Chris –
Welcome to The Breakthrough with Chris Medellin and today I am here with my man, Adrian Gastelum.

Adrian –
All right, You did. Good day. Good day. How are you doing?

Chris –
Yeah, I’m doing good, brother. I’m doing good. So out the gates. Now we are here with one of the most prolific best loan officers in the country. And I’m so, you know, stoked that you finally found the time that we can get together and do this, man. So thank you for being here today.

Adrian –
Absolutely. I appreciate the invite.

Chris –
Heck, yeah, man. So let me tell that to the audience. Hoo hoo. We’re talking to. So Adrian is a senior loan officer. He’s been in the industry for 28 years and 20th and 12 of those years he has been working at a company locally in Arizona called Nova Home Loans. Their big regional player has been around for a long time and if you live in this area, you know that Nova is been one of the biggest players. And you know, being there 12 years is like a crazy amount of time in the mortgage industry. As you know, people make moves all the time. So when I see somebody that has longevity with the company, you know that they’re legit, you know that they’re a loyal person. You know, it’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you, but you were and have been one of the top 250 Latinos in the country. Number two, is Maricopa County, which if anybody knows Maricopa, that’s one of the biggest counties in the MLS in Arizona. And then number six in the country. Man. So you have made a living helping Latinos get into homes.

Chris –
Now, I don’t pigeonhole you with that because I know you help all types of clients. I know your business, but there’s something to be said about somebody that can take a family that didn’t realize that they could ever be in a home and help them and change their lives. And so thank you for that. I think we need more people in the community because a lot of times, Adrian, I’ll talk to Latino loan officers who speak Spanish, who have the superpower to connect on a different level and they tell me, I don’t want to deal with Spanish speakers, Right. I want to get into a different pond. They’re harder than every other client. I want to talk about that with you today and what your way is your thoughts on it. But, you know, you have a remarkable story. So let me tell the audience, you know, for those of you that might just be tuning in because you know Adrian and you’re interested in his story, the podcast itself is about breakthrough moments in life.

Chris –
It’s why we call it the breakthrough. Breakthrough moments in life are those times when you’re pissed off, you’re angry, you’re underappreciated, you’re undervalued, and right at that moment, you decide to make a switch in your brain that then takes you to the next level of your career and did your story.

Adrian –
We talked the other day. You were digging for change in your couches to go buy tacos at Taco Bell. Because if you’re funny because as a Latino growing up, Taco Bell was good. Like, it was like they got the sun. I think they did $0.49.

Adrian –
Still good. Still, it’s.

Adrian –
Stuck. So so then and then you hit, you know, superstardom with production. You were, you know, hanging out, eating the best foods, living the best life. You had a vault in one of the biggest casinos and then, boom, we had a crash.

Chris –
Super. Then you hit a valley, and then we go for a run again. And this is what it’s like for those of you. They’re like, What is it like to be? I get a lot of people to see my stuff online back home from San Antonio and they’re like, Hey, man, what do you do? How do I do what you do? I’m like, Man, it looks fun, but the valleys are the valleys. And you know, if you’re in this industry, there are things that you got to do to break through. And so, Adrian, I can’t wait to jump in this with you, man. So thank you so much for doing this.

Adrian –
Thank you for having me again. Absolutely. I don’t really do podcast because I don’t really get out of my Office very often.

Adrian –
Right. So today was a special day and I appreciate the invite.

Chris –
Oh man, this is good. So I saw you speak at an event that we were holding. You were, you were one of the sponsors and you got up on stage and I was like, This dude is cool, man. I mean, like old school Latino nose knows what’s up. I looked at your you know, looked at your background, and I was like, I want to meet him and so to go from there to here is really cool, you know, is a really cool manifestation of trying to connect with other powerful Latinos in the industry. So you know, talk to me a little bit about breakthrough moments and what that means for you, because you know, everyone right now in the industry that we’re in, we’re probably in one of the toughest markets of our careers.

Chris –
The difference is that you live in the valley in one of the darkest moments in history with the Great Recession and now we’re kind of in something similar, you know, in the industry when it comes to like the amount of loans that are being had. But it’s different because rates are skyrocketing and there’s no inventory. Right before there was inventory with low rates and so and so, you know, different problems. But how are you surviving these days, man? What what is you know, how or how you know and you know, just kind of talk to me about where you’re at today.

Adrian –
You know, it’s challenging, right? before during the pandemic, going after, you know, ten apples, and now you have. 20 players going after two.

Adrian –
It’s challenging. It definitely challenges your confidence. You take it and you internalize the issues that are going on in the marketplace as some of your own are completely different more prepared, obviously older. Wiser, really didn’t think I can fall and fail in 27, 28, 29.

00;06;34;21 – 00;06;45;22
Speaker 2
Indestructible Man because he had a beautiful youth. You had indestructibility you had immortality, you know, in our in our heads right? We were on top. We’re the smartest people in the industry and always the smartest people in the room, right? Smartest people in the room. And the market really shows you that sometimes you’re not the smartest person in the.

00;06;52;29 – 00;06;53;17
Speaker 3
And when you.

00;06;53;17 – 00;06;54;23
Speaker 1
Lose everything. Right.

00;06;54;23 – 00;06;55;25
Speaker 3
I had over.

00;06;55;25 – 00;06;58;02
Speaker 1
30 investment properties at the time.

00;06;58;03 – 00;06;58;27
Speaker 2
30 investment.

00;06;58;27 – 00;07;00;09
Speaker 3
Property investment properties.

00;07;00;09 – 00;07;02;01
Speaker 1
I was I was probably.

00;07;02;03 – 00;07;03;29
Speaker 3
Completing some of those mortgage.

00;07;03;29 – 00;07;06;16
Speaker 1
Payments with the deficiencies of what the rents.

00;07;06;16 – 00;07;11;24
Speaker 3
Were. Right. I was very overleveraged.

00;07;11;26 – 00;07;18;26
Speaker 1
And again, when that market took us away, my renters no longer were able to pay rent and now I’m.

00;07;18;28 – 00;07;21;02
Speaker 3
Probably shelling out close to about 60.

00;07;21;02 – 00;07;30;28
Speaker 1
$2,000 a month just to complete mortgage payments on renters that couldn’t make the payment. Just so I can maintain my investments and my credit and everything and.

00;07;30;28 – 00;07;32;09
Speaker 3
Everything just came to.

00;07;32;10 – 00;07;43;24
Speaker 1
Screeching, screeching, halt. If you were in the industry then, because you understood exactly one day you may had 20 in your pipeline and you know that Black Friday came and.

00;07;43;26 – 00;07;45;05
Speaker 3
Took away.

00;07;45;08 – 00;07;46;16
Speaker 1
All of the loans because all.

00;07;46;16 – 00;07;50;11
Speaker 3
Those lenders closed up shop. Right. So it was a.

00;07;50;11 – 00;07;53;27
Speaker 1
Very challenging time. I was waking up.

00;07;54;04 – 00;07;56;14
Speaker 3
Puking from stress.

00;07;56;17 – 00;08;06;04
Speaker 1
And it came to a point where I had just run all of my savings to the ground. I sold everything that I could sell.

00;08;06;06 – 00;08;14;10
Speaker 2
When you say let me ask this question, when you say you sold every are you talking about assets from a real estate perspective or are you talking about legit assets in your home?

00;08;14;10 – 00;08;16;29
Speaker 1
Legit assets in your home legit assets?

00;08;16;29 – 00;08;19;22
Speaker 3
From real estate perspective.

00;08;19;25 – 00;08;26;02
Speaker 1
I owned some nice vehicles at the time and some limousines as well. Those things got sold. There was.

00;08;26;04 – 00;08;26;19
Speaker 3
It was it.

00;08;26;19 – 00;08;34;26
Speaker 1
Was everything. The only thing I really kept was the clothes on my back and what I couldn’t fit right before my foreclosure notice. Right. You got.

00;08;34;26 – 00;08;35;14
Speaker 2
A foreclosure?

00;08;35;14 – 00;08;38;09
Speaker 1
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So I lived it.

00;08;38;09 – 00;08;39;29
Speaker 3
I lived it, I felt it.

00;08;40;01 – 00;08;43;25
Speaker 1
I breathed it, and I learned from it. Right. And it.

00;08;43;25 – 00;08;44;23
Speaker 3
Was it was a tough.

00;08;44;23 – 00;09;06;21
Speaker 1
Time. And like you mentioned, you know, and then my girlfriend, I had made a decision that it was time to put a ring on that finger because she was sticking with me through thick and thin. It’s very easy when an individual sticks with you, when the when the money is falling from the sky. But the true definition of someone that has your back and from friends to family are the people that stick to you.

00;09;06;21 – 00;09;11;01
Speaker 1
When you feel the lowest of the lowest of the lowest out there. Right.

00;09;11;01 – 00;09;32;21
Speaker 2
And that’s that’s the clip right there. I mean, that’s the clip right there. I mean, if somebody can stick with you, you know, Chris Rock has a joke when he’s like women will never downgrade. He says, you know, you if you’re buying them, Louis, you can never go back to coach. You know, they’ll never downgrade. And you and I talked about this before, but I asked my wife to marry me when I was unemployed from the recession.

00;09;32;21 – 00;09;53;02
Speaker 2
You know, I just got fired. And, you know, I was sitting there and asked her to marry me. And she without hesitation, said yes. And then I went through a run of just her working and me. Not until I can get my feet on the ground. And I’ve always looked at that and said, you know, that that’s how you know, you have a good person on your side.

00;09;53;05 – 00;10;17;10
Speaker 2
And so a man like you, you know, to take me back real quick, Adrian, like the moment that you get the foreclosure notice and you’re sitting there, you know, because by this point I’m imagining you. So, Phil, the narrative for me because I’m imagining that you have gotten rid of all your assets, you’re kind of you know, you think you’re doing the right thing and then boom, the foreclosure.

00;10;17;10 – 00;10;38;08
Speaker 2
And you kind of know I mean, people know when they’re not making the pain, but when it comes, that’s the reality that sets in. What was that like for you? What was it like at that moment and what did you do from that point? Like where was your breakthrough moment in all that to say, okay, I can’t change the market, I can’t change the fact that I’m losing everything, but I still got to wake up every day.

00;10;38;09 – 00;10;44;23
Speaker 2
I still have to because there’s somebody right now going through that period. What was that? What was that like for you?

00;10;44;25 – 00;10;49;12
Speaker 3
It was challenging, right? It’s challenging. And going back to that time, you really think you.

00;10;49;12 – 00;10;55;06
Speaker 1
Know where your headspace was at and really you’re just trying to survive day to day and and we’re.

00;10;55;06 – 00;11;01;28
Speaker 3
Still closing loans. I was still closing loans, but those loans didn’t equate to the bills that I owed. Right. So definitely overextended.

00;11;01;28 – 00;11;03;29
Speaker 1
Myself. I would imagine there’s.

00;11;04;01 – 00;11;04;23
Speaker 3
There’s realtors.

00;11;04;23 – 00;11;06;28
Speaker 1
And loan officers out there in the marketplace.

00;11;06;28 – 00;11;08;04
Speaker 3
That bought the big house.

00;11;08;04 – 00;11;09;11
Speaker 1
Spot. The nice car.

00;11;09;13 – 00;11;11;02
Speaker 3
Right. Live check the check deal.

00;11;11;02 – 00;11;15;13
Speaker 1
The deal. And now that deal’s not there like it was before.

00;11;15;15 – 00;11;17;24
Speaker 3
And maybe focused too much.

00;11;17;24 – 00;11;39;07
Speaker 1
On the transaction rather than on the business. Right. And and for me, that was very humbling. For me, it was. I mean, let’s face it, it’s where everybody was at. My advice to a lot of my clients, friends and family at that time was walk away, right? Walk away. And a lot of people held on. Right. They wanted to do the short sales and they wanted to hold on to this and hold on that.

00;11;39;09 – 00;11;40;14
Speaker 3
And now fast forward.

00;11;40;16 – 00;11;54;13
Speaker 1
You talk to those same individuals and they did let it go, but they probably thought for another year longer than I thought. And maybe I had the insight with regards to what was going on with loans and the difficulties of those loans.

00;11;54;15 – 00;11;57;02
Speaker 3
So I probably got out a year before the.

00;11;57;02 – 00;11;58;01
Speaker 1
Average person got out.

00;11;58;08 – 00;11;58;20
Speaker 3
Yeah, right.

00;11;58;24 – 00;12;28;08
Speaker 2
We’re making right. You are making business decisions knowing or did you know, like, did you know that the the black mark on your on your credit report would eventually disappear at some point did you you you you had the foresight. Absolutely. To say I can I have enough life in me to get through this seven year course for me seven years seem like forever are you know at the time but you had to make a business decision to say, let’s do this.

00;12;28;08 – 00;12;29;08
Speaker 3
Well, I was I was still thinking.

00;12;29;08 – 00;12;29;25
Speaker 1
FHA.

00;12;29;25 – 00;12;41;06
Speaker 3
So I didn’t have seven years on my brain. Right. This is my in my space feels like three years. Yeah. There you go. From foreclosure. Jump back into this marketplace, let the market rebound itself and just can’t.

00;12;41;08 – 00;12;44;00
Speaker 1
Count my losses. Yes, right. And the hardest thing sometimes when.

00;12;44;06 – 00;12;45;20
Speaker 3
The sky is falling is for people.

00;12;45;20 – 00;13;05;12
Speaker 1
To count their losses and really downgrade their life. I probably went from a 7000 square foot home on a half an acre here in Gilbert Ranch and a beautiful home and and had everything that I needed at that age of 28. And I you know, and I thought I was invincible. And and when all this happened, I.

00;13;05;12 – 00;13;07;08
Speaker 3
Was probably around 30.

00;13;07;08 – 00;13;14;07
Speaker 1
To 31. And at that point, I don’t want to say I gave up, but I.

00;13;14;07 – 00;13;15;23
Speaker 3
Did let go of.

00;13;15;23 – 00;13;19;18
Speaker 1
Things that were causing me stress and causing me anxieties.

00;13;19;20 – 00;13;20;08
Speaker 3
Because it wasn’t.

00;13;20;08 – 00;13;30;28
Speaker 1
Allowing me to really get into my business. I always had that in the back of my mind. And when you have things that are so heavy in the brain and heavy on the heart.

00;13;31;01 – 00;13;34;19
Speaker 3
It’s hard to just do your normal day activities. Without a doubt. Without a.

00;13;34;19 – 00;13;34;29
Speaker 1
Doubt.

00;13;35;05 – 00;14;01;21
Speaker 2
If you’re if you’re worried about the stack of bills, you know, if you’re worried about the stack of bills that you got to pay. Right. How do you come in and and help somebody, you know, with the biggest financial decision of their life in a clear mind without, you know, I always I always tell loan officers as if you know or anybody in sales really whatever you think you’re saying, if you’re not in the right headspace, the person that you’re talking to here is what you’re really saying.

00;14;01;22 – 00;14;10;17
Speaker 2
Absolutely. And what you’re really feeling. And so if you can’t you with anxiety on your heart and with everything, man, you can. So you were letting things go. You said, I’m letting it go, I’m.

00;14;10;17 – 00;14;24;20
Speaker 1
Letting it go, I’m letting it go. I saved enough money to plan for a wedding and my last chunk of change went to, you know, put the deposit on this wedding. I actually paid it and in full because I didn’t know what was going to happen the next six years later.

00;14;24;23 – 00;14;26;00
Speaker 2
When did you get married? Which you’re.

00;14;26;07 – 00;14;27;21
Speaker 3
Money? March 14th of.

00;14;27;24 – 00;14;28;21
Speaker 1
2009.

00;14;28;26 – 00;14;35;12
Speaker 2
So crazy. Mine was November 13th of oh eight. So same time frame, right? So right in the middle of a recession.

00;14;35;12 – 00;14;35;23
Speaker 3
I.

00;14;35;26 – 00;14;48;29
Speaker 2
Did it on a Sunday because it was cheaper to do on a Sunday than it was a Friday or Saturday. And yeah, man, that was it. Same story. I my last 30 grand was like, boom, just I I’ve got to take care of this marriage and go from there.

00;14;48;29 – 00;14;54;13
Speaker 3
Very similar story and for me I knew the writing was on the wall, right. I camped out my house that.

00;14;54;13 – 00;15;00;07
Speaker 1
You know, I purchased for 1.2 million and at that time it was worth about 500,000.

00;15;00;08 – 00;15;02;13
Speaker 2
It went from 1.2 to 500, probably.

00;15;02;13 – 00;15;05;15
Speaker 3
In a matter of months. Okay. When you talk about a crash.

00;15;05;18 – 00;15;05;25
Speaker 1
That’s.

00;15;05;25 – 00;15;06;08
Speaker 3
A crash.

00;15;06;08 – 00;15;19;10
Speaker 2
That’s a crash. So in a matter of months, so the kids listening, you know, in the Great Recession, 2000 and 2009 time frame, whatever was worth $1,000,000, dropped 50% in value. That’s a housing crash.

00;15;19;14 – 00;15;21;08
Speaker 1
That was because it was a nice neighborhood then.

00;15;21;08 – 00;15;38;08
Speaker 2
That’s cool. But here’s it’s crazy like, you know, people who are putting houses on the market right now in the million dollar range are still getting offers for sure. They’re they’re still moving. So we’re not in the same situation we were then. This isn’t a crash. Right. But but what is that house worth now? Have you ever looked at that?

00;15;38;10 – 00;15;41;28
Speaker 3
You know, I hate doing that, but I just because of who.

00;15;41;28 – 00;15;45;05
Speaker 1
I am, I do it. That house right now is probably worth about two mil.

00;15;45;07 – 00;15;45;23
Speaker 3
Did.

00;15;45;23 – 00;16;11;22
Speaker 2
See I mean, so So now an education for anybody who’s listening. The highs and the lows of the market even in the most drastic peak and valley situation in a matter of 10 to 15 years. I think it’s been in that time frame a house that was going for one point to drop to 500 and is now in the in a tough market $2 million.

00;16;11;22 – 00;16;21;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. So when you’re asking yourself, should I invest in real estate today, do you ever think we’ll be in a great recession again?

00;16;21;11 – 00;16;23;13
Speaker 1
Man, I wish I had my crystal ball looking right now.

00;16;23;13 – 00;16;24;05
Speaker 2
Right? I know, but.

00;16;24;09 – 00;16;26;11
Speaker 3
I never I never thought we’d be here.

00;16;26;11 – 00;16;39;27
Speaker 1
Right now as quick as we were. But when the pandemic hit, I saw the writing on the wall. When the Fed is pumping in a lot of money, that shouldn’t be in people’s hands and people have money that they typically didn’t have.

00;16;39;29 – 00;16;43;21
Speaker 3
We got to pay it back. Got to pay. Right. And that’s kind of what the Fed is doing now.

00;16;43;21 – 00;16;49;23
Speaker 1
Right. They keep on increasing these interest rates. Now we’re on what, number 11. And and that happened quick.

00;16;49;25 – 00;16;52;17
Speaker 3
Right. Most other recessions go on for three to.

00;16;52;17 – 00;16;55;05
Speaker 1
Five years in some marketplaces. Right.

00;16;55;08 – 00;17;02;29
Speaker 3
And and kind of the Great Recession is what we felt it was about a 2 to 3, four year pickup. And even when we thought we were.

00;17;02;29 – 00;17;07;18
Speaker 1
Recovering, there was another little correction right around 2012, 2013.

00;17;07;20 – 00;17;10;00
Speaker 3
Right. So a lot of lessons. A lot of.

00;17;10;00 – 00;17;11;13
Speaker 1
Lessons. The one thing that I can say.

00;17;11;13 – 00;17;12;19
Speaker 3
Is the lessons.

00;17;12;19 – 00;17;16;08
Speaker 1
That I learned as a younger individual.

00;17;16;10 – 00;17;19;13
Speaker 3
Has literally set my path.

00;17;19;15 – 00;17;25;21
Speaker 1
For today, right? I can say that there’s not as many transactions as all of us loan officers and.

00;17;25;21 – 00;17;28;04
Speaker 3
Realtors are used to. Right.

00;17;28;06 – 00;17;46;09
Speaker 1
And my stress levels are low. And the reason my stress level is because I’ve done the right things right. And and I did the right things for myself. Right when the market started correcting and doing its thing, I would have investors and say, Hey, let’s do this flip and let’s do this buy and hold. And and at that.

00;17;46;09 – 00;17;49;20
Speaker 3
Point I was now married. I had a child.

00;17;49;20 – 00;18;10;01
Speaker 1
I had a child on the way. My first kid and I growing up, you know, in a struggling household, I was a family of of nine. Right. And I was the youngest boy I’d get picked on beat up all the time I growing up. But those lessons that I learned then as well showed me that you just have to keep on fighting, man.

00;18;10;03 – 00;18;15;10
Speaker 1
You have to keep on fighting and get the name out of your head and and.

00;18;15;12 – 00;18;17;03
Speaker 3
Come through with a.

00;18;17;03 – 00;18;41;12
Speaker 1
Different attitude. Right? And it’s no longer the attitude that I can’t fail. The attitude now is I am going to fail because it’s a business that we don’t control those markets, we don’t control inventory, we don’t control interest rates. We’re all selling a product that’s very similar, right? So how do you separate yourself from the masses? And the lessons that I learned is just keep going.

00;18;41;15 – 00;19;03;08
Speaker 1
My mom never gave up when she would. Her back was against the wall when the lights were off in our house, right when we’d have food in the fridge. Right. She just kept on going. So I always said to myself, if my mom never gave up right for my whole family, my payback is just to show my mom that I’m as Teflon as she is.

00;19;03;10 – 00;19;26;03
Speaker 1
Right. And the lesson that I learned from that in itself and and just looking within and and praying, praying a lot. Right. It was a really dark, hard time, but it definitely was a lesson that I should have learned. And I learned it the hard way. And when people were hitting me up to do investments with them, I was just trying to survive.

00;19;26;10 – 00;19;45;28
Speaker 1
And my goal was I need to have $20,000 in the bank because at that point I knew that my bills would be paid next month. I knew that my family had food. I knew that I can provide a life for my family and maybe not the life that I could have provided a family in 2005, 2006, 2007, right.

00;19;46;01 – 00;19;49;25
Speaker 1
But I wasn’t going to fail. I wasn’t going to fail. And I was just going to keep on.

00;19;49;27 – 00;19;51;02
Speaker 3
Persevering.

00;19;51;04 – 00;20;10;05
Speaker 1
And just trying to pull through. And hopefully this market was going to change. But I learned really, really quick that it wasn’t the market that had to change. It was me that’s had to change, right? Like you said, it’s that mindset, right? And that mindset is everything. If you come in and you feel like it’s going to be a shitty day, guess what?

00;20;10;08 – 00;20;12;07
Speaker 3
A shitty day. Yeah, but if you come.

00;20;12;07 – 00;20;30;15
Speaker 1
In and you’re coming in to work and you’re coming in with some energy and people can feel that like your real estate agents and your clients feel that energy and the energy that you want to put out is that you’re here to solve problems, to be a solution, no longer a problem to a marketplace. And prior.

00;20;30;18 – 00;20;31;24
Speaker 3
My marketplace was 80.

00;20;31;24 – 00;20;59;19
Speaker 1
Twenties, right? First and second mortgages. People were psycho scores of 582, six twenties, 100% financing, right? No mortgage insurance. It was it was a great time. Right. But I knew when I could no longer help that underserved community, that if they were having pain points, that the wealthy, affluent, we’re going to have the same type of struggles and and I learned really, really quick to figure out and to find out what your brand is all about.

00;20;59;19 – 00;21;01;29
Speaker 1
What are you all about? Right.

00;21;02;02 – 00;21;02;19
Speaker 3
And for me.

00;21;02;19 – 00;21;08;24
Speaker 1
People have told me, hey, why are you in this marketplace with Latino Spanish speaking only is right. And for me, it’s because.

00;21;08;24 – 00;21;09;28
Speaker 3
Of.

00;21;10;00 – 00;21;25;23
Speaker 1
Life and practices and teachings that I’ve heard and I’ve lived through, especially with the Latino community. People don’t give the Latino community as much of a chance than than they well deserve.

00;21;25;26 – 00;21;49;23
Speaker 2
And that’s a truth. I mean, sorry to interrupt, but, you know, we do so many deals for Latinos that were turned down by someone else. Absolutely. Because they just didn’t take the time to figure it out. You know, especially nonpermanent resident, you know, people that are in the country that so that want that American dream and that are getting turned away left and right.

00;21;49;25 – 00;22;09;14
Speaker 2
And I know that you have options and we have options but like that’s where but it takes work. It does. And so where do you find the strength to plow through and say, man, look, I can go and spend time with the affluent market or the middle market, and it’s going to be a lot easier than this client.

00;22;09;14 – 00;22;12;06
Speaker 2
But what pushes you to help that client?

00;22;12;09 – 00;22;12;23
Speaker 3
You know, it goes.

00;22;12;23 – 00;22;15;22
Speaker 1
Back down to and I think I talk to you about my first deal.

00;22;15;25 – 00;22;16;14
Speaker 2
Yeah, let’s talk.

00;22;16;14 – 00;22;17;09
Speaker 3
About the first deal.

00;22;17;09 – 00;22;38;00
Speaker 1
I was still in college and I was no longer playing football and my parents couldn’t pay for my schooling or my housing or any of that. And I had to figure that out. And I had a good friend, one of my best friends at the time. His girlfriend was a real estate agent and she was pretty new as well.

00;22;38;03 – 00;22;42;08
Speaker 1
And they knew that I was trying to get into the marketplace. So she said, Come with me and I have a deal.

00;22;42;08 – 00;22;46;08
Speaker 3
And she put me at this brokerage shop right down the road on Gilbert, like.

00;22;46;10 – 00;22;47;14
Speaker 1
Gilbert and.

00;22;47;16 – 00;22;49;05
Speaker 3
Southern. Mm hmm. Right.

00;22;49;05 – 00;22;52;26
Speaker 1
And and I remember walking in scared as all hell, because that’s.

00;22;52;26 – 00;22;53;25
Speaker 2
A rough area, by the way.

00;22;53;25 – 00;23;01;17
Speaker 3
Yeah, well, it wasn’t that hard, right? But walked in and it was literally a broken shop like the old school broker shops.

00;23;01;17 – 00;23;06;25
Speaker 1
That you probably see on the movies where it’s just older men smoking cigarets and never seeing their clients.

00;23;06;27 – 00;23;09;25
Speaker 3
Cloud of smoke, stacks of rate sheets.

00;23;09;28 – 00;23;13;07
Speaker 1
Right. And I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. I was just let it out.

00;23;13;07 – 00;23;13;29
Speaker 2
Every wired out.

00;23;13;29 – 00;23;25;11
Speaker 3
Everywhere, you know, bright lights, everywhere, right? Cut and pasting left and right, right, exactly. No exact. And those were the things right. They had made the rules.

00;23;25;11 – 00;23;28;18
Speaker 1
So lose and and so easy.

00;23;28;21 – 00;23;30;21
Speaker 3
But at the end of the day, it was really about.

00;23;30;21 – 00;23;34;22
Speaker 1
Educating the consumer and educating that market.

00;23;34;24 – 00;23;38;15
Speaker 3
Right. So for me, I learned really, really quick. I had a.

00;23;38;15 – 00;24;00;25
Speaker 1
Family that was living on a dairy farm out here in Chandler Gilbert, and the individual had asked them because I met with the real estate agent and myself, we went to this house and we’re talking about a shack, right? And this individual had eight children, right? And these eight kids were from the age of I don’t know, I would say one the 12th.

00;24;00;27 – 00;24;02;01
Speaker 3
Right. So very stacked.

00;24;02;01 – 00;24;03;12
Speaker 1
Up right after another. Right.

00;24;03;13 – 00;24;05;17
Speaker 2
Well, let’s cross streets on this this dairy farm.

00;24;05;17 – 00;24;10;19
Speaker 3
The dairy farm. I want to say it was like pacos. Yeah, I want to say those like Paco’s and.

00;24;10;19 – 00;24;11;10
Speaker 1
Lindsey.

00;24;11;10 – 00;24;12;09
Speaker 2
I know exactly where you’re talking.

00;24;12;09 – 00;24;12;25
Speaker 3
Right? Yeah.

00;24;12;25 – 00;24;14;00
Speaker 2
And I was there every day.

00;24;14;06 – 00;24;18;01
Speaker 3
And that was probably full of developed. They probably sold out, made millions.

00;24;18;01 – 00;24;18;19
Speaker 1
Right.

00;24;18;21 – 00;24;20;06
Speaker 3
But the whole staff.

00;24;20;10 – 00;24;32;27
Speaker 1
Was living in these pods and I walked in and very dilapidated housing. I was more shocked that and more a corporation actually had their employees in housing like this.

00;24;32;27 – 00;24;34;04
Speaker 2
Right at this day and age, at this.

00;24;34;04 – 00;24;52;26
Speaker 1
Day and age and all these children and it was a one bedroom and you had, you know, with husband and wife, you had ten individuals living in this little tiny shack. And it was time for them to grow. Right. And I remember they got under contract, they cried. They never thought they were going to be able to get in contract.

00;24;52;26 – 00;24;54;16
Speaker 1
I didn’t know what I was doing. So I don’t know how.

00;24;54;16 – 00;24;56;06
Speaker 3
They are approved, what they were approved for.

00;24;56;06 – 00;25;06;20
Speaker 1
I was just going along for the ride. I was the translator for all intents and purposes, and at that time we went to the closing table. We were at the closing table and I had.

00;25;06;22 – 00;25;07;21
Speaker 3
Built a relationship.

00;25;07;21 – 00;25;19;17
Speaker 1
With this family and and, and and really cared for them. Right. Got emotionally attached, which then a lot of the lending games, they said, don’t get emotionally attached to your clientele. That’s the worst thing you can do.

00;25;19;17 – 00;25;21;11
Speaker 2
I think you should be emotionally attached.

00;25;21;11 – 00;25;24;12
Speaker 3
And I was reversed, right? I was like, no, this the attachment.

00;25;24;12 – 00;25;34;22
Speaker 1
Is what makes me because I put myself in that family’s position, that four year old kid, right? I knew what that kid was thinking because I had to live that and and for.

00;25;34;22 – 00;25;36;19
Speaker 3
Me walked into the closing.

00;25;36;19 – 00;25;49;10
Speaker 1
Table and and and at that time, interest rates were about 9% interest rates. And that was your normal FHA financed rate was about a nine or nine and a half. And and for.

00;25;49;10 – 00;25;50;16
Speaker 3
Me, we went to the closing.

00;25;50;16 – 00;26;02;08
Speaker 1
Table. I got to the closing table and there was a 12 and a half percent interest rate on their note. And I knew I was smart enough to know that a nine and a half versus a 12 and a half is a differentiator, right?

00;26;02;09 – 00;26;04;26
Speaker 3
There’s something different there.

00;26;04;28 – 00;26;23;07
Speaker 1
At that time I walked out of the room, I excuse myself from the closing table, and I called an individual that I knew at that time was a mentor. And I said, Hey, is this normal? And his response is like, No, that’s not normal. They’re giving him a subprime loan. It sounded like they were approved for an FHA loan prior.

00;26;23;09 – 00;26;23;26
Speaker 3
But they’re probably.

00;26;23;26 – 00;26;26;08
Speaker 1
Making more money. Right? There was.

00;26;26;10 – 00;26;27;00
Speaker 3
Three or four.

00;26;27;00 – 00;26;33;27
Speaker 1
Points upfront. They’re closing costs was probably $7,000 more than they anticipated from all everything that they saw.

00;26;34;04 – 00;26;35;14
Speaker 3
But there wasn’t any regulation.

00;26;35;14 – 00;26;45;26
Speaker 1
In the industry then. Right. You could bait and switch all day long. And that’s, in my opinion, what put loan officers and lenders in a bad light for a lot of individuals, it.

00;26;45;26 – 00;26;47;20
Speaker 3
Was very much so.

00;26;47;22 – 00;26;53;20
Speaker 1
The car salesman and the mortgage guy were on the same boat. Agree.

00;26;53;22 – 00;26;57;04
Speaker 3
And for me, I couldn’t accept that.

00;26;57;06 – 00;27;05;07
Speaker 1
I couldn’t accept that I was being treated like a used car salesperson. But the industry did that to all of us. And and there were some.

00;27;05;07 – 00;27;06;23
Speaker 3
Good players in the market and there’s some.

00;27;06;23 – 00;27;11;14
Speaker 1
Bad players in the market. A lot of the bad players are gone for obvious reasons, and a lot of the.

00;27;11;14 – 00;27;12;01
Speaker 3
Good players are.

00;27;12;01 – 00;27;15;14
Speaker 1
Still here because they did the right thing right there. And for.

00;27;15;14 – 00;27;17;03
Speaker 3
Me, I walked back into.

00;27;17;03 – 00;27;28;23
Speaker 1
The closing table. The individual told me, If you can walk out of the closing table, get an extension and I’ll close the loan for you. And today I’ll lock it at an eight and a half. Ryan So I said, Well.

00;27;28;26 – 00;27;32;25
Speaker 3
I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t know what I’m saying. He told me exactly what to walk in and say.

00;27;32;25 – 00;27;43;23
Speaker 1
I walked in and said it. The family looked at me. They already had a relationship with me. So at that point, families like we trust you, the real estate agent, her.

00;27;43;23 – 00;27;44;08
Speaker 3
First deal.

00;27;44;08 – 00;27;53;11
Speaker 1
As well. My first deal. And she pretty much said, Adrian, I trust you, right? She also was at this point emotionally invested with with the family.

00;27;53;11 – 00;27;58;06
Speaker 3
Yeah. So fast forward ten days later.

00;27;58;08 – 00;28;20;23
Speaker 1
They got an FHA appraisal transferred. We you know, we packaged the deal and ten days later they were back at the same closing table with an eight and a half percent interest rate, $8,000 less in closing costs and the individuals went from the last closing table with shock in their eyes and doubt that they were ever going to meet the American dream to We pivoted and moved.

00;28;20;23 – 00;28;42;29
Speaker 1
And now the American dream was being achieved for them and for me. They cried. I cried. The realtor cried. It was very emotional moment because I knew at that time I found my calling. Right. And my calling was to help people. And my calling was to help underserved people. And for me, when people said, Why are you in this marketplace?

00;28;42;29 – 00;29;04;27
Speaker 1
I’m in this marketplace because I love my head. They’re right. I love my community. I love my race. I’m very proud to be Latino. I’m very proud to be Mexican-American. And for me, I knew if there wasn’t enough of me out there, these individuals were going to be taken advantage of again and have in the past. We all have heard the horror stories.

00;29;05;00 – 00;29;07;04
Speaker 3
So for me, that was a big change. For me, that.

00;29;07;04 – 00;29;28;11
Speaker 1
Was an eye opener for me. And I knew that this was the market that I needed to be in, right? I didn’t know that we had a great Recession coming. I didn’t really didn’t even know how to study charts or graphs or candlesticks or anything that we do today. That is part of our business.

00;29;28;14 – 00;29;31;09
Speaker 2
But I know people know how to do it now. Yeah, people know how to do it.

00;29;31;10 – 00;29;49;25
Speaker 3
And technology is completely different now than it was then, right? I mean, I the first loan I closed, it was a carbon copy. So you had to literally take out that little carbon copy paper in between papers and rub your rubber, a pencil or pen in order to make a copy of what the individual is about to. Right.

00;29;49;27 – 00;29;54;19
Speaker 3
And for me, I knew that that was for me my aha moment.

00;29;54;21 – 00;30;07;07
Speaker 1
Right, my aha moment and how I could apply myself right around to my mom’s house with a hundred different words in Spanish that I didn’t know what they were and how to translate them.

00;30;07;09 – 00;30;08;02
Speaker 3
But if I was going to sound.

00;30;08;02 – 00;30;21;29
Speaker 1
Professional, I needed to know. Walk the walk and talk the talk. And my father and my mother interpreted a lot of those words to me. And when I’m sitting with the client or sitting on the phone, I would drop some of those words in Spanish just to validate me that.

00;30;22;01 – 00;30;22;24
Speaker 3
Hey.

00;30;22;26 – 00;30;23;26
Speaker 1
I know what I’m talking about.

00;30;23;26 – 00;30;27;10
Speaker 3
Absolutely right. And and it was it was.

00;30;27;10 – 00;30;44;29
Speaker 1
That moment of growth that then I probably would never turn back the clock because that’s what made me who I am today and why I am a big educator and why I’m a big, big person in service for the community.

00;30;45;01 – 00;31;08;18
Speaker 2
Without a doubt. I mean, you’re the number two in the market you’re in with in the Latino community. I mean, that that’s something to be extremely proud of. And, you know, people in this community should be calling you who need help, who want to get to that, who who want to realize the American dream. You know, you said something earlier that that really resonated with me.

00;31;08;20 – 00;31;28;25
Speaker 2
But you were talking about anxiety and about how you had to, like, kind of release a lot of the things in order to get you past that. Not a lot of people talk about mental health when it comes to the business we’re doing. How do you handle that today? Like we’re in we’re in a we’re in one of the most stressful businesses.

00;31;28;27 – 00;31;55;15
Speaker 2
You know, what we do for a living is you’re trying to, especially in a market today, help a client at a time where affordability is at an all time worse in a market. Somebody who could afford a house yesterday is now on the market looking for a house. If rate changes just the slightest, they’re no longer qualified. Yeah, changes the entire game.

00;31;55;18 – 00;32;16;24
Speaker 2
So we’re in a very stressful environment, especially for someone like you and other good loan officers out there who are looking at the four year old kid in the house and saying, I’m going to help this family get out of this dilapidated rental that they’re in. But and, you know, it it makes what we do extremely difficult. But how do you handle all the pressure that you do?

00;32;16;24 – 00;32;27;03
Speaker 2
You do you meditate? Do you have some sort of outlet that that helps you handle the mental anguish that that you might go through in this business?

00;32;27;05 – 00;32;28;27
Speaker 3
You know, it’s it’s.

00;32;28;29 – 00;32;32;04
Speaker 1
I’ve been working out right. And I think that’s helped me.

00;32;32;05 – 00;32;34;02
Speaker 3
I’ve always been.

00;32;34;04 – 00;32;43;27
Speaker 1
Very much involved in sports my whole life. I’ve played many sports and I played college sports as well. And and I always had that. But when I got into this business, I kind of let that go.

00;32;44;00 – 00;32;46;04
Speaker 3
And it was a decade.

00;32;46;06 – 00;32;48;17
Speaker 1
Not two decades, before I had even worked out.

00;32;48;23 – 00;32;49;04
Speaker 3
I truly.

00;32;49;04 – 00;32;54;18
Speaker 1
Truly worked out. And I knew if I was going to go through the season.

00;32;54;21 – 00;32;55;04
Speaker 3
That I was going.

00;32;55;06 – 00;33;08;19
Speaker 1
To all be there. And I think working out has really, really helped me kind of stay focused. I think opening up and talking right, and expressing my emotions and and letting that’s.

00;33;08;19 – 00;33;09;28
Speaker 2
Not a thing that we do.

00;33;10;00 – 00;33;12;21
Speaker 3
We don’t know, especially the Latino community. Just we sweep it under the rug.

00;33;12;21 – 00;33;13;28
Speaker 1
And we hope that it goes away.

00;33;14;00 – 00;33;26;04
Speaker 2
That’s exactly that. That is about that. That’s in marriages, in relationship ships. You know, it happens time over time over time that we are not built in our culture to talk about our feelings.

00;33;26;05 – 00;33;30;00
Speaker 3
Yeah, no, it’s it’s true. It’s it’s it’s it’s something.

00;33;30;02 – 00;33;31;01
Speaker 2
How did you overcome that?

00;33;31;01 – 00;33;37;09
Speaker 3
I still struggle with it. Yeah, I don’t. I don’t. You know, the one thing my wife and and my partner and people in my.

00;33;37;09 – 00;33;46;00
Speaker 1
Life is like, you know, they talk more and and it’s hard for me, it’s hard for me to open up because I’ve.

00;33;46;00 – 00;33;48;01
Speaker 3
Created this hard.

00;33;48;01 – 00;33;52;10
Speaker 1
Exterior. Right. People that don’t know me judge me.

00;33;52;13 – 00;33;53;01
Speaker 3
Mm hmm.

00;33;53;03 – 00;33;54;18
Speaker 1
People that know me know me.

00;33;54;20 – 00;34;16;03
Speaker 2
You weren’t the most approachable. Yeah. I kept on. I was like, I’m going to keep texting this dude and talking to because I got to know his story. And you were really you. You replied a few times, but I was trying to figure out a way to get I like literally somebody took a bunch of pictures of the event and I went and found all of the ones of you and texted him to you because I was like, I need an excuse to talk to this dude.

00;34;16;03 – 00;34;37;06
Speaker 2
Right? And you know, mainly because you weren’t you don’t come across you come across as somebody who and I look at this as a good thing, just so you know, it’s going to sound like it. But I look at this as something that is growing up. You know, you don’t want to be you know, you don’t want to be the most approachable person right?

00;34;37;06 – 00;34;54;03
Speaker 2
I don’t want to be opened up to everybody. And so when you come into the room, you have a presence to you that there’s a little bit of mystery there. And I was like, I want to get to know this person. But growing up, I don’t know if it’s a machismo thing or what, but we you said it.

00;34;54;05 – 00;35;04;24
Speaker 2
We I have a hard exterior, right? But that’s because you you grew up in the streets somehow or another. What what was that like? Like, I mean, what he did. You have older brothers? Yeah. Okay.

00;35;04;26 – 00;35;18;28
Speaker 3
Yeah, I had four. I had four older brothers or older brothers. And they’re all great individuals. Right. But just older brothers being older brothers, right? Yeah. I tell my older brothers stories today. Yeah, I did. Like, I didn’t do that right.

00;35;19;00 – 00;35;21;29
Speaker 2
They threw me in a dryer one time. Well, and they, like, deny it. That was.

00;35;21;29 – 00;35;23;21
Speaker 3
Normal. Yeah, that was normal.

00;35;23;21 – 00;35;25;09
Speaker 2
They put me in a dryer, turned it on.

00;35;25;09 – 00;35;28;13
Speaker 3
They wanted to see if you actually would tumble like it. Yes.

00;35;28;18 – 00;35;30;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. No, that thing just hit me in the head, you know, Over.

00;35;30;29 – 00;35;33;00
Speaker 3
Over. I was in the dryer. Just in a different.

00;35;33;00 – 00;35;34;17
Speaker 1
Neighborhood, brah.

00;35;34;19 – 00;35;39;21
Speaker 3
You know? So. So they did a lot of things that probably developed my.

00;35;39;21 – 00;35;41;00
Speaker 1
Heart exterior, right.

00;35;41;01 – 00;35;42;18
Speaker 3
And probably had.

00;35;42;18 – 00;35;50;08
Speaker 1
Me. I was a punching bag for a while, but I wouldn’t stop. I was relentless. I was the kid that wouldn’t just shut.

00;35;50;08 – 00;35;51;23
Speaker 2
Up because you wanted to hang out with them.

00;35;51;27 – 00;35;57;23
Speaker 3
Wanted to hang out. And even them beating me up was a little sleazy. Yeah, well, you.

00;35;57;23 – 00;35;58;17
Speaker 2
Know I’m here, right?

00;35;58;17 – 00;36;03;11
Speaker 3
Absolutely. So? So for me, I think, you know, just to stay in.

00;36;03;11 – 00;36;04;10
Speaker 1
That right headspace.

00;36;04;12 – 00;36;10;03
Speaker 3
And I catch daily going to that bad place, right? Because this market does that.

00;36;10;06 – 00;36;22;23
Speaker 1
And I know that I’m way more valuable to my family and way more valuable to my friends and way more valuable to the people I lead. I’m in my office and and in my in my business.

00;36;22;26 – 00;36;23;18
Speaker 3
That they deserve.

00;36;23;18 – 00;36;49;24
Speaker 1
The best part of me. Right? And me having anxiety and being worried is in my highest and best time used. Right. And and I’ve learned how to hone in that energy and just to keep trucking. Right. Just get my mom’s never stopped. I won’t stop. Yeah, right. Good. And and and that’s a hard lesson, man. That’s a hard lesson to grow and to learn, Especially when you felt like you were untouchable and you’re sitting.

00;36;49;27 – 00;37;09;00
Speaker 1
You’re on top of the world. Yeah, right. Money wasn’t an issue. And buying things wasn’t a problem and not saving and not preparing for that rainy day. I didn’t know what that meant. And I remember a manager at one of the companies I worked had said, Save your money. Every morning he would say, Save your money and save your money.

00;37;09;02 – 00;37;10;21
Speaker 2
Is, as we saw in the recession before the.

00;37;10;21 – 00;37;28;22
Speaker 1
Recession. And then when the recession hit. He’s the person I called. It’s like I’m in this space right now and he’s like, You understand why, Right? And I said, I didn’t save my money. Right? Didn’t save my money. I overextend, myself, I overleveraged myself. I went all in thinking that it was.

00;37;28;22 – 00;37;30;05
Speaker 3
Either I was going to hit a billion.

00;37;30;05 – 00;37;37;15
Speaker 1
Dollars or I was going to hit a $0 right. And that’s what happened. I had a $0. I felt like I was smarter.

00;37;37;18 – 00;37;40;02
Speaker 3
But today.

00;37;40;05 – 00;37;56;26
Speaker 1
Different lessons that I’ve learned and then have have have catapulted me emotionally, mentally, physically. Now I know it’s all up to me, right? This market do whatever it does, but it’s not going to take me down.

00;37;56;28 – 00;38;17;18
Speaker 2
So what do you do today? I got I got so many questions for you, but what do you do today that sets that you think sets you apart from the other loan officers? And, you know, part it, part of success is in the industry for a long time. And people knowing who you are and knowing you’re good at what you do, it’s reputation, right?

00;38;17;21 – 00;38;18;11
Speaker 2
It’s your brand.

00;38;18;13 – 00;38;19;07
Speaker 1
Right.

00;38;19;09 – 00;38;37;23
Speaker 2
But there are things that you have to do every day when you get up and execute on that drive business. What what does your day look like that that you that you do differently, that you think that other people are doing that helps you stay successful in the hardest market? We’re in?

00;38;37;26 – 00;38;38;18
Speaker 3
I go back down.

00;38;38;18 – 00;38;47;08
Speaker 1
From lesson that I learned from my current owner. When the phone rings, pick it up and when the phone is not ringing, pick it up.

00;38;47;10 – 00;38;49;25
Speaker 2
It’s best. That’s the bad. That’s good. That’s another.

00;38;49;25 – 00;38;52;08
Speaker 3
Clip. That’s that easy. Right?

00;38;52;10 – 00;38;57;24
Speaker 1
So being in front of people and at the same time, I know that my cycle.

00;38;58;00 – 00;38;58;14
Speaker 3
In this.

00;38;58;14 – 00;39;00;23
Speaker 1
Marketplace.

00;39;00;26 – 00;39;02;12
Speaker 3
Might be the last.

00;39;02;12 – 00;39;05;26
Speaker 1
Cycle I might be in my last ten years of this industry.

00;39;06;03 – 00;39;07;04
Speaker 2
I think we might all be.

00;39;07;04 – 00;39;07;28
Speaker 3
And I’ve accepted.

00;39;07;28 – 00;39;32;15
Speaker 1
It and I’m okay with it, right? As long as I’ve done all the right things leading up to that time frame. Right. I can walk away in the sunset and be very, very proud of what I’ve built and and the reputation I carry. What I do on a daily is I just keep on driving myself and and, and some days are harder than others.

00;39;32;18 – 00;39;44;17
Speaker 1
But when I wake up in the morning and I see my three beautiful children, it motivates me to get up and to get up and do those little things right. And for.

00;39;44;17 – 00;39;48;10
Speaker 3
Me, that in itself.

00;39;48;13 – 00;40;07;17
Speaker 1
Is a lot more valuable in my life that I’ve given credit. My family just came back from Oregon right there in Oregon for ten days, and I don’t think I ate at night because I was stressed out. I didn’t have the release of seeing my children and asking them how their day was and right and just taking in their energy.

00;40;07;21 – 00;40;17;05
Speaker 1
And that definitely helps me. And I’ve learned I saw in my last ten days I got into this dark place and I didn’t identify what it was. And the kids came home and.

00;40;17;07 – 00;40;17;22
Speaker 2
You were back to.

00;40;17;22 – 00;40;35;11
Speaker 1
Normal. I was back to normal, man. So it’s one of those things where, you know, surround yourself with great people, right? And surround yourself with people that respect you and that love you. And if you don’t have those people, find them because there’s a lot of great people out in the world today, right.

00;40;35;17 – 00;40;36;16
Speaker 3
From realtors as.

00;40;36;16 – 00;40;46;25
Speaker 1
Well. Some of the things that lenders say is like, you know, these realtors want this and they overextend me here and they make me do this and they make me do that. And in reality, no one makes you do anything.

00;40;46;28 – 00;40;50;19
Speaker 3
It’s what you choose to do is what is what you.

00;40;50;19 – 00;40;55;05
Speaker 1
Might be upset with yourself about. It’s not the realtors fault.

00;40;55;08 – 00;41;00;24
Speaker 2
If you’re if you’re only value proposition to a realtor is writing a check, then that’s the position you put yourself into.

00;41;00;29 – 00;41;02;05
Speaker 3
When closing the loan. Right?

00;41;02;05 – 00;41;03;05
Speaker 2
So, yeah, right.

00;41;03;05 – 00;41;08;03
Speaker 1
So in a lot of my cases, what I’ve done is I’ve changed it from transactional to relational.

00;41;08;11 – 00;41;09;07
Speaker 2
That’s it. You have to.

00;41;09;07 – 00;41;11;20
Speaker 1
Be. You have to be. We’re in a relationship business.

00;41;11;22 – 00;41;18;14
Speaker 3
And some of these relationships last for years. Some of these relationships last for ten years, right? There’s still agents that I work with.

00;41;18;14 – 00;41;25;01
Speaker 1
Today that I’ve worked with in my year one. The majority of the agents that I worked in those first cycles.

00;41;25;03 – 00;41;25;21
Speaker 3
Are no longer.

00;41;25;21 – 00;41;28;13
Speaker 1
In the business. Right? When the market crashed, everyone.

00;41;28;13 – 00;41;34;12
Speaker 3
Had to go back to W-2 wages and a lot of the people that were my aces were no longer aces.

00;41;34;15 – 00;41;39;07
Speaker 1
Right? And when I’m looking around and I look at rosters, I don’t see those names anymore.

00;41;39;10 – 00;41;53;10
Speaker 2
So crazy, like even now looking at the rosters are looking at, you know, we have data, right? And you look at realtors, I’ll look at it every now and again and look at how much the volume has dropped. Yeah, you know, it is, it is crazy.

00;41;53;16 – 00;41;54;05
Speaker 1
It’s crazy.

00;41;54;05 – 00;42;37;14
Speaker 2
And, you know, I think that that’s the reality of the industry we’re in yet. What did you do differently in 2020. Well you know even leading up to 2020, 2019, 2018 were still really good years for us, you know, Absolutely. So leading up into going into 20, 20, 2019, where, you know, for those of you that weren’t in the industry, those are the I’ve never seen anything like what we were witnessing, you know, in terms of it was a painful time because of what was happening in the world, and yet business was falling out of the sky in a way that we didn’t have enough we didn’t have enough human resources in the industry to

00;42;37;14 – 00;42;56;29
Speaker 2
keep up with the capacity that we had right now because there wasn’t enough bodies in the industry. And so all we’re doing is just trying to poach bodies from different companies to come over to us, pay them more, pay them more, and then boom, it stops. What when we when you were at the top of your game, at the top is peak in 2020, 2021.

00;42;57;02 – 00;43;07;00
Speaker 2
What did you do differently from 2007 six that you didn’t lose everything the second time around?

00;43;07;02 – 00;43;08;10
Speaker 3
Well.

00;43;08;13 – 00;43;17;06
Speaker 1
I concentrated on my real estate agents back in 27, 27, 28. You know, I was a refi guy.

00;43;17;11 – 00;43;18;02
Speaker 2
Now, there you go.

00;43;18;02 – 00;43;29;10
Speaker 1
And I had a lot of purchased business as well. But again, a lot of the purchase business that I had went away because those realtors were no longer in the industry. So I think focusing on.

00;43;29;12 – 00;43;30;17
Speaker 3
The real estate agent, the real estate.

00;43;30;17 – 00;43;31;11
Speaker 1
Agents are always going to.

00;43;31;11 – 00;43;33;06
Speaker 3
Have more.

00;43;33;06 – 00;43;36;24
Speaker 1
Clients that want to buy homes. Maybe not the amount of.

00;43;36;24 – 00;43;43;16
Speaker 3
People that we were used to. And when that pandemic hit in 2020, it scared the hell out of me. It’s going to help me because we didn’t know.

00;43;43;16 – 00;43;44;17
Speaker 1
What this looked like.

00;43;44;17 – 00;43;49;24
Speaker 3
Did not know, and the interest rates at that time were probably between.

00;43;49;28 – 00;43;51;29
Speaker 1
Again, I have amnesia.

00;43;52;01 – 00;43;56;03
Speaker 3
But I’m thinking it’s probably in the fives.

00;43;56;03 – 00;43;58;14
Speaker 2
It was in the forest fires for a long time.

00;43;58;17 – 00;44;13;13
Speaker 3
We we’re in the sixes already Right. And then fed funds rate went down to zero interest rates went down to two and I made sure I continued to focus.

00;44;13;14 – 00;44;15;12
Speaker 1
On the purchase business.

00;44;15;14 – 00;44;16;29
Speaker 3
The refi business was.

00;44;16;29 – 00;44;22;13
Speaker 1
Water under the bridge and a lot of people did it the other way. They said, Man, that’s the lower hanging fruit. I don’t have to.

00;44;22;13 – 00;44;24;04
Speaker 3
Deal with real estate agents anymore.

00;44;24;06 – 00;44;26;09
Speaker 1
Let’s bang the phones, let’s send marketing out.

00;44;26;09 – 00;44;27;06
Speaker 3
Let’s get these.

00;44;27;09 – 00;44;36;28
Speaker 1
5%, 6% interest rates down into the twos to the threes. And a lot of people focused on that. And I believe a lot of loan officers that are struggling today.

00;44;37;01 – 00;44;37;26
Speaker 3
Let their.

00;44;37;26 – 00;44;38;23
Speaker 1
Eye off the.

00;44;38;23 – 00;45;00;16
Speaker 2
Prize. Oh, no one was no one was talking to realtors. I mean, if you I remember talking to realtors in 2000 to 2021, asking like a realtors calling it. I mean, I was calling in. No one’s called me in a year. Yeah, yeah, no one’s called me in a year. I remember. I remember getting calls from brokers saying, Hey, you know, we just got rid of our lender because they they didn’t want to pay anymore.

00;45;00;19 – 00;45;22;17
Speaker 2
Right? You want to come in, you know, and it’s just like, this is crazy. And then skip to 2022. They’re like, man, I’m getting hit up by every thirsty, you know, low. Yeah. Clothes are leaving the industry by the droves right now. I mean, so many people just, you know, are out. Right? And so you just focused on the task at hand.

00;45;22;19 – 00;45;27;13
Speaker 2
That’s it. This is going to this is going to change. And I’m going to I’m not going to change my business. I’m going to stay a purchase guy.

00;45;27;13 – 00;45;31;28
Speaker 3
Yeah, a state of purchase guy still did realize I mean, just me, we’re doing 15, 20, 30.

00;45;31;28 – 00;45;49;27
Speaker 1
Refinances a month, so I still did refinances, but a lot of my refinances were just more for my past clientele. I want to add value to my past clientele. I wanted to show them the reason why they did business with me when the rate was a six is because now when the rates are two and a half or 3%, they can still count on me.

00;45;49;28 – 00;46;07;00
Speaker 1
Yeah, right. And and I showed my real estate agents when other people are hiding at home during the pandemic, I was out showing and giving classes, right? I was breaking bread. I was doing those in order to stay relevant. Right. In order to stay fresh.

00;46;07;00 – 00;46;31;11
Speaker 2
Absolutely. And I never left the office and I was the only one in the office. I, I never left the office. I was like, I’m just going to because if everybody still has to go home, right, then nothing’s changing for me. I have to do the same. But it was a glorious time back then because we were able to do things that no one else was doing, like, you know, doing a zoom, you know, or an Instagram live or doing, you know, in LinkedIn.

00;46;31;18 – 00;46;54;16
Speaker 2
Nobody was doing that at the time. So that was really a fun nobody’s doing podcasting, you know, it was really fun time to get into this game. I miss those things about it and I missed the market, but it was still challenging, man. I mean, I remember the stress you had, you know, having to re lock loans, extend loans, you know, just just not enough resources.

00;46;54;16 – 00;47;09;14
Speaker 3
The resources was the biggest stress, right? Because the we were pulling people off the street as long as they knew how to bang on a keyboard. You know, And they had a job. Right. And we’re going to call you a process. Right? So in a lot of times, you know, in a lot of cases people the industry.

00;47;09;14 – 00;47;12;02
Speaker 1
Over hired and that’s why when we were over hired, we were.

00;47;12;02 – 00;47;12;17
Speaker 3
Too fat.

00;47;12;21 – 00;47;32;00
Speaker 2
Too. We went from we went from 5000 employee company to 12,000 overnight moved I remember in a 48 hour period, everybody worked from home like boom overnight. And then 2021 comes and we end up cutting like 50% and getting back down to 5000.

00;47;32;02 – 00;47;32;24
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;47;32;26 – 00;47;40;14
Speaker 2
And that was painful because guess what? Everybody hired their brother, their sister, their husband, their wife, their, you know, kids.

00;47;40;16 – 00;47;42;25
Speaker 3
That whole that was the thing where ever.

00;47;42;25 – 00;47;49;11
Speaker 2
Could, you know. And then now you got to tell them, hey, you got to you got to let go of, you know, this. You don’t have enough business to do it.

00;47;49;16 – 00;47;49;29
Speaker 3
It’s hard.

00;47;49;29 – 00;47;52;03
Speaker 2
And that those are hard times, man.

00;47;52;03 – 00;47;56;05
Speaker 3
Yeah, it was hard for us. We we probably had eight processors at the.

00;47;56;05 – 00;48;01;13
Speaker 1
Time from my office. And at that time I kept people.

00;48;01;13 – 00;48;02;00
Speaker 3
Staffed.

00;48;02;01 – 00;48;03;22
Speaker 1
And kept people staffed probably.

00;48;03;22 – 00;48;08;02
Speaker 3
All the way through December.

00;48;08;05 – 00;48;18;23
Speaker 1
Of 22 when my company was saying, You’ve got to let these people go. And for me, I said, These are individuals that gave us so much throughout the pandemic. These are individuals.

00;48;18;26 – 00;48;20;13
Speaker 3
That worked massive.

00;48;20;13 – 00;48;43;04
Speaker 1
Hours of overtime. These are individuals that had supported me and all my loan officers in the office. How am I going to turn my back on people? Right. And I would rather not make any money. I can say to you that from the year from the month of July of 22 to probably about January of 23, I didn’t make a dollar.

00;48;43;07 – 00;48;45;04
Speaker 1
All my commissions went to.

00;48;45;09 – 00;48;45;21
Speaker 2
Pay your.

00;48;45;21 – 00;48;46;10
Speaker 3
Staff to.

00;48;46;10 – 00;48;46;20
Speaker 1
Pay my.

00;48;46;20 – 00;48;47;20
Speaker 2
Staff. Good for you.

00;48;47;23 – 00;48;49;06
Speaker 3
And for me.

00;48;49;08 – 00;49;08;05
Speaker 1
That was another lesson that I had to learn, because life is always teaching you different lessons, especially in this game. And it’s really about people you care for, people that that served you and they cared for you. Now there comes a point where now the volume is now tumbling and tumbling and tumbling. You got to make business decisions.

00;49;08;08 – 00;49;14;26
Speaker 3
And at some point I have to bring home some money. I got to bring home some bacon. Yeah, right. So but those were challenging.

00;49;14;27 – 00;49;16;25
Speaker 1
Times and when people were saying, get rid of.

00;49;16;25 – 00;49;18;11
Speaker 3
People, I was this is going to.

00;49;18;11 – 00;49;29;03
Speaker 1
Turn around. I’m holding on. Yeah. At some point you had to let go of some things. And the great thing about it is that I didn’t have things that costed me money anymore because all those things were paid.

00;49;29;05 – 00;49;30;02
Speaker 2
There you go. Right.

00;49;30;02 – 00;49;32;20
Speaker 1
And my savings account was was good.

00;49;32;26 – 00;49;33;23
Speaker 2
Good for you.

00;49;33;26 – 00;49;51;11
Speaker 1
And I was able to make sure that the people around me were still making money. Maybe they weren’t making their income goals because nobody was making their income goals, but at the very least they can keep the lights on. They can feed their families and and they can at least have something to hold on to.

00;49;51;13 – 00;49;52;12
Speaker 3
And for me.

00;49;52;15 – 00;49;55;29
Speaker 1
The sacrifices that we took was for them.

00;49;56;02 – 00;49;57;21
Speaker 3
Even though they don’t probably know it.

00;49;57;21 – 00;50;00;09
Speaker 1
And it’s not like I walk into the office and tell people.

00;50;00;09 – 00;50;02;02
Speaker 3
Hey, you’re only hired because my.

00;50;02;02 – 00;50;03;22
Speaker 1
Commissions are paying for you.

00;50;03;22 – 00;50;04;12
Speaker 2
Oh, no.

00;50;04;14 – 00;50;05;18
Speaker 3
It was just.

00;50;05;20 – 00;50;12;06
Speaker 1
Thank you for your time. Thank you for your service. And and it’s still a challenging time.

00;50;12;06 – 00;50;15;23
Speaker 3
I don’t see where we’re at today. We may have.

00;50;15;23 – 00;50;17;27
Speaker 1
Another set of layoffs in the industry.

00;50;18;02 – 00;50;20;01
Speaker 3
Right. The Fed has done what.

00;50;20;01 – 00;50;24;17
Speaker 1
They’ve done for the reason. And I really believe the only way.

00;50;24;20 – 00;50;25;19
Speaker 3
Were truly going to.

00;50;25;19 – 00;50;42;09
Speaker 1
Hit that recession button. In my opinion, everyone has different opinions is when we see unemployment go up, right? Just like we had an unemployment, what was it? ADP came out with numbers of 325,000 jobs this week. What happened to our rates? They lost.

00;50;42;12 – 00;50;45;08
Speaker 3
Right then we see the real.

00;50;45;08 – 00;50;47;18
Speaker 1
Numbers that came out right and.

00;50;47;24 – 00;50;49;23
Speaker 3
90% of those numbers were part.

00;50;49;23 – 00;50;58;10
Speaker 1
Time employment’s. Right. And and when you’re looking at it from an economist perspective or from the Federal Reserve.

00;50;58;12 – 00;50;59;27
Speaker 3
They only see.

00;51;00;02 – 00;51;05;03
Speaker 1
Wins and losses on the board. They don’t really see that these individuals were 40 hour workers. Now they’re part.

00;51;05;03 – 00;51;07;21
Speaker 3
Time workers and other underemployed.

00;51;07;24 – 00;51;13;07
Speaker 1
So what have we been seeing the last two days? We’ve been seeing the markets rebound due to some of that data.

00;51;13;10 – 00;51;19;20
Speaker 3
Bounce off that data. So, you know, I don’t believe that we will see lower interest rates.

00;51;19;20 – 00;51;39;24
Speaker 1
But until the expectation of goes up and I know some players just here in the Valley, one particular lender doing very, very well and has purchased some companies here in the marketplace. And and I’m hearing that they’re getting rid of eight 900.

00;51;39;24 – 00;51;41;27
Speaker 3
People in the next 24 to 48 hours.

00;51;41;29 – 00;51;59;16
Speaker 2
Yeah, there’s a there’s a company that just I won’t say the name. Well, it won’t even be have any relevance by the time three weeks from now that this you know, we get this Ed now but you know the there’s another company that that they’re not making payroll they’re doing paper checks. Their warehouse lines got cut off yesterday.

00;51;59;18 – 00;52;01;04
Speaker 3
Ouch.

00;52;01;06 – 00;52;22;10
Speaker 2
You know, they’re in such bad shape that they they’re not paying their leases anymore and they’re still trying to hold on trying to find a buyer or try and get an infusion of cash. And I think that everybody was kind of holding on to the rates were going to change in June. Now we’re in August and it hasn’t happened.

00;52;22;13 – 00;52;22;29
Speaker 3
Yeah, in.

00;52;22;29 – 00;52;40;29
Speaker 2
Fact, it actually got worse. And so I think it’ll get worse between now and and end of year. But what I do know and remember me saying this is that we will have there’s no way we’re going into an election year with this situation. Well, you know what I mean.

00;52;41;00 – 00;52;45;04
Speaker 3
The Dems want to win. They’re going to have to pull something that’s either back pocket.

00;52;45;04 – 00;52;47;24
Speaker 2
So because affordability is such an issue.

00;52;47;26 – 00;52;48;11
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00;52;48;14 – 00;53;03;28
Speaker 2
And there’s no way we will go into an election year like this I think worse case by March. But I think it’s going to happen sooner and we’ll see what happens. But I think you know, we’ve been in this industry long enough. Something will happen in a world that drives rates down.

00;53;03;29 – 00;53;04;11
Speaker 3
Sure.

00;53;04;14 – 00;53;26;10
Speaker 2
And, um, but let me ask you, you know, Adrian, you know, before we close out, I do. There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask, you know, different guests, and I’m so interested in your story. Like, tell me a little bit about you and your your routine. Like, what time do you wake up? What time do you get in the office?

00;53;26;12 – 00;54;05;04
Speaker 2
And what does that day look like? When do you wrap up? When do you spend time with your kids? And the reason I ask those questions is because I believe that that success comes from habits. And if the habits are, I roll in at ten and I leave at three, then your numbers are going to reflect, right? So when I’m talking to one of the top producers in the country who’s dealing with the hardest clientele to assist, what is their day look like to you and how do you how do you how do you plan that?

00;54;05;07 – 00;54;09;11
Speaker 1
So for me, obviously, I don’t really plan it anymore. It’s just ingrained in me.

00;54;09;15 – 00;54;12;02
Speaker 2
Okay, good. Yes.

00;54;12;05 – 00;54;13;22
Speaker 3
Average day. I probably wake up about five.

00;54;13;22 – 00;54;14;10
Speaker 1
45 in the.

00;54;14;10 – 00;54;15;17
Speaker 2
Morning. Okay.

00;54;15;19 – 00;54;32;02
Speaker 1
I’m checking emails, maybe responding to emails that I can respond to later. Right. Because everyone likes to email late at night. So I respond to those emails. I check social media, I kind of follow up on my people that I follow, right? My tribes.

00;54;32;04 – 00;54;34;27
Speaker 2
Yeah. So far I haven’t got any likes from you, but.

00;54;34;29 – 00;54;42;08
Speaker 3
I’m sorry about that. Then at that point I just get ready for work. As I’m getting ready for work, I’m.

00;54;42;08 – 00;54;49;28
Speaker 1
Filtering phone calls, answering questions, doing whatever I need to do. I have about a 40 minute drive from my home to my to my branch.

00;54;49;28 – 00;54;51;10
Speaker 2
So you go you go to the branch every day.

00;54;51;10 – 00;54;54;26
Speaker 1
Every day. Every day. And where is your work?

00;54;54;28 – 00;54;56;02
Speaker 2
Where do you live? Where is your branch?

00;54;56;02 – 00;55;00;08
Speaker 3
So I live in Arcadia. Okay. Right. So I’m 56 in Indian school, right?

00;55;00;10 – 00;55;00;25
Speaker 2
So the rich.

00;55;00;25 – 00;55;02;03
Speaker 3
People live and.

00;55;02;05 – 00;55;02;24
Speaker 2
Are rich people.

00;55;02;24 – 00;55;05;09
Speaker 3
Houses. And I work on 83rd.

00;55;05;09 – 00;55;06;01
Speaker 1
Avenue in Bel Air.

00;55;06;03 – 00;55;20;13
Speaker 3
Oh, on the other side of the world. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That that side of the world, especially from very close to L.A.. Absolutely. And so my kids there, we had Disneyland. Yeah, but for me, I take that 40 minute drive to the office.

00;55;20;13 – 00;55;23;28
Speaker 1
And from the office to do my follow up calls.

00;55;23;29 – 00;55;26;11
Speaker 2
Got it. Jesse, you’re such. You’re busy the whole time.

00;55;26;11 – 00;55;27;07
Speaker 3
Busy the whole time.

00;55;27;11 – 00;55;31;07
Speaker 1
I don’t even think I’ve turned the radio on in that car for years now. And it’s.

00;55;31;07 – 00;55;32;05
Speaker 3
Just following up on.

00;55;32;05 – 00;55;35;27
Speaker 1
Clients and following up on realtors and following up on contracts and.

00;55;36;00 – 00;55;37;17
Speaker 3
Calling. I try to get all of.

00;55;37;17 – 00;55;42;01
Speaker 1
That done because I know when I get to the office, something’s waiting for me.

00;55;42;04 – 00;55;45;02
Speaker 3
Right? So guess I get to the office and I have.

00;55;45;02 – 00;55;58;12
Speaker 1
Some problem child files either on my team or in my branch. And then I’m now getting Valerie Ballard and trying to fix problems for loan officers and for clients and for everyone under the sun. And then.

00;55;58;12 – 00;56;01;18
Speaker 3
Right around 12, I start working.

00;56;01;18 – 00;56;06;09
Speaker 1
On my own personal production, which a lot of people, especially top producers.

00;56;06;10 – 00;56;07;25
Speaker 3
Is like, You take care of yourself before.

00;56;07;25 – 00;56;29;15
Speaker 1
You take care of everyone else. And I’m kind of the opposite. I want to take care of everybody else so that now I can take care of myself and my team. Yeah, I have team members that are working, you know, from 8 to 8 or 8 to 5 or whatever their schedules allow. And they’re doing a lot of the follow ups and a lot of the calls that I can’t get to on one given day.

00;56;29;17 – 00;56;31;08
Speaker 3
And really I’m just making phone calls and.

00;56;31;08 – 00;56;34;25
Speaker 1
I’m trying to stay relevant and I’m trying to touch base with people, clients.

00;56;34;27 – 00;56;37;15
Speaker 3
Picking up the phone when it’s not ringing.

00;56;37;17 – 00;56;38;20
Speaker 2
Do you eat in the office?

00;56;38;22 – 00;56;41;08
Speaker 3
I typically get food in the office.

00;56;41;08 – 00;56;43;28
Speaker 1
If it wasn’t for my team, I probably wouldn’t eat during the day.

00;56;43;28 – 00;56;45;26
Speaker 3
I’m one of those people that doesn’t need to eat.

00;56;45;26 – 00;56;50;14
Speaker 2
I take 5 minutes and I like as fast as I can because I’m not taking lunch breaks.

00;56;50;18 – 00;56;53;25
Speaker 3
And I’m probably in the car depending on the day, anywhere from.

00;56;53;25 – 00;56;56;19
Speaker 1
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the way home. Yeah.

00;56;56;21 – 00;56;57;20
Speaker 3
Right.

00;56;57;22 – 00;57;05;26
Speaker 1
And that’s, that’s a fail on my part because half of the time I get home, my kids are already tucked in bed. Right. And my kids are small.

00;57;06;03 – 00;57;07;00
Speaker 3
You know, there’s.

00;57;07;02 – 00;57;08;17
Speaker 1
We have a 7 to 10.

00;57;08;19 – 00;57;09;29
Speaker 3
A 13 year old.

00;57;10;01 – 00;57;20;15
Speaker 1
Right. And I’ve lost a lot of their life because I’ve been dedicated a lot of my time and my energy to my and my business. And.

00;57;20;20 – 00;57;29;27
Speaker 2
But are you still we talked about this, but are you still are you still closer to your kids than your parents were with you?

00;57;29;29 – 00;57;31;29
Speaker 3
Naturally, Yeah, because my parents were never home.

00;57;31;29 – 00;57;34;03
Speaker 1
They’re always working just to try to keep the lights on.

00;57;34;03 – 00;57;41;20
Speaker 2
It’s weird how we follow in that footsteps, but I will say we’re, I think men today, even in Latino culture, are different with their kids.

00;57;41;27 – 00;57;42;02
Speaker 3
Sure.

00;57;42;06 – 00;57;57;07
Speaker 2
Than what we were. I wasn’t talking to my kids the way I mean, my dad wasn’t talking to me. No, no harm, to him. You know, he just wasn’t brought up that way. But I didn’t have they’re my kids and I have really close deep relationships where I just don’t think we had that with our with our, you know, parents.

00;57;57;10 – 00;58;02;05
Speaker 2
Yeah, but, you know, but we are hard on ourselves about it. Like, we all wish that we had more time.

00;58;02;06 – 00;58;07;17
Speaker 3
Absolutely. So. So for me, weekends. Yeah, right. I’m the weekend warrior, dad. Yeah, right.

00;58;07;17 – 00;58;12;16
Speaker 1
And I want to spend time with them. And and in some cases.

00;58;12;19 – 00;58;14;21
Speaker 3
You know, at the 13 year old, I might have missed the.

00;58;14;21 – 00;58;18;11
Speaker 1
Boat on my 13 year old. Right. Because at 13, you don’t want to hang out with your dad and your mom.

00;58;18;11 – 00;58;27;26
Speaker 3
Oh, yeah. Yeah. You’re on TV or you’re gaming or, you know, you’re on your phone or whatever these 13 year old kids do these days. But yeah, the relationship is.

00;58;27;26 – 00;58;30;25
Speaker 1
Different from what your parents said because your parents talk to you more as.

00;58;30;25 – 00;58;31;13
Speaker 3
Your kid.

00;58;31;16 – 00;58;32;04
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;58;32;06 – 00;58;36;11
Speaker 1
And I feel like I’m talk to my kids more like if they’re my friends.

00;58;36;11 – 00;58;36;23
Speaker 2
They’re good.

00;58;36;23 – 00;58;38;16
Speaker 1
People that I can relate to a little bit more.

00;58;38;16 – 00;58;42;07
Speaker 2
Ray I’ll tell you what, our 13 year olds aren’t doing the stuff we were doing.

00;58;42;09 – 00;58;44;08
Speaker 1
Oh, man, I was running the streets at 13.

00;58;44;08 – 00;58;49;00
Speaker 3
I’m glad I am glad that kids are doing what we were. We were because.

00;58;49;00 – 00;59;14;12
Speaker 2
It was like we were like doing adult stuff at that time. Yeah, Stuff that was straight up. Adult stuff. Yeah, dude, You know, I will say that, you know, what I’m hearing from you is, you know, Rene Rodriguez says this. You know, the work life balance is bullshit, you know, And I and it triggers me when he says it, but he’s like, ask anyone who’s succeeding right now if they have work life balance, nobody’s going to tell you.

00;59;14;12 – 00;59;14;25
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;59;14;28 – 00;59;17;21
Speaker 3
And it’s funny because I was in that I was in that as I.

00;59;17;21 – 00;59;33;12
Speaker 1
Was in that presentation. And when he said that, it hit me like a ton of bricks. And I’ve been trying to achieve that work life balance because I owe it to my family. But then when I see the flip side of that coin, it’s a lot worse than what it could be today.

00;59;33;15 – 00;59;47;16
Speaker 2
Our kids aren’t our kids. Our kids have an opportunity different from what we did. And the question is, is do they grow up with the same hunger? Do they grow up with the same? You know, they’re probably to be smarter, faster, quicker, sure. But they’re never going to be as hungry as we were growing up, you know? And so I don’t know, man.

00;59;47;16 – 01;00;03;18
Speaker 2
I don’t know what the right answer is. But I will tell you this. You are doing everything that I think every loan officer should be doing right now. And if you want work life balance, you do it in the next rally.

01;00;03;20 – 01;00;04;10
Speaker 1
Yeah.

01;00;04;13 – 01;00;23;07
Speaker 2
But right now you got to grind. Yeah. And and do it the right way. Do it with the right mental health you know use you said you work out and honestly if I skip a day of working out, I feel it. I feel like my brain isn’t right. I feel like I didn’t have that release. And I think people need to focus on themselves.

01;00;23;08 – 01;00;41;03
Speaker 2
They need to, you know, invest time into their wellbeing if they want to if they want to do this, that, you know, Tom very said it said a really great thing. He said, you know, when a when we get into times like this I tell my wife for the next six months, it’s going to be rough, but I’m going to I’m going to prospect more than I ever prospect.

01;00;41;05 – 01;00;58;06
Speaker 2
I’m going to work out harder than I’ve ever worked out. And you’re not going to see me as much as you see me, but this is how we’re going to survive. The trick is, is that you got to take the good times and get the balance. Then, you know, take the vacations, take the time with your family. Right.

01;00;58;08 – 01;01;30;10
Speaker 2
But, man, I am I’m proud that you came to the studio today because I know it’s literally, you know, buys you another hour of your day back to your office. Yeah. So thank you for doing this. And, and and I hope that somebody out there here’s your story and is inspired by it. For those of you that want to see this live, we are on my YouTube page, the Chris Martin and Adrian Gastelum right the same right I was I was a.

01;01;30;11 – 01;01;31;21
Speaker 3
Gastelum, Gastelum and.

01;01;31;22 – 01;01;33;18
Speaker 2
Gastelum. I want to say I got Adrian.

01;01;33;18 – 01;01;35;09
Speaker 3
Gastelum all the same. So same.

01;01;35;09 – 01;01;35;18
Speaker 1
To me.

01;01;35;24 – 01;01;58;27
Speaker 2
Yeah. Let me get my my notes here because I want people to follow you. Let’s see, we got if you’re looking for him on IG, it’s eight. Yeah, it’s 80. No, the website is 18 Millones dot com Instagram is Nova. Home loans underscore the A-Team A is for Adrian. I’m assuming.

01;01;58;27 – 01;01;59;24
Speaker 3
Adrian and then.

01;01;59;24 – 01;02;18;22
Speaker 2
Adrian. And and there you go. And on Facebook it’s the team Nova. Nova is a company he works for. He has been there for 12 years. He is serving the community in the best way. Adrian, thank you, man, for sharing your story with us. Thank you for coming in and inspiring people on how to be better at what they’re doing.

01;02;18;25 – 01;02;30;14
Speaker 2
And it’s a journey and I love that you’re coming in with saying, you know, there’s still a lot to work on. Absolutely. I hope we get you back on. I love to hear the next iteration of your story, man, but thank you so much for sharing it today.

01;02;30;14 – 01;02;43;09
Speaker 1
Yeah, no, thank you. Thank you. And you know, if I can leave you with something going back to that family, right? Those eight kids, I’ve helped them purchase homes so there’s something that I did, right? I got.

01;02;43;11 – 01;02;44;18
Speaker 3
To attorneys.

01;02;44;21 – 01;03;06;18
Speaker 1
One architect, two doctors out of that family. And I feel the pride, Ed, that because of what I helped, that family’s through my first transaction and now they’re all very successful individuals and citizens that I feel like I had my hand in, that you did?

01;03;06;18 – 01;03;36;00
Speaker 2
I mean, having putting a family into a home skyrockets. The probable success of the kids that are in that family than to be in a dilapidated hut on a on a dairy farm or in an apartment to apartment to apartment be yanked out of schools, giving them wealth and equity problem. I bet. I bet if you go back to that family, they were a home equity out to put those kids through schools.

01;03;36;03 – 01;03;42;01
Speaker 1
Actually I’ve asked that question yeah no red scholarships for all these kids. And and in a lot of.

01;03;42;01 – 01;03;43;18
Speaker 3
Cases these kids have.

01;03;43;18 – 01;04;07;13
Speaker 1
Said to me in their transactions. Right. They’re very thankful. Yeah. And they know that there’s tons of lenders out there. But I provided them a vision for them to see beyond what they were able to see as little kids. And for me, that should be a message to everyone that’s like, Don’t give up, man in yourself. Yeah, and and no one cares about you more than you.

01;04;07;15 – 01;04;27;13
Speaker 1
So take care of you. That balance doesn’t have to be your life work balance. But I think it has to be that mental balance. Yes. And as long as you have air in your lungs and you can breathe in and breathe out, today’s a good day. Yes. So keep on pushing through. Keep on breaking through. Don’t give up.

01;04;27;16 – 01;04;31;26
Speaker 1
And again, the fruit is a lot sweeter when you’ve paid your dues.

01;04;31;26 – 01;04;38;04
Speaker 2
Hell, yeah. I love that, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, man. I appreciate you. Thank you. Today. Take care. This is powerful.

01;04;38;10 – 01;04;38;28
Speaker 1
My pleasure.

01;04;39;04 – 01;04;47;23
Speaker 2
Everybody, have a great day. Check this out. Like, subscribe. Hit that five-star button. I appreciate you guys listening. Thank you.