AIME Podcast Network

Tune into this special AIME Fuse edition of Broker To Broker with three guests as they preview their sessions for AIME Fuse 2021. 

Christine Beckwith, President, and COO of 20/20 Vision for Success, is here to highlight her session “Don’t Be a Boss, Be a Leader.” This session will help catapult your personal and professional development with tips from Christine, an expert leadership coach. She will outline how to incorporate leadership strategies into all roles across the mortgage industry to help you achieve your full potential.

Chris Griffith, Owner of Debt Does Deals, is here to highlight his session “Make it Your Mission to Better Serve Veterans.” This session will include Vetted VA leaders ready to reveal the classified knowledge brokers need to support their veteran neighbors. 

Andres Munar, Co-Founder of Keystone Alliance Mortgage, is here to highlight his session “How To Meet the Needs of Hispanic Homeowners.” Hispanic and Latino communities are rapidly growing, with homeownership rates continuing to skyrocket for the sixth consecutive year. This session will help brokers connect with Hispanic and Latino communities by encouraging conversations to identify what’s needed in the industry in order to better support Hispanic borrowers.

AIME Fuse 2021 is less than a month away. Over 3,000 wholesale mortgage brokers will gather at The Bellagio in Las Vegas in less than three weeks.  This year’s event features over 15 hours of exclusive content tailored to brokers, more than 25 top-tier speakers and industry experts, and 45+ industry-leading AIME partners. AIME Fuse 2021 will also include keynotes from Magic Johnson, Simon Sinek, Molly Bloom, and Barry Habib. 

If you still don’t have your AIME Fuse 2021 ticket, get your ticket! AIME also has room blocks at Planet Hollywood and the Vdara Spa & Resort that expire this week. Make sure to book your room before AIME’s exclusive rates expire! 

Notes:
1:12 Leadership Skill-building
11:42 VA Home Loans Do’s & Dont’s
26:04 Helping Hispanic Homeowners

This episode is sponsored by Homepoint Financial.

The post Leadership, Veterans, and Hispanic & Latino Homeowners: AIME Fuse 2021 Preview (With Christine Beckwith, Chris Griffith, and Andres Munar)- Episode 83 appeared first on AIME.

Marketing is at the heart of Enrique Braunschweiger’s business. As President of First Week Financial Corp., Enrique has built up a small, but effective marketing team to help him stay ahead of the large retail operations in his area. When he joined the industry 18 years ago, brokers were mostly on their own and were expected to know all aspects of the business. Now with the BAB Network, Enrique can stand out against the big banks and retail operations by pairing those partners with his marketing efforts. 

Over 18 years ago, Enrique was on his way to an interview with ReMax when he accidentally walked into the office of a mortgage broker instead, and he never looked back. Three years later, he started his own brokerage in Southern California. He was also an early AIME supporter, joining the group in its earliest days. 

His key to success? Marketing. Enrique has developed a marketing team with a full-time videographer and a full-time marketing director. Enrique specifically markets to his existing database. Your past clients may one day be looking for a new home or at least they will know someone who is looking to purchase a home, he said. To be effective, Enrique also posts marketing content on his personal account three to five times a day. He uses his personal account because more people follow that than your business page and he posts multiple times a day to increase his chances of catching a potential lead. 

What helps Enrique stand out in those efforts is his BAB Network vendor partners. When he first joined the industry, it was on him to do everything and know everything. At the time, partners were the companies who wrote the largest check instead of a carefully vetted business. That all changed in recent years with the growth of AIME’s vendor partners. Now he utilizes ARIVE and Stikkum to help him manage his pipeline and he uses leadPops, Verse.io, and Homebot to help him stay top-of-mind with borrowers and leads. Those partnerships help Enrique compete with the big retail operations in his area by offering him the same visibility for a fraction of the price. 

Enrique’s parting advice: Get a mentor or become a mentor for others. Mentorship is so important to the broker community, he said. That mentorship can be formal like an actual mentoring program or an informal phone call every few weeks. Both will further your career. Early in his career, Enrique was able to get mentorship from seasoned brokers and that guidance helped him to boost his business and overall production. Now as a seasoned broker, he pays that back to new professionals entering the field. 

Notes:

Getting Into the Mortgage Industry (1:52)
Partnerships/Brokers Are Better Network (6:27)
Marketing (18:10)
Parting Advice (35:42) 

This episode is sponsored by PRMG

The post How David Defeats Goliath: Using Marketing To Beat Big Banks At Their Own Game For A Fraction Of The Price (with Enrique Braunschweiger) – Episode 82 appeared first on AIME.

With almost 20 years of mortgage experience, Scott Valins hasn’t just learned how to run a successful brokerage, he knows how to scale across the country. Moving, but maintaining his brokerage after the market crash, Scott now holds offices in both California and New York.

Scott is calling his next wholesale endeavor “Go Rascal.” The new brokerage is Scott’s way of scaling his existing business. With a team of almost 40 processors, loan officer assistants, and loan officers, Go Rascal is primed for a fast start. But for Scott, scaling is not only about increasing profits, but also about challenging himself to take on the role of CEO. While his brokerage brought in $240 million in loans last year and is on track to do $300 million in business this year, Scott served as the primary loan originator. Switching positions and delegating responsibilities that used to be his will bring its own challenges but is also necessary to scale. 

To continue to scale his business, Scott first had to hire the right people. That started with an operations expert and a sales manager, both of who lacked mortgage experience, but they each brought their own unique and valuable expertise to the table. Once those individuals were locked in, Scott had to adjust his mindset. At that point, his brokerage was running like a well-oiled machine while he was focused primarily on origination. To scale, he had to come to terms with pulling back on his origination so he could spend more time focusing on scaling. It also required Scott to take a step back and determine what he does well and what areas he needed to hire people who could fill those gaps. 

Scott is also a vice-chair on AIME’S Community Committee, which is focused on promoting business development that serves the entire wholesale channel. He sees the group as the formal voice of the Brokers Are Better community with a commitment to supporting both new LOs and seasoned loan officers. For Scott, the group served as a major resource that he and countless other brokers used to navigate the chaos of the 2020 pandemic and refi-boom. That sort of education is a major area Scott wants to continue growing as part of the committee. “Education is the backbone of the community,” he said.

Scott’s parting advice: Network, but know there is more than one way to network. You need to find what works for you and do it. Scott networks less by engaging with public posts in the Brokers Are Better Facebook group, instead opting to private message brokers to offer advice or answer their questions. For in-person networking, like at AIME Fuse 2021, he suggests finding a local broker and connecting over issues in your local market. 

Notes:

Scott’s Journey into the Broker Channel (1:14)
Community Committee (6:21)
Helping Your Local Community (15:18)
Scaling Your Brokerage (17:25)
Parting Advice (32:31)

This episode is sponsored by Guaranty Home Mortgage 

The post From Go to Grow: How to Effectively Scale Your Brokerage for Continued Success (With Scott Valins) – Episode 81 appeared first on AIME.

Fredo Rivera has built up his pipeline through local organic marketing and serving his community. Not only do these efforts bring in leads, but it also serves as his “Why.” Of course, those leads would be nothing without the intricate processes and systems Fredo has developed to help convert leads and continue automated follow-ups over 12 or 24 months. Those processes have allowed him to build out a consistent pipeline so he can better serve his community. 

Fredo joined the mortgage industry in 2004 working as sales manager for a broker. After the market crash, he left the industry and obtained his real estate license so he could start his own real estate company. In 2017, he rejoined the mortgage industry and worked for another broker until 2019 when he left to start RDT Mortgage. He now owns and operates both a real estate company and mortgage brokerage. 

Starting out as a broker, Fredo had to quickly develop a system to keep up with the demand. That led him to adopt a CRM, for him, Liondesk. From there, he used third-party companies to develop automation that would allow him to organically follow up with clients via phone calls, text, and social media. For many of his clients, they were not ready to refinance when he first reached out, but after a few follow-ups, he was able to close the deal. 

Fredo’s advice for brokers looking to build up their processes, start with a CRM. Once you have your CRM in place, you need to map out your processes and set your goals for your team and your business. From there, you can start adding layers to help streamline everything. From there, you can build up your pipeline. 

That starts with communicating regularly with the book of business. Fredo fills his pipeline through leads generated with leadPops, by doing adjustable-rate mortgage resets for his community. Fredo goes to networking lunches, sends targeting probates, and works with local real estate agents. Ultimately, he is constantly on the phone reaching out to clients, but he also carves out time for face-to-face meetings. 

Fredo’s parting advice: Be a servant leader and focus on helping people. The big banks and retail operations are not going to serve the needs of their clients. That is where brokers can set themself apart. For Fredo, it is his responsibility to keep his pipeline full. “You just need to help enough people and it will come back to you.”

Notes: 

Getting into the mortgage industry (1:25)

Building Community (5:25)

Build community, build business (8:20)

Social media (14:27)

Processes and systems (15:52)

Building your pipeline (25:01)

Parting advice (29:35)

This episode is sponsored by AFR

The post Maintaining Your Pipeline by Layering Systems and Processes (With Fredo Rivera)- Episode 80 appeared first on AIME.

Entrepreneurship is in Evan Wade’s blood. Both his grandfathers and his parents were small business owners. Now as a mortgage professional, Wade has founded two separate mortgage brokerages, Philadelphia Mortgage Brokers and Epoch Lending. He also built a sophisticated technology stack that helps him differentiate himself in the mortgage industry. That tech stack is a major reason Wade was recently named Vice-Chair of AIME’s partnership committee. 

Wade joined the mortgage industry in 2015 when he was recruited to join a retail operation, but quickly realized the retail side was not for him. Wade took the leap and opened Philadelphia Mortgage Brokers with Paul Carson. The name served as the perfect organic SEO source, but Paul and Evan also lean on BAB Network partner leadPops to help generate leads. 

For Wade, technology is key. “At the end of the day, technology is everything for me because someone is going to figure it out,” he said. In his mind, technology is the key to providing your customer superior service and in turn, making your brokerage stand out. Not only is Wade an adopter of various technology platforms, including ARIVE, he also developed his own commission compensation software and started his own title company because local options weren’t up to his standards. Ultimately, he wants to build a business that will grow and survive long after him. “I don’t want to build a company that only lives because of me,” Wade said. 

As Vice-Chair of AIME’s partnership committee, Wade is focused on working with lender and vendor partners to improve the lives of Brokers and in turn their clients. The committee is focused on identifying new partners and streamlining processes with current AIME partners to better serve the borrower. 

Wade’s parting advice: “Whatever is in your heart that you want to do, just reach out and do it.” If you have a dream or goal in mind, go for it. Wade would rather go for something and fail than wonder what could have been. 

Notes:

Getting into the industry (0:51)

Starting his own brokerage (10:00)

Evan’s Tech stack (18:59)

Partnerships Committee (36:26)

Parting advice (40:07)

This Episode Is Sponsored By EPM.

The post Perfecting & Scaling Operations Using The Best Tech (with Evan Wade) – Episode 79 appeared first on AIME.

Family is at the heart of everything Cubie Hernandez does. Not only does he work alongside his father and his brother Christian, but the company’s name, Mares Mortgage is named after the family matriarch of the family. That family mindset extends to the way he treats his employees, clients, and his local community at large. That approach helps him stand out against large bank lenders in a competitive Orange County market.

Cubie grew up in the mortgage industry. His father, Cutberto Sr., started in the mortgage industry in the late 80s. After joining a retail operation, Cutberto Sr. purchased the retail branch he worked for and turned it into Mares Mortgage in 1993. Cubie grew up watching his parents close loans and during summers he took loan applications and helped fill out lead forms for his father. Joining the industry in 2007, Cubie spent a lot of his early career working on loan adjustments for clients to try to help them stay in their homes. While he took little to no compensation for adjustments, it helped him build a client base he still has today. 

Building community is also important for Cubie. Mares Mortgage’s Mares Foundation helps educate children on “ocean literacy” or the importance of ocean conservation. Personally, Cubie mentors local children and helps them apply for college. He is also a major advocate for the broker community and the importance of brokers supporting each other. “You can’t beat us if we continue to uphold one another and uphold the community,” he said.  

Working in Orange County, Cubie works hard to distinguish himself from competitors in his market, many of whom are major banking lenders. To stand out against Wells Fargo, Citibank, and their peers Cubie not only knows his market but also his opponents. Going back to his years as a collegiate athlete, Cubie is obsessed with knowing his competition. He wants to know what makes them tick and how they think. 

Cubie’s parting advice: “Don’t be a savior.” Mortgage brokers often get into a mindset of having to be a savor and a mindset of conditioning, he said. He urges them to leave that mindset at the door of their brokerage and to not carry that into their personal lives. 

Notes: 

Getting into the mortgage industry (1:51)

Managing mental health and avoiding burnout (11:35)

Building Community (18:08)

Supporting your local community (22:35)

Jumbo loans (29:18)

Cubie’s parting advice (35:33)

This Episode Is Sponsored By PRMG.

The post Know Your Market: How Building Community Can Make You Stand Out in Competitive Markets (with Cubie Hernandez) – Episode 78 appeared first on AIME.

Nike Ojo loves to create relationships. Whether it’s with borrowers or realtors or builders, relationships are at the heart of her brokerage. “I love to create and maintain relationships. I love to celebrate people”, Ojo said. That mindset has helped her grow a mortgage business that is almost entirely referral-based.

Originally from Nigeria, Nike started working as a deputy tax clerk for the local county, while her husband worked as a realtor. She noticed how difficult it was for her husband to get updates on his clients’ loans. Noticing that gap, Nike decided to become a loan officer. She initially started the role part-time, but as the business grew and got busier, she transitioned to full-time in 2003. 

Now with over 19 years in the mortgage industry, Nike has built a business that is 95% referral-based. She credits her large referral business to the way she treats clients. That starts with finding out who the client is and what they expect from her and extends to go above and beyond for them. “I don’t work from 9 to 5, I work from start to finish,” Nike said. She also adheres to a strict “every call and email must be answered in three hours” rule. If she ever misses that three-hour window, she makes sure to have the correct answer to the client’s question. 

Continuing her relationship building, Nike is an active member of her community hosting food drives and supporting small businesses. In 2020, she held two separate food drives that served over 600 families in her local community. She also uses her Instagram, where she’s built up a major following, to highlight and promote small businesses in her community. Nike is also an active member of the Women’s Mortgage Network. Building bonds and finding value with people she’s only known online, Nike wants brokers to know that communities are not just limited to your surrounding geographical area. We take part in many communities, and it’s important to not forget to interact and provide value for them all. You get out what you put in.

Nike’s parting advice “Just be yourself, find your niche. Focus on what you’re good at.” 

Notes: 

This Episode Is Sponsored By Class Valuation.

The post Working 9-to-5 vs Start-To-Finish: How To Turn Referrals Into Relationships (with Nike Ojo) – Episode 77 appeared first on AIME.

As a Broker/Owner, Casey Finn places a major focus on culture. Early on in his brokerage, he implemented Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle from his book Start With Why. The concept focuses on a company’s why versus their what or their how. With that philosophy, Casey is focused on culture as the core of his business. That culture not only stretches to his own company but the realtors, lenders, and vendors that he works with. He wants all of them to be #truepartners. That philosophy has allowed Casey to not only build but also maintain an organic return and referral business from past clients and his realtor partners. 

Since the age of 16, Casey Finn knew he had a passion for customer service. His job at a country club saw him handling brides and grooms during their wedding days. That passion followed him through phone sales jobs and a job selling cutting tools to machine shops. Neither of those roles scratched the itch he had to help the consumer instead of being focused on serving the company’s investors. Casey’s wife, who worked as a mortgage processor for a local mortgage business, encouraged him to join the mortgage industry. That’s when it all came together. The industry offered Casey the perfect balance of sales while being focused on making an impact on consumers. He spent the next few months studying for the national mortgage exam, which he passed on his first try. Not long after, Casey and his wife moved from South Carolina to Michigan. Not finding anyone who wanted to take a chance on him, Casey took the leap and opened his own brokerage.

For Casey, culture is everything. Culture is his key to building a brand and building a stable client base.  That difference is what separates an Apple product from Dell, Casey shares, “No one ever says they’re a Dell person.” That philosophy goes down to his brokerage’s slogan: “No pitch, no pressure, just dollars, and sense.” It is not about closing the deal for Casey, he is more focused on helping the consumer understand the complex and stressful process of buying a home. That approach has helped him build a referral business based completely on relationships, instead of numbers. Even when he runs into issues in the loan process, he comes to his client prepared with a solution to the problem.

Casey’s parting words of advice for all brokers: “Life is short, enjoy it. I think a lot of people forget that we have really amazing lives.”

Notes: 

This episode is sponsored by Guaranty Home Mortgage.

The post Finding Your Why: How To Cultivate & Balance Culture, Influence, & Sales (with Casey Finn) – Episode 76 appeared first on AIME.

California Mortgage Broker Rich Lane is always on the lookout for how he can improve his business to better compete with the big retail banks. Thanks to constant and consistent advances in technology, the divide between wholesale brokers and retail banks is shrinking daily. With a push towards digital marketing, video, and a diverse tech-stack, Rich understands what it takes to push his business into 2022 and beyond, and he wants to bring all of you along for the ride. 

Back at AIME Fuse 2019, our Keynote Speaker GaryVee asked everyone to raise their hands if they planned on retiring in 5 years. After the few raised hands went down, GaryVee stared out at the crowd of thousands of mortgage brokers and told them that if they plan on still being around in five years, they need to adapt. They need to understand that the future of all business is going to rely on internet marketing. As GaryVee put it, “there is nothing more important than being an unbelievable communicator in a contemporary manner.” Rich Lane took that to heart and started a video podcast, The Broker With Rich Lane. He isn’t a tech or video expert, so he did his research. He simply googled and youtubed how to start a video podcast, and then took notes. He learned what editing software to get, what lighting to get, how to get royalty free music, and so much more. Rich made videos with his realtor partners and CPA’s, which worked double time because guests were able to use the videos for their branding as well. The couple hundred dollars Rich spent on Amazon film gear more than paid for itself through all the referrals. 

The big retail lenders spend their money on marketing and tech; whatever can get the customers in the door and through the application process as quickly as possible. For the longest time, Mortgage brokers just didn’t have the resources to afford that, but no longer. Mortgage Brokers now have access to broker friendly and affordable tech that will help bring their business to the next level. Whether they’re looking for ways to stay top-of-mind with clients, or if they’re interested in a new LOS, POS, or CRM, there is a Brokers Are Better Vendor Partner that can fill their needs. Rich knows that refi’s are not falling off trees anymore. The future is all purchase and he knows he needs to prepare his business for that now. If you don’t, Rich shares, “you are doing you and your clients an injustice.”

Rich’s parting words of advice for all brokers: “Whatever you do, lead with authenticity…high tech, high touch, high authenticity.”

Notes:

This episode is sponsored by REMN Wholesale.

The post Preparing & Adapting For The Always Changing Mortgage Market (with Rich Lane) – Episode 75 appeared first on AIME.

Born in Flint, raised in rural Arkansas, and now back in Michigan, Nexa Mortgage Broker Collin Simpson claims “there isn’t a person you can put in front of me that I can’t build a relationship with…whatever situation you’re in, if I haven’t been there, I’ve been close to there and i know a little something about it.” And this is how Collin finds success. He’s upfront, clear, and concise with his clients. Whether it’s across the closing table or virtually through social media, Collin goes out of his way to connect with potential borrowers, educate them, and hopefully create a genuine and authentic relationship. 

Buying a home is taxing and complicated. It’s not easy to simply trust someone you don’t know with your personal finances. And the process can be made even harder with the many misconceptions that stem from television ads, internet articles, or even family and friends. Instead of ignoring the client’s fears or simply relaying that this is just the way it is, Collin recognizes and validates his client’s concerns, and then takes the extra step of explaining how the process works and why it works this way. He eases tensions and finds a common ground. “You and I are on a team together, and we are asking a lender to loan us $200,000, they’re gonna have questions” is a go-to answer for Collin that really seems to get the point across. “Go the extra mile to let them know that their information is safe with me. I’ve closed so many clients who had the same concerns that you have. You’re not the first, you certainly won’t be the last, but we will get the job done, because my name is on the loan as well.” Give them lots of decisions, let them feel in control, and don’t listen to respond, listen to understand. Now, he hasn’t only educated his client, he’s created an advocate as well. 

One of Collin’s main goals throughout the homebuying process is that he doesn’t want anyone to forget that they’re working with Collin Simpson. One of the best places Collin has found to both market his business and be his true authentic self is through social media. Particularly by livestreaming on Facebook. Collin just shares a 5-10 minute snapshot of his life, but makes sure to share some business info as well. Whether it’s biking around his neighborhood checking out nice houses or showing off his kids, he makes sure to mention that if anyone ever has any questions about buying or refinancing a home, he’s their guy. Collin once shared a personal story about wanting to be a better grandson for his grandmother, and within a week, that video had 2,000+ views and he was getting messages from around the country from people who said the video resonated with them. But that doesn’t mean you need to share your entire life story online either. Do what feels right and be your authentic self. As Collin says it’s “just about connecting with people.”

Collin ends the podcast with a tip he learned from his grandmother that he has used to run his business. “If you do things the right way,  you’ll get your slice of the pie without stepping on people’s toes or offending people…Be kind.”

Notes:

This episode is sponsored by AFR Wholesale & Class Valuation.

The post From Homeless To Selling Home Loans: How To Build Your Business By Being Authentic (with Collin Simpson) – Episode 74 appeared first on AIME.