We had the good fortune of connecting with Jay Zulauf and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jay, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor for my business is being able to provide white glove services from start to finish. Purchasing a new home is the largest financial transaction anyone will experience in their life. Teamwork makes the Dream Work!
A strong work ethic and dedication to excellence are a few of the many traits that set me apart in the mortgage industry. At a young age, I developed skills as a talented basketball player that enabled me to become not only a Division I scholarship recipient at Marquette University but a professional basketball player in Europe. While playing competitively, I was part of a team with legends such as Magic Johnson and Patrick Ewing.
After shining on the basketball court, I became a top loan producer within our community. I entered the mortgage industry in 2003 because I enjoy helping people. I’m able to make a positive impact on someone’s life every day – and that makes me feel happy and successful.
I appreciate the fast-paced nature of home financing and love knowing no two days are the same. It’s exciting going into the office each morning knowing there will be new challenges to solve, new dreams to achieve, and new people to help. It keeps me on top of my game! Whether you’re buying your first home or opening a new chapter in life, I’m dedicated to getting it done.
When I’m not helping clients achieve the American dream, I enjoy spending time with my wife and two children. We love volunteering at our local church and giving back to our community. Son and daughter both received athletic scholarships to play soccer at the University of South Carolina.
Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I firmly believe that you treat others the way you want to be treated. The home buying process can be very stressful for new home buyers, so I take a hands-on approach and walk all my clients thru every step of the process. I work 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Even when I am away with my family, I am still working nonstop. I grew up in Michigan and both my parents were school teachers and my parents taught my identical twin brother and I how to set our goals when we were in 2nd grade. My twin Jon and I (5min apart) would always compete against each other and push each other to become better at anything we did. We loved basketball and set our goals to play major D-1 basketball. My dad knew what buttons to push to get us motivated and push us. If I was out on a date with my girlfriend in high school, my dad would ask where I was and would remind me that if I was spending time with my girlfriend my twin was working on his basketball game in the driveway. I had to make up for the lost practice time the next day. We would always be compared at school, who is better as this or that and would get tired of the comparisons. End of Junior year we decided we didn’t want to play on the same team in college, so he played at Michigan State and I played at Marquette. The fun side to growing up as a twin is we had a lot of fun playing games with family and friends and even switching classes in 8th grade on April Fool’s Day.
Anything worthwhile in life is ALWAYS going to be challenging. You have to work hard and be comfortable being uncomfortable. This is when you start to grow as an individual. Take on challenges and if you fall short that is fine and get back up and attack your goals and keep going and don’t let anyone or anything get in your way.
You have to have a passion for what you do! So many people go thru the motions of working every day and not having true clarity on What’s Important Now (WIN) If you can define this you will have a better understanding and know your sense of purpose in your work and in your life.
My parents spent a lot of time with us growing up with traveling, sports…. It was important for me to share those same ideals with son and daughter. When your young adult children still want to vacation with you as a parent and it’s still cool to hang out with mom and dad is the most important life lesson, I can offer to anyone. So many young people need that support from their parents growing up. Every year we take a trip as a family to any place in the world from Bora Bora to private yacht in the Carribean. Memories and NOT material things are most important to me and my family.
I have had a blessed life in realizing my goals and dreams of playing major college basketball and playing pro basketball over in Europe and also being able to get some international work experience as an offshore portfolio manager.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them to the following places:
1. World of Coca Cola
2. Take them to an Atlanta United Game
3. Take them to Bones or Chops Lobster Bar for dinner
4. Take them to St Regis for drinks
5. Show them Avalon (close to where I live)
6. Take them to the GA Aquarium
7. Braves game
8. Stone Mountain
9. Falcons/Hawks game
10. Fox Theater
11. Centennial Olympic Park
12. Fox Brothers BBQ
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My younger brother Jeff Zulauf who is a Top 3 loan officer in state of Georgia and Tom Wineland , successful real estate investor
Website: www.thejayzteam.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jay.zulauf/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayzulauf/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jay.zulauf