To kick off Season 3 of Batting 1,000 with Dale Vermillion, Dale sits down with Hunter Strong, a top-performing Mortgage Loan Officer at FirstTrust Home Loans. During the conversation, Hunter shares his journey from aspiring pharmacist to professional baseball player, and finally to a mortgage industry leader closing over 40 loans per month. With a unique approach combining hard work, dedication, and strategic relationship-building, Hunter offers invaluable insights for anyone in the mortgage industry.

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In This Episode

From aspiring pharmacist to top-producer (starts at 1 min)

Hunter discusses his initial career aspirations and how he transitioned into the mortgage industry.

Learning from the lock desk (starts at 4 mins)

Hunter explains how starting on the lock desk set the foundation for his success as a Loan Officer.

Building a high-volume business online and off (starts at 15 mins)

Dale and Hunter discuss the strategies Hunter uses to drive so many units per month, including landing a huge referral source through Tik Tok and driving 5 hours in a day to meet with a single broker.

Building a highly specialized team (starts at 24 mins)

Hunter breaks down how he's structured his team to ensure each member fills a specialized role.

Learning it's not about rate (starts at 28 mins)

Dale and Hunter discuss how Hunter addresses clients' concerns about interest rates and why he's learned to focus on payment, not rate, when selling loans.

Hunter's top tips for closing more loans (starts at 32 mins)

Hunter unpacks his top advice for closing more loans, including the importance of playing to your strengths, treating clients with respect, and building trust with your customers and partners.

When failure's not an option (starts at 36 mins)

Hunter shares some of the lessons he's learned from his dad and mentor that have helped to drive his professional and personal success.

Resources

Schedule a call with Dale's team

Soundbites

• "You have to be the smartest person in the transaction to take control and build trust."
• "It’s not about the interest rate; it’s about what you can afford per month."
• "Treat every single person in the transaction like you treat your family."

About Hunter Strong

With five years of dedicated service in the mortgage industry, Hunter Strong is a seasoned professional who has successfully guided hundreds of customers through the complex process of home purchases and refinances. He is committed to ensuring his clients are well-informed and confident at every step. Beyond his mortgage career, Hunter enjoys spending time with his wife, Jordyn, and daughter, Elyse, watching NFL football, and reading a good book.

Connect with Hunter

LinkedIn → Hunter Strong

About Dale Vermillion

Having trained over 1,000,000 lending professionals and worked with over 600 organizations, Dale Vermillion has compiled the best practices of the nation’s top producers into a practical and proven system. Dale is a 3x HousingWire Vanguard, a member of the 2022 Global Mortgage 100, and the proud author of "Navigating the Mortgage Maze."

Connect with Dale

LinkedIn → Dale Vermillion

Facebook → Dale Vermillion Official

Twitter → @dalevermillion

Website → dalevermillion.com

Email → listen@dalevermillion.com

About Batting 1,000

Batting 1,000 with Dale Vermillion is a production of Mortgage Champions, a VCI company. Produced and edited by Jake Vermillion. Music by Envato Elements. Copyright 2024 © Vermillion Consulting, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

All right.

Hello again, everybody.

And welcome to season three of batting a thousand, where we talk to the

heavy hitters in the mortgage market.

And I am super excited about, uh, the guests that we've got today.

Uh, you know, if you remember last year, we had.

We brought in Kara Whitman, who was a Scotsman guide, top producer, um, as loan

officers go, who, uh, really did a great job and we got so much great feedback.

Well, I got a stud today that I'm going to bring in by the name of Hunter Strong.

This kid is, uh, absolutely top performance.

He did 47 closed loans in the month of February of this year.

He did 48.

Eight in March of this year, he is killing it.

He averaged over 20 loans a month last year in 2023, and he's pacing it

over 40 loans a month in, uh, 2024.

Uh, Hunter, welcome to the show.

We're so glad to have you.

Yeah, thanks.

So happy to be here.

So I think your name is the perfect name as I've thought about it.

Hunter.

Strong, because in this business, you got to be a hunter.

If you're going to succeed in the distributor retail world, and we're going

to talk about what you're doing as far as working with agents and how you're getting

your business from a hunting standpoint, and I love the last name strong, as you

know, I'm good friends with your dad, uh, Glenn, who, uh, is, is, uh, one of

the well known and, uh, highly lauded and regarded people in the mortgage industry.

Um, he runs first trust home loans, a good friend of mine

and good client for a long time.

So you've come up in that.

Family of the mortgage world.

I'm going to be curious to hear a little bit about that, but, uh, tell

us a little bit about your background.

I, I know that you played college ball.

You actually played for the Kansas city Royals, uh, for a little bit for a year,

had some professional baseball background.

Uh, tell us a little bit about your background and what got you into the

mortgage market in the first place.

Yeah, for sure.

So I actually funny story.

I wanted to be a pharmacist when I went to college, um, got, uh, all

the way to microbiology was my last.

Elective before I could get into pharmacy school.

Um, as you mentioned, big baseball guy, I played baseball at UCA and went to

the university of central Arkansas.

Um, my junior year kind of unexpected, not unexpected by my junior year, but

going into college pro ball, wasn't necessarily the plan, you know, um, but

really blew up and did really well and, uh, got a lot of scouts anyway, when I

got drafted, I, uh, obviously took that opportunity, um, was super excited, but.

Kind of put a delay in the pharmacy school type things.

And so by the time I got done with that, I didn't want four more years of college.

Really my whole, I was ready to get into the workforce, start a family,

you know, start making some money and, and all of those fun adult

things, I guess, as you would say.

Um, and so at that point I double majored in business.

Um, so I knew that, you know, my, like you mentioned my dad, Glenn Strong, he

runs first trust, um, first Arkansas for a long time, first trust, I think right

around the time that this was happening.

Is when they made that transition to first trust because we

expanded to multiple states.

Um, and so I always knew that that was a good idea to, you know, I

had opportunities there wasn't really sure what I would be doing.

Um, so once I was done with baseball, I went to him, said, Hey, I don't

think I want to go to pharmacy school.

I'm ready to just to start working.

You know, if you have an opportunity, I don't care what it is.

Maybe the janitor, you know, I don't care.

Um, and so I actually started as a loan closer so that when I came

into the company, I was a closer.

For my first year and a half, I just closed loans, you know, got a lot of

really good time to learn the business, learn the back end of it, um, see how

things worked, getting to the closing table, seeing all the fires and the

issues that everyone seemed to have, you know, so I learned a lot, um, uh,

that was invaluable, I think not going into sales for me, especially, um, I

think I would have really struggled if I would have started sales day one.

Um, I think starting there really, really set the, you know, the foundation for me

to, to be successful in where I'm at now.

Um, so did that for a year and a half, um, then kind of transitioned to our lot

desk or secondary market, um, ran the lot desk for the company for a year and

a half, um, and about six months in, I went ahead and got my license to be an LO.

Um, I really wanted to do that, but he didn't need me to be an LO at the time.

He needed me to run the lot desk.

Um, but I went and did all of it on my own.

It was like, you know, just if, if something comes up at great, but you

know, this lot desk is, you know, number one, that's what I'm running.

So.

And obviously during this time, when I got licensed was the very end of 19,

didn't close a loan until January of 2020.

Well, luckily for me, I happened to get licensed right about the time that

it was probably the best time ever to be a loan officer in our industry.

So, you know, come March, um, we got past all of that.

And when we thought the mortgage industry might bust, um, the next

month we started, you know, hitting the ground running and breaking records

and doing more business than ever.

Well, my, my business started growing and growing and growing.

And finally I went into his office and just said, Hey, listen, I think I

can do three X of what I'm doing now.

And at this point I was actually close.

This was after, this was 21, 22 is why I became a full time LO.

That's when I transitioned.

So 21, I actually tied for the number one LO in the company while running

the lot desk at the same time.

So, I mean, I was working just absurd hours, like trying

to keep up with everything.

And I was like, I put so much time into the lot desk, you know, if you

can just give me this opportunity to be an LO, like, I really think

I can take this to the next level.

And that's, so we decided to do that.

So 2022 is my first year that we did that.

And I think I hit 40 something million that year as my first

year in 22 when I really did it.

And then, like you said, last year we did, um, 53 million.

And then this year we've done about 25 through April.

So, um, things are still growing, progressing every year.

We've progressed a little bit.

Um, and I think that's been the most fun and what I love, you

know, taking the competitiveness of baseball and sports and.

You know, the harder you work, you know, the more you do, the more rewards you get.

Right.

And it's the same thing for being an LO.

And I think that's really clicked for me a lot.

I enjoy what I'm doing right now.

I absolutely love that story.

It's so fun knowing your dad so well and his work ethic.

And I just see so much of, uh, of him and you, uh, and, and the fact

that you came into this business, did not start as a loan officer.

Took a low paying job just to learn the business, build your way up

and transitioned out of 2021, the best year in history into 2022

to become a loan officer, most people wouldn't make that change.

And a lot of them that did have not succeeded.

And yet you have just thrived from that point forward.

And I love your whole concept about the importance of work

ethic and all those things.

So let's unpack some of those things, because you just said so

many important things in there that I want to key in on it.

And let's start with the first thing.

You started as a closer, you moved to the lock desk.

You were doing record production within the lock desk when you were doing that.

And it allowed you to move into that business.

We're going to get into the high production because I know that's what

everybody wants to hear is how are you creating this high production?

But before we get into that, I want to hear from you a little bit more about

how understanding the backside of the business really has Kind of formed

and trained and changed the way you view applications and quality and,

and conversations with your customers.

Because what I see a lot about there today, you know, all the years that I

managed salespeople and all the companies that I've trained, I've always said, the

best thing you could ever do with your employees is cross train them, let loan

officers spend time on a processor's desk and an underwriter's desk and a closer's

desk to understand the ramifications.

How has that.

Coming into the business on the backside, forge your thought process as it regards

to quality on the origination side.

Like I said, it was, it was truly invaluable,

um, for a couple of reasons.

I would say one, absolutely quality, you know, getting understanding how

important the very first time you take the app, asking those questions,

how important it is to get the information that you need, because.

You know that in 30 days, if you don't do this right, it's just going

to be an absolute firestorm, right?

Um, and every little detail matters.

Um, and as you said, through each process, you know, the best you

can do, you know, the file can't be good when it starts as bad.

It's only as good as it starts.

You know, as we know, there's a lot of people in the transaction that

help us get to the closing table.

It's not just the LO.

Um, but if, if it's, it's up to you, I mean, it's, it's, you, you

have to take ownership of the file.

Um, and so if you sit there and do it, you know, halfway, you can't

expect the processor to take it any other way than halfway, and then the

whole deal is done the wrong way.

Um, and then I think the other part of it that really was important was, you

know, always was told you have to be the smartest person in the transaction, right?

You have to be the smartest person in the transaction, whether that's

the real estate agent, the borrower, the customer, the listing agent,

anyone in the transaction, there's another lender on another deal, got

to be smarter than them, right, you have to be able to take that control.

And the more control you have, the more knowledge you have, you know,

the more confidence you will have and confidence that you can instill

in the people in the transaction and create that level of trust with them.

Um, because the more trust you have within the transaction, anytime that

something goes wrong or awry or, you know, out of the ordinary, instead of

everyone panicking and doing backflips and, you know, calling you and.

Panicking.

They're going to call and just say, Hey, what's going on?

You tell them, and then you move on, you find a way to fix it.

And the, the less trust you have, the more of those fires feel on

your shoulders and everyone else.

So, um, I think it's just the confidence of understanding everything from how

the closing disclosure is prepared to how the package is prepared.

And, you know, people will ask me questions that I know the log desk,

the secondary market, how, how all of these things work, you know, and it's.

That knowledge.

As a combined gives me so much confidence, you know, when I'm talking to people

when they ask me questions, and I can pretty much answer about any questions

someone asked me that allows me to be confident with anyone I talk to you.

And I think when you have that level of confidence to you, when you speak with

people, that makes them think, okay, this guy knows what he's talking about.

He's going to take care of this.

If there's an issue, he'll, he'll find a way to fix it and

we'll get the still closed.

And once you get that trust off your back, people just, you know, you just

roll them out, you know, at that point.

So I think that's the other part of it.

It's just.

The more knowledge you can have, the more confidence you can have, and the

more trust you can build with everyone.

And that's, I think, why it was so important to not start straight out

in sales and run around and say, Hey, send me a deal and not know.

And for some people that works great.

You know, I think it's a personality thing too.

For me, I'm not just a huge outgoing personality by any

means, you know, but I've been successful still in a sales role.

Um, I don't view it as a sales role.

I think that's what's helped me.

You know, I view it as people come to me looking for a solution

with their problem and it's just my job to give them a solution.

Um, it's not my job to sell them on something.

They want a mortgage.

You know, the realtor wants the deal to close.

They want someone, the realtors want someone to help you get deals closed.

You don't have to sell yourself or your company or anything.

You just have to show them that you're an asset and you can

solve these problems for them.

And then you show them that and then they'll keep coming back.

All right.

Well, I've been doing this for a long time, as you know, Hunter.

And I got to tell you for a 27 year old guy, you had enough wisdom.

You could be my age.

That was pure gold.

That was absolutely pure gold.

You said four things that I have absolutely believed and taught forever.

That I love that you said, number one.

You're doing very high quantity of loans, but your focus is quality first.

And this is a message that loan officers need to understand and need to hear from

somebody other than Dale Vermillion.

I'm so glad that you're telling people this message that if

you do it right the first time.

Then you're not dealing with all the problems, the second, third, and

fourth time that drag you away from the ability to create more business.

And you actually do more quantity when you have better quality.

And then you talked about the importance of being the smartest

person in the transaction knowledge, have a knowledge of your market,

have a knowledge of your partners, have a knowledge of your products.

Those things are absolutely critical, but also have a knowledge of the process,

knowing what happens so that you can prepare your clients and your partners

for that, And then you talked about the importance of having that trust with

the clients, building that trust so that they know that, look, if I give a

deal to Hunter, it's going to get done.

And I know that's the reputation you guys have created.

That's what you stand on at First Trust.

And I know you as an individual loan officer, I heard you, you know, I

had the benefit yesterday of being in Little Rock with you and the whole

team for you guys annual conference and got to listen to you talk on a panel

where you talked about some of these things and the importance of those.

I think what you just.

Just laid out right.

There is such gold for loan officers to understand that you don't need to rush.

You don't need to do it sloppy.

You need to do it right.

And you need to know your business.

You need to be the person that is polished when you get on the phone.

So people can trust you have faith in you and do a good job.

I just absolutely love that.

Now, let me ask you this question because yeah, You mentioned some

of the numbers that you did.

You did 53 million last year.

How many, how much was it in 2022, the year before that?

It was in the forties, 40, I wanna say 47.

I believe it was 47.

Yeah, it, it sounds like you're tracking at about 75

million to a hundred million this year.

What's your average loan size?

'cause I know you guys don't have huge average loan sizes where you're at.

What's your average loan size on a loan?

Well, that's our joke in the office right now.

It just keeps going down.

Um, but I believe last year was around two 20, um, something like that.

I think this year we're closer to one 80, one 90 right now

through this year as an average.

So,

yeah, I wanted to clarify that for the audience because

those units you're doing are massive.

50 units a month is in the top echelon in the industry, but I'm sure some

people were like, even though 40 million and 50 million even to any market.

Those are big numbers.

When you actually take those averages from where you guys are at in Arkansas

and you put those on a national scale where the average loan is closer to

400,000, you almost double that number.

So your 50 million is a normal loan officer's, a hundred million.

If you do 75 or a hundred million this year, that's 150 to 200

million in the normal market.

So that any originators watch this be like.

Oh my gosh, these are massive numbers we're talking about.

So now let's talk about how you're getting those massive numbers.

Let's begin with who you're working with.

What are you doing from an origination standpoint?

The hunter piece of it, if I can use that terminology.

What are you doing today that is creating all of the opportunities for you?

Walk us through that.

Well, I mean, I think, you know, Rome wasn't built in a day.

As we just said, we've gotten here over a two or three year period.

So I'm not going to say that what I'm doing today, if you go out tomorrow,

you're going to get to 48 loans a month.

You know, it takes time.

Um, but you know, it's, it's starting.

I started as simple as just who I knew, right.

And you know, a lot more people than you think, you know, and that

sounds pretty obvious, but I think it's, some people don't realize that,

you

know, there's so many sources of business other than realtors.

And my biggest source of business is realtors.

So that's obviously, I would say, number one, there's so many

sources, title companies, attorneys, you know, all of these people,

um, investment professionals.

I've gotten a lot of deals from different investment professionals

that I've known or friends have known, you know, I've asked people,

you know, you know, More people who might have investment professionals,

you know, Hey, who do you use?

You know, do you like them?

Would you mind setting up a meeting, you know?

And so I just started really simple and just started finding different ways to

get my name out there as a loan officer and having a conversation with someone

and then being, you know, like I said, being confident, showing your value,

showing why you, I could be a good resource for them to send their client.

You know, whether it's my company, whether it's me, a mixture of our

products, you know, just our ability to handle certain things that other

people can't and just creating that multitude of places that it can come from.

You know, um, that's really where I started.

And then just calling and meeting and calling and meeting, calling and

meeting people, um, over and over again.

Um, I, a lot of my business is not within a 50 mile radius of where I am.

Um, that was one of the things that we talked about on the panel was.

Um, and we live in a small community in a small town and we, our,

our company is based off local.

I mean, that's what we sell.

And that's what we believe in.

We go in the communities that each of our branches are in.

We invest in those communities and we're very proud of that and very thankful

for the communities and give back.

You know, that's what we love to do.

And I love the town that I'm from.

Um, but if I would have, you know, what's the word I'm looking for, if I would

have tried to, you know, survive off just 30 mile race that I'm in, I would,

and I wouldn't have done a 10th of the business that I would have done if I

would have only wanted to stay in my area.

Right.

And

so I went out and found, you know, for me, it was baseball.

You know, I knew a lot of guys that were just graduating

that I played baseball with.

That we're moving into communities and becoming coaches.

That was a, that's a pretty common thing for my teammates as they became coaches

in high schools, all throughout the state.

Um, and then, you know, it's, you know, going to them and, and calling and

saying, Hey, are you buying a home?

Getting their loans, getting in with the realtor that they are with, and

then following up with that realtor over and over again, and they're like, well,

you're in Sheridan, I'm in West Memphis, Arkansas, you know, that's three hours

away and I'm like, it doesn't matter.

Here's all the things that I can do.

Are you working with someone that can do that right now?

They're like, no.

And I said, how was this transaction?

You know, how did it go?

Well, you closed it and you know, 20 something days with our, our people

that we're used to working with, they, they can't close this type of deal in

35 days, you know, this was amazing.

Can I introduce you to my broker?

Absolutely.

Let's set up a meeting.

I'll, I'll drive over there tomorrow.

I'll drive two and a half hours tomorrow and meet with you guys.

And I did, I went and met with them and it just took off from there.

Um, so, you know, just.

Geography and distance can't limit you.

Um, and then investors are a big thing right now.

That's kind of what's taken us from the 20th to 40 ish a month.

Um, and as crazy as this sounds, I found that on Tik TOK.

So, um, got on Tik TOK.

I follow a bunch of real estate stuff, Facebook, Instagram, I don't know how that

works, but whatever you're into is what's going to show up on your feed every day.

As everybody knows.

Um, so for me, it's real estate and mortgages and things like that.

And there's this guy that's a, a selling guru that does section eight investing,

and he gets people in and he keeps saying, I have the best private lenders, have the

best private lenders to get you financing.

And so I just DM him and said, Hey, who's your private lenders?

You know, that are the best.

And he's like, well, do you want to be a part of the program?

I said, well, I can get on a call.

So we got on a call and I, you know, zoom just like this, me

and him, he's in California.

Um, told him what we could do and his entire business models in the midst,

the Mid South Midwest, because the properties are a little more affordable.

And so for cash flow purposes, it makes the most sense to

be right where I'm sitting.

And so I explained how we have all of these markets in these, in

these states surrounding this area.

Um, and how we have the relationships already with title companies

and realtors, which is all true.

Um, and he said, man, this is awesome.

I'm adding you right now, adding me to his list.

He's got 2000 students.

And I'm the number one LO on that.

And it's just, I mean, my phone blows up every day from just investors

wanting to buy into Mid South.

So, um, it's just, it's just finding creative ways to ask and, and put

yourself out there and I've been told no way more than I've been told.

Yes, but you don't have to be told yes more than you're told no to be successful.

Kinda like batting averages, right?

If you, if, if you hit that.

I was about to say, yeah.

Yeah.

If you hit three out of 10, you're in the Hall of Fame.

That's all it is.

I mean, you could fail 70% of the time and make the Hall of Fame.

Yeah.

It helped coming from baseball, you know, game of failure.

Um, like you said, you fail 70% of the time and you're considered really good.

I'm like, gosh, you ask a thousand people to send you a deal and 20%

of 'em say yes, you had a good year.

You know?

So that's kind of how I took it.

And then obviously I'm not asking quite as much now.

That's our next phase.

Um, we just added another LOA on and she's amazing and really

helped transition from 20 to 40.

Cause obviously that's just double, you know, and triple the total amount of acid

are coming in versus also what's closing.

So growing that organically and then just continue to grow.

So getting it to where I can keep that quality that we talked about

before I go and try and go get more.

Um, I don't want to go and ask more if I don't feel like I can give each

borrower the quality they deserve either.

Cause that's still the most important thing to me.

Um, and the realtors as well that work with me, you know, when I

send a pre approval, I have to be able to stand behind them.

Well, I have to have the time to do that.

You know, um, that's, that's so important.

You know, everyone asks me that if they haven't worked with me,

you know, is this a prequal?

Is this a pre approval?

I'm like, we don't do prequals.

We do pre approvals.

Um, I've verified the income.

I don't, I'm not saying I have an entire file before a pre approval.

Everything's got to be quick.

But I'm not sending a preapproval.

If I haven't at least seen paystubs, I mean, I'm just not doing it.

Um, I don't care how rushed they are.

I said, tell, I'll call them.

I'll tell the realtors, send me the paystubs.

If it all, everything else lines up, I'll send it.

But I have to have that, that confidence, that trust with these people, um, with

the realtors, especially because, you know, the transact, the borrower is

extremely important, but they're probably one transaction that realtor is where.

It keeps coming.

So you can't, you know, risk one transaction to, to, to

mess up that reputation.

Um, so that's kind of the next phase is just making sure we feel

confident and with this big bump that we've had to keep that quality.

And then we'll go out and keep finding creative ways to ask for more business.

I love it.

So a couple, a couple of things I want to key in on what you said

there that were super powerful again.

Uh, first off, I love the fact that you said, I don't do prequels.

I only do pre approvals, something I've taught forever.

The realtors don't want prequalifications and the borrower

should never get a prequalification because it, it isn't accurate.

You're, you're, you're setting them up for failure and you're

setting your partnership up for potential problems by doing that.

Because if you tell a realtor, this is what this person can qualify for.

And then you find out when you get the docs, they can't qualify.

You've lost that realtor for life and everybody they would have referred to you.

So a lot of wisdom in that to make sure that we're getting docs

and we're not running ahead of ourselves and you do find it.

But I loved your whole statement about do not let distance in

geography, keep you from succeeding.

The fact that you're working in Arkansas with one of the top investor

teachers in the country in California.

And I just love that you just We're brave enough to just contact him.

There's so many loan officers across the nation would be super

intimidated by that and be like, Oh, I can't reach out to that guy.

He just said, he's got the best lenders instead.

You're like, well, let me hear who these are because I think I'm better than them.

We have to have this inherent belief that we can bring the best to our clients.

If we don't have that, why are we in this business?

Why are we doing anything?

So I love how you talked about those two things and the impact of that.

And I agree with you.

Investors are a great opportunity out there.

I love how you went after the baseball community.

You stuck in the community that you knew you were in to build

some inroads for opportunities.

These are just brilliant things that bring a lot of business about.

I so appreciate those thoughts that you brought.

Let's talk a little bit about your team because you mentioned your LOA.

Talk about the structure of your team and how you work with your team to do

the kind of volume you're doing today.

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, so we, I have had an LOA since 2022.

I got one in the middle of 22 is when I got one as things were progressing

and building, um, just had one LOA.

And then the way my company is structured, we have a processor and an underwriter.

Um, actually back then we, that those would mix a little, um, you generally

have the same ones, but it would mix, um, as we grew and grew and

I've gotten my consistent production.

I've now have my own, I actually have two processors now that do my team.

So we have two processors.

I have one underwriter for every deal, which is super convenient because

we all know how each other works.

Um, and then I have two LOAs.

So my first LOA is Camden.

She is more of the true, um, sales side.

So she's helping with only front end stuff.

So apps coming in.

Um, I'll review them, but if, you know, if something comes in, she might get

the file cleaned up and then I'll make that initial call, something like that.

Um, she also helps with marketing, um, keeping up with numbers as

far as which realtors have sent me this, who do I need to reach out to?

Um, You know, who have we not gotten a deal from in a few

months that sent us 30 last year?

You know what's going on?

Is it because they don't like us anymore?

Is it because they're slow, right?

She's all that son.

She is not as soon as the file is active.

She has no idea what's going on She's never in the file one time.

She's only on front end marketing things like that Um, and then

brandy is the newest hire and she's been she's a rock star.

loa for 20 years I think Could be an underwriter, could be a

processor, could be a loan officer.

I mean, she's just, she's, she's got that factor and she's been huge.

Um, she takes over the file when it's active.

So she has no idea what's going on.

She does nothing with pre approvals, nothing with

sales, nothing with marketing.

She takes over the file.

We send it in once we get the contract active.

She's going to get it cleaned up before it goes to the processor.

She will reach out to the borrower at that point, if there's anything

needed or updated, like a new bank statement, something like that.

And she's trying to get that file ready for underwriting before

it even goes to the processor.

Um, so she gets that super clean, gets it to the processor.

They do their processing things with title, you know, whatever's left

and then goes to the underwriter.

And then Brandy helps manage the active pipeline for me.

Um, so she has calls once a week with the processor.

Helping in, you know, what's needed on these files that are active.

She's taking that role of making sure everything's online and on time.

And then I step in, obviously, if there's ever a major issue with the file.

Um, or, or they can't get a document from someone and they've

asked three times or something.

So that's the main structure that we have.

So two things you said in there that I thought

were critically important.

One was, uh, you said that you initiate every one of those calls with the

borrowers, which I love because you're the guy you're, you know, the mistake

I see a lot of times that more that loan originators will make is they'll,

they'll go work with the realtors.

Tell them, Hey, I'm I want you to work with me.

I want your business.

I want to help you.

And then when they refer a customer in, guess what?

They don't even get that person.

They get somebody else and then there's a letdown for the realtor.

They're not getting the person they thought they were going to get.

I love the fact that you initiate those conversations.

But then you talked about specialization, which I preach all the time.

And that is each one of your People have a completely different and defined

role that complements each other.

They're not overlapping.

They're, they're not getting in each other's way.

They're, they're not reviewing things that have already been done that somebody else

did that creates duplication of effort.

That's the way a system should be built for efficiency so that you've

got a process in place where everybody knows what it is you're supposed to do.

They do it and they move the file up to the next level.

That's, that's the way process should work.

And clearly based on the numbers you're doing, those things are happening.

What are some of the.

Uh, in today's marketplace with some of the challenge of things like rates,

let's talk about rate for a minute, because, you know, you've heard me

talk about this a million times.

Our rate doesn't matter.

Everybody makes a big deal about rate.

Clearly it doesn't seem to affect you a bit because it's not slowing you down.

You're speeding up, not slowing down.

Tell me why rates not a big deal to you, because I know it's not.

We've, we've, we've talked about this before.

Tell me why, tell me how you're moving through this rate market and it's not

affecting you one bit in your mindset.

Yeah.

And I'll say this, um, when I started, all it was about was rate.

So it was even, I think a bigger transition for me.

When I started the rates were 3%, 2%.

So every time someone called me, the first question was, is the rate 2%?

And I'm like, yeah.

And they're like, Oh, this is great.

You know, this is amazing.

Or I'm calling refinances and, and the rates are good.

So for me, when I started, it was about when I started my

business, that's all it was.

But then.

When you go from 2% to 6%, you can't talk about rate and get a deal , right?

So it was a big adaptation, you know, adapt or die.

Um, and that's what it was.

And it was, um, so what I started learning what I figured out just by

talking to people and talking to people, they don't care what their rate is.

And, and once I figured this out, it was easy.

Um, they just care what, what their payment is, right?

I mean, that's what they're asking you.

What's the rate or what's this?

Or how much can I afford?

They don't care if you tell 'em it's 300,000 or 200,000.

It doesn't matter.

It's how much payment can you afford a month?

So I just broke it down really simply.

Every time, one of the first questions I ask when I take an application, no

matter what they tell me, they'll tell me, well, we want a 300, 000 house.

Okay, where do you want your payments?

Oh, we want, if the rate's not, um, below 7%, we're just not going to buy.

Say, okay, well, what can you pay per month?

I don't even answer the question that they're asking.

I need to know, what are you willing to pay per month?

And you know what they do?

They answer.

You have to have a housing.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Okay.

We want to pay 1800 a month.

Okay.

So you're going to be at 220, 000.

Can you find a house at 220?

Uh, yeah, we saw one.

Oh, okay.

Well, let's, let's finish the application.

You know, we'll get you, we'll see if we can get you pre approved for that.

Um, I had someone last week say if the rate's over 7%, we're not going to buy it.

I said, well, what can, what are you guys paying in rent?

They pay 2000.

I said, well, how much could you pay on a mortgage?

And they said 2, 500 is what they'll pay.

And I said, okay, what three, I think it was like 300, 000 house.

Your payment's going to be less than 2, 500 with their down payment.

They're putting down.

They're like, oh, really?

Okay.

I was like, yeah, so do you still want to do it?

And they said, yeah, they forgot about the rate.

So, I mean, it's, it's simplified.

There's always going to be rate shoppers.

There's always going to be people that say, I don't care what you tell me.

But 98%, I would say 98 percent of people, if you just steer the conversation

to how much can you pay per month, You're you've, you've, you've fixed it.

You fix the issue of rate because that's really the issue.

I've, I've had that conversation with someone when they said,

well, the rate 7%, I can't do it.

I said, well, if the rate was 2%, but the payment was 5, 000,

would you make the payment?

They said, no, I said, okay,

so that was the big shift for me.

You know, 21 to 22, you know, getting into straight LO going from it being

easier than anything to say, Oh, you know, your rates 3 percent or your rates 2%.

And they said, okay, great.

You know, I completely that's, I regurgitated that hundreds of times.

And then I started realizing when I said your rates 4%.

4.

5%, 5%, 5.

5%, 6%.

They're not so happy.

That didn't work.

Yeah.

That didn't work.

Um, and that's what's so funny too.

I tell people this, you know, that asked me, you know, what about the rates?

I said, people were mad when the rates were three and a half.

They were mad when they were four.

They were mad when they were five.

They're seven now.

They would go back to people that told it when they did ask what the

rate was and told us we were crazy.

They would love for those rates now.

People are never going to be happy with rates.

You can't sell on rate or no one's ever going to be happy.

I remember people telling me when I told them 2.

5 that they heard that they could get 2.

3.

I mean, that's just human nature.

That's just human nature.

So you can't worry about the rate.

You got to figure out, like I said.

Everyone's got a problem.

You have to be the solution to the problem.

The problem isn't the rate.

The problem is what can they afford and what can their family afford so

they can have the house they want, but also be able to pay for that

house, you know, and have a life.

And if you can just connect those dots, you're going to get a lot of business.

Awesome.

Love it.

So if you were to give the audience, uh, your best tip.

The thing that you think is most important from your perspective

to succeed in today's marketplace.

And it may be a couple of things.

What, what would that be?

I think for me, what has worked for me the most

is I'll answer this kind of the same way, but first be yourself.

Um, I think people can tell if you're not yourself, if you are not a sales, like

me, I'm not going to come in and, you know, sell someone a pin like the wolf of

wall street, that's not my personality.

Right.

I'm a genuine person.

I like to help.

So I go and tell people that's what I like to do.

I'm not saying that salesy people are wrong.

Some people have amazing salesy personality.

Well, then play off that strength.

I think you have to be who you are, play to your strengths, and then figure

out the people in the marketplace that that fits with, you know, my personality

and my strengths might not fit up with.

Certain, you know, realtors and certain business, you know,

portfolios that they work with, but for others, it works wonderfully.

So I'm not going for the people that I know my strengths

aren't going to fit with.

I think that's the case.

And then just treat every single person in the transaction.

Like you treat your family.

Um, I think if you treat people with respect and just be kind and be patient,

if it's the third time they've asked the dumbest question, you answer it

with the happiest smile on your face and say, this is, this is a great question.

Um, this is the answer.

If you have any more, please, please ask.

Please call me and ask, you know, I think being truly genuine to your

clients, they relay that to your realtors in the same way with realtors.

You know, I have a lot of realtors.

And ask me questions because they know I'm not going to make them feel dumb.

They

know I'm not going to talk down to them.

You know, you can't talk down to people.

You can't act like you're smarter than anyone, whether you are or not.

It's irrelevant.

Um, so those are the two biggest things I think play to your strengths, be yourself,

and then treat every single person.

Like it's your mom, you know, and, uh, and if they're asking you questions, you

treat them like it was your family member.

And I think if you do those two things, that's what I've done.

And, you know, you do that every single day, you play a day by day and you look

up in a year or two years, two months.

Um, you will build something that's pretty cool.

I love it.

And I will tell you just from experience, having trained millions

of originators around the country, the salesy kind of approach doesn't

work in today's marketplace.

I see very few loan officers who succeed doing that.

And the ones that do succeed for very short periods of time.

And it catches up to them when you're sincere, when you've got that other's

first mindset, which we teach all the time, which you just basically said, treat

them like they're part of your family.

I mean, I love that.

And having been down now with your team yesterday, that truly is

the culture within your company.

And, you know, I know your mom and dad, not now I know your mom

too, but known your dad for years.

And.

Clearly your whole family is wired that way.

It's about really honoring people.

It's being kind to people.

Um, that makes all the difference in the world.

I just, I gotta say it again.

You're, you're wise beyond your years, my friend.

Um, you, you've done a great job and.

Great information to provide today.

All right.

Let me ask you the same question that I ask every one of my

guests as the last question.

Um, I'm a firm believer that one of the keys to success for every human

being is you got to have mentors.

You got to have people who teach you, train you, guide you, and encourage

you Uh, through your life and, and I've asked every one of my guests to

share, you know, a mentor or the mentor or a couple of mentors that have been

super meaningful in their life and, and how that meant, uh, and made a

difference for them in their life.

Share with the audience who that would be for you and, and, and why that's been

important and powerful to have somebody to help you learn and grow and get better.

Yeah.

Um, I think this answer is probably pretty obvious.

Um, but that would be my dad.

I figured,

um, so, um, from day one, you know, baseball

sports was my upbringing.

He was the coach of every team.

He was, he was at every single event.

Um, and if there's something that he is, his gift, I think is bringing out

the best in you, whether that's me or anybody else, that is, that is, is, is.

His true gift is whatever your potential is, he's going to get

you to a hundred percent of it.

Um, and I think that's what he's done for me my whole life.

He has pushed me in everything, whether it was school, I never made a B because

I thought there wasn't an option.

You know, I, I didn't think there was another option.

I, you know, it's like, you don't make an a, I don't, I don't know.

You know, and it's simple as that.

So he created that mindset of me that failures, you know, it's, it's not an

option, so you better figure out how to succeed, you know, you better figure out

how to go get this done, you know, if you're going to play baseball, you better

figure out how to be one of the best players out there, it doesn't matter.

I mean, naturally gifted, none of it was not, not a natural athlete.

I mean, I was athletic, but fifth, sixth best person on my team.

And every, every team I started, whether it was little league, freshman team,

senior year, I was not the best team, but by year I was the best player on the team.

And it was pure, pure hard work and determination and, uh, and that was

instilled because that's how he is.

And that he taught that to me, I mean, if he wouldn't have taught me that

I wouldn't have been anywhere that I was, I would have never gotten, I would

have never, you know, gone through college and had the GPA that I had, not

that that really matters, but, or the GPA in high school, but all of these

things that I can attribute to success.

Would be the mentality that he has instilled in me as far as just hard work

and, and refusing to fail and refusing to see that as an option, um, just finding

a way, and there's something to that, you know, people will ask, like on the panel,

they're like, well, what are you doing?

I said, well, I didn't know there was another option, but to do

this, I mean, that's just how that's, that's just how it was.

Everything I do, it's 120%.

And if you're not the best, you better be the best you could possibly be, because

if you're not, you're just letting yourself and everyone that counts on you.

Um, and so I would say that obviously he has done that with

this company and building it.

Um, he's done that with me personally, um, and that consistency and everything

that he does is what's taught me to be that way and everything I do.

Same thing with my family, you know, with my wife and my, you know, family.

My daughter, who's now one, um, to me, there's nothing more important

than being the best husband and the best dad you can be.

I'm not saying I'm the best husband in the world, but I'm going to be the

best husband that I can be, right?

Because that's my responsibility.

Um, and so I think that mentality and everything you do is what

he's taught me and what I still lean on today and everything.

So,

well, I know your dad's awfully proud of you and, and you're

going to laugh at this, but this is true.

Both my team and several people that I talked to over the last several weeks.

I mentioned, yeah, I've got a guest coming on batting a thousand,

just kickoff season three.

Loan officer did 50.

About 50 loans last month.

And everybody said, how do you do 50 loans?

I said, well, no one is dad.

He probably didn't know he wasn't supposed to.

That's probably what it comes down to.

I think you just

hit the nail on the head.

Hunter, this has been awesome.

You have done an incredible job today.

You have provided so many great, just golden nuggets for people to just

see what it takes to be successful.

I think the biggest thing that you did today that I really appreciate about you.

As you just showed people, it's not, it's not rocket science.

It's not hard.

You don't have to do anything but work hard, be creative, and just put

your 1000 percent into what you do.

And you can do well in this marketplace.

I am really grateful for you being on the show today.

Uh, I know that the listeners are going to get a ton out of this.

You bring your family down to Destin.

We would love to, Laurel and I would love to take you guys out to dinner.

Um, on our treat and spend some time with you guys and get to know you better.

But I want to thank you, uh, for really being here today and

for having such a huge impact.

Absolutely.

It's an honor.

I appreciate you asking me to be on here.

I really appreciate it.

All right, my friend.

Well, we will look forward to seeing you soon for the rest of you.

Thank you for being on batting a thousand.

This is just the first of the series for season three.

We'll see on the next batting a thousand where the heavy hitters

in the mortgage industry show up.

Thanks so much for being here.

God bless y'all.

See you next time.