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Taking the Bull By the Horns
KEMRA NORSWORTHY’S DETERMINED AND DIRECT APPROACH TO BUILDING HER BUSINESS—AND LIVING HER LIFE—HAS PAID DIVIDENDS.
by Katie Bean
A common thread running to lose. From her time selling cars to many years in the mortgage and pri- vate lending industries, her outlook is “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” She taps that determination as founder and CEO of Bull Funding. The company offers loan options, including ground-up construction, fix-and-flip, commercial and long- term. The company has a new fund launching this year. through Kemra Norsworthy’s career is that she doesn’t like
the car lot. She excelled at car sales—so much that she said her large paychecks caused tension in her marriage. When one of her co-workers left to work in mortgage lending, Norsworthy did the same. She started a mortgage affiliate company focused on residential, owner-occupied loans. In 2009, as the market shifted, she realized she couldn’t beat Bank of America’s rates. “So, I had this mentality: If you can’t beat them, join them,” she said. She took her team to work for the bank’s mortgage division. When the Great Recession changed the game for selling mort- gages, she tried other jobs: commer- cial real estate broker, underwriter,
annuity sales. Each highlighted dif - ferent aspects of her personality. In commercial real estate, Nor- sworthy didn’t like the arrangement of working for another broker who would oversee the deal and pay her a referral fee, even when she was doing all the legwork. She preferred to be her own boss—and not split her commission. Her time as an underwriter brought out her knack for prob- lem-solving. When people were declined for other loans, she used a fine-tooth comb to pick apart their documents and find ways to approve them. In fact, Norsworthy approved so many people that she got audited, she said. The auditors
FROM CAR SALES TO PRIVATE LENDING Norsworthy discovered mortgage lending through a colleague at
20 | think realty magazine :: june 2022 :: SPECIAL LENDING EDITION
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