Coffeez with Joe Shalaby - Funding a Loan is "EZ" with CEO Tano Kapedani | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby Ep. 4

Episode Date: February 2, 2024

Join us for a special episode of 'Coffeez for Closers' podcast where we sit down with Tano Kapedani, the CEO of EZ Fundings. In this conversation, Tano talks about how he manages to keep a strong balance between his busy work schedule and spending quality time with his family. He also shares how he provides his loan officers with the latest technology to help them succeed. Tune in to learn from Tano's experience on leading a balanced life and driving success in the digital age of the financial industry.This episode is hosted by Joseph Shalaby, Broker and CEO of E Mortgage Capital Inc., bringing a unique mix of business insight and a warm, family-like approach to the conversation. "Coffeez for Closers" is all about exploring what it takes to succeed in business while keeping personal values and relationships strong.Whether you are in the financial sector, starting your own business, or looking for tips on work-life balance, this episode is packed with stories, advice, and tips that can help you in your journey.Listen in as Tano Kapedani shares his practical advice on balancing work with family life and how the right technology can make a huge difference in business.Make sure to subscribe, like, and share this episode. Your support allows us to keep bringing valuable and relatable content to you!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What's up everybody. Welcome to Coffees for Closers, a show about visionaries, entrepreneurs, and of course, closers. Here we talk about their wins, their failures, and ultimately the story of their success. What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Coffees for Closers. Today I'm very, very happy to announce a very, very special guest, my good friend, another industry leader, Tano Capadani, One of the biggest inspirations I have, a person who I really, really have confided in, an industry leader, an innovator in the space, someone who's always growing, someone who's always driving innovation, someone who always is taking care of his clients, his employees, customer-centric, and mentor to many, one of the kindest souls in the mortgage industry. I want to welcome Mr. Tano Capadani. Thank you, Joe, for having me here. Thank you so much, Tano.

I'm really, really blessed to have you. you and blessed to have you as a friend and also a neighbor. So we're going to dive right into it. It's 2024. A lot of big things have happened and we're here, right? It's 2024. 2022 was tough for the mortgage industry. 2023 was tough. So 2020 was a tough year yet you still were very successful in 2022 and 2023. And one thing I really admire about you, Tano, is you're just like me. You're still a top originator. You're still an innovator. You're still in the weeds with your guys. So talk to me a little bit about how you were able to navigate through 2022 and 2023. And we're

here and now, we're going to talk about the domination strategy after this. Absolutely. So, as you know, the market definitely was slower in 2022 and 2023. I would say probably 23 was slower than 22. However, though, the downturn in the market, instead of us, you know, complaining and, you know, hearing all this, all that, as far as, you know, media and all the bad press that we got, the rates are 8%, this and that, it gave us a lot of time to focus in our business, to work actually inside the business versus in our clientele, right? So what do we do? time is slow. We changed CRMs. I revamped the whole thing. We got Salesforce. We got onboarding. It took us four or five months. It was a very painful experience, but in the end of the day, it was well worth it.

And now we're ready to take over 2024. Yeah, yeah. You invested a lot in your technology stack. And I remember talking about that. You're like, you know, we implemented the Salesforce strategy. And is that fully implemented now? Yes, it is. On all sides, operations, sales. Correct. So now what we do, we use the point of sale for InCampus. So as far as the internals go, they're working out in Compass, but all sales operate out of Salesforce. That's awesome. How long of a rollout? Because we're starting to build out our sales force right now. We're tying it into a bunch of other technology. How long did that take you to build out? I would say probably about good five to six months to put it together.

I'm just purely building that out. Correct. That's awesome. Now, one thing I really admire about what you're doing is you're still a big originator. Like you still do five plus million a month, running a bank, mortgage bank. You're still a top producer. So you're still in the weeds. You're still helping your guys innovate. Like walk me through, how are you still able to lead a big organization and still be a top originator? I mean, it has to do with a lot of time management as well. See, somebody in my tenure, 21 plus years in the business, I started in 2003 in January, actually.

Well, 21 years ago probably this month. So that being said, having, I mean, I had a lot of connections from the past. kept my relationships with brokers, builders, financial advisors, CPAs. So I constantly, constantly, constantly have, get referrals. I would say probably, you know, five, 10, 15 applications a day, right? That being said, having a business, obviously we cannot do it by ourselves. So I do have a team that we leverage. Let's say I have a compliance person, I have an operations person.

So I cannot do, I do a lot of sales and I have a business development person in charge as well. He runs the sales meetings. So I tend to minimize my time. I would say about three to four hours into the company, two to three hours in my personal business, and two to three hours investments or other stuff that I do. Yeah, and I'm going to talk about your investments because you're a big investor.

But I mean, like, your time management, your time blocking. And, you know, I remember your wife telling me, you were in front of the altar on your wedding day and closing deals. You know, she's like, he's the never stop. And I was like, man, Teno's just too, he's like my brother. But this is a thing, though, because the key to our success in our business, it's not just to, okay, I got few deals, I closed them, I made money, I'm investing. We have to stay humble and hungry every single time until we maximize our potential, until we know that's it. I cannot do it anymore.

And I don't see any, a lot of these top producers, they fall off two, three, four years. They're gone. Either they changed business or they went to flipping or whatever the case might be. Home loans is a passion to me. It's a passion to everybody that I bring on board. We discuss, we breathe loans every day and day out. That being said, everybody that came to our company, to my circle, their life changed. And I'm very happy to see that.

And I will keep changing lives. Every employee, every loan officer, everybody that comes in my circle. Because if mine changed, so can yours and anybody else's that come with, you know, probably, you know, from different businesses and different paths of lives. You know, Tano, this is one thing I admire about you. Everybody that works for easy fundings, they're a producer, and they're also a very big fan of you personally as a leader, as a servant leader, and that's something that you really embody and your servitude to your employees, like, they're diehard Tano fans.

I've never met anybody when I don't like Tano. Everybody loves Tano. See, well, thank you for that. Now, the thing is this, leadership is a very complex, you know, it's a very, it's a very, It can be confusing to a lot of people. I mean, being a loan officer or being a good leader, it might be two different things. But the way I look at it is this.

If I'm in the business of mortgage, I love my clients, right? If I go to the restaurant, I will respect and I will love the waiters or the waiter or the bartender. Or I will have all my respect to them, right? Why? Because they're serving me, right? Same thing for employees. Same thing for loan officers, right? Being a leader, it's something that I can say, I mean, I don't learn it.

You don't learn it in school. You kind of develop it by the good people that they are around you. So they lift me up as well. So it's like a mutual relationship. They make me better. I make them better. Yeah. And you know what?

And I could see that in the relationships you have with your loan officers, you've been doing such an incredible job really fostering these relationships with these guys. You know, you got guys that, you know, they don't care. It's like they're all being recruited all day, all your guys. It's like a shield around them. Yeah. And they don't care. you offer them more money.

I don't care. They're going to work for you because it's who's steering the ship. Your servant leadership mentality, it resonates and it has a huge impact on the people that work for you, on the community around you. And it's really something admirable that, you know, for me, you know, leading a company and having other leaders that have the same mindset. So it's always inspiring to be around guys that, you know, we're similar-minded. And, you know, one thing off note, I'll tell you guys.

I'll tell you guys, you know, the audience here, Tano speaks, what, six, seven languages? How many languages? A few, I would say five, yeah. Yeah, five languages. Can you imagine, guys, like, speaking five languages, that's like next level stuff right there. You know, so Tano's Albanian.

Talk to me about, like, the culture growing up in Albanian community, assimilating to the United States, and then not only just as a first-generation immigrant, but then also building, you know, an enterprise, like a big company. And so having navigated all that, all of the persecution you dealt with, you dealt with a lot through the years, you know, coming to the U.S. Tell me a little bit about the story there. I came in 1998 as an exchange student.

So it was actually a senior in high school. And I finished college. I finished university here. I mean, it's hard to go back and remember every little detail. But I can say this, that what kept me going is knowing I was going to be someone. and I was gonna go somewhere. And the reason why, because of my work ethics, right? I started as a busboy in the United States

when I came first, California, Rancho Comonga. I mean, I never took trash out, I never cleaned mirrors and do all that stuff, right? And obviously, you know, I come to a teenager from country, back home, we were from school straight to labor, basically, right? To pay my college and all that. Long story short, I can tell you this,

what kept me going is consistency and hard work. And based on that, you meet one person, another door opens, another opportunity comes. Every chance that came my way, I took it. I took it at my best abilities at that moment. And that's led me to where I am today. And I'm not even there where I want to go. And I have a bigger goal. You're just getting started.

That's exactly right. You're just getting started. And I see it. I see the success. I see the success. Me and you were talking the other day, it's like 2024 is our year. This is going to be a huge year for you. So, you know, and I admire that because I'm also an immigrant, but obviously I came very, very early.

I came at five. And then some of my, you know, I didn't have as many hurdles that you've had. So you've had more hurdles, but you're a true testament to outworking everybody, grit, you know, out hustling everybody. It's like you did it, you know, and like you came, you went from rancher, Kukamanga, busboy. Now you're a boss hog in Newport Beach and a big, big mansion, right? Just getting started, still just getting started. But that journey, I mean, that's a journey that's like unique to you, right? I don't, you know, how many, I think, and I was telling you, I'm like, I think there's two Albanians in all of Newport and Corona Del Mar.

And I know both of them. That's good. So let's talk 2024 strategy, right? This is our year. Like, talk to me about what the growth strategy you have and, you know, your text. strategy, your marketing strategy. What's in the playbook this year? What are we doing to dominate? Great topic. And we can talk for days on this one. But 2024, definitely I'm going all in on recruiting for sure. As an originator, what happened is that I have certain needs as a top

producer, right? What are those needs? Lone officer assistant, good processing, and a good database management. Can I do all three of them? Absolutely. Do I want to do all three of them? It's a waste of my time. It's not the best use of my time, right? As an originator, I want to make sure that every loan officers that come to the company, they don't have to worry about running DU, checking income, preparing files. I just want to make sure they talk to their clients, input their files incorrectly, and send it to other people to run DU, send pre-approval letters, do all that stuff. And that's exactly what I'm doing. I'm hiring a bunch of people for this. I'm having probably 15, 20 people, 17 people or so training

for this position. So every loan office that comes in, I already have seven LAAs. I'm going to have another seven or ten more. So every person that comes in, they basically have to come in, bring in the deal, and it's done. And I think by having somebody check income, prep your files, process for you, updates agents, works your CRM. I mean, I don't know what else to do for this your own office. You make it dummy stupid for a originator. If you cannot do that, then I don't know what else can you do when they should change professions, right? So you're basically, you're going to have like an LOA for every originator? Absolutely.

Not necessarily. Does it work, their CRM too? Absolutely, yes. Yeah, I mean, like, that's a big deal. Are you running into the issue where they're not even, they're not updating the CRM so they're going to notify the... I mean, we all know how the loan officers are. I mean, loan officers, I mean, I have even the company, I mean, I can call them right now

and pick up the phone. Oh, I'm busy. I'm like, we're busy and I see that we're working out at 2 p.m. on a Wednesday, right? So the problem is this. I mean, can they do it, of course? but I want to make sure that the platform is ready for them so they can succeed. I want to bring top producers. I want to bring hungry ones.

I want to mean people who want to work. They don't want to deal with paperwork. And we want to make sure that we can provide those services for them. You know, me and you, we have different ideologies on who we bring to EMC. Like, I'm very excited when I get someone that you want. It's like, if they meet Tannos caliber, then I'm like, dang, I brought in a top guy. So one thing I really admire about what you're doing is like you only want big originators. You're not like taking nobody's.

I mean, I'm not saying. You're even very boutique style. So I can, okay, I never been a numbers guy. A lot of numbers. I mean, I know you think different here and everybody has different business models and each one is different, right? But in my, the way I look at it, not that I don't want this and twosies, of course, because I can make him help make him three or four, right? What I do not want, I don't want to have more non-producers than producers, because then it's not a healthy environment in the workplace.

I don't want people who say, oh, I'm closing through this guy close five. I'm going to make those competitions every month, whatever we're closing, so people can elevate one another, right? And of course, you have out of ten people who got the license, maybe two or three can be rock stars. So I will never, you know, say that, oh, I don't want these people, absolutely. I want all the laws to come in. However, though, there is certain tasks, certain things that they have to do. do to be part of easy fundings, not just so I have my license and hang it, just a real estate agent, right? Yeah, yeah. You got, honestly, the caliber of loan originators you have at easy funding is all

big producers for the most part. So, you know, our model EMC, like we obviously we want big originators as well, but we're catering to independence and it's not that boutique feel, so we don't have that strict line of like you've got to be a big producer to even come over here. I know you're housing them. You're providing a lot of resources built in for them. You're helping them on technology. How are you helping them with marketing? Are you helping them with marketing, building relationships, that sort of thing? So what we do right now, we do have our easy library on our websites when the people come in.

We have all kinds of presentations from real estate agents, from builders, flyers, reels, congratulations, closings, holidays. All the branding, it's already there. They just have to put the code in there and they can click it. And it comes in their name with the real estate agent's name. It takes literally five minutes for our people to finish, 10 minutes. Everything is automated. So these are good stuff because you will never, oh, I need a fly, oh, I need this. They can go order it online.

We have a marketing team on standby, and they take care of them right away in the spot. As far as we also have events. I wouldn't say events, but we collect 30, 40, 50 agents at a time for certain loan officers. So we provide our business development manager, Matt Elman. It does a great job on meeting and showing tricks how to get business, all the online platform for all the agents, show them how to brand themselves, from Google search engines to all the way, how to pick up the leads and a lot of good stuff that it does for agents. So agents actually...

Real estate agents? Correct. So now... You have a real estate agent partnership. Correct. Nice. Correct. Correct. And are you feeding all the real estate agents to your loan officers? Yes. I have... Okay, this is a thing. We've got to make sure that our relationship stay intact, right? Meaning, I cannot give somebody I don't see every day a deal because I don't know where it is, right? If people come... come check into the office, if they participate in our meetings, if they give us our opinion, what can we do better, or I can see they're working, I see pre-approvals coming out,

these are the guys will definitely get their relationships, yes. I just don't hand it to anybody, no. Now, right now, easy fundings. How many LOs are you at? We have about 47 to 50 right around there. Nice. How many of them are stationed working in the office? I would say, we have a good six to eight that come in every day, every day. And one of them actually drives some Orange County and comes here. Every single day. That shows the work ethic.

And that's the guy who's going to get the most cheese, yes? Yeah, yeah, that's right. So let's talk about, we'll gear up. We'll switch directions here a little bit and talk about like your flips, your investments, your, you know, your alternative strategies because I know that you're, you always got a couple projects in the works. And I, you know, someone, some of you had a project in Malibu that you finished, someone, a Newport project.

What projects do you have? And then why are you picking those projects? I want to understand your mindset as to what, what, you know, inspired you this specific project? I know one big project which you just recently got done with, which is building your own house, which is a stunning property. And congrats, it's finally complete. Thank you. And I'm glad to have advised a little bit on your audiovisual.

You know, that, that. I appreciate that. And I'm hoping to come over for some tea and enjoy the backyard there. But what projects do you have underway right now? I have two of them, actually. one of them is in Dover Shores and the other one is in Corondel Mar. You got a Dover Shores property? Nice.

In the neighborhood, huh? So now what's on these projects, the way where it comes to a point where obviously I've been originated for a very long time and I mean, it's time to do the next thing, not that I do not like loans and I love what I do. However, though, I'm always a firm believer of having different ways of putting money. It might be stock market, it might be real estate, might be some investment. It's always good to... Diversify.

Absolutely. Diversify, you know, different streams of income. And also, there is also time in the day. I mean, we have 10, 12 hours every single day. I'm not going to call people and do loans all 12 hours. So sometimes, you know, we take care of kids, family, wife, or whatever the case might be. And in this case, I found that I found a passion for remodeling, for building. I've done, you know, a couple of new construction from the past.

You mentioned Malibu project as well. So it's one of those things where it's more of a, the next thing for me to do, plus also the money aspect of it as well. I mean, I'm not doing it for free. It's obviously for a profit, but it's something where I know that I can also do something on this space as well. And we're talking to Dover Shores.

What is that? Six, seven, ten million dollar projects? How many million dollar project is that? This one actually is for $2.7. We're negotiating right now. Just you're buying a lot right now. Basically, it's going to be a gun down, yes. Yeah, yeah.

So you're buying a lot for $2.7? $27. So it's about $75. 500 lot. So 2.7, basically, we're going to get it all out. Are you doing a complete tear down? 4,000 square feet, 4,200 right around there because there's about 60% you can build on the lot. So it's about 4,100 or so square feet. And hopefully sell it for high six, it's low sevens right around there.

Who are you using as your builder for that? I have actually my contractor, partner, Rico. Yeah, he takes care of it. Nice. He helped me from Malibu, from my own house and other projects as well. What is your cost a square foot to build something? I would say about 6 to 6.50, right around there for something. Six to 650?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's going to be a stunning property. Yeah. That's 6 to 650 is good. Considering some of the big builders in Newport, I mean, they're building for homeowners. They're, you know, like Burkart, which built my property wants almost a thousand bucks now. Yeah, you're absolutely right.

And the part of the RICO is that RICO is a sweat equity partnership versus, you know, having 20% Overrides, right? Yeah. So he's more of a partner on a project. So the way, that's how we split our profits based on his performance as well, because he makes sure that we save money on all those trades. Yeah, on every material. Absolutely. Material, labor. That's a good strategy. For those listening right now, the audience, like, hey, listen, if you want to maximize your profit on a flip, get a contractor in with you. Absolutely. I mean, it actually, anything we do, Joe, because everybody tends to do things on themselves, but you know what? Nobody can do it themselves. You do what you do you.

I don't care if I'm paying 30, 40, 50% out, but at least I didn't spend that much time. I just provided the money. Of course, I went to the property. But then he will shine in his thing. And the same thing on loans. Hey, you do your client relationships, you open escrow, that the, you know, processor L.O.A. carry on the rest, right? We do what we need to do and just delegate the rest.

You're doing a great job, man. You're doing a great job. You're building. And then, you know, one thing I'm going to admire about you. It's like, I'll do my dad. I'll do a walk with the doctor. and then I'll run into you, walking your daughter to school. It's like so admirable to see every day.

I appreciate that. You're taking your kids to school, walking to school, spending quality family time. Like that's why we exist, right? We exist for our kids. We exist to serve our kids. And you know, being a busy CEO, being, you know, an avid flipper and a top originator, and then carving out time to, like, walk your kid to school. You know, like, there's a lot to say about that.

I mean, yes, there's nothing. nothing better than taking my kid to school. The rest doesn't matter, you know. And that time in the morning, I mean, my emails start coming in from 6 a.m. to God knows, right? And I touch my phone a little bit in the morning. Of course, I'm guilty of that, but when it comes down to school time, when I take Mia, we walk sometimes.

Sometimes I take her on the car if we're late, depending on how her mood is on getting ready, right? We got to also pay attention to their mood swings as well. So long story. Short, I can tell you that walking with her, my phone is definitely on silent. I'm not going to pick it up until she kisses me. Have a good day, Daddy. I kiss her back.

That's it. Then the phone call starts. You know, me seeing you walk your daughter to school is like, I was telling my wife, I'm like, you know, I want to move the kids from St. John to St. Jokam, just because I could walk into school from. And we were actually considering, like, maybe moving them just so I could walk them to just because I saw you doing it. Because I'm like, how precious of time is that?

You know, that's like, and our kids are small right now. So the time is just flying by us, right? So it's like holding on to these precious moments while they're still small and we're still their hero. And hopefully we could be their hero for forever. But these times are flying, right? These times are flying. So incredible that you're doing that and keep it up because we've achieved the money, right? We've achieved the success.

We've achieved that. but like the core values of our family, our faith, our relationships, that's what's important. 100%. And to me, Joe, I mean, as crazy it might sound, but money was never my main priority. I mean, of course, you work your ass off and you do all these things the right way and you take care of everything you need to. And of course, money is going to come. There's no brainer, right? But it's always been about family, man. I always picture, you know, how even my single day, so, you know, one day I'm going to have. two kids. I'm going to marry a beautiful wife and I'm going to be happy. I always sat in back in my head. And it happened. You manifested it and it happened. It happened. You know, God favored you

for sure and you got a beautiful family and you're what's what's great is TANO. You continue to inspire people. You're a servant leader. You put your people first and and that resonates. You know, and that's why your retention is high. That's why people look up to you. That's why like your top of mind when I'm at an event, people are like, oh, Tano, Teno. So every, you know, It's a beautiful thing to see. So one thing I like to ask on these podcasts is three goals. What's a personal goal you have? What's a family goal you have?

And we kind of hinted at the work goal, but not dive. We didn't dive that deep into it. And what's a work goal that you got? Oh, God. Personal goal. I'm guilty of it. And I'll be honest, I have to lose 30 pounds. I want to do 30 pounds.

I have to. I don't know, but I want to. It's been very challenging. I would say it's probably the most challenging thing that I can do. I've done it before and a lot of meetings, you know, in our business, hey, let's go this, let's do this, event here, event there. So I have to get a little bit more, you know, and do it. That's my personal goal.

I invite you at Monday, Wednesday, Friday at my house and then Tuesday, Thursday, Nike Studios. Okay, we're going to have a conversation after this for sure. family goal I want to make sure that we have two trips this coming year and I would say probably in a 60 to 60, maybe 70 day period and then those two trips are there big trips

or like weekend trips? Big trips, big trips. So yeah, I'd like to do one in the summer and I'd like to do one end of the year. So I'm hoping for summer for sure where I'm actually waiting for confirmations. Most like we're going to leave on June. And yeah so I'd like to have at least two

I mean, the weekend trip, I don't even call them trips, because you're always here and working and stuff. But, yeah, so that's as far as... Where are the two big trips? Going back to Albania? Yes. Albania, Germany. We're watching the Euros.

Albania made the qualifiers, so... No way. Yeah, they're playing with Spain, Italy, and Croatia. I don't know about the results, but I'm still going to go and support, right? Spent a few days in Europe, then probably Italy a little bit, and then go back to Albania and come back. Nice. Business goals.

Business goals, I want to reach about... I would say about 250 LOs this year. 250 quality LOs. Hopefully reach as well, anywhere from 350 to foreign transactions. Love it. Love it. And you just lay it out like the Fed,

like the dot plot. Yeah. We're going to lay it out, like lay out the strategy and execute. Because you already manifested the happiness that you've accomplished. Now it's like manifesting all this stuff is easy. Yeah. I think the first one was the hard,

it's hardest of all. be honest, but I will get there. You know, it's an accountability coach. The last podcast guest was talking about, you know, there's a, and I also have a multiple coaches, right? Like, we just need more, especially as leaders, right? We need additional leadership. We need people to mentor us.

We need coaches. So, you know, it always helps to add that additional layer of accountability. And what's unfortunate for us in our position is like, we, you know, accountability. gets tougher and tougher. Absolutely. And I think it has to do with, it's a mindset. It's a, when you put your mind into something, we do it. Me and you are made that way.

We're not going to sit and wait. However, though, for a longest time, you've been focused so much on business and other things versus yourself. So now it just has to switch, to have the mindset switch. I'll say, without this, nothing else will matter, right? And these are the things I'm feeding my mind every single day now. I'm doing actually baby steps towards it, but yeah, I can't wait too. Yeah, it's like we've got to be around for our kids.

Absolutely. You want to see my grandkids. It's like, I want to see my great grandkids. My wife was writing me about that same stuff. Like, you want to be around for all these milestones. You know, so our health is first and foremost, especially dealing with the stress that we have. Tano, it's been such a blessing to have you on the show, man. And I look forward to having you on the show again.

Continue to inspire. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Tano Capadani, incredible. leader, servant leader, founder, CEO of easy funding, broker of easy funding. Great inspiration to many. Thank you guys very much for watching today show. Make sure you subscribe and tune in next week. God bless you guys.