name comes from when we were looking to buy the place. We actually looked at two places and showed up to the first one 5 minutes early. My wife asked if we could look around and they had said ‘not if you’re only kicking tires’.  

While she didn’t have a great experience with the first place, we had an awesome experience with the place we bought now so in an ode to the journey she named it ‘Kicking Tires’. 

Patrick's seaside story have you dreaming up your own forever home?

We don't blame you. You can kick things off in no time with a purchase-ready approval in as little as 15 minutes. Now that's dreamy.