The Art of Chef

A Conversation With Jeff Tung Jr.

• Yukei Fan • Episode 2

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My special guest Jeff Tung Jr. and I discuss friendship, family, business, and finding inspiration in each other's stories. We also reflect on career transitions and the challenges of owning a business.

For mortgage help and strategies reach Jeff at:

info@keybuzzmortgage.com

Are you a foodie in the Bay Area, CA and love to support small business? Subscribe to our emails at www.yusgourmet.com and discover our locally curated gourmet food products.

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Yukei:

Welcome everyone to chop it up. I am your host, Chef Yukei. My special guest today, my first guest ever, Jeff Tung Jr.

Jeff:

What's up everybody?

Yukei:

Jeff is a, uh, mortgage broker. He has his own, um, mortgage brokerage firm. It's called...

Jeff:

KeyBuzz Mortgage Solutions.

Yukei:

Key KeyBuzz with a little bumblebee.

Jeff:

No, hive.

Yukei:

Oh, hive. Excuse me.

Jeff:

No bumblebee.

Yukei:

We should, we should've dialed the, the studio into the KeyBuzz color. I wasn't think, I wasn't thinking much, but

Jeff:

That's okay. Next time. If, if, if I get to come on again, If I don't fuck it up this time.

Yukei:

Well, right now you're the only one that's on, so I don't, I don't think, uh, I don't think you can fuck it up. Yeah. So, uh, tell, tell me about your, your business. What do you, what do you do?

Jeff:

So, I help people get money to buy houses.

Yukei:

Oh.

Jeff:

I basically, uh, I'm the liaison between the lender or the bank. Arrange financing for, for rent. Uh, residential property. Can also do refinances, too.

Yukei:

Yeah. Like, uh, like, like how much, how much money do I need to, can I, can I borrow like a thousand bucks? Or like, is it, I'm just asking.

Jeff:

Yeah, that's a good question. Usually, uh, minimum loan amounts are around $50,000.

Yukei:

Oh, okay.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Yukei:

So I,

Jeff:

If you're gonna do something smaller, you'll probably want to do home equity line.

Yukei:

Okay. Okay.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Yukei:

So you're, so you,

Jeff:

which we can do, but,

Yukei:

Okay, $50K, that's, that's still, that's good. I, I actually thought I have to be in like, the millions to be dealing, dealing deal deals with you. But

Jeff:

that's because you're, that's cuz you're on track to be.

Yukei:

No, no, no, no, no. But is there a limit size? And then is there a limit size on the, on the, on a deal that you can do?

Jeff:

Uh, it depends on the program. Um, yeah. A lot of times we can go up to 3 million and then they have super jumbo, which you, you know, the Hillsboroughs, the

Yukei:

Okay.

Jeff:

Menlo, Athertons, I mean.

Yukei:

Okay. Yeah. Well in the Silicon Valley, you gotta be able to

Jeff:

Yeah, of course. I mean, starting out you're at$1M-$2M anyway, just to live in, uh, anywhere in the peninsula, right?

Yukei:

Okay. Well, uh, yeah, so tell me, how did you get started doing like this whole mortgage deal? Like I, you know, I know I personally met you through some close friends and you know, we, the first time we met each other was like camping last year.

Jeff:

Yeah. Which you,

Yukei:

Yeah, or two years ago. Yeah, I don't remember.

Jeff:

Which I heard that you guys are never coming again.

Yukei:

Not to not come again, but just, just maybe

Jeff:

Just come during the day?

Yukei:

Yeah, just

Jeff:

Eat lunch and they go home?

Yukei:

Yes. We will bring lunch this time because last time we were supposed to bring lunch and then we brought lunch for ourselves and forgot about everybody else.

Jeff:

Yeah, I know that burrito looked pretty good.

Yukei:

And then I was like "Hey honey, how come everybody's just like looking at us eating? How come they're not eating?"

Jeff:

I mean, you were supposed to cook.

Yukei:

Yeah, and she, and she's like " Oh shit... I think we were supposed to bring the burritos, but..."

Jeff:

"Jay, give Justin some of your quesadilla."

Yukei:

And I was like "Uh, honey, I am the professional chef.” When you volunteer to people that the professional chef is bringing food, you can't like, uh, yeah. So anyway, we have to come camping, regardless. Not staying a night, but it's just, it's tough work.

Jeff:

I mean, the kids…

Yukei:

they,

Jeff:

They're supposed to get dirty, right? They don't have to shower. It's only a couple days.

Yukei:

You, you tell Sue that. Uh, yeah. No, they, it's, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I met, I met you at, at camping and you know, you, you know, we, we, we kind of, you know, hit it off and I, I kind of find that you're kind of like the, the, the guy, if I would've been like born here, you know? Just kind of, you know, living, living your dream. Like I was kind of. Yeah, I don't like to use the word envy, cuz the word envy is not good for any, any, anybody.

Jeff:

Yeah. Yeah.

Yukei:

But, uh, maybe, maybe I was kind of looking up to you and your in, in your situation, you know, and, you know, and, and I was, you know, I, now I cook like I, my friends are like, dishwashers and like prep.

Jeff:

I mean, that was the first thing you told me was that you're a high paid dishwasher.

Yukei:

No. Yes, yes.

Jeff:

So that was intriguing.

Yukei:

Yes. Uh, but, but, uh, you know, having like real people as friends, you know, like that call me friends was a, was, was, was an honor, was an honor.

Jeff:

Yeah. No, I think that that was kind of, uh, one of the reasons why, um, we hit it off, right?

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Because immediately kind of started to talk about your experiences, my experiences. I was really, um, not surprised, but I was, was really intrigued with, with your story.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Right? And, and kind of thinking about how I grew up versus how you grew up.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Uh, the differences there.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

And how we're in the same place.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

You know, essentially.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Um, family, kids, um, kind of, I guess, demographics.

Yukei:

Right, right, right.

Jeff:

But your experiences were just completely different than mine, right?

Yukei:

Just, just a little bit. And you, you kind of referring that you, you know, you haven't traveled much.

Jeff:

I mean, I don't even think it was the travel, it was just... you know, your story of, uh, coming here and, and kind of going through the process, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like Eddie Murphy?

Yukei:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nobody, nobody wished that they would have a experience like that. Like I don't wish any, any of that on anybody.

Jeff:

I mean, it was kind of inspiring for me though, right? I mean, I remember talking to, to, to Jen about, You know, what you and I had spoke about and, and what you had told me, you'd gone through.

Yukei:

Uh huh.

Jeff:

And you know, I mean, it kind of made me feel like, oh damn, like I suck.

Yukei:

No.

Jeff:

Like all this shit was just given to me, right? I mean, it wasn't, but...

Yukei:

No, no, no.

Jeff:

You know I mean,

Yukei:

And, and it wasn't, and it wasn't. I think this is a good segue, cuz I was talk, I was thinking about like, kind of like your hero's journey, right? Um, for, for me, even from the first pod, uh, which was last night in my kids' playroom

Jeff:

By yourself.

Yukei:

By my, by myself. Uh, I think the, the one thing that we can, I can, I can, I can find people like appreciate this, is that, uh, we all go through like this, this change, this dynamic change from, like for me it was me going from corporate, cooking corporate to going private. Like I was saying how I was doing food for thousands of people…

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

to going to do food for like four people.

Jeff:

Sure.

Yukei:

Right? And earning the same and more money, right?

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

And all the demons that go through that. And working from, with groups of people, managing groups of people to working solo, right?

Jeff:

Mm-hmm.

Yukei:

So like that's, that's a huge change. You went, you go from one reality to a next reality, and you have to make yourself comfortable in that reality.

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

So for you, I know you've been in this mortgage game game for a long time, right? Working with the same, same people, right? Same, same folks. You know, you were like the fucking Michael Jordan of their team. You know, everybody you like, you know, and when they decides to, you know, close up shop, right?

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

You came to me like, I was like, "Oh bro, man, what the fuck are you gonna do?" You know, and, and, and, you know,

Jeff:

Yeah. I mean, you really pushed me.

Yukei:

Right. And I was like, and, and well, oh, okay. Let's, if say that I pushed you, I hope this thing is a good thing that I pushed you into.

Jeff:

Yeah. Well, I, I'll, I'll blame you if it's not.

Yukei:

Yeah. Right, right, right.

Jeff:

I'll be like, "Look, what the fuck you did, bro!"

Yukei:

Uh, let's, let's see what kind of sound effect do I have. No, not that one. I think I have like a punchline. Next time we tell us joke, we gotta do this.

Jeff:

Yeah.

Yukei:

Okay. I lost, I lost my train, train, train, train.

Jeff:

Yeah, no, we were talking about how when the company that I worked for

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Or worked with, um, decided that it was a good time to exit the market.

Yukei:

Right.

Jeff:

Um,

Yukei:

And you and, and you were, and you were like, uh, "Yeah, I'm just gonna go do this at a brokerage…

Jeff:

Yeah.

Yukei:

and just hop on their list."

Jeff:

Yeah. You poo-pooed me right away. You were like,

Yukei:

I was like,"What the fuck is that?"

Jeff:

"Why would you do that?"

Yukei:

Like, and I was like,"So how much do you have to pay them to get on their list?"

Jeff:

Right, right, right. Yeah. Just continue to be mediocre, Jeff.

Yukei:

Right? Yeah. No, no, no, no, no, no. But like, just, just like how much you're like, how much work it actually takes, right?

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

For you to take the other part that people are taking away from you.

Jeff:

Sure.

Yukei:

Right?

Jeff:

Yeah.

Yukei:

You know, like, like the big thing. Like what? Like, you know, and we, right away we're like, "Hey, Jeff, what's your hurdle?" Right?

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

It's still like, you're like, it's Maria, right? She's my right, she's my right hand. I gotta get her to be, be on salary. And then we're like, well, okay. How much would you make in a, in a deal? And how many deals would you need to make as a broker

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

to make her, to, to make her year salary. You're like, okay.

Jeff:

Right.

Yukei:

Let's not say out here just in case Maria listens to this.

Jeff:

Right, right, right. Yeah. No, we would keep that

Yukei:

Right.

Jeff:

confidential.

Yukei:

Right, exactly. You know, I don't, I don't have a bleep thing.

Jeff:

Right. Uh, no. I mean, that was a, that was a big concern, right?

Yukei:

Right.

Jeff:

I, I think, um, I, I've been self-employed for a long time, but it's, what I'm learning now is that it's not the same as owning a business.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Right?

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

You're, you're still, as a self-employed person, you're managing yourself.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

You're working with your sphere of influence, your own clients

Yukei:

mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Your customers.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

But you're not running the day-to-day operations. You're not, uh, having to manage staff. You're not having to carry payroll. Uh, the, the responsibility is different.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Uh, when I'm self-employed,

it's:

Okay, my responsibility is to me…

Yukei:

mm-hmm.

Jeff:

and to generate revenue.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Being a business owner and the sole originator

Yukei:

mm-hmm.

Jeff:

You know, the, the, the sole person who is creating revenue. Yeah. Um, there's a different set of responsibilities that are added, right?

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

And, uh, yeah, you're right. I mean, Maria was integral in, in helping me make the decision...

Yukei:

mm-hmm.

Jeff:

to, you know, go out on my own.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Um, and I've had help from other people.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Um, people that I really respect and trust to kind of get things set up operationally.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

We're not quite there yet, but I would say about 98%.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

99%. We're just a couple, couple more things that we have to do.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Um, but yeah, it was, you were one of the people that kind of really made me think after we had a conversation, I mean, I, I thought for the next few days, like, you know, what's holding me back?

Yukei:

Right.

Jeff:

Um,

Yukei:

You are holding you back.

Jeff:

Yeah, absolutely. Uh, I mean, we're our own worst enemy, right?

Yukei:

Right. For

Jeff:

the self-doubt.

Yukei:

Yeah, no, for sure. Know what? And, and, and I'm so glad that you did it, cuz cuz you do have options, right? You were gonna to either work on, you know, or you know, your father is a very successful, uh, real estate broker and he's always asking you to kind of take over and you kind of, uh, you've always kind of said "no". You kind of, kind of want to make it for yourself, so, you know, so, so to speak.

Jeff:

Yeah. I think that, you know, he, he sells real estate.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

And, you know, I grew up with that and seeing, uh, my family be in that sector of the industry and experiencing a lot of it myself, it just wasn't something, it isn't something that I, that I think I enjoy as much as, uh, what I do now. Or what I've been doing for almost 19 years, I feel like. The ability to...

Yukei:

19 years?

Jeff:

19 years.

Yukei:

19.

Jeff:

Which it's like half my life, dude.

Yukei:

Yeah. Yeah. You you've helped a lot of people for a long time.

Jeff:

Yeah. I, I'm doing the mortgage stuff, financing, you know, it just in comparison to selling real estate, in my opinion, uh, the financing side of things I really enjoy because it, it, it. It helps to establish a relationship. I know so much about people. I have to know.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

I have to know where they want to go. I have to know what their family is like. I have to know what their finances look like. If they have shitty credit, we gotta fix that. We put together a plan.

Yukei:

Yes.

Jeff:

Right. Like, wh why do you have shitty credit?

Yukei:

Yeah don't walk away from the shitty credits.

Jeff:

Right. You know, I mean, tho those are the folks who need the help the most. Right. And

Yukei:

That's right. That's right.

Jeff:

Those are the relationships that I covet the most. Right?

Yukei:

Yes.

Jeff:

We, we get 'em from zero to hero.

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Um, in sometimes a very short period of time, and, and they're so grateful. And when I get to sit down with them at the end of the day and

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

they're signing their paperwork for their first home that they never thought that they were gonna be able to buy,

Yukei:

mm.

Jeff:

and then coming five years later, they're coming at me like, "We're ready to invest." What, where, where are you putting your money?

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

I'm like, that's such a huge success, su success story for

Yukei:

Right.

Jeff:

For me and them. So it's, it's very gratifying.

Yukei:

No, no, that's, no, that's great. And you know, relationship for sure Jeff, like he is, you don't bullshit. Right. You don't like, you're the guy, you and your wife are the guy, the people that are out there opening our kids' car doors and the rain and the sl. Like, we don't snow here, but you know, it's damp, like this morning was like,

Jeff:

It was cold.

Yukei:

It was cold as fuck. And Jeff is out there and, and his and his, and his wife Jen, God bless their soul, they're out there opening up everybody's like, everybody's in their car. Right? Just, just,

Jeff:

It's all warm. It's like 80 degrees in the car.

Yukei:

Yeah. You know, I'm sure when you open up the car door, like you feel like the heat just blasting you

Jeff:

Nice and warm in there.

Yukei:

Yeah. You know, and then like, you know, and like I genuinely like appreciate that, like that, that kind of like that type of service and. You know, you always say, you always say that it's a, you know, it's something for you. You know, but you know, you know, I, I, I think, you know, that's a lot of, a big part of me admiring you is that, you know, your, your, your, your sense of service, you know, you're, you're willing to putting, put, you know, putting yourself out there.

Jeff:

Yeah. I mean, honestly, I feel like it is kind of a selfish thing, right? Like,

Yukei:

Yeah, you keep saying that. I don't understand. I don't understand, like, standing out in a cold. Uh, or in the heat, just, just get up and, yeah. No, it's, it's cool. Yeah.

Jeff:

I mean, I never, I, you know, before both kids were at the same school, I never went with them to get dropped off. Right. Right. So now they're at the same school, you know, I'm trying to enjoy.

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

I guess as a parent, I'm trying to enjoy the, the time that I have, because sooner or later I keep thinking this. Right. At some point, they're not gonna want me there.

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

They're, they're not gonna want to hang out with me. I'm not gonna be Superman anymore.

Yukei:

Right, right, right.

Jeff:

Um,

Yukei:

yeah.

Jeff:

You know, and, and a lot of the older folks, the more tenured, the more experienced people are like,"you, you need to enjoy this now."

Yukei:

Mm-hmm.

Jeff:

Because, you know, in the blink of an eye, it'll, it'll be, it'll be the past. Right?

Yukei:

Yeah, for sure.

Jeff:

And I'm sure you can, you can understand that.

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Right? Um,

Yukei:

Oh yeah.

Jeff:

So, but yeah, I feel like it is a personal thing. It's, it's or more of a selfish thing because I get to go with them.

Yukei:

Right.

Jeff:

And then I really enjoy being the first thing that the little kids see. Like, I don't want to do the other side where Jen is, right? Like, I like the kindergartner side.

Yukei:

That's right.

Jeff:

I open the door and they're like, " Good morning, Mr. Tung!" You know? And, uh, And then, you know, it's also cool because it forces me to walk home.

Yukei:

Yeah.

Jeff:

Because my wife leaves me there and she, she goes to work, right? So I'm like, alright, I'll take the long road two and a half mile.

Yukei:

You gotta get your step in, you gotta get your,

Jeff:

Yeah. I gotta close those rings, right?

Yukei:

Jeff? Yeah, Jeff. Jeff, uh, Jeff walks so much that he walks shoes to the ground and then he goes back before as time return period is over, he's like, "Hey, I, I wore down this pair of shoes. Where's my guaranteed 25,000 miles a mile? Where's my service? You know?

Jeff:

Shout out to Fleet Feet 90 day return policy if you don't like 'em or if you break 'em down in 90 days. I mean, I went through two pairs of shoes. And I was like "These are no good" and they, they gave me brand new ones…

Yukei:

with a, with a smile.

Jeff:

and a free pair of socks! He was like, " Well, try these socks, you know? I mean, maybe that's why you're grinding away at the insole."

Yukei:

Yeah. Then they, yeah, they just, they just love.

Jeff:

Yeah. You were there that day.

Yukei:

Yeah, I was, I was, I was there. Maybe, maybe cuz you bought it at, uh, rich, the rich people area.

Jeff:

Yeah. I mean, they are in Menlo, right?

Yukei:

Yeah. Men. Men, Menlo. Yeah. Yeah. So, well th uh, I think thank you. Thank you for, you know, coming on the pod.

Jeff:

Oh yeah.

Yukei:

Um, I think we will, we can plan more.

Jeff:

For sure.

Yukei:

In, in advance of what we talk about. But, you know, this is a good intro for everybody to get to know Jeff. I have no idea when, uh, this will get published, but thank you so much for

Jeff:

Absolutely, man,

Yukei:

for being here.

Jeff:

Your set up his dope.

Yukei:

Yeah, no, and this is your garage and this is his snake right here. All right, so, uh, See you everyone.

Jeff:

Have a good Valentine's Day, everybody.

Yukei:

Oh yeah. Today is Valentine's Day and this,

Jeff:

don't forget, forget cards.

Yukei:

Oh yeah. Don't forget to get cards. And this is brought to you by KeyBuzz Buzz Key. KeyBuzz.

Jeff:

KeyBuzz, KeyBuzz Mortgage Solutions.

Yukei:

Is there a website?

Jeff:

Not yet.

Yukei:

Okay.

Jeff:

Holler at me.

Yukei:

Holler at Jeff. Uh, yeah. We won't put his number up here, but, uh, dm us.

Jeff:

Use Yu's Gourmet.

Yukei:

That's right, yusgourmet.com. Check out my recipes. Uh, if you're lucky, you can buy some of my in-laws' dumplings.

Jeff:

That was dope.

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Yukei Fan

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