AIME Podcast Network

Starting as a standard banker, Mike found an MLO he greatly respected, after half a year under her wing, she retired, and he took her spot. This involved teaching many other LO’s the basics and making sure they retained special product knowledge as well. He was then promoted again to do the same for the entire state of Virginia. During this time, Mike saw a fatal flaw in their systems, a complete rebuild was needed on their antiquated tech stack. Instead of bringing someone else in to do it, Mike rolled up his sleeves and got to work. This success brought him notoriety, and after being recruited to clean out multiple bank’s process and upgrade their tech, Mike heard about the wholesale channel. He saw that the wholesale channel wasn’t just a bunch of warring branches, but rather a community of people with the collective goal of doing what’s right for the consumer. 

Mike joined a brokerage at first, just to get his bearings in the new channel, but with help from his Husband and his background in compliance, they finally opened their new brokerage, The Socha Lending Group, last year. The key to their success? Thoughtful social media marketing. Mike has learned how to master the inner workings of Facebook groups. mortgage related or not, Mike has found a nice and natural way to become a part of multiple communities and naturally obtain referrals as a result. 

Mike says don’t do anything you’re not comfortable doing. For example, Mike is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and gets lots of referrals through live Facebook newtowrking parties in groups like NAGLREP (The National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals). Mike mentors his own LOs to lean into their own niche communities. They don’t need to start running virtual parties out the gate, nor should they, he adds. Slowly comment and connect, try to add value and make yourself heard in any of the hundred and hundreds local Facebook communities for your area. Mike also mentions the importance of following up with a personal message for people you don’t know in real life. As long as they see that you’re real, they’ll want to get to know you. Business opportunities will present itself over time. As far as his personal page goes, he tries to keep it simple: “life, mortgages, puppies.”

He leaves the listeners, and especially new LO’s thinking about starting their own brokerage, with a few words of wisdom. Do it when you’re ready. Do your homework first, find out how comp works, how you pay processors, what kind of tech stack do you need, what does, or doesn’t work together, and then just how much is all of this going to cost. It is more than doable, he wants potential listeners to know, but don’t just dive into the deep end with your arms tied behind your back. Having a partner by your side can also be a very powerful tool for beginners. Slow and steady wins the race here. Understand how it works, and then add and grow from there. 

Show Notes: 

The post Leaning Into Niche Products & Successfully Using Social Media In 2021 (with Mike Socha) – Episode 53 appeared first on AIME.

Since middle school, D.C. Terry wanted to be a Marine, so he became a Marine. Then, knowing he wanted to work for himself, and with the goal of buying his mother a home, he started to dabble in the housing industry. Now, with 20 years of experience and his own successful brokerage, D.C. has a new goal, to leave an everlasting legacy and to make an impact in his community. Listen to this week’s episode of Broker To Broker to find out how he has surpassed all of his previous goals, what new goals he has decided to set, and how he has faced and overcome adversity along the way. His main advice? Decide what you want in life, and use the mortgage industry to build that life. 

D.C.’s bread and butter are challenging loans. Loans for potential homeowners that need a little more TLC. He started down this path early on in his career when he decided to embrace the “turn-down bin” as an up-and-coming LO. He leveraged these ignored customers to become a top broker. But as D.C. put’s it, “I’m looking at more than just a file, I see a story.” By taking some extra time to read through more lender guidelines, and building relationships with different AE’s, D.C. was, in many cases, able to find simple fixes and find people homes. It’s not always easy but D.C. advises brokers to be upfront, let consumers know that it isn’t going to be a quick and painless process, but that everything will end up okay on the other side. He also mentions that this business model isn’t the best for someone trying to build something fast, but for someone who is trying to build something strong. 

That’s where education comes in. D.C. has tried to make some helpful videos, and does his best to stay active and be sincere on social media, but what has worked best for him, is to have direct one-on-ones with clients and to bring them through the entire process A through Z. 

D.C. Terry shares with us so many incredibly insightful stories during this episode of Broker To Broker, but he admits that his way isn’t the only way, and those that want to copy and paste his model really have to have heart. They really have to want to help people, to never give up, never retreat or surrender, and to always put the borrower first. 

Show Notes: 

The post Rising To The Challenge: Combating Adversity For The Sake Of The Consumer (with D.C. Terry) – Episode 52 appeared first on AIME.

For Amanda Stevenson, helping people find homes is a family affair. Growing up with a real estate agent/mortgage broker father, Amanda knew what an LTV was by age 10 and had her own real estate license by 20. Now, her daughter is her assistant. Amanda attributes her success to two major actions; leaning into her specialty, VA home loans, and her ability to trust her team. Both took time to nurture and grow, but once she decided to become intentional in her actions, everything started to fall into place. 

While referrals weren’t extremely hard to find with a nurse, doctor, teacher, policeman, detective, and firefighter in the family, it wasn’t the number of loans that Amanda attributes to her success. It’s her hard work and dedication, her constant training and trying to stay on top of constantly changing guidelines, especially for VA loans. Sometimes, simply doing your job well can be better than any marketing campaign. While working with such tight knit communities, it only takes trust and the power of word of mouth for referrals to follow. Amanda uses these referrals to do right by those that put their life at risk for all of us. 

Amanda also talks about the power of reading. Guideline books are big, they’re wordy and not necessarily a thrilling New York Times best-seller, however, they can make you a better broker. You don’t have to memorize every single page but a healthy and consistent skim will make you more knowledgeable about the latest regulations. Also, with knowledge comes confidence, and the ability to better control your pipeline. The better you know your guidelines, the less surprised you will be when you get everything back from your underwriter. And in certain situations, as Amanda shares, you might even be able to successfully challenge certain conditions, not just saving yourself time, but saving the borrower money as well. 

One of the biggest roadblocks in Amanda’s wholesale career was her ability to grow. With her pipeline full, she knew that growing her team was the only way to move forward, but she just didn’t trust other people with her loans. She was scared of allowing anyone else to communicate with her clients. Her biggest advice to stepping over this obstacle? “…Get over yourself.” You’re not the be all and end all in mortgage, and you’re only one person, so you can only do so much. But by bringing in other people, you’ll be able to expand your reach and help more families find their forever homes. A bigger team will also improve your work/life balance, which helps everyone. 

Overnight successes worked their entire lives to reach their dreams. It’s not about doing everything all at once. Take small, but intentional and consistent steps, and success will follow.  

Show Notes: 

The post Building Team Trust & Geeking Out On Guidelines (with Amanda Stevenson) – Episode 51 appeared first on AIME.

We’re flipping the switch for this very special milestone episode of Broker To Broker as AIME President Marc Summers interviews former host and Philadelphia Mortgage Broker, JP Hussey. Championing complete and utter transparency above all else, JP has learned that the only way to successfully have a work/life balance is to shoot straight and be yourself. If you feel good, you work good. 

Creating the right company culture is one of the many pillars to building a successful brokerage. A family business, The Hussey Team Mortgage Advisors started out as JP and his brother Nick. While their numerous fun and games can be witnessed through their many videos on Facebook and in the Brokers Are Better Facebook group, JP reveals that this fun acts as a stress reliever. As JP puts it, mortgages are hard, so you have to be able to let loose so you can relax and reset between transactions. JP also puts emphasis on transparency here, noting that co-workers have to be able to speak freely about their feelings and frustrations. Without this, productivity slows, and clients suffer as a result. 

JP has been able to create what few other brokers have successfully done; created a unique and successful brand. “Hop on the HussBus to homeownership” is the Hussey Team’s motto. It acts as a call to all potential borrowers to not just become clients, but to actually become a part of the team. All Hussey Team homeowners get a customized shirt jersey with the year they closed on the back. JP even mentions that he gets calls all the time from people seeing his shirt out in the wild. 

Another important pillar of running a successful brokerage is community outreach. Besides being THE local expert in your area, you also have to go out and actively support your community. JP provides food for those in need, and sponsors and coaches a local little league team. And while the goal isn’t to grow your business or measure an ROI, it is still selfish. It feels good to help other people, and when you feel better you do your job better. 

In this episode of Broker To Broker, AIME President and Active Mortgage Broker Marc Summers takes the reins and grills former host, and Broker/Owner JP Hussey about his fun but hard-working culture, his unique and successful brand, and his multiple channels of community outreach. 

Show Notes: 

The post Tackling Transparency: Culture, Branding, and Community Outreach (with JP Hussey) – Episode 50 appeared first on AIME.

Wholesale channel Veteran and Broker / Owner Corrina Carter has doubled her business by analyzing, dissecting, and rearranging her processes and procedures. It’s taken her 23 years in the industry, and the last 9-months of hands-on work, but she is almost done perfecting her processes and procedures. That’s one of the most important things to Corrina, you always have to adapt to the current times and put checks and balances in place in order to not just make sure you’re running as smoothly as possible, but that you are ready for whatever the future has in store. 

Her most important tool: Product Diversity. Not every one of her Loan Officers or Processors knows how to perfectly handle every product they sell, but every product they sell has at least one expert. Corrina and her team were trained in FHA and VA loans long before they were the norm and at one point, they were the only people in their community that could provide them. This led to years of referrals. 

She also requires a unique buddy-system for new hires. All LOA’s are linked to specific LO’s. This way, the LO gets some extra help and the LOA can better understand their specific brokerage’s learning curve. 

Corrina’s success comes from one place. She knows what she wants, and she’s actively trying to get it. With the understanding that nothing happens overnight, Corrina has looked over every inch of her processes and procedures, finding what works and what doesn’t, and is finally, after 9-months of hard work, coming to the end of a successful rebuild. 

Join Corrina and JP as they discuss how she got to her current level of success, how she realized what needed to be changed and what was working, and how a rigid system allows for you to be flexible on the fly. 

Show Notes: 

The post Doubling Your Business By Dissecting Processes & Procedures (with Corrina Carter) – Episode 49 appeared first on AIME.

Having been in and out of the industry since the early 90’s, California Mortgage Broker Andrew Kunisawa has only recently transitioned back to the wholesale channel. Instead of just shyly standing in the corner and surviving off the minimal amount of loans he needed, Andrew has taken full advantage of all the tools and resources that weren’t available to him back when he first got into the business. While he does share his thanks for us here at AIME, Andrew’s main source of growth is directly linked to the Brokers Are Better Facebook group. 

Back in what Host JP Hussey refers to as the “Wild West” of lending, mortgage brokers and loan officers had nowhere to go if they had a loan or compliance issue and barely knew what was happening in the world of mortgages outside of their small communities. Now with the help of Brokers Are Better, Andrew has been able to successfully take advantage of what he believes is the most important part of the modern loan process: networking. 

Upon discovering AIME and the Brokers Are Better movement, not just did Andrew find an entire community he could lean on for virtually anything, mortgages or otherwise, Andrew began to understand his full potential. Fully content with his 3-4 loans a month goal, Andrew began connecting with top producering brokers who were processing 35-40 loans a month all by themselves. Just being shown that it was even possible was enough for Andrew to believe in himself and push himself further than he ever had before. Now closing in on over 10 loans just this month, Andrew didn’t even necessarily work harder, he worked smarter. He used all of the tools that he wasn’t aware existed before discovering AIME and Brokers Are Better. 

After attending an AIME Fuse event with entrepreneur and social media mogul Gary Vaynerchuk (GaryVee), Andrew took all his newly learned social media tips to heart, sharing and posting all the time and not worrying about likes or comments. While bolstering your online reputation and putting yourself out there is important, it really all comes down to results and referrals. A completely random friend, someone who never commented or liked any of Andrew’s posts, simply reached out one day and said he needed a loan. There’s a million ways to succeed in this industry, you just have to commit to yourself and your beliefs, and success is sure to follow. And if you ever have any doubts, or questions, or concerns, know that there is a family of thousands just waiting to lend out a helping hand. 

Andrew learned to lean into this community of like-minded individuals who all just want to do what is right for the consumer, from brand-new or recently-transitioned loan officers to Scotsman Guide top producers and leadership from the top lenders across the country. In this community, everyone is treated as equals and are willing to help out anyone and everyone with the end-goal of always doing what’s right. 

Join Andrew Kunisawa and JP Hussey in this week’s episode of Broker To Broker to learn how you can also take advantage of this amazing community and help homeowners and borrowers nationwide.

Show Notes: 

The post How To Successfully Utilize AIME & The Brokers Are Better Facebook Group (with Andrew Kunisawa) – Episode 48 appeared first on AIME.

EXPLETIVE WARNING (NSFW)

Producing Broker/Owner Jackie Dunlap does not hold back. She worked hard to get here and she’s just getting started. Once a retail “scrubber,” as her position was called at the time, Jackie is now the shining example of how (and why) to transfer to the wholesale channel. 

Backed into a wall by end of year call reports, Jackie felt overwhelmed and borderline hopeless. With seemingly nowhere else to go, Jackie simply asked for help. This is when everything changed. The Brokers Are Better community came out in full force, immediately giving Jackie a referral, and starting her on a path that would help her secure her financial future. By simply “being in the room” as Jackie puts it, she was able to listen and learn from the best. 

She identified her pain points, revaluated her processes and procedures, and started thinking long-term. By giving up short term gains, Jackie was able to expand her reach and perfect her training process. With a plan in place, she now finds it easier to trust her staff and delegate accordingly. She also invested money in tech, which helped relieve some pressure off her processors and loan officers. 

Jackie Dunlap has carved out her section of the housing industry. Starting from the bottom, she rose through the ranks, and continues to adapt her business to these very different and strange times. Putting her money where her mouth is and betting on herself, Jackie Dunlap has successfully played the long-game.

Show Notes: 

The post How To Save Time & Identify Your Pain Points (with Jackie Dunlap) – Episode 47 appeared first on AIME.

Real Estate Agent turned Mortgage Broker Arlicia Jones holds the ability to build trust above all others. With a brokerage based almost entirely on referrals, Arlicia has built a business around making relationships that matter. She not only argues that cultivating successful relationships is the most important part of the job but it’s the sole factor that will keep the wholesale channel relevant through an automated and tech-heavy future. 

Arlicia calls every prospective client herself, making sure to educate and set expectations. Her job is not just to sell a product to a customer, but to teach a new homeowner how to build generational wealth. Her goal is not to move from person to person racking up loans, but to make connections that she considers family. 

Not that she ignores tech either. Having chiseled away at multiple different products, Arlicia has found her favorite Brokers Are Better Network vendors that fit her business model best. She uses Floify, Shape, LendingPad, and leadPops to not just stay top of mind with her borrowers, but to also streamline her entire loan process, allowing her time to focus on growing her brokerage. 

Arlicia also likes her weekends, prioritizing spending time with her children and enjoying the peace that comes with a proper work/life balance. Still setting proper expectations, she sends out a weekly end-of-week email wishing all of her borrowers a good weekend. She will put fires out if need be, but over the years has learned that not all problems are fires and many can wait till the next day. 

A teacher through and through, Arlicia works hard to simplify the complicated loan process for her clients. Join Arlicia and JP as they discuss their similar business practices, their techniques to secure a proper work-life balance, and the importance of becoming a true mortgage advisor. 

Show Notes: 

The post Educating & Building Trust With Consumers (with Arlicia Jones) – Episode 46 appeared first on AIME.

You have to plant the tree now, so next year you’ll have shade. Having built a 100% referral based business, nobody knows that better than Southern California Broker/Owner and COO of Amerifund Home Loans, Jamie Cavanaugh. Starting as a Loan Officer Assistant while still in high school, Jamie has amassed over 20 years of industry experience. After experiencing multiples sides of the business and surviving the ‘08 crash, she has learned that while there are endless ways to be successful in the wholesale channel, at the end of the day, you just have to do the right thing. Sometimes that’s referring a potential client to another brokerage, sometimes that’s advising and educating a borrower with no expectations in return. 

Above all else are the relationships you build, not just with borrowers, but with potential referral partners, lenders, and even your own loan officers, processors, and assistants. Long-term success is dependent on the strength of your relationships. This refi-boom won’t last forever, and when purchase reigns, everyone will be crawling back to the real estate agents they’ve been ignoring. But not Jamie. Jamie utilizes her Salesforce CRM to keep up to date with all of her connections, checking-in weekly with free educational newsletters and templated texts. 

At the office, Jamie has created a system that fosters and awards growth, paying for licenses and training for all her staff. She also keeps up to date with the best industry tech, not to replace the broker experience, but instead leveraging tech in order to offer the ideal personalized experience for her borrowers. 

Once a warm lead comes her way from any of her countless quality relationships, Jamie can get started on what she labels her favorite part of the mortgage process; the nitty gritty. A balancing act of finding what’s best for each individual consumer, Jamie has created her ideal loan process that measures rates, programs, lenders, and overall service; whatever will best suit her client and lead the path of least resistance.

Rounding everything out with a mix of old school and new school marketing techniques, including both radio and social media advertising, Jamie has created a long-term successful business plan where the client comes to her, not the other way around. Listen in for some immediate takeaways as Jamie joins our host JP Hussey for a discussion about relationships, hiring practices, and even some tips on how not to get overwhelmed.

Show Notes: 

The post The Long Game: Using Your CRM to Create a Referral Based Brokerage (with Jamie Cavanaugh) – Episode 45 appeared first on AIME.

Tune into this special AIME Fuse virtual edition of Broker To Broker with not one, not two, but THREE guests as they preview their panels for AIME Fuse 2020 on Friday, September 25th. 

Broker/Owner and blogger Scott Schang gives a sneak peek into how he has created his 100% referral based business. Scott says that getting good leads the right way is not the easiest route, but it’s what’s best for business. Using high-trust consumer-direct marketing, Scott has been able to establish real relationships that will long outlast this current refi-boom. Actively avoiding rate shoppers is key. He preaches becoming a true advisor is someone who will share their experience and knowledge with the consumer and solve problems at all costs. 

VettedVa partner Nathan Knottingham gives us the inside scoop into one of the biggest and fastest growing mortgage groups on Facebook. Putting their foot down, Nathan and Mortgage Broker Chris Griffith have revolutionized the VA loan market, going above and beyond in the fight against veteran exploitation. Nathan has helped grow a Facebook group to a 17,000+ army of consumer-centric professionals who feel obligated to properly serve those that have served. Listen in as Nate goes into detail about the mistreatment of Veteran homebuyers and how you can officially become VettedVa. 

Broker/Owner Jamie Cavanaugh talks about not just cultivating a supportive space for all women mortgage brokers, but for providing a place where new brokers can become the leaders of tomorrow. Sharing the tips and tricks they’ve learned along the way, Jamie and her fellow Women’s Mortgage Network members try to help fellow brokers from making the same mistakes they’ve made through years of trials and tribulations. Through this ever-changing industry, Jamie hopes to help brokers find and leverage their true authentic voice. 

Broker to Broker host JP Hussey also chimes in with his preview of his AIME Fuse Top Originator Panel, giving us a sample of all the different ways brokers can grow their volume and serve consumers best, from wholesale giants, all the way down to a one-person shop.

Mortgages aside, passion unites them all; passion to do what’s right for each and every consumer. Join this special edition of the Broker to Broker Podcast as all of our guests preview their panels at AIME Fuse Virtual on Friday, September 25th.

Show Notes: 

The post Referrals, Veterans, & Women in Mortgage: AIME Fuse Virtual Preview (with Jamie Cavanaugh, Nathan Knottingham, & Scott Schang) – Episode 44 appeared first on AIME.