Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Brigham.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
It’s been a crazy road. I find myself from time to time blinking a couple extra times as I do not always believe the whatever in front of me is real. If you would have asked me years ago what I would end up doing with my life, I do not think any of this would manifest within the conversation. I’m a mortgage banker by day and deal with millions and millions of dollars which alone is just incredible to think about. I built a life for myself by helping improve the lives of others. It’s special and I wake up every day proud of what I do. One day, I woke found myself a father to one of the most incredible little boys I have ever met, Dominick. Named after my father, he reminds me he is my everything.
One day, my wife calls me as most new parents do in a complete panic. I dismiss it immediately as nothing could be wrong with my son, it’s not in the cards. She explains my son has passed out at Target and she doesn’t know what to do. This was serious. My everything was in trouble. All I can think to say is “call an ambulance, go to the ER!” I jump in a cab and run to the hospital as fast as I can from downtown Chicago to the burbs. Terrified. Upon arrival, they explain my son has signs of RSV. It’s bad. Restrictive airways that cause the child to suffocate if not treated immediately. It is then explained my son needs to be in the hospital for the next three days to receive an hourly treatment. What was not explained was the response a child has to Albuterol. Literal baby crack. Poor kid is climbing the walls of an already small room. I love my son but it doesn’t mean that I always have the most patience, no matter how hard I try. Three days of this is torture for all involved.
On day two, a nurse ends up walking in and can see we need a break. Asks politely if she can take Dominick for a “seek and find.” Sure. Confused, I ask what kind? She explains a superhero-themed one for superhero week. The children roam the halls finding superheroes on doors and try to guess who they are. I laugh and say watch this. Dom crushes it. He knows every single one as I’m his nerdy father. As he walks around the turn at the end of the hall making the nurses laugh, I turn to go the other way and bump into a knee-high little angel. She’s cute as a button with little pigtails and fumbling with her seek and find while trying to manage an iv system she’s dragging through the halls. She looks up with her doughy eyes holding her seek and find in the air and whispers “Help me?” Dad mode kids in. I can’t pick this child up as she’s not from the Brigham clan but I, of course, can hold her hand and help her. She smiles as we walk the halls and we finally finish at the nurse’s station with all the other children. I then witnessed a miracle, these children all get to choose a toy from the toy room. The door opens and there is cheering. They all tell each other which toy they each are going to choose and comparing. These very sick children, for a moment, drop the shackles of their ailments and get to be normal kids again. I am speechless.
Being type A is a blessing and a curse. One of the downsides is once you get an idea in your head, you can’t ever let it go until it’s solved. I decided I was going to do something for these hospitals. They helped my family and I wanted to do something to give back. I was going to be Batman. The superhero collective is one of my proudest accomplishments. Not only do I get to brighten the day for sick children but the feedback from the parents has been incredible. We get to be goofy and normal parents. It’s a serious break. Some of these kids have been dealing with adult subjects their whole lives. You never meet a bad kid with cancer. You never meet a jerk with leukemia. The work that we do has changed my life and given me an appreciation for what I have, ability, being in real estate has helped. At times, I feel like I have the whole city of Chicago behind me to do the right thing. It’s simply incredible. You can view some of our work here.
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think I have ever had a smooth road in my life. The mortgage industry though has taught me resilience as I lived through the subprime meltdown in this industry. It was horrible but we survived, learned and have come back stronger than ever. It made me a better mortgage expert as I understand how to be forward thinking. I think that has helped a lot with the charity work. There is so much you foolishly do not know until you experience it. My first taste was our first visit. I got so hyped to be Batman that I missed the point. We went to Luries children’s and here I come as Batman. I didn’t realize what I was about to do. These children are terminal. You don’t know what to expect until you walk in and see a child missing arms and legs, trying to sit up because they want a hug from you. I did the best I could but I was shell shocked. I quickly learned that I have a responsibility if I choose to do this and that will never happen again. I have to be this child’s hero. I have to make them smile. Their ailment is not the issue, ever. Their happiness is my job. I am honored to spend time with them and they need me to walk away with the thing, I just met the real Batman. I can cry in the truck on the way home.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Superhero Collective/BeMortgage story. Tell us more about it.
As a mortgage lender, I am involved with putting people into homes. I handle every aspect of residential financing. A 16-year veteran is what I bring to the table and I fight for my clients as I truly love what I do. The superhero collective I founded is a children’s charity with multiple missions. We visit children in the hospital as superheroes and bring toys to make their day. We also just fill hospitals with toys during the holidays. We have paid for children’s treatments and also have even helped pay for everything from toys and costume visits to treatments and even funerals. The last year we took it a step further and our newest mission is a whooper. We are raising funding for a home we acquired and we are going to renovate it and then donate it to a family with a sick child. I am beyond proud of all of it. What was just a crazy idea has now manifested into reality. We are going to end up changing the world, one child at a time as we are already talking about the next house. The feedback and love we have received is something I will cherish for the rest of my life and my hope is this becomes a movement. I want this to be a ripple. There are sick children in hospitals every day wondering why them? It’s up to us as a community to do something about it. This is what I stand for. This is what WE stand for.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Mortgage industry will always have shifts. It’s cyclical. My personal hope is that we have learned from our previous mistakes and any correction that comes will be minimal and healthy. I don’t ever want to see good people lose their homes again. It’s not why we do what we do. I see the market slowing but not the subprime meltdown panic we experienced. Slowdown is healthy as you can’t have constant growth or it will crash. On the charity side, the superhero collective has grown so fast in the last five years that it’s exciting to gauge. I would love to have this be the first of many homes we give away. This is just such a cool project that I just want to keep it going. My whole team cant get enough of how good it feels to help someone in their ultimate time of need. The future looks bright from where I stand and I am beyond proud of that.
Contact Info:
- Address: 520 W Erie St
Ste 400 - Website: Bemortgage/The superhero Collective
- Phone: 2246224876
- Email: tb@beloan.com or Heroes@thesuperherocollective.com
- Instagram: thesuperherocollective_
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/superherocollective/
- Yelp: https://www.bemortgage.com/brigham/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf65yyMUVvFBIbzkj_edgTQ
Image Credit:
Josh Lipton, Marco Foster, Jerry Crotty, Adam Reese
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