#66. Randa Dehaan - Building a Mortgage Business from Scratch

Randa is a San Diego mortgage lender who offers a crash course in navigating the city's unique real estate market - from both buyer and industry perspectives. After years in traditional employment roles that left her craving more freedom and flexibility, she transitioned into mortgage lending in 2022. Randa has built a thriving referral-based business by partnering with real estate agents and focusing on relationship building over cold-calling. She's known for going above and beyond with exceptional service and genuine partnership with both agents and homebuyers. She also founded the Women in Business Book Club, creating community for female entrepreneurs. This conversation demystifies mortgage lending, explains what makes San Diego real estate so expensive, offers practical advice for first-time buyers considering home ownership as an investment, and shares personal development practices that helped Randa shift from employee mindset to entrepreneurial success.

https://www.instagram.com/lendwithranda/?hl=en

Transcript

Intro, Episode Summary + Background

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Rhonda is a San Diego mortgage lender who offers a crash course in navigating the city's unique real estate market from both buyer and industry perspectives. After years in traditional employment roles that left her craving more freedom and flexibility, she transitioned into mortgage lending in 2022. Rhonda has built a thriving referral based business by partnering with real estate agents and focusing on relationship building over cold calling. She's known for going above and beyond with exceptional service and genuine partnership with both agents and home buyers. She also founded the Women and Business Book Club, creating Community for Female Entrepreneurs. This conversation, demystifies mortgage lending, explains what makes San Diego real estate so expensive. Offers practical advice for first time buyers considering home ownership as an investment, and shares personal development practices, that helped RDA shift from employee mindset to entrepreneurial success. I hope you enjoy this conversation. And welcome to, I love the name. Oh, good. It's okay to start. What drew you to mortgage lending initially? So that is kind of like a full circle moment. When I was a kid, my dad did mortgages, so that was how he made a living. He did really well. He got his best friend into the business as well. At the time. Long story short, I didn't have a relationship with my dad for like over 20 years. He kind of went down the path of drugs, in and out of jail, things like that. But his friend that he got into the business had stuck with it. So when I was, so was in 2021, I was working at Wells Fargo, not doing mortgages. I was like a teller and a manager there. And I was really starting to get anxiety, like doing the nine to five, not, I felt like I had no time for myself. Like every day driving home, I just felt like so depressed. And so I started looking for other options. Being like my own business owner was never something that I considered. I was just kind of looking for like work from home or hybrid kind of vibe. So I posted on my Facebook that that's what I was looking for. I like put some of my qualifications. His friend that he had gotten into the business reached out to me and was like, oh, rates are really low. I could use an assistant. My business is really busy. And so I met with him. He kind of gave me, gave me like the rundown of what I'd be doing for him. And so I quit Wells Fargo and just started working for him under the table. Which was really helpful. Like that was a really good way to start because I was able to learn like the process, the ins and outs of like actually doing a loan. I didn't learn much about like business development just because he had been in it for like 20 years. His whole business was just referrals and past clients and stuff. But as far as like guidelines and things like that, I learned a lot. Six months into that, rates started to go up and so he got less busy and basically cut me part-time, which I couldn't do'cause I lived on my own and everything. So I got my license June of 2022, found a mortgage company to hang my license under and then just started building my business from there. So it kind of just like happened, I feel like. Okay. Mm-hmm. Okay. So you got your real estate license real. So there's two separate licenses. If you're a real estate agent, who is someone that helps you find the house, they do all the negotiating, drop your contracts, things like that, you get a license called, in California, it's called your DRE license. I think in other states it's called something else. Mm-hmm. And then for mortgages, you take a federal exam called your NMLS license, and that's to originate loans. So my portion of the real estate deal is helping clients get financing to buy their house. Okay? Mm-hmm. Gotcha. And did you decide on that track because of your experience working under your dad's friend? Yeah, like it, I kind of was like, okay, I've just spent six months learning all about this, and I also saw how much money he was making. Mm-hmm. Typically in the mortgage world, you're making anywhere from like one to 2% of the loan amount. So especially in San Diego, like average loan amount on the lower side is 500,000. So you're making. Anywhere from five to 10 grand per loan. Mm-hmm. So I was like, okay, cool. Especially at that time I wasn't making like a ton of money and so I was like, oh, I only really need one loan a month mm-hmm. To supplement the income that I was making at Wells Fargo. Mm-hmm. So yeah, I was like, I'll just get my license and keep going at it. Okay. Okay. Very cool. And so you spoke a little bit about some slightly existential angst on your drives home from your nine to five. Yeah. If, if you wanna put it that way, but what kind of mindset shaped your approach to this career? Like coming from that or any other factors in your background? Like how did you approach this? Knowing that. You know, it wouldn't be limited like your salary previously. Honestly, I feel like the money aspect and my money mindset changed as I got deeper into it. When I first started considering it, it was more the time freedom. Which is funny because as you get into building a business that's really successful, you actually end up putting more time into it than a nine to five. Mm-hmm. At least in my experience. But honestly it started to trigger like the anxiety in the nine to five when I got my dog. Okay. And I just felt like so guilty leaving her at home all day. And I was like, okay, if this is how I feel with a dog, like, I started to think long-term, like if I wanted to have kids or things like that. What does that look like as my life grows? Mm-hmm. Like being confined in this one space. I love being outside and so Missing the entire day. Being in an office was just starting to drive me crazy. Yeah. So it was mostly about the time freedom and flexibility. And then I feel like when I first started building my business, it's really hard to switch that mindset of being like an employee, doing the minimum to get by or what your boss tells you to do versus working for yourself and having to hold yourself accountable and do the amount of work it takes to get clients. Yeah. So I would say for the first like six months or so, I was still kind of working in that like employee mindset where it was like, okay, my mentor is telling me to book 40 calls a month. I'm gonna book those 40 calls and then I'm gonna call it a day. Where I was doing that half the calls typically end up canceling or rescheduling, and then like in order to create referrals out of that or business out of that, it actually takes way more. So yeah. Okay. So your approach, your financial mindset, change mindset and you wanted more flexibility to start. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It might be helpful to actually get a description of what's involved in your job. Yeah. And maybe how it's changed because I am coming from a place where I know very little about real estate in general and the careers that. Are in that. Yeah. I feel like coming from the mortgage lender perspective, there's kind of two different ways that you can get business. One would be direct to consumer, so like me as a mortgage lender directly trying to find clients that are purchasing homes or refinancing their current mortgage. Or two, which is the way that I've gone about it, is building a referral based business through partnering with real estate agents. So that was my focus from the beginning, was just trying to make as many partnerships with realtors in the area that I was in, which is San Diego. Mm-hmm. As possible, because my mindset around that was. Okay. If I go direct to consumer, every time I close a loan, I'm gonna have to keep finding another client, right? Mm-hmm. Where if I meet with an agent and create a really solid partnership, they'll essentially find the clients for me and just keep feeding my business. And also, realtors are really easy to find. You just type in San Diego realtor and 30,000 of them pop up. Okay. So that was kind of how I went about it. Mm-hmm. So in a sense, I have two different client pools. One client pool is real estate agents, and then one is my actual clients that I'm helping buy a home or refinance their mortgage. So yeah, that's like kind of the gist of things. I feel like when I first started, and like a big part of my job even now is just like meeting with realtors, hearing about their business. When I first started, I really had to try to find like, okay, what are my value adds to, like, why people should work with me? Especially when you don't have a lot of experience, it's kind that kind of is like a learning curve. Mm-hmm. So yeah, when I first started I was doing like at least 40 to 50 one-on-one coffee meetings a month with realtors. So like anyone that I could meet, find, I was going to a lot of networking events and basically just telling them about our loan programs, our process, why they should refer their clients to me. And then through time as I started getting more clients in, I needed to do like a one to many approach versus one-on-one. Which is where like the women in business book club comes into play, which is like a monthly meetup that I host. I also do like weekly meetups, different events targeted just towards real estate agents. So that's kind of my approach to getting new realtor partners. Mm-hmm. And then on the client side of things, how I've kind of added value to realtors from that sense is just like really knowing what I'm doing when it comes to the loan process. Having really good follow up with their clients. I've been able to close a lot of the people they've introduced me to, just by constantly reaching out to them and stuff like that. The events that I've done, helping realtors do the same thing, yeah. Okay. When you say partners, what does that mean? So doing open houses with them, helping them with marketing or social media. Mm-hmm. Helping them follow up with their clients because the real estate world is really volatile. So if you're not reaching out to people, calling them, texting them, there's so many other realtors mm-hmm. That it's easy for them to leave you. So that's kind of been. And again, having that entrepreneur mindset, I would say a lot of people don't have the grind that it takes to meet people, follow up with them and close them. So yeah, just kind of like partnering with them to help them grow and close more sales. Okay. That's been like the main thing. And then doing like buyer consultations with them, which means like if they do have a buyer lead that they've met mm-hmm. Meeting up with them, walking that client through the process of getting pre-approved or what buying a house even looks like, And just partnering with them in that sense. Okay. And does that make sense? Kind of. Okay. I'm trying to make sure I ask questions where I have gaps in understanding and not just brush over them because I'd imagine that people listening might feel that way as well. Yeah. You know? So when you partner with these people and you help them in the ways that you mentioned, I'm thinking maybe someone from book club or another avenue, this question sounds not great as I think about it, but how does that benefit you if you are helping'em? Yeah, so for me the goal would be starting with the value, Hey, I can help you with X, Y, and Z and really showing up for them. Yeah.'cause in the real estate world, Almost all lenders are trying to partner with realtors and a lot of lenders are just wanting a referral and to close the deal. Where that's where I try to go a step further to be like, okay, this is why I'm different. Like I actually wanna help you grow. I wanna implement the things that you wanna implement in the hopes that they stay loyal to me and send me all of the clients that they end up getting. Okay. So I'm thinking about the process of buying home is this two-pronged situation where you work with a realtor and then you work with a mortgage loan officer. Yeah. And the reason why it's important to have A realtor lender partner from the consumer side is that they're on the same team versus you could totally, like, say you wanted to go and buy a house tomorrow. Mm-hmm. You could meet with a realtor and then you could just go get pre-approved with like Chase or Wells Fargo or something like that. Mm-hmm. But the issue with that is, one, they don't always know the local market and they don't know who's involved with the sale. Mm-hmm. They also work from a very like nine to five schedule Monday through Friday. Where like working with someone like me, I'm available on the weekend. Sometimes I'll go to showings with you, I'll do a buyer consultation. It's kind of like the difference of going with a big corporation versus a small business. Okay. And so when there's that communication between the realtor or the lender, you know, that they work well together and have closed deals together, it just very much seems like you have a team behind you versus two separate entities. Yeah. Okay. So it feels more personalized. And like possibly secure where Yeah. It's like tailored to you. Yeah. Yeah. Tailored to you. And like I always emphasize too, the fact that I'm a San Diego native, I have a lot of connections here. So even after we close your sale, I can help you with cleaners, painters, hvac, solar, like I have all the resources that you would need now as a homeowner. Okay. Versus just working with a bank. They'll close you and you probably won't really hear from them again. Okay. And so when you talk about that kind of stuff, post-sale sale connections, is that for the person buying the home or for the realtor? Is the realtor kind of done After the sale goes through the realtors should, if they're a good realtor mm-hmm. Are still very much involved with making sure you have the proper resources. Especially though I feel like. Me now being in the industry for like five years, any agents that have been in it for like less than that tend to lean on me and my resources a lot too. Mm-hmm. So for example, a big thing that I do with like my realtor partners and their clients is let's say we close a sale together. I always like to go when the realtor gives the clients like keys to their new house and everything. When we close, I put together a whole binder that is like a welcome home binder. It has everything within your area of five miles. So coffee shops, schools, parks, restaurants. I put together a trusted vendors list, so like those resources I mentioned like solar, HVAC, cleaners, whatever. And so that's part of your closing gifts. That's something that like a lot of lenders don't do, and honestly, a lot of realtors don't even do it. So I kind of like take over the closing process to make it really special. I bring like a videographer to get professional photos, videos, things like that. So that's been like a big I guess like value add too. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like you go above and beyond to give to the people involved in the process. It's like that rule of reciprocity. Mm-hmm. That's like always what I've tried to like build my business off of is just giving a lot of value and then hoping that I see business return through that. Yeah. I think that is something that I have seen more value in with recent experiences or lessons., Whatever you're doing. If you can just give without expecting in return, I feel like I'm unable to express it eloquently right now, but I feel like that is the way to go. Like it will, that is just the way to go. I'm a huge believer in energy output will always result in energy coming back, even if it's not through the direct avenue that you're like expensing the energy. Mm-hmm. But it will come back some way or another. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I hope I described all of that accurately. You did, you did. Oh my gosh. It's a lot when you like are talking to someone that doesn't know a lot about it. No. It's like I needed to understand that, so now I can ask questions and Yeah. And also I feel like when I come to. Book club.'Cause so many of you are like in real estate, but I'm like, I don't know what that means, but I haven't ever had a chance to really like ask someone. But I'm fascinated and this does seem like an very interesting area to do it in. Yeah. Because wow. Like it's a lot going on here. There's, I always say like, real estate is honestly really funny because the second you get into the industry, there's this whole other micro world that opens up where there's really important people within this community that like, aren't necessarily important to the real world, but like you're just exposed to this whole new like yeah. Little community that everyone knows each other and it's like just so interesting. Yeah, definitely. What surprised you most in your first year versus this past year? I feel like when I first started, I kind of mentioned that learning curve of coming from like employee mindset to being a business owner. I think what surprised me a lot in my first year was like the amount of output that needs to happen just to even get one deal in Yeah. Like I mentioned, like, oh, I just need one a month. That's easy. That was my mindset when I first started oh, I just need one sale a month. That couldn't be that hard. Mm-hmm. And then it took me six months to get my first deal, so it's like, okay. I don't know. Yeah. Like I think the amount of output really surprised me, but now the kind of like cool part that I'm at in my business is. Like my mindset when I first started was like, okay, I just need to work my ass off for two to three years and then I'll have a, the referral based business that I want. And so now I'm at a point where like I've done that and I feel like I actually can kind of do less output and receive way more referrals. So I definitely don't, I feel like I'm at the point where I'm working smarter, not harder. Mm-hmm. Where like the first couple years was like working really hard. Okay. Yeah. Would you be able to walk me through what a typical transaction looks like from your side? Yeah, so there's kind of a few different moving parts to just being a lender because when I first get introduced to a client, it starts off with an intro call where I just kind of get an idea of What do they do for work? What's their expectation in terms of monthly payment? How much do they have to put down on a house? And I go through the process with them. When I'm pre-approving someone, I'm looking at, I always say, think of it like CIA, credit income assets. So what does your credit look like? How much debt do you have? What's your total monthly income? And then how much assets do you have to put towards the property? Everything's based off of their debt to income ratio. So how much debt do you have going out versus how much income you have going in. We want your total monthly debt, including that mortgage payment to be 50% or less than your total monthly income. So that's essentially what I'm qualifying people off of. It's mostly related to their monthly payment, monthly payment, and then that translates as a purchase price depending on how much they have to put down. So that's kind of like the starting point is getting them pre-approved. Once they're pre-approved, they're able to go shop for a house, so that's where they would work really closely with an agent. Doing home showings, open houses, things like that. They submit their offer with their pre-approval letter. That comes from me. That's also a big thing that I like to emphasize with people I work with is now that I've been doing this for four and a half years, I have a really robust network of realtors here in San Diego. So a lot of times I'll know the listing agent on the other side of the transaction that's helping the sellers, which has helped a lot of my clients get their offers accepted or get more credits in their sale or things like that. So I always call the listing agent on the other side, introduce myself if I don't know them, things like that. Once their offer gets accepted, that's really when, like the actual loan process starts. For anyone that doesn't know about real estate, especially in California, once you have an accepted offer, you're under contract for the house. There's, it's called you're in escrow, that's like the escrow period. And during that timeframe it's typically anywhere from 21 to 30 days we're getting your loan underwritten. So your file that I've looked through at your pre-approval stage gets sent to underwriters that really comb through my work essentially. And if there's any like missing pieces, whether they had like an employment gap or they had a really large deposit come into their account or something like that, they might ask for additional documentation. So I'm doing all of that work on the backend. They're also getting an appraisal done on the house, so making sure that they're buying it for what the home is worth. And yeah, just kind of helping them navigate all of the ins and outs of the escrow process. I will say helping people buy a house is very heightened emotions, so you also are kind of dealing with a rollercoaster of emotions. I mean, it's usually people's biggest purchase, so it's like just a lot going into it. And then on the other side of things, I'm also having phone calls with the realtors, which also are emotional'cause they have a check that's tied to the sale and stuff. So, yeah, it's like a lot of moving parts. Wow. Yeah. That's super helpful though to hear all of that. I kept thinking like, you know, from going from your job at Wells Fargo to this where it sounds like you were a manager, but now you're responsible for organizing all these calls or just like output. Now, almost like client relations. You seem like pro in managing relationships. So I was just wondering how you got there because like, wow. I can't imagine that was yeah, no one is born this way, I don't think. I don't know. I've thought about, I've thought a lot about this actually. Just all my different experiences and like, how the hell did I end up here kind of thing. I feel like when I think about it, from a really young age, I always loved just like community and relationships with people. That's always something I really treasured. I have a lot of long-term friendship friendships too. Mm-hmm. So just maintaining relationships in general is always something I've loved. I've always been someone, I've had a role since I was like. 15 where if I think of somebody, I'm gonna text'em. No matter what the thought was, if it was a fun memory or I'm just thinking of them or whatever. Just letting them know, which I feel like now has translated really well just to yeah. Keeping up with everybody. Mm-hmm. But also, I mean, growing up I was very, we were very financially unstable and so I had to start working. I mean, I started babysitting when I was like 12 pretty much every weekend. Mm-hmm. Which I don't know who was letting a 12-year-old watch a six month old baby, but whatever. And so I feel like I kind of started just getting good at relationship building through that. And then when I was 15, I had my first actual job at a retirement home where I worked in the restaurant there. So I got Customer service, especially with like elderly, older, retired people. Mm-hmm. Which creates a lot of patience and like also you're seeing like the same residents every day. So just building a really strong relationship with them and their families and stuff. From there I worked at Claire's, which is a kids' boutique, basically. I would like pierce ears there and stuff. Oh my gosh, you were anr? Yeah. Wow. And so, and I was a manager there too by the age of like 17. So customer, customer service. And then from that job worked at Wells Fargo for almost five years. So I feel like customer service was like always just since 14, 15 years old. Yeah. Okay. Wow. I was also like heightened emotions when people are getting their ears pierced. Yeah, that's so true. And even just like dealing with kids too, I feel like. Yeah. Yeah. And like moms. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Yeah, I feel like, it's funny, my friends and my family, they always joke around with me. They're like, you have a lot of tolerance for people. Mm-hmm. Like, I think it's just, I don't know, a lot of patience over the years of dealing with a lot of different types of people. Probably a superpower for sure. So how did you get started at Wells Fargo? I, so this guy that worked with me at Claire's. I was kind of, I was there for like two years, kind of getting sick of like retail and stuff like that. It was also really slow. It was just so boring. Like I would sit there and watch Netflix. Mm-hmm. My whole shift basically. Mm-hmm. I was at a restaurant and ran in, ran into one of my old coworkers at Claire's and was just like asking him what he was up to and stuff. And he said he started working at Wells Fargo. Mm-hmm. And I was like, oh, interesting. Like, how's that going? That sounds like a, like, really cool job. And so he got me an interview with his manager. And so I just started working there. Through an old coworker from somewhere else. Okay. Yeah. And then you just like continued to kind of like rise in that job? Yeah, I did because at that time I was working there part-time as a teller. I was going to college, just like community college in San Diego. Mm-hmm. As well. So I was doing like part-time school, part-time, Wells Fargo. I ended up getting my associate's degree. Mm. And it was right around, or maybe right before COVID happened. And I got promoted to a manager role at Wells Fargo and I was gonna transfer into San Diego State and then COVID happened and I was like, well, I don't really wanna do my major was communications. Okay. And I was like, well, I don't really wanna do online mm-hmm. Schooling. So I was like, I'm just gonna put that on hold. And the funny thing is. I wanted to be an event planner. Okay. Like that was like what I was gonna go to school to do. Yeah. And now I like plan Nice. A ton of events for like real estate or community stuff or whatever. So yeah. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, I like kind of ended up working out. Mm-hmm. And now I'm like so happy I didn't go to college. Really? Like or finish. Yeah. How do you think that would've affected what you ended up doing? I mean, I feel like,'cause I ended up working for my dad's friend in 2021. So if I had just stuck with going to school in 2020. I feel like I probably would've had more like tunnel vision. Yeah. And just like completing that and probably be less open to a totally new career path. Mm-hmm. And it's so crazy.'cause I feel like all of my most important relationships have come from being in real estate. And I mean, getting into real estate just changed my entire life. My mindset when I first started, I was in a super toxic, abusive relationship. I was drinking all the time. And now literally every single aspect of my life is different because I feel like real estate just helped me see a bigger vision. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Very cool. But yes, I do think there's something to be said for kind of sunco fallacy where when you. Commit to finishing a degree, it's really hard to not wanna maximize on that. Whatever that path like looks If that makes sense. Yeah, totally.'Cause I feel like I've experienced that for sure and sometimes when I speak to entrepreneurial people, sometimes not even starting down a certain path is what created space for them to do what they're doing now. Yeah.'cause they didn't have that as a distraction or Yeah. They just did this thing and kept going, like kind of energy. Yeah. I feel like a lot of people, like a lot of business owners that I meet. It typically wasn't in their plan to do it. They somehow stumbled upon it and they're like, okay, this is working out. Like I guess I'm just gonna keep going down this road. And then it just keeps flourishing into something. Yeah. what do most people misunderstand about mortgage lending? I think a lot of people are confused about what it is I really do especially because it's like, okay, I see you out and about meeting with people, doing these events, doing these things, but what is your job kind of thing. Mm-hmm. And I feel like it's very, it's a very dynamic position. I feel like, especially the route that I chose to take it with, just relationship building, referral business. I think there's a lot of loan officers that will oftentimes just like. Buy people's data and cold call them and then originate their loan, which looks really different Yeah. Than what I do so yeah, I guess just being confused of what it is I actually do. Yeah.. Now I'm curious about people I know who have bought a home and how they went about it when you were describing this more tailored approach versus a big, uh, bank. Yeah. So I'm like, Hmm. Something to discuss, which oftentimes I feel like your realtor, if they're a really good plugged in, one will have a preferred lending partner. Mm-hmm. And so even if, I know a lot of times I get clients that have already been pre-approved with Chase or Wells Fargo or a bigger bank, but then they like are talking with their realtor and they're like, no, you should really talk to Ran. She can probably help you in a different way and X, Y, Z and so. I feel like that's why I've always partnered with realtors because they kind of are a vouch for you too. Yeah. Do you see any maybe lazier approaches to either side of this and what, if so, what do you think are some drawbacks of going about it in that way? Like from a realtor perspective or or mortgage lending? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for sure. Like, I, I mean, I've gotten clients that have gotten pre-approved or talked to 10 lenders and they're like, you're the only one that wanted to meet with us in person. Mm-hmm. Or things like that. Or a lot of lenders won't even hop on the phone with them. They'll just send things through email or through like online. And I think at the end of the day, like everyone likes a personal touch. Like people wanna feel like they're cared about and they're being taken care of. So that's been like a big emphasis for my business is just like really showing people like, I care, like I wanna help you. I invite my past clients to come play volleyball or come to some of them are coming to my wedding and like stuff like that. And then on the other side. I see realtors that don't really care to loop in a lending partner. They're like, they're like, yeah, cool. You got pre-approved already. Sounds good kind of thing. And a lot of times that bigger bank is someone's helping you in and they're in Florida or something and they don't know property taxes in San Diego. They don't know homeowner's insurance quotes in San Diego. And so they'll oftentimes quote wrong numbers and then the client ends up with a totally different like outcome that they weren't expecting. They have to scrounge up more money or it's more stressful. Or that lender isn't here, so they don't have as high of stakes in their business and so they won't always meet timelines or answer their phone or things like that. Yeah. That's good to know. Some nuances and differences there. Okay, great transition, San Diego real estate, specifically, what makes this market unique and also does the veteran or military population affect how you approach loans? Those are really good questions. I feel like San Diego is a very unique market in terms of like anywhere else in the US because of the demand that is here. We have factors about our city that are never gonna change, so things like the ocean. Things like the border, things like military bases, universities. Plus, on top of that, there's a lot of tech companies that are basing their headquarters here. And that's just drawing so many people. But we're kind of landlocked because of the ocean and the border. So we can only build so much, which is why our appreciation here is higher than almost anywhere else in the country and why we're so expensive. So I always like,'cause real estate is an investment and so I always like to compare it to the stock market because I feel like people are kind of more familiar with how the stock market works. The more buyers that you have in a stock market, the more demand, the higher it's gonna cost, which means the higher the value of the stock San Diego is kind of the same thing. More valuable location, higher price of, or higher barrier of entry. Mm-hmm. Which is why our home prices are higher than anywhere else. On top of that, yes, I feel like va military active duty, that makes up like 80% of my business. Wow, okay. Yeah, because we have so many bases here. Plus they have the best loan program available to them, they're able to do 0% down. Mm-hmm. And their rates are half a percentage better than. Normal conventional rates. Okay. So yeah, VA's a pretty easy sell, I would say, because it's just easier to get into. You don't need the capital to buy something. Mm-hmm. They're also some of my favorite clients to help because they're really motivated. They're usually pretty organized with their stuff and they're very loyal. So oftentimes when I meet clients that are using their VA loan, if they like me and trust me, they're not gonna shop around anywhere else, they're just gonna stick with me. Mm-hmm. And they also refer the most people'cause they have other people that have access to the VA loan that ends up getting introduced to me. Okay. That's really interesting. And I was just thinking when you said mortgage lenders get one to 2% per loan. Mm-hmm. So is that You get that right away, or over time as the mortgage is, the loan is paid? No. So we get it pretty much right away. Okay. Like, I'll get paid usually like two weeks after the loan closes. Mm-hmm. And I get paid through the bank Okay. That I end up sending their loan to. Okay. So like the bank pays me my commission, it doesn't come from the client. Okay. Interesting. Yeah. in relation to just like the San Diego market right now specifically, and even like va homes in San Diego have been sitting longer because we have high prices here and interest rates are not. Super low. They're kind of average right now they're around like 6%. So sellers are more apt to give credits back in your sale. So whether it covers your closing costs, rate, buy downs, things like that. So I've helped, I would say most of my VA clients over the last 12 months have literally bought a house with$0 outta pocket, no money towards the house at all, which is really cool. Wow. Okay. What is a rate buydown? So you can pay more money to get a lower rate, essentially. So when I am looking at interest rates, they change all day, every day.'cause they track the stock market. Okay. So what I quote you today could be totally different tomorrow. Mm-hmm. But I look at a rate sheet, so there's all these different rates, so it'll be like. 4.99 all the way to like 7%. There will be a par rate in the middle that has no cost, no credit associated. Mm-hmm. Which right now is at about 6%. If we went to 6.5%, if we chose to get a higher rate, you could actually get a credit back from the bank that goes towards your closing costs. If you wanted to go to 5.5%, they would charge you a fee to get the lower rate, so you can pay for a lower rate if you want. Okay. So that would be a rate buydown. There's also like some other strategies that you can get, even lower rates in the first couple years of your mortgage where it's like the seller prepaying your savings for you. But that's like a whole intricate strategy. But just know there's an option that you can get a rate 2% lower in your first year. Is that fee something you pay right away or incrementally, it gets tagged onto your loan. So you would pay it right away in your closing costs of the sale. Okay. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Alright. Does that make sense? Yeah. This is another thing, since maybe just being in rooms where there's many real estate people and looking, I mean also maybe just seeing a future in San Diego looking at home prices. I'm like, okay. I clearly do not understand this world, and that's going to need to change at some point. Yeah. I would like to be educated on this world, you know? Yeah. It is like one of those things. I feel like anything health and finances, like no one teaches you about it. You have to do all the research yourself. Yeah. Um, yeah. So yeah, this is great for that reason. For someone working full-time who's curious about real estate investing, but feels like they don't have enough capital. Where would you tell them to start? Yeah. I mean, as a first time home buyer, I think a lot of people have a misconception that they need 10 to 20% down. Mm-hmm. Which in San Diego is a lot, if you're looking at 500,000, 20% down is a hundred grand. That's a lot of money. Whereas the reality is as a first time buyer, you can put as low as 3% down as long as your credit score is over six 20. So that now changes your minimum down payment that you think you need to have to like$15,000. Mm-hmm. At, on a$500,000 home. So that I think is a really good place to start, is just like thinking about the minimums. Mm-hmm. And then can you come up with that? Do you have that right now? There's also programs out there that will lend you the three to three, three and a half percent. I don't love those programs because they put stipulations now on your investment. So like. For example, there's a loan program where they'll lend you the 3% down payment, but you can't sell or refinance the house for 10 years, otherwise you have to pay it back. So like, I always think it's a good idea if you have the money just to put it in there. Mm-hmm. And I also think a lot of people have, and this is, it feels like you're spending all your money to buy the house, because that's what renting is, right? Like you're used to just like paying money for a roof over your head. Mm-hmm. But you're actually moving money from your bank account to an investment tool, which is your house. So you're not spending at all, it's not going away, it's just now held in the house. Yeah. Which can appreciate year over year and stuff like that. Okay. Okay. So that's a good place to start looking at minimum down payments three to 3.5% as a first time buyer, seeing what that looks like on at different price points. And then like I always ask my clients, what is your max monthly payment that you would wanna be making? Mm-hmm. A lot of times people, especially in San Diego, are paying anywhere from like 3,500 to$4,500 a month in rent. Mm-hmm. And that could easily be a condo payment minimum down at like$550,000, which is actually a lot more common to find in San Diego than people think. Okay. That's very interesting.'cause I was gonna ask like another question of, would you say. It's warranted as a renter looking to buy, to have concerns about unexpected costs that usually, your landlord would help when there's a mishap with the washer or whatever. But now you're gonna be fronting that, those unexpected costs. And then also, could the mortgage monthly payment possibly be higher than if you were renting that same property for any reason? I mean, I guess that would be like negotiated in the terms, but Yeah, and that's like very, it's really kind of case by case. Like of course if you're renting a three bedroom house in Claremont for$4,500 a month. Yeah, your mortgage is gonna be more than that on a three bedroom house in Claremont. It'll be closer to like 6 60, 500. Okay. Or something like that. So, but if you're looking, a lot of times people that are renting are renting units, condos, apartments. Mm-hmm. So why not take that same monthly payment and buy a condo? Mm-hmm. Yeah. There are definitely added expenses as far as like washer dryer, things like that. They're usually not crazy expensive. And that's also when you're buying a house, you're getting a home inspection. Mm-hmm. So they're gonna check out all of the things and you're gonna walk into the sale knowing what the issues are with the house. Mm-hmm. And then you can make that decision at that time if you're like, this is too much for me to handle, or this seems okay. Yeah. So that's a big thing. The other thing that a lot of people don't realize too is Upfront, month to month, your mortgage seems way more expensive, but you also get to write off the interest that you're paying in your mortgage in taxes. So you end up getting a tax return back Okay. For that. Okay. Where you can't do that with rent. Mm-hmm. And stuff. And your mortgage is a fixed payment. So let's say you buy a condo, your monthly payment is$4,000. It's never gonna go up. Where, if you're renting right now and your rent is$3,500 in five years, your rent is gonna be way more than the mortgage that you're paying because it, in San Diego, on average increases eight to 10% every single year. Okay. So that's something to think about too, is like kind of a five year plan. Yeah, definitely. And especially if you are buying a condo or something like that as like your starter home, all the exterior of the, of the house, of the building, of whatever is covered by the HOA. Okay. So if you're having like a roof leak or something like that, a lot times it's covered by the hoa. Okay, interesting. Which you pay fees. Fees for, right? Yeah. Okay. Which like, average HOA fee in San Diego is three 50,$400 a month. Okay. Okay. Fascinating. What would you say is a circumstance where you'd recommend someone rent over this, even if they have the money to invest in a property? I would say if you're not gonna, if you don't picture yourself living here for at least the next three to five years, okay. It might not be worth it. Just because you wanna hang onto it long enough to see that appreciation. Mm-hmm. Sometimes though, like, especially like my military clients that are gonna be stationed here for three years, and then they might move, they have 0% down, so it might make sense just to buy a property and then you can rent it out and become a landlord if you want, right? Mm-hmm. But I would definitely say if your situation is I really need a three or four bedroom house, my budget is$4,000 a month, I have my parents living with me or something like that. Yeah, you're probably gonna have, if your max budget is$4,000 a month, you're definitely gonna get the space that you need in renting versus you might not have the flexibility to make a sacrifice in getting like a two bedroom condo. Yeah. Kind of thing. I think that's totally fair. Or I also know people that like, Hey, my rent is$2,000 a month and it's not gonna change. It's like my family is renting it to me kind of thing. Mm-hmm. Like that might be a hard jump to go from like$2,000 a month rent to 4,000. Right. Okay. Okay. Super helpful. Thank you. I also think too, some people like the idea of like, oh, I can move every year. I can move every two years. If you're one of those people where you don't see yourself staying in the house for at least, like I said, three to five years. Sometimes there is definitely convenience in renting where if you're more flighty I guess kind of thing. I, I am not someone, I feel like there's a lot of people in real estate that's like, everyone should buy a house uhhuh. And I'm like, I definitely believe in buying a house and like investing in it, but I also acknowledge that it might not be for everybody. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yes. It sounds like a big commitment, so it's good to be realistic with yourself about how that fits in your life. What do you wish more people knew before they start looking at real estate as an investment? I guess getting clear on like why they're wanting to invest in it and if they don't know the benefits, then talking to someone like me or a realtor or even a CPA tax accountant.'Cause they can really help educate you as to like why it would be beneficial. I do think if you're making over$150,000 a year, I always joke round about this with my friends. I'm like, you guys either need to buy a house or have a kid. Those are your, your two options to offset your taxes. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So yeah, I feel like just knowing the benefits around buying real estate and then also just asking someone that's in it, what is available to them. Because like I said, a lot of people just wait and put off buying because they assume that they need 10 to 20% down or they assume that their monthly payment is gonna be way more expensive than their rent and that's just not always the case. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. Super helpful. That was very interesting. Comments. Definitely. Okay now. Moving on to the woman in business book club, which seems like it was in part, started through wanting to connect with other people in real estate as well. Yeah. It was kind of like twofold, like mm-hmm. One, it's like a really cool community. Just invite my women in real estate partners too. But two, also, my main vision for it was to have a bunch of industries in it, which is finally starting to happen. Yeah. So I feel really excited about that. Mm-hmm. Because one, those are potential partnerships, clients, referrals that I can make. Whether it's someone I could refer my clients to, someone that could become a client of mine, someone that the realtors there could make a good relationship with and create some sort of partnership, client, whatever, relationship with. So really just like creating the space for all these different women and business owners in San Diego. To connect, do business together, help each other grow. I mean, I feel like sometimes entrepreneurship can feel really lonely too. So I think just having that space where like we can talk about our struggles, our wins mindset and just help elevate each other. Yeah. The original question I had was, what was the gap you were trying to fill? But it very much sounds like you answered that. And I would agree as someone who has enjoyed coming to that, it's really lovely. So yeah. Thank you. It kind of feels like group therapy. Yeah. Like in the best way. Not in like a, yeah. Everyone's crying kind of way, but just like a, I feel like it's a very safe space just to share. Yeah. I've also really enjoyed, Just the most recent one was quite big. And yeah, just the variety of backgrounds and ages. Was I, yeah, that was awesome. So yeah, I had it blow up on TikTok. Okay. I was wondering what happened. Yeah, I made a video about it, at our December meeting, I think. Okay. It was either December or November, but it got like 12,000 views on TikTok and all these, it was over 200 different business owners in San Diego commented that they wanted to join. Oh, that's cool. So that was like, I was like, yes, I was, I finally got different industries. Yeah. Stay in the game long enough. Mm-hmm. And eventually something happens. What has changed for you or others through building this community? I feel like it's been really cool.'cause like I'll have, especially some of the women in different industries will be like, oh, I got to like partner with this person. Or they came to my yoga studio, or we're doing an event together through some other venture. I've also been able to close three sales mm-hmm. From the women in business book club. Wow. So that's been fun. Like just being able to like, help some of the ladies in there. And I think just I feel like having that book club has just really helped my relationships with people get deeper. Mm-hmm. And it's in a way where like I don't have to do all these one-on-one interactions with them. Yeah. It's kind of a way for me to share what, or hear what they wanna share, share what I wanna share and an all together kind of thing. So it's also like efficient. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Also, I forgot to mention that, I had the sweetest experience because of this book club, which is when I was moving in here, I had a question about my security deposit. Oh yeah. And I was just very concerned'cause it's was just I just wanted to make sure it was legit. First time living alone in San Diego. And one of the ladies helped and actually called and spoke to my landlord. Oh, I love that. Yeah. It actually was so sweet. Alyssa? I believe so. That was very sweet. Aww. Yeah. I love that. I also think it's been really cool just to be the energy you put out there attracts the same kind of energy. Mm-hmm. And so I feel like everyone that comes kind of has a similar, everyone's so kind and so. Just wanting to be a part of the community and share and healthy mindset and wanting to grow. Yeah. And that's just been really cool to be a part of that. Yeah. Especially'cause sometimes I feel like, maybe some of the other meetup groups out there in San Diego that are more centered around yeah, let's go out and get happy hour or something. Just might have a different feel to it. Yeah, I, yeah, I definitely have experienced that. So I do know what you mean there. Okay. I would love to ask you what personal development practices or resources have actually moved the needle for you? Because I feel like that's what a lot of the conversations at Book Club have been about. But What do you think have been the biggest. I feel like reading has been huge. I don't read any fiction books. I only read nonfiction, personal development. So that's been huge around just brand building, money, mindset sales, all of those types of books have been really helpful. And then actually implementing them too. Journaling has been a huge, just shift in just my overall energy. I feel like I do a few different journal practices where some are just prompted with like questions. Some are gratitude. Practices. I do, this journal practice quite often where I'll do a journal entry six months into the future, and write as my future self. Mm-hmm. Which has been really cool to see the things that actually come to fruition and stuff. Yeah. And then I feel like honestly the biggest lifestyle shift that has just changed my whole life is not drinking anymore. Mm-hmm. I think I mentioned earlier, I was a pretty heavy drinker where it was on the weekends, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, out with friends, I'd drink wine at home. And I never thought there was an issue with that just because it's so normalized and everyone around me, my close friends at the time were doing the same thing. And then as I started getting more successful in my business, I kind of started to realize the ways that it was. Just not helping me show up as like my best self, whether it be causing anxiety, being hung over and needing to reschedule meetings with people. Mm-hmm. Not being as consistent in my fitness or my health routines. So I decided to just cut it out all together. Mm-hmm. And I feel like the amount of energy I have now to just do more work, personal things, different hobbies. I feel like it also changed my circle of friends around Me too. I mean, I don't, I didn't have any bad falling out with anybody, still talk to everyone that I used to hang out with and stuff. But now all my close friends and my fiance and like everyone, like no one around me really drinks alcohol. So that's been cool too. Just when you let go of something, all the space that comes in for new. Relationships that also are like-minded. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I've had a similar experience where the time when I moved from being an employee to trying to be my own boss, you know, entrepreneurship, that really exposed a lot of my bad habits. Yes. Because when everything came back to me at the end of the day, it was my first experience with true accountability. Like accountability. I was like, you need to make money, so how so what's holding you back? So what could you be doing better? And it just really started to expose a lot of things that like if those were obviously, you know, blocking. Success. So, yeah. I like always say the biggest personal development thing you can do is start a business because it really does the real, any unhealthy relationships in your life. You almost can't even have, you don't, you no longer have the energy to put up with those things because it has to all go into your business. Mm-hmm. And like, just, yeah. The accountability that's there. Yeah, definitely. Okay. Um, what does building a life of your dreams actually mean to you in practice? Not just theory. Hmm. I feel like. I feel like a big thing that I've learned through building a business and like when I first started, I really had no money. I was$12,000 in debt and just really struggling. And I feel like I just kept reminding myself like, this is my journey. Enjoy every step of it. Even though I have no money right now, I'm enjoying who I'm becoming through this and now I'm making the most money I've ever made in my life. Debt free, actually, like I, there's been so much growth, but I feel like the biggest thing is just there's no real destination. I feel like it's all in the journey and just watching each new phase of life that comes with constantly leveling up and evolving and implementing new things and having new relationships and Just watching that growth and being really present. I feel like that's my, I feel like my dream life to me is being more and more present while still having goals that you're reaching. Yeah. If that makes sense. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. This is like definitely on my mind right now because some of the things that I've wanted have come to fruition and I just think about what is a sustainable way to keep that growth going and enjoy the process of getting there and not just I don't know, but also not be perpetually like wanting more, you know? Yeah. Because I do enjoy observing. What I already have. Yeah. And I think that like contributes to such a better mental state and such happiness. So yeah. This like dream life. It's, it's just an interesting concept because to introduce these are things that I want to cultivate and I don't have now, it's an interesting mental state to balance. Yes, totally. Like this year I did both a vision board and then I went to this event, she called it like a sparkle board where it's like, put things on your board that you already have and are grateful for. Mm-hmm. Which I really loved that practice too. I think both are important. Mm-hmm. And yeah, I also think there's I think for me, like living your dream life or creating whatever life you want. Is like, if I'm gonna complain about something, then I'm gonna change it. Mm-hmm. Otherwise I'm not gonna complain about it. Mm-hmm. And I feel like that's a big, pet peeve that comes up with other people is people that complain about their health, they're not feeling good, or their finances not being in a certain area, but then they're unwilling to change. I feel like for me it's just constantly being willing to change and adapt and create whatever I want. Yeah. Yeah. Can I ask you one follow up? Yeah. Okay. What advice would you give someone who feels stuck right now? Whether that's financially in their career or just generally not where they want to be? I would say change your environment is a big one. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Read new book, your environment is not just who you're around, but also what you're consuming. Whether it's even food, social media, what content are you consuming? If you're feeling stuck, maybe start reading books that inspire you or start journaling or start going to new groups that mm-hmm. No matter where you're at, there's eventbrite meetup.com, Facebook groups. There's gonna be some sort of new community that you could try to plug yourself into with people that are maybe not stuck or living whatever it is that you're craving. Mm-hmm. And just surrounding yourself with, with a new environment. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Great. Cool. Thanks. Thank you. This was fun. I'm so glad. Oh, that was so full of very helpful information, so thank you so much. Yeah. Thanks for having me.