← Coffeez with Joe Shalaby
Coffeez with Joe Shalaby
Mortgage Mastery ft. Jeff Leinan | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby Ep. 47
00:41:27
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- [00:04]
A
What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Coffees Foreclosers where success is served daily. Today we have a special guest. With over three decades of experience in the mortgage industry, he has been instrumental in steering Plaza Home Mortgages national sales operations and production, especially through challenging market cycles. Under his leadership, Plaza Home Mortgage has become a destination employer for. For seasoned sales professionals known for stability and opportunity. Get ready for invaluable insights on mortgage banking and growth strategies from an industry leader. Please welcome co president of Plaza Home Mortgage, Jeff Lynan.
- [00:49]
B
Joe, thanks for having me. Appreciate it.
- [00:51]
A
Thank you. Jeff, thanks for coming to the show. We appreciate you. We appreciate you for flying down here from Jacksonville, Florida and you know, this is going to be a great opportunity for both of us. Jeff, we like to start the show the way we start the show every single time, which is we ask, we like to ask our guests, what is your morning routine?
- [01:10]
B
What is my morning routine? Well, obviously, get up and usually it's, it's really coffee, coffee quickly, right? Get that going, walk the dog and then get going with the day, right? And see what it can do and figure out. I really try to, I try to, I try to prioritize at least two or three things that I want to get done every day because I think most of us in life, we let life get in the way. So things happen. So if you don't have a plan, you'll. Things will fill that time and you'll feel like, oh, I'm busy, but am I really doing the things I need to do? So I really try to set each day and say, hey, listen, these are the, you know, it could be one thing, could be two things, could be three things. I'm like, no matter what, I have to get, make progress on these things. This is forward progress for me. So those are really important for me. And then, you know, you. And then, because things happen, right, you fill in the time with, you know, phone calls and complaints and whatever else. So for me, that's super critical. And then because, you know, one of my sayings is day turns into a week turns into a month. And if you're not progressing the things you got to get done, then you'll look back, you'll say, where did the time go? So super important that I keep those on my, on my to do list every day.
- [02:18]
A
Couple top priorities. Just bang them out.
- [02:20]
B
Yep.
- [02:21]
A
Nice. Now, you've been in the business for three decades.
- [02:25]
B
Yes.
- [02:26]
A
Okay, so you started what, in your teens, huh?
- [02:29]
B
Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been around for A while, Yep.
- [02:32]
A
What. What got you started in the mortgage industry?
- [02:35]
B
You know, I think, like a lot of people in the mortgage industry, it's. It's a very financially rewarding industry, or can be.
- [02:41]
A
Yeah.
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B
And I think, you know, we talk about this all the time. I don't think. I think anybody goes to college or says, hey, I want to be in the mortgage industry. You know, they don't seek it out. They all fall into it somehow.
- [02:49]
A
Yeah.
- [02:50]
B
So for me, it's an interesting story. I went to college. I was studying finance. I had a marketing degree as well. Trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And I was living in Seattle. I was born and raised in Seattle. And I show up at this place and this guy graduated a year from me. He was driving a brand new RX7. Well, back in the day, that was a great car. You know, it's a really expensive sports car. So I walk up to him, I'm like, wow, that's a really nice car. What are you doing? He goes, oh, I'm a loan officer. Like, a loan officer. What's that? And he goes, and he's working at a bank. He tells me all about it. Next thing you know, I'm talking to people and, you know, you know, 18 months later, 12 months later, I'm a loan officer. So I was driven financially into the industry, and then I started working on it. I'm like, you know, this is a great job. It's a great combination of sales, marketing, and finance. So you're out, you're speaking to people, you're selling, you're marketing your products. But at the same time, you also are solving some fairly complex financial problems sometimes too. So I think for me, the combination of the two and then the financial incentive, the ability to, you know, set your own paycheck really, at the end of the day, was, you know, super, super exciting for me.
- [03:59]
A
So you didn't pick the mortgage industry. You kind of just picked.
- [04:01]
B
You picked me. Yeah, I knew what I wanted to do and it checked all the boxes.
- [04:07]
A
You know, having a background in finance and marketing, that is like the perfect combination to enter the mortgage sector, especially more importantly, like those two. That combination, now more than ever is just, that's what you need to succeed in the mortgage industry.
- [04:23]
B
Yeah, it's. The problems are complex that we face every day in the industry. The things we see, and they're actually getting more complex. But at the same token, you don't have any problems to solve if you have any business. So you have to try to find the blend of the two. Agreed.
- [04:35]
A
Now, what year did you start at Plaza?
- [04:38]
B
So I've been in Plaza. I started in 2008, a really great time in our industry.
- [04:44]
A
How big was Plaza at the time when you started?
- [04:47]
B
I don't remember exactly the size of our headcount at the time. We were, you know, we were, I think at the time, just outside of the top 10. From a wholesale perspective, we've been around for 24 years, which is really a testament to our company and leadership and our founders, because that doesn't happen a lot in our industry.
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A
Yeah. And what, so you started how many years ago, you said, at Plaza?
- [05:13]
B
2008.
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A
2008. So about, wow, 16. I know. Worst time ever to start.
- [05:18]
B
Yeah, it was an interesting time period. It was. I actually started in October, which is, for those of us remember the, the financial crisis that was right after the money market started freezing up. And it was really the worst of the worst.
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A
And October 2008 was the worst time.
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B
It was the absolute worst. So we, I started right after that and I, I began and then about two weeks later, they started the interest rate cuts. And then it was sort of off to the races from there.
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A
Nice. Now you chose Plaza Home Mortgage, or do they recruit you or how did you get started with them?
- [05:48]
B
So, interesting story. Most of my career has been spent with big banks. I was at JPMorgan Chase, I was at Washington Mutual, and obviously Washington Mutual closed during the financial crisis. So I was looking at the industry and I'm like, you know, the banks are not going to want to be in this space for a lot of reasons. We knew that they weren't going to exit, so we knew you had to be. I had to work for an independent mortgage banker, so I wanted to work with somebody that had good technology and the right opportunities. And so I, Kevin Parra, who's one of our founders, I've known him for a long, long time. So I'd reached out and asked him what opportunities exist and came aboard and it really worked out well. It's been a great, great opportunity. Great run.
- [06:30]
A
Now, you're currently the co president of Plaza Mortgage. What would you attribute that level of success? How did you achieve that level of success at Plaza Home Mortgage?
- [06:41]
B
I think it's, it's, it's really grinding, you know, to be honest with you. I mean, it's a tough industry. You know, it's, it's feast or famine, as you know. Right. There's times when it's just, you know, loans literally seem like they're Falling out of trees. Right. And then we have a different set of problems. And, you know, how do we get loans through the system? How do we get into the table? People are upset, it's taking too long. And those are, you know, relatively good problems.
- [07:05]
A
Yeah.
- [07:06]
B
But those markets come few and far between. And then we have other markets where it's, you know, I need to go find business. Right. I need to stimulate and create opportunities. And.
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A
And that's been the case lately.
- [07:19]
B
100% has been the case lately. And I think similar. We saw a lot of people come into the business or do a lot of things in 2000. 2021 was busy. Right. And so we've seen a lot of people exit, but we need to continue to probably see the industry right. Size a little more, which is what's one of the interesting things about our industry. I think the peaks and valleys are really extreme. So it causes people to come in and people to leave. But I think it's really important that we figure out how we source business and grow. And I think that's really been one of the keys to success.
- [07:55]
A
Now, where do you think you've developed that, that sense of such strong work, Work ethic?
- [08:02]
B
You know, I think it's. I think it starts with your parents. Right. Starts growing up and it starts, you know, every generation wants to do better than the last generation. You know, my parents worked really hard. My wife is actually from Cuba. And really, I'll tell you a quick story about them. It's super interesting. So my wife came over in 1962, and her father at the time, he owned a furniture company. And so he was making furniture by hand and wood. And he came over because he wanted to leave the regime. So he came over with $50 in his pocket, left his home, left everything, came over $50 in his pocket, two kids and didn't have anything. First thing he did when he got to the country was he went and bought wood because he knew how to make things. And he built a hot dog cart. He started selling hot dogs. He then bought a Mr. Softy truck and then bought another one. And he continued to go. Then he found his way into the construction business and started developing homes. And he's 89 now, but when he retired about five or six years ago, he was building 80 to 100 homes a year.
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A
Wow.
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B
Yeah. So, I mean, this is real.
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A
He worked till he was 85.
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B
He worked till he was 85, and he still works. I mean, he's got real estate portfolios, but he's not day to Day. But, you know, this. This country has a lot of opportunity, and I think if you work hard and you see it, you know, you can do. You can do a lot, you can accomplish a lot.
- [09:26]
A
Yeah, absolutely. Something I notice as a common trait with the entrepreneurs that I have on the show is that, you know, they just outgrind everybody, and everyone has different inspiration. Like, I'm an immigrant, you know, so I have what I call, like, an immigrant mindset or immigrant. Immigrant work ethic. And my father, who's still 7, he's 73 now, still works every single day. You know, he has a physician. Like, he's just like something in that mindset of immigrants. You know, your husband, your. I'm sorry, your wife's father, who's, you know, worked basically still till this day, 90 years old, almost still grinding every day. It's just, you know, that that sort of mindset is something that's very, very hard to instill in our children. How do you think you're instilling that grit mindset now into your children?
- [10:13]
B
That is a super good question and a really hard one. So I have one son. He's 22 years old. He just graduated college and then started his first job on Monday, actually. He's working for a consulting company in Virginia. And, you know, I don't know if you can instill it. You can try, but I think some of it's innate. And I think he's watched my wife's. My wife's family, and he's watched me over the years, and especially in the mortgage industry, where we mentioned feast or famine.
- [10:42]
A
Yeah.
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B
So, you know, when times are good, it's great, but when times are bad, you know, you're. You're always, you know, you're really. You're double grinding.
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A
Yeah. You know, they're not going to the Ritz this time. They're gonna eat hot ramen.
- [10:54]
B
Why did we go to the Ritz last year and this year, you know, we're. We're at the Motel 6 down the street here. Right. So, yeah, it's. I think you do your best. I think you set goals for the kids. I actually rewarded my son for grades, and I rewarded him all along the way for accomplishing things. So I wanted to show him that there was efforts for working hard, and I think that's about all you can do now.
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A
2008. I want to talk about some of the challenges you faced at Plaza in, like, 08, 2009, 2010, and then are they correlated, or do you think they're similar? To the challenges we're facing this time.
- [11:31]
B
I think it's a little different. I think 2008, 9 and 10, you know, the mortgage broker industry as a general was kind of under fire. Obviously. Compliance was a really big deal. Underwriting was really tough, as you probably remember. And it was, it was a different environment. There wasn't. Wholesalers had really sort of dramatically reduced or they were on their way, they were exiting. Right. So there was less competition. I think today's challenge is, is a little different. I think today's challenge, people need to realize that a couple things. One, the world's changed. You know, you, you can't walk into an office and find six or seven people anymore. You have to go find the people.
- [12:11]
A
Yeah. You know, unless you come here and then there's a ton, you walk into a. Yeah. You hear stampede of humans.
- [12:17]
B
But there's, there's a lot of people just aren't going.
- [12:19]
A
Right.
- [12:20]
B
It's remote and, you know, they meet them at Starbucks. You got to find whatever. I mean, we have in our company, we have our own set of unique opportunities with remote environment. People are like, hey, you know what? I want to. I miss going to the barbecue. I miss having this, I miss having that. But in the same token, I'm never coming back to the office. Right. Or I don't want to come back to the office. So that creates a different environment. But I think overall, the mortgage industry is continuing to evolve and change. So as different as it gets, it also stays the same. And what I mean by that is people still need to solve problems and they still want connections and relationships. It's just how you go about establishing those relationships has changed. Right. Social media is a part of it. Where am I seeing you? When can we connect? How can we connect the phone? It's just life's changed. And I think for most people, they have to evolve and see that I still need to connect with people. I'm going to do it a little differently now. So I think that that's really important. And then just, you know, the mortgage industry is a general, you know, you've got obviously a really big, strong purchase market. Got people who have challenges and they don't have the down payment or they've got credit concerns or whatever. So that, you know, it's really about product, I think, and finding things that allow people to get into homes.
- [13:37]
A
I love it. Now you've seen a lot of success. Obviously. You're the co president of Plaza Home Mortgage, one of the largest mortgage companies in the country. What do you foresee in the future for the mortgage industry?
- [13:48]
B
You know, it's interesting, I think not a lot of tremendous changes. I think probably a little bit more consolidation still. We're still coming off of the 2020 highs, I think. So we'll probably continue to see a little more of that. I think that technology will continue to play a big role. Right. We'll continue to source borrowers, you know, from, from different ways than we have in the past. And I think that that really is, is kind of the keys to the change. It's kind of what I mentioned earlier. As different as it is, it still stays the same. It's just we're going to go about things differently. So I think technology will continue to play a big role. But borrowers still want to connect with people. They want that trust factor. NAR national association of Realtors always has great data. And one of the things that they showed recently was that aside from friends and family and other transactions, the majority, and I can't remember the exact number, but it was really high. It was like 92% when 6% were family. Relatives still want to use a Realtor, even though they could probably not. They could go online and find where they want, but they want that, that knowledge and they want that feeling of security. They want that person to help them through the process. They want that coaching.
- [15:07]
A
Yeah.
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B
And they're willing to pay for it. Right. They need that and want that.
- [15:11]
A
I mean, putting that all back on the homeowner is a lot and that's just additional stress because the home buying process is very stressful to begin with.
- [15:19]
B
Yes. 100% they need that expertise.
- [15:22]
A
So not having like, you know, we all don't need a personal trainer, but if you have a personal trainer, like, it's much better than working out on your own.
- [15:29]
B
100%.
- [15:31]
A
Someone correcting your format, like, because, you know, you deadlift wrong, you're breaking your back, you're tweaking your back, you're out for two months, you know, not able to work out. So there's a lot of value to having someone coach you through the process and making sure that your form is correct the entire time, right?
- [15:49]
B
Yeah, no, 100%. And I think that people need that. Need it and want it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
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A
Now, do you think there's a specific skill or a mindset that someone entering the mortgage industry must have just to succeed in this environment?
- [16:06]
B
I think it depends on what role you're looking to fulfill. But if you're looking to be consumer facing, let's say, or Production related. I think you have to be able, you have to be interpersonal, obviously. You have to be able to explain things and you have to be able to simplify things for people and get, find ways to help them understand. I played college tennis and I taught tennis for a while. I thought I was going to be a tennis pro for a little while. But one of the things I learned in teaching tennis is you have to, you have to be able to say the same thing five different ways. Because I say it one way, it doesn't resonate, I say it another way, it doesn't. And finally on like the fourth, I'm like, oh, now you have it. So I said it a different way and now it's clicking for you. So I think that that's a good, important skill is you have to be able to communicate with people and find a way that they understand and it resonates with them. Because you're helping, at the end of the day, you're helping people achieve their dreams. You know, whether it's, you know, home ownership, refinance, whatever it is, you're helping them achieve their dreams. And so you want to help them. You need to be able to communicate really well.
- [17:03]
A
Now you've seen a lot of success as the president, the co president of Plaza and you really don't have to grind as hard as you grind now, but how do you continue to find that motivation to grind as hard as you do?
- [17:17]
B
Because I love it. I love the industry, I love what we do. I love that we help people every day. We're helping business owners, we're helping them succeed in their business. We're helping put homeowners, many of them first time homeowners, into homes. So we really get to help a lot of people and I think that just keeps me going. Also our team, right, I love helping our team be successful. It's a challenging market, there's no doubt about it. So helping our salespeople, our account executives, our management team, finding ways to help them grow their business, keeping them uplifted every day really keeps me excited.
- [17:52]
A
So now you mentioned earlier that Plaza Home Mortgages is, has very good technology. How is Plaza right now utilizing AI?
- [18:03]
B
You know, that's really good. We're actually formulating our AI plan right now. We'll probably use a lot of it internally first just to source information, which we're working on currently. And we're still working on trying to figure out the best way. There's obviously a ton of AI tools out there and we're still figuring out where best to deploy it, you know, out to our client base. We'll first start internally.
- [18:25]
A
You're not going to use it for decision making, underwriting?
- [18:29]
B
Not yet.
- [18:31]
A
Reviewing the documents?
- [18:32]
B
Yeah, we'll continue to watch that and see we've deployed a lot of robots that do a lot of work for us today that we used to employ administrative people to help out. So we've saved a lot there. So we'll continue to review that and see what that looks like in the marketplace.
- [18:49]
A
You guys have deployed robots already?
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B
Yeah, we've got a lot of bots. Yeah.
- [18:53]
A
Nice. So what are they doing for you?
- [18:55]
B
Everything, pretty much. Just give you an example. When you order an FHA case number, that request used to come over and somebody would type in all those fields and how a bot does that and then takes the case and uploads it sends to the client, all automated.
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A
That's awesome.
- [19:10]
B
Lot of emails. I mean, we've really, really put everywhere we can. We have placed bots into place.
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A
That's good. You guys are ahead of the curve with, you know, ahead of a lot of lenders that are not implementing a lot of that stuff now. Now, what I've noticed with with Plaza, you got a lot of great leadership, a lot of, you know, a lot of great talent. How are you fostering talent at Plaza?
- [19:36]
B
Yeah, so, you know, talent's always about development, about, you know, helping them achieve their goals, the associate, whatever that goal may be. And I think it's about communication. I think ensuring that you have meetings one on ones, is super important for both sides to make sure that we're clearly communicating and we're, as a company, we're helping the associate achieve their goals and dreams. And also the other side, the associate wants to make sure that they're helping the company move the needle to wherever we are. So I think communication is super important in making sure that everyone's moving forward. So I think that's really the. It's key to a lot of things. Yeah, really the key in that process.
- [20:14]
A
Now, one thing I noticed about Plaza and one of the things, the key distinguishers with Plaza is that you guys are, you know, you're willing to take bigger risks, especially in the decision process for loans. How important is taking risks to your organization?
- [20:30]
B
Well, two things there. One, we are in the risk business. So, you know, we say we're in the mortgage really in the risk business. Whether it's credit risk, interest rate risk, whatever it may be, that's the business that we're in. So I don't think we take any more risk. I just think we're really good at evaluating it. So we're able to look at loans and say, you know what? XYZ company may not be comfortable, but we are comfortable because we can. We feel like we can assess it better and we've got more experience. We've done it for 24 years. We feel comfortable that this is a. These are transactions that we can properly say, you know, that we think this is a good loan. So I think that's really. And we've really always focused ourselves on product. So when you have a lot of product variability, you need to be able to have a lot of underwriting expertise that can also kind of, you know, follow that. So we do, you know, I don't even know 7 different renovation loan products. I think, you know, we do reverse loans. We do all these other products. So you have to have expertise in each one of those to really be able to properly assess it.
- [21:32]
A
So, yeah, I mean, one thing you guys have done really, like where you guys just dominate the market is the lower FICO fha. How long have you guys been crushing that market?
- [21:42]
B
We've been doing it quite a while. I don't know if I remember the day, but we've been doing it for quite a while. You know, we're really comfortable in that environment, and that space helps a lot of people, helps put people into homes.
- [21:55]
A
Now, tell me a little bit about yourself. Like, how did you grow up, you know, what was life like as a child for you?
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B
Life was interesting. I grew up in Seattle.
- [22:04]
A
Okay.
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B
And, you know, you know, my dad was a traveling salesperson. My mom.
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A
Sales is in your blood?
- [22:11]
B
Yeah, sales is in my blood. Right. He traveled around, and my mom worked evenings at the bank. And, you know, it's pretty typical childhood. And I grew up. I was playing tennis, as I mentioned, and played high school, played a little bit of college and quickly realized that I loved Seattle. Right. Beautiful place, beautiful part of the country. By the time I realized I wanted to kind of experience other parts of the country. So right after I graduated college and moved to New York, spent about 16 years there and. And then like all good New Yorkers, I eventually moved down to Florida a few years ago. So, you know, I've kind of traveled.
- [22:46]
A
Take the weather.
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B
Yeah, yeah. It's just. It's, you know, it's a little easier lifestyle call, a little better weather. So that's it. You know, I. I've enjoyed. I've been in this industry a long time. Say it's all I've ever done other than this and teaching tennis, all I've ever done. So I've really enjoyed it. As I mentioned earlier, I love helping the people. I love the complexities. Even as long as I've done this, there's things that come across every once in a while. I'm like, wow, I've never seen that before. I don't know how many.
- [23:12]
A
Still always learning.
- [23:13]
B
Yeah. I don't know how many industries you can say you've been doing this for, you know, 30 years and you're like, wow, I've never seen that before.
- [23:19]
A
So such a unique business like that, you know, it's just ever growing, ever growing. Now you're so busy all the time with. With work and the family, everything. What are some of the things you'd like to do is slow down.
- [23:33]
B
Play tennis. A big one for me. Right.
- [23:35]
A
Still playing tennis?
- [23:35]
B
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
- [23:36]
A
It's not pickleball now. Still tennis?
- [23:38]
B
Yeah. Still tennis, yeah. No, we're on a. We've got some pretty good teams. We travel nationally sometimes, so we got some pretty good.
- [23:44]
A
You're paying competitive tennis?
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B
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No, I enjoy it. So we still. I still play a lot of tennis. I don't really. I enjoy golf, but I don't really have time for it. That's kind of a major time commitment. Yeah, I don't enjoy that as much. Family time, you know, time at the beach, obviously spending time, you know, with the kids, I think helping out in the community. You know, Mal Washington was a good friend of mine. He was a former Wimbledon finalist and he. He has a great foundation in Jacksonville. So my wife and I spend quite a bit of time with inner city youth program there, helping there and. And, you know, working with them as much as we can.
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A
So you serve a lot with them, huh?
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B
Yeah, yep. Absolutely.
- [24:24]
A
You know, that's the point of our life, you know. Right. It's just to give back, to serve, do God's work.
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B
Yeah, absolutely.
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A
Now you're. You play. Did you ever play professional tennis?
- [24:35]
B
No, no, no, no. Played a couple years in college and that was it.
- [24:38]
A
So you played what was D1, D2?
- [24:40]
B
Yeah. No, actually junior college at the time.
- [24:42]
A
Okay.
- [24:43]
B
Yeah. I had the opportunity to go Division 1 and I elected to go a different route for a while.
- [24:48]
A
All right, cool. So pivoting a little bit now. What is your favorite quote?
- [24:55]
B
So I've got a couple of them. One is sort of business related and one is more sort of strategic. I guess I'll start with the business related one. And I say This a lot. In fact, people probably already hear me. And that is bad news doesn't get better with age. In other words, if you have something you need to do and you don't want to do it, our natural inclination is to put it off. Whether it's bad news or a task or whatever. I'm like you, you have to just take care of that. Right? Bad news does not get better with age. Just tackle it, be done. You'll feel better and, and, and you'll go on. So that's sort of my day to day one that I try to live by and I, I try to instill in people. And another one is actually from Michael Jordan. And he said, and hopefully I get this right, he said, talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. And that's sort of the slow, you know, to me that tells me the slow game wins. Right? Be, be thoughtful, be methodical about your actions and you know, you'll, long term, you'll win.
- [25:56]
A
Especially in our business. Like you don't, you don't become the best lender by yourself.
- [26:00]
B
No, no.
- [26:02]
A
100% like your team. And here at our organization, like collaboration is why we're winning. Community is why we're winning. You know, we win together. We're 900 independent broker brokers in one organization that are just sharing all of our ideas and all of our creative genius. So, you know, that's a great quote.
- [26:24]
B
Yeah, no, I love it. And I think it hopefully keeps you on task.
- [26:28]
A
Now, what's the best piece of advice you ever received?
- [26:34]
B
Best piece of advice I ever received. I know it's probably going back to the quote I said, which is tackle the things you don't want to do first. Right. Because we all have things, whether it's working out or whatever it is. Tackle the things that you really don't are fearful or whatever it is, just get it done. People put off going to the doctor because they're afraid what the doctor is going to say. I'm like, well, pretty sure what if you do have something, it's not going to get any better by itself. So, you know, just tackle it, get it done. And I think that that's been a really helpful for me over the years because I think people generally tend to put off things that could, could be bad or they don't want to, you know, handle things like that, especially if it involves other people and they know they're going to be upset, you know, they're going to put that one off a little bit.
- [27:28]
A
Yeah, there's a Similar quote from Marcus Aurelius, a famous stoic. And he said, swallow toad in the morning.
- [27:35]
B
Yep, absolutely. Just exact same thing. Yep.
- [27:38]
A
Bang it out, you know, like swallow the toad in the morning.
- [27:40]
B
Yeah, you'll feel better and you can move on.
- [27:45]
A
Now, if you were 20 years old, what would you tell your 20 year old self to build wealth? Right now.
- [27:55]
B
I would probably tell my 20 year old self to, to buy real estate and just keep buying and.
- [28:03]
A
Don'T ever sell, hold on to it.
- [28:06]
B
Keep accumulating and finding the opportunities. And I think the other thing too is when markets represent themselves, take action. You know, 2008, 9, 10, there was a lot of real estate opportunities that happened as a result of that. You know, there's been other markets over my, over the years that there have been opportunities. So when those, when you see those and you're like, wow, it's a really good deal, take advantage of it. Yeah, go all in.
- [28:34]
A
Yeah, that's, that's, that's great advice. Yeah. You know, a lot of controversy around real estate always, right. And people are like, oh, do I buy, do I not buy the interest rates, the housing? Like buy. Yes, simple solution, just buy up, down, left, right, like just buy it.
- [28:48]
B
Yeah, find the value. Right. You know, do your homework. Right. Don't buy anything and everything, but do your homework, find the value and I think it'll always make sense for you and do your home, you know, figure, know what you're buying.
- [29:00]
A
Now, this is a pretty controversial question, especially in the mortgage industry. How important do you think it is to go to college these days?
- [29:08]
B
It's a really good question actually. I think it's an individual choice, to be honest with you. I think you really have to decide whether it's right for you.
- [29:20]
A
Did your kids go?
- [29:22]
B
Absolutely. My son went four years and is probably going to go to graduate school because that's just what he wants to do and where he wants to study and the fields he wants to go into. But it's not necessary, I think that.
- [29:36]
A
You tradesmen are making way more than college graduates.
- [29:39]
B
I was just going to say that I have a good friend of mine and his son and he was trying to figure out what to do and I was trying to convince him to be a plumber and electrician.
- [29:47]
A
I'm like, that's, they're making 150 bucks an hour now at least.
- [29:49]
B
I said that's the place to go. Right. If school's not for you, then, you know, there's certainly a lot of places that you can do really well, if you're driven and you take some good advice.
- [29:59]
A
Yeah. Now, I'd like to close out the show with a couple last questions.
- [30:02]
B
Okay, sure.
- [30:03]
A
This is a three pronged question. Okay. What is a personal goal that you have for yourself? What's a business school that you have for Plaza? And what's a family goal that you have for the family?
- [30:14]
B
Okay.
- [30:15]
A
You can answer them in any order.
- [30:17]
B
So, business goal. So fourth quarter of last year, Plaza made it to the fourth largest wholesaler according to Inside Mortgage Finance.
- [30:29]
A
Wow.
- [30:29]
B
Yeah. So our goal is, my goal is to try to see if we can, you know, go up one more chain on that ladder, get to three.
- [30:35]
A
I mean, that's a big jump. What was net, what did you guys close out with in volume for 20, 23?
- [30:42]
B
Yeah, I think total as a company, we were around 11 billion, roughly, give or take. So.
- [30:49]
A
And what do you, what do you think you're gonna, your numbers look like this year? Are you guys up?
- [30:53]
B
I think we'll be fairly close to that number, right? It depends. We have, we really only do third party channels, wholesale correspondent, but I think we'll be pretty close to the same numbers.
- [31:02]
A
About 11 billion?
- [31:03]
B
Yeah, roughly.
- [31:05]
A
And then what about for yourself personally?
- [31:09]
B
Personally, I think it's, you know, I don't, I set a lot of personal financial goals, you know, personal financial goals. I set a lot of personal, you know, conditioning goals, you know, weight loss, all the typical family stuff. So I'm not going to go through the whole ladder. But I think it's, it's, I'll just say to continue to be the best version of me every day. Right. Continue to exercise and work out and contribute to the company, contribute to my family and, you know, I've got a pretty good list of lengthy goals of independent things that I tried and what I do is I set it out and I look at it every month, you know, and cross off what I can. Right. What is able to accomplish, add some, some are kind of in perpetuity, but we continue to do that. I think it's really important to stay active today and continue to, you know, do as much as we can and.
- [31:59]
A
Then for the family. Any big family goals?
- [32:01]
B
Yeah, probably mostly around my son. So my son, I think he just mentioned he started his first job, we got him moved in, so a lot of change, you know, bought him a car, moved into his new apartment and just continue to support him and make sure he knows that we're here to help him and do whatever he needs to do himself. Says, you know, he moved to a new city and started a new job and commuting on a train when he wasn't used to it. So a lot of change.
- [32:26]
A
What city to move to?
- [32:27]
B
I moved to Arlington, Virginia.
- [32:28]
A
Okay.
- [32:29]
B
He's moving to Maryland, so he's kind of going through the D.C. area. So he's super, super excited about the opportunity. But I just want them to always know that we're here to help them.
- [32:37]
A
How many kids you have?
- [32:38]
B
Just one.
- [32:38]
A
Just one boy.
- [32:39]
B
Yep.
- [32:39]
A
You did a great, great job. You know, son started consulting company. Started a consulting company, going to grad school. I mean, you ran the race with.
- [32:47]
B
Your kids, you know, so it says a lot.
- [32:50]
A
It's a testament to you as a father.
- [32:52]
B
Yeah. I appreciate that. Thanks.
- [32:54]
A
Now, my last question, and I like to ask everybody this question. When you're in front of the pearly gates, what do you think God's going to tell you?
- [33:06]
B
God's going to hopefully look me in the eye and say two things. One, you always did what was right, and you did your best to help as many people as you could.
- [33:16]
A
Love it.
- [33:16]
B
So those are two things I really try to live by.
- [33:19]
A
Jeff, it was a pleasure to have you. Thank you for coming on the show today. Coffees for Closers, co president of Plaza Home Mortgage. Awesome guests. Thank you, Jeff.
- [33:26]
B
Thank you.