Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the mic'd up show. Our favorite season, season four coming at you. The ultimate hub, where the hidden stories behind mortgage industry come to life. And as we say, where every mortgage has a story. I'm Michael Keller and alongside me is.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Michael Zhao here in San Diego.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: And we're going to dive deep into the entrepreneurial spirit, strategic insights and breakthrough innovations that build the world's greatest mortgage companies. So whether you're advancing your career, as we always say, we give you insight to what happens at these conferences, the type of people that go to these conferences in hopes that someday you end up at these conferences and run into us. We show you the breakthrough innovations again that help you scout for industry leaders, explore opportunities in fintech and prop tech. You're in the right place. So get ready to unlock the story behind every mortgage. Let's dive in. I have actually, before we start, an amazing story wearing one of our sponsors and heard that one of our guests told their head of IT to go up to their booth. So I think what we're doing is reaching the audience. And speaking of reaching the audience, one of the largest growing audiences out there is narep. And today we have two very active members in it that are here to give us some more insight. Because as every year changes, I think people need to be reminded of the power and the people in their company that should become part of NAR Rep. How to become involved and appreciate both Alex and Rick coming on today. Can you guys. Because I'm at a conference right now. Can you guys talk each about the first time you attended one of these conferences or local events and. And what it felt like. And what it felt like leaving it, the experience so that others that maybe haven't done it yet can know that feeling or maybe motivated to experience that feeling.
[00:01:49] Speaker C: Absolutely. Rick, you want to go first? You want me to take it?
[00:01:52] Speaker D: Sure, you go first. And I want to.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: I probably have a little more history with the NARUP organization than Rick does. I attended the very first event that they threw here in Las Vegas. I'm based out of Las Vegas back in 2001, if you could believe it or not, Bahama Breeze, there was probably about 40 or 50 of us in the room. And that message just resonated with me when it was delivered by our past local president, Felix De Herrera, back in the days. And I don't know, just been involved ever since that, you know, one level or another and obviously right now a little more engaged in it and excited to see what the future of NARUP is.
[00:02:26] Speaker D: So I Believe my very first NARP conference, I had to quickly google it just to make sure, but Juan Martinez was present organization. I believe it's 2012. Is that about right, Alex? So my very first conference was in Washington D.C. and the only memory I have is they did this panel discussion with all these different banks like bank of America, Wells Fargo Chase, and Juan Martinez was the president. And I just remember him yelling at them, saying that like they're, they're approaching the industry wrong. And this is a Realtor. And I'm like, wow, this is really cool. I like seeing stuff like this and I'm sure it was a great panel, but just go into that. It made me see that there's a bigger world out there of top producer mega producers that you only see on TV or you hear about in your marketplace. Like oh, so and so is a big producer. But going to these conferences, you get to see them firsthand and you get to touch them and ask them questions. And especially organizations like NALRAP is, they'll answer and they'll give you great advice because they want to see you level up and you make it. And that was just blew my mind that these type conferences existed. Now fast forward 13 years later, like it's common, right? Like I'm used to it. But that, that was my first experience and I pushed people to, to go to these conferences, but also, you know, to, to get out of their comfort zone and network and connect because you're not really going to learn the skills or improve if you go to the conference and just sit in a corner by yourself. You have to network and connect.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: For those of our listeners that don't know what NAREP is, National association of.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: Hispanic Real Estate Professionals.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Yeah, thank you. It's a, it's actually a little bit different than your average Mortgage Bankers association conference because unlike, unlike the mba where you're there to network with other mortgage leaders, the actual NAREP conference is there not only for mortgage, it's also for the Realtor community as well. Wouldn't you agree, Alex?
[00:04:26] Speaker C: A hundred percent. I'm sorry, if I could just kind of touch on that just a little bit.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: So yes, please.
[00:04:31] Speaker C: As a mission to empower the real estate professional. Right. The professional that services that Latino consumer as an end result. And so we do that through providing opportunities, through events, through educational seminars, through networking opportunities, through advocacy that really make an impact and a difference in our local communities. But the core of everything we do is that individual member. And We've got about 58,000 members in our Database that are pretty active on a year to year basis.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: Wait, how many people were at your first meeting in 2002? 40.
[00:05:06] Speaker C: I'd say about 40, tops. 40.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: And you just said that there's 58,000 in your database now? I mean, you talk about not only exponential growth, but exponential reach to the entire Hispanic real estate community right now, actually. And there's always the need for participation when it comes to getting to be inside of the industry, whether it's in real estate or mortgage. But you know, last year we had our issues with NAR and we've had mortgage issues and inventory issues over the course of the last two years. I think that one of the things that people lack actually is the proper amount of networking in any trade group for that matter. Actually, Rick, for you as the, as a sales professional, as if it's okay for me to say that.
Could you, could you speak to the networking and, and how it's important not only, not only for your business, but also for the Latino community to actually rise up, to be together as a community. To not. Not just for the sake of referrals, not just for the sake of, of doing business, but actually come together as a community. Because. Because I'd like for you to speak on that, if that's okay, Rick.
[00:06:21] Speaker D: Yeah, and I think that, you know, that's. There's multiple answers to that. The power of networking, right. For, for me personally, everyone's in different journeys of the career. Everyone's in different seasons. There's a professional that's trying to grow their business. So for going to a networking event like, like that, like n rapper or any type of networking event, if you want to grow your business, like what do you have to do? You have to prospect, to make calls, to make dials. You have to get connected. Well, one of my best prospecting ways I learned from early in my industry from getting coaching was instead of cold calling, why don't I reach out to somebody I know and ask for referrals like Michael, you're in the industry. Can you connect me with three realtors like you? Right. Well, if I want to do that, like, I can only do that so many times in a day. If I want to massively scale that, I can go to a networking event where the room is filled with many top producers, connect with a guy like Alex and say, dude, take me around the room and introduce me to everybody, you know, which I. Which I've done before. And now in my current season of life, that's one of my focuses at these current events. I'll, I'll seek someone out like Michael. If you came to your first event to San Diego, my, my mission would be to connect you with at least 20 people. I want to connect you with everybody I know because the, the more I can connect you, the more that you can help connect others and the bigger the snowball we create.
Right. But what's, what's also another part of that and you know, part of the mission and part of the Hispanic is that we're, we're going to be connecting with other top level professionals. So there's certain things that you're going to learn through doing it through experiences in your business. But if Alex is at a level in his business where he's several years ahead of me, connecting with him, masterminding with him, he can give me some tips to skip a year in challenges, skip a year in potential problems. I may have my business I haven't experienced yet because he already has. And like, and those are many of the conversations I have now with the nare. We have conversations like that with guys in my level but then we, but then it's important for guys like Alex and us to help those new members that show up and connect them with mentors or provide them the tools to be successful because we've made it. We got to send the elevator down for the next guy. And that's just something we're super passionate in the Hispanic community and it's, it's shown by some of the programs we've developed such as the NAREP 10 and the Hispanic Wealth Project where we teach not just our members but our Hispanic community 10 disciplines on how to build wealth.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: With all the news going on right now of Rocket acquiring Redfin and the super app, I noticed a lot of that commercial around it. A lot of the next steps around it are not multi language or it is multicultural. That their, their commercial was very impactful and, and emotional but as far as language goes, it was very, you know, didn't really touch on what you are all about. How would you say people can use the membership now? Because I think it's now more important than ever line in the sand that real estate agents and loan officers and even at the higher level brokers and lender owners need to start working closer together because the others are starting to do it. Does your environment, your conferences, it seems to me like it's a scalable way or at least an open way to have that dialogue. Has it changed any mindset at leadership on, on what you're going to start doing or is it still too fresh, this latest move?
[00:09:51] Speaker C: So. So, Mike, that's a great question. And I think from a, from a leadership perspective, you're always evaluating, you're always anticipating what could possibly happen. But I would say this. You know, the. In the industry and you've been. I've been around for 25 years. I was a real estate broker and ran very large company. I've built mortgage companies across the United States. I've built companies outside of the United States. And there's always threats that are going to come, you know, come. Come in front of you. I think as a, as a sales professional, as a broker, as a leader, as anyone in the industry, you understand that markets go up, markets go down. But what we tell our salespeople is you have to remain consistent and focus on the characteristics and foundational activities that are going to bring wealth and success. So there's mergers in the industry. There's been mergers in the industry since day one. Right. And every merger that happens is going to be the end of real estate as we know it. Well, guess what ends up happening at the end of the day. If you go out there and you do what's the most important thing, which is connect with people, you're going to be okay. If you're out there talking to people about what you do and helping and you becoming that trusted advisor, you're going to be okay. Now, Narup has kind of taken on a.
And I don't know if this is what Gary intended. I'm sure he did. He's a very visionary individual. Narup has become a way of life for, you know, 50, almost 60,000 people. And plus and expanding and growing. It's not just an organization that you belong to. It's something that becomes part of who you are. And as part of that, there's opportunity to connect and refer and build and mastermind and create and grow. And it just becomes this powerful force to continue to drive people to success. Right. Or to create opportunities for success. So are there concerns? Absolutely, there's always concerns. You have to be aware of the threats that are out there. But I would say we're going to stay focused. We're going to continue to do what we do best, which is empower real estate professionals to go out and service the community. And that's it.
[00:11:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a wonderful answer. I would actually say a lot of where it's going. Well, the noise is around conventional loans. Right. And the lending environment. All right, that's not. Maybe the lending community has become very reliant on rather than putting a loan together for somebody. Can I get it through Fannie Freddie and get it to say accept? It's almost.
That's my job. Like can I get it to say accept? Where you're starting to see new loans come about that allow loan officers to get back to their roots and actually try and get people approved through bank statements, debt to service ratios, et cetera.
That seems such an opportunity for your community because you have so much support of the small businesses. I remember Jason telling me, can you tell a little bit about how you guys support small business and then how you've been able to integrate it within your ecosystem to promote more real estate transactions?
[00:12:51] Speaker C: So Jason Rivero is who you're referring to. Probably one of the sharpest minds when it comes to DE and I and business and consulting. Just a wonderful individual. If you get the opportunity, please have him on here again. I saw his last show and he is the expert at that.
[00:13:06] Speaker D: He's awesome.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Yeah. NARUP is the largest Hispanic business organization in the country. So it creates opportunity for a lot of different, a lot of different industries. We also know that one of the foundations of what we do, which is a Hispanic wealth project helping to create Hispanic wealth that's achieved by just a couple of different ways. One is homeownership. We know that's the number one driver of Hispanic wealth in the United States, probably in the world. Two is business creation. Well, if you look at the demographics and statistics, you know that Latinos are out there creating businesses faster than any other demographic. When you look at home purchasing, you see that Latinos are going to be the primary driver of home purchasing over the next 10 or 20 years. When you look at the demographic that's 35 and younger, Latinos are the largest group of mortgage qualified or mortgage ready individuals out there in the United States. So when you create homeownership and stability, that creates wealth. When you create wealth, that creates investment in businesses. When you create that, it's just this snowball effect that impacts the individual homeowner, the individual business owner, the individual community, you know, as a whole and it just kind of spills over. So there's going to be a lot of opportunity. There's a lot of resistance. I know right now the climate is a little bit different, but like I said in my belief is that pendulum swings back and forth all the time. Our focus, our job, our duty is to maintain true to who we are representing. Individuals that are looking to purchase homes and you know, go out there and just have a good Ethically fun time doing it.
[00:14:49] Speaker D: Mike, if I may, I wanted to add some color to the previous question related to Rocket, please. Okay, so you were asking about the challenges it brings and you know, how we're repositioning. And I remember not too long ago we had this. I don't know if you guys remember or not, that NAR lawsuit really shook up the industry. Right. And as that was coming down, people were panicking. We weren't sure what was going to happen. And guess what? We made it through it. But at that time, I remember the CEO of exp, Leo Pareja, who is a previous NARP national president and a good friend of mine, who I would not know if not for MARIP or nor would I have access to a guy like that. So I sent him a text and I'm like, hey, I just saw that you spoke on this NAR lawsuit on the YouTube live. I watched a lot of it. I love your perspectives. Would you be open to come and speak to my mortgage company about it? And he, he, he did it. But I think the biggest takeaway that I took from him and that messaging is, guys, any other lawsuit, whatever happens, as real estate agents or even lenders, we have to always look at providing value. And now more than ever we got to level up the value that we bring to, to the industry with through the annual lawsuit. I see this Rocket situation is very similar, but for lenders and also Realtors. You know, Rocket partner with Redfin, their goal is to, you know, who knows now you know, but it's possible that they're going to try to list homes and sell homes at a discounted model. We know that they have a discounted mortgage model. So what do we have to do? We have to provide so much value that the customer wants to work with us and not go through that online discount mode. And we need to not just provider value, but we need to find ways to showcase it and improve our values. And in my perspective, one of the best way to improve your values is to network with other people that are significantly better than you. Picking their brain, learning from them, executing those value prop. Value skills and then going to the marketplace with it.
[00:16:45] Speaker C: Absolutely, Rick. When brilliant people get together and have discussions, great things happen because creativity is sparked, new ideas are generated, new opportunities are created. So it's a win, win situation for sure.
[00:16:58] Speaker B: Yeah. One of the things I noticed in that buyout of Rocket to Redfin was that when you have organizations like that, it actually just produces more factory or manufacturer based type of lending and real estate, which Actually takes away a lot of the education and information process to the homeowner. It takes away the personal touch. I mean, you can talk to somebody on the telephone, but really if you, if you really to, to put it, bring it back into the Latino community. I mean, a lot of Latin American families, Hispanic families, I personally know, they're very family based. And that family, not they, they trust only their family, but their family friends. But most importantly, it's not just opinions that go around, it's also the information that flows. And when you have a purchase of a company like that, you may be able to put a Spanish speaking person into it, into that cog of the machine, but I don't know if they'll be able to actually pull it off in, in representing the culture of education to the Latin American Hispanic community. And I think that what NAREP brings to the table when you talk about value proposition is that it brings the family component into the professionalism of the, of the industry within itself.
[00:18:14] Speaker D: Well, I was gonna say not only that, but to add to that they spent. And I know Alex has been in the industry probably a few months longer than I have, but when you work with a Hispanic family, like if they want to get pre approved, for example, dude, the entire family is coming to my office. It's not just the dad. It's the dad, the mom, the kids, sometimes the grandma is all coming in from that pre approval appointment. Right.
Hard to replicate that online with rocket.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: And the 30 million cousins that come along with it. Maybe.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: Yeah. This goes back to what Mike was saying just a little bit ago about, you know, these conferences and what it is that we're doing. And that's why it's so important to attend them and to be able to connect and learn from them. We're about to unveil the 2020, I think 2024. 2025 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report. 2024 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report. And in there it's going to give a lot of really pertinent information for real estate companies, mortgage companies, businesses across the United States.
One of the things that I think it's really important that we learn from that is that they go over statistics and demographics, the makeup of the Latino community in the United States.
You were just saying that your wife is from Nicaragua, right? My wife is from India, so not even Hispanic, you know, but there's Mexicans, there's Colombians, there's Nicaraguans, and we're all a little bit different. So it's important to be able to understand that there's differences even in the Latino community. There's different experiences, different backgrounds. It's important to know. And that's important to know because that's going to tailor your marketing activities to those particular groups.
You may shift up a little bit if you're targeting say Mexican first generation immigrant families versus someone that you know from Colombia that's been here a year or two. And you're going to have to understand these nuances. And this is what you learn at these conferences and not just the Hispanic Policy Conference or the NARA Policy Conference, but the regional connects that we do. We've kind of broken it up a little bit into smaller regionals in case you can't make it to the national events. And every single one of them, you're going to learn how to market to the Latino community. And ultimately that leads to productivity for the salesperson and profitability, hopefully if they do it correctly.
[00:20:33] Speaker A: And our target audience is really anybody in mortgage. And I believe this is an excellent opportunity if you're not already listening to us tell you to attend your local and state mortgage bankers association.
You as a, you don't have to be a loan officer. You as a processor, underwriter. Now rep is another great place in especially in the regional level to expand your business or as Rick said, surround yourself with people that are successful and grow with them or all boats rise with the tide. Right?
[00:21:06] Speaker D: Yes. Great example.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: I'm excited to hear Mike's next question. But before we do, we're going to go to a quick break to thank our sponsors for today.
[00:21:18] Speaker E: Want to take your business to the next level? As a longtime trusted mortgage service provider, Mortgage Connect works with some of the largest lenders, servicers and institutional investors providing cutting edge solutions for everything from title closing, escrow and default to capital markets and risk solutions. Mortgage Connect brings it all to the table. Redefining mortgage lending with innovative digital solutions that can elevate your bottom line.
[00:21:52] Speaker F: It's time to use AI to revolutionize the way you do marketing in 2025. With ADM Intelligence we have access to 5,000 consumer data points and proprietary AI technology that helps you understand who is in your database. What's the likelihood of people to do a real estate transaction? Also who they are. So for example, someone who's 50% likely to transact the next six months, who's a first time homebuyer, should receive very different content than someone who is, let's say not as likely to transact that already owns a home. And of course our content team will Provide you with all of that turnkey out of the box to market to everyone in your database. So to learn more, come find us at ICE if you're there or booth number three to seven or go to our website thinkadium.com, love to walk you through a custom demo of how AI can supercharge your marketing this year.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: That's awesome that we, we can have a. As one of our sponsors, Alex, I want to ask you a question about the last narc conference. I think it was in Vegas. You talked about it in, in one of your. I saw it on YouTube and one of the things you had brought up was AI, artificial intelligence in regards to real estate. And there was actually some, there was, there was a breakout session over at the, at the conference about it, you know, and it's, you know, we talk about AI and chat gbt and is it just a gimmick? Is it just something, do we have to learn about it out. I wasn't there and I. And, and so can you, can you give me a high level view of how a real estate professional, either in mortgage or real estate, can utilize AI based upon what. I mean, I know that you're not an AI specialist. Right. I don't think, I don't think you are. But can you give me like an overview of what you may have listened to that, so that the, so that someone could say, you know what, maybe I really do need to start looking into it as a part of my business practice?
[00:23:38] Speaker C: Absolutely, absolutely. Look, I really believe that AI is that great equalizer and I think it's going to make an impact. If you're not engaged in it and learning it and understanding it, you're going to be behind, you know, in the industry. I think that one of the things that it does for us is it creates efficiency and scale. It makes it a lot easier. Right. I think that it levels the playing field for a lot of individuals schedules out there. I do believe that it's going to help with marketing, it's going to help with business planning. You're going to have to master it a little bit. And I'm going to bring Rick in here in just a little bit because I know he uses it a lot more than I. But I do want to make this one point.
I also don't believe that AI will replace the individual salesperson. I think now more than ever, now more than ever, the two skills that are going to be needed more than anything else is communication, non verbal and verbal. Because our ability to connect with individuals and Interpret the information that AI spits out is what's going to separate the top producers from the non top producers. Here's what ends up happening is AI will spit out a ton, a ton of information. Most people are not going to read through it. They don't have the capacity or the desire, whatever it is. Right. It's going to be up to that salesperson, that mortgage salesperson, the real estate salesperson to interpret those, those results and be able to convey that and communicate it to their clients. And I think that is where the greatest opportunity is. Rick, what are your thoughts here? Because I know you use it a lot more than I do.
[00:25:10] Speaker D: I'm an AI. Every single day my realtors laugh at me like Rick, here he goes again with his chat GPT. But dude like if you chat GPT is like steroids, it'll help you get to that next level so much faster. So I'll, I'll do br. I'll cold call realtors, I'll do a realtor consultation. I'll take, I'll record that call on Fathom, I'll drop it in Chad GPT and I'll create a custom content calendar for my realtor on all the videos they should be posted on social media based on their skill set. So I'll really use it to help with my follow up game. I'll help use it to help my branding, my marketing. I'll use it to help a realtor develop a better business plan. There's listing bud. It's called my listing buddy. It's like a chat GPT listing prompt that allows realtors to better market their properties. I even found a Chris Voss GPT that I can use to help with my scripts. Yeah Chris boss never split the difference.
So if I you I'm not a very smart dude. I kind of got my way through school by looking at my neighbor's test and copying the answers and that's what Chad GPT is, is it's the cheat code to everything.
I, I had a, a client asked me off top of my head. I could remember how many tax returns I needed for a self employed borrower. I was just brain fart. I talked in a chat GPT spotted spit it out like you can use it for so many functions in your business and your life you just have to go all in and use it.
[00:26:33] Speaker C: And then I got to share this quick story real quick if you don't.
[00:26:36] Speaker D: Mind about Rick and the beauty about it, it remembers you. So the more you use it you kind of program it to you so now when you use it, it gets easier. So I love it.
[00:26:45] Speaker C: Really quick here. So Rick and I are both sitting in Indianapolis. I'm 54 years old. I'm not, I am not techie. Right. But we're talking there and I bought him a cup of coffee and I'm like, I just can' figure out this chatgpt and scripts. He, he sat down and he gave me a 10 minute class on the spot. Created a post and it was a powerful post. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. So I've been playing around with it. Rick, I want you to know you, you did teach an old man.
[00:27:09] Speaker D: What Alex doesn't know is the only reason that post blew up was because I added him as a collaborator and he has such a big audience.
[00:27:16] Speaker A: Yeah, I think you nailed it on the exact use cases for ChatGPT. I and it really is like follow up notes, conversion details, it's steroids. But I, I do agree with you, Alex. I don't think it's going to replace the salesperson. No, because I'm predicting, I think it's going to start to jump the shark, you know, like when a great show hits season four. And I think the way it talks, slowly we're being programmed and we're starting to figure it out and it, it doesn't really take a stance on much. So it'll educate you, let's say on DTI constantly. Hey, you could do like this repetition, it never tells you bad news. Like your DTI is too high. That truck, you shouldn't be buying that Range Rover. Like real advice that it never really gets to. Whether they tweak it there, I don't know. So I think it's really a great technology because it's going to help you in so many ways. But I don't see it replacing any salesperson.
[00:28:16] Speaker B: Yeah, you know the, the, the conceptual idea to the first time buyer that may be a Latino, that has a Latino background. The concept of money is easy to understand. You have it, you earn it and then you either invest it and you spend it. But then how to invest or how to spend actually becomes somewhat challenging for some of the families out there. How do you get someone to wrap? You know, if you use AI, there's really not much emotion to it unless you as the salesperson add emotion to it in itself. And with fiscal literacy being forefront, not for all cultures, but really for the Latino culture, they may, there's, there's more immigrants coming in and even first and second generation, you know, you get what you learn about finance and money. You learn from your parents and your grandparents. How do you, how do you bring that message in NARAP or through NARAP and through your network? How do you bring that into the home ownership process to the Latino community? They may, they may still fear banks, by the way, even they may be second or third generation, but they grow up in the to not to either fear money or they may not say it, but they do fear financial literacy. How can you bring more of the education in NARUP to the real estate professionals in the, in that network so that the Hispanic community can enter into that?
[00:29:31] Speaker D: I'm chomping at the bit, the answer to this question. So when NARP started it, our goal was to advance sustainable Hispanic homeownership. Well, as we did that, we recognized that there's a huge gap in our community building wealth and giving them that financial literacy. So we developed the Hispanic Wealth Project. And this project was to help more Hispanics become wealthy and become millionaires. Well, part of that Hispanic Wealth Project, we developed the NARAP 10 disciplines and we have NARA 10 certified trainers that teach on these 10 disciplines in the community, educating the community on these disciplines. And you can google narap10disciplines. Many of these disciplines are very common and common sense to many of us that grew up with, you know, wealthy parents. But in the Hispanic community, like my parents specifically worked multiple jobs, they knew nothing about wealth. If they had money, they spent it. So that's where we felt a huge need for these NARCAN disciplines. So I don't know much time we have. You want me to go over each discipline or keep it at the high level? So discipline number one, have a mature understanding of wealth and prosperity because the one with the most toys usually loses. Very simple, stop spending all your money on Toys. Number two, be in the top 10% of your profession because being good is not good enough. If you're not in the top 20% of your profession, you're not even in the business. Right. 20% of the people are doing all the work. So all we're saying is be in that top half of the people doing the work. Number three, live below your means and be ready for the next recession because economic turns are part of the. I'm sorry, downturns are part of the regular economic cycle. Number four, minimize debt because it's the biggest enemy of wealth. Number five, invest at least 20% of your income in real estate and stocks because they are the best and safest way to build wealth. Number six, know your net worth including the value of your business, because you can't improve what you don't measure. Number seven, be politically savvy because policy matters. Number eight, be physically fit because wealth without health is meaningless. Number nine, be generous with people who are less fortunate because philanthropy feeds your heart and spirit and gives more purpose to your work. And number 10, this is probably the biggest for our community. Be active in the lives of your family and children, because family is central to who we are.
[00:31:47] Speaker C: So I want to. I want to approach that question and thank you. That's exactly, I think what needs to be done. But I want to approach it from a little bit different angle. And I want to take you back to early in my career, early in the 2000s, you know, I was a real estate agent here in town. I worked with a lot of Latino families. And I remember going to one particular family's house and they were getting ready to buy. I mean, it was a house that was maybe like 160, 170,000 Latino family, a little bit older. And I was early in my career, so I didn't pre qualify. I just showed up to the house, right? And you know, we were talking and I go, well, how are you going to come up with a down payment? You know, you have your bank statement. And they said exactly what you said, Michael, is we don't bank. I go, where do you keep your money? And they go, or under, literally under the mattress. And they took me to the. It was a one bedroom place under the mattress, and they had something like $100,000 under their mattress, right? Well, obviously to me, that was no good because you can't just pick it up and pay, right? So it was a very slow process with them to get them to understand that the banking system here in the United States was safe, that it wasn't from the, you know, the country that they were coming from. And I think in order to do that, guys, there's a couple of things. First, it's that trust we have to become that trusted advisor, right? And then it's. It's relating, relating money to terms that they understand, right? So relating it to, you know, if your mortgage payment is very much like your monthly rent payment, that banks here are safe and secure. You have to use examples of other individuals that have gone through what they've gone through, right? This particular couple, they were older, ended up, you know, putting their money in an account, they seasoned it for a while, they were able to make, purchase her first home. And then they went on and purchased like three or four more homes. From me, right? It's all patience, persistence and education. And that's exactly what NARA teaches. It teaches all of our members to become that trusted advisor. Right? That word trust is so important. And then as we do that, you know, through the educational panels that we provide at our conferences, those empowered professionals, mortgage and real estate, go out and represent their clients in a very ethical way and become that advisor and they can guide them to understand that. I wanted to quickly, I know we're running out of time here, but I wanted to give you guys this. A million dollar idea, all right? This is for any mortgage person out there, okay? And this is really, really important. This is why you need to attend the Hispanic Housing and Homeownership Policy Conference.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: There's going to be listen to our podcasts in our video because we, we give out million dollar ideas now. I love it.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: I love it. And I do listen to your podcast just, you know, ever since you send me the link.
So there's going to be a panel there that's going to teach you or teach anyone that's there how to take that state of Hispanic homeownership report and convert it into productivity and profitability. So let me give you the brief overview of that. Okay? Back in 2008, when I was president of NARA PEER in Vegas, we took the data from that particular report. It wasn't established with the data, and we broke it up into four sections. And I want you guys to write this down and whoever's listening first is demographics. Okay? You have to understand who. Who is in the country, Mexican, Colombia, Nicaraguan, and understand that everyone's a little bit different. Two, Michael alluded to it just a little bit ago that you have to understand the cultural characteristics of how they make home buying decisions. What are their challenges, what are their obstacles? You have to understand that in depth. Three, you have to understand how to market to them, and so you to market. And then four is the most important for all of our mortgage partners on here. It's the resources that your particular company or that your services can provide to that client to help them overcome everything that I just spoke about, whether it's a down payment assistance program, whether it's a FHA loan, a conventional loan, whatever it is that you specialize in, that can help alleviate their barrier to home ownership. And if you could take that class or those topics and start educating realtors, I promise you this, you're going to make a lot of money. We've done it. We've proved it. It's worked time and time again. But it takes a little bit of work and a little bit of effort. Mike. You know that, that's, that's the people that work are the people that, you know, survive long term in this industry.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: What I'm finding, and I couldn't agree more, is you got to take a little bit of time out of your day to take a step back and look at those four items because you can't, I, you can't see the picture if you're in the frame. So when you're working every day, it's hard to take a step back and see that. I think a great example is just how much older the first time home buyer is getting. I don't know what it is in your community, but in America in general it's 38 years going on, actually 39 years, probably by the, midway through this, this year. But when you hear people on stage, when you hear people on your LinkedIn, they talk about first time home buyers like they're 23 years old, right? The number one buyer right now in America is 63 years old first time sellers. A lot of first time sellers that are in their 40s and we talk about them like they're in their early 30s. So if you, the big one there is how do you market to them? You, you can't market to a 40 year old talking to him like a first time home buyer like they just got out of college and got a great job. It's not matching. So I think that's where it's so important because people are going to have so much wasted energy because there is so much more competition out there for the digital borrower. And so how do you get through that and get the one that wants that one on one communication wants the better value like Rick talked about.
I think starting with those four is very easy to follow. So thank you.
[00:37:42] Speaker C: You know Mike, when you talk about marketing, I think you gotta be really specific about who it is that you're targeting as well too. And one of the things that I love about the time that we, time and age that we live in is that social media and TikTok and Facebook and Instagram have made it so much easier for you to get your brand, your message out into the community and to, to have people identify with you, you know, at a faster, at a faster pace.
So I mean, I absolutely love what you just said is that, you know, we need to understand who our market is and then we have to go out and target that market a little bit, you know, and if you're talking to someone that's 63 years old. That conversation might be a little bit different than someone that's 27 years old or that's 21 years old or 42 years old. So you really got to give that a little bit of thought and put.
[00:38:28] Speaker A: Yourself in their shoes. So if you have a first time home buyer lunch and learn seminar, you're probably better to say first time home buyers in their late 30s seminar. Right? Because those people are going to be doing a lot. I have a lot of friends and you know, that's really around my age group. But a lot of people that didn't buy a property are very insecure about saying that they realize that they should have bought it. Obviously, housing values have been up exponentially since they've been 30 years old and they feel like they've missed the boat and they feel a little bit lost. And then if they hear, oh, first time home buyer in their 20s is going to go out and get it, they feel even more insecure. But that is the age that does buy. That's the age that should have the money to at least understand the value that you can, you should still buy in this market. You didn't miss the wave. You're not going to buy it and then all of a sudden see a crash. So I couldn't agree any more there.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: As we, as we transition from first time buyers, there's a lot of actually still generational wealth in the Latino community. There are still, you know, you have parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, whatever that own real estate in the United States currently.
And then this generation of 20 somethings and 30 somethings. Right. I, you know, I don't know how to afford it. I don't know, I can't do this, I can't do that. And Alex, you brought over an example like oh yeah, you know, where's the money? And they reach into their mattress and they got a hundred thousand dollars. And I'm not, you know, I, I recently saw this here in San Diego. Still, people who don't trust the banks, they don't have it in crypto and they, they, they have a Costco can with hundred dollar bills inside of it.
Even still here in San Diego, how do we speak to those who, who they don't feel like they can qualify, but actually they do.
And you know, the, the non QM sector, I mean the, the, the whole, you know, you, you just deposit your money in your bank account.
I mean there's, that, there's still an underserved community in that one. And with the Latino with this Hispanic Wealth Project. I appreciate that. I actually didn't, don't. I may have heard about it in the past, but I didn't hear about it before. How does someone go to, I, I, I pointed the website in our, in our LinkedIn page over here. But how does someone learn more about the Hispanic Wealth Project?
Are there other informationals other than that one page?
[00:40:56] Speaker D: Yeah, so we actually have NARAP 10 certified trainers that you can book to come and speak. I'm one of those. Yeah, we, we have like a couple hundred across the country.
[00:41:07] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:41:08] Speaker C: I, I was about to promote you too, Rick, but you did a good job. So.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah, what, what would be a, as we come up here at the, the end of the show, what would be some entry points to people that want to get involved or what do you typically see as reasons people are right on the edge but haven't come to an event that you could tell them to bring them in and be part of it?
[00:41:29] Speaker C: So that's a great question too, Mike, and thank you for that. I think a lot about this because obviously part of what I do for NARUP is try to get that message out, to engage individuals, to come into the organization. Just to check it out. Right here's what I would say is the Latino community. Hispanic community, what is it? A three point something trillion dollar industry. Right. Bigger than most GDPs of most countries. It's an exciting opportunity. And if you're a sales professional in any industry, but particularly the real estate mortgage industry, this is the demographic that if you want to sustain long term in your career, that you're going to have to include into your business plan. Right. And we've been doing this for a long time. We understand how to market to them, we understand how to communicate, connect with them. The programs that we have within the organization are just no one else can compare. Right. So I would say that it's check us out, you know, come and attend an event, give me a call personally, I'll always pick up the phone or text back, ask questions, connect with local chapter presidents who are always there to help and serve. Call Rick, follow his, you know, Instagram and podcast and all that stuff. He's a lot more handsome than I am. So, you know, there's a lot more, a lot more followers than I do. So, so, but yeah, just be curious about it, you know. So who was it that the coach that said be curious on? Was it prime or Netflix?
[00:43:02] Speaker D: That was Ted Lasso.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: Ted Lasso. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:43:04] Speaker C: Ted Lasso. Ted Lasso. Yeah. Be Curious, ask questions, get involved, tap into this behemoth of a market. The Latino community isn't going away. We're going to be here to save for a long time. And like I mentioned earlier, we are the largest demographic when it comes to home purchasing and we're going to be running and influencing the industry for a long, long time.
And we need you. I mean, at the end of the day, come and share your talents with the organization as well too because then it's a win, win situation.
[00:43:37] Speaker A: Well, thank you. Any final thoughts? Rick, hearing what Alex had to say, Anything to add?
[00:43:42] Speaker D: No, I think, I think he hit it perfect. Like I'm back and top that, I mean, maybe just like I said earlier on the call, like it's an opportunity to network with, you know, people that are better than you in lots of different areas of the industry and like, what better way to get access to a crowd like that?
[00:43:57] Speaker A: Well, and we appreciate you doing the 10 principles. I think that's important for any, especially the audio listeners. If you are listening on Apple, Spotify, Amazon or wherever you take in the mic'd up show, we ask that you subscribe, leave a comment. That really helps us and we really appreciate it. Mike, any final thoughts to take us home here today?
[00:44:20] Speaker B: Absolutely. Right now, when it comes to financial literacy, money in any culture, whether Latino, Asian, white, whatever, it's actually a fear based mindset. And the lack of community creates even more fear because when you have less education, you have more fear. However, the community out there, whether it's NARA or the NBA or other professional organizations that create community, that create information and even more importantly create the, the avenue and the vehicles so that the real estate professional brings it out to the consumer home buying, homeowner audience so they can have more confidence and more courage not only for homeownership, but also about the confidence of understanding how money works in the vehicles that the professional salesperson in NAREP can find. And you don't have to speak Spanish and you don't have to be Latino to join narep, by the way. The vehicles that are presented through narep, however, provide not only wealth principles, it also provides community through its networking and community through the education and the expansion of local community into national community so that the work can get out for home ownership. I would encourage anybody who has not looked into NAREP or MBA or any professional trade organization which allows for networking. Although NAREP does allow realtors plus real estate mortgage professionals.
It's an opportunity not only for networking, it's also the opportunity to create more confidence for your trade. You think that marketing to realtors is tough? You think that marketing to other professionals is tough even if you're in title escrow, title insurance, property casual insurance. Actually these communities are out here to network, help provide uplift and support where you are in your trade and in your business. This was a great conversation. Thank you Alex and thank you for coming on to our show. We appreciate it providing us with the avenues and the ways for those in the Latino community to come and network and learn about what it is that you guys represent.
[00:46:27] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:46:29] Speaker E: Thank you for joining us on this journey into the heart of mortgage innovation. Remember, every mortgage has a story and we're here to help you write yours. If you enjoyed today's insights, please subscribe, share with your network and connect with us on social media. Until next time, keep pushing the boundaries and uncovering the stories that drive our industry forward.
