PRESS: Purchasing a home in Pacific County: Mortgage Origination Office offers lending avenues

MOOinCRBJCoast River Business Journal Reports On New Mortgage Office On Long Beach Peninsula

Debi Smiley, Wauna CU COO, with Long Beach Fire Chief Matt Bonney at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Debi Smiley, Wauna CU COO, with Long Beach Fire Chief Matt Bonney at the groundbreaking ceremony.

LONG BEACH — Pacific County residents looking to purchase real estate will have a new financing option on the Peninsula in September. Wauna Credit Union, based in Clatskanie, is opening a Mortgage Origination Office at 910 Pacific Avenue in Long Beach. There was a groundbreaking ceremony Aug. 4. Completion is tentatively slated for late September.

“The purpose is to meet the mortgage financing needs of the area,” said Debi Smiley, chief operations officer for Wauna Credit Union, “Mortgage/Real Estate Lending will be the initial services rendered.”

Growing demand for Pacific County property

The new mortgage financing office will serve a growing demand for Pacific County real estate.

“Recently it was brought to our attention by local real estate Agents that there was a growing demand for Real Estate Lending in Pacific County,” Smiley said. A feasibility study was conducted and the results reflected that the number of real estate transactions has significantly increased during the past 5 years and continue to climb annually.

“This reflects a strong demand for Real Estate financing,” Smiley explained, “We believe WCU can assist in meeting this need,” said Smiley adding that WCU has served Pacific County since July of 2012.

A growing enterprise

“It is our goal to provide a service that assists individuals in purchasing the home of their dreams,” she summed. WCU has braches offices in Astoria, Clatskanie, St. Helens, Scappoose, Vernonia, and Warrenton, Oregon with total assets exceeding $200 million.

“Total Membership exceeds 22,000 members including more than 600 in Pacific County, and employs more than 100 local employees,” according to Mike Chapman, WCU vice president of marketing. “WCU officials partnered with local businesses for our construction needs including Rickenbach Construction, Inc. (RCI), of Astoria, Oregon. RCI was selected as the general contractor for the Long Beach project and recently-built branches in Warrenton, St Helens, and the current remodel of the Clatskanie Branch.”

 

PRESS: Wauna Credit Union Honored For New Website Design

From the Daily Astorian, May 20, 2016

press capture - spectrum awards

Wauna Credit Union was recently recognized by the Northwest Credit Union Association (NWCUA) for its website update, and received an honorable mention trophy for excellence in marketing and communications during an awards ceremony and dinner April 7 held at Hotel Monaco in Portland.

The full website rebuild, which took the financial cooperative much of 2015 to create, was called bold, fresh, and modern by the judges. It features easy navigation and a responsive design, and is much more streamlined than the one it replaced.

The development team consisted of COO Debi Smiley, Stephanie Sievers, Carli Lyon, Cameron Willets, Jacob Humphries, and was led by Wauna CU Marketing Coordinator Amy Stocky, with oversight from Marketing Vice President Mike Chapman. The group worked with the Portland web developer Avtec Media.

The award was presented by NWCUA CEO Troy Stang at the gala event that honored more than 30 Northwest credit unions for their outstanding marketing achievements in 2015.

“The positive member feedback that Wauna Credit Union has received about the website since its launch has been a prize in itself for the growing credit union,” Amy Stocky said, “and now they have a trophy to prove it.”

See the article on the Daily Astorian’s website here: http://www.dailyastorian.com/community/20160520/wauna-credit-union-honored-for-new-website-design