SPEAKER_02: 0:31

I am Christina Walsh of Mortgages by Christina with Atlantic Coast Mortgage. I am a mortgage loan officer, in case I didn't say mortgage enough. And I primarily serve first-time home buyers. That's like my niche. And military. Take me back. How did you get started? Um, I actually got started straight out of high school. I was going to be a hairdresser. I didn't like math in high school. I didn't want to do anything math related, so I was going to be a hairdresser. Side note: hairdressers do math, in case anybody was wondering. But I, my aunt was president, vice president of countrywide way back when. And um, I was working two jobs. I had just graduated high school. She called me and offered me like$12 an hour as a receptionist. I made$2 at the haircuttery and maybe like five at the Radio Shack. So I was like major bank, and I quit, started at countrywide and never looked back. I went from receptionist to like I did some accounts payable. Then I went into pre-processing, processing, underwriting, and now a loan officer.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41

Wow. How did you end up with the company that you're with today?

SPEAKER_02: 1:46

Um, I so I was an underwriter up until about three years ago when um interest rates skyrocketed and I was laid off and I decided to become a uh a loan officer. Everyone that I called, they were all my past contacts were like, you used to structure your deals, just become a loan officer. And so I did, but I wasn't feeling confident in like the sale side of mortgages. So I joined a team and I was there for about two years and I learned a lot. It was great. But I wanted to just grow myself a little bit more. Um, and I had started uh talking with other companies, and then Atlantic Coast got a hold of me and I met Karen Grafton, John Coy, and Mark Kilfeather. Um, but Karen is really who sold me on Atlantic Coast. She got on a Zoom call with me at like six o'clock at night, and she was just so excited and so excited about what Atlantic Coast could help me with, um, and some of the training programs and really just like the cheerleading that she does. And she even followed up with a text. We it was like a stormy night, we lost service. She followed up with a text, she checked in on me the next day, um, and really Karen's who sold me. It's that relationship building that she's so, so good at. Yeah, she's amazing. She's so awesome. She's so much fun, too.

SPEAKER_01: 3:04

She is. She's got it. If you follow her social media, you can it is so funny.

SPEAKER_02: 3:08

I love watching her.

unknown: 3:10

All right.

SPEAKER_01: 3:10

So I have a handful of questions. If it's okay with you, I'm gonna jump right into them. All right. Um, so you've been described as a goal-oriented professional. What personal values drive the way that you serve your clients?

SPEAKER_02: 3:22

I think personal values, it's I think it's just like real life. Like you can't, you know, everybody has things they're going through. For me, I'm a single mom. Um, so I tend to fall in, you know, categories or meet people that are more like me in my background. And everyone has a story. They might not always tell you the whole story, but I just try to be relatable. I think that's the biggest thing is just be relatable. So I tend to really work with a lot of first-time homebuyers. And it's just a scary process buying your first home, especially you already have kids. Um, so you just have to not dumb it down, but slow it down and go at their pace and their comfortability. I think that's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01: 4:04

Yeah, I know that's right. Um, what does putting the customer first look like in your day-to-day work as a loan officer?

SPEAKER_02: 4:10

Probably kind of like I just said, just slowing things down and going at their comfortability. I'm always asking, does that make sense? You know, if this doesn't work for you, maybe that works for you. This might not be for you, but maybe this is for you. Um, I just try to do a lot of problem solving skills and trying to really like get to the root of what you're looking for and how I can help you best.

SPEAKER_01: 4:33

That's awesome. What first drew you into the mortgage industry? So when I know you said because you're was it your aunt that attracted you in? But what's kept you passionate about it for so many years?

SPEAKER_02: 4:45

I think just so passionate would just be helping people buy their homes first, second, third. It's it's just really something about seeing people get so excited about accomplishing a goal. But also my family, my aunt's in the business, and so's my mother. My aunt's a loan officer, and my mother's an underwriter. And my grandfather owned a auto dealership. Um, he passed away about nine years ago now, but he was in finance and selling cars. So it's I think it's just in my blood, I just never knew it. I was always gonna, this was always my destiny.

SPEAKER_01: 5:18

So looking back, what's one lesson from underwriting and processing that still guides you as a loan officer today?

SPEAKER_02: 5:23

Knowing your guidelines. I know how to problem solve. I know how to read the guidelines. I know how to push back and argue when I need to. And I know not how to make things fit, but how to make them fit in the boxes. I mean, there's certain things, certain ways you calculate income. There's so many behind-the-scene things that you don't know about, like loan level price adjustments, and it would really just start to blow your mind. But there's so many different things that you have to know, and already knowing them and how to work around them or work through them, I think is really beneficial for me.

SPEAKER_01: 6:00

It helps me and your clients. For sure. You've got that edge. Yes. Um, so Atlantic Coast Mortgage, they talk about being more than a leader, that it's a team. What does teamwork mean to you in this business?

SPEAKER_02: 6:11

Um, so I had actually another loan officer at Atlantic Coast call me yesterday and give me some guidance on a file. And she was like, hey, if you ever want to grab coffee, if you ever have a question, if there's ever anything I can teach you. And it's not just that one loan officer, it's all of them. So it's not really, they're not like, this is my agent, this is my client, this is mine, this is my, my, my, my. It's really like, hey, you have your thing and you're gonna be great at it. And if you need help, I can help you. I think they're really good with that as far as like, you know, it's not all one person and one person is gonna be go to the top. They're like, we'll all work together to get you there.

SPEAKER_01: 6:51

It's hard to create greatness in silos, right?

SPEAKER_02: 6:54

Yeah. I mean, we even have like team calls, challenges. We're in a five-week challenge right now, and everyone gets on and shares their knowledge with everyone else. What's working for them, how they're creating videos, and what AI is helping them, or you know, what new tool? Because things are evolving every day. So it's great when people share and we share. We don't like it's not like my idea. Yeah, no gatekeeping over here.

SPEAKER_01: 7:23

Your experience in the FHA, VA, jumbo, arms, and more. It's like do you call them arms? Yes. Okay. Yeah. How do you help clients find the product that's the right fit for their goals?

SPEAKER_02: 7:36

Sometimes it's really easy, especially when I say my my two niches are VA or first-time homebuyers, because if you're a first-time home buyer, 95% of the time it's going to be a first-time home buyer program. There's certain things that you can layer to help make your payment more affordable, um, and especially your closing costs. What qualifies somebody as a first-time home buyer? Oh, that's a really good question. A first-time home buyer is someone who has not been on the deed to a property in the last three years.

SPEAKER_00: 8:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 8:09

So you've either never owned a home before, which automatically you're a first-time home buyer, or you owned a home and sold it three years ago. There's a few other little caveats here and there. Uh, one of them is if a property was left to you through an inheritance and you've never resided in it, you would still be considered a first-time home buyer. And then if you have military background, like automatically we're gonna go VA first. So I think it's really easy, um, just depending on what you're coming to me for, to kind of figure out where the program fits you best.

SPEAKER_01: 8:44

Understood. What's one myth about mortgages you wish more buyers or homeowners understood?

SPEAKER_02: 8:51

Myth. Well, for VA, the myth that most people, I just actually had um a VA client, he's closing a day, shout out to him, who thought that you could only ever use your VA once and that uh you were always subjected to a funding fee, which is not accurate. So VAs don't have mortgage insurance, they have a funding fee. Uh, but disabled veterans are not subjected to that funding fee, and you can use your VA uh numerous times. So that's one for VA. Um and first-time home buyers probably 20% down is not a thing. You do not need 20% down. The minimum down payment is 3%, and there are several programs that help you come up with that 3%. There's also programs that have 100% financing. So those are probably the two biggest myths I run into.

SPEAKER_01: 9:43

Wow, I didn't know that. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02: 9:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:46

Learning today. In a competitive market, how do you give your clients an edge when it comes to securing financing?

SPEAKER_02: 9:52

Uh so my biggest edge is my underwriting background. When I call a listing agent because we're presenting an offer, I can confidently say I have pay stubs, I have W-2s, I have employment history. Sometimes it's hard for me to take my underwriter hat off and really dig through the file, but it's literally a pre-underwritten file. So it's a very strong pre-approval letter when it's coming from me. I think that's my biggest.

SPEAKER_01: 10:18

Do agents know that if like you've got a file that this is solid? Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 10:22

They know, they know that I've gone through the file. If I have a question about something, they know I've already addressed it. I've already escalated it if I needed to, and that it's pretty much an approval. I'm not officially an under underwriter anymore, but if I've looked at it, it's a pretty solid commitment. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 10:42

What do you hope clients remember most about working with you beyond just getting the loan closed? That we're family.

SPEAKER_02: 10:48

It's not just a transaction. We're family, we're gonna keep in touch, and that I was helpful. I want to have made an impact. I don't want it to just be like, oh, I don't remember that loan officer that was a snake that put me in my house and then never helped me and never answered my calls. Like what a horrible thing. So you have there are horrible horror stories out there. I don't ever want to be the horror story. I want to be, I want to be the friend. I want you to be comfortable calling me all not 24-7, but if you have questions, I'm always here to help. So I want to be helpful and friendly. And I want you to refer your mom and your sister and your brother and your aunt and your uncles and your bank teller, because I was so helpful. That's always my goal when I'm helping my clients.

SPEAKER_01: 11:35

Beautiful. How do you see your role as not just financing homes? I know you said your family, but helping families build stability and wealth. Do you see yourself playing a role in that? Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02: 11:46

Because so homeownership is the number one, the fastest way to generational wealth. So a lot of families that, you know, when we're just paying rent, we're just throwing away money, you're paying somebody else's mortgage. You're helping them build their wealth. Um, so there's a lot of great tools that we have that I can show people, especially first-time home buyers, how they're building their wealth in the future and setting up success for their children too. It's just, I feel the same way for myself. You know, I bought my first home and now I'm in my second home. And this is a legacy I'm leaving to my children. So I definitely feel like helping buyers in especially into their first homes is a great door towards financial stability.

SPEAKER_01: 12:27

So I know you mentioned earlier that you're a single mom. Yes. That you're a very successful career woman as well. Yes. Have you ever found in that journey there to be struggles that maybe being a single mom you had to deal with that all the time.

SPEAKER_02: 12:41

I don't even know. Every five minutes I'm checking my schedule, like, am I forgetting something? Am I my boys are in sports. Uh my oldest is 16 and my youngest 11. And um, my 16-year-old has he plays football for uh his high school every Friday night. We're on the field. Well, he has an injury and needs to have an x-ray. He has a possible injury. I'm just gonna keep saying possible injury and it not really being injury. So I need to take him for x-rays. And I'm like, would have to be the day that I need to go and do this. And he's like, I want to go to school, I want to go to football practice, so I need you to be there tonight. So it's definitely challenging to keep all of the schedules together. Some nights looks like I'm working until 10 or 11, but I took enough time off to pour into my kids what they needed from me. So that's one thing that I love about loan officer is I can be flexible. There might be some nights where I'm I'm struggling staying up late and getting things done, but I am always there for my kids, and that's really important for me.

SPEAKER_01: 13:45

That's great to be able to have a career that you can work around your most important things in your life, such as our children.

SPEAKER_02: 13:53

Yeah, it's so true. But that is people always ask me, like, are you ever gonna go back into processing or underrating? No. There's no little flexibility right now. Those are like nine to five jobs, and yeah, there's a lot of flexibility here. So some days it's hard, but I can't I wouldn't change it for the world. I I absolutely love it. But actually, last weekend my son called me at like seven in the morning. He decided he was gonna go to homecoming dance. So rather than logging in at eight o'clock and starting work and like, hey, sorry, I can't help you, it was it's flexible enough that I can go save the day and then get get to work.

SPEAKER_01: 14:26

So I really have to give it on the tuxedo and the yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:29

I had to go and sign the form to allow him to go. And then we had to go shopping the next day because heaven forbid, he decided to go to a dance the day they announce the dance. He wants to wait till the last day to decide. Kids these days.

SPEAKER_00: 14:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:45

Next the next dance that comes, I guess that that's prom. I'm just gonna buy the tickets and sign the form. And then if he doesn't go, I'll sell them and I'll help some other mom whose child is deciding at the last minute.

SPEAKER_01: 14:57

Yeah. Smart.

SPEAKER_02: 14:58

That's my new, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 14:59

So so what you do is you learn from As you go.

SPEAKER_02: 15:02

I was literally getting ready to say, I just learn as I go most days. When something comes up and it has like thrown a wrench in the schedule, I'm like, okay, note to self. This is how I'm gonna do it in the future. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 15:13

So and I say that to everybody I talk to, whether it's my team, friends, family, it's only a mistake if you keep doing it. Yeah. Well, if you if it happens one time, you know, what is that like?

SPEAKER_02: 15:23

Shame on fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.

SPEAKER_01: 15:27

Yeah, but if it yeah, so after that first time, if you're in a pickle, if you're in a situation where you're like, I didn't like that, even if it wasn't quote unquote your fault. Right. Well, what did you do to make sure that that doesn't happen again? If you don't do anything about it, then you're not being proactive and now it's on you. Yep, definitely.

SPEAKER_02: 15:43

There was another mom I was talking to, and their homecoming isn't as early as ours was, and she was saying her son hasn't committed yet to going. And I'm like, just buy the ticket, trust me, just go buy the ticket, go buy the outfit, just have it ready. And if he doesn't go, then you can just sell it. And I'm like, that's what I'm doing in the future from now on, because this last minute we're at football late Friday night, and then I'm up shopping all day Saturday, and then my Sunday, you know, we're in church and preparing for the week, and like my whole weekend was gone. If it was just bought, it wouldn't have been so chaotic. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 16:18

Same thing with yearbooks, by the way. Just buy the yearbook.

SPEAKER_02: 16:20

Yeah, actually, this school just messaged me somehow. I managed to opt him out of the yearbook, and I was like, Oh gosh, I don't know how I did that, but please fix it. He will die if he is not in his yearbook. And I'm like, we're already talking about yearbooks. School just started. No, and I was thinking the same thing, like, yep, just gotta buy the yearbooks.

SPEAKER_01: 16:37

My son was like, I don't want the yearbook, and then the day like when they only had like 30 copies left, he's in line. Can you drive me? Yeah, trying to get a yearbook, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 16:45

Or if it's not the day that they need it, it'll be 20 years from now. And they're like, hey, mom, remember when I was in this school and you didn't buy my earbook?

SPEAKER_01: 16:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 16:53

And somehow it's mom's fault, not that. It's nobody's mom's fault. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody's mom's fault.

SPEAKER_01: 16:59

Looking ahead, what kind of impact do you hope to leave in the mortgage industry and with the clients that you serve?

SPEAKER_02: 17:04

Um, I think maybe just the biggest impact right now, we're like in a in a rate sensitive market. So there's some really great tools to help reduce rates for home buyers, especially first-time home buyers. Um, so I think my biggest impact would just be helping, really helping people find affordable and sustainable homeownership. Like I said, especially in the high rate environment. Um, I actually was talking with a client the other day. Um, he's a first-time home buyer, and we talked about the interest rate, and he clammed up. And I'm like, but wait, there's more. There's a program, it's called Spark through Virginia Housing. It's coming out in about two weeks that reduces the interest rate for you for free a whole percentage point. So instead of being six in some change, we're at five in some change. So there's definitely a lot of ways to utilize some of the free grants and programs or resources out there, and just knowing how to use them and how to structure them, I think right now is my biggest impact. That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 18:12

Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven't asked you about that you'd like to share? I don't think so. I think we covered everything.

SPEAKER_01: 18:19

Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It was wonderful having you. Thank you.