Mortgage Connects an MGIC Podcast
On Mortgage Connects, we explore the minds and experiences of mortgage industry and lending innovators to bring our audience candid viewpoints on critical mortgage industry developments and influential insights about the unique challenges that lie ahead. Our hosts interview top mortgage professionals and thought leaders across the industry – from proven LOs to established CEOs – who have wide-ranging expertise to provide the best insights into market trends, best practices, marketing and referral strategies, training opportunities, and the future of the mortgage industry.
Mortgage Connects an MGIC Podcast
How to educate your way to a full pipeline
How can you ensure your mortgage pipeline remains full in today's unpredictable market? Join us for an insightful discussion with mortgage experts Heather Bauman, Tay Oliver, and Dustin Owens as they share their innovative strategies for educating potential borrowers. From first-time homebuyer programs to leveraging community events, our panelists offer a wealth of knowledge on reaching and informing a broader audience, ensuring that both lenders and consumers are well-prepared for the home buying journey.
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Welcome to Mortgage Connects by MGIC, bringing you the latest insights from top mortgage professionals around the industry. I'm your host, stephanie Budnick, and today we have a recording of a panel discussion that we previously did, called how to Educate your Way to a Full Pipeline. We thought that we would share this with you, as it was a great discussion with seasoned experts about an ever-changing mortgage landscape. I'm so excited to share this discussion with you today. Thank you so much. I am so excited to be here. This is a really exciting panel discussion that we have for you here today. In this ever-evolving landscaping of our mortgage lending industry, education has become a cornerstone for our success. It's something that we're passionate about here at FGIC, as well as all of the panelists that we have with us here today. Today we've gathered experts throughout the industry Heather Bauman, tate Oliver and Dustin Owens to delve into the strategies and approaches of educating potential borrowers in today's unpredictable market. So with that, I would like to briefly just introduce each of our panelists, and then I will have them say just a couple of words about themselves and we'll dive right in.
Speaker 1:So, heather, she manages the Finally Home program at the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Directing the home buying education efforts. She has an extensive expertise in real estate associations and holds a degree from the University of Montana and Boise State University. Tay is the Director of Community Advancement at Thrive Mortgage, focusing on financial literacy in underserved communities. With over 20 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Tay is a member of various real estate organizations and hails from Lubbock, texas, and Dustin, is a co-operator of a $1 billion retail production operation and the creator and host of the Loan Officer podcast.
Speaker 1:If you haven't tuned in yet, I strongly suggest that you do. I love it. I listen to it frequently, with over a million downloads. He is a certified mortgage banker and a triathlon enthusiast, graduating from the MBA's Future Leader Program. So we both got that future MBA programs on us here. Well, without further ado, let us dive into our discussion today on how to educate our way to a full pipeline. Our market is very unpredictable today and, with the perspective on educating potential borrowers, how do you think that we do that throughout education and utilizing the tools that we have? And, heather, with the things that you just shared, I'd love if you could share your expertise in this area.
Speaker 2:So I would say that, to begin with, many of the first time homebuyers that we're seeing going through our online homebuyer education program and through our housing counseling programs, there's just a lot of there's a lack of resources out there or a lack of education. I would say A lot of first-time homebuyers are coming through seeing that they are unaware that there's down payment assistance programs available and that they're unaware of what the different loan type programs are and there's just kind of a breakdown in getting that education out there to the first-time homebuyers about what it means to purchase their first home and what they need to do to get prepared. So we do a lot of surveys from our first-time homebuyers and housing counseling clients and many of them I mean.
Speaker 2:There's such a misconception with regards to how much down is required to get into their first home. You know we've got people who are still saying it takes 10, 20 percent down to get into a home and they're just they're baffled when we tell them no, you can get into to a home for three and a half percent down or, and potentially even less, with down payment closing costs programs that are available. Also, there's a misconception about student loan debt. People think that if they have student loan debt they can't purchase or they have to wait until they get it down to a lower amount before they can purchase. So just educating early and getting the information out there that home buying is possible even on a smaller budget. Affordability is always an issue, but there's ways to manage that and there's ways to plan for it.
Speaker 1:I think that we hear a lot of those same misconceptions through who we talk to, from the 20% down to what programs are available through and how we do. That looks a lot different. Tay, I know that you are pretty passionate about certain things and ways to educate individuals. Can you share some of those with us?
Speaker 3:It really takes just being proactive and getting that education out in the public. I mean, dustin has he'll probably talk about it here his podcast. You know that's just one outlet to be able to educate borrowers, but it doesn't have to be on such a grand scale when you think about it. If you're in a barbershop or if you're at church or if you're in a Sunday school class, that gives you that opportunity, you have that audience. School class that gives you that opportunity, you have that audience.
Speaker 3:You have to start finding ways to talk about things that are important, because what's happening everywhere across the country? You're starting to see a lot more apartment buildings being built than houses and what we're trying. If we have more education, a lot of these folks will start seeing I spent just as much money on a deposit for an apartment versus what it would cost me to buy my first home and just rinse and repeating having those opportunities whether it's a seminar, joining organizations like Heather's in Idaho and having that Saturday morning class or whatever that looks like or if you want to set up your own class. Back in the day it used to be where you had to sit down and do an eight-hour HUD certified class on a Saturday morning. Well, now you could do everything through Zoom. You have that opportunity to captivate an audience at any given time if you have the skill set. It's just being proactively doing it and trying to identify those customers early on in their process, before they go sign another lease.
Speaker 1:You know you spoke to about Dustin speaking to the things he mentioned on his podcast and I think that's a good opportunity. We were just chatting, before this started, about Instagram and finding that, dustin, can you elaborate a little bit on how social media can help create some of that digestible content from an education standpoint?
Speaker 4:Yes, and I think what's key to know when going into this is that A it's called the social network. It's a place for you to go, network and doing things that I'm trying to do with a national brand is honestly not what I coach and teach. I think we can do the most good for the 1,000 to 3,000 people who are in our network, to where we can be the mayor of our community, we can be the subject matter expert, and we don't have to go wide, we just have to go deep. We have to go deep with the right people. I mean, there's 70 to 100,000 of us mortgage loan originators in the country. What if we each got really deep with our 1,200 to 3,600 people?
Speaker 4:To me, these are the people that I'd invite to, like a Mac Daddy wedding I'm talking open bar DJ live band.
Speaker 4:Or the people that I send holiday cards to Actually, I don't send them my wife sends them but nonetheless we send holiday cards to.
Speaker 4:I need to be creating content for them that is small, bite-sized and digestible content for them that is small, bite-sized and digestible, and I need to be posting it where those people go to consume content, which today, that is Facebook, that is Instagram, that is, linkedin, like those three. And then if I were to incorporate maybe some traditional email marketing where there's a video of me talking about the market or talking about here's five myths that most first-time homebuyers get wrong, and then I'm able to send that to a database of 400 to 600 people, I think this is where we, as mortgage professionals, can do the most good. You got to think. Most people, what we do for a living, they didn't teach in high school. They don't have a course in college. It wasn't talked about at their dinner table. We owe it to them to create content that is easily digestible, that speaks to them in fourth grade language, that walks them through the unscary part of buying a house, or it shows them just how easy it is.
Speaker 1:You touched on a bunch of different things and my mind started to race with your answers and just different directions in which to talk about, but knowing who your audience is being where they're at. You talked about being on social media, but being on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn and all of those other places, and I think it varies depending on who you're trying to attract. But go deep with it, right, as you said.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I don't need 10,000 people following me, I need 1200. I need 1600, but I need them to know that I'm a human. I need them to know that I care and I need to know that I am a source of information and I need to show them, not tell them. So if I'm not posting, if I'm not creating video content, if I'm not putting myself out there, then I'm telling them I'm great at what I do, but I'm not showing them.
Speaker 1:I think we started to allude to a couple of the things here, but as we start to look at even the title of this panel discussion right, building your way to a strong pipeline. How do we do that? By being an educator, and, Tay, I'll lean on you first.
Speaker 3:I think it starts with, especially as originators. Right now, the one thing that we all have in common is we talk to more customers that probably do not qualify today than do, and what is the plan for those folks who do not currently qualify?
Speaker 4:Do you?
Speaker 3:have a plan, and I've talked about this for so many years now, because most of us don't. You know, most of us have the credit simulator. I mean, most companies out there have adopted this software. Now you run a credit simulator, you tell the customer if you do X, y and Z, I'll give you a call in six months. That's the typical answer you get from most originators. But what is that plan? Who's going to hold that customer accountable? How are you going to ensure that that customer does take that plan and run with it and make sure that they answer their questions? Well, a lot of the times we don't do anything, and this is across across the board. And what happens is in six months we see that this customer may or may not have done the plan, but you see that they've celebrated closing on a home with someone else. Or how did they get into that house? And they didn't call me? Well, because we didn't have a plan helping them get to where they want to be.
Speaker 3:So I say always you build a pipeline based upon all the customers that you work with right now, whether they do qualify today or not, and those that do not. You put a plan in place and you stick to that plan. Here at Thrive and at Lower we have a program called Thrive for Home where we have internal staff that actually hold the customer accountable, put them on a plan and help them with getting to that point of being able to qualify. Not all companies have that. So I brag about the company that I work for, because we have taken the initiative of never leaving a customer behind, especially if that customer wants to buy a home. So holding them accountable, giving them a plan, giving them a platform to ask questions and being someone there to answer a home. So holding them accountable, giving them a plan, giving them a platform to ask questions and being someone there to answer the questions and it not be the LO, because we know how busy loan officers and sales folks are. It's hard for them to get back to that.
Speaker 1:So that's just on top of mind all the time for them. They're thinking about the next thing. Absolutely for them. They're thinking about the next thing. Absolutely, Justin, from your perspective, from an LO, how do you add value through education with you know, maybe?
Speaker 4:webinars. I think that we mentioned that today already. Yeah, it's twofold. I have a strategy around webinars, but that probably requires a little bit of sophistication because you have to drive people into your webinar. The first place I'm gonna go is I'm gonna teach the people that home buyers reach out to first. I'm gonna teach them how to fish. I'm gonna empower them with the knowledge and the tools and the rules of thumb or the articles or the training videos that they need to educate the consumer, and that would be starting with those that sell homes for a living. Right, unfortunately for us in the lending world, right, they dream about not having a mortgage and it's the last thing they want to do. Everybody wants a trainer to go work out with. Nobody wants to talk to the dietitian and well, we're the dietitian. So I first start with focusing my training efforts on the real estate community and making sure I'm empowering them, whether I'm doing that through a webinar, that through a in-person lunch and learn, or even one-one with the talking points, and sometimes even teaching them how not to speak in industry jargon but to speak in a language that would make sense to a fourth grader. Now, when I'm done doing that and I'm trying to play in another silo.
Speaker 4:I love running Facebook ads that would promote a free home buying webinar. I don't call it a first time home buyer webinar. It's a home buying webinar, because I will't call it a first time home buyer webinar. It's a home buying webinar because I will teach you how to buy your first house, your third house, your lake house, your investment property. But what I want to do is I want to get people on there and I want them to feel like it is a place of comfort. I want them to know that we're here to learn. We're here to ask questions, and I just covered the very high level aspects of what it takes to buy a house.
Speaker 4:I want it to sound a lot easier than maybe it is. I want it to sound as not scary as it really is. It's not scary, right, buying a house, think. And I want them to think yes, I can. And if they can think yes, I can, then I want to invite them to a free 20-minute one-on-one with myself or one of my advisors, so that way we can get into the specifics of their scenario and help them find a way to yes. But the first thing you'd have to do with that particular tactic is you have to fill the room, so you have to have some kind of a resource or a knowledge on well, how do I fill the room, even if the room is a webinar, like we're on right now?
Speaker 1:Right, and maybe it's starting with, as you said, the real estate agent, where you're diving in there and you're partnering with somebody else right, so that you're getting your contacts and their contacts at the same time, and it's twofold.
Speaker 4:Correct. Yeah, 100%, that would be if you didn't want to lean into the more advanced. Wait a minute. How do I create an ad? How do I run an ad? Oh my gosh, I need a Facebook business page. Does my company allow this? Should I call the compliance police and ask for permission, or do I get forgiveness? Yes, to your point, stephanie.
Speaker 4:Maybe you say wait a minute, what's that one team or that one brokerage? And maybe they have a database of 2,000 or 3,000 potential homebuyers and 2,000 or 3,000 circle of influence and maybe we just invite them and then we each invite our own circle and we just try to get 8 or 12 people on a call. By the way, 8 or 12 is better than 2 or 3, but 2 or 3 is better than 0. So I'm a huge fan of a one-to-many approach and I almost feel like it's our obligation. It is our obligation to educate, it is our obligation to teach, it's our obligation to demystify and if we do that, then I promise you, people will raise their hand and they'll start asking you questions. The more questions they ask, that's the more opportunities we have to invite them to get one-on-one, to then tailor make solutions for their particular financial needs, wants and goals.
Speaker 1:And you said something about nobody ever wants a mortgage and I was like, well, no, everyone wants the American dream of owning a home, but yeah, I definitely didn't want the mortgage Correct.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we dream about being debt-free. We dream about never having a mortgage.
Speaker 4:We celebrate the day we make that last payment, so I think if we can recognize that, like I teach my students that coach with me over at T-LOP online, we don't do pre-quals, we don't do pre-approvals, we do homebuyer consultations. And if we're not doing a homebuyer consultation, then we're doing an annual mortgage review, and annual mortgage review is essentially a pre-qual for a refi. A home buying consultation is what we do. We help people buy houses, but we show them how to leverage debt in order to purchase real estate, ie obtain a home loan.
Speaker 1:Now Heather through the lens of where you are and from HUD agency standpoint. How do you see this occurring throughout your organizations standpoint?
Speaker 2:how do you see this occurring throughout your organizations? Yeah, so I come at it from a little bit of a different lens than Dustin, On the association side and also from the HUD approved housing counseling side. I would recommend loan officers that maybe don't have the resources, like Dustin has, to provide these types of resources, because everybody is so busy and there's so much going on in the industry that there are independent nonprofits and HUD certified housing counseling agencies and great homebuyer education programs that are already available in the communities that are certified by HUD to help with these resources. And what we've seen is we've really seen how that realtors and lenders that are referring individuals to this impartial third party that is just strictly there to provide education and counseling services. It really can create a good rapport between the lender and the consumer that's trying to get into a home. They appreciate being given the opportunity to learn what's out there and get better with their finances and get the tools and resources that they need to improve their credit standing and maybe save up a little bit more for their down payment and get mortgage ready. But then ultimately they always go back to that lender and that realtor that they've been working with because it builds rapport, it creates trust and it really opens up the doors for a lifetime client, ultimately because you get that person into their first home and a couple years later they're going to call you back if they have a good experience and they're going to want to move up and so it really can create a good working environment between the two. And I would just say overall, there's a lot of resources available out there, Even in the lending and the real estate industry.
Speaker 2:On the real estate side, I would say lenders, reach out to your realtors that you work with on a regular basis. Encourage them the first time that they talk to a first time home to get their financial picture and find out truly what they can afford. But we all know that that's not the way it works. Consumers that are out there shopping for a home, they start on the national website platforms looking at what's available. They end up going to open houses, they end up talking to realtors to begin with and then they kind of bypass that whole. Let me get qualified or pre-qualified and understand how much I really can afford. And we like to direct people the opposite way Find out what your budget is, what you really can afford, and then everything else will fall into place. So I would say, opening up those lines of communication with your community and your industry professionals that you work with on a daily basis basis and definitely partner with your local housing counseling agencies, your state housing finance agencies that are offering housing counseling services and your education providers.
Speaker 1:Thank you for that. As we think about you know, the people that are mortgage ready, that aren't yet ready, we're trying to talk about educating, and I think educating through a variety of lenses is definitely a theme that we've talked about. The more that they know ahead of time, they're able to set themselves up for success a lot easier than they're coming in and they're going to that credit person, Tay, that you talked about and running through a program in that capacity. But, Tay, I want to kind of turn to you and say how do you customize that based on who's ready maybe, who's not ready, and is it maybe? Is there things that are more product specific?
Speaker 3:I think what happens is, as you're interviewing the customer themselves, you start finding out where they are in the process, whether they are ready to go as far as, financially, they have all their ducks in a a row, or whether they really need some help. They maybe need some true credit counseling or credit restoration, or maybe they just need some financial literacy and learning how to build credit. So once you have that interview with the customer is when you really can find out how that individual goes. So having the seminar, having the platform to being able to do these things online, are very important because you have to introduce yourself to the market, but where the game changer is having that one on one conversation with each individual. That's how you know for sure where this person stands.
Speaker 3:Now, dustin, you had said something earlier and I did a webinar with MGIC about this last year. It's the fear factor, right. We have to get these folks from being so scared to push the button and submit the application, and a lot of that is how do we market to them? You know they have to Uh-oh.
Speaker 3:Uh-oh.
Speaker 1:Uh-oh.
Speaker 3:Did.
Speaker 1:I You're freezing on us a little bit. Let me turn off his video.
Speaker 3:Sorry about that. Let me turn off my video, okay.
Speaker 4:Hear me.
Speaker 1:Yep, let's go back to where you were talking about, what dustin had said, because I think that that's about the last line I heard, um oh, sorry about that.
Speaker 3:So it's the fear factor and really making sure that you ease the comfort of someone to want to hit that submit button. And then, a lot of the times, it's how do you touch that person? A lot of the people that we talk to on a regular basis they applied because they either saw the people that we talk to on a regular basis. They applied because they either saw an advertisement that we did on Instagram or they saw a video of one of their friends doing something with us in the market and they felt comfortable enough to make your phone ring. Well, you still have to have that one-on-one interaction Once you have them on the call. We can't just be so busy every day not to take that time and treat them like an individual, treat them like a family member and not just hurry up and try to fill out a 1003 anymore. You've got to get down, understand who they are as a person. Because good loan officers they get referral business from every single client they work with, because they've treated them so well. I'll say that again A good loan officer will get referral business from every client they work with when they treat the people right and you sit down with them. It's a true canceling session. It's a consultation. You get to know who they are, they feel comfortable, they hit the submit button and then game on and being able to start the process and getting them on their way to home ownership, regardless of where they start that day.
Speaker 3:It could easily be that 400 FICO that needs a lot of help. But then you have some people that have excellent credit but no money in the bank. Financial literacy comes in a lot, lots of forms. I mean Heather just said it earlier Some of these folks need down payment assistance, some of them need credit counseling, some of them need both, but it's our job to decipher which ones. You know where to start putting a plan in place for those folks. Are they something they can actually achieve and see and grab and check off their list and then eventually they become ready to buy a home? And then the fun part is watching them get keys, a home and then the fun part is watching them get keys Very much so.
Speaker 1:I know that, Dustin, when we spoke earlier, you had talked also about tailoring your approach to match each individual. Did you want to elaborate a little bit more on what Tate was saying?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think. To me it's using our platform. Whatever it may be right, it's whether I'm at a community center and I'm teaching a class, whether I'm at a local business with 10 plus employees and I brought pizza and I'm sitting down with them and I'm giving a brief home buying seminar, or I'm on a platform like this with 200 plus people tuning in. I think we have to first educate them that their A is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all mortgage, that mortgages are literally and I said it earlier they're financial instruments used to purchase real estate. It's our way of leveraging debt to purchase real estate, and we can show them all the statistics that show us that homeowners are 40 times more wealthy than renters 40 times more wealthy than renters. And it's letting them know, though, that their financial needs, wants and goals have to be factored into the loan that we're going to use to help them purchase this home, and we have to use data and statistics and, by the way, storytelling to show them that the decision they're making today to purchase this home is not a 30-year decision. It's probably a seven to nine-year decision. We have to then show them that the decision to pick this particular loan program, especially in today's market is more than likely a two to three-year decision. It's not a 30-year decision. And then we have to be there to answer their questions and, as Tay said, this has worked for me throughout my career and I have been fortunate that I, back in the day, helped fund well over 2,000 loans. I first stopped and put myself in their shoes and I'm like, well, if I was them, everything from their career like I'm projecting forward. My buddy Doug works for United Auto Workers. Doug has made great money since he was 18. But at 40, doug's not going to make any more money than he makes today. So I have to factor that into the advice that I give to Doug. Versus my buddy Rob, who just started his own business at 38, and now he's 40. Rob's income may triple over the next three years if his pro forma that he drafted comes to fruition. So my advice to Rob is different because we can take some bigger risk based on the potential from his income to go from 100 grand to 300 grand, and I don't think consumers know that.
Speaker 4:So I think it's our duty to use storytelling. Talk about someone like them that you once helped out, and if you don't have a me story, tell a? We story. We could be your branch, we could be your company Heck, we could be the mortgage industry. So you listen to my podcast. You hear me tell a story, you swipe and adapt it, use it as your own.
Speaker 4:Just say we instead of me, but storytelling in order to give people the comfort that they are normal, that they are ordinary and that you are really good at helping normal, ordinary people. And, by the way, normal means 640 credit. Normal might mean 800 credit score but no money in the bank Like that is normal. Normal is divorced. Normal is chapter seven five years ago or four years ago, and I think people have to hear that that's normal. You know what abnormal looks like 800 credit score, 30 DTI, 80 LTV like that's abnormal. We call those people outliers and Malcolm Gladwell writes books about them, you know. But I'm in the business of helping normal and I think the last thing that I would try to book in all of this on is us understanding.
Speaker 4:As mortgage professionals. We are the financial advisors for the bulk of our clients and that's a little bit slippery me stating because we're not financial advisors, right, we don't have the licensing, we don't have the credentials, we can't market ourselves that way. But if you think about what it takes to get someone at Merrill Lynch or Morgan Stanley or Raymond James to sit down and talk to one of our borrowers, they're looking for $250,000 of investable assets. That's non-home equity, that's non-401k Y'all. When was the last time you took a loan application for someone who had $250,000 of investable assets? It happens maybe once out of every 40 or 50 loans that you originate.
Speaker 4:Therefore, we have our civic duty to change the future of our country through our education efforts. If we just remind ourselves, oh my gosh, what a burden or oh my gosh, what an opportunity we are, the first and probably closest thing to a financial literacy coach these consumers, these fellow Americans, will ever encounter, I better do a bang-up job for them. And, better yet, I better put myself in situations where I can talk to the most of them, so that I can do a bang-up job for them. Because it just dawned on me like, oh my gosh, not many people have a financial advisor. Therefore, I have a void to fill.
Speaker 1:I think you talked about storytelling. You talked about being the we. It's that we want to do business with people that we know, like and trust, and I can't tell you how many times I've heard that, but I believe that sincerely to my core, on whatever it is that I'm trying to purchase or do, because I need that, I need that relatability, I need to know I'm not alone with whatever obstacle I'm going through. So I couldn't agree more, heather, as you think about it, what are different ways and educational programs from whether that's a national or a local level, that can help maybe with some of these additional needs that those individuals looking to get in home may have?
Speaker 2:Sure, so there's quite a bit. I mean, we've got like our program our Finally Home homebuyer education program is a national-based online homebuyer education program, but then we also provide a homeowner module for once they get into the home. There's a lot of locally based. There's a lot of financial literacy type local classes that are available and again I kind of dive more towards the housing counseling realm and the HUD approved housing counseling agencies that provide these classes locally. It's really about building up the community, building up resources in the community, and you can find any type of housing counseling assistance that's needed.
Speaker 2:So if somebody is like Dustin was talking about maybe somebody has got a super low credit score but they've got a little bit of money in the bank to put for a down payment the housing counselors can come up with an individualized plan to assist and to create that path and that action plan to get them where they need to go.
Speaker 2:And it complements what the lender's doing quite well, because the lenders are creating that rapport and creating the initial education, but by handing them off to somebody that can really spend the time and sit down with them on a weekly basis and talk to them about okay, what were you able to accomplish this week? Did you work on your goals, Did you reach out to these creditors, Did you contact the credit bureau on this and this, and really holding the consumer accountable and trying to help them reach their goals, along with providing additional resources and referrals to help them along the way. So I think those partnerships really do help create trust and it makes the loan officer's job easier because they're handing it off to somebody that they can trust, they know is independent, isn't going to come in and isn't trying to steer them in a different direction. They're just trying to help and help that person reach that goal of home ownership and then they can work with them along the way and the consumer goes back, purchases the home, and it's a win-win for everyone.
Speaker 1:You've touching on a lot of great programs and tools and Tay. I know that you're pretty passionate about this tool, this as well. What other types of maybe tools, resources or maybe organizations can you help or partner with?
Speaker 3:I think. So our main tool here at Thrive is our Thrive for Home program. It is the program where we really sit down and we incubate every single borrower who does not qualify right now. So there is not a no, you do not qualify, it's just not right now. And we put them through a gauntlet of questions and accountability, like Heather was saying, because it goes back to these folks have gone a lifetime at this point of making bad financial decisions or uneducated financial decisions, right. So then a lot of the times when you hear no, your entire life, someone's finally telling you hey, you know what? No, you can buy a home, I just have to show you how to do it. Having that accountability is the most important part of all of that. So our program really holds the customer accountable, whether they do a lot of the things on their own through the process or they actually work with our consultants and going line for line on their credit or whatever it needs to be for them.
Speaker 3:The other thing is the organizations that are out there in your community.
Speaker 3:You have to be a part of it.
Speaker 3:You have to join the NARS of the world and the NARABS and the NAREPS and the ARIA to be with the realtors so you can educate the realtors involved in this whole process as well, because a lot of the times most consumers are talking to a realtor before they get pre-approved because the realtor showed this fancy video of a house on six acres and I want that, right, we all want that.
Speaker 3:So I call my realtor. My realtor says, oh yeah, you can buy a home. And then all of a sudden, they've never gone down the path of being you, of being pre-approved. So then at that point, if you're educating realtors on exactly what helps these customers get ready to buy a home, then that pipeline starts growing. Your realtors start sending you more qualified customers. Your realtors start educating the borrower before they call you. Those are the best practices and habits that we have to do. And then the organizations that are out there, they all want you to sponsor lunch, to give you your five minutes of fame, but then at that same time, that five minutes of fame can give you that opportunity to educate more folks. So and then rinse and repeat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I you know the community chapters are really big finding a way to be in front of real estate agents. I know that there's just so much of that and so many ways that people are trying to partner together, trying to be the advocates that we need in our industry. Another thing that's pretty prevalent within our industry, and it's becoming more and more, is technology and how we can utilize that to streamline. Whether that's pretty prevalent within our industry, and it's becoming more and more, is technology and how we can utilize that to streamline, whether that's our processes, so that we can spend maybe more time with people, provide more options, be savvier with how we stay top of mind. Dustin, do you have examples of maybe some tech tools that people can use, whether it's through delivering you know, educational content, or if it's through delivering you know educational content, or if it's through a different lens in which you're taking advantage of?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I have three go-tos and there's probably five total, and it's interesting when I talk about technology, because I love tech. However, I don't love to use tech. So I love to surround myself with people on my team who then I can hold them accountable to be the expert when it comes to utilization of technology. So if I were to go front of funnel all the way to the back of the funnel, first and foremost, we all need a CRM Like that's a basic, and I'm going to tell you right now the best CRM ready for it, the best one ever. It's the one that you're going to use. It could be a spiral notepad, it could be a drawer full of paper files, it could be Total Expert, usherpa, jungo, adium, you name them. Okay, but the best one is the one that you use Now with that CRM. Obviously, you got to use it. You have to figure out well, why am I doing this? Well, why am I going to hold data? But am I doing this? Well, one, I'm going to hold data, but B, I'm going to hold that data that I'm going to market to that data, whether it's a prospective home buyer, a past client, a group of 300 realtors. I need to be pushing out content to them, that by them receiving my content, you made them more knowledgeable. Therefore, you brought value to them. Now, once I have someone who's in my grasp and they want to secure a home loan with me, I would love for every person to be utilizing some service like what Dave Savage over at Mortgage Coach offers, because to me, that is a differentiator right. This is, all of a sudden, I'm not a bank teller. All of a sudden, I'm not a call center loan officer. No, I am a mortgage sales professional. I'm an advisor and I'm going to tailor, make the right mortgage that matches their financial needs, wants and goals. I'm going to educate them and walk them through a very high level, robust financial consultation that involves obtaining a home loan and purchasing real estate. So I like that particular technology a lot, or anything that does what Mortgage Coach does. I have friends of mine. They have an Excel spreadsheet they use and it does the same exact thing as Mortgage Coach, and they like it because it doesn't cost them 150 bucks a month. So it's more of the concept, less of the technology.
Speaker 4:I love having something on the back end that helps me stay in front of my people to let them know. Hey, this is what's going on in your neighborhood. Hey, this is where you should be based on your amortization schedule. And oh, by the way, here's how I'm helping people like you leverage their equity to put themselves in better financial situations situations Like my go-to for that, personally, and I don't get paid or compensated, but these are products that I like.
Speaker 4:I like HomeBot, or like similar products that does what HomeBot does. So the first thing I would do is I'd have a CRM that I used. Then I'd have something on the front end that allowed me to be a true advisor. Then I'd have something on the back end that brought value to my clients, and it did so with automation, so that I don't have to create more hours in the day because there's only 24. I can't really go create 25. So when I go to create 25, I'm really taking an hour away from something else, which could be my health, it could be my family. So I don't want to really risk either one of those two. So I like automation.
Speaker 4:And then it's what are you doing to better yourself? I know it's not really a technology, but it is. Do you follow the market? Do you know what's going on in the US economy, do you know what's going on in global events that could impact our industry and then can you speak on it at a surface level. You don't have to go deep as if you're an economics professor, but you should be able to speak on it so that the conversations your clients ie realtors, builders, financial advisors right the people who refer us and your customers ie borrowers your conversations with your clients and customers needs to sound, feel and look different than had they gone into a local depository, talked to the bank teller, or had they called the 1-800 number that they found online and talked to the call center rep.
Speaker 1:You know, utilizing tools like HomeBot or other things and providing I know the loan officer that I had used four years ago. I still hear from that individual I want to say monthly, and sometimes it's here's the cost like, here's what your house is grown in equity or grown in value, or here's things happening in your area, and so when I get that type of information to your point, providing that is keeping them top of mind to you and so it allows you to continue to educate through osmosis almost. So I appreciate tools that are able to do that. We talked a lot on this session today just about utilizing education, enhancing financial literacy, promoting home ownership, and a lot of it was through individual tools, Some of it was through the work with communities. But, Heather, I want to lean to you. I know that you talked to some about different organizations, but how do you go about partnering with your local organizations to maybe increase your outreach?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really simple. Just call up your local associations and let them know that you're interested in partnering and maybe you'd like to speak at some of their events. I know a lot of the local housing counseling agencies that offer local home buying in-person classes. They invite industry, real estate industry professionals to come and speak at their events and talk about their different sections. I know that's what we do. We offer live classes throughout Idaho. Know that's what we do. We offer live classes throughout Idaho and that's what we do. We bring in a loan officer, we bring in a real estate agent, we bring in an inspector, we bring in an insurance agent to talk about all of these different sections of the home buying process. So I would, I would say, just reach out to, to local organizations that are offering it.
Speaker 2:Google HUD approved housing counseling agencies. There are. There are thousands across the country. They're operating in every state that are are just looking for resources and partnerships to promote what they're doing on the education and housing counseling side, and I think it's a great opportunity for loan officers and real estate agents to partner and create a more vast knowledge base that can get out there in the community, knowledge base that can get out there in the community.
Speaker 2:We really try to promote homeownership and education and financial literacy, especially in underserved communities, and I think that's one of the things that we've seen the most is getting out there and being present in the community.
Speaker 2:There's a lot that can be done on social media and there's a lot that can be done over the Internet, but really, if you can go into a community center and be able to talk with people and make that one on one connection, I really think that that makes a difference.
Speaker 2:It creates that rapport, it creates trust, it builds up that ability to offer the resources that are there to help individuals get home ready. I think there's a lot with education and counseling on the tech side that are helping improve the process quite a bit. A few years ago it was common that it was a little bit more of a lengthy process. A lot of people wanted to meet one-on-one or the counseling agencies wanted you to meet one-on-one. That's not the case anymore. Agencies are really really turning to technology to meet over Zoom. I know with our education platform we have all of these great worksheets and fillable forms and everything can be done on a smartphone and is readily accessible. So there's a there's a lot of enhancements that are really speeding up the process and streamlining things so that education is more accessible to everyone.
Speaker 1:Before I turn it back over to Alexis for Q&A, and just a reminder for you all on the call, if you do have any questions, please I know I've seen a bunch of them kind of come in the chat. They're being answered along the way, which is outstanding even by some of the other attendees, which is really cool to see. But pop your questions in the Q&A for our panelists. But Tay, dustin and Heather, any closing remarks that you want to leave us with before we jump into the Q&A?
Speaker 3:The only thing that I'd like to just add to this discussion is you guys have to start somewhere. You know being in the community it takes being present. You don't have to be a member of a church to go to the church. You don't have to be a member of an organization to try to go to a luncheon, but you have to be present to play group. They're going to kick you out if you don't come back next month. Right, but if you go join an organization where they're in the community every single weekend or every month and you show up, people are going to start asking you more questions. So you have to start somewhere.
Speaker 3:And then the last thing is if you have any questions, even after this webinar, feel free to reach out to us three, because that's what this is all about. We'd be more than happy to help you. If you need help setting up a plan for you and your teams I mean, that's what we do for a living We'd be more than happy to help you because, at the end of the day, if we're all working on educating our Americans out there and buying homes, we're all moving in the same direction, which will increase the housing and home ownership all over the country. So thank you guys for having us today.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Tay Dustin.
Speaker 4:Parting words. Nothing changes if nothing changes. So think about where you are and then, more importantly, where you want to go, and then ask yourself what's the one change you're going to make. So if you hopped on this call because you're looking for either motivation or hopefully it wasn't motivation, because, quite honestly, motivation, if you want that, pick up this thing right here. Go to your photos, look at your family. That should be your motivation. Either make your parents proud or make your children that much more proud. But hopefully you were taught something that made you say, hmm, I want to go do that.
Speaker 4:And what I have learned? I learned this the hard way because I've made thousands of mistakes. Don't try to do two, three or four things different. Pick one, pick one and say I'm going to do this one thing better, this one thing different, and I'm going to stick to it, like Tay said, every week, every month, to the end of the year. And if I do so, this is what my intended result will be. So just keep in mind if you're looking for change, you have to make some changes, but don't try to make two, three or four changes at once. Just pick one thing, focus on it and stick with it at the end of the year.
Speaker 1:I think that's so applicable in so many realms I can the second you said that I'm like I have so many ways in which I should do that better Heather anything from you Some closing remarks.
Speaker 2:Sure, I'd just like to say that I really feel that education is the key to sustainable homeownership and by getting those borrowers educated early it really opens up the pipeline. Not only will it help the loan officers succeed, but it's going to help the home buyer throughout the process. And they remember that and they know that and I always kind of look back and think about my first purchase and how scary it was and how little I knew even though I was already in the industry. The lack of knowledge was just mind-blowing. Looking back on it, and I think being able to provide that sounding board, that educational resource, the referrals to trusted advisors on the housing counseling side, that can help, that can be there on the housing counseling side, that can help, that can be there, is just going to really provide a huge benefit to the consumer. It's going to create trust amongst your borrowers that you have and create lifetime customers.
Speaker 1:Great. Thank you so much, and thank you so much to our team panelists for sharing these invaluable insights on educating our potential borrowers, nurturing a robust pipeline. Your expertise has shed light on some important topics information, tailored approaches, some of that community collaboration that we're looking for in today's dynamic market. So, as we conclude our discussion, let's continue to empower individuals with the knowledge they need to achieve homeownership success Today. Let's continue to educate our way to a full pipeline and a brighter future for all. Again, watch your inbox for access to that exclusive toolkit and how you can leverage and put some of these insights to good use. Thank you again for everybody participating and joining us today.
Speaker 4:Bye, thanks for having us. Bye guys. Thank you again for everybody participating and joining us today.
Speaker 1:Bye, thanks for having us. Bye guys.
Speaker 2:Thank you, have a good one everyone.
Speaker 1:Thank you all so much for listening. For all the latest industry insights, subscribe to Mortgage Connects on Apple Stitcher, google Podcasts, spotify, amazon Music or simply go to mortgage connectscom.