August 31, 2023 • 21 mins
Ever wondered how cultural knowledge can skyrocket your success in the mortgage industry? Well, you're about to find out! Join us for this episode as we sit down with Daniel Gomez, a rising star at DHI Mortgage in Florida. Daniel takes us through his fascinating journey from being a loan officer assistant to his current role as a branch manager. We get personal, uncovering how his mother's industry experience paved his career path, and how his rich Cuban heritage influences his marketing strategies for the Hispanic community.
We also discuss tapping into the Hispanic market and creating generational wealth. Daniel sheds light on the integral role the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) plays in this process. Looking to stay ahead in the industry? Daniel shares some insightful tips on leveraging technology and the importance of continuous learning. This episode is a goldmine for anyone seeking professional growth and a deeper understanding of the Hispanic market. Tune in, and let's bridge cultures together!
Thanks for listening to Mortgage Connects, an MGIC podcast. If you have questions, comments, or want to get involved, send an email to mortgageconnects@mgic.com.
Looking for even more expert insights? Check out our mortgage industry content portal, Mortgage Connects knowledge hub. Subscribe today so you don't miss out on the latest! Subscribe
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Mortgage Connects by MGIC, bringing you
the latest insights from topmortgage professionals around
the industry.
I'm your host, concepcionGuerrero, and joining me today
is Daniel Gomez, branch managerwith DHI.
Daniel began his mortgagecareer in 2015 at American Bank
shares as loan officer assistant.
From there, he went on tobecome mortgage loan originator
(00:27):
at Lenore Mortgage.
He has truly cultivated hiscareer at DHI Mortgage, where he
began as a loan officer in 2019and has worked his way up to a
branch manager position.
Most recently, he has traveledto DHI's Orlando and Tampa
markets, helping to improveprocesses and finding
efficiencies.
He aspires to become a regionalmanager, while continuing to
(00:50):
grow within the DHI family andto keep bringing the best
mortgage products and servicesto the great state of Florida.
He strives to work as hard ashe can to help families in the
home buying process achievetheir version of the American
dream.
In his spare time, danny willbe cheering and yelling for the
Miami Dolphins or finding sometime to fish.
(01:11):
Danny, welcome, it's great tohave you here today.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited to kind ofdive into some of the topics we
have for today Excellent.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, Danny, I have to be honest with you.
I'm really impressed by theexperience you have at such a
young age.
It's great to see anotherLatino succeed and want to
continue to improve themselves.
Now I read a brief bio aboutyou, but tell our listeners a
little bit more about yourjourney, on how you got into the
mortgage business and why.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, definitely.
So definitely in the bio kindof explains a little bit.
But I started kind of byaccident in the industry.
I was up in the Tallahasseearea at Florida State for
college.
After leaving Miami After acouple of years I just kind of
thought it wasn't really thelifestyle I wanted.
So I did move back to Miami tofinish studying down here and my
(02:04):
mom has actually been in theindustry for 30 plus years,
probably 15 of those as a branchmanager.
So she said, hey, come on andkind of work with us as a loan
officer assistant.
See, if you like it, it mightjust be a career path for you.
So I started in the industry.
That was back in 2015.
I started as a loan officerassistant and kind of fell in
(02:24):
love with the industryaltogether, so worked my way
into the loan officer role andthen, once I was kind of ready
to move on to a new role, Iactually started with Lennar
Mortgage and that's kind ofwhere my story almost really
begins.
After the basics of learningand we'll kind of dive into a
little bit of that.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
But after the basics of learning, really just kind of
perfecting my craft there atLennar- Now, danny, you
mentioned your mom playing acrucial role to your success and
introduction to the mortgageworld, and that's very
interesting to hear this,because I bet many of those in
the industry either fell intothis path by some form of
accident or thanks to someoneelse.
(03:04):
So what are the things that youhave done that have helped you
grow professionally in yourcareer?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Thank you, yeah, so so definitely starts with the
way I learned the industry.
So as a loan officer assistant,my mom was very, very old
school.
You know she had these bigManila folders and and we'd have
a stacking order of our W2s,our pay subs, and we turn our
physical folder over to our ourprocessor.
So I think that kind of baseknowledge you know old school
(03:31):
rate sheets that kind of baseknowledge kind of propelled me
to take my next role at Lenard.
And then taking that knowledge,coming into Lenard, you know,
and really learning how to massproduce that knowledge right.
So it's bigger pipelines,understanding pipeline views and
and mass clientele closing alot more volumes of those are
(03:52):
the kinds of things I learnedthat Lenard.
So you know, I think the base ofwhere I started perfecting at
Lenard and then coming into DHIand just kind of the culture we
have was just so conducive to mygrowth.
We are really a company thatgrows from within, so I think
that's a really important partof my research.
So I think the fact that Istarted in those two roles and
then came into a company likeDHI DHI, just, you know, is all
(04:16):
about protecting their own we'reI don't like to say one family.
It's a little cliche, right,but we are people that look out
for each other always, so Ithink that kind of helped propel
me to grow within the companykind of quickly.
So I started there in 2019, wasa loan officer there for two
years and now I've been a branchmanager for two years, so kind
(04:38):
of quickly developed my rolethere and that just is a
testament to the culture we haveat our company.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
That's right now.
I'm curious is your mom stillin the business?
Does she still support?
And root you on.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, she, funny enough, she is one of the
preferred lenders with DR Horton, so DHI's in-house lender she's
one of the preferred lenders.
So we actually compete againsteach other, funny enough.
But yeah, she's still in theindustry, still a branch manager
and still kind of doing all thegood things that she's been
doing for 30 plus years.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
That's great to hear.
Now, danny, we're celebratingHispanic Heritage Month here at
MGIC and, as a Latina myself, Ido take great pride of my
heritage background.
But by now it's no secret, theHispanic consumer is one to tap
into, especially when you have7.9 million Latinos who consider
themselves mortgage ready lastyear.
(05:29):
So, danny, tell me, are thereany specific strategies or
marketing techniques that youfound effective when reaching
and engaging with the Hispanicmarket?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So, yeah, I think that's a great question.
Our marketing techniques reallycomes from our home builder.
As I mentioned, I work for DHIMortgage and we're the in-house
lender for DR Horton and in mostof our DR Horton markets we
really are an affordable homebuilder.
So we're a home builder that wesay we build a home for every
stage of life.
So we build your first starterhome, you know, your move-in
(06:01):
home once you've expanded yourfamily, and even retirement
homes.
I mean we have kind of a homethat fits every kind of budget
and every kind of buyer.
So, obviously, as we know, theHispanic community in Nile Rep,
which we'll talk about in just asecond in 2022 already they put
out a statistic that theHispanic home ownership rate
(06:22):
increased to 48.6%.
So that marks an eight-yearconsistent growth, which is just
incredible.
So we're talking about a hugepopulation of Hispanic
homeowners that we are cominginto the market.
What we're forecasting is, inthe next 10 years, one out of
every three new home formationswill be a Hispanic family.
(06:46):
So we are really catered tothat market.
I think that kind of marketreally shows kind of family
values, which I know we'll touchon in a little bit, but it's
very important for our realestate professionals to
understand that, that kind ofbuyer profile, because it's
going to encompass a lot of themarket share going forward
(07:09):
within the next 10 years.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Okay, so it sounds to me like it's about building
that trust, building thatrelationship within you know
your Hispanic clientele there toreally truly, you know, kind of
solidify that relationshipbuilding going forward.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Well, you know, hispanics are unique in the way
our culture, like you did say,plays a big role in our decision
making.
So, for example, I would saythat family is one of our top
cultural values and you see thatwhen we're buying homes,
especially because we tend totypically look for homes that
will cater to amulti-generational household, so
(07:47):
meaning that we'll most likelyhave a grandparent, an aunt or
an uncle living with us.
So what advice would you giveto those that are non-Hispanic
mortgage professionals lookingto tap into this demographic but
they're really hesitant to doso because they don't speak
Spanish or they aren't aware ofour cultural values or
differences?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah.
So this is great, and in thatquestion you did mention family,
and family for most of ourHispanic population is, you know
, the cataclysm of what moves usforward.
So I think, for non-Hispanicprofessionals that are looking
to kind of tap into the market,I think there's really two
points, transparency being thekey right.
(08:30):
This is the biggest purchasemost of our homeowners are going
to make in their entire life.
So when they're making thiskind of purchase, they're not
just, they're not seeing you asa loan officer, they're not
seeing you as a real estateagent, they're seeing you as
family.
They're putting their trust inyou.
They're putting their money inyou to guide them the correct
way.
So I think you need tounderstand that, first and
(08:52):
foremost, to be transparent withthem, but then to also treat
them like a part of your family,you know, to treat them like a
sister and on a brother, parents, because that's going to be a
lasting relationship you'regoing to form with this home
purchase and it's going to relaymore clientele.
A second home purchase, I meanonce a and again.
(09:16):
This is a little bit generallyspeaking, but as we see most of
our Hispanic population, onceyou go through this process with
them whether it was, you know,good, bad, indifferent.
As long as that experience youcan relay to them in the correct
manner, they're going to seeyou as family.
So for those professionalslooking looking at that market,
(09:38):
you need to really look to treatthat clientele as family.
As you continue to do that, youform those lasting
relationships.
Those referrals are going tocome tenfold.
You know they're going to referyou people they trust and
they're going to look to use youagain in the future.
So I would say, transparencybeing one, make sure you explain
the entire process to them withno real surprises.
(10:00):
I think that's an obvious one.
But second being to reallytreat that clientele as family
because ultimately, when they'reputting their trust and their
money in you, that's what youbecome to them.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree, and I think, like I
mentioned, I am Latina.
Thinking back, when I bought myfirst home, it took me years
and I went through variousrealtors, various loan
originators, and while I trulyfound that one that I felt they
truly care, they truly want tohelp me for the right reasons.
They're not looking at me ashey, the next easy business
(10:34):
transaction per se.
And truly, I think really oneof the most advice that I would
say to those non-Hispanicoriginators or mortgage
professionals is don't letSpanish or language be a factor
that stops you from tapping intothis really potential and
powerful demographic.
Many of the times, you willfind out that, yeah, yeah, we're
(10:57):
Latina, but we're alsobilingual.
We're also maybe morecomfortable in speaking and
English.
So it's a lot of times, askquestions If you're unfamiliar
of our culture and maybe, why dowe have grandma, grandpa, mom,
dad coming with us to look athomes?
Is there a reason?
Get to know your customers,build that trust.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, that's great advice.
Cause that people who care, Imean, and people who are genuine
.
Be genuine to yourself.
If you're a certain way, peoplecan sense you being
disingenuous.
So just be a genuine version ofyourself, and I think that'll
go a long way for you.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, I agree.
Now, in my conversations withnon-Hispanic professionals, I do
realize that they are aware ofthe huge opportunity in the
Hispanic consumer.
However, they don't know whereand how to start to tap into
this demographic.
So I'm curious are there anycertain things your team is
doing differently to attract,like we said, that trust and
(11:59):
that business from the Hispaniccommunity?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So our initial trust and our initial kind of referral
point is does generate from ourhome builder, dr Horton, just
their price point, theiraffordable monthly payments.
You know, in the nation rightnow we are providing special
discounted interest rates thathelp make buying affordable,
(12:25):
especially in a market that it'sreally becoming almost
unaffordable.
So I think that kind of helps.
But down in our SoutheastFlorida market for our DR
mortgage team we are actuallysecond in the nation right now
customer service and I thinkthat that customer service has
generated 10-fold the leads thatwe should have been receiving,
(12:48):
because we are getting repeatcustomers, we are getting
referrals from those customersfor their aunts or uncles.
They're close family membersthat they trust us now.
So we've kind of developed aniche in the market where people
are now kind of trusting notonly the builder, which they
(13:09):
have for a long time as they arethe biggest home builder in the
nation, but now the mortgagecompany as well to say, hey, you
know I might have not had agood experience with X, y or Z,
but my loan officer, my loanprocessor, you know they were on
top of it and whether it's newconstruction, non-new
construction, I want to use thatperson.
So I would say, like we kind ofalluded to in the previous
(13:32):
question, I think it's all aboutbuilding those relationships.
So that's kind of what we'vedone.
It's difficult to marketyourself without having a little
bit of a track record.
Once you have that track recordbuilt, then it's a little bit
easier to kind of tell yourclients, look, this is what I've
done and this is what Icontinue to do, and I think
consistency goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, I agree with you.
I think you know I don't thinknowadays it's not enough to
really have the products for theHispanic community.
I think it goes, you know itdoes help, but I think it also
has to go above and beyond.
You know you mentioned thecustomer experience aspect of it
as well.
I think that plays a big, bigrole into the overall growing
(14:15):
your reputation and growing thebusiness, growing your success.
It doesn't matter with theHispanic community or anyone in
general, I think yeah, yeah.
Okay, so I you know now you didmention NARAP before and I know
you're part of NARAP and they'rethe National Association of
Hispanic Real EstateProfessionals and, if I'm not
(14:35):
mistaken, you're on the board,and I also noticed that DHI had
the most originators listed onNARAP's top 250 originators list
.
So what an impressiveaccomplishment to have Explain
to me why is it so important foryour team, or any mortgage
professional, be part of NARAPand is there a certain ways that
(14:55):
you're leveraging thispartnership?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Narap is is really anincredible organization and
their mission very much alignswith ours.
And their mission or you know,as a board member, our mission
is to create generational wealthfor Hispanic, for our Hispanic
population.
I should really say the fastestway to build generational
wealth is to purchase a home.
(15:18):
So it doesn't have to be yourdream home, it just has to be to
purchase a piece of real estate.
So Freddie Mac actually put outsome guidance on this and it
shows the average net wealth ofa renter is $8,000 versus and
this is in this in, you know,all the states and all 50 states
, united States of America.
(15:39):
This was guidance provided byFreddie Mac.
So $8,000 for a net wealth of arenter versus net wealth of a
homeowner is $300,000.
So it's a huge disparity justbuying that, that first property
.
So I think we're able to alignourselves with that mission and
I we thought what a greatorganization to leverage with,
(16:01):
because these are professionalsin the real estate market.
You know, they're qualified,really qualified professionals
that are looking to help theirHispanic population.
And in this market where it's,you know, we have high interest
rates, we have high sales prices.
The biggest need right now isinventory.
So we said, why don't we comeand provide inventory to an
(16:23):
organization who is dying forinventory, who has these
qualified real estateprofessionals?
So you know, we're leveragingthem with some of their contacts
, with some of their leads, butthey're also leveraging us with
some affordable housing andinventory in a market where it's
very, very difficult to find.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Okay, yeah, it's about leveraging and tapping
into those community resourcesor trade organizations.
I know MGIC just recentlybecame a national, you know,
into a national partnership withNARA, but it's really truly
giving us, given us thatplatform and opportunity to, you
know, spread the word of MI andreally truly educate and
(17:00):
connect with further real estateagents and loan originators on
opportunities.
So it's great to see everyonebeing on that same, you know,
alongside that same mission andsupporting and wanting to help
each other out.
So it's great to hear.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah and it really.
It really is that that'shonestly the mission is is just
to continue.
I mean, we said in a previousquestion that one out of three
family formations in the next 10years will be Hispanic.
So what a great organizationwho is.
Their sole mission is to helpcreate that generational wealth
amongst that Hispanic population.
You know this, this Hispanichome ownership.
(17:38):
You know, train is continuingto kind of trug along the tracks
and I don't think it has anyany kind of signs of stopping or
slowing down.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
No, not at all.
If anything, it's probablygoing to go much faster.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Full force.
So, danny, I mentioned earlierit's Hispanic Heritage Month and
I, if I'm not mistaken, yourcubano right.
Are you Cuban?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yes, yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Okay, okay, perfect.
So tell me, what is yourfavorite aspect of your Hispanic
culture?
Is there a certain traditionthat maybe it's your favorite or
that's really close to yourheart?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
So so tradition the easy one is probably no Chewena,
which is the day beforeChristmas, so that's kind of.
That's kind of our Christmas,which is your entire family I
mean you're talking cousins,second cousins, uncle lawns I
mean the entire family istypically together and there is,
you know, traditions thathappen within every family, but
I mean everybody is there Allnight usually.
(18:36):
You know that's not somethingthat ends early and it's just.
It's just about being with yourfamily.
So I think that's probably theeasy one.
But one of the things I lovemost about the you know, cuban
culture, cuban Cuban people,really is just that, their
camaraderie amongst themselves.
So really when you meetsomebody who's Cuban, it could
(18:59):
be a complete stranger.
When you find out they're Cuban, they're all automatically I'm
sorry held in a different regard.
So they're just like a tough,resilient and very much family
oriented group of people thathave been through a lot in their
culture that have made themresilient.
And I think that's kind of whatI like most about them is they
(19:20):
are people that have eachother's backs and there's some
cultures that kind of align withthat.
There's, unfortunately, someother cultures that don't.
But I think there's somethingto be said with.
You know Cubans have Cubansbacks and there's something
about that camaraderie that justmakes it kind of special.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Totally agree.
So I'm just curious I'm not,I'm not Cuban, so I'm a Mexican.
So I'm just curious what's yourfavorite Cuban dish?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh man, that's, that's a good question.
There is a, I would probablysay, lechoncito Place, this
place here in Miami calledHavana Harry's that does the
best lechoncito in all of maybe,maybe the world, but definitely
in Miami, and that's what wetypically get on.
No Chewena's out, it's verythinly shredded pork with onions
(20:08):
.
I mean it's.
It's just an incredible dish.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh my gosh, delicious .
Yeah, I've heard ropa vieja,I've heard cafe guano.
I, you know, it's when I'm when.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I'm down in.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Miami.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I have to, I have to make a yeah, there's definitely,
there's definitely the pick ofthe litter to to grab on that.
Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Well, danny, to close , what is one thing you would
like our listeners to walk awaywith when it comes to the
Hispanic consumer?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So so definitely, if you know, if you're in the real
estate market, whether you'reHispanic or not, it doesn't
really matter.
Hispanic home ownership is onthe rise and, like we said,
there's no signs of it slowingdown.
So, you know, familiarizeyourself with kind of the
culture points, with kind of thefamily oriented points that
we've made on the podcast andand kind of dive yourself into a
(20:56):
way to obtain that business andcreate lasting relationships.
So that would probably be mytakeaway Make sure you're
tapping into the market, you'recreating real, authentic
relationships, because theHispanic home ownership movement
is is just on the rise and andwe're gonna continue to see it
grow over the next you know, 10,15, 20 years amazing advice.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Totally agree with you, danny, danny Well, thank
you very much for your time.
We truly, truly appreciate itand thank you all for listening.
For the latest industryinsights, subscribe to mortgage
connects on appcom, to mortgageconnects on Apple, stitcher,
google, podcast, spotify, amazonmusic or go to mortgage
connects comm.
Welcome to Mortgage Connects by MGIC, bringing you
the latest insights from topmortgage professionals around
the industry.
I'm your host, concepcionGuerrero, and joining me today
is Daniel Gomez, branch managerwith DHI.
Daniel began his mortgagecareer in 2015 at American Bank
shares as loan officer assistant.
From there, he went on tobecome mortgage loan originator
(00:27):
at Lenore Mortgage.
He has truly cultivated hiscareer at DHI Mortgage, where he
began as a loan officer in 2019and has worked his way up to a
branch manager position.
Most recently, he has traveledto DHI's Orlando and Tampa
markets, helping to improveprocesses and finding
efficiencies.
He aspires to become a regionalmanager, while continuing to
(00:50):
grow within the DHI family andto keep bringing the best
mortgage products and servicesto the great state of Florida.
He strives to work as hard ashe can to help families in the
home buying process achievetheir version of the American
dream.
In his spare time, danny willbe cheering and yelling for the
Miami Dolphins or finding sometime to fish.
(01:11):
Danny, welcome, it's great tohave you here today.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited to kind ofdive into some of the topics we
have for today Excellent.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, Danny, I have to be honest with you.
I'm really impressed by theexperience you have at such a
young age.
It's great to see anotherLatino succeed and want to
continue to improve themselves.
Now I read a brief bio aboutyou, but tell our listeners a
little bit more about yourjourney, on how you got into the
mortgage business and why.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, definitely.
So definitely in the bio kindof explains a little bit.
But I started kind of byaccident in the industry.
I was up in the Tallahasseearea at Florida State for
college.
After leaving Miami After acouple of years I just kind of
thought it wasn't really thelifestyle I wanted.
So I did move back to Miami tofinish studying down here and my
(02:04):
mom has actually been in theindustry for 30 plus years,
probably 15 of those as a branchmanager.
So she said, hey, come on andkind of work with us as a loan
officer assistant.
See, if you like it, it mightjust be a career path for you.
So I started in the industry.
That was back in 2015.
I started as a loan officerassistant and kind of fell in
(02:24):
love with the industryaltogether, so worked my way
into the loan officer role andthen, once I was kind of ready
to move on to a new role, Iactually started with Lennar
Mortgage and that's kind ofwhere my story almost really
begins.
After the basics of learningand we'll kind of dive into a
little bit of that.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
But after the basics of learning, really just kind of
perfecting my craft there atLennar- Now, danny, you
mentioned your mom playing acrucial role to your success and
introduction to the mortgageworld, and that's very
interesting to hear this,because I bet many of those in
the industry either fell intothis path by some form of
accident or thanks to someoneelse.
(03:04):
So what are the things that youhave done that have helped you
grow professionally in yourcareer?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Thank you, yeah, so so definitely starts with the
way I learned the industry.
So as a loan officer assistant,my mom was very, very old
school.
You know she had these bigManila folders and and we'd have
a stacking order of our W2s,our pay subs, and we turn our
physical folder over to our ourprocessor.
So I think that kind of baseknowledge you know old school
(03:31):
rate sheets that kind of baseknowledge kind of propelled me
to take my next role at Lenard.
And then taking that knowledge,coming into Lenard, you know,
and really learning how to massproduce that knowledge right.
So it's bigger pipelines,understanding pipeline views and
and mass clientele closing alot more volumes of those are
(03:52):
the kinds of things I learnedthat Lenard.
So you know, I think the base ofwhere I started perfecting at
Lenard and then coming into DHIand just kind of the culture we
have was just so conducive to mygrowth.
We are really a company thatgrows from within, so I think
that's a really important partof my research.
So I think the fact that Istarted in those two roles and
then came into a company likeDHI DHI, just, you know, is all
(04:16):
about protecting their own we'reI don't like to say one family.
It's a little cliche, right,but we are people that look out
for each other always, so Ithink that kind of helped propel
me to grow within the companykind of quickly.
So I started there in 2019, wasa loan officer there for two
years and now I've been a branchmanager for two years, so kind
(04:38):
of quickly developed my rolethere and that just is a
testament to the culture we haveat our company.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
That's right now.
I'm curious is your mom stillin the business?
Does she still support?
And root you on.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, she, funny enough, she is one of the
preferred lenders with DR Horton, so DHI's in-house lender she's
one of the preferred lenders.
So we actually compete againsteach other, funny enough.
But yeah, she's still in theindustry, still a branch manager
and still kind of doing all thegood things that she's been
doing for 30 plus years.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
That's great to hear.
Now, danny, we're celebratingHispanic Heritage Month here at
MGIC and, as a Latina myself, Ido take great pride of my
heritage background.
But by now it's no secret, theHispanic consumer is one to tap
into, especially when you have7.9 million Latinos who consider
themselves mortgage ready lastyear.
(05:29):
So, danny, tell me, are thereany specific strategies or
marketing techniques that youfound effective when reaching
and engaging with the Hispanicmarket?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So, yeah, I think that's a great question.
Our marketing techniques reallycomes from our home builder.
As I mentioned, I work for DHIMortgage and we're the in-house
lender for DR Horton and in mostof our DR Horton markets we
really are an affordable homebuilder.
So we're a home builder that wesay we build a home for every
stage of life.
So we build your first starterhome, you know, your move-in
(06:01):
home once you've expanded yourfamily, and even retirement
homes.
I mean we have kind of a homethat fits every kind of budget
and every kind of buyer.
So, obviously, as we know, theHispanic community in Nile Rep,
which we'll talk about in just asecond in 2022 already they put
out a statistic that theHispanic home ownership rate
(06:22):
increased to 48.6%.
So that marks an eight-yearconsistent growth, which is just
incredible.
So we're talking about a hugepopulation of Hispanic
homeowners that we are cominginto the market.
What we're forecasting is, inthe next 10 years, one out of
every three new home formationswill be a Hispanic family.
(06:46):
So we are really catered tothat market.
I think that kind of marketreally shows kind of family
values, which I know we'll touchon in a little bit, but it's
very important for our realestate professionals to
understand that, that kind ofbuyer profile, because it's
going to encompass a lot of themarket share going forward
(07:09):
within the next 10 years.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Okay, so it sounds to me like it's about building
that trust, building thatrelationship within you know
your Hispanic clientele there toreally truly, you know, kind of
solidify that relationshipbuilding going forward.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Oh, absolutely, absolutely Okay.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Well, you know, hispanics are unique in the way
our culture, like you did say,plays a big role in our decision
making.
So, for example, I would saythat family is one of our top
cultural values and you see thatwhen we're buying homes,
especially because we tend totypically look for homes that
will cater to amulti-generational household, so
(07:47):
meaning that we'll most likelyhave a grandparent, an aunt or
an uncle living with us.
So what advice would you giveto those that are non-Hispanic
mortgage professionals lookingto tap into this demographic but
they're really hesitant to doso because they don't speak
Spanish or they aren't aware ofour cultural values or
differences?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah.
So this is great, and in thatquestion you did mention family,
and family for most of ourHispanic population is, you know
, the cataclysm of what moves usforward.
So I think, for non-Hispanicprofessionals that are looking
to kind of tap into the market,I think there's really two
points, transparency being thekey right.
(08:30):
This is the biggest purchasemost of our homeowners are going
to make in their entire life.
So when they're making thiskind of purchase, they're not
just, they're not seeing you asa loan officer, they're not
seeing you as a real estateagent, they're seeing you as
family.
They're putting their trust inyou.
They're putting their money inyou to guide them the correct
way.
So I think you need tounderstand that, first and
(08:52):
foremost, to be transparent withthem, but then to also treat
them like a part of your family,you know, to treat them like a
sister and on a brother, parents, because that's going to be a
lasting relationship you'regoing to form with this home
purchase and it's going to relaymore clientele.
A second home purchase, I meanonce a and again.
(09:16):
This is a little bit generallyspeaking, but as we see most of
our Hispanic population, onceyou go through this process with
them whether it was, you know,good, bad, indifferent.
As long as that experience youcan relay to them in the correct
manner, they're going to seeyou as family.
So for those professionalslooking looking at that market,
(09:38):
you need to really look to treatthat clientele as family.
As you continue to do that, youform those lasting
relationships.
Those referrals are going tocome tenfold.
You know they're going to referyou people they trust and
they're going to look to use youagain in the future.
So I would say, transparencybeing one, make sure you explain
the entire process to them withno real surprises.
(10:00):
I think that's an obvious one.
But second being to reallytreat that clientele as family
because ultimately, when they'reputting their trust and their
money in you, that's what youbecome to them.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree, and I think, like I
mentioned, I am Latina.
Thinking back, when I bought myfirst home, it took me years
and I went through variousrealtors, various loan
originators, and while I trulyfound that one that I felt they
truly care, they truly want tohelp me for the right reasons.
They're not looking at me ashey, the next easy business
(10:34):
transaction per se.
And truly, I think really oneof the most advice that I would
say to those non-Hispanicoriginators or mortgage
professionals is don't letSpanish or language be a factor
that stops you from tapping intothis really potential and
powerful demographic.
Many of the times, you willfind out that, yeah, yeah, we're
(10:57):
Latina, but we're alsobilingual.
We're also maybe morecomfortable in speaking and
English.
So it's a lot of times, askquestions If you're unfamiliar
of our culture and maybe, why dowe have grandma, grandpa, mom,
dad coming with us to look athomes?
Is there a reason?
Get to know your customers,build that trust.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, that's great advice.
Cause that people who care, Imean, and people who are genuine
.
Be genuine to yourself.
If you're a certain way, peoplecan sense you being
disingenuous.
So just be a genuine version ofyourself, and I think that'll
go a long way for you.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Yeah, I agree.
Now, in my conversations withnon-Hispanic professionals, I do
realize that they are aware ofthe huge opportunity in the
Hispanic consumer.
However, they don't know whereand how to start to tap into
this demographic.
So I'm curious are there anycertain things your team is
doing differently to attract,like we said, that trust and
(11:59):
that business from the Hispaniccommunity?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
So our initial trust and our initial kind of referral
point is does generate from ourhome builder, dr Horton, just
their price point, theiraffordable monthly payments.
You know, in the nation rightnow we are providing special
discounted interest rates thathelp make buying affordable,
(12:25):
especially in a market that it'sreally becoming almost
unaffordable.
So I think that kind of helps.
But down in our SoutheastFlorida market for our DR
mortgage team we are actuallysecond in the nation right now
customer service and I thinkthat that customer service has
generated 10-fold the leads thatwe should have been receiving,
(12:48):
because we are getting repeatcustomers, we are getting
referrals from those customersfor their aunts or uncles.
They're close family membersthat they trust us now.
So we've kind of developed aniche in the market where people
are now kind of trusting notonly the builder, which they
(13:09):
have for a long time as they arethe biggest home builder in the
nation, but now the mortgagecompany as well to say, hey, you
know I might have not had agood experience with X, y or Z,
but my loan officer, my loanprocessor, you know they were on
top of it and whether it's newconstruction, non-new
construction, I want to use thatperson.
So I would say, like we kind ofalluded to in the previous
(13:32):
question, I think it's all aboutbuilding those relationships.
So that's kind of what we'vedone.
It's difficult to marketyourself without having a little
bit of a track record.
Once you have that track recordbuilt, then it's a little bit
easier to kind of tell yourclients, look, this is what I've
done and this is what Icontinue to do, and I think
consistency goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yeah, I agree with you.
I think you know I don't thinknowadays it's not enough to
really have the products for theHispanic community.
I think it goes, you know itdoes help, but I think it also
has to go above and beyond.
You know you mentioned thecustomer experience aspect of it
as well.
I think that plays a big, bigrole into the overall growing
(14:15):
your reputation and growing thebusiness, growing your success.
It doesn't matter with theHispanic community or anyone in
general, I think yeah, yeah.
Okay, so I you know now you didmention NARAP before and I know
you're part of NARAP and they'rethe National Association of
Hispanic Real EstateProfessionals and, if I'm not
(14:35):
mistaken, you're on the board,and I also noticed that DHI had
the most originators listed onNARAP's top 250 originators list
.
So what an impressiveaccomplishment to have Explain
to me why is it so important foryour team, or any mortgage
professional, be part of NARAPand is there a certain ways that
(14:55):
you're leveraging thispartnership?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Narap is is really anincredible organization and
their mission very much alignswith ours.
And their mission or you know,as a board member, our mission
is to create generational wealthfor Hispanic, for our Hispanic
population.
I should really say the fastestway to build generational
wealth is to purchase a home.
(15:18):
So it doesn't have to be yourdream home, it just has to be to
purchase a piece of real estate.
So Freddie Mac actually put outsome guidance on this and it
shows the average net wealth ofa renter is $8,000 versus and
this is in this in, you know,all the states and all 50 states
, united States of America.
(15:39):
This was guidance provided byFreddie Mac.
So $8,000 for a net wealth of arenter versus net wealth of a
homeowner is $300,000.
So it's a huge disparity justbuying that, that first property
.
So I think we're able to alignourselves with that mission and
I we thought what a greatorganization to leverage with,
(16:01):
because these are professionalsin the real estate market.
You know, they're qualified,really qualified professionals
that are looking to help theirHispanic population.
And in this market where it's,you know, we have high interest
rates, we have high sales prices.
The biggest need right now isinventory.
So we said, why don't we comeand provide inventory to an
(16:23):
organization who is dying forinventory, who has these
qualified real estateprofessionals?
So you know, we're leveragingthem with some of their contacts
, with some of their leads, butthey're also leveraging us with
some affordable housing andinventory in a market where it's
very, very difficult to find.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Okay, yeah, it's about leveraging and tapping
into those community resourcesor trade organizations.
I know MGIC just recentlybecame a national, you know,
into a national partnership withNARA, but it's really truly
giving us, given us thatplatform and opportunity to, you
know, spread the word of MI andreally truly educate and
(17:00):
connect with further real estateagents and loan originators on
opportunities.
So it's great to see everyonebeing on that same, you know,
alongside that same mission andsupporting and wanting to help
each other out.
So it's great to hear.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Yeah and it really.
It really is that that'shonestly the mission is is just
to continue.
I mean, we said in a previousquestion that one out of three
family formations in the next 10years will be Hispanic.
So what a great organizationwho is.
Their sole mission is to helpcreate that generational wealth
amongst that Hispanic population.
You know this, this Hispanichome ownership.
(17:38):
You know, train is continuingto kind of trug along the tracks
and I don't think it has anyany kind of signs of stopping or
slowing down.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
No, not at all.
If anything, it's probablygoing to go much faster.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Full force.
So, danny, I mentioned earlierit's Hispanic Heritage Month and
I, if I'm not mistaken, yourcubano right.
Are you Cuban?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Yes, yes, I am.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Okay, okay, perfect.
So tell me, what is yourfavorite aspect of your Hispanic
culture?
Is there a certain traditionthat maybe it's your favorite or
that's really close to yourheart?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
So so tradition the easy one is probably no Chewena,
which is the day beforeChristmas, so that's kind of.
That's kind of our Christmas,which is your entire family I
mean you're talking cousins,second cousins, uncle lawns I
mean the entire family istypically together and there is,
you know, traditions thathappen within every family, but
I mean everybody is there Allnight usually.
(18:36):
You know that's not somethingthat ends early and it's just.
It's just about being with yourfamily.
So I think that's probably theeasy one.
But one of the things I lovemost about the you know, cuban
culture, cuban Cuban people,really is just that, their
camaraderie amongst themselves.
So really when you meetsomebody who's Cuban, it could
(18:59):
be a complete stranger.
When you find out they're Cuban, they're all automatically I'm
sorry held in a different regard.
So they're just like a tough,resilient and very much family
oriented group of people thathave been through a lot in their
culture that have made themresilient.
And I think that's kind of whatI like most about them is they
(19:20):
are people that have eachother's backs and there's some
cultures that kind of align withthat.
There's, unfortunately, someother cultures that don't.
But I think there's somethingto be said with.
You know Cubans have Cubansbacks and there's something
about that camaraderie that justmakes it kind of special.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Totally agree.
So I'm just curious I'm not,I'm not Cuban, so I'm a Mexican.
So I'm just curious what's yourfavorite Cuban dish?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Oh man, that's, that's a good question.
There is a, I would probablysay, lechoncito Place, this
place here in Miami calledHavana Harry's that does the
best lechoncito in all of maybe,maybe the world, but definitely
in Miami, and that's what wetypically get on.
No Chewena's out, it's verythinly shredded pork with onions
(20:08):
.
I mean it's.
It's just an incredible dish.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh my gosh, delicious .
Yeah, I've heard ropa vieja,I've heard cafe guano.
I, you know, it's when I'm when.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
I'm down in.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Miami.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I have to, I have to make a yeah, there's definitely,
there's definitely the pick ofthe litter to to grab on that.
Oh, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Well, danny, to close , what is one thing you would
like our listeners to walk awaywith when it comes to the
Hispanic consumer?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So so definitely, if you know, if you're in the real
estate market, whether you'reHispanic or not, it doesn't
really matter.
Hispanic home ownership is onthe rise and, like we said,
there's no signs of it slowingdown.
So, you know, familiarizeyourself with kind of the
culture points, with kind of thefamily oriented points that
we've made on the podcast andand kind of dive yourself into a
(20:56):
way to obtain that business andcreate lasting relationships.
So that would probably be mytakeaway Make sure you're
tapping into the market, you'recreating real, authentic
relationships, because theHispanic home ownership movement
is is just on the rise and andwe're gonna continue to see it
grow over the next you know, 10,15, 20 years amazing advice.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Totally agree with you, danny, danny Well, thank
you very much for your time.
We truly, truly appreciate itand thank you all for listening.
For the latest industryinsights, subscribe to mortgage
connects on appcom, to mortgageconnects on Apple, stitcher,
google, podcast, spotify, amazonmusic or go to mortgage
connects comm.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.