The Alimond Show
Welcome to The Alimond Show --join us as we share our entrepreneurial guests' stories, uncover their secrets to success, and explore the unique paths they've taken to build thriving businesses in our community.
In each episode, our host, Aliyah Dastour, sits down with a diverse group of local business owners, from the corner cafe to the boutique shop, from tech startups to family-run enterprises. We peel back the curtain to reveal the trials, triumphs, and transformational moments that have shaped their entrepreneurial journey.
Discover the passion, perseverance, and innovative thinking that fuels these businesses, as well as the challenges they've overcome along the way. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur seeking inspiration or simply a curious listener interested in the stories behind your favorite local spots, The Alimond Show has something for everyone.
Our guests share their experiences, insights, and valuable advice that can empower you to turn your own dreams into reality. We discuss topics like marketing strategies, customer relationships, community engagement, and much more, offering practical takeaways you can apply to your own business or career.
Join us every week as we celebrate the unsung heroes of our local business community and explore the vibrant tapestry of entrepreneurship in our area. Tune in to The Alimond Show and get ready to be inspired, informed, and motivated to support and nurture the businesses that make our community thrive.
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The Alimond Show
Melissa Landon - Building Success Through Vulnerability and Service
What happens when a mortgage professional strips away the polished facade and shares their authentic journey? In this candid conversation, Melissa Landon, Branch Manager at CMG Home Loans and leader of the Landon Group, reveals how her path through real estate, title services, and finally to mortgage lending created the foundation for her success—but it's her openness about life's challenges that truly sets her apart.
Starting as an 18-year-old real estate agent when "no one was going to buy a house from an 18-year-old," Melissa strategically gained experience across multiple facets of the industry before finding her passion in mortgages. "This side gives me a whole lot of joy," she shares. "It's helping somebody buy a house. It's such a big deal." Today, her team specializes in serving military families through VA loans while providing exceptional support to first-time homebuyers navigating unfamiliar terminology and processes.
Melissa's approach transcends traditional mortgage services through her commitment to education and relationship-building. "We try to overly explain stuff and make sure they have a whole understanding of what they're doing," she explains. This philosophy extends to her unexpected success with her podcast "Rate the Dream: Life, Love, and Mortgages," where she discovered that sharing personal struggles with marriage, sobriety, and family challenges resonated more powerfully than mortgage advice alone.
The conversation delves into how Melissa balances leading a growing team with raising four children (from 3 to 19 years old), her involvement with Homes for Heroes to support community servants, and how faith anchors her through life's challenges. Her refreshing perspective on forgiveness, boundaries, and authentic connection offers valuable insights for professionals in any field: "People work with people that they know, like, and trust... If you don't like me and you don't know me and you don't trust me, it doesn't matter if I have the lowest interest rate."
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer seeking guidance, a professional balancing career and family, or someone navigating personal challenges while maintaining professional success, Melissa's story reminds us that vulnerability might just be your greatest strength. What could you achieve by bringing your whole, authentic self to both business and life?
My name is Melissa Landon. I am a mortgage loan officer at CMG Home Loans and I head up the Landon Group. I was about a couple handful months ago, was promoted to branch manager, so I'm branch manager of our Gainesville office. Congratulations, thank you. It's big but it's not. It's an easy task but it's a hard task at the same time. So I mean, I've been doing this for a really long time, but being a branch manager is something new. I have a team and I've run my team successfully, but now bringing in other people is a new challenge that I'm taking on this year.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Well, congratulations, Thank you. So you went from real estate agent to mortgage leader. You began career over two decades ago as a real estate agent, then moved into title service before becoming a mortgage broker and branch manager. What prompted each shift and what strengths from your earlier roles do you still lean on today?
Speaker 1:So when we were younger, we were very much like you had to go get a big girl job or you had to go to college was kind of the rule in our house. I tried college for a little bit and was like this is not for me and all I ever knew was real estate. My father was in real estate, my stepmother was in real estate. Everybody around us that we grew up with, everyone did real estate. So I was like I'll try my hand. So I went and got my real estate license but then, right, no one was going to buy a house from an 18-year-old. I think it's different now, like I think the generation is different. I have a lot of younger loan officers and real estate agents that I come up against. So when I was 18, no one was going to buy a house.
Speaker 1:So I did some backend stuff. I did a lot of relocation work for Century 21. It was great, I loved it. And then I kind of learned a little bit there and I was like, okay, I'm bored, so I did title and I did that for a really long time and then I was bored and bored is probably not the right word. I was looking for my next stepping stone of like challenge Okay, well, can I do this? I feel like I had mastered that. So then I was introduced to mortgages. My father was a mortgage lender at the time, so I interviewed with a bunch of different and I hopped on a team and I've been doing that since, and this is my passion as far as real estate is concerned. I like doing the real estate side, I like doing the title side, but this side of it gives me a whole lot of just joy, I know, that sounds really silly, but it's helping somebody buy a house.
Speaker 1:It's such a big deal. We do it all the time, every day. My team and I do so. I think sometimes we forget, but whether it's your first house, your third house or you know, or if you're selling your house cause all your kids are gone and now you're, you're moving down, it's always a big deal and so my team and I would take great pride in it. So this is where I'll be. This is what I love. But doing all the other things getting here to mortgages has really helped me understand all the sides of the transaction. So I mean, it all has changed over the years. Real estate has definitely changed the laws and everything and same with title, but having an understanding of all the parts has really helped where I sit now as a loan officer.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and how big is your team?
Speaker 1:We just lost a member. Sadly she branched out on her own. I was really sad to see her go, but I wish her the best. So we have four of us right now and we are actively in the process of bringing on a few others. I can't say anything yet. We're still in negotiations for that and the branch is smaller in Gainesville but we're looking to build that. I think there's about six, seven of us in the office. You know it's hard. People don't really go in the office anymore.
Speaker 2:Is it more like remote, I guess?
Speaker 1:A lot of it is remote or you sit in real estate offices. But I think since COVID you know everyone we all learned we could actually really work from home. So we'll see.
Speaker 2:Okay, and then you say you're, you can't say much now, but what?
Speaker 1:would it take or what does it take to work with you guys? What people do you look for and what's like an ideal candidate? So I try to align myself with people of the same core values as I do, right we, faith and just the willingness to learn, because that's the thing with this industry, probably like most industries, it's ever changing, so you constantly have to be up on your loan guidelines and learning. I mean I have a girl who's brand new, she's right out of college, she's learning, she's taking her NMLS test. I mean she's ready, she's young. Like I said, she's young, that young. The debt generation is all about building generational wealth. It was something that I think it's so different age right, we were taught that. So but to join our team, I mean I just like sit down and have a conversation with them and see what their values are, what they're looking for, if our team is a right fit, if CMG is a right fit for you, and we kind of just start from there and interview through it.
Speaker 2:Okay, I love it. So let's see we're going to do some client focus and service questions. You often emphasize helping first-time buyers achieve their white picket dreams. What are the most common fears or misconceptions that they have and how do you guide them through those challenges?
Speaker 1:So first-time homebuyers are really hard and the reason first-time homebuyers are really hard is because, now, not all, but I would say probably a higher percentage, probably seven out of 10, right, they need some of the down payment assistance, they need some closing cost assistance not everybody, and we're very green, so which is has it's twofold right, some of it's really great and some of it's hard, because we, like I said, we do this every day, so we know the terminology. So I really take the time to educate from the beginning, like these are the, these are the terms is have an understanding or really go line by line over the loan estimates, understanding what the down payment assistance programs that are available for them. And not all first-time homebuyers need the down payment assistance programs. But again, some first-time homebuyers have just been saving and saving and saving and now they're like here, what do I do?
Speaker 1:So my team really likes to handhold through the process, especially in the beginning. Right, not to talk to you like you're three, but I couldn't do. Your job is what I tell people. So we try to overly explain stuff and make sure they have a whole, like just big understanding of what they're doing. So we take the time to do that. We do specialize a lot in VA loans. My team does. About 75% of our business are VA loans. My husband is prior Marine, so and a lot of the real estate agents that I work with have some sort of military affiliation. Okay, so we work without them too.
Speaker 2:Awesome, I actually like that approach and you're like not to talk to you like you're three years old, but I actually do like that, because I'm not well-versed in that world, because I'm not even a first-time home buyer, but I can't imagine what that's like for people who are like actually stepping into that and about to purchase their first home. I want you to talk to me Like.
Speaker 1:I agree.
Speaker 2:Because I don't know all these big words and I feel intimidated, like should I say yes to that?
Speaker 1:Like what does that mean? You know, and there's a lot of terminology and it's a lot, I mean, it's a big, big deal. So you go from either renting or, you know, living at your parents' house and saving money, or however the situation is so. The situation is so it's. We look at finances too, because on paper, a lot of times you can qualify for way more than you actually want to, right? Because I don't know what your spending habits are. I don't know how many times you order Uber Eats a week, right?
Speaker 1:That is a thing that actually is a thing we joke. I have one. There's an agent I work with and she's like all right, they Uber Eats a lot, which is fine. I'm not a great cook, so I totally understand. I can bake but I cannot cook. My family will eat it, but I know that it's not good Like I love them for that. So I just because it's a big deal and again, no matter if it's their first time or they've done this for the 10th time, it changes. I mean, I have a gentleman. He lived in his house for 35 years. His kids grew up there, his wife passed away there and he was downsizing and he there and he was downsizing and he was like Melissa. I don't know what any of this is.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I've bought a house but it had been so long and everything has changed. Right, he was like when I first did it I sat in front of you and pen and papered it all. And now we're electronically like walking him through and FaceTiming him and his daughter's there and we're doing the whole lot. That's changed my gosh, yeah, can you imagine? No, I mean cause the years that I've been doing it. I mean we had paper files when I started. Now there's no paper. Everything is on the cloud?
Speaker 2:Absolutely no, oh my gosh no. And the fact that he's not keeping up with, like he doesn't know when he's going to downsize or move, so like it's great that that's why you get, like you know, your mortgage lenders, your real estate agents. They help you and they stay up to date with everything? What do you like to do to stay up to date and know all the latest policies and laws that are changing, the new trends that are happening?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so as far as like loan guidelines and stuff, we get notifications if different things have changed. We actively read those. We do continuing education classes, I'm sure, like everybody, there's a different industry, so at the end of the year we have to do them for the following year and highlight it. Our underwriting team is really good at CMG with hey guys, this has changed or you're no longer allowed to do this. So my team is well-versed on. Anytime a new guideline has come out, we send it to the whole team. We make sure everybody understands it.
Speaker 1:As far as keeping up with the times, that's hard. My kids would say that I'm old, I call them earbuds, not ear pods, right, and I can never get them to work. I can never get them. One is always in the other, one is in the case, not working. It's. It's a toxic trait, but it's okay. But I am pretty good on Facebook. I am pretty good with that. I make my, hold my phone up and do the little videos and post them on my slides, my snap and all my things. So as far as that, because we're keeping up with the trends that way, and a lot of different coaching programs too, and they do help us say okay, guys, these are the latest trends, this is what we're doing this year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, love it. Now I want to ask you about marketing and what you're doing to get the name, the word out there, about what you're doing and the type of services that you provide. Are you an avid like? I heard you mention Snap. I heard you say Facebook. What about Instagram? Are you making video content? Are you going to networking groups? What's working?
Speaker 1:All of the all of the above. I do networking groups as often as I can I like. There's a handful of networking groups now that they have their times are all over, right? So, first thing, in the morning, lunch, evening, weekends, because everyone's schedule's busy, and before it was always like networking at 7 am, that's impossible for me I have four kids or even late at night because again we're doing volleyball or we're doing something. So it is nice that they have lunchtime ones that you can meet, online ones you can do. So I try to stay up and some of them are just again Facebook groups that are, hey, someone's looking for this or this, and so I do try to do some networking events as frequently as I can. I am on every single platform you can possibly think of. I have a personal page, I have a business page, I have a podcast page All of the pages, and I'm on all of them. I do have two different people that run them for me Nice.
Speaker 1:No, you got it um, and kristen recently onboarded and is helping me revamp it a little bit because it gets stale. Right, like I do mortgages, I can do mortgages with my eyes closed. I'm not great at um putting out content, so to speak, like content that, like people actually want to see. Yeah, so we've revamped all of those. She helps me, she tells me okay, this is, this is what we're doing for june, these are the videos I need you to make. So, so it helps. So it's not the same repetitive stuff.
Speaker 2:It definitely helps to have somebody there who's like knowing what content they want to do and like putting it out there and doing the research for it.
Speaker 1:Right, like I'm off or turning on the camera and talking and doing the most recent loan product or whatever it is we're discussing, but she really does the research of okay, first-time homebuyers are Googling X, let's do a video on this, perfect. So then we're tagging it. So then we're trying to, you know, get out in front of consumers. No, I love that.
Speaker 2:And now you mentioned podcasts. Let's talk about that. Okay, do you have a podcast?
Speaker 1:I do I do have a podcast. It's called rate the dream life, love and mortgages. What's it about? It's about all the things. So I kind of on a whim In 2023, I had a whole lot of personal stuff go down in my house and for me everyone was.
Speaker 1:It was very much a hush hush and I'm a very open person. So one day I turned my camera on on a Friday. I would normally, I would normally do a little live video about what the mortgage updates were, the rates and I turned my camera on and I just talked about how life isn't fair and you have to focus on the things you can control Control the controllables, actually what I call the video. And I had so many people some people knew what I was going through, some people didn't just could relate to the video and I was like this is weird, this is weird. So then I made another video and another video and I talked about the challenges that I was going through at my house between my husband and I and now being sober and my faith. I mean I talked about all kinds of nothing that was related to mortgages. Even the mortgages was in the title. It was all. Someone would throw out a topic and I would do a five minute to 30 minute video. And then I did a video and broke down exactly what happened, where the whole my marriage went up and it's better, it's fixed. We fixed it, but at the time it was not something that I ever thought was going to be fixed and I called myself out in my fault and I had so many people reach out and be like, oh my gosh, me too. And it was just so relatable people could relate to it. So all of excuse me, all of 2024, all of the videos were just relatable videos to people that would say talk about this, talk about this. And so we did all of that. I talked about forgiveness, I talked about sobriety, I did talk about mortgages a little bit, but it was all that. And then something that I thought was never going to happen my husband and I were going to try to reconcile a disaster we had created. So the podcast took a side seat to fixing my life and my marriage and my family and work and all the things. And so at the end of 2024, I was like, all right, we're going to revamp the podcast for 2025. And we have, and my friend Kristen is helping me, and so now I have really taken it For June.
Speaker 1:We did Military Appreciation Month for June. I interviewed real estate agents that have military affiliation. I interviewed military spouses. They gave their tips and tricks for moving cross-country with children and just all the things. I talked to a couple different people that helped veterans get their benefits when they retire, even if they're on their way out. So we did lots of different interviews in regards to that and now we still have a couple still posting and then we're going in July. July is we're calling it our moving, you know, moving and packing and decluttering and move out summer. So yeah, so now it's kind of themed a little bit. There's more structure than me just turning on my camera and talking, although I will tell you that got more views than anything I've done since.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you that. I was going to ask you that I was like, first of all, how did it feel when you got all of that out? And I want to know, like what the reception was to all of that. You just being raw and putting yourself out there and were you scared?
Speaker 1:I was slightly scared but part of me was like I don't care, because it was a very, it was very healing for me to be like, because a lot of times when something goes wrong in your life for instance, you know, we'll talk about this like my marriage, right, all I could see was what he had done.
Speaker 1:I couldn't, and it took me a little bit to go, oh, friend, so when I was able to, and again I turned the camera on and I just said all the things that like are relatable and people related to it, and I got or scared to even say, or scared to say out loud so many people and I hate the word slit in my DM Cause it sounds silly but like I had so many friends, random people, stranger, like people you know. I mean you have people that are on that follow you on your face but you don't really know that we're like, oh my gosh, but like, how brave of you to turn your camera on and openly discuss all the things. It made me a better person. I mean I'm sure there were some people tuning in just to hear the tea right Just to hear the gossip just to hear Melissa go.
Speaker 1:Oh, I failed at life, right, that's fine, but I did it and it helped me heal if that makes sense A lot of my family. I don't think liked it at first, but I was like, don't watch it. Don't watch it Because the only person I was calling out was myself and my own personal behavior, or behavior that was around me that created all the things, and not all of it was the downfall of my marriage. I mean, we talked about the rebuild of the marriage. I lost a lot of friends for the rebuild. Funny that happens, though it does happen. But I also.
Speaker 1:There's a saying and I'm going to mess it up, but it was like, uh, god removes people out of your lives because he heard conversations you didn't, and so I'm an avid believer that like there's a reason they're no longer part of my life. So they could support me when I was down, but they didn't want to support me when we fixed it. Then you're not really my friend, so, but anyways, it was very relatable to people I talked about all like from my marriage to raising kids, to being you know, to being sober. We're about a year, year and a half, sober. Congratulations, thank you. Thank you. People don't talk about that either. I had one of my good friends on who. She told her whole devastating story about sobriety and a lot of people reached out to her and then, you know, she helped them, connect them in different. It was just. I loved it, it was great. And so back up to your sorry, that was a long-winded answer. There were so many views on that and now that I've switched it to business I get like 10. I'm like seriously.
Speaker 2:Y'all putting on my downfall or something yeah.
Speaker 1:I just I mean not that people can't relate to military stuff, but I think the person it was very personal and a lot of people can relate where they don't share, right, we all just post the really great pictures on Facebook, but we see that all the time, right, people never want to share, like, hey guys, this shitty thing just happened to me today.
Speaker 2:It's always like this amazing thing happened to me today because it's kind of putting on like a facade, right, but you said no, I want to be real with people and honest with myself. And like you said. I feel that that definitely resonated because not a lot of people have the courage to do that. I would be terrified.
Speaker 1:I would be terrified. But I was like it's just me, I'm picking apart myself, right, like I didn't tell my husband's side of the story because that's not my story to tell. You know, some of my friends came in and did interviews with me and, like I said, hand-in-the-limb were like I want you to talk about this, I want you to use, but it was always relatable to how I was feeling. Yeah, so it wasn't a dig if it didn't resonate with you, but it was for me. I mean, I had a whole episode on my son flipped a truck and almost killed himself and his friend, but I talked about that and how my husband and I we argued, but you know, it was just I don't know.
Speaker 1:Go listen to the episode I'm going to have to now, oh my God. And I did a whole episode on the power of forgiveness. Like it's not like for me. There were so many people like I was holding so much anger towards so many different people for so many different things. But it was deep down with me that like I had to be like, okay, I had to forgive them for Whatever X.
Speaker 2:Y Z Whatever it was, yeah. So, my gosh. Can you give me a tip on forgiveness, Because sometimes that's kind of hard for me to do.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you have to re-forgive over and over, like that's unfortunate. My therapist Shout out, therapist Shout out to my therapist. But sometimes it's something you have to do over and over, but you have to do it for yourself, no-transcript you.
Speaker 2:I guess I got a lot of work to do, because I'm just like that was one time never again, goodbye, it's like, are you?
Speaker 1:serious. My toxic trait is like I'll let you hurt my feelings over and over and over and over, and I continue to let you come back, because I always see the good in people.
Speaker 2:I don't like that for you.
Speaker 1:I just want to say that, no, I know, but it's my toxic trait and I know it. So, like boundaries is something that's really hard for me. I'm working on it. Okay, I'm working on it, good, good good, yeah, no, because you deserve and people pleasing. People pleasing, I think, is something that we all do in the industry, and I've learned over the handful of years that everybody is your person.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Right, Not every client is meant for you Like not every real estate agent or referral partner or whoever. It is Not everybody. I'm just talking for my industry. They're not all our people, right, and it's okay.
Speaker 2:And it's okay because you do get stuck on like but why was? Why didn't they like me? Did I say something? You're like? Reflecting back on that conversation you have, I'm like no, but just letting that go and being like it, just it's okay it's very much.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's such a, it's become such a thing. The let them theory from mel robbins. Oh, you have to read it. It's a book. Okay, it's like so you didn't get invited to the party. All your girlfriends went to a party. You didn't get invited. Like, let them, like, let them. And it's supposed to be like a thing, but it's a two-part right. Everyone gets caught on the let them, but then you have to like, let me. Right to things.
Speaker 1:You have no control over what somebody says or does to you, but you only have control over your, your thoughts, your own self, yeah, so I do a lot of that, cause I am a very much. I come, I come across as I have thick skin and my feelings, I have my feelings of her all the time, my God. So I very much have to be and I hate the, I hate the phrase it's not personal, because here's the thing, so it might not be personal when I say it to you, right, like, oh, they didn't, I didn't invite you, but it wasn't personal. But you instantaneously are going to take that personally because I said that. Right, because to you it was personal that you didn't get invited, or that your employee quit, or that your boyfriend broke up with you or that, whatever, it is right, yeah, but it's not.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? Like to that person? It was not, they were, hey, this group of friends I didn't think you were going to mesh with. Does that make sense? Or like, no, it doesn't. People break up. That's a whole different thing. But when employees leave, it's always a business decision. But for you, for me, I'll go recently. For me, it was very personal, right, hers, was your feelings hurt and you're all up in arms because it is personal? And if they say it's not personal, it's because they know you're taking it personally.
Speaker 2:Dang, that's my take on that. My take on it is that, like dang, like that was personal to me, it wasn't for you.
Speaker 1:Right, and I think it's also like a defense mechanism too, too right. That whole my, my, my daughter, she's gonna kill me so she just don't watch this. You don't have to watch this. But she was hanging out this boy, she's young and I did the whole. The second he says it's not you, it's me, it's absolutely 100 correct, dude.
Speaker 1:Two days later he did it oh, like clockwork, huh so I was like dang again, it's not personal, that's their own thing, right? I mean, how do you? We just went well off tangent, but no, I can't.
Speaker 2:I can't like, I don't know, I can't people, I can't people.
Speaker 1:No, I can't.
Speaker 2:I can't, anyways, anyways, I'm just trying to think about things in my life where I'm just like, yeah, just making me reflect, but anyway.
Speaker 1:So look up the book Let them Theory, let them Theory who is it? By Mel Robbins. Mel Robbins, okay, it's all over. Once you see it, you'll be like, oh gosh, she's all over. Tiktok, she's all over. Where have I been? Yeah, I mean, it's like she. It's funny because I'm pretty sure she was like a lawyer or something that's kind of wild. Not a lawyer, I don't even know on that path. An author, a speaker, a motivational speaker. She does podcasts, she does interviews, she does all kinds. She's got all these different theories. It started from the let them theory and then she worked right out, but it's all genius. Yeah, you just have to pick which one works for you, because everyone's personality is different.
Speaker 2:Yep, absolutely. And when you have clients or maybe team members that you don't mesh well, do you have any like methods of how to like fix conflict or not even with with clients.
Speaker 1:I guess like maybe can can conflict come up with clients sometimes yeah, you very much have to just put yourself or I try to put myself in their shoes. Right, people don't intentionally. Some people, yes, but I don't think in my industry people are. People are intentionally rude or not responding quick enough in email. It's a lot Going back to it. It's a big deal. So when they're being rude, a lot of times what's funny is they don't understand what's going on. So I try to just put myself in their shoes.
Speaker 1:What are you doing with clients that are either irate or talk fast or upset? Because it is a big deal for them. This is a lot of money. And in northern Virginia, you know, because it is a big deal for them, this is a lot of money, and in Northern Virginia it's. I mean, it's a lot of money, no matter what, but it's a lot of money. It's a quick moving market. They have to make split decisions really fast.
Speaker 1:So if there is client conflict, in all the years of doing this there's only been a handful that I was like I really I don't think we're the right fit for each other and that's been as of late, and I think that was just more of personality. I mean, sometimes your personalities don't work, but so to answer that with clients, I just try to put myself in their shoes and really relate. You know a lot of them have kids and, like I said, I do a lot of military. So we're overseas and we're trying to do all this, you know, on WhatsApp and texting because we can't get on the phone, because you know the time zones, the differences they're on base, like.
Speaker 1:So I so again, I'm not to be proud of it I try to put myself in their shoes under relate so I can be more relatable to what they're asking, the repetitiveness or just if there's something that seems like they should understand it but they don't. Um, as far as in the workplace, I mean, I feel like there's always people you're going to get along with and don't get along with. Um, and I just smile do my best, yeah, I mean, there hasn't been anybody. That are not my people as far as that we work with.
Speaker 1:I mean everyone has different methods and different levels of experience and we all you know everyone kind of works well together.
Speaker 2:Okay, good answer. I want to talk to you about your faith, and how big of a role does that play in your life?
Speaker 1:Oh, If that's okay. No, it's totally okay. It plays a huge role, a huge role. We grew up in the church, not like excessively compulsively, but we grew up in the church. My grandparents were Catholic, we were Baptist. We did all the different, all the denominations is that correct? Yeah, we went to all of them. We had friends that were Episcopalian, non-denominate, all of the things. So we grew up.
Speaker 1:I could probably repeat every Bible story if you ever wanted to know, I mean, that's when I grew up in the church. We went to private school. When we were younger, parents separated. We went to public school and it's always been there. There were definitely years of my life that it was over here, right, that it was just over here. It was always there, but it was way over here. As I got older, it got stronger, as I had children, it got even stronger. And then in the past two years, what?
Speaker 1:In 2025, the past two years, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I really had to just put all of everything. Literally just give it to God is the best way to explain that for me, because what I was going through, I didn't see it, I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to see it, I didn't want to saw it, I didn't want to accept it and I just I'm a very controlling person. I don't like spot and 80 very much. I like to know, like this is what we're doing, these are the lists, this is the time, this is all. So when, and especially in 2023, when it all just went to hell, I really just had to rely on my faith. I mean, we, and for me? I don't think it's.
Speaker 1:This is going to sound silly, but not going to church every single Sunday, but I really started back in my devotionals. I start every morning with them. Sometimes it's a little bit later than others. I was listening to um, I trust in God, literally as I was pulling in your parking lot this morning Cause I was in my fields this morning, been in my fields for a couple days, just nothing other than yeah, I'm good, I'm good, but I really. It's funny because when all the stuff was going on in my house, I was praying and praying, and praying and praying, and he answered my prayers, but he answered my prayers differently than what I was praying for. So I spend a lot of time just like, okay, this is where we are and I've got to trust that God's leading my family in the direction that we're supposed to go and we'll see, but it plays a huge part. It plays a huge part.
Speaker 2:I want to ask and let me know if this is too personal or not but having faith like this have there been times where you maybe you've fallen? Like I know you've talked about sobriety and I don't know your whole story, but like I know that can lead into like depression sometimes, or having like a positive outlook on life, Like how do you find that courage and that mindset?
Speaker 1:Some days you have to dig real deep. No-transcript positive attitude. That does take work, because not every day is a great day. There's also this saying and if you only gave 10% today, and that was all you had to give, you had that was a great day.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Right, because not every day, I mean, stuff goes wrong Like so we'll relate it for me for work, right, like you may lose clients, clients may be under contract and the contract falls through or they decide to go work with somebody else, or there's all anything that can happen that can you know, that can get you me, get you all upset or emotional, or so I do wake up, I'm like, all right, I'm awake. God woke me up today. Right, we have a purpose. But some days, like I said, I was in my feels driving here, for whatever reason, I was just in my feels, it's. It looks like it might be sunny now, but it was gloomy this morning, so I don't depression is.
Speaker 1:I think it's different for everybody. Yeah, uh, there are moments that because what did go on in my house was not great, and there are moments where I, for whatever reason, my brain likes to relive it, and I have to. I have a little Bible verse saying that I say in my head and I try to regroup, reevaluate and move forward, but I try not to let it creep in. My husband is really good with if he's like oh, like he can tell, he can tell. So he'll be like this is what we're positive for today. Like yesterday's text was very much like you know what it's going to turn around. You know everyone's healthy, we're all family.
Speaker 1:Like putting it in perspective, putting it in perspective, and so I do spend a lot of time just having to take a deep breath, although they do say if you breathe in like 10 times, take a deep breath 10 times, it does something to you, alters your mind. Well, let me do that real quick. I don't know if it works every single time and sometimes I'm very much like feel it If you're in your feels. Feel it If you need a good cry. I was talking to my friend the other day and she's having a moment she's like gosh. I feel better, but for no reason other than.
Speaker 2:Just let it out. Sometimes your body's like holding it all in and literally like those tears, life is hard.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm not going to sit back and pretend that it's not.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate that. It is absolutely not.
Speaker 1:What I do for a living is extremely hard and extremely competitive, extremely hard. I have the spectrum. I have a three-year-old and I have a 19-year-old, so we're living it, fun times, we're all in it, right? Everyone's like oh the three-year-old. I'm like I think my 19-year-old's the hardest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's in that age, he's brilliant and I love him, but he is my karma. I always thought he was going to be my teenager, but it's him. He very much does what he wants and asks for forgiveness. So that's me. That's how I lived my life when I was here. So I'm like so but and and things happen and it's not always. Let me rephrase my it is wonderful, your life is wonderful, but some sometimes there are things that happen to you that are unexpected, unexplainable, and you just have to do your best to get through it.
Speaker 2:Get through it, yeah absolutely, and you have four kids. Yep, you are now the leader of your team. How do you balance everything? Is there a secret? Have you?
Speaker 1:figured it out.
Speaker 2:Are you still working on it? Because I know I am.
Speaker 1:Um, no, there is no secret. I, this year, is a year of setting boundaries. I try very much. So my schedules my husband and I schedule is are also opposite. So he leaves the house super early in the morning. Is that hard? No, it's easy. Well, it's easier because he doesn't have like the 9 to 5 where he fixes elevators now, so he's out the door early. He's home by like 2 or 3, depending on where he's at. So he's got and again I can't cook. So he does the dinners and he does that. So I do mornings, which are terrible. I trying to get a three-year-old to put the same shoes on every single day for some reason is a challenge, like this morning's was.
Speaker 1:She didn't like her socks and I was like, by the way, they're the same socks she wears every girl day so but having opposites really helps because, again, I the mornings we're out the door, he does evenings and pickups and I try, I try to turn my phone off for dinner or put my phone away for dinner until we're present with each other at dinner, but we're always running. My daughter plays travel volleyball and we're gone a lot on the weekends. We're actually leaving. In a week we're going to Orlando. We're down there for the last tournament of this season. How fun, yeah. And now the middle one. She's not really the middle one, but she's the middle one. She's now into volleyball, she's six, and so then we have the little one, but I just do the. There is no secret sauce. There is no secret sauce. How do you do?
Speaker 2:that Like I'm just one person, but imagine like yourself, plus four little ones.
Speaker 1:So I think what helps too is they're not all extremely little right Like I've got the teenagers and I have the littles, and they help. We are very much. We all help each other out.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:So my daughter doesn't work, she wants a job. So bad I'm like, no, I pay you to help me, right, like she'll pick up kids or she watches them if I've got to go out or I was doing an open house and my husband was on call, so she helps. So we all help each other and that works. It is tougher. I mean I have friends that have, like you know, four under the age of six. That would be a lot harder, that's true. It'd be a lot harder to do, but you just do it, you just find a way to do it and you know real estate. A lot of what we do is nights and weekends and my husband's around and we're around. I mean, you'll forever see me at the volleyball court with my computer, like cheering and sending estimates, and that's my life and we've made it work.
Speaker 2:I love it. You found your own balance and your boundaries and what works and what doesn't. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:And having a team helps. I mean having a team helps because I'm here right now. I let them know. When I walked in, I was like all right, we got you, we got it covered, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I love that. That's so important to have people that you can actually like, rely on and will get the job done. I feel like, if you're lucky, that will happen to you, but that's not always the case and it is hard to find like those, those people that are your people and who have your back and they know the ins and out, and they, they have the same what is it the same goal as you? Yes, was that hard for you to find your dream team?
Speaker 1:I did it slowly. It's something that, like for me as a loan officer, when your production gets to a certain level to elevate it to the next, you have to have a support staff other than like a processor, right Like. So I needed somebody that was going to help me so I could continue to bring in deals, I could continue to go to meetings, I could realtors or events or whatever it is, and have someone over here. And then we just slowly been adding so I have somebody helps me on the front end too. So and again, people leave and you have to move around. We've had, we've had a lot of shifts this year in our team, but it's going well and you just, like I said you I just use interview and chat and you know make sure that they have the same goals that the team has, that we want to do so love it.
Speaker 2:Okay, and I want to talk to you about um, giving back. Um. You have been a part of heroes partnership. You're involved with homes for heroes. Tell us a little bit about them and why giving back through this affiliate role is important to you personally and professionally okay, so there are several different.
Speaker 1:So the homes for heroes is a very specific program, um, and this one is for doctors, teachers, nurses, police officers, emts, firefighters, anyone that serves the community. You, it's, so it's, it's, it's, I think it's it. Actually it is nationwide, so it's nationwide, it's not just specific here to Virginia and anyone that falls into that category. But here's the thing is that could be the lunch lady, that could be the janitor, that could be even in a doctor's office. It doesn't necessarily have to be. You don't show your credentials.
Speaker 1:If that makes sense, if you fall into that category, then you get special benefits for purchasing a home. There are realtors that are also affiliated with that program that I'm teamed up with and they get kind of a rebate. So, selling or buying, they get a percentage of the home sale back and then if they use a preferred lender, which I am, we help cover some of the closing costs for them. Yeah, and it's great because, again, a lot of it's just giving back to the community. Right, I mean teachers, nurses, all of them, I mean even and it applies to military, to like it. All factors in.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and they give so much to us yes. What better way to give back to them? Yeah, they help like future generations with kids, they help our families out in hospitals and all that. So I think, that's awesome that you're so involved with the community. Where do you see yourself in the next five years as a person and with your business?
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, I would like to continue to grow my team. I would love to. I would love to. I'd love to say retired, that's not a thing ever.
Speaker 2:For me, you're so young.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, but I don't mean it like that. But I would definitely love to branch, have a few other loan officers added to my team and gosh, personally, I really like where I am. Personally, I do. I mean, I like that because there's been so much growth and there's been so much change.
Speaker 1:So when I'm not well, I say when I'm not working, I'm always working, my life is someone's like what are your hobbies? And I was like what is that? What is a hobby? And she was like, yeah, I need to know what your hobbies are. This was the way they interviewed me and I was like, oh, that's my family. And she was like no, no, it can't be your God, it can't be. I said, no, those are my hobbies.
Speaker 1:So it's literally life, love and mortgages is what I do. Right, I live my life. You need a story for that. I do need one. It's all my hashtag on all my stuff. I live, breathe, die in my family, and working allows for me to do all the fun things with my family. Right now, we're all immersed in travel volleyball. My daughter, actually, today's her last day of junior year, so she's going to be a senior and I only have one more year, right. She's got huge hopes and dreams and aspirations to go off to college and be something fantastic. So we spend all of our time volleyball. We have a pool, we spend our time at our pool, always with my laptop. So in five years I would like to just be living the same great, fabulous life. I love that, like I don't.
Speaker 2:You're still grateful, like for what you have now, and that that's like you want it to continue to just be this amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I like to bring on other loan officers and help them grow their their business and expand and do the same thing. And if they branch off and have teams of their own, then that'll be very sad for me, that is, but it's something that's also very rewarding because you helped them get there. So that's something that I'm looking forward to doing and I've been interviewing lenders, loan officers that are looking for some help to grow and build and then go off on their own. So in the next five years that would be ideal for me. Awesome Is to continue to grow in this industry and help others grow and build their teams and go off and be successful and just enjoy the life, the time I have here with my family.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love your attitude on life. I really do. Despite like the things that you've been through, like I don't even know someone like you, came out like such a beautiful person.
Speaker 1:I will Like you can't. I don't know. It's been a lot for me to be like. Oh my gosh, it's because, blah, it's because and I had to very much be like because of X, I am now this yeah Right, like the 2023 really made me dig deep and look at my own flaws and things that I had to change and become the best version of myself Absolutely, and not every day Am I the best version of myself. Yesterday I had my hair on the top of my head and I was not having the. I was working but I wasn't having the best day. So but try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, thank you for sharing some of those personal things with me. My final question, and if you have any parting words, please, please, please, let me know, um, is there anything that I have not asked you that perhaps you would like to share about yourself or your business that we did not touch on, that you have the floor to share that.
Speaker 1:Um, I don't think so, to be honest. Mean, I think we touched on on everything we did. We touched on a lot, yeah no, that's okay.
Speaker 2:No, I love it getting to know you professionally but personally as well, because a lot of people can read your about me and all of that yeah they may not know like deeper things but people work with people that they know, like and trust.
Speaker 1:exactly so I very much, when I have a first conversation with a client, try, you know, make myself relatable to them, whatever they're, whatever they're going through. If they're, like I said, moving downsizing, they need a bigger house, whatever that situation may be, because, again, people work with people that they like. Now, yes, it is a very competitive market, right, and we all have the best interest rate. I can do that too. Yeah, but if you don't like me and you don't know me and you don't trust me, it doesn't matter. If I have the lowest interest rate, some people don't care.
Speaker 1:I'll be very honest. But majority of the people right and same with my referral partners, I really try to be relatable and give back to them. We work with financial planners and estate attorneys and I really try to go for a full circle in my Rolodex and my business and give back to those people that are helping us, because we're all out here, right, trying to make a living and live a life and support each other. So I really try to be a huge advocate for the people that support me, to support them the best way I can as well.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and I know you were in your feels, but thank you for like not calling out me like. You know what, I can't do it today.
Speaker 1:No, I was coming. I was coming and I was dropping novels like oh, she might get the cry version of Mel today. It's okay, we have questions. Oh, that we didn't discuss. My friends, call me Mel.
Speaker 2:Mel. Okay, cool, okay. So for those of you who know her like that, it's Mel, it's Mel.
Speaker 1:I go by Annie, but once you get to know me, most people call me Mel.
Speaker 2:Awesome, well, thank.