Michael Burns (NMLS# 407550) was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA with an upbringing that instilled the value of hard work and integrity at an early age. Like many young men in his area, he was always interested in joining the armed forces, but that did not turn out to be his path in life, instead he was able to obtain a football scholarship and attend Slippery Rock University. After graduation Mike continued with his love of football, by working as a graduate assistant football coach at the University of Kansas. This experience not only allowed him to continue working in his passion, he also learned the value of time management, as he was attending graduate school while at the same time coaching football. This led to a busy schedule, with an average week of 70 to 80 hours between these two responsibilities and allowed him to obtain his master’s degree. In 2004 Mike started in the mortgage business and within a year started his mortgage company. By 2006 he had 15 employees and had closed over $100 million in loan volume!
When the real estate market crashed in 2008, Mike opened a loss mitigation company. It grew quickly and within three years the new company employed over 60 individuals and had 1,500 affiliates. In 2010, seeing an opportunity to capitalize on this success, Mike sold the company to a law firm, and went back to originating loans. Mike was able to carry this momentum and in the first year at North American Savings Bank (NASB), he was ranked number 4 out of 160 loan originators! This experience helped Mike to realize how much he enjoyed helping active service members and veterans with VA loans. His direct no-nonsense style and ability to communicate objectives clearly resonated with his military clients, creating an environment of mutual success.
After one year at NASB, Mike moved to one of the biggest concentrations of military service members and veterans in the United States, San Diego, with a plan to open his own mortgage company. He quickly mastered the intricacies of the VA loan and became military.com’s preferred lender. Mike joined Bank of England in 2013 and built a team of individuals to assist him, at its height peaking around forty loan officers. His job was now to support his team and assist in qualifying the loans. After a while Mike realized, he missed the direct interaction with his clients. So, in 2019 he decided to restructure the branch, hiring a staff to support him. This allowed Mike to be in direct contact with the service members and veterans, ensuring they were working with him, the actual source of the knowledge, in a more direct way. This attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile for service members and veterans, has earned Mike the respect of numerous clients, their families, as well as many of their close friends.
Mike is currently enrolled in Stanford University’s Graduate Business School’s program for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, with a goal to sharpen his skills and create as much opportunity as possible for the veterans/active duty military men and women he has chosen to service.