Dale Vermillion: 00:00:05

All right.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:05

Hello again, everybody.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:06

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:11

heavy hitters in the mortgage market.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:13

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:17

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:19

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:24

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:28

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:32

This kid is, uh, absolutely top performance.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:35

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:40

He did 48.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:41

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:44

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:49

over 40 loans a month in, uh, 2024.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:53

Uh, Hunter, welcome to the show.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:54

We're so glad to have you.

Hunter Strong: 00:00:56

Yeah, thanks.

Hunter Strong: 00:00:57

So happy to be here.

Dale Vermillion: 00:00:59

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:02

Hunter.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:03

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:06

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:08

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:12

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:15

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:20

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:26

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:29

and good client for a long time.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:30

So you've come up in that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:32

Family of the mortgage world.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:34

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:37

us a little bit about your background.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:38

I, I know that you played college ball.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:40

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:44

had some professional baseball background.

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:46

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:01:50

mortgage market in the first place.

Hunter Strong: 00:01:52

Yeah, for sure.

Hunter Strong: 00:01:53

So I actually funny story.

Hunter Strong: 00:01:55

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

Hunter Strong: 00:01:59

the way to microbiology was my last.

Hunter Strong: 00:02:02

Elective before I could get into pharmacy school.

Hunter Strong: 00:02:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:08

the university of central Arkansas.

Hunter Strong: 00:02:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:20

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:24

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:36

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:39

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:42

things, I guess, as you would say.

Hunter Strong: 00:02:44

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:51

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

Hunter Strong: 00:02:56

around the time that this was happening.

Hunter Strong: 00:02:58

Is when they made that transition to first trust because we

Hunter Strong: 00:02:59

expanded to multiple states.

Hunter Strong: 00:03:02

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:12

think I want to go to pharmacy school.

Hunter Strong: 00:03:13

I'm ready to just to start working.

Hunter Strong: 00:03:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:17

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:20

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:23

into the company, I was a closer.

Hunter Strong: 00:03:25

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:30

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:34

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:03:56

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:11

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:15

He needed me to run the lot desk.

Hunter Strong: 00:04:17

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:24

So.

Hunter Strong: 00:04:25

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:31

didn't close a loan until January of 2020.

Hunter Strong: 00:04:34

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:41

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:46

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:53

and doing more business than ever.

Hunter Strong: 00:04:55

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

Hunter Strong: 00:04:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:04

And at this point I was actually close.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:06

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:09

That's when I transitioned.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:11

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:17

the lot desk at the same time.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:21

to keep up with everything.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:23

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:27

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:29

I can take this to the next level.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:30

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:32

So 2022 is my first year that we did that.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:35

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:40

year in 22 when I really did it.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:53

We've progressed a little bit.

Hunter Strong: 00:05:54

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

Hunter Strong: 00:05:57

know, taking the competitiveness of baseball and sports and.

Hunter Strong: 00:06:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:06:06

Right.

Hunter Strong: 00:06:06

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

Hunter Strong: 00:06:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:06:10

I enjoy what I'm doing right now.

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:13

I absolutely love that story.

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:15

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:18

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:23

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:27

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:31

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:37

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:40

And a lot of them that did have not succeeded.

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:42

And yet you have just thrived from that point forward.

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:45

And I love your whole concept about the importance of work

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:47

ethic and all those things.

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:48

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:51

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:54

And let's start with the first thing.

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:56

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:06:58

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:02

And it allowed you to move into that business.

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:05

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:07

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:10

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:15

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:20

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:27

and conversations with your customers.

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:29

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:33

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:37

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:40

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:45

desk to understand the ramifications.

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:48

How has that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:49

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:07:54

to quality on the origination side.

Hunter Strong: 00:07:59

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:02

um, for a couple of reasons.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:03

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:12

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:16

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:18

to be an absolute firestorm, right?

Hunter Strong: 00:08:21

Um, and every little detail matters.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:23

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:26

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:30

It's only as good as it starts.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:34

help us get to the closing table.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:35

It's not just the LO.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:41

have to take ownership of the file.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:43

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:49

whole deal is done the wrong way.

Hunter Strong: 00:08:51

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

Hunter Strong: 00:08:56

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:02

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:06

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:09

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:16

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:20

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:24

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:36

Panicking.

Hunter Strong: 00:09:36

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:39

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:45

your shoulders and everyone else.

Hunter Strong: 00:09:46

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:51

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:54

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

Hunter Strong: 00:09:59

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:03

That knowledge.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:04

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:11

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:22

He's going to take care of this.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:24

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:25

we'll get the still closed.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:27

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:30

roll them out, you know, at that point.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:31

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:33

It's just.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:34

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:38

more trust you can build with everyone.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:39

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:46

And for some people that works great.

Hunter Strong: 00:10:48

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:54

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:58

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

Hunter Strong: 00:10:59

I think that's what's helped me.

Hunter Strong: 00:11:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:11:04

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

Hunter Strong: 00:11:07

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

Hunter Strong: 00:11:08

They want a mortgage.

Hunter Strong: 00:11:10

You know, the realtor wants the deal to close.

Hunter Strong: 00:11:12

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

Hunter Strong: 00:11:16

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

Hunter Strong: 00:11:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:11:22

solve these problems for them.

Hunter Strong: 00:11:24

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:28

All right.

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:28

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:30

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:34

You could be my age.

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:37

That was pure gold.

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:38

That was absolutely pure gold.

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:39

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:44

That I love that you said, number one.

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:46

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:51

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:56

somebody other than Dale Vermillion.

Dale Vermillion: 00:11:58

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:01

you do it right the first time.

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:04

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:06

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:10

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:15

And then you talked about the importance of being the smartest

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:16

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:19

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:22

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:25

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:30

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:34

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:37

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:39

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:42

That's what you stand on at First Trust.

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:44

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:48

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:50

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:54

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:57

I think what you just.

Dale Vermillion: 00:12:59

Just laid out right.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:00

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:06

You don't need to do it sloppy.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:08

You need to do it right.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:09

And you need to know your business.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:11

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:14

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:19

I just absolutely love that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:20

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:24

of the numbers that you did.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:25

You did 53 million last year.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:13:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:13:34

I believe it was 47.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:36

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:38

million to a hundred million this year.

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:41

What's your average loan size?

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:43

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:13:46

What's your average loan size on a loan?

Hunter Strong: 00:13:48

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

Hunter Strong: 00:13:50

It just keeps going down.

Hunter Strong: 00:13:52

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

Hunter Strong: 00:13:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:14:01

through this year as an average.

Hunter Strong: 00:14:02

So,

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:03

yeah, I wanted to clarify that for the audience because

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:06

those units you're doing are massive.

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:08

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:13

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:19

Those are big numbers.

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:20

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:24

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:27

400,000, you almost double that number.

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:30

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:34

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:38

million in the normal market.

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:39

So that any originators watch this be like.

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:41

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:45

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:47

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:49

What are you doing from an origination standpoint?

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:53

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:14:56

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:15:02

Walk us through that.

Hunter Strong: 00:15:04

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:12

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:17

You know, it takes time.

Hunter Strong: 00:15:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:23

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:26

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:28

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

Voice Over: 00:15:32

you

Hunter Strong: 00:15:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:36

And my biggest source of business is realtors.

Hunter Strong: 00:15:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:41

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:45

um, investment professionals.

Hunter Strong: 00:15:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:52

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

Hunter Strong: 00:15:55

you know, Hey, who do you use?

Hunter Strong: 00:15:56

You know, do you like them?

Hunter Strong: 00:15:58

Would you mind setting up a meeting, you know?

Hunter Strong: 00:16:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:04

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:21

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:24

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:30

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:33

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:38

meeting people, um, over and over again.

Hunter Strong: 00:16:40

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:45

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:16:52

our company is based off local.

Hunter Strong: 00:16:54

I mean, that's what we sell.

Hunter Strong: 00:16:55

And that's what we believe in.

Hunter Strong: 00:16:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:03

for the communities and give back.

Hunter Strong: 00:17:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:07

And I love the town that I'm from.

Hunter Strong: 00:17:09

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:21

would have only wanted to stay in my area.

Voice Over: 00:17:24

Right.

Voice Over: 00:17:24

And

Hunter Strong: 00:17:24

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:27

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:29

that I played baseball with.

Hunter Strong: 00:17:31

That we're moving into communities and becoming coaches.

Hunter Strong: 00:17:33

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:37

in high schools, all throughout the state.

Hunter Strong: 00:17:38

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:43

saying, Hey, are you buying a home?

Hunter Strong: 00:17:44

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:55

Here's all the things that I can do.

Hunter Strong: 00:17:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:17:59

They're like, no.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:01

And I said, how was this transaction?

Hunter Strong: 00:18:03

You know, how did it go?

Hunter Strong: 00:18:04

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:07

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:10

35 days, you know, this was amazing.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:12

Can I introduce you to my broker?

Hunter Strong: 00:18:13

Absolutely.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:14

Let's set up a meeting.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:14

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:16

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:24

Um, so, you know, just.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:26

Geography and distance can't limit you.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:31

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:35

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:38

So, um, got on Tik TOK.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:40

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:45

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:48

As everybody knows.

Hunter Strong: 00:18:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:18:58

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:02

best private lenders to get you financing.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:03

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:06

You know, that are the best.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:07

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:11

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:16

and him, he's in California.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:25

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:28

be right where I'm sitting.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:33

these states surrounding this area.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:35

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:38

and realtors, which is all true.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:40

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:45

He's got 2000 students.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:47

And I'm the number one LO on that.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:19:52

wanting to buy into Mid South.

Hunter Strong: 00:19:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:03

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:07

Kinda like batting averages, right?

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:08

If you, if, if you hit that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:10

I was about to say, yeah.

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:11

Yeah.

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:11

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:13

That's all it is.

Dale Vermillion: 00:20:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:17

Yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:20:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:20

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:24

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:31

You know?

Hunter Strong: 00:20:31

So that's kind of how I took it.

Hunter Strong: 00:20:33

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:35

That's our next phase.

Hunter Strong: 00:20:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:41

helped transition from 20 to 40.

Hunter Strong: 00:20:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:47

are coming in versus also what's closing.

Hunter Strong: 00:20:49

So growing that organically and then just continue to grow.

Hunter Strong: 00:20:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:20:58

before I go and try and go get more.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:03

borrower the quality they deserve either.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:07

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:21

you know, is this a prequal?

Hunter Strong: 00:21:22

Is this a pre approval?

Hunter Strong: 00:21:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:24

We do pre approvals.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:25

Um, I've verified the income.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:31

Everything's got to be quick.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:33

But I'm not sending a preapproval.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:34

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:39

I said, tell, I'll call them.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:40

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:44

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:21:57

It keeps coming.

Hunter Strong: 00:21:58

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

Hunter Strong: 00:22:01

mess up that reputation.

Hunter Strong: 00:22:03

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

Hunter Strong: 00:22:06

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

Hunter Strong: 00:22:11

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:14

I love it.

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:15

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:17

there that were super powerful again.

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:19

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:23

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:25

The realtors don't want prequalifications and the borrower

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:28

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:32

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:34

setting your partnership up for potential problems by doing that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:38

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:41

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:44

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:48

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:52

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:54

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:22:58

geography, keep you from succeeding.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:01

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:05

teachers in the country in California.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:08

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:13

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:16

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:19

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:21

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:25

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:30

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:33

Why are we doing anything?

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:34

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:40

And I agree with you.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:41

Investors are a great opportunity out there.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:43

I love how you went after the baseball community.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:46

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:49

some inroads for opportunities.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:52

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:55

I so appreciate those thoughts that you brought.

Dale Vermillion: 00:23:57

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:24:01

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:24:04

the kind of volume you're doing today.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:07

Yeah, absolutely.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:09

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:16

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:19

and building, um, just had one LOA.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:26

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:30

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:33

I've gotten my consistent production.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:35

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:41

So we have two processors.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:43

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:46

we all know how each other works.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:48

Um, and then I have two LOAs.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:51

So my first LOA is Camden.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:24:57

So she's helping with only front end stuff.

Hunter Strong: 00:24:59

So apps coming in.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:16

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:19

months that sent us 30 last year?

Hunter Strong: 00:25:22

You know what's going on?

Hunter Strong: 00:25:23

Is it because they don't like us anymore?

Hunter Strong: 00:25:24

Is it because they're slow, right?

Hunter Strong: 00:25:26

She's all that son.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:28

She is not as soon as the file is active.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:36

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:39

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:44

processor, could be a loan officer.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:46

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:25:52

So she has no idea what's going on.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:54

She does nothing with pre approvals, nothing with

Hunter Strong: 00:25:56

sales, nothing with marketing.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:58

She takes over the file.

Hunter Strong: 00:25:59

We send it in once we get the contract active.

Hunter Strong: 00:26:02

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:15

it even goes to the processor.

Hunter Strong: 00:26:17

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:20

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:25

and then goes to the underwriter.

Hunter Strong: 00:26:26

And then Brandy helps manage the active pipeline for me.

Hunter Strong: 00:26:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:35

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:39

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:43

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

Hunter Strong: 00:26:46

asked three times or something.

Hunter Strong: 00:26:48

So that's the main structure that we have.

Dale Vermillion: 00:26:50

So two things you said in there that I thought

Dale Vermillion: 00:26:52

were critically important.

Dale Vermillion: 00:26:53

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:26:58

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:03

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:06

they'll go work with the realtors.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:08

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:11

I want your business.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:12

I want to help you.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:13

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:16

They don't even get that person.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:17

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:20

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:22

I love the fact that you initiate those conversations.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:25

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:28

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:34

role that complements each other.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:37

They're not overlapping.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:38

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:40

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:44

did that creates duplication of effort.

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:47

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:51

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:55

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:27:58

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:01

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:05

What are some of the.

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:06

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:10

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:12

talk about this a million times.

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:14

Our rate doesn't matter.

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:16

Everybody makes a big deal about rate.

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:17

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:21

You're speeding up, not slowing down.

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:23

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:26

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:29

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:28:33

affecting you one bit in your mindset.

Hunter Strong: 00:28:36

Yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:28:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:28:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:28:45

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

Hunter Strong: 00:28:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:28:52

And I'm like, yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:28:52

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

Hunter Strong: 00:28:53

You know, this is amazing.

Hunter Strong: 00:28:54

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

Hunter Strong: 00:28:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:00

business, that's all it was.

Hunter Strong: 00:29:01

But then.

Hunter Strong: 00:29:02

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:06

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:09

Um, and that's what it was.

Hunter Strong: 00:29:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:14

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:25

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:26

What's the rate or what's this?

Hunter Strong: 00:29:27

Or how much can I afford?

Hunter Strong: 00:29:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:32

It doesn't matter.

Hunter Strong: 00:29:33

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:35

So I just broke it down really simply.

Hunter Strong: 00:29:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:40

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:45

Okay, where do you want your payments?

Hunter Strong: 00:29:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:51

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:53

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:56

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

Hunter Strong: 00:29:59

And you know what they do?

Hunter Strong: 00:30:00

They answer.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:01

You have to have a housing.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:02

Yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:04

Right.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:04

Yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:05

Okay.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:05

We want to pay 1800 a month.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:07

Okay.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:10

Can you find a house at 220?

Hunter Strong: 00:30:12

Uh, yeah, we saw one.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:13

Oh, okay.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:13

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:23

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:25

They pay 2000.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:26

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:36

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:39

They're putting down.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:40

They're like, oh, really?

Hunter Strong: 00:30:40

Okay.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:41

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:44

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:47

There's always going to be rate shoppers.

Hunter Strong: 00:30:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:52

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

Hunter Strong: 00:30:59

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:12

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:15

would you make the payment?

Hunter Strong: 00:31:16

They said, no, I said, okay,

Hunter Strong: 00:31:21

so that was the big shift for me.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:23

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:33

And they said, okay, great.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:34

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:40

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:42

4.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:42

5%, 5%, 5.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:44

5%, 6%.

Dale Vermillion: 00:31:46

They're not so happy.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:48

That didn't work.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:49

Yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:49

That didn't work.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:50

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:52

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:55

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

Hunter Strong: 00:31:57

They were mad when they were four.

Hunter Strong: 00:31:59

They were mad when they were five.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:00

They're seven now.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:32:04

rate was and told us we were crazy.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:05

They would love for those rates now.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:07

People are never going to be happy with rates.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:09

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

Hunter Strong: 00:32:12

I remember people telling me when I told them 2.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:14

5 that they heard that they could get 2.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:16

3.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:17

I mean, that's just human nature.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:18

That's just human nature.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:19

So you can't worry about the rate.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:20

You got to figure out, like I said.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:22

Everyone's got a problem.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:23

You have to be the solution to the problem.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:25

The problem isn't the rate.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:27

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

Hunter Strong: 00:32:30

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

Hunter Strong: 00:32:34

house, you know, and have a life.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:35

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:32:39

Awesome.

Hunter Strong: 00:32:39

Love it.

Dale Vermillion: 00:32:41

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:32:45

The thing that you think is most important from your perspective

Dale Vermillion: 00:32:49

to succeed in today's marketplace.

Dale Vermillion: 00:32:51

And it may be a couple of things.

Dale Vermillion: 00:32:53

What, what would that be?

Hunter Strong: 00:32:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:01

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:06

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:14

wall street, that's not my personality.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:16

Right.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:17

I'm a genuine person.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:18

I like to help.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:22

I'm not saying that salesy people are wrong.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:24

Some people have amazing salesy personality.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:26

Well, then play off that strength.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:37

and my strengths might not fit up with.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:39

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:42

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:46

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

Hunter Strong: 00:33:49

aren't going to fit with.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:50

I think that's the case.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:52

And then just treat every single person in the transaction.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:56

Like you treat your family.

Hunter Strong: 00:33:57

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:08

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:13

Um, this is the answer.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:14

If you have any more, please, please ask.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:22

You know, I have a lot of realtors.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:25

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

Voice Over: 00:34:27

They

Hunter Strong: 00:34:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:30

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:35

It's irrelevant.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:36

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:40

and then treat every single person.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:43

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:47

treat them like it was your family member.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:51

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

Hunter Strong: 00:34:55

up in a year or two years, two months.

Hunter Strong: 00:34:58

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:00

I love it.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:01

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:04

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:09

work in today's marketplace.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:10

I see very few loan officers who succeed doing that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:16

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:19

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:22

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:25

them like they're part of your family.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:26

I mean, I love that.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:27

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:32

the culture within your company.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:34

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:37

too, but known your dad for years.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:39

And.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:40

Clearly your whole family is wired that way.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:44

It's about really honoring people.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:46

It's being kind to people.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:48

Um, that makes all the difference in the world.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:50

I just, I gotta say it again.

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:53

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:55

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:35:59

Great information to provide today.

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:01

All right.

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:01

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:05

guests as the last question.

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:07

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:11

being is you got to have mentors.

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:13

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:17

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:21

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:26

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:31

difference for them in their life.

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:32

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:38

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

Hunter Strong: 00:36:44

Yeah.

Hunter Strong: 00:36:44

Um, I think this answer is probably pretty obvious.

Hunter Strong: 00:36:47

Um, but that would be my dad.

Dale Vermillion: 00:36:48

I figured,

Hunter Strong: 00:36:49

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

Hunter Strong: 00:36:53

sports was my upbringing.

Hunter Strong: 00:36:55

He was the coach of every team.

Hunter Strong: 00:36:57

He was, he was at every single event.

Hunter Strong: 00:37:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:10

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:14

you to a hundred percent of it.

Hunter Strong: 00:37:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:23

I thought there wasn't an option.

Hunter Strong: 00:37:27

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:32

You know, and it's simple as that.

Hunter Strong: 00:37:33

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:37

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:41

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:44

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:47

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:51

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

Hunter Strong: 00:37:55

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:03

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:09

instilled because that's how he is.

Hunter Strong: 00:38:11

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:18

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:25

things that I can attribute to success.

Hunter Strong: 00:38:28

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:36

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:41

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:43

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:45

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:49

Everything I do, it's 120%.

Hunter Strong: 00:38:52

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

Hunter Strong: 00:38:56

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:00

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:03

this company and building it.

Hunter Strong: 00:39:05

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:09

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:12

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:15

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:19

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:22

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:25

best husband that I can be, right?

Hunter Strong: 00:39:26

Because that's my responsibility.

Hunter Strong: 00:39:29

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:32

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

Hunter Strong: 00:39:35

So,

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:36

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:39

going to laugh at this, but this is true.

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:41

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:44

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:47

just kickoff season three.

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:49

Loan officer did 50.

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:50

About 50 loans last month.

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:52

And everybody said, how do you do 50 loans?

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:54

I said, well, no one is dad.

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:56

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:39:58

That's probably what it comes down to.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:01

I think you just

Hunter Strong: 00:40:02

hit the nail on the head.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:05

Hunter, this has been awesome.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:07

You have done an incredible job today.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:09

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:13

see what it takes to be successful.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:15

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:19

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:23

It's not hard.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:24

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:30

your 1000 percent into what you do.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:32

And you can do well in this marketplace.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:35

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:39

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:42

You bring your family down to Destin.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:44

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:47

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:50

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:53

for having such a huge impact.

Hunter Strong: 00:40:55

Absolutely.

Hunter Strong: 00:40:56

It's an honor.

Hunter Strong: 00:40:57

I appreciate you asking me to be on here.

Hunter Strong: 00:40:58

I really appreciate it.

Dale Vermillion: 00:40:59

All right, my friend.

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:00

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:03

Thank you for being on batting a thousand.

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:05

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:08

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

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:11

in the mortgage industry show up.

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:13

Thanks so much for being here.

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:13

God bless y'all.

Dale Vermillion: 00:41:15

See you next time.