Redefining Mortgage Success with Skylar Welch

Welcome back to Mortgage Daddies. Today, we’ve got a special guest all the way down, or all the way, yeah, down here from Maine, which is quite a ride. I appreciate you coming. Skyler- Absolutely. I’m excited to be here. Little mortgage mommy on Mortgage Daddies today. Right? I know, we have to bring in some, you know, female into the show for a change. It’s usually just- exciting. Mortgage legend right here. Female legend in an all boys club. We hear it all the time, Mortgage Daddies, so what better to bring on one of the best female mortgage off- loan officers in the country? I always, like, still try to say, like, that I’m, like, the new girl in town. And then people are like, “You can’t say that anymore, Sky. “am likeI still feel like I am, but, but I’m not. I, I remember when I first kinda came in- into the business in, in our town, people were like, “Who is this girl? “Like, “What are they- What are- Like, where’d she come from? “And, you know, ’cause I was everywhere and I was out there. And then they would say, “You can do things that are likeIt would be weird if I did that as, like, a guy. “I’m like, “What do you mean? “They’re like, “I- it would just be creepy or something. “I’m like, I was like, “Yeah, there is an advantage of being a girl in the mortgage world because it’s not, um, weird being, like, thoughtful or, um, concerned or, like, check in. “Like, sometimes, you know, people will be like, “Oh, that’s a little bit weird. “Or things like that, but it, it’s not coming Yeah, you can send flowers and gifts. meLike, you’re marketing everything that you do. If I send my client flowers, it’s “Why did you send me flowers? “Yeah. Yeah, they think you’re hitting on them. And it’sYeah, a little bit weird. Yeah, then we have other problems. No, you’re marketing everything you do. I know you spoke at UWM Live. Yeah. Done a bunch of public speaking. The way you go about building your business over the last couple years, you wanna talk a little bit about that? Sure. And that has nothing to do with male or female. I mean, you’re just a rock star, right? You’ve always been a t- one of the top producers. You know, talk about how, maybe as a female, you had to do different, you know, different things than Craig or I would’ve done, youYeah, I think a lot of it too is just, like, being taken seriously. Um, I cannot even count the amount of times I’ve been asked, like, “How long have you been doing this? How, uh, how long have you been in the business? Um, can I talk to your manager? Can I”Like, I get a- I’ve gotten asked that so many times. And I think sometimes too, like, people think I’m younger than I am or I sound younger than I am or things. sometimes I just wanna say, “I promise you that, like, you could talk to whoever you want, but I’ve closed more deals than them, right? “Like, “I’ve seen more situations than them. “Yeah. “I know the answer. “Like, uh, and then when I say, like, “Oh, I’ve been doing this for 15 years. “They’re like, “How old are you? “Or if I say, like, “I have a 13-year-old,” they’re like,You know? And I’m like, “I’m not that young, guys. “You know? It’s just, I think a lot of times too, it’s just, umTruly, like, being taken seriously, um, has been the hardest and, um, biggest obstacle. But how I’ve really, really, truly grown my business is just by being, um, like, authentically, uh, putting value towards everything I do. Um, nothing that I do in my business is, um, for any sort of gain other than I wanna come into a situation with adding value. I never go into trying to build a relationship with someone with my hand out. I never go in saying, like, “What are you going to give me? What, what is, what’s that going to look like? “I go in with a situation and saying, like, “Hey, I’d love to be an option for you, but, like, how can I help you grow your business? “And I’ve poured into that entirely. Um, 1, on one side of things, I really focus heavily on creating, like, this ultimate mortgage experience where people aren’t ever going to wanna go anywhere else, right? Like, if they have a mortgage experience with me, they’re like, “Why, why would I go do that somewhere else? “That’sRight? And, and I focus so heavily on genuinely building that relationship and making sure I’m staying top of mind, right? Like, I do silly, cute little things all the time through throughout the process that makes that experience just a little bit over the top, right? Like, do I have to send out confetti-filled pre-qual cards every day? No. Like, do I? Yeah, because it’s fun. Like, no other reason other than, like, it’s exciting for people to get pre-qualified for a house and it’s exciting for them to start the process, so why not make it a celebration? Right? Awesome. Same thing with my real estate agents, right? Like, I have classes all the time. I do content with them all the time. I do things to promote their listings, promote their business, help them get, uh, exposure, help them get experiences, give them any resources that they can to ultimately grow their business and teach them how to grow their business more than just be like- Mm-hmm. “Hey, I’ll pay for a lead for you. “Or, I, I just don’t see the value in that, right? I see the value in genuinely, um, being a partner with them rather than, uh, just being like, uh, someone that throws money at something that probably isn’t gonna get followed up on. This is a different way to build a relationship. You’re gonna gain the referral network. Right. If your clients like you, trust you, they’re gonna refer you business. And then over time, if you do the right thing over and over again, you build that brand for yourself. Correct. And, you know, I don’t wanna toot your horn a- any more than I probably already have over the lastsince I’ve known you for a couple years, but you’re known as, like, one of the most professional mortgage people in the industry, right? Like, you had the way you conduct yourself at events, with your clients, across the board everywhere. Uh, and one of the big things that you do that really shocks me, and we were talking about it before and I already knew some of it, but the amount you give back to the community and, you know, local sports for your kids, like, you’re super involved in that aspect of it, as is Craig. Yeah. I’ve been doing, you know, nonprofit work-Since way before I was even in the mortgage business. And just giving back, that shows the community that you’re involved, that you want to be there. Mm-hmm. think too many times in this business, people either try to get into the business or they look at a top producer or somebody doing well and they say, “What is he doing? “Or like, “What is she doing? “Right. And you kind of justYou know, while we were just talking in the office, you’re like, “Fern, I go to every single one of my kids’ games. Like I, I do my best. I almost never miss a game. “Right. And I’m like, “I don’t know if I could possibly pull that off. “And you’re like, “Well, you just have to prioritize that-” Right. “and work the relationships there and start getting some of the business in that atmosphere, in that environment. “And then that’s a whole nother avenue and streamline of business coming in for you. It is. I think that 2 things happened, um, in my life that kind of made all of that, um, happen. So one, I was feeling like extreme burnout. Like, extreme burnout, to the point that I felt like I was going to quit and never come back and I didn’t care, right? Like, that was the problem, right? Yeah. I genuinely love what I do. I genuinelyBut I think the reason I love what I do is ’cause I genuinely love helping people and that’s what fills my cup, right? Like, I wish that all, all I did in my life was, like, plan nonprofit events. That’s all I want to do. build, like, sports booster programs and plan nonprofit events. Like, is that a job that can, fund my life? Like, sign me up, right? Like, that’s- Sign me up too. That’s all I want to do because that’s what makes me so happy, right? And that’s what fills my mind, um, is I love to make people feel special and I love to create e- experiences for people. That is, like, what I love to do and that’s what I’ve really tried to put into the, the mortgage world, right? And, you know, we went through a couple of years of like crazy, crazy business, right? I was closing over 10 million a month for 2 years straight every month by myself. Shared a processor, barely had a s- Like, all these things with 3 kids under 5. I’m like, “I’m going to literally die. “And it, uh- Correct. You got s- way too many kids. Way too many kids. Right. But it was too much and it wasn’t fulfilling to me anymore. And then we went drastically to the other side of things where rates went hi- went higher. There was no inventory. There were 4 listings in the biggest city in our state at 1 point. How am I going to close 30 loans a month if there are 4 listings in the biggest city in my entire state? So I start panicking, thinking like, “What am I gonna do? Oh, what do I do? “Like, “I’ve gotta figure this out. “I go and get licensed in a ton of states. I go and, um, cast this huge, huge, huge net and doing a million different things and I started asking myself like, “Wait a minute, like, no one’s getting 100% of me right now. “I’m giving a little tiny portion of me in a million different directions and it’s not equating to more business. It’s equating to unfocused, inconsistent reach out, inconsistent everything. And I was like, “Okay, this really isn’t working and it’s making me crazy. “Right? ForBecause I’m like, “Oh my God, I’m over here thinking I need to go be big in Vermont and I’m not even big on my own street? “Like, you have to get real with yourself. Like, really real with yourself. Like, I asked myself like, “Am I the number one mortgage broker on my street? “I’ve never done a deal on my street. I think I’m gonna go be big in Vermont and I haven’t done a deal on my street. Like, that, there’s a problem, right? So I became like super, super micro-focused and that’s where I poured completely into my community because that’s where I’m spending my time. Now I’m at a point where I don’t have babies anymore. I have kids that are playing sports 7 nights a week and I started feeling this guilt of I’m, I’m never, as their mom, going to miss anything that they do. But I was feeling guilty of leaving work early every day. So I’m like, “Well, if I’m gonna be there, I better be working. Like, I’m going to be shaking my tail feather all over those, uh, those fields, right? “But by, in a way, that I’m giving back to the community. I sponsor every single one of their sports teams. I have my name on all their shirts. I have my banners at all their games. And that, that’s great, but then I took it to another level, right? I was like, “Well, what else can we do here? “Um, we had, like, a, a football program that was in its rebuilding phase and I just wantedUm, selfishly, I wanted my boys to have a different experience when they’re in high school and I wanted their core memories to be really special and I didn’t feel like when I showed up to the game the year before that it was, so I created s- a tailgate for the town. We, I show up there every single week, and we’re setting it up, and we have balloons, and we have a chili cook-off and a wing cook-off, and we have a DJ. We have all these things happening. The amount of balloons she goes through on a yearly basis is gonna be- have you start showing up-more than I already at TYA. Correct. Correct. No, for real. Now, uh, an, um, another amazing mom in my community, who actually is another mortgage, um, professional as well, we both really combined together, and we’ve built this community for them. Now it’s such a feel-good moment, right? Because I know we’re creating these core memories for these boys. The parents are, like, thanking us, like, “Oh my God,” like, “Look what you’ve done for our community. “But I’m not feeling guilty about leaving work because my, I’m giving back to where my, I’m already spending my time. I think what happens a lot in this mortgage world, and I even had this conversation with a real estate agent yesterday. She’s like, “How can I be more involved in my community? How can I be more involved? Like, I see all the things you’re doing. “You know, we do a huge backpack drive. That is one of my most favorite things to do. We fill over 500 backpacks for, um, an area that is, really needs help, right? it’s my favorite time of the year. Like, I love it so much, and I cry the whole way there and the whole way back when I’m dropping them off, and that’s a feel-good moment for me. That fills my cup. We have a holiday light competition in my whole town. Why? Now I’m getting in front of every single person in that town. I’m promoting a holiday light competition. So you and your family can drive around, look at lights on Christmas Eve morning. We, I ask all the area businesses to, what do they have to do? Oh, hey, who wants to sponsor each of the prizes? Now I’m promoting those businesses. Main point lending is holiday light competition. And now I have access to blast every single person in that town. Now it’s more name recognition. Now it’s company recognition. Now all these things are happening. But really, I’m still marketing, but I’m giving back to the community. You’re community. Right? Because I love to create those core memories. I love to create those experiences. Now all the families are like, “Oh my God, I can’t wait. “Like, “When is it starting? “Like, “You should see what we did. “Like, we had a 12-year-old decorate his entire house, and he put so much into it. And I was like, “This is what I want it to be,” right? And then we go around, we judge. I get celebrity judges, right? The coaches of the teams, the fire chief, the police chief, the school principals, and now those pockets of people are now knowing about it. Now marketing’s there. So now you’re, you’re reaching all these different demographics. But I just became so focused on that, right? And, and where I already am. So I was talking to that real estate agent. She was like, “Well, what should I do? Should I go in the sports team? Should I this? “I’m like, “Well, you don’t have any kids in sports. Like, would that be weird? “Like, no, I mean, you can do whatever, right? But, like, where are you spending your time? You go to the gym a lot, you work out a lot. Pour into that community. Mm-hmm. Pour into that gym community. Do you, um, volunteer somewhere? Are you a member of a golf cor- Whatever it is. Wherever you are already spending your time, pour into that community of where you’re spending your time. Don’t try to recreate it, right? Like, don’t be like, “Oh, I’m going to go be”You know, I’m, like, it’s like me saying, like, I’m gonna go, like, pour into this gym community when I’ve never been to a gym in my life. Yeah, it doesn’t work. Yeah. stupid. Like- Same. You know, let’s not be, I’m not gonna pretend, like, but you know what I mean? Like, let’s be realistic of, like, your business can come naturally from wherever you are. And when you try to force it, like if I, if I was like, “I’m gonna, I’m gonna start calling leads,” I’d be living a miserable life. Yeah. Right? It’s never been my- Because it’s not-my business, orit’s not natural for me. Yeah. Right? Like, but if I said, like, “I’m gonna go make it a goal that I’m gonna go to this many networking meetings a, a week. I’m gonna go to meet with this many agents. I’m gonna build”Great. Like, that, that- I think so many loan officers think, like, they have to, like, reinvent the wheel, or there’s some special sauce, or there’s some- Correct. special thing, or, “Yeah, I don’t have this, that’s why I’m not successful. “No, you have every ability to do it. You just don’t wanna go put the work in- Right. to do it. You don’t have to go spend tens of thousands of dollars a month- Not at all. to close business. You just have to put that work in and network with the right people. Mm-hmm. And that’s just a snowball effect that just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger the more you do it. I also think networking with people that you’re comfortable networking with, right? Yeah. Like, my demographic is, like, I don’t know, like, 25 to 60 year old women. Like, that’s, that is who sends me business. Yeah. Period. Like, I, most of my, um, business are from working moms. Why? Because I connect with them. Yeah, they get it. Like, like, we connect on a, on a personal level. Yeah. And that’s what’s always been attracted to working withAnd they’re not gonna be mad if you can’t talk because you’re giving your kid a bath- Every, everything. at 8:00 at night. Everything. Right, like- Where some guy that’s single and, you know- Yeah. just insane is not going to relate with that. Right. And, like, is gonna make that into a problem. Right. Like, “Oh, she’s never available. “Definitely. I have a life. There’s- Craig, I feel like we’re being left out here. Like, we always get in trouble in this business, that it’s a male-dominated business. And now I’m sitting here thinking, like, my wife runs my life. Yeah. Like, if my wife’s like, “Hey, we’re gonna use that mortgage person or that lender. “Correct. Probably gonna go with my wife. Yeah. This guy’s already figured it out. She’s like, “I’m just gonna work with 25 to 60 year old women. “Yeah. You, you know, but that’s the thing is, it’s just, I think the problem that people have in this mortgage world when you’re in mortgage or real estate, honestly, is trying, is trying too hard, right? But not trying in the right way. You’re trying to force something that’s not natural. the secret sauce of all of it is you’ve gotta grind. Like, you have to put the work in. And I think that so many people in this world, I can’t tell you the amount of times people have said things to me like, “Oh, must be, like, nice to have that life. “Like, “Oh, must be nice to just go to lunch with realtors every day. Must be nice to just, you know, have a ski condo and live this life. “I’m like-Guys, I worked 17 hours a day for over a decade. Like nothing was ha- I’ll switch with you. Nothing was handed to me. No- I live in a town that I live, I grew up 5 hours from there. I, my husband’s from another state. Like I know, knew no one, no one, right? It’s not like I, I’m in my hometown where everybody knows me and I live in a populated area. Like none of those things are the case. Right. You know, and I think that sometimes people are like, “Oh, there’s not a lot of people,” or, “Oh, there’s not a lot of this. “Like most places in the country, their city has bigger, is more populated than my state. Yeah. Right? Like the opportunities are there. It’s just you have to put in the work and the work has to be consistent and it has to be genuine. That’s it. Like there’s nothing else. And I can’t tell you the amount of people that I’ve brought into the business, I’ve trained, I’ve coached, I brought, I’ve poured everything in and given them the entire playbook to be successful. And then they just don’t show up and they don’t put in the work. And then they’re like- How many times people do it once and then they don’t have success? Yeah. And then they’re like, “Oh, this doesn’t work. “Yeah. Well, how many open houses do you think I went to to be able to close the business? It wasn’t one. Right. It wasn’t 2. There were some that I went to, there was nobody there. Correct. Me too. There was plenty that, but there was an opportunity there to hang out with that agent. Mm-hmm. Spent time. Didn’t have to take him to lunch. Didn’t have to go spend money. Correct. Just go and be able to put the work in. But like what you’re doing is you’re giving, giving, giving. Mm-hmm. And eventually it’s just gonna come back. Yeah. You’re not asking for anything. Never. Too many people are so pushy. Like, “Hey, I want to take you out. I want business. “Right. Everybody wants business. I’ve been, I’ve given like, uh, I’ve been doing a lot for, like pouring in a lot of time into one real estate office. It’s time, right? It’s ideas. It’s, it’s, I mean, that’s it genuinely what it is. And people are like, and they said to me, “If one more lender asks me to coffee, I’m gonna lose my mind. “They’re like, “You didn’t come ask us for coffee. You came in and said, ‘Hey, I have this idea. This is how I’d like to help your agents grow. ‘” And that’s what it is, right? Yeah. They come to my office every single week and I literally, what I do is I create, uh, sales competitions and contests and fun and ideas, engage them. Last week we did like a, um, like almost like a script competition, like contests, right? So that they could get comfortable on the phone, they could get comfortable with rejection, they could get comfortable with those things. Is any of this stuff costing me money? No. No. Like, am I, I did like cold call bingo, right? Like, okay, it’s fun. Like they get, give them a bowl of M&M’s and say, “Here’s your bingo card. “Like, “Get rejected 3 times. There you go. Get a yes. Here you go. Send a preapproval here. “Whatever it is, right? But it creates fun, right? And that’s all I’m doing is creating these atmospheres for them, but giving back and pouring and motivating them. And guess what deals are happening. Deals are happening. I’m not asking them for anything in return, but it’s naturally coming because I’m building these relationships by helping them grow their business. you’re staying top of mind without having to spend- Of course. a ton of money. I mean, so many people spend a fortune paying for leads and then you’re not really staying top of mind ’cause now you’re not- Correct. You have that mentality, “Well, I’m paying for this business. “Right. So, you know, “I’m paying into marketing-” Mm-hmm. “to try to get this business. “Right. “And it’s expected. “And you know, eventually that doesn’t really work out ’cause there’s gonna be somebody else that’s gonna go in there. Right. And is gonna put that work in, is gonna show up. Mm-hmm. And go to those open houses or provide a value. So it’s like either you gotta do both. I always say like that money or that marketing gets you a foot in the door. Right. But that doesn’t get you the deal. Right. What’s something that’s frustrating to me though, on the other side of that, is pouring, pouring, pouring, pouring into adding so much value to agents. And then someone goes and throws 150 bucks to leads and like, “Oh, I have to send them the business. “drives me crazy and happens all the time. And I feel like I toggle between the 2 being like, I’ve never, I’ve never bought leads and I’ve never gone that route. I’ve always been the route of value, but I’m thinking, but I think in my head like, should I be doing that? Is that easier? Is that what p- is that why they’d send me business, like? I think it’s shortsighted on the, the agent’s part, right? ‘Cause you’re training them and do it, right? Right? But they do it. Oh, no. They definitely do. that’s, that’s what’s so frustrating, right? Like I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that. And I go between it all the time in my head being like, “What am I doing wrong,” right? Likethe way you’re doing it, you’re building long-term relationships. to win thatAlthough the loan officer who’s paying for that business bails one or two times, they’re like, “Well, you know what? “Yeah. “Sky’s never let me down. She helped me train this. “And I think over time, they’ll come back around. Yeah. And if they no- if they don’t- I think that’s a very valid point. Like, you’re gonnaOr in this business, you’re gonna have people that you think you work with or are loyal to- Yeah. and then somebody’s gonna come in and now they think it’s better. Right. 90% of the time, it’s best to just let it go- Right. because it’s gonna blow up. Yeah. The people that are spending the money are not gonna get what they want out of it- Right. and then it’s gonna die off, and then they’re gonna come back to you- Right. because you’re the one providing that value. I mean, I do both. I do a little bit of both on my side. Like I do spend money on some marketing stuff, but with some bigger teams and some bigger values. Yeah. But it’s like the- there’s an expectation there as well, but it doesn’t stop all the other stuff- Right. as well, you know? Yeah. I think that’s the key is whatThe, the loan officers that are coming in and competing in any market the way that this other person is, they make one mistake, they’re out. Yeah. And it’s jeopardizing their reputation, who they are. They’re usually the fly-by-nights, right? Like Craig has seen it now, what, six years in the business? How many loan officers come in and we’re like, “Oh, they’re coming in. They’re gonna spend this, they’re gonna do this. “Mm-hmm. I’m “Give them three months-” I think it’s frustrating though,they think they’re just gonna pay for it. “Because I’m like, I have worked with you for 10 years. I’ve poured everything in. I’ve never messed up a deal. I go above and beyond for it, and then someone’s gonna pay 100 bucks for your leads and you’re just gonna send the deals to them? I just lost one of the agents I’ve worked with forPretty much since I’ve started. Yeah. Right. And I paid money into marketing stuff- Yeah. but they wanted more money- Yeah. and they were starting their own thing. And I was like, “Listen, I’m at this number here ’cause this is what kinda makes sense. “Right, right. here’s some options that we can kinda make this work. “frustrating, right? It’s like- Yeah, and I’m like, “Are you kidding me right now? “Like, it’s just It’s such a, like, thankless, uhIt’s bec-This is what keeps happening, right? And I feel like even in, like, the, like the day-to-day with clients. This is a perfect example. I worked with this client for two years, run- Millions. millions of proc- Payments. payments for them. I know exactly where you’re going with this. And they finally went under new construction. We’ve just built an entire house together. They tell me it’s done, it’s time to order the final inspection. They start shopping me. And I literally cut my comp to basically zero just to keep the deal at a principle because I’m so frustrated. Mm-hmm. Right? And it’s like, well, w- what are you gonna do? I just feel like no one, cares anymore. Like, n- no one- The loyalty has gone down, that’s why I think it’s important. You’ve been doing this a long time. Craig hears me, uh, say this all the time is, the people that have been loyal w- to me, and I’ve seen them go through the cycle. Right. They’ve had the people come in, and sometimes you letBut then when they come back, or maybe they never left you. Yeah. Those are the people I’m, I’m going to war with. Right. Right? Like, stick me in that, that foxhole- Definitely. because there’s so many new agents that came out during and post-COVID. Correct. And then they had instantaneous success. Mm-hmm. And then the rates went up and inventory, like you talked about, there’s four houses. Right. How many agents are no longer in the business? Correct. So it’s like you thought you were cool, you wanted to go to that loan officer. How many loan officers have gotten out of the business in the last few years? So- But those are the loan officers that aren’t lasting, right? Yep. Because they came into a market where you’re shooting fish in a barrel and now they have to learn to fish, and they don’t want to. They’re like, “Oh, I’m just gonna sit here and wait for my phone to ring. “Never happened. Well, it’s not gonna ring, you know? And I think those of us that started before that and had to learn toYeah. You know, when I first got in the business, like, I was being tw- paid $12 an hour to be an LOA. I was, uh, pregnant with my first baby. And I’m like, “This is not gonna work,” right? And I went and I reached outI got licensed probably three days before I gave birth to our first baby. And I literally reached out, got back from maternity leave at six week, when the baby was six weeks old, and I reached out to all 4,800 real estate agents in the state of Maine. Every single one, individually. And I drove all over that state to anyone that would give me the time of day. Anyone that would literally say yes to me, I would drive there. Hours. Cool. There were days that I was driving five hours to a place, two hours a day. People were like, “What are you doing? “Like, guys, they said they would give me a chance, right? Like, I, I, I have to take these opportunities. To this day, some of those agents are still agents that work with me. Awesome. And the thing is, though, is like, you have to put that work in. And then I stayed consistent with that. Then I would stop by all the time. They used toSome of the agents used to call me the Treat Fairy, right? Because I would just show up like, “I’mI want you to see my face consistently, consistently. “And sometimes it took a year, sometimes it took two years, but they finally sent me a deal. And then, then, I would execute that transaction so well. They’re like, “Holy”Like, “Why would Yeah, that’s all you wanted to yeah. “Why would I ever”I’m like, “I just need you to give me a chance to show you how great this transaction’s gonna be. “And then, then, then it will sell itself. ThenLike, I’m not worried about that once that happens. But just to get that opportunity. What happens all the time is like, “Oh, I, I went to lunch with a real estate agent. It went great. I know I’m gonna get their business. “Week goes by, two weeks go by. “Hey, how’s it going with that real estate agent? “”I haven’t heard from them yet. “”Well, did you follow up? Did you email them? “Yeah. “Did you call them? Did you stop by their office? Did you ask if they need help with an open house this weekend? Did you ask if this””Well, no, but it was a really good meeting. “”Well, guess what? Someone walked in right behind you and said they had great rates. “So they probably went with them. They said they had great turn times. “Like, cares? Like, that’s notEverybody is trying to sell rate and turn time and this and that. Like, anyone can walk in behind you. You have to prove yourself different. You have to give them something else of value in order to, to do that, right? In order to actually get the businesses, you have to show what sets you apart from them. Um, but th- but saying that, I’m starting to feel like that’s not even enough anymore. Right? think it is. Just stay patient, stay on the course because the trainings and the relationship and the coaching- Yeah. at the end of the day, you’re helping them build their business. Correct. And like, a lot ofI’ve been doing this for a minute now, so going on, like, 20 years. Getting old? There’s been a lot of agents that their first transactions I did. Yeah. And now they’re, they’re, they’re, they’re mega producers, right? So- Yeah. it’s an old school phone call at this point, right? Correct. Like, you’re, you’re, you’re at that point too where it’s like, all right, le- You can’t be to everybody, like you can’t be- Mm-hmm. you’re, you’re gonna be Skyler, you’re Sky, right? Right. Like you, you get what you pay for, you get what you see. Mm-hmm. Or just move on. There’s enough business out there. Right. And I look at it this way, and I told to, like to Craig and some of the other producers, I’m like, “Let them choose somebody else and let them go through that experience. “Right. then it’s on us to make sure that our experience that they had before was the best. Right. Or the best that you could do. They’re coming back. That’s myWhen you- Right. one goes because of rate or something crazy. Right. It’s like you helped them figure it all out. They come to you, they couldn’t get pre-approved. You get them pre-approved, you tell them the whole scenario of how it needs to work, how to do it. They go under contract and they call the other person back. And now they can give you a better rate and do, copy the same thing you- Right. did for them. And then that doesn’t go well, and then they come back begging- Right. because they can’t close on the house and they’re about to lose it. It’s the best. Those are the best ones. I know. Those are those wins. Those are what fill my cup- Right. when I can be like, “I told you so. “Right. “You should have listened,” and then making sure that those agents get that. You know, one thing that I really try to tell the loan officers or even the agents too, it’s like, you know, somebody might give you a buyer as a, as an agent. Right. You know, you might give somebody a buyer and they want to try to get their business or maybe they’ll spend money, but at the end of the day, you know, as an agent is your reputation- HowYeah. How youimportant to you? Because if your reputation is not important to you and you take those leads or you work with that loan officer, doesn’t matter where it came from. Well, if it’s a bad experience on that side and it doesn’t go smooth and it doesn’t close or it’s a, you know, shitty experience altogether- Correct. well, guess what? You’re never gonna get business back. So you’re short-sighted and you’re looking at that one deal. Mm-hmm. But how many other deals is it gonna cost you? Exactly. It is. It’s, it’s frustrating and it’s, it’s hard, but you know, it’s justAnd I think that that’s why people leave, right? That’s why people are like, “I don’t want to do this business anymore. “I was just reading, totally unrelated to this, VRBO, Airbnb’s down. Mm. Right? Mm-hmm. Because people are obviously traving- traveling outside of the country post-COVID, all these other things. But there was an age group, and I can’t remember what it was, so let’s just make up an 20-year age group- Yeah. 25 to 45 or 30 to s- to 50. It’s that they want the experience. Yeah. Like somebody wants the experience. So when I think of if I was gonna go buy a house, I want to experience the best level of service and I’m gonna look and ask for referrals. Mm-hmm. When somebody asks for a referral for a mortgage, I want them to say Verna Miles. Correct. I want them to say Craig Snell or something. Correct. Right? Like depending upon your market. Right. At this point, I think the, the age groups that you’re looking at and your, our clientele, if you want to change up your experience and you’re an agent and you want to deal with four different loan officers, I don’t want to work with you. Okay. Like I tell people all the time, like, “If I don’t get 70, 80% of all of your business-” Mm-hmm. “don’t expect me to, like, coach your realtors-” Right. coach you, keep you in the loop, take you on a-” But how do those conversations go? Like I feel like I personally, I would, I, I never have those conversations. And sometimes I feel like that’s, that’s a problem that I have, right? Is that I’m not saying, like, “I’m doing all of this for you and I know that I’m not getting a lot of your business. “Okay. You know what I mean? I will say this. I learned more from working side by side with Craig Snell because I never did that. Right. And he- And then I’d hear Craig on the phone and he’s like, “Wait, w- what do you mean? You’re doing this and you’veI’ve been working with that buyer for nine months, helping them pull it, like-” Yeah. improve their credit, going through all this. And then you as the agent referred them out because you saw that”- Yeah. “XYZ local bank or broker had a little bit better deal? “And Craig’s like, “Hey, this is the t- it’s fantastic. I totally understand it. “Yeah. “Do not send me any more of your clients. “And then I remember I never looked at it from a client base. I used to tell Craig when he first started, I’m like, “Craig, there is never a better day in a salesperson’s life than when you fire a referral partner. “Yeah. It’s because it’s almost like that person that you, you worked in, you haven’t always been in mortgages, that person in the office that’s the cancer, that it neverThey never seem to get in trouble. Right. But it ne- Like, the bosses never know that they’re the cancer. Right. And then they, they magically leave, it all comes out- Yeah. and you’re like, “Why did no one say anything to me? “Like- Right. Right. Right? Like, I think, like, one thing that I realized at a certain point, like, as my reputation started to grow in this area- Mm-hmm. and I’m like you, I work in a very small- Yeah. like, 95% of my business, you could drive there within 30 minutes. Right. So that’s important. And I use that as a big selling point to the agents and the buyers that I’m working with. Right. Like, listen, there’s a reason why your preapproval is gonna getYour, your- Accepted,is important, right? Your offer’s gonna get accepted with- Mm-hmm. my name on it, versus Joe Blow that nobody heard of. Right. When I got into this business, I had to work against that. Of course. But now I use that to my benefit. Right. And I tell the agents this because how many times have you worked with a buyer and you’re shopping for house after house after house and you’re wasting all your time? You’re not making any more money. Correct. If you show one house or you show 50 houses and you’re losing offer after offer. So if I can help you, 1, structure that offer to be as competitive as possible so that your buyer has the best chance. Plus I can give a call to the listing agent that I know. Okay. Or I can give a call to the office or whoever it is- So important. that I know. That’s huge, right? And if that is something that can get you into a house, is that more important? Because yeah, maybe somebody else is gonna pay for leads or somebody else is gonna give you a buyer once in a while, but on all those buyers you can’t get your offers accepted, what good is that? Right. What would youLike, in, we’re in different markets, right? Massachusetts is different than Maine. Would you say is, like, w- when you’re c- who are, who are you guys competing against? Is it more retail? Is it more, uh, local banks? Is it more credit unions? Like, where would you say that you’re, like, if you’re losing business toIf people are shopping, shopping, shopping, like, what type of demographic is that too? I’d say the people that tend to shop you are more so a certain client- Yeah. than anything. LikeI agree. It’s typically, you know, either most of the time it’s, like, that more A paper- Mm-hmm. Agree. conventional, more money down, you know, they’re- Engineer. Yeah. Let’s just call what it is. It’s a fun podcast. people that- the engineer-type people. Yeah. you know, maybe don’t need as much. It, it really bothers me on the people that shop you after, when you- Always. took all that time and you really, “Hey, you want to shop me-” It’s so frustrating. or it’s like that- Right. right away conversation, like, this is just a straight rate shop. Like, I’m not gonna- Right. help you. W- There was no need to help you. There was no payments that I run. You justOr you’re under contract. Right, hey, you wanna do that? Right. Agreed. It is what it is. I don’t care. The people that spent a year, like, I- Yeah. it p- I wish we had a buyer’s agency- Me too. contract like realtors do. It’s killing me. If I’m gonna put in a mo- year’s worth of work or 6 months worth of work, or talk to you at 8 o’clock on, at, on- Every single weekend of your life. or on the weekends, like, there needs to be some type of a guarantee that when you close on a house, you know- agree. this is gonna be. It’s not fair. And that, that drives me nuts when that happens. Yeah. And that’s whenYou know, I won’t even get into that. No, you want to go? Go. I’m done withIt’s been happening so much to me, and, um, lately just, you know, because everyone is seeing these, like, “Oh, get this rate online,” like- Yeah. But doesn’t anything. And then it’s not there at the end because we’ve been- Right. doing this for so long. And, and this is the frustrating part, I guess, is think of it like this. Like, okay, you help someone for a year running numbers every time, this and that, because they know you’re gonna do that. The agent knows you’re gonna do that. They know you’re gonna do it. And then they’re like, then it’s almost like this educational piece, like, don’t go then tell your client to go shop rates. Don’t do it. Oh, it’s the realtor, I’m done with them. Right. They’re, they’re done. Like, don’t tell them that, because guess what? do you want me to tell that- Yeah. buyer that they should go shop different agents- Right. and go find an agent that’s gonna do it- Especially now that there’s-at 2% or- Well, I was gonna say, now that-one percent orNow that there’s these fees, like, and I, and I said that to someone once. I was like, “You want me to tell them, like, you’re charging them two and a half percent? I know an agent that will do it for 2. “After you just worked with them and showed them f- 50 houses, because that’s what it’s like for me. And it’s like it that for me far too often these days. And- And the sad part is it’s over like an 8th of a percent. Right. And it’s not that we’re trying to do anything different. We are quoting a rate on a Tuesday and they went down on a Thursday. Correct. That’s the part where I’m like- Correct. you guys are comparing- Or it’s-oranges and apples. Or it’s an online bot that doesn’t even know- Yeah. what the heck they’re doing, so they’re, they’re not charging anything because there’s not a person that’s actually making sure your deal- There’s nobody that’s going to have a conversation with you- There’s not even a card report at 8 o’clock, like, there’s-and make sure that your deal is gonna get done and make sure that they actually know the guidelines ’cause it’s a call center that you have someone that could be working at Chuck E. Cheese last week. Mm-hmm. And now the deal falls apart and now you look bad, but they had a sixthteenth of a point better interest rate, so. Go- Go- Going back to that, the VRBO and Airbnb, it’s the experience. Correct. Everybody’s looking for that unique experience. And now when I was reading that article, I just popped in my head ’cause you said- Yeah. about the experience again, is people are going glamping and they’re setting up all of these- Yeah. these, these, like, little tent area, the canvas under the, the, this- I love that stuff. It’s wild. This one, th- this, this group has already opened like 14 of them nationwide, fully booked for like- Yeah. 3 years because people don’t want to be- Mm-hmm. renting a house or in, so much in a hotel. They’re going for the experience. I mean, for me, I’m not trying to sleep in the woods- Yeah. with no running water or hot water and things like that. Craig loves that stuff. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. that’s, did all that stuff when I was younger. I’m a bad boy. But that’s, like, the same thing I’m trying toLike, I have a wedding venue, right? Yeah. And that’s, when I built my wedding venue, that is what I was focused on, is that experience, right, is that there are no other venues in the state of Maine that have the thoughtfulness that went into what is needed during a week in a wedding, right? Like, the getting ready areas, the suites, the spaces, like, even just the amenities in each of the space, like a photographer, a hair and makeup people come in, they’re like-I don’t ever want to work anywhere else because the lighting, the amount of plugs, the charging station, the mode station, like all these things are likeWe usually have a folding chair in the corner of a hotel room and we’re hanging our dresses on the curtain rods, when you have a whole steaming station and area for all this. Like- Awesome. Those are the thingsBut you ha- Those are the things, like every aspect of my life, I’m like, “Okay, I do this in the mortgage side, in the wedding world, as a friend, as a parent. “Uh, all those things, right? It’s all about creating that experience and that is, you knowIf I’m stressed, like I’m gonna have a 30-person sit down private chef meal in my backyard that looks like a wedding becauseFor all the people I love. People are like, “Are you telling us something? “Like- Pregnant again. I always, kind of like bring it back to like a contractor, right? Yeah. You can go and you can hire somebody to- Right. remodel your house. You’re gonna live through this remodel. Right. Or build a house for you. You’re gonna, you’re gonna live through this. Yeah. Just like you’re gonna live through this mortgage process. Mm-hmm. You can go with the person with the highest quote, the middle quote or the lowest quote. Mm. Typically what happens is when you go with the lowest quote, it’s a terrible experience. Right. You end up spending more money by the end of it because they underbid it. That’s great analogy. You had additional costs that they didn’t originally tell you about- Right. which is exactly what ends up happening with a lot of those. Or you’re paying fees that you didn’t even realize you were paying fees- Right. ’cause they told you a rate and they didn’t tell you about all the points or the origination charges. Correct. Or whatever. Or it changed, you know, after, down the line. So the lowest one is usually a bad experience. Right. The highest one, the middle one, somewhere in the middle. And all 3 of w- I mean, we all do the same thing. Right. Our rates are good. Correct. But could you find a better rate somewhere else? You always can. Right. Somebody will always undercut you. You can always go through it. Correct. But at the end of the day, you’re never gonna have that experience. Right. I don’t wanna work with somebody that wants that cheap experience. Right. That’s not me. I am not- Mm-hmm. the lowest contractor bid. Okay. I’m not gonna bullshit you, I’m not gonna lie to you. When I say I’m gonna be there, I’m gonna be there, I’m gonna show up. Correct. That low bid contractor is not that person, right? Don’tThey’re gonna lie to you. They’re gonna promise you the world, and they are not going to deliver. Mm-mm. I’m the opposite. I’m gonna promise something and I’m gonna over-deliver on it. Okay. And that’s gonna be your experience. And it’s the same thing in anything in life. I love that analogy. And it’s finding the people and getting that message to the consumer. Mm-hmm. And pushing that. Like your wedding venue. Right. You should go highlight all that stuff. Right. Look how many plugs we have. Look at all the- Right. Because when you look overview, right, and you go look at the pictures online- Mm-hmm. you can’t tell that stuff. Right. But those are the little things that once you start to show- Definitely. people that, you’re like, “Oh, wow, I didn’t even realize this,” right? Right. “I didn’t think about that. “A lot of agents don’t realize or think about it. You have to go and tell them- Mm-hmm. and show them this. Yeah,lot of buyers don’t think about it- Mm-hmm. until it happens, right? It’s always easy to play Monday morning quarterback because once the situation happens, you’ll look back and be like, “Shit, I shoulda done something. “Right. No, I’m gonna go tell you what you’re gonna learn on Monday right now on Friday- Right. so that you don’t have that experience. And if I lose you, and you don’t, I’m gonna be the first person to say- Right. told you so. “Yeah, and say like, “It looks like you got a great deal. “Like, “Go for it. “Yeah. And then they come back a lot, right? Always. Because they’re like, “Ugh. “You know, we’ve, we ran, have been running into like these credit unions are just offering freaking nothing. Yeah, we deal with that. We run into that. Yeah,it’s out of control. Like one week, 5 of them are like, “Oh, we’re getting this rate. “I’m like”Can I get that rate too? “I’m like, “Sounds great. “Like there’s n- Like INo joke, I would’ve made 0 dollars and had to pay $9200 to get you that rate. Yeah. I can’t, I can’t give it to you. If that’s really, truly what you’re gettingLet’s see like when they- Right. close. Like more times than not- Right. Like we- “Oh, there was an adjustment. “Take, credit unions- Yeah. and maybe some small regional sized banks out. Right, credit because I mean they’re lending their own money. Yeah. They don’t, they’re not sellingBut their portfolio gets too full of that- Yeah. and they’re like, we’re at 10%. “Shut”You can’t do anything,” right? Yeah, yeah. And- Or it’s like, “Oh, no, we can’t close now. It’s gotta get pushed off in the timeline. “Correct. You, and that’s where I try to educate them- Right. And the buy- And the agents too, I’ll use the agents too to help me on that. Right. Like listen, they’re trying to shop me this credit union. You have a 21-day close. Good luck. I’m gonna tell you- Goodit’s probably not gonna happen. Exactly. You know, maybe you wanna have a conversation with them about how important it is that they close on time. Exactly. Hey, when they wanna go refinance, they wanna go shop around to the world- Sure, do whateverGo ahead. I’m a purchase loan officer. Right. I don’t care about refinances. Yeah. I never have. You can’t cater to everybody. Yeah. Like, you know, Russell says, “You can’t market to everybody or you’re marketing to no one,” right? Like- Right. the avatar is what it is. Mm-hmm. I think for us, like those people that are shopping us, and I, I pick on engineers, my brother-in-law’s an engineer for everybody who’s watching. He says ba- BMWs ’cause you can’t do that. I do not- I will not deal with an engineer. So full disclosure, if an engineer called me- How auditor? I will not. I send them off to credit. I tell them, “Hey, listen, I’m a little jammed up. I’m going away for the weekend. “”Let me give you a phone number to the president of sales. Here you go. “Oh. Craig’s phone rings. I do that quite a bit though, like I won’t deal with, uh, FHA reha. I won’t deal with, um, rehab loans. I won’t do new construction, like you were just talking about. You do loans? I’ll pass those off to other people- Goodthe office because it’s not my avatar. Yeah. Not my favorite thing in the world, but I’ll do them. And I realized, yeah, I realized a long time ago, I used to be and try to do everything for everybody, right? Mm-hmm. And that was the problem. I was the credit repair guy. was the A paper, I was the, the fix and flips, the rehabs, and I’m like, yo, I’m super stressed out because- Yeah. this loan has taken 63 days. I can do this one in eight. This guy over here, you learn over time. Right. The engineer, I don’t have the personality. Yeah. HeCraig is an amazing loan officer. I’ve been lucky enough to sit next to him. He will sit on the phone legitimately for an hour, hour and a half going over details with the engineer about APR and some of the other things that absolutely mean nothing- Yeah. for everybody who does this for a living. Yeah. Have nothing to do with your life. Yeah. Like this is not affecting you in any way, like- Right. Not that I don’t wanna educate mythe, the, the consumer, but this is what you’re paying me for. You’re trusting me for this. Yeah. I’m gonna give you 30, maybe 45 minutes in person or over the phone. An hour, hour and a half, so as soon as I hear-or the sense engineer on the other line, I’m like, “Time to move on, Craig. “I know. won’t- I like that side. I like to be able to- See, I’m like that with rehab loans though. When I get all those questions- I’m not doingit’s, it’s always the engineers. They send you the email- Yeah. with like 15 questions. And like some of them to us are like, this is the most basic question in the world. Yeah. Like, how do you not know this? But they don’t. Yeah. Yeah. It’s new to them. They just wanna understand it, and I get that because me, as a consumer, I wanna understand things. Yeah. Like I wanna know, one, is this my best option? Yeah. But also what other options are there. Right. Because sometimes, and Iwe’ve talked about this on the podcast before, and I always go back to construction because I’m very like, I’m probably not the easiest consumer in the world because I wanna know. I wanna know like- To least. “Well, this is the option you’re telling me, but, like, is there a better option for a little bit more money or? “See, I’mI wanna be like- I’m the easiest. “This is what I need. Take care of it, and just let me know it’s done. “And call me. Like that’s the type of consumer I am, and I hate- For all the contractors out there, do not go to Craig Snell’s house and do any work unless you’re meticulous. Well, okay, you get them to do it or whatever, and then afterwards you’re like, “Shit, I should have put more plugs in. “Mm-hmm. “I didn’t think about this,” or, “I didn’t think about-” Like and the other profession. Yeah. When I’m, when I’m going through somebody, I want them to tell me- Yeah. all the ideas that we should do for the reasons. Yeah. I don’t wanna be the one that has to bring up all these ideas. I wantI don’t want that low bid person. See, I don’t wanna know. I want the higher experience. someone just to take care of it for me. And hopefully it all works out, but like to his point- Right. it’s like I hope they put the plugs where I need to go. Right. Exactly. ‘Cause that’s not what I do every day. Yeah. But so I think forwhen it comes to the engineers or that demographic, for me, I can’t handle it. Yeah. Like I’mmy attention span at this point in my career, al- almost like the burnout phase- Yeah. I think I got past having to deal with them, so I’m like, “I don’t have this. “And not to mention, I’m not picking on them again, my brother-in-law didn’t even do this loan with me. I sent them somewhere else ’cause I didn’t want it. At the end of the day, I, I wanted it. I just wasn’t able to answer all those questions. They’re also super detailed, and they’ll leave you for like an eighth of a percent- Right. on the APR. I’m like, “This has nothing to do with your payment. “Right. Like your payment changed like $4. Like that’s the tough part for me, like- I know. And rehab loans, the same thing. Um, new construction. I just refer to everybody. Reverse mortgages, like for the longest time, it was in my head. I joked around with Craig this week. I have like two or three reverse mortgage clients calling me and he’s like, “Yeah, that’s ’cause you’re old now. “And like, “I absolutely hate you right now. “For, for 20 years, I’ve been doing this. The first five or six, I’m getting a phone call, “Hey, do you do reverse mortgages? “I’m like, “Yeah, of course,” like I can help anybody. Yeah. You’re talking about death, what happens after-to the house afterwards. I’ve neverYou’re going to their house and counseling them? Yeah. Yeah. This is wild. So I was like, “Yeah, not doing reverse mortgages anymore. “So maybe the last couple of weeks, reverse mortgages, they call me, I’m like, “It must be the, the gray coming in my beard. “Well, I feel like even with reverse mortgages, like I really think that that needs to be someone that specialized in that. agree. YouAbsolutely. I wouldI’d just kick it over to somebody- Yeah, me too and-else an experience like- And people will say to me all the time, “Oh, you can make so much money off of reverse mortgages. You could do this. You could do that. “It’s like, yeah, but like- No. guess what? You know how much time that’s gonna take me to do? That’sI could close 10 other deals in that timeframe, and I’m not specialized in that. Yeah. Someone on my team, sure, they can help you. That’s thing like I learned like when I got into this, I wanted to learn everything. I wanted to know everything. I think that’s what made me a really good loan officer- Yeah. because I wanted to know all sides of every piece. Mm-hmm. Just like when I’m the consumer, I wanna know everything. But I got to a point where I’m like, “Okay, those programs, I’m not gonna touch anymore. “Yeah. Because that’s just a whole nother side, and I could do 10 loans atBut I think that too if, if you try to, you’re notnoyou’re not gonna be good at every- Youanything, right? Like so many people are like, “Oh, I’m gonna do this and this and this and this and this. “But are you an expert in any of it? No, probably not. Jack all trades. You’re not an expert in any of it. That’sAnd you’re not gonna give the best experience because if I’m spending all of my time trying to deal with a reverse mortgage and a 203K, it’sIt’s super time-consuming. It’s what people don’t understand because- It’s so much work. every question that comes up, you now have to go find the answer ’cause you don’t know any of them. Correct. So if I can- But-answer every question without having to ask anybody- Right. and I can answer right then and there- Right. or two seconds, well, that’s time-consuming. Right. As you’re starting, you have to go to somebody about everything. Of course. But then there’s a certain level- Yeah. these guys want to do everything under the sun. Right. And then some, like 10 units this, you gotta getOne of our loan officers- Yeah. texted me over the weekend, “Hey, we have an outlet for this loan with, you know, 10 par-” I’m like, “I would never touch that. “Me either. Never. Not with a 10 foot pole. And, and I even thought that too, like someone said to me and they’re likeI was like, “Yeah. I mean, I have, I have a lender that can do commercial and I can send it to them, but like, I don’t do it. “It- You d- do you want to get hung up on some weird thing- Yeah. over like- Yeah. you’ll spend- Yeah. so much time towant to give you the experience that you shouldn’t have. I would like you to work with a commercial lender. Because that’s- DSCR loans. Non-QM0. I Ooh I am a- I send them-DSCR queen if you want to send them to me. I’ll send them toto people in, inside and it’s like- Ooh love, I love DSCR. You should do them. They’re easy. You know what it is? Is I’m not gonnabad but I’m at four units max. That- don’t wanna go above that. OhI don’tBack to these reverse mortgages. we all stated it on here, like the reason that we do this is because we want to help people, we want to help our community. Correct. For the first time in my entire life, the last two weeks I’ve gotten a couple calls on reverse mortgages, and I’m talking to these seniors. Yeah. Soon I’ll be called and I’ll be getting my AARP card, but they are neat. Correct. Right? Like there’s a need, and now I’m like, I’m thinking to myself, I can understand like the older you get you start planning in trusts and estates- Mm-hmm. and you want to make sure your kids are taken care of and life insurance and- Right. They have all this stuff set up, but they just need guidance. And I’m like, if I don’t do this now, so then what do I do? I start picking up the phone. Right. I knew enough about reverse mortgages- Yeah. but there’s a lot I did not know. Right. And that’s- even read one of their quotes. But imagine if you said, “Okay, yeah, I’ll help you. “And then you messed it up. And you can’t. Nope. do it and you didn’t know how to do it and then you’re like, “Oh my God, like I just went through all that and, and dragged them along th- all this time and I actually don’t even know what I’m doing? We’re learning together and then we mess it up and now they’re not going to get it? “Great experience. Like that’s a terrible experience. Yep. So I think it’s so important to stay in your lane, like stay in your lane, do what you’re good at, focus on what you’re best at, and really identify who you want to be doing business with and promote that. Right? We had this joke like with one of my old coworkers of like, she would put out to the world that she could do mobile homes, right? Like that’s what she liked to put out to the world. Another one, don’t call. But that’s what she would put out to the world and we made a joke, I told her I was gonna get a plaque for her desk that said mobile home specialist. And she’s like, “Well I can do them. “I’m like, “Yeah, I can do them too, but do you see me announcing it to the world? “Because, not because I don’t want to help them, it’s just because like that is not where I want my avatar and my business to be. If I continuously put out that I do DSCR loans, that’s the business I want because I love doing them, right? And I’m good at them and I know how to do them. You’re specialist. Right. So if you continuously put outMost people don’t even know what it is. But if you also put it out to all the banks- Tooand all the other lenders that don’t do them, guess what? They’re gonna refer that to you too- Set ’embecause you’re known for that. Right? So identify what you want to be good at. And it doesn’t ha- it’s what you like, like I- Yeah. like it, like I have investment properties, I do short term and long term rental personally, I have experience with it, I want to do more of those loans. Right? So if you put out to the world, and I think it’s, I think that’s what will come back. Yeah. And especially with content, right? If you’re creating content and one day you create content on, um, an FHA owner occupied property and the next you want to do it on a 20% multi-unit and the next day you do it on a divorce situation, the next day you do it on thisYou know how much of that is actually gonna be retained by the consumer? Like- None. Oh like, I think they do something, but if you do a whole month every single month of, uh, purchasing owner occupied multi-units and how you can become a landlord and how someone else can pay your re- mortgages and stuff you’re doing it every week, consistently, consistently, guess what? The next month you’re probably gonna close five deals for that, on that topic. Mm-hmm. I did a it was- it’s kind of a joke in our house but like I did a whole month of like consistently talking about like divorce situations because I genuinely like to- Oh. like help people through that process. I’m, I, I listen, I’m like caring, like all these things like genuinely. So I like to be there for them to help them through that transition. So I’m talking about it, I’m putting my focus on divorce attorneys, I’m doing all this stuff. My husband texts me, “If one more person sends, if one more of my buddies sends me a screenshot of your divorce-“videos I’m going to lose my mind. “Like I was like, “No, Bry, like that’s who I want to do business with. “He’s like, “No. Like stop. “But you know what I mean? But guess what? In the next two months I closed probably six or seven deals of people going through that situation- Forbecause my content was consistent on that. Mm-hmm. So, I would say that that’s one of the biggest tips is identify, like, what you want to be doing, who you want to be working with, what type of business you want to be doing, and focus on that. If you are an agent that wants to work in the Lakes region, do content on the restaurants around the lake. Go on a boat and do content on it, talk about the properties around the lake. Talk about any of those things. Yeah. Guess what? You’re going to get listings on that lake because you are an expert in that area. And that’s where people miss. “I can help you buy a house in Maine. “Awesome. Cool. Cool, right? All the place, yeah. But like, but the more focused, the more, um, micro-focused, like I think that that’s really the word. The more micro-focused you are in where you put your attention to the business, you put your attention towards the type of business, and you put the attention to where you’re already spending time, that’s where you’re going to see success. I totally agree. I think anybody that is successful has one bucket that they focus on. Hyper-focus. Definitely. You can’t, you can’t focus on a million different buckets. You can’t. Unless you build a team and you have different divisions- Right. inside of it, which you can get to at a certain level, but- Right. as you’re starting to grow, and what people really don’t understand, either, is when you try to focus on everything- Mm-hmm. you’re gonna give a bad service one way or the other. Correct. Deals are gonna die, bad service, and now you’re really, you’re impacting your overall business- Mm-hmm. because reputation is everything in this business. Right. Especially, like, we l- I meanSmall. live in smaller town areas. Yeah. Like, we’re not in Boston, we’re not in, you know, New York where you can hide. People know you, word travels fast, you have a bad experience. Correct. Mm-hmm. would rather, as a loan officer, if a deal’s on the line and I’m not 100% sure if it’s gonna close, either everybody’s gonna be on the page- Right. now that this is a possibility that this does not close because of X, Y, and Z, but we can try it. Or if that’s not the case, see ya later. Right. Go try somewhere else. Maybe it closes, great, awesome, but it’s not worth my reputation at the end of the day. Correct. Correct. And knowing when to, to say that, right? And that’s hard. It is. It’s hard ’cause, you know, especially when you’re starting out and you’re not having these deals fly in and you’re like, “Every deal matters,” I get it, but- Right. long-term vision, it’s not worth it. Correct. Sometimes you have to say no. Yeah. I do that a lot with credit, right? Like, I would much rather get you into a much better position toI’d rather wait, have you wait 3 months- Yeah. so I can fix your credit. And I’m gonna tell you exactly what you need to do. Than, to go buy with a 580 credit score. Right. And it’s going to save you money. Oh, huge. It’s going to give you a better experience. Yeah. And you’re going to be in a better financial situation than you would be if I tried to do it right now and it’ll probably take me that long just to get it done because of all the hoops you have to jump through, right? Yep. And I think that that’s where, as a, you know, that’s where mortgage world gets a bad rap, right, is because so many people that don’t know what they’re doing try to do things that they can’t do or don’t know how to do. And just say yes. Yeah. Everybody wants to say yes. Yeah. But the respected people in any industry are the ones that say no. Correct. And until you say no, you haven’t grown up in this industry. Correct. SoWe’ll learn. Do you work with every agent? No. Do you work with every borrower? No. Do I work with engineers? Absolutely not. With that being said, let’s wrap it up. Thank you, Miss Skyler Welch, from, uh, Maine. you for having me today. Really appreciate you coming down. Mortgage Daddies out.