Steve Fierro came to Owensboro, Kentucky, from the Los Angeles area a decade ago to play baseball for Brescia University.
He stayed, got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and then returned to southern California.
But Fierro is back now, opening offices for his Global Sourcing Network at 126 W. Second St. — the former home of Nona’s Downtown Market.
The company is opening a small mortgage office there that Fierro hopes will eventually employ 30 loan officers, handling local mortgages as well as refinancing in 42 states.
But he plans to start with four or five people.
“I would like to be open yesterday,” Fierro said Tuesday. “But I hope it will only be a few more weeks.”
He said he’ll be posting job listings on Indeed.com.
“I want to help people buy houses,” Fierro said. “In California, there is so much competition that we’ve learned creative ways to finance home purchases. I want to bring that to Owensboro.”
He said he plans to start buying rental property and working out rent-to-own deals with people.
Fierro said he chose downtown because he wanted to attract good workers and clients.
“Homes are a very important purchase,” he said. “I want people to feel comfortable when they come to us.”
Fierro said he wants to get involved with community events as soon as possible.
He said he got his start in the mortgage industry when he was in his early 20s.
“I was making good money,” Fierro said. “Then, in 2008, the bubble burst, and I lost everything. So, I decided to go back to college at 26 and play baseball.”
Owensboro was a cultural change for him, the Whittier, California, native said.
“I would be running, and people would honk and wave at me,” he said. “I liked that.”
Fierro said he was here for a tornado that ripped through downtown and the 2009 ice storm.
“I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” he said. “But I love it. I don’t miss California traffic at all.”
Global also has a recycling division, but that won’t be handled out of his new Owensboro office, Fierro said.
