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Tony Thompson: Hey guys, it's Tony Thompson. to another episode of Chasing Yaccons. Hey, it's Tony Thompson, your host for Chasing Excellence. Welcome back to another episode of Chasing Excellence. I'm really excited to have my guest today, Brian DeWall, who's the president, senior loan officer of Maverick Lending Solutions in Denver, Colorado. Brian, thanks for joining me today, man. Tony, great to see you, man. I'm ⁓ excited and honored to ⁓ to be here, and I really appreciate the invitation. Well, well, first of all, You you know, you happen to kind of reside in in in in two of my favorite places, ⁓ Colorado, Denver, ⁓ as well as sometimes in Florida as well. So ⁓ you know, ⁓ where are you located today, Brian? ⁓ at the moment I am ⁓ just outside of Denver, Colorado. Great, great. Well let's ⁓ let's jump right into it, man. I'm really excited about our our conversation today and and time that you and I spent prior to this, just really ⁓ chopping it up and getting to know each other. Maverick Lending Solutions. That's how'd you come up with the name? You know, ⁓ I'm ⁓ I'm a little unorthodox, right? A little outside the box. And ⁓ I'm gonna I'm gonna glance on my notes so I can see this, but a maverick is an independent person who refuses to follow conventional rules, standards, or customs of a group. So I mean, you don't you don't know me all that well, but that's that's me to a T, right? I'm not a big ⁓ fan of of the man telling me how to do and I'm like, you know, my son came up with it, right? Bless his heart. He's the one that came up with Maverick. And then we looked it up and I'm like, dude, that's totally us. Let's let's go. So if I was to talk to your parents, they would tell me, yep, Brian is definitely a mare he was definitely a Maverick when you were growing up. He never cared at all about rules or anything that's that's remotely close. And ⁓ yeah, it it fits it fits me pretty well. You know, we would we would get along well, man, if we were growing up together as kids. That's right. ⁓ And it's always very interesting how that's why I love asking the question, how everyone comes up with their name, man. Right. ⁓ because you know, I love to hear the story behind the story. ⁓ and speaking of the story, every one of us have a story about how we got into the mortgage industry. Yeah. Brian, what's your story, man? I'm gonna try and keep this short and sweet. So ⁓ in my early late teens into early twenties, I was the a service manager at a bicycle shop. Think, you know. Old school pedal bike kind of a thing. And ⁓ I had a custom order for a gentleman who bought a couple of nice high-end bikes for he and his wife, liked my style and kind of the, you know, listened and made suggestions kind of a thing. Turns out he owned a ⁓ mortgage broker shop, ⁓ recruited me to teach me the industry. This is back in the early two thousands. We would do tills by hand, GFEs by hand. ⁓ I still use, no joke, I still use an HP twelve C calculator that he taught me how to invest. Yeah. So he he brought me into the industry. I think I closed a loan or two in the first year or something when we first started. ⁓ and that's that's really how I got started was just ⁓ a local broker here that took me under his wing and and showed me a few things. And I mean that was 20-some years ago. So here we are. And and now you're a consistent top producer, ⁓ broker owner, you know, getting ready to expand your brokerage and into different states as well. So first of all, man, kudos and congratulations to you, Brian, on on your success. And and the journey thus far, ⁓ as well. When you think about today's market, yeah. What do you see, Brian, as the biggest challenge for an originator right now? You know, I think the biggest challenge is that we we got really, really spoiled during the COVID years, right? When when rates were in the twos and the threes and and you know the the The news puts it out there that it's a terrible time. And I see clips online and social media about, you know, these markets and those markets are just terrible. And it's like there's just enough bad information out there I think that can get to folks sometimes, whether it's social media or otherwise. ⁓ but I think there's some other challenges too, just in having folks, you know, that have a three percent rate. How do we walk away from that? So I think that's a challenge, but it's also something that we're seeing ⁓ more and more kind of release with, if that makes sense. Yeah. You know, it i ⁓ you're absolutely right. I was in the actual an Uber earlier today and my Uber driver happened to be a a former US airman and ⁓ he was talking about ⁓ he he purchased a home back in two thousand and five or excuse me in twenty twenty and ⁓ you know, I said in I'm in Dallas today. So shout out to the big D, Dallas, Texas. And he was talking about he's not gonna be able to leave his house 'cause he has this awesome rate, right? Although he would love to move. somewhere else. ⁓ he just don't know if it's if he can give that rate up. And so it's very interesting when when you think about the noise that is out there in just regards to ⁓ that now's still a great time to own a home, to to buy a home, ⁓ and finance a home as well. And so ⁓ I dig that. I'm gonna pivot a little bit, Brian. ⁓ I'm sorry, go ahead. Well I was just gonna say, you know what, another added piece to some of that is just the affordability, right? You you and I have both been in this a long time and You know, from a from a really basic level, it's as hard right now to buy a house as it ever has. So, you know, a combination between, you know, where rates are and sale and and home prices are in relation to with where income is, the combination of those three things has made it really, really hard over the last couple of years. So I was just gonna add that in. I would agree with that, but you know, one of the things I always tell originators is that no matter what, the market still bears a
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huge opportunity out there. You know, and and it I mean, here's deal. The the Uber driver who I was talking about, ⁓ he was a retired ⁓ Air Force ⁓ officer. Ron, in 2020, he told me he was a first-time home buyer. Wow. So he went 20 years through the armed services with the Air Force. Yep. Before he purchased his first home. Crazy. Wow. So that me realize because we were talking, he's like, What do you do? And ⁓ you know, told him that I was in the mortgage industry and we started chapping it up. But when he told me that he was a first time home buyer in twenty twenty when he retired from the army, my lights and bails went off saying, Man, you just never know. The market is so full of people who are looking and maybe just didn't recognize that they can own a home. Even though there's affordability, there's still opportunity out there as well. Agreed. Agree 100%. You know, I'm gonna pivot a little bit and and talking about top ⁓ producers and and and and and and really staying consistent in terms of of growing your business, which you've done over your career. ⁓ and again, congratulations for that, Brian. How do you stay focused or how do you stay disciplined? It's a great question. ⁓ number one for me is accountability, right? I I ⁓ got really fat and really happy during the COVID years. And to be honest with you, after that I took some time off. So ⁓ not not necessarily time off. I was still working and employed, but I I took my foot off the gas big time. Very complacent, very kind of lazy, if you will. And then I got back into coaching. So ⁓ a as in I'm being coached ⁓ with some accountability. The the two words that you just mentioned that were key for me in there were ⁓ consistency of discipline, right? So for me. Having the accountability to prove my consistency and discipline is all I need. ⁓ I I track a lot of the ⁓ activities that I do and not only track it, but prove it to somebody that holds me accountable at a very high level. Yeah. And you you know, one of the things I find out and I always talk about is that ⁓ on any given day, on any given day, our business can change. ⁓ the market can change, ⁓ sometimes d dramatically change, right? and and a lot of times I tell LOs and originators, your job should always be making sure that no matter what day of the week it is, and on any given day, whatever changes doesn't become a spiral to you not being able to achieve your success. And ⁓ and it's really important, even when you're at the top of your game, to continue to elevate your game because on any given day, I mean heck again, today I got a call. Originator doing great volume. Tony, my builder just sold a subdivision. It was 25% of my my my loans that I was counting for this year. Help. Yeah. I need to recover. I don't have a plan B. I need to figure out what to do. And again, two weeks ago, hey man, he's fat and happy. It's great. You know, I'm doing well. You know, I I got a lot of business right now on any given day. And and so staying disciplined in this industry, because you can't get complacent with with your own success, realizing that on any given day that success ⁓ could change overnight. True. Very true. Earlier we talked about Brian challenges, but what are you excited about in terms of the market ⁓ place as an originator right now? Yeah, I mean this is super basic, but the amount of people that have left our business in the last two or three years has has been amazing. Right. Like that's a really easy kind of a cheat code for ⁓ you know, w we have an opportunity to go out there and find all of this business and, you know, bless those guys. I hope they can find a way to come back. But, you know, it's made it a little easier that some of these folks have left the business. ⁓ you know, for us that have stuck through it and and stuck around and and been able to, you know, find new sources and new folks to work with. ⁓ it there's a giant opportunity there. Love it, love it. And and I do believe that ⁓ at the end of the day. We are entering into a a period in our business where being average is not good enough. Agree. You know, I'm gonna say that again. If you are average, chances are the consumer will probably not get to you or know you. So being average is no longer good enough. That's why our podcast is called Chasing Excellence, man. ⁓ it's about getting better, one percent better each and every day. ⁓ I love that theory. Right. And it's one of those where we've seen, you know, a lot of our industry have these crazy production numbers, even though it's the most challenging that a lot of us have seen. There's a lot of business out there. And it seems like the fat are getting fatter, which is which is fun to see. You know, Brian, what what would be that one piece of advice? We've got a lot of people watching in the audience. ⁓ but you know, for that guy, girl that's trying to get to that next level and the never level after that, where you are on that pinnacle ⁓ of excellence. What would be the one thing that you would tell her or him today to just focus on? That's a great question. ⁓ hands down, hire a coach. That's it. You know, the Kobe Bryant needed a coach, right? The one of the greatest skilled players of all time, Tom Brady called it the goat of football, needed a coach, right? Michael Jordan, I've studied a lot of these sports figures. It's fascinating to me. And, you know, they they all have great coaches and they were all great performers because they had great coaches. You know, there's ⁓ something called The corporate athlete I like to refer to. Many originators and many salespeople really don't consider themselves and look at their their business, their life as a corporate athlete. And I think in any situation, no matter who you are, heck, I have a coach. You know, I coach, but I have a coach. And the reason for that is really simple. You want to always focus on becoming better. Kobe, as you said, MJ. Those guys didn't stop because they had one great
season, one great game. That drove them to become better because they wanted to see how could how how good they could become. Or they love competition. They love the art of pursuing excellence. And so that's one of the things that I tell originators all the time when I when I talk to them, I say, if you are stopped. Would you be a buy, a sell, or a whole? If you were a stock today on Wall Street, would you be a buy, sell, or hold? And so huge opportunity ⁓ in our industry. I don't think originators and salespeople invest enough in themselves to really give them the life that they deserve and achieve the success and opportunity that they can achieve. At a much greater level. So many times in our industry, I I believe people, we are stuck with mediocrity. Hey, I did 10 loans this month, I'm good. Or, hey, Tony, I just want to do my one or two loans a month. Cool. But at some point, you mentioned earlier, Brian, with technology, with competition, being average is not going to be good enough. Agree. And your two loans will not maybe be there. Two years from now, because of technology, because the consumer is smarter than you are in terms of how they are approaching the most one of the most important ⁓ decisions of their life. True story. Financing their home. Yep. So I love it. And what you said about a coach. ⁓ I always tell people you've got to invest in yourself. Have to. You know, Brian, I tell you, man, it's been great chopping it up. One of things that I love to do is never leave ⁓ without talking about gratitude. What are you most grateful for? ⁓ man, I could get ⁓ I could get ⁓ really emotional here really fast. So ⁓ for me, it's my wife. My wife is my greatest cheerleader, my biggest supporter. Her heart is as big as Texas, right here in Dallas. ⁓ she's just this little petite thing with a with a pretty smile and blonde hair. And man, I can't tell you. So she and I are are literally 15-year-old ninth grade sweethearts. She has been behind me. She is the biggest supporter. She sacrifices. She's just, whoo, God's gift. You know, I love those stories. And ⁓ you know, that's what life is about as well. One of the great things that we we each have a chance to do every life, every day is just make a difference in other people's lives. And ⁓ and and so congratulations to you, your wife, ⁓ you know, the team, what you built. And ⁓ I tell you, man, we're gonna look forward to continuing to chop it up. When I'm in Denver, you know, we'll we'll grab some coffee and and and have a bite to eat. But but certainly, Brian, ⁓ I wanna thank you for coming on, sharing your journey. Looking forward to getting you back and and just really continuing to to add some value ⁓ to the audience in terms of just really how you are chasing excellence and what excellence looks like ⁓ in your world. So thank you again, Brian. ⁓ for joining me ⁓ for chasing excellence. I'm Tony Thompson, your host of Chasing Excellence, and I look forward to seeing you on our next episode. Take care. Whatever is necessary.