Business Innovators Radio - Interview with David R Williams, Senior Mortgage Loan Officer at Highlands Residential Mortgage

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

David Williams brings nearly forty years of knowledge, leadership, and home financing expertise to his role as Senior Loan Officer at Highlands Residential Mortgage. David’s experience in the mortgage industry spans decades; from loan origination to branch management and sales management, all the way to executive roles in regional and national loan production. He was recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Mortgage Executives in America by Mortgage Executive Magazine in 2013, 2014, and 2015.He has been a student, coach, and facilitator of the IMP/Integrative Mastery Program, mastering and training the IMP Principles for the last 20 years. He has also completed Jack Canfield’s Train the Trainer Program to further enhance his leadership, training and coaching skills.David says, After 18 years in management, I am excited to return to personal production because of my love for people and helping them achieve their dream of home ownership.” He continues, “My position will allow me to use my leadership and relationship-building skills to help customers, both here in Colorado and across the country. Highlands is such a well-respected company in the industry – I’m glad I can help my clients get the homes they want, and to make a positive difference in the world every day.When he’s not working, David enjoys spending time with family and grandchildren, hiking, biking, and driving his cars.Learn more:https://www.highlandsmortgage.com/agents/dave-williams/https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrwilliams01/https://www.facebook.com/DavidRWilliamsHomeLoans/Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/elite-real-estate-leaders-podcastSource: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-david-r-williams-senior-mortgage-loan-officer-at-highlands-residential-mortgage

Welcome to the Elite Real Estate Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group, bringing you interviews with the best real estate and mortgage professionals, empowering you to understand the current trends in the housing market so that you make the American dream your reality. Enjoy today's episode. Welcome to the Elite Real Estate Leaders podcast. Today we have with us David R. Williams, who's a senior mortgage loan officer at Highlands Residential Mortgage. David, welcome to the program. Thank you so much.

Appreciate you having me. You are welcome. Well, I want to dive into what you do and how you do it and who you serve, but give us a little bit of your story and background. And how did you get into the mortgage industry? Well, I've been in the business for 43 years. Don't judge. I started when I was 12. No, not really.

I was blessed to get into the business right out of college. I went to work for a company that was doing financing and rap loans. and started that in Michigan. And then my ego brought me to Michigan because I was young and aggressive, had a very successful operation there, came to Colorado to open up an office to them here,

and I've been a top-producing loan officer since every company that I've worked for and then I've got into leadership running mortgage companies, top of the house, a second vice president of a primary mortgage company out of Texas. and then after doing that and traveling all over, I decided I wanted to get back to my first love. And that was originating loans, making it different in people's lives.

Yeah. You know, that's, you know, 43 years is a minute and a half. And so you've probably got some stories to tell through many downturns in the economy. And, you know, people get all up in arms about, oh, the rates are high, low. They're different every day. You know, we had the economic crisis in O.A. We had COVID. We have. there's all the thing. So when when the dust settles, I would venture to say that you could look back over all of those ups and downs and say, you know what, let's just have some good, solid advice and path forward and make good wise decisions and we move forward. You know, there's never a way that you're going to time the market. And should we do this or that with regarding the rates? I think that that your approach of teaching and educating people and kind of making a difference like you said, that's just a wonderful approach to take.

Well, and it's funny you say that, Mark, because I got into business in 1981, did loans at 16 and 17%. The first round of refinances were at 11 and a half, and when we hit 8%, we thought we hit the mother load, right? Yeah. I'll fast forward to the environment. And now, you know, loan officers that have gotten in the business in the last, you know, 10 plus years, they're like, oh, my God, what if interest rates go to 8 or 9%? And I kind of laugh going, yeah, guess what? People still need to buy houses. We'll figure it out.

You know, and it really is true. You know, you mentioned people buying house and making a difference in first-time home buyers. You know, when you start running the numbers and maybe you sit down with someone's financial advisor and CPA and show them, hey, what will having this real estate, you know, your dream of homeownership? What will that do for this person? Well, we've got equity buildup. We've got, you know, tax write-offs. How will that impact? And yes, having the best possible rates is good, but don't sit on the sidelines. until the rates hit a certain magical number because when will that? And you're just wasting that time. So what is your process of educating your first-time homebuyer clients when they start looking around and then start hesitating on, well, what if the rates could be better? Yeah, so I tell them, they've got to get into play now. I mean, if you wait, we're already starting to get into the buying season. So if you wait, we're going to be back into, even though inventory levels still aren't where they need to be, they're going up. And people now that interest rates have kind of gotten into the, you know, high sixes right now.

People are starting to come back into the marketplace. And so you want to get into a situation now so that you're not in a competitive situation where there's multiple offers. And then if interest rates come down like they think they're going to, you know, a million dollar question is, is that, you know, the third or fourth quarter, you're going to always have the opportunity to refinance. But if you get in now, you're at least locking in that price of that home now and you get a good opportunity to purchase a home you want to get into.

Yeah, for sure. So make the wise decision with what is in front of you. What are some of the misconceptions that first time home buyers have? Like maybe, well, I don't have 20% down. Or what are some of those things that people think? But then once you educate them, they're like, oh, now that sounds wonderful. Yeah, I think that's the biggest one is they think they got to have 20% down and how am I ever going to put that amount of money down? And what I do things about first time home buyers that I really like.

And a lot of times guys that have been in business as long as I have go, why do you still do that? And I do it for two reasons. One, because you're making a huge impact in their life. And you've got to start the wealth building for these people somewhere because they don't have a lot of opportunity. And so when you educate them about what programs are available for them with first-time homebuyer down payment assistance, when you talk to them about wealth building, when they talk about, you know, generational wealth, you've got to get. get started somewhere. And so when you take the process, explain that to them, you know, light bulbs start going off. They start asking questions and they start realizing, oh, hey, I do have an opportunity to own a home where they may not have thought they could do that

before. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Well, let's think about this too. When someone is looking for their first home, that must mean that they're one day down the road could be a second home or a third home. or, you know, like, in other words, someone might decide to move because, you know, they, they had a couple kids and now they need a bigger place. Do you ever have someone talk to you about retaining the house they're in and using that as a rental because now they're seeing that some of that real estate investment and maybe cash flow is going to benefit them? Yeah, no, and that's, you know, all part of the education process and staying and continue contact with your borrower about that opportunity to do a rental.

and what does that look like and what does having a tenant mean to you and all that type of stuff. So I think it's a long-term play. It's not one and done. I think if you're a good loan officer, you're continually staying in touch with your clients, you're finding out, you're connecting to them on social media. You're seeing them and their family's growing. You're touching base where you're at, you know, how you're enjoying the home. Do you need more space? You know, those type of questions so that, you know, when they are ready to go, you can look at the situation. Hopefully you've set them, up correctly so that they can look at that as a possibility of maybe moving in. You know, if they've got equity in the property, is there a way then the tops of equity in

there to go do that next house and still retain it? So I think, yeah, lots of education. Yep. So what are some of the loan programs for first-time home buyers that would help even, you know, like getting that rate lower or also cover some of that down payment as far as maybe some grant programs or low down payment programs? Yeah. So Chaffa is probably the most popular program because if you do their grant program with the second mortgage, you get up to 4% down to go toward your down payment and closing cost. And, you know, their FICO scores are lower on that program. There are some other programs that got a little bit different FICO score stuff, some different other types of program, USDA, if they're in rural areas. So I think you got in the

beginning just kind of really take your time, getting to know the client, build a relationship with them, find out, you know, what areas are they looking? seem to go in. Do they have any money available? What are options? Sometimes people, I talk with a buyer yesterday that had a 401k, significant amount of money in there and like, have you talked to them about you could borrow against your 401k, pay yourself back and use that money as some down payment. So I think, you know, once you take some time, you can come up with some other options. Sometimes there's even possibilities, you know, that there's a parents in the wing that might be able to give some money. So I think you just, for me anyway, the beginning of

part of just building a relationship with them and really getting to know them. I know a lot of loan officers say send them to a website, fill it out and then we'll go from there. Maybe I'm old school, but I just like starting with just a very informal, really get to know them. You know that our word, I think, is so important. And I think that people these days tend to just want to go click, click, download, sell, cash the commission check. And we know all the programs out there like, oh, landing, all of that. But talk a little bit about building relationships because I love saying this in the industry. It's like, oh, look, we're going to go to that closing next week.

Well, in reality, it's not a closing. It's an opening of that relationship or a continuing of the relationship because it's not the last time you see me. So what does relationship marketing mean to you and what does that look like? So I'm a little bit older school when I'm talking to a buyer. I have an intake sheet I've used for 100 years. Well, maybe not that long. But it really is kind of a template for me to kind of walk through the process with them.

And through that process, I'm building relationships. So it starts with the name and address, married kids. How old are the kids? You know, and if they're young, I'll make a joke if they're newborn. Oh, dark circles under your eyes. and I'm just trying to get a feel for if they start laughing with me or engaging with me, they're with me. If not, then that's my signal to kind of slow down and take a little bit more time with them. You want to go through jobs, you know, an engineer, you know, or a programmer,

I say, oh, okay, you've got to be really smart. And just, again, and I'm writing notes down at the bottom, if they share anything about, you know, family or why they're moving. just different things so that I can continue to build on that relationship because you're trying to get, you know, financial information from these people and they don't know you. So if you take your time and walk them through a process, you know, and, you know, a lot of times, you know, like ask you for Social Security and, you know, data birth, stuff like that, I mean, if I get them right way and set them up right, by the time I get done, I talk about next steps, which is where we get an actual pre-approval. And that's where I sent, you know, an email with a link to my online application and a list of things that will need. By the time I get to that place, they're comfortable with me and they're waiting to do that. Yeah.

So what are some of the things that you do maybe, I don't know, ongoing to nurture that relationship? Because once you've set that stage and the no like and trust is there, then you want to make sure that they are not feeling like, oh, well, David just got his transaction. and I've never heard from him. And, you know, well, you know, now I need to get an investment property or buy another house or I've got this friend at a church or the gym that need someone. But, yeah, he doesn't really seem like. So you want to set the stage the right way for repeat and referral business. What are some of those things that you're doing, not only to get in more business, but to deepen that relationship?

So I'm a little unusual. I like social media. It's a big part of who I am and branding myself. And so I'll connect with it. them. I'll look to see if they're on LinkedIn. I'll look to see they're on Facebook, because that gives me personal information about them. Then I have, you know, their closing dates in my phone. I have their birthday dates in my phone so that I'm making sure that I'm contacting them on those special days like birthdays, the anniversaries of the

closing of their own. Social media will let me know, you know, if there's an event with their child or something, you know, and then I do a postcard mailing every month just with valuable information that, you know, hopefully they keep, but it's branded with myself. And in my CRM, you know, stays in touch with them with different touch points. But mostly it's personal phone calls and connections. That's, that's something that you don't hear a lot about. You think all of this digital, if you are throwing things out there, a lot of times people are not taking the time to make that personal phone call. Yeah, I think, you know, I've been kind of known for all these years. The joke is me always calling on their birthdays. Like I'd be in an office and when I was in my management days,

I would still do that. My loan officer would just crack up going, you are relentless on that stuff, don't you? And I said, you know, it's funny. It's just what I do. Ironically, at a company that I was the EVP for, I got to know the corporate attorney real well. And his birthday was yesterday. And I always call him on his birthday. We used to joke about having Stalbuck's together. And he didn't answer the phone. and I just left him a nice message. And he texted me back this morning. He goes, you know, I just look forward now because I know you're going to call me every year on my birthday. It just makes me smile.

And then I just went a little deeper and just said, you know, his name's Todd. I said, Todd, it's just, you're one of those special people I remember from my time at the company. And I just want to thank you for being a good friend to me, you know. And that is, I don't know where that goes, right? But it generally is I truly enjoy the gentleman. So why not just keep that relationship? going forward, even though we don't work together anymore. And you just never know the connection and network that that brings where he's out there doing

something one day and go, oh, you need to talk to David, or here's an opportunity, or let me make this introduction. And with the dust settles, though, it's the right thing to do anyway. And with you saying that you do that, I'll bet you also do something else that many people don't tend to do. Handwritten notes. I do do that. Yep. I have handmade. I have a really good friend who makes custom cards. And they're about the price of a regular card that you go buy at a store. And so birthdays, anniversaries, say, you know, one of their kids graduated from high school or college. You know, they're just little personal touches. My penmanship is horrendous. And I've contemplated any other services out there that will take it. and print them for you. But I go, it's me. Like, this is who I am. I know it's really for me. It isn't

my secretary. It's Dave. And, you know, I print because I can't write legibly. And it's just, you know, they always appreciate that. It's just, and because it's a, it's, they're almost like 3D cards. Because they're unique, they hold on to them. Yeah. You know, and all these things that you're mentioning that it ties into a phrase that goes along with relationship building and marketing, which is your personal brand. Because your personal brand is not necessarily, look at the color of his website, his logo, his font, your brand goes into what people think of you when they think of you and what they expect from you. So it's a combination of all of that. So talk a little bit about what personal branding is and how you implement that.

So I'm really known for my positivity, inspiration, motivation. So I have three different Facebook pages. One's my personal page, which is all about that. I have my business page, which is geared toward, you know, anything with housing, financing, you know, housing tips, things like that. And then I have a speaking page. I enjoy speaking. So I have a page about that.

And it's different things from leadership standpoint and business development, personal development, things like that. But I really am known for making a difference in people's life. And that truly is my mission. And so on social media, that's what I'm known for and what I'm all about. And then that carries over then, you know, people want to do business where they know life and trust. They know who I am.

They know what I'm about. And so that builds that trust factor. And then, you know, truly, I mean, what's rewarding for me, aside from helping people get into their homes is. If you touch somebody, I tell people, if you're blessed enough to touch somebody's life and make a difference, that's great. But when you're making a purpose to do that every single day intentionally, that's huge. Because I literally in the morning, when I do my post, I think, who am I supposed to hear my message today, right? Yeah.

And inevitably, I'll get comments on the page or I'll get a message. Thank you. This is exactly what I needed today. And so then, you know, I've now just, I have two business coaches. I need a lot of help. One's a life coach. But, you know, they're like, you need to start talking about what you do. And so I also do homes for heroes, which is giving back to what I feel like philanthropically helping people that are most underserved and underpaid. And that's helping firefighters, teachers, police, military, health care workers. And so helping make a difference in their life for what they do for the community, helping them show how homeownership can be, you know, something that can really happen in their life. I recently did an event with one of my real estate partners for 35 preschool teachers. And I have grandkids, you know, and I was thanking them because they are making this huge impact on these young people's lives. and I use the example that I have one six-year-old that was kind of taken in home daycare

and his sister, three-year-olds, has always been in preschool and their night and day and how they relate to people and how their manners are. And so I think, you know, when you say that to them and you thank them for their service, it just for them, it's like, no one usually does that to them, right? And so you're making that connection so that when they do think about purchasing, at home, they go, oh, you know what, I got to call that Dave guy that came to visit us because he took time to thank me for what I was doing. So I think that's really important. I love it. Well, David, it's been so wonderful hearing from you, learning from you and your vast experience. If someone is listening to this going, you know, I want one of those personal

calls on my birthday or a handwritten note. And what's the best way they can learn more about you and reach out and connect with you? So I think you're going to connect my personal business page for Facebook, which is where if you really want to get a flavor for who I am, but my phone number is 303, 947, 1960. Just reach out. Give me a call. Let's just chat and see what I can do to help you. I love it. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you. I appreciate it, Mark. Thank you very much. It was a great opportunity for me, and I appreciate you. Thank you for listening to the Elite Real Estate Leaders podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group. To learn more about the topics mentioned on today's show,

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