Jeremy Davis and Roger Gore have joined one of the nations largest and most GLBT friendly home mortgage companies, Wells Fargo.

Davis and Gore, who were both previously with American Home Mortgage, say they are excited to be associated with a company that has been in business for more than 150 years.

Davis, vice president of sales and area manager for the Middle Tennessee market, will concentrate his efforts on increasing the brand awareness of Wells Fargo, including reaching out to the GLBT community.

“This will include growing our emerging markets business segment which includes the GLBT community,” Davis said. “Wells Fargo is the nation's largest retail residential lender and I thrilled with the new and improved focus from Wells Fargo for the Nashville area.”

Gore will work directly with clients as a home mortgage consultant and stressed that he will continue to be active in the GLBT community.

“I will continue to provide top notch service to my already existing client base and referral sources,” he said. “I will continue to market and be active in the GLBT community as it is not only a personal commitment for me - it has been a great driver in my business.”

Davis and Gore are two of three gay individuals who recently left the local offices of American Home Mortgage – Kennith Cameron also left last month to work with New Wave Mortgage (see related story on page X?X). Both said they left because the right opportunity presented itself.

“Wells Fargo has proven to me to be committed to not only my personal business and growth, but has also proven to be committed to be a player in the growth of Nashville and in the growth of Nashville's diverse communities,” Gore said.

Davis echoed his comments, saying “Wells Fargo was the right place, the right opportunity, and the right company at the right time.”

“I am honored to be working for the only AAA rated bank in the country. That rating is a statement of our commitment to excellence in all aspects of our business,” Davis added.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified financial services company that provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance. The company claims more than 23 million customers. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company has $435 billion in assets and 150,000+ employees. The company is one of the United States’ top-40 largest private employers.

The company has certainly made its mark in the GLBT community. It received a perfect score of 100 on the 2004 and 2005 HRC Corporate Equality Index and was named in 2000 by “The Advocate” as one of the top 10 workplaces for GLBT employees. The company regularly donates to local non-profits and national organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Company officials said that Wells Fargo has given more than $14 million to organizations serving the GLBT community nationwide.

“The company has been in business for over 150 years, the brand is one of the most recognized in the country and Wells has been able to maintain an acute focus on diversity and its role in the future growth of our company,” Gore said. “The products and service standard at Wells is nothing short of excellent and has thoroughly impressed me.”

Davis said he was excited about the potential in the Nashville market for Wells Fargo and that they would be quickly expanding their market share, including assisting in the redevelopment of the downtown Nashville area.

“Wells Fargo will be jumping head first to play a part in the redevelopment of the downtown area,” Davis said. “We are involved with many of the development projects that are upcoming and we are soon to be opening a new downtown office which is slated for the first quarter of 2006. We are wasting no time in getting our name out there and expanding our market share and visibility.”

Gore said the company was the number one lender for first time homebuyers, and the number one lender to ethnic minorities.

“We have a huge product selection including some of the most cutting edge products in the country,” he said. “We also have some of the out of the ordinary products such as sub-prime, renovation loans, emerging market programs, and reverse mortgages. We are very competitive in jumbo products as well with our private mortgage banking division.”

And while neither of the mortgage experts have a crystal ball that can predict what interest rates would do in the future, they both stressed that lending rates had been stable and with the holidays approaching, it was a good time to consider refinancing.

“We have all heard that rates are going up, and that is somewhat true, however, rates have been quite stable and are still at all time lows,” Gore explained. “Historically this is still a fantastic time to lock in a previously adjustable rate or to refinance in order to payoff debt, do home improvements, and you still end up with one of the most competitive rates in the past few decades.”

Wells Fargo has offices in Brentwood (Maryland Farms), Cool Springs ( Franklin), Hendersonville, Murfreesboro, and Hillsboro Village (at Village Real Estate). Gore is currently working at the office in Cool Springs on Mallory Station Road. For personal attention they stressed that O&AN readers can contact them directly at: Roger.W.Gore@wellsfargo.com or 615-347-1821 and Jeremy.ray.davis@wellsfargo.com or 615-519-3373.