Why Are Loan Officers Struggling in Today’s Market? | Loan Officer Survival Guide - Key Factors RealEstateAF

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
And welcome back to another episode of Key Factors
Podcast Real Estate AF, wherethe AF stands for and finance,
and I'm your host, mark Jones,and we are powered by
ReviewMyMortgagecom, the largestindex of mortgage programs in
the nation.
And on today's discussion, wewill be chatting about something
that I believe has risen inpopularity in social media chat

(00:26):
rooms, especially in the loanofficer chats that I'm seeing,
and it has to do with loanofficers struggling in today's
market, and I brought along someguests today, so I'm going to
introduce them quickly, row byrow, one by one, and then I'm
going to give them a moment totell us about themselves.
So, starting all the way to myleft, I've got Clarissa Garza

(00:48):
how are you doing?
I'm good to give them a momentto tell us about themselves.
So, starting all the way to myleft, I've got Clarissa Garza
how are you doing?
I'm good.
How are you Doing?
Well?
I've got Nicole Aguero how areyou?
I'm good.
How are you?
Awesome.
And I've got Joel Komp what'sup, dude, what's up.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
How are you doing?
Doing?

Speaker 1 (00:59):
good, so real quick.
Guys, there are folks out therethat are listening that may or
may not know who you are, butthis is your chance to kind of
tell them a little bit of yourbackground.
If you could Take your time, byall means, if you want to kick
us off.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Sure, so I'm Clarissa Flint-Garza.
I'm the branch manager forNeighborhood Loans in San
Antonio, harker Heights and soonto be McAllen.
My background actually was alittle bit of a shift.
I was an executive for a verylarge privately held company
here in the state of Texas.
I was the head of compensationand strategy for almost 20 years
and that was my lifeline.

(01:34):
I'm an analyst by trade.
I was very committed to it,loved the people I worked with,
loved everything that I did, andat some point I decided kind of
connected with my purpose whichI believe is to help people be
protectors and providers isthere might be another path for
me to explore, like this nextphase of my career, the next 20
years right before I retire.

(01:55):
And so ultimately I found myselfin kind of this real estate
space.
My spouse has a brokerage andso a lot of bed talk, pillow
talk, like we like to say, andultimately I found myself kind
of coming into the lending area.
He was like you know, I thinkyou can still live out your
purpose, but you're shifting tohomeownership, to building
wealth, to stability of you know, a house for a family, and so,

(02:18):
after much discussion, I waslike you know what?
I think this could be anamazing next chapter for me, and
so, ultimately, I made theshift to come into lending and I
love it.
All the skills that I've hadfrom corporate America, with
problem solving to criticalthinking, to solution oriented,
to communicating effectively allof those skill sets I now get
to apply in a new space and Iget to help people become

(02:41):
first-time homebuyers, generatewealth for their family, educate
all of those wonderful things.
And my bucket is full and it'schallenging every single day and
it's exciting.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
There you go.
Amen to that.
So question for you I myselfhave a spouse that is also in
the industry, and you mentionedpillow talk.
My rule is we don't talk aboutwork when we're at home.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
If we did not talk about work when we're at home.
If we did not talk about workwhen we were at home, we would
never know what's going on ineach other's lives.
So, he's moving so fast andfurious.
I'm moving fast and furious,and then we have our kids and
before we know it the day's gone.
So literally our conversationis 30 minutes at night when
we're decompressing and watchingsomething corny on TV.

(03:25):
Yes, yes, there's a little bitof chit chat.
We're catching up, and that'swhen I'm like wait, what
happened, you did what?
Wait, where are we going, youknow?
Type conversation.
So we don't let it dominate ourtime.
But it is probably the fewtimes that we actually get to
have like one-on-oneconversation throughout the day,
because normally it's a coupletexts and that's it, cause we're
both in build mode?

Speaker 1 (03:46):
No, totally get a shout out.
Jeff Garza Redbird real estatethe ambassador of the real
estate cartel.

Speaker 3 (03:54):
There you go.
Yeah, yeah, there's.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
That would be my connection right there, nicole,
tell us about yourself.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Well, actually one thing that I don't think a lot
of people know about me is Ihave had so many jobs since the
age of 16.
It's kind of crazy.
All of it has stemmed fromcustomer service, customer
service forward, customerforward, and I've always been a
servant to the people in frontof me who I'm helping.
I got into loans when I was 19,and I actually got recruited by

(04:28):
the loan officer from when Iwas buying a house, because I
went to go buy a house.
I said this is the one, sign meup.
And my agent was like, okay,where's your pre-approval letter
?
And I was like, huh, what'sthat?
What do you mean?
And so he got me connected.
They actually said let's closeyou and then come join our team.
So I did that when I was 19.
And it was a lot for a19-year-old to be a loan officer
assistant for a top producingloan officer.

(04:49):
I didn't even know what I did.
I just blinked and I became ahomeowner.
So I got out, moved crosscountry, took any opportunity
that came my way, met my husband, worked at Costco during the
pandemic, and then I was likeyou know what?
I have really good customerservice, like ding, and I know
what I can do to actually make alife for myself.
So I'm going to get back intoloans, reach out to Mark Jones

(05:10):
and he goes you know what?
Yeah, let's, let's give it atry, cause he was always doing
something different, always inyour face and social media, and
I was like I can get with that.
So I was like let's work withMark Jones.
And so last year I actually hada baby and it was my best year
yet.
So that's really cool.
But now I'm balancing thestresses of being a new mom and

(05:31):
then the stresses of 2025 as aloan officer.
So I'm a little delusionallately.
But you know what Good thingscome from crazy people.
That's what I'm always told.
Right, but how old is your baby?
14?

Speaker 3 (05:43):
months.
I have a nine month old.
Oh, I have a um, a late in lifesurprise blessing I got a baby
too hey shut up.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
We live in texas so, but yeah, just thriving and
surviving is what I call it in2025 that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yes, it is so, joel, tell us about yourself.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
What's up.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Well, I feel like an old dog in this business, so my
story kind of starts as a lovestory.
I was up in Austin, texas, Ijust finished up at UT and I
took a job at Dell Computerswearing a headset selling home
computers to people on the phone.
Ok, I realized that I wasn'tcut out for corporate life.
I didn't like the fact that Icould be a top producer and they
told me when I could like takeoff from work and when I would

(06:26):
be late from lunch and it wouldjust wasn't a good fit.
So I had met a young lady.
She was cute enough to get myattention but she didn't like me
enough to stay around.
She said I'm going to SanAntonio to get in the mortgage
business.
My mom runs a wholesale shop intown.
I was like, hmm well, I'mcoming with you, and so I
actually left Dell, left Austin,came to San Antonio because I
could do sales.
The mortgage business isdifferent.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
You can't just step into the mortgage business and
expect to succeed.
I went to several differentcompanies, lots of companies
that are still in business, someof them that are not.
Nobody would hire you with noexperience.
Luckily, my mother-in-law now,so I ended up marrying the girl
that I followed to San.
Antonio Luckily my mother-in-lawnow.
So I ended up marrying the girlthat I followed to San Antonio.
Luckily, my mother-in-law knewa broker in town, right, mike

(07:09):
Goldman, and he hired me to behis receptionist.
She literally told him you gotto get this kid off my couch
because I didn't work for 90days.
You know, I shopped at HEB andI went and got the dry cleaning
but I didn't have a job becausenobody would hire me.
And that was back in 2001.
So Mike hired me to be thereceptionist.
So I started answering thephone, I started setting up
files, being an assistant,learning how the business worked

(07:31):
and just slowly over timepicked up a little bit of this,
picked up a little bit of thatand kind of got found my own way
, decided that I wanted to be anoriginator.
About three years in, startedto try to help people make this
big decision about what they'regoing to do for this financial
commitment and not owning a homeright, trying to make these
decisions, playing the partfaking it till you make it sort
of thing.
I had to grow my hair outbecause it was too short.

(07:52):
I looked like I was 11, youknow so trying to talk to these
people.
But over time, right, you learna little bit more because
somebody took the time to showyou the right way of doing
things.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Right.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Now, 24 years later, right, I'm still in the business
.
I'm still helping people findthe money that they need to buy
the homes they want.
The company's a little bitbigger, right.
We're not just one little bittybranch, we're all over the
country, which is a really,really good thing.
And, speaking of why, my wifeis literally in the same company
with me, she's the chiefoperating officer.
Oh wow.

(08:25):
So sales is my thing.
We don't typically run acrosseach other.
If it's a loan specificquestion, she just punts me down
to the underwriting manager andI go fight my battles there,
right.
But yeah, it's been a really,really good ride and I'm glad to
be here.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
I'm glad to be y'all are awesome.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Y'all sound great.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
That's awesome.
So I know that Clarissarecently got into the business
doing very well.
Nicole got into the businessdoing well.
For you, being in the businessfor quite some time, did it take
you a little while to get going?
In regards to, once you madethe transition from let's call
it set up to okay, I'm going tobe an originator now.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, it took me a while.
On purpose, by design, I washeld back.
No-transcript, it was adifferent.
It was like I don't know, mike.
I say Mike basically said Idon't want to set you up to fail
.
I want you to learn thefoundational structure of Same
deal income, assets, credit,debt every single time, but a

(09:23):
little bit different every timeyou do it.
So you've got to have a reallygood foundation understanding
about how to structure, how touse what you have and make sure
that you can have a pivot or aplan B if and when you need it.
You can still get the dealacross the finish line.
And so it took about three yearsfor me to sit back and like
wait and wait.
And then eventually he's likegave me an opportunity.
We had a partnership with thereal estate office in town and I

(09:45):
got to kind of cut my teeth andbe protected where I still had
a salary, but then I could alsooriginate.
And then we finally we hiredCourtney to come in and replace
me as a processor and then Istarted to originate full time.
But yeah, it took a minute.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, one thing that I hats off to you for taking it
slow in that process.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Oh, I did not want to do it slow Well hats off to you
for being patient in doing that.
Yeah, I was 28.
So I was like, let's go.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Because the idea behind what you're talking about
.
We unfortunately don't get todo these in today's market.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
I don't think we're going to get to do it again.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
I have to agree with you on that, but only time will
tell.
But what I'm talking about isthe idea of hiring a new to the
business loan officer andsetting them up for success,
starting them in, setup, going,processing.
Even if it was a three weekperiod in each of those
positions ain't nobody got timefor that.
To be honest, that's prettycool that you were able to

(10:40):
experience that, to experiencethat, and it also is more than
likely a testament to the waythat you handle your customers,
the way that you are structuringyour deals, because it's with
the foresight that I know thisis being handed off to a
processor, unlike many loanofficers in the industry.
Tell the borrower you'reapproved, here's the approval
letter, don't have documents,and once the docs come in with

(11:02):
the contract, they're throwingit over their processor and now
it's no longer theirresponsibility.
And for me, I think, as amentor, um, also an originator,
I think it's bass ackwards doingit that way, um.
But that's neither here northere.
Today we're here to talk aboutwhat is going on with our market
in the masses of loan officersand the struggle that they're

(11:25):
going through, and I've got anarticle that we can read.
I can kind of tap into some ofit here.
Matter of fact, I'll start witha little bit of it.
Jc, if you can throw that up onthe screen.
This is an article that I foundthat was very recent, a couple
of days ago actually.
It says economic jitters arestressing out LOs and their

(11:46):
clients and it says JordanBirnbaum has been feeling
anxious these last few weeks.
On the client's end.
They are seeing the news andunderstanding the situation
pretty well.
The Nexa Mortgage senior loanofficer said on my end it's a
stress inducing emotional rollercoaster of always worrying when

(12:11):
should be locking.
I haven't lost any deals fromit yet but I have had few files
I want to refinance from a yearor two ago and now are now we're
back in a holding pattern.
Now we're back in a holdingpattern.
Then it goes on to say ShannonHoff, senior mortgage advisor of
American Pacific Mortgage, saidthat their branch saw a few

(12:31):
brief increase in mortgageapplications and rate locks
following early April 24th hourrate dip and that happened and
then it went away.
But now borrowers who didn'ttake advantage of that have
remorse with race in, with ratesincreasing by approximately 130
basis points, which essentiallyfor the layman is one point

(12:54):
three percent Since then.
We anticipate that this willhave a significant impact on the
borrowers who didn't lock intime.
Mlos mortgage loan officers arenow having tougher
conversations with their clientsabout the shift in
affordability and rateexpectations.
She said Borrowers' behaviornow is quite reactive, hoff said

(13:16):
.
So I'm going to stop it therefor a moment.
As of right now, in our marketwe know that there is a shortage
of inventory, and I want to saythat lightly because we're
seeing on the media that thereare so many listings coming into
the market.
Well, real estate is local.

(13:36):
We deal here in San Antonio andsurrounding.
For us, I would say yes, we areseeing properties hitting the
market, but not as many as weneed for the type of borrower
that we have.
Then you also have home sellersthat are, we'll call it, locked
in their current low rates.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, call it frozen.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Frozen correct, and in those cases I won't even go
into what we're advising on themyet.
But we've got a lot of turmoil,we've got the news media, we
got to have a presidentialchange, We've got talks of
tariffs and there's folks outthere in droves on the fence and

(14:22):
for us it has turned into acomplicated market.
That's what I'll say.
So, joel, I'll start with you.
What are you seeing fromconsumers at the moment that is
different than what we sawbefore?

Speaker 2 (14:43):
I think a lot of people are making the decision
to not buy a home based on afalse narrative.
I think a lot of people, whenthey're uncertain, they don't
know quite what to do, and theeasiest thing to do is not deal
with it.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
I don't care if it's personal financial health
relationship.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
If it's difficult and you're not sure what to do,
you're indecisive, it's toodifficult, I want to set it
aside.
So I think a lot of consumersor potential homebuyers are
making the decision not to dealwith it.
And it's an easy decisionbecause it's on the news, maybe
a relative, maybe the interestrate makes it harder to qualify,
and so they're just parking itand they're saying we'll deal
with this next year, we'll waitfor another year, we'll decide

(15:24):
when something else happens.
And that's the problem.
I think there's an opportunitythere and there's a cost.
There's a cost of waiting,absolutely.
And you have to like try toinform them and give them
information, because facts don'thave feelings Right.
Like I can tell somebodysomething but when I'm talking
to my friend wife and he's goingto remember maybe half of it
Correct and it's just not goingto hit the way it should.

(15:45):
So we just try to have, youknow, planning calls, almost you
know they're not even likepre-qualification or initial
loan consultants.
I'm like get in front of thisdecision to help them make the
right decision so they have theright information, so they can
make the best decision for themand their family.
Like I can't hit somebody onthe head and say, boom, buy a
house, because that would begreat.
Buy a house and choose me andpay me twice.

(16:07):
That's right, that would begreat.
But no, it's like you said it,clarissa, like you want to have
a positive impact on yourcommunity and you start to see
how you can help people withtheir financial future.
And when you take it to thatlevel, you like literally say no
, I love you, I care about you.
You literally say no, I loveyou, I care about you.

(16:27):
You should really take a look atthis, because the market may be
difficult, but there'sopportunities in it for you,
right, and realtors andnegotiations and seller costs
and all that stuff.
And I'm just saying, like fouryears, five years, 10 years,
down the line, you may not beable to afford this house
because it's going to pass youby.
Like, this is an opportunitythat you have and I don't want
you to miss it.
So let's really really take ahard look to make sure that

(16:47):
you're not capable of doing it,because sometimes they wait and
then there should have beensomething we could have worked
on that would have given theopportunity.
And then now we're ready no,you're not.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Right, we should have done this before they're ready,
but they're not ready.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, they're not ready.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
And you touched on something there that I've
mentioned before on this podcast, but I don't think I honed in
on it or elaborated on it, andI'm going to hear and get you
guys' feedback the idea behindthe initial phone call.

(17:27):
I've been saying for severalyears since we saw the influx of
loan officers in 2020, thatthese guys and gals need to
learn the high value trustconversation.
Where we're sitting therehaving a conversation that
really has little to do withyour mortgage right now, it's
about what you value, what yourgoals are, what your current
situation is, what yourexpectations are, so that I can
consume all of this to be yourbest advisor, if that makes
sense.
Are you guys seeing anything?

(17:49):
I mean, I know you have loanofficers that you work with.
Are you seeing them go throughthat or are you seeing them skip
over that?
And also, the ones that do, arethey more successful than the
ones that don't?

Speaker 3 (18:03):
So we have a really big focus that I tell the team
all the time is you have to makeconnections.
And until you build arelationship to you, show that
you care, till you are activelylistening to their circumstances
, their situations, what mattersto them, you're not going to
build that trust, you're notgoing to build that rapport and
that's really important beforeyou can get into all the other

(18:25):
educational conversations of whyyou should be looking to buy
now.
That's right.
Or, if you can't, here's ourplan so we can get you on a path
to be able to buy in the future.
And so when you have thatrelationship, one with your
realtor because, let's just behonest, that's where, like,
majority of all of our leadscome through you have to have
that relationship, thatconnection with them so that

(18:49):
they know that you care abouttheir success as well, that you
know about them personally, thatthere is an actual human
connection, not just a takingfeed my family, like let me give
you something in return, likelet's have an actual, equally
yoked, leveraged relationship.
Then that allows you, I think,to then be able to build that
trust to where, when theyconnect you with a client, that
you're going to do the samething, and so I don't get into
the business conversation rightaway.
It's always like tell me alittle bit about yourself, a

(19:10):
little bit about your background, because I think it's important
to pull out of what they'retelling you.
Is there a common threat?
Did we both grow up in amilitary family?
Were you a single parent?
What are any of those littlethings to where we can build
some type of additionalconnection there so that we can
start that dialogue and then,after that happens, I think you
can build from there.

(19:32):
But for those who truly make ittransactional, they're just
going to call someone else and Ithink as a lender, you have to
have a relationship.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Same as a realtor?
Yeah, and for you, nicole, I'mgoing to lean on.
You excel at this, and it isbeing newer to the mortgage
business.
It's hard to learn loansquickly.
Let's be honest.
I'm constantly learning, we'realways learning.
Things are changing.
That's the one constant in ourindustry is change.

(19:59):
For you, I think, because ofthe customer service background
you lead with that, witheveryone, and it makes up a
little bit of the difference inthe lack of knowledge that you
can easily get the answer to.
In any case scenario, tell usabout your interactions with
your borrowers.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
So my interactions with my borrowers and even my
agents, it's very, verydifferent with my borrowers and
even my agents.
It's very, very different.
And I say that because I willgo home and, like last night, I
was making muffin mix withOlivia right next to me
listening to Taylor Swift in thekitchen and Mike was hanging up
something above the counter andI have this buyer on speaker
because it was the only timethat they could talk and they're

(20:39):
like oh my gosh, it sounds likechaos.
Like, can you chat?
I was like, oh yeah, this isnormal.
And they're like, oh my gosh,it sounds like chaos.
Like, can you chat?
I was like, oh yeah, this isnormal.
And they're like, oh my gosh,you don't just sit behind a desk
.
And I was like, oh no, likelet's talk business and make
muffins.
Like we're doing it, you know.
And so my husband laughs and hegoes are you on the phone with
a buyer or is that your friend?
And I was like both becausethey need to trust me, they need
to know that I don't work thenine to five, I don't work the

(21:01):
Monday through Friday, and whileI don't have all the answers to
all of their scenarios and allof their financial mishaps that
happened during the pandemic,that now they're paying for.
That's right.
I, my goal is to still make themfeel important, still make them
feel good because itfinancially and you say this all

(21:21):
the time, mark real estate issexy.
Loans are not sexy.
So to bear your entirefinancial story to a stranger
that you've never met chancesare you'll never actually meet
them in person but to meet themon Zoom, to meet them after
hours and have that face-to-faceconnection and have them see
that we are a real human andwe're not just online lenders.

(21:41):
They respect that because wesee all of their financials, the
good, the bad and the ugly.
And so for them to feel like,wow, I think I can actually hang
out with her, like I feelreally comfortable, like a big
bear hug.
I'm like at least, if we can'tdo the loan, they're going to
refer more people to me, becausepeople are always going to
remember how you make them feelRight.
So even if I say, hey, dude,you're four 80 credit score, I,

(22:05):
I am sorry, but like it's notthe cutest.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
So, uh, jc, if you want to flash that camera over
to Joel so it can go to his theback of his shirt, bang, we'll
take a screenshot of that rightthere.
It says people will forget whatyou've said, people will forget
what you did, but people willnever forget how you made them
feel.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
And warning, I did not see the back of your shirt
before this, but it's true, it'strue.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
So that's impressive reading that fast.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
So I'm thinking she's talking and I'm thinking in my
head.
I'm like ding, ding, ding.
Right, I'm vibing with whatyou're saying, Like there's a
human element that you have totake on and it's not for
everybody.

Speaker 3 (22:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Some people literally just want a spreadsheet and
they'll factor everything outand they're going to choose.
You know what?
I'm not the lender for you,right, right From the get go,
because I can't compete withthat.
But there's another part yourreal estate agents, your
referral partners, the otherpeople.
They think, well, nicole'ssomebody that I can trust
because she's going to have thatnow, motherly instinct.
I don't know if it's your firstone, but it comes across, it's
like it's a real person you know, sacrificing their family time,

(23:07):
which is probably the mostimportant time now, right.
So kudos to you, good job.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
Amen, yeah, no, that's.
My biggest thing is I just wantthem to say wow, I can't buy a
house right now, but Nicole mademe feel good and I know I could
call her with anything.
So that's always my goal,because I don't want to.
I don't want to be.
You know, when I get an emailsaying what's your rate for
today, I say I'm not your lender, sorry, this is not how we,
this is not how we play the game, because all of this other

(23:33):
stuff that I could talk forever.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
Damn you.
You sound like you've beentrained pretty well.
That's pretty good, nicole.
Um, I'm impressed.
So there's another topic.
Uh, there's plenty of topics,but there's one that just came
to mind right now because youtriggered it a moment ago, and
it has a lot to do with the ideaof and I'm not even going to
say just newer to the businessloan officers.

(23:56):
Loan officers in general have,um, a bad habit by the masses of
unknowingly or knowingly lyingto their borrowers.
And I'll give you an example.
I got a phone call last nightfrom a borrower around nine
o'clock.
I was already working, sopicked it up, got him on

(24:17):
speakerphone and we startedrapping about the idea of
something he was told by anotherlender, about the idea of
something he was told by anotherlender, and he researched it on
chat, gpt, different things,but was reading it completely
out of context.
The idea was he wanted toassume his mother's mortgage,
which is VA loan, had a very lowrate currently at the time and

(24:39):
use the gift of equity topurchase a new home.
And I was going well, okay, soyou're going to assume that
mortgage, but where is the moneythe gift of equity going to be
taken out to be applied to thenew loan and he said no, that's
not how this works.
It is the idea of, I assume, mymom's mortgage.

(25:02):
There's equity sitting in it.
I can use that equity.
And I said you absolutely can,but you'd have to utilize an
instrument, a financialinstrument, to pull the cash out
.
So the assumption yes, thatallows you to keep this lower
rate, but it doesn't give youany tangible cash to use for
anything other than the factthat you have equity, which is

(25:23):
not a bad thing.
So going into chat GPT with him,I was like dude, you got a
moment to just jump on a zoomcall.
I'm already plugged in.
We jumped on, I pulled in chatGPT and he shows his screen and
I said here's the difference.
Just like Google, it alldepends on what and how you're
asking the question.

(25:43):
It all depends on what and howyou're asking the question.
So I pulled mine up and askedit can you utilize the equity
from another home as a downpayment of another home without
pulling the cash out?
And immediately no, you can't.
As a matter of fact, I probablyhave it here.
Let's see here Renderingrequest.

(26:06):
What is this?
No, I'm going to find it.
Let's see here.
Dispute gift work expectations.
Oh goodness.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
Is it that one that says gift of?

Speaker 1 (26:17):
equity?
Yes, right here.
Boom.
Okay, can you JC you sharingscreen?
Can you use a gift of equityfor another home you own for
down payment on the purchase ofanother home without pulling the
equity out of the home thatyou're already?
Immediately?
No Gives.
The literal same reasons as towhat I said to him before we

(26:37):
jumped on the call, because hewas totally skeptical of the
things that I was telling himbecause he had done the research
and heard it from another loan.

Speaker 2 (26:45):
You're being difficult, Mark.

Speaker 1 (26:46):
There you go.
So after that conversation,immediately the gentle and I
told him hey, I'm pretty bluntand honest person.
I'm not here to be a yes man.
I mean, I consider myself anexpert when it comes to
mortgages and I'm going to tellyou the truth.
Whether you end up using me ornot, you're going to at least

(27:07):
have the right information.
And his response was you knowwhat?
I respect that and I said, hey,I appreciate it.
There's very few that don't intoday's market.
I've learned that being honestwith these people, telling them
the truth and bluntly, withexplanation of course, is a

(27:28):
better route than stroking theirego or trying to let's call it
recruit them into your pipeline,only to let them down because
what you agreed upon is not whatactually can happen.
Are you guys seeing that inyour market, in your pool of
realtors, I'm sure you get thecall for turndowns of other

(27:50):
realtors that you're workingwith that happen to work with
another lender and the deal isgoing south, et cetera.
Have you guys experienced thatlately?

Speaker 4 (27:59):
I just got a call from a realtor who said that
their buyer was approved using aVA loan with a lender and then
it was only for like 150, butthen they're like no, we want to
have more.
Like how do we increase ourapproval amount?
Like let's just go to adifferent lender.
And I'm like that's, that's aninteresting mindset.
But sure enough they did sothey got 200,000, but now that

(28:21):
lender's not calling them,didn't explain how they
increased.
It Didn't explain anything.
And this agent calls me and shegoes Nicole, how how did I go
from 150 to 200?
Nobody's answering.
I can't get an approval letter.
We want to make an offer.
And I was like this soundsterrible.
Like your buyers, do yourbuyers know what their monthly
payment is Like?
Do they know what they'resigning up for?

(28:41):
Do they know?
It's like do they know?
And she's like, no, they don't.
And I was like well, let metalk with them.
I don't want to take a look atcredit.
Like I just want to hold theirhand because these poor people
are being put through the ringer, because lenders are we're.
We're in a very trying time.
I don't want to say we'redesperate those pre-approval

(29:06):
letters and worry about theproblems later, because now they
got you by the hook and you'reunder contract and now you got
to figure it out Like you're atthe mercy of the lender and
that's just not.
That doesn't feel good.
And so I'm like man, these poorpeople utilizing a VA loan, no
wonder why people don't want tobuy a home.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
because they don't know, because nobody's telling
them Well, and I think beyondthat, you've got their hopes up
right.
And so there's a wholeemotional aspect there and lack
of education, lack of trust.
But I also think shame on usfor our realtor affiliate,
because how many hours did theyspend away from their child
making muffins, or whatever thecase may be, out showing

(29:43):
properties, thinking that theyhave someone who's pre-approved
for 200 K and lo and behold,they're not.
I mean, I get these questionsall the time.
I'm like there's no way they'reat X amount.
Well, so-and-so said this, I'mlike we're all following the
same guidelines, we're alllooking at the same debt to
income requirements, likeeverything's the same.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
So I don't know what what they did, but I'm telling
you on my end, this is wherewe're at in addition, I
sometimes, sometimes my buyersare approved for 350 000, but
where they want to be budgetwise is 200 000.
So I say your budget is 200 000and then the agent goes well,
can we get them to 250?
Have you had this conversationwith your buyer?

(30:22):
They want it, they are paymentspecific.
This is where we need to be.
There's no magic wand.
Like if I had it shoot, I'd bethe number one lender in town,
but I don't Like.
This is where they need to be,so we need to listen.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Yeah for sure, yeah, yeah.
So I see lots of conditionalqualification letters.
Yeah, and they are junk.
And they are junk.
You know they arecongratulations.
Literally within five minutesof you hitting submit on your
application, here comes aconditional approval letter and
it says congratulations, basedon your soft pull credit report
and your verbal income andassets, you are pre-approved for

(30:58):
a home loan up to $350,000.
I'm going how do you pre-approvesomebody based on no
documentation and a creditreport that you can't actually
lend on?
That's right.
Right, but that's the speed,that's the push button mortgage.
You know who did it to us a fewyears ago.
They said it should be supereasy to get a home loan.
You put your thumb on yourphone and you get approved.
That's right.
You're asking the rightquestions up front.

(31:19):
You're asking the rightquestions up front.
So are you and me.
Questions up front.
So are you and me.
And we're being difficult,right?
We're trying to basically fieldunderwrite this file.
That's right.
Make sure that there are zeroblind spots in this deal.
It is bulletproof.
Like this is not something thatsomebody just decided today
they want to buy a house.
This is somebody we've beentalking to for a few months and
we've already got them dialed in, we have them ready to go, and

(31:40):
the competitor is giving thenarrative that they're better
than us because their rate'slower, they're faster than us.
Look how fast and quick andefficient they did it.
They must be better than someproven expert, and so it's just
it's difficult, it's exhausting,but we'll get through it.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
It's exhausting.
That's a good way to articulatethat.
It's exhausting for us that aredoing the right things in order
to have the fiduciaryresponsibility of that buyer in
mind.
I could care less about theseller.
I could care less about therealtors when I'm talking to the

(32:17):
buyer, because their goals are,more times than not, different
than the buyers.
It's our job to make theconnection between the buyer's
goals and the realtor's effortsessentially the next topic.
Matter of fact, let me go backto this article real quick and
we'll pull some stuff out ofhere, because I've got plenty
more to talk about, but I don'twant to get ahead of myself.

(32:38):
So, jc, if you can throw thatback up.
So finishing this with so muchvolatility in rates, we're
seeing a mix of urgency andhesitation.
When rates dip even slightly,we see a rush to borrowers
trying to lock quickly,especially refinances or those
who have been on the fence.
On the flip side, when ratesjump, some buyers pause, hoping

(33:00):
for better timing or moreclarity on where the market is
headed.
Los said the economicvolatility has shaken borrowers'
confidence.
Several said clients are morereactive and quicker to shop
rate.
Borrowers strap for cash and Ilove this piece of the article

(33:21):
simply because no one is talkingabout this.
Phil Cisneros Jr, southeastDivision President of Nation One
Mortgage Corp, said that he'switnessing more consumer anxiety
around rate fluctuations andjob insecurity.
I'm seeing more nervousnessabout what is coming in the

(33:43):
future, even in regards toemployment, said Cisneros, who
regularly works with lowerincome clients.
If a client is working overtimeto make their mortgage payment,
maybe those overtime shiftsaren't going to be available in
the conversation on the consumerlevel, but are now coming up
because when the client isseeing, sees or hears a

(34:08):
recession, they may think, well,maybe my company is going to be
in trouble, maybe theiremployer isn't going to be doing
great with the economic news.
Cisneros says that rates above7% are turnoff for buyers, even
if they could still afford thepayment.
I've noticed, uh, I've noticedis that, uh, when the interest

(34:29):
rates break above 7%, it's justchanges the psychology, uh, a
little bit, so they just assumethe worst.
And so, a lot of times,feedback and direct education
and breakdown uh, breaking downthe client specific scenario
does get a little bit more uh,comfortable.
He said.

(34:49):
As borrowers trying to makenumbers work, they're seeking
out offers like two one, buydowns, but sellers are also
willing to compromise with thisconcession.
We're seeing sellers are moreopen-minded to negotiating about
rates.
Because of rates, he said theupside is that the homeowner
who's selling doesn't want tolose the buyer.

(35:11):
I want to stop there.
So two things that werementioned that we don't really
think about, which is the buyerthat is working the overtime?
They're seeing the newsthinking about the recession.
Oh shit, is my job going tostop giving me the overtime that
is currently needed to continuegoing?

(35:32):
Because if I didn't have thatovertime, well, I'd be behind.
Then you have the other topicof sellers are becoming a lot
more adjusted to today's marketand we're not seeing the
adjustments in the price tag.
We're seeing it in theconcession side of things.
Would you guys agree with andlet's start with the income

(35:55):
piece.
I personally have seen morethan ever utilizing overtime to
qualify a borrower, to get themover that hump.
How are you guys seeing that inyour day-to-day?
Utilizing overtime to qualify aborrower, to get them over that
hump?
How are you guys seeing that inyour day-to-day?
And, in addition, is it toughin many case scenarios to
calculate it accurately asopposed to a newer to the

(36:18):
business loan officer givingthem overtime and then,
unfortunately, we can't use itthe way you think we can use it.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
How do you calculate the overtime?
Oh, I just went with what theytold me.
That doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
They said they work a lot.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah, or they're going to work a lot.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
Yeah, I'll talk about it.
Overtime's a hard part rightthis beginning of the year
because it's so new it's onlylike three and a half months
into the year.
A lot of people who getovertime typically in longer
days or warmer weather to work,and so overtime is a challenge,
sometimes even to be able to use, even though you have a history
of earning it.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
That's exactly right.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
And can you expand on that just a moment, because
there's a lot of folks that areexperienced, that totally
understand what you're sayingright now.
But then there's a massivegroup that are going well bonus
tips by the day, by the job Idon't care by the hour sometimes
.
So anytime you have afluctuating income, you
typically got to take an averageright.
The general rule is you got tohave two years.
Sometimes you can do it shorterif they've been earning it a
little bit less, but you alwaysgot to have at least a year.

(37:25):
When you're looking at somebodywho's earned it, you really
want a long time because it'snot a guaranteed income, it's
something that fluctuates.
So at the beginning of the yearthere's fewer paychecks to be
able to isolate.
You're looking at year-to-datebase pay.
You're looking at year-to-datecommissions and if the
commission or the overtime orthe bonus is less than what they
earned last year, you're goingto use the lower amount this

(37:46):
year.
Even when you know that they'regoing to make the money later
this year, you can't prove it,so your loan file doesn't have
the structure in it and so ifit's a lot less meaning I made a
thousand dollars a month lasttime in overtime.
Now I'm making $200 in overtimebecause we need the summer
times.
When I get on my work and we dowe do HVAC like air
conditioning, and nobody'srunning their air conditioner in

(38:07):
the winter, they're running itfull nonstop.
In the summer, they're bankingout the overtime.
If I was closing in October, Iwould have a lot more overtime
and we'd be totally fine, but no, you're closing in like March
or February.
Now you're in trouble because Ican't get it.
And the lender, the loan officer, who doesn't ask about the
overtime how much did you earnlast year?
How much did you earn year todate?

(38:27):
Borrowers don't necessarilyknow, right.
They go I'm not sure, right.
Ask them how much was your W-2last year?
Give me W-2.
How much did you get paid bythe hour?
Calculate the base pay.
Did you get a pay increase lastyear?
Yes, I did.
When?
What month?
And you can kind of like honein Back into it.
Give me the pay stub from yourpay comm or your ADP from 2024
and 2023 and the most recent one.
Now I really important, butthose are costly, yes, you know.

(38:52):
So your branch or your companymay not allow you to order those
up front.
So you got to be able to beresourceful and ask people the
right information, and don'tjust stop with how much money do
you make?

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Absolutely, and you articulated that wonderfully.
Simply, there is something thatI see quite often, and it goes
to the beginning of the yearconcept of well, I'm doing a
two-year average.
Well, I mean, almost ever sinceCOVID we've had to look at year
to date with everything to dothis average.

(39:22):
And if that is not lining up,whether your hourly pay and
wages or the overtime that we'recalculating, then we have to
use what we have in front of us,Right?
Or we've got to have a damngood reason as to why it's not
lining up, regardless of when itis in the year.
But we've only been in threemonths, four months, Okay.

(39:44):
Well, what's been happening inthe last few months?

Speaker 2 (39:46):
I would like to add the only reason I know that is
because I've messed up on thatbefore.
Right, how do you learn andknow so much?
I have messed up a bunch alongthe way and try not to.
you know, if it's a governmentloan, you're not going to be
able to make any exceptions.
If it's a conventional file,there's a little bit of lead way
for the lender, but ultimately,when you get brought in front
of mortgage court, that's right.
Are you going to be able todefend yourself?

(40:07):
Right, we only want to dofocused on what you did last
week or last month.
That's going to be a problem.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Yeah, go for it.
I was going to say.
I think that's why it'simportant as lenders that we
understand the compensation forour clients.
So, with my background beingthe head of compensation and
designing compensation programs,I'm very good at deciphering
paychecks and what are your payprograms?
Cause I designed them for 20years for over 3000 different
jobs.
So, yeah, so like I nerd out onthat stuff.

(40:36):
So I'm like, oh, you have allthis breakout of all these
different pay differentials andthis and that.
And it's important that weactually do like the analysis
and that we're beingconservative, don't overstate,
just because that's what thebuyer wants, because ultimately
we find ourselves in a positionto where we have to bring bad
news and I think probably everylender could honestly say we
probably have all messed up on acalculation once or twice.

(40:58):
That has gotten us into aposition to where ultimately, we
had to shift directions for ourclient, and so the more that we
can ask all those questions dothe analytics up front, which
does mean that we're notchurning around approval in five
minutes.
It's client-based.
What is your job If you'resalaried and I'm just qualifying
you on salary easy breezy allday, self-employed, got tons of

(41:19):
differential pay, tons ofovertime, different factors.
It's going to take a little bitmore and I think that's us
knowing our craft and trulysetting those expectations and
doing the work up front so thatwe can have a good experience
for our borrower.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
That's right.
Both of you mentioned somethingthat was not on here, but I'm
adding it to it and we'll justquickly glaze over this.
But the idea of, and on to thetopic of why loan officers are
struggling in today's market, Ihave to say one of the responses
should be they haven't takenenough lumps yet, or they

(41:56):
haven't taken any lumps yet, andwhat I mean by that is we've
all had, uh, our butts bit bysomething at some point in time,
and it is typically not untilthen that you don't really learn
.
It doesn't stick Absolutely, ifthat makes sense.
You want to elaborate on that?

Speaker 4 (42:15):
Oh, I mean, you know, I, I, I have been burned quite
a few times.
Thankfully, it's only I'mblessed because I have such a
great team that protects me,that I have the conversations
upfront Like hey guys, we couldgive this a shot, but give me a
week to get into underwritingand then we'll have to pivot.

(42:36):
So we need a plan A, we need aplan B and we need a plan C.
Like you're risky, don't youdare go to your bank because
they're going to piss you off,they're going to make you feel
discouraged.
I was like but I got you, butwe've got a plan A, we've got a
plan B and we got a plan C.
Goodness, we have that thirdparty financing addendum.
But you need to be aware thatthis is not a walk in the park,

(42:56):
that's right.
It's like you need to be aware.
And so bad news, I I have asaying bad news is only bad news
depending on when you share it.
Otherwise it's just news.
You know you share it rightaway.
And it's news because therehave been plenty of times where
I have practiced avoidance.
And let me tell you, thebiggest hurdle that I've learned
as a loan officer is start yourday with the bad news, Get the

(43:20):
bad news off your plate.
So that way you can just truckit forward and then put on your
big girl pants and move on.
That's right.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
That's right and the idea behind taking those lumps
and setting proper expectations.
It's not a simple task.
You don't know, especially intoday's market, how that
borrower is going to receivethat information.
They could see it or hear itand go.
They might be full of it.
Let me go talk to somebody else.

(43:50):
That, then, is running the riskof getting the right answer or
some fluff.
That, then, is running the riskof getting the right answer or
some fluff, and the fluff leavesthem down the road of OK, I'm
now denied after going undercontract.
I'm not going to go back to theprevious person that told me
the truth up front, because I'meither too proud or too
embarrassed to do so.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Sometimes they do.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Sometimes they do.
You are correct.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
Those are the best phone calls.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Absolutely.
I'm too busy, I'm kidding.
No, no, no.
But the idea is we're hopingthat by giving this information,
this insight to their situation, that is a problem that they do
not know or aren't aware of upfront.
Number one we have experience.

(44:32):
It's bit us before.
That's why we're telling younow.
Number one we have experience,it's bit us before.
That's why we're telling younow.
We're hoping that they don'tget the adverse or go with the
adverse, which is I want to goget a second opinion, and the
second opinion is somebody lessqualified to give that opinion.
So that's that.
On to another topic here theidea of loan officers struggling

(44:58):
because they are not keeping up.
I'll call it keeping up withthe Joneses.
But the idea of keeping up withtechnology, keeping up with the
systems, keeping up with evenhaving a system for themselves.
What are you guys' thoughts onthat?
Clarissa, do you have a systemthat you utilize?
Do you have technology that youleverage within your process,

(45:21):
et cetera.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
I do, and I will say I was one of these stubborn ones
.
When I first came in I was likeI'm an Excel queen, I'm going
to track everything in Excel.
I don't need to learn othertechnology and tools.
I've got this yeah, I didn'thave it.
Learn other, you knowtechnology and tools.
I've got this yeah, I didn'thave it.
And so ultimately, I had toembrace, like our different CRMs
and other tools that luckily,my company provided and I had

(45:44):
great mentors who were like sonow are we getting on board?
You know, because I was alittle stubborn, I was like,
yeah, I'm on board now.
And if I go back and I analyze,like man, I had some really
great leads but because I didn'tfollow the process and the
system that was in front of me,how many of those did I miss?
How many of those did I lose?
Like, yes, they still closed,but they didn't close with me.

(46:04):
That didn't equate to food onmy family's table or deepening a
relationship with a partner, areferral partner, and so I
really had to step back and say,okay, you know what, there are
powers at BE and people who haveexperience and are more
knowledgeable than I am.
And if you just follow theprocess and set aside what are

(46:26):
your activities you're doingevery day.
I love the starting with the badnews first.
I mean we have to spend everysingle day giving updates right
To our buyers, to our listingagents, to the buyers agents, to
everybody, to keep everyonelooped in on the process.
But the same thing goes throughwith following up on anyone
who's pre-approved checking in.
Hey, on Monday did you go househunting?
This weekend, any luck, youknow?

(46:48):
Oh, did you see such and suchhouse?
Blah, blah, blah.
Whatever it's that relationship, it's those conversations.
And until I got reallystructured on building my time
to allocate for those activitiesand to make sure I was
following through and I wastracking them and I was
scheduling those follow-ups sothat I didn't lose people
throughout the process.
Because, let's be honest,sometimes the day gets away from

(47:09):
you and it can be because allof a sudden you got really busy
and it was great, or you had todeal with a fire all day and
before you know it your entireday is gone because you were
saving one deal but you missedfive other follow-up phone calls
that maybe then could have beentwo more buyers down the road.
And so being able to followthose processes, to follow the
tools, to use the systems infront of you.

(47:29):
I think is so, so important ifyou want to be successful.
You can only keep so much inyour head, that's right, and you
can only write so much down ona sheet of paper and have like 5
million sheets of paper andthen you know you lose track of
someone.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
Yeah, that used to be me.
Actually, I was an advocate ofyour brain isn't for remembering
, it's for solving problems.
So write it down, and I hadthree of those every day and I
just constantly have notes.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
I'm a post-it girl, I love post-its and so, even
though I have everything in myCRM, I still my brain will
trigger stuff and I'm writingdown post-its and I'm like, all
right, hold on, is it in my CRM?
Yes, is it printed on myactivities to do today?

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (48:09):
Okay, I can throw my post-it away, like I don't need
to rely on my brain.
Now you're finding that alittle bit of redundancy is not
a bad thing.
In that instance, we write itdown.
We write it down.
End of the day, every day I'mgoing to go and push this over
to my CRM system.
Yes, yes, yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
And I had to develop a process I mean on the weekends
or in the evenings like how doI make sure that, when I got
that lead and, yes, I reachedout and talked to that buyer
that they don't get lost and notget in my CRM?
And so I had established myprocess that works for me and
after I figured that out, gameon.

Speaker 1 (48:36):
Yeah, how about you, joel?

Speaker 2 (48:38):
Yeah for sure you need to embrace technology Like
I literally know like if youdon't get with it, you will be
out of business sooner than youthink.
If you don't get with it, yourcompetitors are already doing it
.
So, technology, I can go downand geek down and like get all
nerded out on it, but you know apoint of sale that can take a
very smooth application and askthe borrower for the documents
that they need and then put itinto the system for you to

(49:00):
review and like that's a really,really like high end technology
.
Many originators are old school.
I would love to be an oldschool originator that just had
somebody set me three or fourappointments during the day and
they would come in and we wouldhave a nice consultation.
There would be people over herewriting everything down for me
and getting all the notes for itlike a doctor.
Right, you're here for an FHAloan.
Well, let me see here.

(49:20):
Your credit score is this,that's your blood pressure.
You know like looks like.
Your blood type is this andthis is where you work and live.
That would be amazing, but ourschedules are too busy like that
.
How many face-to In the last 10years?
Like three?
Yeah, yeah, not very many.
I mean, it's all electronic,it's some Zoom, it's some phone,
it's literally maybe by text,and I never even know what they
look like.
Sometimes I'll jump in the fileand look at their ID and be

(49:42):
like, oh, that's what John lookslike.
Right, you know because I justnever actually get to see them
right, because we're just somoving and moving and so you
need CRM, you know a good loanoperation software, and then
just make sure that you're.
You mentioned Excelspreadsheets.
They're not the devil, but theyare kind of static.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Yes, unless you are there, you go.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
It's great for exporting and analyzing
information, not tracking.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Yeah, you got to be able to make sure you're hitting
your metrics.
And that's not old school,that's new tech If you're a
professional and you want to getbetter at something, you better
start logging your reps.
If you just do this for fun andit's just like a hobby for you,
then go old school and get outof the way, because we're going
to take over.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
That's exactly right, I love that.
And then the idea of not justplugging into one tech tool, one
tech, this.
Learn how to stack them andleverage them in what your
process is like you're talkingabout Technically.
You can stay with your oldExcel stuff and then you can use
Zapier to grab that informationand throw it into your CRM

(50:46):
system.
People are going huh, You'rebehind.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Yeah, sorry, but I think it goes back to you have
to be a constant student, one ofour business, right, because
things are changing all the time, but two just of what tools are
out there.
Because I want to be so busythat if I don't have a tool in
place or the right supportaround me, there's no way, like
I want the fire hydrant flowingso fast that there's no way I

(51:12):
can come up, you know for air sofast that there's no way I can
come up, you know, for air.
And if I do think, like if youbuild the right foundation,
you're speaking life into thatbeing the case, and so slowly,
as stubborn as I was, becausethat is a little bit of a trait
that I have, which is good,because I'll fight for your deal
, like and find a way, because Ido not like no, I'm like, how
can we get this done?

(51:32):
But when I embrace thetechnology and the tools that
were there, I saw a shift.
And then when business startedflowing, I was like, oh, thank
goodness that I started, likefinally adapting and building to
this foundation because it's sonecessary.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Right.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
But it doesn't mean that what I have now is what I'm
going to need in a year.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
Yeah, you touched on something that you fight for
deals right, and you're withevery deal, but there can only
be so much of you in everytransaction.
So if you're doing one or twoprobably can be all of you you
start doing four or five.
It's not the best.
You start stacking seven, eight, nine, 10.
I mean, back in the day, we'llnever get there, but we're
closing 40, 50 deals a month.
So you have to have technologythat puts a version of you still

(52:11):
with the file, so it looks andfeels like you, even though
you're not necessarily involvedwith it every single time.
I'm waiting for somebody tolicense the first like AI bot
that can actually take anapplication, you know, on a
computer that can pull creditand everything Like.
There's going to be one thatdoes it.
So it's coming.
Technology is coming and thepeople who know how to utilize

(52:34):
it are the people who are goingto thrive, and the people that
kind of are like whoa, what'sthat?
I was like bye, that's right.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Yeah, that's right.
So you held something up there.
Can you tell us about this?
What?
What do you got there?

Speaker 2 (52:44):
oh, this is just a sales activity tracker, right,
and so I have been, uh, not asgood of an originator as I used
to be, right?
Um, back in 2015, I started, uh, being coached, you know, one
on one, and trying to likereally make this something
special.
Because I was about a million amonth, right, which is pretty
good, but I was like, dang, if Ican do you know, four or five

(53:05):
deals a month, I wonder if I cando more.
But you're going to need help,right.
So I hired an assistant andstarted to get those systems put
in place to where you had avery before you're a client.
Started to get those systemsput in place to where you had a
very before you're a client,during you're a client, after
you're a client, and how thatnarrative works.
The gold experience Like whatwould it feel?
Like the comp factor, howpeople remember, how you made
them feel.
Well, it's like nobody remembersanything about anything, but

(53:27):
they remember how they feltabout it.
So when they think aboutgetting another home loan or
they think about referring afamily or friend, they go, oh
yeah, joel, he's the guy thatcan do it.
And so I wanted that feelingand it's fun, right to have
people choose you.
Right.
Forget about the money.
The money comes when you starthelping people.
But COVID happened.
Everybody was great.
That's partially the problem, Ithink, with some of the new

(53:48):
originators.
Literally was going to say thesame thing Anybody who closed
loans in 2020, 2021, 2022 startgetting bad.
That had nothing to do with you.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
Amen, amen, you were just a breathing lender, that's
right.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
That's right, with a solid team behind you, yeah
absolutely yeah, I mean get themin, get them out.
I mean they're refis, so theyobviously paid their mortgage
before and they qualified before.
So I mean can't be that bad,nope.
And if it didn't work, you knowthere was another one On to the
next.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
You could just sit down and be like where's my ATM?
Right, but I got off some ofthe core, like systems and like
values and some of the thingsthat I knew were good for me.
You know, I just got out ofshape Even though I was working
hard.
I wasn't healthy and 22 came alittle bit rougher 23, 24.
It's getting harder and harderand technology is coming and the

(54:38):
rates are important andeverybody is like would have
better deals than me and I'mlosing them because I'm not fast
enough or I'm not good enough,or at least that's the narrative
, and I had to get out of myhead and be like that's a bunch
of malarkey.
You know, I'm built for thisand so, jc, can you look up
malarkey?

Speaker 1 (54:52):
I'm kidding.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
No, you're right.
So I had to go back to thebasics and be like you need to
get structured right.
You need to start time blockingyour day.
You need to make sure thatyou're holding yourself
accountable and making the righttalk to's every Monday and
you're following up with thelisting agents and you're
working your database and you'redoing your pre-approvals.
And these are non-negotiablesbecause we can get in the day
day.
I wear different hats for thecompany, right?
I'm an originator, I'm a ranchmanager, I'm a president, like

(55:15):
there's a lot of things that arebeing pulled in different parts
.
But at some point you'd be likeI'll be, like I'm really
important and I need to makesure that I do what I need to do
so I'm a better resource for myreferral partners, for my
buyers, and so I've got myspreadsheet and it's themed out
through to be and I'm hittingall those metrics.

(55:36):
It's just a matter of timeright before it takes off.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
What you just said speaks volumes and I don't
believe that people take it asliterally as you're saying it.
I talk about it often, othertop producers talk about it
often and we bring up the ideaof going back to the basics, but
there's a lot of folks thatdon't even understand what the
basics are.
You bring up this sheet here,your activity tracker, your your

(56:01):
critical success factors, yourneedle moving activity tracker,
and they are a bunch ofdifferent basic items that we do
, or activities that we do asoriginators, that we do as
originators, that you should beable to, when asked hey,
clarissa, how do you getbusiness Be able to say I do

(56:21):
this, many of these, this manyof these, this many of these.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
Contact 40 realtors a week and by the end of this
week.

Speaker 1 (56:28):
I tally it up and I go okay, I need to adjust this
column, that column, that column.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Those are.
Go for it.
It's a mirror, right?
I can lie to myself very easily.
I can talk myself into it.
I can make an excuse.
Well, last week was Fiesta Weekand that didn't happen and all
the realtors are downtown sothey're not calling me and the
builder has this.
You know, I didn't have timefor that and somebody had to go
pick up.
Somebody Like I can make abunch of excuses and talk myself
into why my output isn't whereit needs to be, right, you know.

(56:54):
But I know that I'm built forsomething better, like I know it
.
And so I needed to get back towhat I'm looking at.
And it's a mirror.
It literally is.
This is your results of youreffort, joel, that's right.
How much did you actually likeput in?
That's right.
And so did you close any dealslast month?

Speaker 1 (57:14):
that's why you're not closing any business and and
what's funny is is, after thispodcast, I've got back-to-back
one-on-ones with my loanofficers, and that's what we're
going to talk about very cool.
They're the idea behind.
We're going to go over thesebasic activities to start with
your production and workbackwards to see what you did or
didn't do.
Right, that is creating thecurrent outcome of your

(57:39):
situation.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Yeah, technology has nothing to do with this.
Nothing, you know.
The technology makes it easierand you can do more.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
But without the foundation you don't really have
anything to build off of.
So you've got to be good atthis first.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
What do they say?
Half the battle is showing upor 80 percent, whatever your
number is, but do the thingsLast time I checked.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
This is a relationship business.
Yes, sir, and people dobusiness with people that they
like.
No interest yeah, and so it'snot really that difficult,
hopefully.
If they know you, they like you, yeah.
If they don't like you, eh,fuck them, yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:11):
So going back to the basics, one thing that's a
better F word.
Going back to the basics, onething that I'm noticing and we
could just start my one-on-onenow but the one thing that has
been a big pivot in thinking Idid have a lot of life changes
last year.
I had a baby that's kind ofhuge and then I sold a house and
then I bought a house and thenthe holidays, so I saw a lot of

(58:32):
my business after having a greatyear it was the best year I've
ever had in my entire life andthen it dipped off and I was
calling Mark and talking aboutbeing stubborn.
You're going to get a kick outof this.
I always called Mark and I'mlike I have no deals.
What am I doing?
I'm doing all the things, likeyou know, if I'm looking back,
like last year, I was pregnantand I had more deals than now

(58:55):
and I'm actually putting in thework, and the only thing Mark
would say to me is Nicole, getyour butt to the office.
And I was like no, no, I gotthis beautiful house, I got an
office for me to work out of.
I can do this.
And every day I would tell himand his only response is Nicole,
come to the office.
And I was like no, I can do it.
Everybody is and I was like no,I can do it, like everybody is
successful.
But I think one thing thatreally fell off during COVID and

(59:16):
I think a lot more people ifyou're listening to this and
you're in sales and you're notproducing, get your butt to the
office, just try it.
Try it for once, because whenyou're wearing so many different
hats, when I hear my baby cryacross the house, what do I do?
My heart sinks.
I want to stop what I'm doingand I want to hold my baby.

(59:37):
I don't want anything to dowith work, but my husband's got
it, she's taken care of, she'sgood.
I don't need to listen for thelaundry.
I don't need to wait for Amazonto be there.
I don't need to hear the dogs.
I need to focus on work.
I need to wear my work hatbecause I got food to put on the
table, I got bills to pay andthis is where it gets done and
from here this is a startingpoint.
So that's been the biggestpivot is get your butt out of
your house and into the office,because most of the time, if

(59:59):
somebody who is leading you issaying that, they may have a
point, and it's not the worstthing in the world to come to
the office and work andcollaborate with fellow people
who are also struggling andlearning from them.
So that's been a really greatthing.
You know that has changedeverything too Call theme days,
but also just coming to theoffice it's so basic but so

(01:00:19):
important.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
There's a culture, 1000%.
You can say steel sharpenssteel.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
But all of our problems can we can learn off of
each other, and you never know.
When somebody is having aconversation that could be like
oh wow, I just recently had that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
And this is what.

Speaker 2 (01:00:34):
I found out.
It could probably help you too,right?
Or like you learn somethingthat could help yourself.
So, yeah, the office.
Now nobody needs a home loan inthe office, so you can't be
walking around, so don't spendall your time there.
But yeah, for sure, you need toshow up.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
That's right, and you may remember this.
They, they may not but the ideaof, but the idea of.
I lost my thought, son of a gun.
I'm going to remember something.
It'll come back.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
I am old, so you might have to say it twice.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
Well, shoot.
What was the idea?

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
People in the office.
Oh, there, it is Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
So do you remember when let's call it?
I don't know, maybe eight yearsago, when production teams were
very like this?
We're not going to tell oursecrets.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
That's that.
Some companies are like that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
Still, I don't see much of it.
Only because of social media,only because of podcasts like
this, where we're doing alldifferent companies here but
we're collaborating on ideas.
It's OK to share your bestpractices.
I've always been the type toshare why?
Because somebody once told me,even if you tell them your

(01:01:47):
secrets, they're too lazy to doit.
Anyway, most are only going totake a little bit of that,
similar to, let's say, you go toa motivational, inspirational
summit or a masterminds.
You're going to get pumped upfor that week that you're there.
You maybe come back and setyour new stuff that you learned
and then you fall off.
Yeah, I think it's like I don'tknow.

(01:02:09):
5% of the people actually dowhat they just learned at a
seminar.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Oh for sure, and move forward.
Yeah, like 80% will sign up.
You know another 10% was goingto quit after that.
Maybe 3% will do it for acouple of months, but only like
five or 7% will actually keep itand only 1% is actually going
to be successful.

Speaker 1 (01:02:25):
But hey, they got those endorphins, they got that
motivation, they feel good forthat week.

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Yeah, I think it has to do with the company or the
culture, right?
So we've been a part of a lotof different banks throughout
the years.
You know six or seven differentbanks.
So GFS is just a DBA, right?
So always been a bank.
But seeing different corporateenvironments, yeah, it depends
on the company you work for.
There are a lot of people stillthat are like no, I don't want
to teach you or tell you,because then you're going to
become more valuable than me.
I saw it more in operations,you know, not so much in sales,

(01:02:54):
but I don't want you to teachyou or show you, because then
you're going to outproduce meand then I won't be the big dog
in the office.
And so, yeah, there for surewas not a lot of that sharing.
But through technology andthrough the Internet and, like
you mentioned, all of this, freeinformation is being passed out
.
But you're right, most peoplearen't going to do it because
it's hard.
That's right.
If it was easy, even loserswould do it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:14):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
It definitely is not easy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
That's right.
Well, I've got one more topic,and it is one that we have not
even scratched the surface on inthis.
I don't know what we've beentalking for about an hour.
We haven't even talked about itand not even touched on it.
One of the biggest parts as towhy loan officers in today's
market are struggling has a lotto do with the builder side of

(01:03:41):
things.
Let's be honest Builders arewinning at the moment.

Speaker 2 (01:03:50):
How do you guys feel about that.
Who wants to kick that one off?
I think it's good for them.
I mean, they've got the product, like.
They have the asset right.
There's a lack of inventory,right.
Or there are certain areas thatdon't have homes, and so the
builder right, they've got thebrand new home.
We've always competed againstthe builders, right.
So builders have always been.
Maybe 10% of our business wouldleak off to a builder.
You can't stop it, right.
But now the builder has thepayment, yes, and the builder

(01:04:13):
has the out-of-pocket cost, sothe builder can basically solve
all of the problems.
You're looking for that crackedout 3.5% interest rate.
I got you.
You're looking to get the houseor just your down payment?
I got you.
You're looking for customwindows and custom paint and
this kind of flooring exactlywhat you want.
Like you don't like the colorof the bedroom, I got you, right
.
So they're eliminating all ofthe heismans that are being

(01:04:35):
given to all the homeowners andthey're saying like, whatever's
holding you back, come to me andI'll fix your pain.
So I don't like blame them fordoing it.
A lot of people get mad likeit's got to be illegal.
There ain't no way.
They're staring at them.
I was like they're sayinghere's your choice Use whatever
lender you want and get theirfinancing, but you don't get all
the other things that comealong with this negotiation,

(01:04:56):
because it's a transaction Usemy lender and you can have
everything.

Speaker 1 (01:05:02):
And you're probably going to be surprised at my
response.
I appreciate your outlook onthat.
I feel the same way.
Why?
Because it's just another pieceto what we do that makes it a
little bit more difficult tothin the herd, and what I mean
by that is it is a necessaryevil.
If we want to continue toeducate, to put people in a

(01:05:25):
better position to win as afamily, as an individual, we
have to have those builderoutlets.
If not, there's no inventory atall.
That being the case, it'simportant for us, as the experts
, to have the conversation notonly with the buyers but also
the realtors, to be able to makesure that they are having the
conversation of how long do youplan on staying in this home?

(01:05:47):
What is your outlook on thenext five years?
Are you planning on selling?
Are you planning on leaving thestate, et cetera, and then
educating them so that they canbe equipped to make that
decision, to outweigh thispayment versus that potential
equity downfall position in thenear future?
What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
Well, with someone who just sent a pre-approval
right before I came in here, forsomeone who's buying with new
construction and I'm hoping theystay with their outside lender
and I can compete with that rate.
It's a lot of competition atthat rate.
It's a lot of competition andthere's many, many loans that
have been lost to the in-houselender with the builder because

(01:06:30):
they have all the money and allthe different pockets and they
can shift the things around.
But ultimately, if we go backto what are we trying to achieve
and we're trying to help peopleachieve homeownership and if
you go back to that foundationalreason, can you hate on it?
No, it stinks, because youcould have done a lot of work,
built a lot of relationships,spent a lot of time to
ultimately not win the file.

(01:06:51):
But the truth of the matter is,whether they went new
construction or existing youcould still possibly lose the
file for many different reasonsand you know it's just another
layer of competition that wehave to do.
But ultimately, from a newconstruction aspect, I do think
that you touched on it aboutthis education piece Because

(01:07:12):
unfortunately, I have seen a lotof people, especially in
Military City USA, who havebought new construction and then
have gotten orders and intendto sell that property and can't
because that neighborhood isstill building new.
And how many buyers want thethree-year-old home in the new
construction neighborhood when Ican go get everything brand new
for almost the exact same pricepoint or lower and get all that

(01:07:37):
financing, as opposed to buyingit as an existing home?
And so that has to be thebigger picture and the bigger
dialogue as an existing home,and so that has to be the bigger
picture and the bigger dialogue.
And so I think the more thatwe're educating our buyers, that
we're educating our realtors onthat, is very, very important.
But ultimately it's justanother factor.
It's another factor that wehave to compete with and why we
have to be good in our craft andunderstand you win some and you

(01:08:00):
lose some.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Let me ask you all this, have you adjusted the way
you go about the initialconversation since we've seen
this uprising in newconstruction being a part of the
decision making?

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
I definitely have.
I mean, we talk about you know,what type of home are you
looking for?
Are you looking for newconstruction or existing?
There's a little bit ofmanagement too, because nothing
in our business is free.
It costs us to do our creditreports and all those different
things.
I had one realtor who wassending a lot of leads for a
while, but they always ended upgoing new construction, and so I
had to have the dialogue at onepoint, and her comment was well

(01:08:36):
, I needed to know if they couldgo to the $300,000 community or
the $400,000 community.
And I said, well, let's talkthrough that you community and I
said well, let's talk throughthat.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
You know, and I had to educate like well, since my
husband owns a brokerage.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
I kind of you know, approach things maybe a little
bit different, but I was likelet's have a conversation.
You know it takes my time andit costs these resources and
more than ever.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
I think that's important for people to know
that are listening.
Credit reports have not costedmore than they do today.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
In addition to the fact that those credit bureaus
are now selling your informationto trigger leads and
essentially making it even morecomplicated for our side of the
tracks Right.

Speaker 3 (01:09:20):
Right, and so I had to have a conversation on.
You know, if you know that allthey're looking for is new
construction, please don't sendthem to me and we had to shift,
like that was one of thosethings about learning through
the business getting your knees.
It's a question I ask now, whenI'm having that dialogue, when
the realtor hands over a lead, I, you know, am doing like the
what I call like the blinddating questionnaire.
Tell me about them.

(01:09:40):
What's their employment?
How quickly are they looking tobuy?
Are they looking at newconstruction?
Like, I have a list of littlequick, you know, text messages
or questions on the phone, andthen it's the same thing with
the buyer.
I'm not going to come straightout and ask it, but I'm going to
make sure that we loop it intothe convo so that I can ensure
that.
Am I going to be a goodresource for you or am I just
going to be a step in the pathand maybe we can help streamline

(01:10:02):
that?
and you can go straight to newconstruction.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
That is a much better way of saying am I wasting my
time or not?
Truly and I appreciate that youarticulated it that way,
because most would have said amI wasting my time or not?
But truly, that's a deeper wayto look at it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
Yeah, Well, because hopefully I would like to get a
lead for someone who's going tobuy existing construction from
this realtor at some point, butwe got to screen them a little
bit.

Speaker 1 (01:10:28):
That's right, and coach.

Speaker 4 (01:10:30):
Yes, I just sent a conversation over to Mark last
week about this because I haveagent partners and you know it
does hurt whenever you lose abuyer that you've been working
with for a long time to newbuild.
And sometimes it happens.
Sometimes they see 5, 10, 15,20 pre-owned homes.
They make offers, they get beatout, hey, we got to go new

(01:10:50):
construction.
And then like emotionallyyou're like I totally understand
, Like I get it.
I would do the same.

Speaker 2 (01:10:56):
I want a refund.
Yeah, here is the cost of thereport.
Give me my time back.

Speaker 4 (01:11:06):
Last week.
But last week I had a phonecall and the agent's like I
don't know anything about herand I'm like, okay, first red
flag.
But then I hop on the call withthe buyer.
You know we're having that high, high trust and I I always ask,
I just say, okay, if you had amagic wand, what does your new
home to you look like?
You know you're, once you starttalking about buying a home, I
know and I tell them I was likeI know what you're doing at
night.
I know you're hopping on Redfin, on Zillow and looking at homes
.
What are you looking at?

(01:11:27):
Like, are you looking at thecute ones downtown?
Are you looking?
You know, in medical center,where are you looking?
And from the get go she was likeI know I want a brand new home.
And I was like, okay, great,then let's pivot this
conversation.
I don't want to waste your timeand I'm going to be honest with
you.
You're going to have to gothrough this process twice.
You're going to have to gothrough me, go through my
vetting process, a zoom call.

(01:11:48):
You need to send me all yourdocuments before I even issue
this letter and then you'regoing to go find a new build
community and do it again.
So she goes oh, I don't want todo that, I only want to do this
one.
So I told the agent.
I was like hey, listen, I wason the phone with her for 15
minutes and she told me that shewants a new built home.
So unfortunately, I didn't takethe application and the knee

(01:12:09):
jerk reaction was well, how do Iknow what they're approved for?
And I'm like you'restatistically, yeah,
statistically.
I looked back.
I was like, oh my gosh, youhave sent me 30 people, 30
people to pull credit on runapplications.
And we're talking like threemonths postpartum.
I came up here on a Saturdaywith her and some buyers to get
paper documents in personapplication.

(01:12:30):
Two hours in person, greatphone call.
And then I find out that dayafter I come in on a Saturday,
um, to meet with them in person.
That same day they went to abig builder and went under
contract.
And I'm like man, that likethat's time that you can't get
back, forget the money.
But like that's time, that'sthat's time.

(01:12:51):
And you know there is a vettingprocess.
And I was like you know, it'sokay that I don't get all of
your deals If it doesn't convert.
I want to help and so if youknow they're going new build,
let me know.
Give me the premise and I'll.
I'll help as much as I can, butjust don't do the smoke and
mirrors of well, let me see whatI can do and then get them
under contract at New Build,just be honest.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
So, nicole, do you remember what I tell you guys
often when it comes to peoplethat go, new construction and
you didn't vet them up front tofind out.

Speaker 4 (01:13:30):
Essentially, similar to a rate shopper, I lost a deal
.
What was my response?
You can't lose something younever had.
But I will say the hard part iswhen we do vet them and we do
have these calls.
And you know we're on a Zoomcall at 7 pm and I'm like, hey,
look at all of these homes,you're approved for 250.
Like, look at this one, thisone's really cute.
Maybe you could go see this andthe conversations that we have.
The longevity how long do youplan to stay in the home?
Oh, you're active duty.
Okay, are you going to be infor longer than two years?

(01:13:52):
Like, what does that look likefor you?
And then I do tell them like,hey, look, brand new homes are
beautiful, they smell great,they look great, we love it.
You're going to have to go getyour tires redone because
there's nails on the street,probably if they're still
building.
But it's great.
But, based on what you'retelling me, you want to be close
to the city limits, you want tobe close to here.
Don't go new build, becauseyou're going to sacrifice all of

(01:14:15):
this and then, when it's timeto sell, you're going to be
either upside down or having areally tough time selling
against the builder, and so wehave those really good
conversations, and then it justtakes me by surprise when
they're like, oh, those arereally good points.
So I have, I struggle with that, because we do have those
conversations and then they gonew build and I'm like what?

Speaker 2 (01:14:35):
Well, this problem ain't going away.
No, it's not no it's probablygoing to be worse.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
We got lots of land in Texas.
Everybody's coming to Texas.
I don't know if we're the bestor most construction state.

Speaker 1 (01:14:45):
Probably pretty high on the list, but we're way up
there.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
So if you can't beat them, join them right.
So I would suggest that thebuilders in town not your big
ones right, Because they allhave preferred partnerships.
I mean, there are tons ofbuilders that don't have
relationships with lenders.
Even some of the builders thatdo have their own relationship,
they either joint venture orthey own the mortgage company.
They've got overlays, they'retight, they don't want to, you
know, lend on a deal that may berisky.

(01:15:09):
There's opportunities for us asoriginators and anybody else.
I mean, you're upset that thebuilder's taking your business.
Well, guess what?
Go partner with the builder.

Speaker 3 (01:15:18):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
Share with the builder.
Look, my team, my company wepre-qualify a 100 people every
month that don't know about yourproduct.
Why don't we both jointlypromote each other?
If I bring you a deal, you letme keep it.
You offer the same incentivesand from time to time, when a
lender can't get done somethingthat you think should be done,
let me have a look at it andI'll come and fix it for you and
then go after those particularrelationships.

(01:15:39):
But remember, this isn't likeoh, I did it once and I should
get the deal.
This is going to be a threemonth, six month kind of project
that you're working on to wherethe sales rep starts saying
your name.
Maybe there's a sales manageror division leader that you've
reached out to that startssaying your name and they start
talking about the same person.
Then they go okay, that'll beyour break.

Speaker 1 (01:16:00):
And you mentioned something there that I think
those out there that arestruggling in regards to the new
construction concept is if youwant to be a part of new
construction, go get you somenew construction.
Go find out how hard it is tonot only be at their beck and
call 24-7, weekends, etc.

(01:16:21):
But also cut your compensationat the same time to be able to
offer all these other incentivesthat they're offering your new
construction loan officer.
Truth Bomb does not make thesame as a mortgage lender on our
side of the tracks.
So, in regards to a comparison,would you think that somebody

(01:16:43):
making less is going to fight ashard to get that deal solved
when there's an issue thatarises?
And I'll let you mull on that,but I looked up here just to see
.
It says well, let's see hereLeading metros.
I don't think it gives it to usin regards to the whole United
States, but it is saying thatHouston lead, led Texas with

(01:17:03):
over thirty nine thousand 39,000, uh, new construction, 15% of
the year.
Uh, 15% year over year increase.
Let me see here Buildingpermits accounting.
Uh, national leaders.
Yeah, it looks like Texas isnumber one.
So you were correct on that.
Um, guys, this has been apretty damn good discussion thus

(01:17:25):
far.
Now I want to get you guys toput the cherry on top.
Some advice for loan that theycould implement and possibly

(01:17:50):
change the course of theircareer in the next 30 to 60 days
.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
No means no, no, n-o means K-N-O-W.
So I want you to all getyourself a list, a hit list
right, of real estate agents,business partners, financial
planners, divorce attorneys,builders, like whoever you think
it is that needs to know youright?
I want you to make a list,start with 50, right, and I want

(01:18:18):
you to be able to call thatlist right Every Monday for
three hours.
I want you to dial and I wantyou to call them, and when they
answer, I want you to say thankyou for answering.
I'm so excited that youanswered right.
Just be your human self.
Tell them that you want to havean appointment with them.
Tell them you want to get tomeet them.
Tell them you need to know them.
Like, how'd you get in thebusiness?
You know, what do you do, whatdo you like about it, what are

(01:18:45):
you struggling with?
You know?
Just get to know.
You Say that's no problem.
I'm just glad that you got tosay hello to me, because when
you tell me no, that means youknow me right, and so, if you
can get 50 people, my goal is tohave 300 people who know me
right, 50 people that refer me,10 people that are just my
raving fans right.
That's my goal for this yearand so this is part of to get me

(01:19:08):
there right.
I got to do this right, and youmay stretch it out even farther.
Mark's got this by boatloads.
There's got to be like athousand people that can see you
.
You got to be seen.
So I want you to get a Googlemy Business right.
I want you to get on.
Social is difficult for me.
I'm not very social, you know.
So that's that's one of mythings where I'm going in there
and I'm like liking comments andI'm like commenting you know,

(01:19:30):
heartfelt comments.
You know like I like that.
You know, tell me more aboutthat house, you know.
And then I DM people and I'mtrying to set appointments.
It's like literally likefriction for me.
It's so hard for me to everyday, just do 10 posts.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
And Joel, I want to give you a tidbit.
Everybody thinks that this isMark.
That's what he thinks about.
Guys, I literally for manyyears had it scheduled in my
calendar to post, to go in andlike to go in and comment for
many years.
Just so you guys know 630 inthe morning.

Speaker 2 (01:20:02):
I have it blocked 30 minutes where it's a screen to
screen selling Right, so I'mpersuading people into knowing
who I am.
So 6.30 in the morning, I haveit blocked 30 minutes where it's
a screen-to-screen sellingright, so I'm persuading people
into knowing who I am.
So when I call them, like thisis strategic, like I look at the
agent, I see the production andI look at the buyer business.
So now I know there's somebodythat I can help, I'm not going
to call on the agents that don'thave any buyer business.
That's right.
Now you can call me.
I'll be glad to help you,because there are those agents

(01:20:23):
that are brand new, that turninto rock stars.
That's right.
Very few can actually do it,but they are still there.
But I'm very mindful about theproduction.
You guys can look this up eitherthrough a paid service or other
systems that actually showproduction and where it's coming
from.
So you're on purpose, by design, looking for people that you
can help.
This isn't like I want to findsomebody who can give me

(01:20:44):
business no, people that you canhelp.
And this isn't like I want tofind somebody who can give me
business.
No, this is somebody that youbelieve you can be a resource
for and you can partner with andyou can actually help each
other, get more people acrossthe finish line, because we have
a responsibility to have apositive impact in our community
and the home ownership is avehicle for it.
And so if you go in with thatmindset that somebody needs my
help today and I just need tofind them, so if I'm hesitant to

(01:21:06):
make my phone calls, I'm notgoing to get to that person and
that person is going to choosesome other shitty lender and
they're going to be stuck withsome sort of horrible experience
and they're never going to getreferred again Right, and
they're going to get out of thebusiness, when really the
opportunity to have a betterfinancial future for themselves
Right For their, their clients,you know, for their friends and
family like this is bigger thanjust like one particular event

(01:21:26):
Right.
And so if you can attack itlike that and make yourself do
the things, who was it?
Nick Saban, right?
The Alabama coach?
Can you make yourself do thethings that you're supposed to
do and can you make yourself notdo the things you're not
supposed?

Speaker 1 (01:21:41):
to do that's right Can you do that every day.

Speaker 2 (01:21:42):
Amen to that.
So that would be my suggestion,and I'm right there with you,
so I'm in the trenches with you.

Speaker 1 (01:21:46):
That's right, and one thing that I can say that this
panel is not lacking is passionfor helping people.
It has shown through thisentire time, in not only your
explanations, but in just theway you articulate your point.
I appreciate that, but let'scontinue.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
Clarissa, is there anything that you would give in
way of advice?
Or you want to pass it toNicole and come back to you?
I mean I'll, I'll take it.
So I would say, justconsistency.
I mean it's very easy, Like,let's put it in the perspective
of working out and eatinghealthy.
I'm not doing that right now,so I'm not even going to pretend
that I am, but at one time Iwas very much on it.
But you have to be consistent,like the choices that you're
making where you're investingyour time going to the gym,
whatever the case may be, it hasto be the same for your

(01:22:31):
business.
And so if it is making thosecalls so that people know you,
if it's whatever thoseactivities are, you need to
define them and then structureyour day week after week to do
the same activities, Becauseit's great to do it for a week
or two.
But if you fall off which is soeasy for people to do think
about New Year's resolutions,right, it's so easy to do You're

(01:22:52):
never going to get the results.
And then you go into thiscomplain poor me mode.
Nobody wants to hear it Like,let's just be honest.
You know what I mean, like youhave to do the work if you want
the results and you have to holdyourself accountable.
Because you can come into theoffice, you can have an amazing
manager, but ultimately you haveto have the one in the desire
and you have to build your dayaccordingly.

(01:23:13):
We are all individualcontributors, we all have tasks
to do, we know what we need todo and if you don't know what
you need to do, get withsomebody to help kind of guide
you and build that but it has tobe consistent, day in, day out,
week after week, in order to besuccessful.

Speaker 1 (01:23:33):
And just to piggyback on that with the consistency
concept, everything that we doin our side of the business has
about a 45 to 60 day lag.
Yes, the idea of you getting abuyer and on that day you
pre-qualified them, got theirdocuments reviewed, jumped on a
call with them, gave them theiroptions and they found a house
the next weekend have diminishedfor many reasons.

Speaker 2 (01:23:51):
Market conditions, Even when they find the house,
they kill it over the inspection.
Right or now they have.

Speaker 3 (01:23:57):
Like that?

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
Yes, like I was just.
Even when all the stars alignright, they're like how's the
month going?
They fall apart as soon as Iget them put together right.

Speaker 1 (01:24:06):
And that's just something you got to be ready
for it's the nature of the newbeast that has been created.

Speaker 2 (01:24:10):
It takes a minute.
You know, it is not somethingthat you just hey Joel said you
should call somebody and they'llsend you business.
I was like eh, kind of Likeit's going to take a lot of time
and and most of us give upbecause we want that instant
gratification.
That's right, we are we arebuilt for it.
I called you.
You didn't answer.
I'm going to call somebody else.

Speaker 3 (01:24:27):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:24:29):
What's the matter?

Speaker 3 (01:24:30):
And I think that's where you have to assess too,
because what worked for somebodymay not work for you and you
have to find out what thoseactivities are and then,
ultimately, when you startseeing like the outcome that you
want, build on that, investyour time, like shift where
you're spending your time, andthat took a while to kind of
figure out, and then after I waslike, oh, this works for me,

(01:24:54):
like now, okay, that's mynon-negotiable, I have to do
this if I want results in 45 to60 days and continue to see that
.
But if you slack for whateverthe case may be, because you
went on vacation or it's end ofyear or it's the holidays,
you're going to see that impactin your pay in your production,
and so you have to have aversion of that that you can
sustain day in, day out.

Speaker 1 (01:25:11):
I agree.
And just one thing to add tothat it may not be always the
activity that is applied.
It might be your applicationand how you're applying that.
What works for Joel may notwork for me because of the way
that I'm going about it.

(01:25:31):
Open houses, they don't workfor me.
Well, did you do all thepre-work beforehand to make that
open house a success?
Well, no.
Well then, how the hell are youever going to know if it's
going to work correctly, Right?

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
Anywho, Nicole, I would like to say that that's
how I started my mortgagebusiness.
Yeah right, courtney used tomake me cookies handmade cookies
and we put them in thecellophane and she'd take a
little ribbon and she would liketake the scissor and rip it and
it would like curl up.
I could never do it, so I wouldgo to the open houses with like
a diet coke and cookies and Iwas like 11 and I was walking up
to these people.

(01:26:02):
So, even though the open housedoesn't necessarily get you a
deal, it creates that likesalesmanship, like I'm doing
something I'm terrified of doing, right, I have no idea what I'm
doing, but I'm just going to doit anyways.
And it's that, rep, and thatpractice, you know.
And so the more you practice,the more confident you come.
Like, when you start topractice really, really well,

(01:26:22):
you get confidence in the work.
It's not even about the actualdeal that you did, and that
comes across in your initialloan consultations.
It comes across in yourdiscipline to yourself when you
tell yourself I can't leavetoday until I do these things,
like my future self depends onit, right, I can't get to the
version that I need to bewithout myself, right?

(01:26:43):
And you're married and you gota new baby and everything that I
need to be without myself,right.
And you're married, you got anew baby and everything, and I
told them, like when somebodybets on you and they marry you
and they choose you, you have aresponsibility not to let them
down because they bet their lifeon you.
That's right.
So just take it up.
Take it a little bit moreseriously than we do.

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
Yes, that's strong Go ahead, nicole.

Speaker 4 (01:27:01):
Well, I'm going to come off really strong, but
there was one phrase that wastold to me, or I heard somewhere
, and it's no one cares, workharder.
No one cares.
You need to work harder, andsorry, the worst.
But no, and like initiallyyou're like shit, you don't care

(01:27:23):
, because I'm an empath, but atthe end of the day, no one cares
because my husband cares, mybaby cares.
Those are the people who counton me to pay the bills.
My husband I partially retiredhim, so I am the sole winner of
the income for our house.
So I have a lot on my shoulders.
But nowadays, in 2025, we'retalking you need to make double

(01:27:48):
the calls, the 10 calls that youmade before.
That used to set you oneappointment.
You need to make 25.
And then you need to set twoappointments, because things
come up and then somebodycancels or reschedules it and
you need to work harder.
You need to do more of thethings and I'm going to be
honest.
I don't call a lot of agentsright now, although I should

(01:28:08):
Don't shoot the messenger, butthe reason I don't is because
I'm very intentional and when Isay that when I call an agent,
they're getting 30 calls fromlenders.
Anyone can issue a pre approvalletter.
But what sets you apart?
Why should they listen to you?
What is your intention?
Why should you choose meagainst the other 1400 lenders

(01:28:28):
in San Antonio?
You have one that you dobusiness with.
Why do you want to work with me?
I don't want all of yourbusiness, but I'm, as a lender,
I'm here to tell you that I'mgoing to do tough deals.
I'm going to do manufacturedhomes.
I'll I'll.
I'll dive deep into renovationloans and I will figure out a
solution for things that youknow maybe your other lender
doesn't want to do because I amhungry.

(01:28:49):
And I don't want your cookiecutter down payment assistance
programs.
I'll, I'll do those too.
But what I'm saying is you gotsomebody who's hungry and that
is more powerful than somebodywho knows what to do, because
somebody who's hungry is goingto find a way and be solutions
driven.
When you're faced with a problem, when you're faced with a
credit challenge buyer, don'tjust say, oh, I don't have time

(01:29:11):
for you.
Find a solution and, even ifit's a year from now, do your
damn best, because you're nothere wasting time waiting for
the next pre-approved buyer tofall on your lap.
Sometimes you got to mold it,sometimes you got to bake it,
sometimes you got to dodifferent things for it.
And sometimes, in thisever-changing environment, when
I hear somebody say, well,so-and-so lender said that this

(01:29:31):
changed, I'm like, oh shoot, Igot to go double check that
guideline, because things arechanging and things are changing
rapidly.
So the file that we closed lastmonth might not be able to be
closed or duplicated this monthbecause of the guideline changes
that are taking place, and wegot to stay ahead of it and
sometimes you got to get backinto a loan that you hold, an
application that you pulledthree months ago, because of the

(01:29:52):
overtime thing.
Now is their busy season,december wasn't.
So hey, let's refresh this.
Let me stay front of mind andget out of the imposter syndrome
, because the world needs loanofficers who know what they're
doing, but to also take chargeand not just let other people in
the transaction run the ship.
That's a great point.
We need to take control of thisship and tell people what they

(01:30:17):
can do.
Hey, 250, let's go.
What do you see?
Let's go, take a look at it andrefresh everything.
Be front of mind, because ifit's not you, they're scrolling
on Instagram and they'relistening to the most basic key
points where I'm like, oh, threeand a half percent down.

Speaker 2 (01:30:31):
OK, Mark's podcast.

Speaker 4 (01:30:33):
No, mark does great things and I'm trying to, you
know, touch on more specificthings, but I'm like man, these
people are touching like themost black and white pinpoint,
the most valuable thing somebodycan give you is their attention
.
Uh-huh.

Speaker 2 (01:30:47):
Right, and it's.
I'm not good at it, I want tobe better at it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:50):
It's part of my stuff , you know they have to be good
at grabbing the attention andholding it just for a second,

(01:31:14):
get consistent at gettinguncomfortable to the point that
you can do more things, thatyou're uncomfortable to the
point that you can not only bethe expert but start playing
around with it.
And what I mean by that isthere's a level of confidence
that you achieve in the tasksthat we do that you can go OK, I
can just do it.
Or I can really do it, andpeople go, he's doing it
differently.
Yeah, because I got tired ofbeing consistent with it at this
level.
So now I'm going to sprinklesomething on it and if it

(01:31:37):
doesn't work, no big deal.
I know that the basics of itdoes, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:31:41):
Yeah, you don't want to be mediocre.

Speaker 1 (01:31:43):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:31:43):
Like, put a baseline that you can live off of it.
Then now start experimentingwith you, start doing different
things and go, hey, I got alittle bit better.
You know reaction from thatparticular could be a post,
could be a video, could be in aseminar webinar you know that
realtor lunch and whatever it isand start looking for the
things that are doing well.
Don't be afraid Failure tolaunch right.
Don't be afraid to try newthings.

(01:32:05):
That's a great movie, by theway.
And so go do it.
If it sucks, I don't care,right, if nobody saw it.
Nobody saw it, so it doesn'tmatter, right?
So just go do something else.
When you have a bad sales callor you have a bad phone call,
the next person you talk to hasno idea what.
Just just go next, right?
And just get up the first getup another at bat, that's right

(01:32:25):
and it's fresh, the first call.

Speaker 4 (01:32:27):
The first call is always the worst, every single
day.
The first call of the day,you're like the first cut is the
deepest.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
Just tell them congratulations, you're my first
call of the day this is gonnasuck and they may laugh yes and
then all of a sudden you go,wait a minute, that ice is
broken I tell themcongratulations.

Speaker 2 (01:32:43):
Like what you made my list.
I'm like what list?
The list of people I need tocall today.

Speaker 1 (01:32:48):
That's right.
And now, all of a sudden,you've humanized yourself.

Speaker 2 (01:32:52):
Well, because they know they should be doing the
same thing.

Speaker 1 (01:32:54):
That's right they prospect.

Speaker 2 (01:32:56):
They lead, jim, they're doing things.
I'm doing the same thing, sothey can, even when they say no.
No means no.
So now they're in my networkand now they know who I am.
And so those hard deals, likemost of the relationships that I
consider valuable partnerships,have come from a moment in need
, not because I convinced sometop producing agent that they

(01:33:16):
should send me all theirbusiness, that's right.
I don't want to spend money outof the gate.
I will help partner right whenit makes sense for us to both
mutually benefit from some kindof paid partnership.
But usually that realtor had aclient that got bad information
or something came in differentand because you've been calling
them and being a resource andjust promoting yourself, they go
I need help.
And who do they think of?

(01:33:37):
Right, they're thinking Nicole,and then they call you and you
get the deal done, and then nowyou are the one.

Speaker 1 (01:33:43):
That's right.
And one last thing before I gointo our conclusion here.
But if you're a loan officerout there that is still getting
pissed off that your agent did atransaction with someone else
another lender you're way behind.
There is no way that onerealtor is going to be able to
stick with you as their lenderfor all of their deals, nor do

(01:34:08):
would you advise on that.
That's like putting all youreggs in one basket.
Essentially, you can have greatpartnerships Nobody's saying
that I have plenty of them.
I'm sure we all do but the ideaof you getting upset that they
have to utilize another lendershould be something like a go
for it.
Hopefully there's a differentexperience that you receive.

(01:34:29):
If you learn anything, awesome,let me know.
If not, now you know why youuse me Concept.
So, guys, I want to thank youso much for being on this panel.
It wasn't an easy discussion,especially talking about
something that is heavilycriticized and shied away from
including branch managers totheir loan officers.

(01:34:50):
When it comes time forone-on-ones, a lot of folks are
not being honest.
They're stroking the ego,trying to keep them in the
business instead of being honestwith the potential of them
leaving, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:35:04):
This is not going to fix itself.

Speaker 1 (01:35:06):
No, this is not going to fix itself.
No, it is not, you are correct.

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
Yeah, I think a lot of us thought that, just get
through it, just get through it.

Speaker 1 (01:35:11):
It's not me.
It's going to get better.
I've been thinking it's goingto get better.

Speaker 2 (01:35:15):
It's going to get better.
Like Joel, your production saysthat's not the case.
That's right.
So eventually you have to beauthentic, right?

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
Like be real with your own self, and it's a
conversation that none of usreally want to have, amen.
I've got a couple of keyfactors here that I listed just
to kind of cap this thing off.
Number one authenticrelationships win over
transactions.
Clarissa, you honed in on thatspecifically today and I have to
agree with it wholeheartedly.
The idea of being transactionalsounds real, similar to kind of

(01:35:49):
like a bank and we don't dealwith that side.
We put deals together, weadvise, we structure, we set
proper expectations.
We don't push paper period.
Number two systems andstructures are non-negotiables
for top producers.
For those that are maybe nottop producers but making it in
today's market, if you're notleveraging your systems, if you

(01:36:10):
yourself don't even have asystem that you can refer back
to as a matter of fact, at acertain point in time in my
career, that is something that Icoached my loan officers to do
Go talk to a realtor and yourvalue proposition is your
process.
Talk to them about your processand what you take their
borrowers through and how theyplug into that process and how

(01:36:32):
you're going to use it to helpthem grow.
Yeah, and I think not a lot ofloan officers are allowing the
realtors into their true process.
Why?
Because they don't have one orthey don't follow it themselves.

Speaker 2 (01:36:45):
Yeah, One of the best things is like invite them over
to your branch right when youwork and say I want you to have
a good idea of what a clientwould experience when you decide
to partner with us and referthem and kind of walk them
through the journey on what aborrower would be going through.
Right, because that way what'sgreat about our business is that
there's real estate agents,there's appraisers, there's

(01:37:06):
title companies, there's vendorslike Survey and Insurance.
There's a whole bunch ofdifferent industries all within
it and if we only know ourlittle bitty part, we're not
very good of a resource for theentire process.
So by having a betterunderstanding of the entire hey,
my name is Mark tocongratulations on your home,

(01:37:26):
right, there's a lot of thingsthat go through there and you
can navigate those situations.
So for the agent to come over,nobody invites them into their
house and says come on over andtake a look.

Speaker 1 (01:37:36):
That's a big deal, it's different, that's right,
they don't want to see how dirtythe house is you?
Know.
The last one here and I thinkit's one of the most important
ones is skill and adaptabilitymatter more than ever in our
industry.
Working with an expert is goingto be the key to you succeeding
as a home buyer, succeeding toyou as a realtor trying to close

(01:38:00):
more deals, somebody that willbe confident enough in their
expertise to be able to setproper expectations, be honest
with the customers.

Speaker 2 (01:38:15):
And in this case, sometimes no does mean no.
No, not right now.

Speaker 1 (01:38:16):
Not right now.
There you go, or how, in thatlight.
So, guys, briefly, if you haveanything else to add, please,
now is the time I wanted to talkjust real quick about.

Speaker 2 (01:38:28):
Triggerlead, you mentioned it right.
So we're competing.
How are we losing deals?
The builders take our business,Okay, but the guys bigbankcom
online lender I call them.
I call them, yeah, yeah,mortgage, right.
If you pull a hard pull on aclient, they are immediately
going to receive probably 50phone calls and texts and emails
of a bunch of lenders wholiterally are sitting at their

(01:38:51):
coffee table right in theirunderwear with a parrot as their
compliance officer or something, and they have no real
knowledge of the lendingbusiness.
They are just there to get thelead, bring it in and that's it,
that's exactly correct.
Right, and so we switch to asoft pull workflow.

Speaker 1 (01:39:07):
So I would talk to A lot cheaper too.

Speaker 2 (01:39:09):
Yes, Well, soft pulls are more expensive.
Now right.

Speaker 1 (01:39:12):
They're more expensive, but not as much as a
hard pull.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
Correct.
You can reissue conventionalfiles, fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac.
You cannot do it on governmentloans, but you can look at a
deal you can pre-qualify.
Obviously, if you need to dosome heavy lifting, you're going
to have to pull a hard pull andstart to originate it.
But just by us shifting andbasically saying hey,
everybody's standard operatingprocedure is soft pull first,
see if you can make a decisionon it, give them the opt-out

(01:39:36):
information so they can suppressand protect their information,
and then a week later come backand pull a hard pull.
When you communicate that to aclient about what's about to
happen, they immediately go ohmy gosh, I didn't know that.
Right, I'm so glad you told me.
So I'm already connected tothem.
It's like I'm trying to protectthem and I now suppress the
trigger event.
So my capture rate is better,my closing percentage is better

(01:39:58):
because I'm not competingagainst a bunch of other people
that I shouldn't be competingwith.
That's right.
You said nobody cares.
Nobody cares about how much youknow in this business.
That's right.
They don't care about how goodyou are.
All they care about is what'smy rate, what's my closing cost.
That's how they're going tolook at it.
They walk down the aisle at thehome loan store and they say,
oh, I'm going to take that FHAloan right there.

(01:40:19):
It's got the good rate and it'sgot You're right.
This is going to be bad news.
So we try to have thoseconversations up front.
We even go a step farther withour referral partners and say,
hey, this should be a part ofyour buyer consultation.
Why don't you give them thisinformation?
So when I talk to them thefirst time, it's highly likely I
could pull a hard pull, becausenow it's going to be suppressed
, because it's not going to bethere.

Speaker 1 (01:40:36):
So soft pulls are a big deal and I think everybody
should be utilizing themno-transcript, so that you don't

(01:41:14):
receive the flood of textmessages, calls from people that
don't know what the hellthey're doing.
They're here to try and get thecredit pool, and this is
optoutscreeningcom.
You come in here, you literallyhit opt them out.
They decide to electronicallyopt out for five years and then

(01:41:36):
you put their information inyou're good to go.
Now, mind you, it takes alittle while for this to
actually work, so make sure youhave that conversation up front.
Knock this out, so once youactually do pull credit, it's
already in place.
Um, nicole, clarissa, anything?

Speaker 4 (01:41:55):
Um, if you want to buy a home and you're finding
yourself telling yourself thatyou can't, I challenge you to
look inside and call a loanofficer and see if you actually
can, if it's something that youwant to do because you don't
know your options.
You don't know what you don'tknow.
But that's why you have a teamand that's what we're here for

(01:42:15):
to help you determine.
It's never too soon.
It's never too soon, especiallyif you think that you need some
handholding, that's okay.
Nobody's perfect, nobody isperfect.
If you think that you need somehandholding, that's okay.
Nobody's perfect, nobody isperfect.
So just reach out to a loanofficer.
We are not scary, we do notbite, and actually I would
encourage you to speak with aloan officer before getting
connected to a realtor to makeyour life so much easier.
So then that way, you can setthat expectations of what you

(01:42:38):
can afford and have a betterexperience, because
homeownership can be foreveryone.

Speaker 1 (01:42:44):
That's what we're here for, because homeownership
can be for everyone.
That's what we're here for, andnow it's time for a shameless
plug.
So if you're a borrower outthere, that you maybe you're not
ready to talk to a loan officer.
Maybe you want all the options,kind of like WebMD.
Visit ReviewMyMortgagecom.
You can get all of the optionsthat are viable for your current
situation, based on your creditscore, down payment area that
you're looking, including downpayment assistance, bond loans,

(01:43:07):
et cetera.
On ReviewMyMortgagecom, whichis the largest index of mortgage
programs in the nation Clarissa, you got anything I would just
close out on.

Speaker 3 (01:43:16):
It's important that you get connected with someone
who has a similar style, similarwork ethic that's going to be
available when you're available.
That goes both for our realtorsas well as our borrowers, and
so someone who is going to havethe empathy to your specific
situation that is going to leadwith knowledge and care and
compassion, I think is extremelyimportant and, as a realtor,

(01:43:37):
when you're referring somebody,making sure that there is that
connection, it's very easy toturn this into a transactional
business, but when there is thatbond, I think we have such a
greater success rate and we'reable to truly meet, like, the
mission of getting morehomeowners out there, yeah, and
generating wealth through realestate.

Speaker 1 (01:43:53):
I have to agree with that completely, guys.
This has been an awesomediscussion, I think one of the
best that I've had in quite sometime and I'm a little biased
because I'm a lender and I lovethis business being able to chop
it up with other professionals,experts that know what the hell
they're talking about, arehonest about the struggles that

(01:44:14):
we do have as originators andcan push past that to still
continue to provide for ourfamilies in a market where it's
like, well, what the hell isgoing on?
Which way is up, you know.
I want to thank you all forjoining us today.

Speaker 2 (01:44:28):
Thanks for inviting us.

Speaker 1 (01:44:30):
Heck yeah.
Hopefully we can have morediscussions down the road.
Jc, if you can share on screenjust for a moment, I want to
thank you guys for continuing toshow support and listening to
what we are talking about inthese discussions.
Hopefully you're grabbingsomething and not treating it
like a motivational seminar andactually applying it in your

(01:44:51):
everyday transaction to makeyour your business value more
valuable, to make yourrelationships a little bit
deeper, um, and to help morebuyers accomplish that goal of
homeownership.
We've achieved 23 and a half 23and a half thousand subscribers
and growing.

Speaker 2 (01:45:09):
I hope I get you one more.
Me too, man, it's just nuts.

Speaker 1 (01:45:15):
We don't make any money from this by any means,
but, like I always say, it'sfree therapy for me and a lot of
people get to learn some stuffthat they wouldn't have
otherwise.
So again, thanks for joining mefor this discussion.
You guys out there, thank youfor continuing support and we
will catch you on the next one.
Thank you.
Trying to become a homeowner isso frustrating.

(01:45:37):
I mean, I wish it were easy tofind out what options or things
I may qualify for.

Speaker 3 (01:45:42):
There actually is an easier way.
I'd love to tell you about it.

Speaker 1 (01:45:45):
There is a hold on let me call you back.

Speaker 2 (01:45:52):
Okay, I'm interested.
What's?

Speaker 3 (01:45:53):
the catch?
There's no catch.
If you have two minutes, I canliterally show you now, it's
really easy.

Speaker 2 (01:45:56):
Sure, let's go.
It's going to code to you lineby line and have you answer some
questions that'll identify thebest loan products for you,
starting with the propertyaddress, which is specific to
the area.

Speaker 1 (01:46:04):
which programs will work for you?

Speaker 3 (01:46:06):
It's going to guide you through a series of numbers,
loan options, and give youeverything so you can choose
what works best for you.

Speaker 1 (01:46:11):
Well, I had no idea there were so many options out
there.
For me it was so easy, it wasso quick and you didn't even
have to run my credit.

Speaker 3 (01:46:18):
I know I told you in less than two minutes.
Right, did I make it?

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Why Are Loan Officers Struggling in Today’s Market? | Loan Officer Survival Guide

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