The Underwriter Said No, So We Fought

We break down what an investor friendly mortgage broker actually does and why it can be the difference between a dead deal and a closed deal. We also get real about rehab timelines, underwriter pushback, and the “weekend warrior” trap that quietly wrecks budgets. 

• why a mortgage broker adds flexibility by shopping 50 plus lenders 
• how the 2022 rate jump pushed lenders toward investor loan products 
• what DSCR and fix and flip financing look like in real life 
• why underwriters hesitate on first time investors and how we document the deal 
• 12 month interest only rehab loans plus sell or refinance options and extensions 
• why DIY rehabs often fail on time, permits, and true labor and material costs 
• the three first steps before buying a rehab: credit, contractor, and ARV 
• how Epic Mortgage expanded from Chicago into nationwide investor lending 
• Dante’s next goal to publish a second book and why education matters 

“And if you’re new to Dwanderful, I want you to go to my website, Dwanderful.com, and just opt in.” 
“If you have enjoyed talking to Dante and listening to us chat today, I want you to do me a favor and I want you to like and follow and leave a five-star review.” 

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Transcript

Welcome And How To Connect

Dwan Bent-Twyford 0:47

Hey everybody, welcome to the most Dwanderful real estate podcast ever. I'm your host, Dwan Ben Twyford. I'm America's most thought-after real estate investor. I am really super excited that you are here with me today. I have a great guest and super excited to learn more about Dante and share him with you. And if you are new to Dwanderful, I took my name Dwan and Wonderful and I made a new word. So you are in the Dwanderful universe. Again, if you're new, I want you to go to my website, Dwanderful D-W A N D-E-R-F-U-L, Dwanderful.com, and just opt in. I have a real estate investing quiz. You can take my quiz, it's super fun, very easy. Kind of show you where you're at with real estate investing. And if you want to schedule an appointment, I will personally call you and we'll talk for 30, 45 minutes about your real estate and where you want to go and what you want to do. So do that, and then I'm on all socials under the wonderful. Easy to find, uh, YouTube, the whole work. So find me everywhere. So, Mr. Dante, how are you today?

Dante Royster 2:03

I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 2:05

Well, good. I'm glad to have you on. So basically, what we like to do is just uh throw our guests sort of to the wolves. And I just want you, like in a two or three sentences, tell us uh who you are, what you do, and give me all of your socials. So that way, all of your information is at the top of the show notes for those people that you know don't listen all the way to the end. And then we're gonna ask some questions and find out about you.

Dante Royster 2:34

Awesome.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 2:34

Now, what's your deal? We want to know what's your deal.

Dante Royster 2:38

What's my deal? I am uh Dante Royster. I'm the owner of Epic Mortgage. We're a regional mortgage broker licensed in uh nine states for primary homes, and we can help uh investors uh nationwide. Um started uh Epic Mortgage in 2019 and uh we've uh taken it off and here we are. Um I could be on social media, definitely uh Epic Mortgage. If you look up Epic Mortgage, uh you usually should find me somewhere like there. Um, and that's where you know we can start with a conversation just like that. And we have a YouTube channel too, Epic Spotlight. So if you go to our YouTube channel, Epic Spotlight, you can definitely uh take a look at our uh episodes, our live shows, and and have some fun and get some knowledge.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 3:22

Good. Well, I'm gonna start following you, and this podcast will be on my YouTube channel, and then uh my team will ask you to be a collaborator or something so that the one I'm on with you can be on my channel too.

Dante Royster 3:38

Exactly. Yep.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 3:39

Yes, I like to share because you know we're all in this together, and uh we all gotta help each other out.

Dante Royster 3:45

This is true, this is very true.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 3:47

Okay, so uh I like mortgage companies. I tell people all the time as a real estate investor that you have to have a team and you need a real an investor-friendly real estate agent, you need a mortgage broker on your team, you need, you know, just different people on your team. So how does a mortgage broker benefit a real estate investor?

Dante Royster 4:13

Uh great question. I I think we provide flexibility in our product lines that we offer. Um, you know, um, one thing I like to tell people um that are out there is, you know, I I always consider myself a traditional lender. I was a traditional lender. I got in the business back in 2002. And uh I've been in bus uh I've been in the mortgage space since then. So it's been 24 years, but probably the first 20 years, I did nothing but first-time home buyers, I did nothing but, you know, upgrading people, you know, upgrading their homes, downsizing.

Mortgage Brokers Vs Banks For Investors

Dante Royster 4:45

But really in the marketplace, right in 2022, we saw interest rates double. And when they doubled, you know, basically that really took a lot of uh our, you know, just a percentage of the business out. All those people didn't want to upgrade their homes, they wanted to stay in their homes. All those people didn't necessarily want to downsize because that payment was even higher, even if they downsized. So, really from a mortgage broker perspective, we had to expand who our avatar was, who our client base was, and that's really where we started traveling into the investment space. You know, we started learning about DSDRs and we started learning about fix and flips and really having a better understanding on the strategies that real estate investors have and you know the 1% rule and all these types of things. We were started really getting that understanding of the product lines that were necessary needed. And I think that's what we're bringing to the table and offering today.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 5:39

I like it, I like it. So um, yeah, and I think a lot of mortgage brokers probably just work mostly with like end buyers. So you obviously work with investors.

Dante Royster 5:49

Yes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 5:50

So I always, I mean, when I first started out, I started out as a full-time rehabber. So I rehabbed probably for I don't know, six or seven years, just like full rehabbing. And I always had the same mortgage broker. I would tell people like, listen, if you'll use my mortgage broker, I had to pay what was the fee? I had to pay some kind of a fee from the people if I gave them my mortgage broker.

Dante Royster 6:15

Oh, um well, you made him a like a priority. I mean, you a preferred lender. He was your preferred lender and you gave some type of uh incentive, like a seller credit.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 6:26

I can't remember now.

Dante Royster 6:28

Home warranty? Was it home warranty?

Dwan Bent-Twyford 6:30

Something like that. But I had to because if you choose the mortgage broker for the homeowner, you have to pay something. I can't, gosh, it's been so many years I can't remember anymore. But I use the same company forever because I knew that if they could um they could find some kind of a program for every single homeowner based on, you know, because I'm selling like rehab houses, they could find something for everyone with a good rate. Some of the people didn't have that good credit, you know. Sometimes I might take like a little bit of a second mortgage to help them out and things like that. And I have a lot of people that I know for sure, if they had just gone out there researching mortgage brokers, they wouldn't ever have been able to bought the house that I fixed up. So, and then Tom, I worked with him for so many years that I'd be like, listen, I I have an open house this weekend. How about if you go to the open house and set up a table and you can take people's applications like right there and run them for me and tell me if they're good. And I mean, we did, gosh, I don't know, we probably did a hundred deals together. I rehabbed a lot in those first couple years. And you you can't do it without like a really good mortgage broker. But some of the uh mortgage offices in Florida would get in with the leads and foreclosures, like title companies, they get a lot of information in like that. And all of it, you know, it were just all like on the same team. Everybody had to work together all the time.

Dante Royster 7:59

No, definitely. I mean, obviously, uh title companies can be your best friend because they can get some of that public record data. So you're not chasing around and going to the various counties, and then obviously that mortgage broker just having the flexibility for your end buyer who's gonna buy those rehabs. Um, you know, we we can, you know, uh real realtors all the time refer business to me as far as, hey, Dante, can you help this person out? And we first go down the rabbit hole of W-2s and tax returns, and then you find out, hey, that's not gonna work. Let's pivot. How about some alternative income products that we offer?

Dwan Bent-Twyford 8:34

Yeah, because I think, I mean, before I was a rehabber, I just assumed if you bought a house, you went into your bank and you got a loan from your bank. And then when I became a rehab or it's like, oh, what do you mean? And like, oh, we have all these banks, you know, that they have that it might be A lenders, B lenders. And so then they can take, like you said, they can go down like the W-2 and they go, okay, that person won't qualify, their credit score is only this. Let's look at these other people that we have. And I did not realize the value of a mortgage broker until I started rehabbing because they might have 50 different places they can go look for a loan. And as a homeowner, we don't know that.

Dante Royster 9:13

Correct.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 9:13

We just walk into US bank and they go no, and we're like, oh, okay. And then we see some, I don't know, rocket dog or some kind of commercial, and we go, oh, let's call them. And then that's when we know 5,000 people are calling you.

Dante Royster 9:26

Yeah. It it can be overwhelming. I mean, consume, you know, we're not taught this in schools, right? This is not education that's passed down to us. So you you kind of go off a word of mouth, and so depending on the circles that you're in, will dictate do you even know who a mortgage broker is? And most mortgage brokers are independent mortgage professionals. So independent basically means, you know, this is you know, mom pa stores, you know, so I don't have a giant billboard that says, you know, call Dante, because I really can't afford that. But, you know, you we have to network, we have to do that grassroots marketing, you know, stuff like this with a podcast, you know, to let people know that, hey, I'm out here and I can help you.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 10:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now you said you guys went nationwide.

Dante Royster 10:08

So on investments, they they've opened up the door on investments. I can help anyone. So I've I've done deals in Massachusetts this year, I've done deals uh right now we uh in Mississippi. So I can really work with any investor, you know, across the nation that wants to, you know, participate in you know, buying, fixing flips, uh, what have you.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 10:28

Okay, so guys, listen, for all of you that are new investors, I'm always telling you you need a mortgage broker. And right here, you have a nationwide one.

Dante Royster 10:38

So no excuses. No excuses.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 10:42

Um, so so you do the nationwide. So you have to do you use like some of the same banks in the different states or have like a list of of lenders and stuff like that?

Dante Royster 10:55

Correct. Yeah. So we have a list, um, you know, and you actually hit it on the head. Right now, currently I have about 50 different uh lenders that I'm uh approved with. And, you know, I shop around, you know, obviously for who can structure the deal the right way and who can get the deal done. And uh, you know, we just closed on a fix and flip in Atlanta, Georgia, you know, helped a person. She found a property, and we kind of talked about it up front on just what to look for. And she found a purchase price of $170,000, needs about $90,000 worth of work, but the ARV came back at $385. And uh, you know, just a phenomenal deal, first-time investor. And she, you know, I I told her, you know, after you know, close the cost and this, she's gonna walk away once she sells it for about $85,000.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 11:36

Yeah.

Dante Royster 11:36

That's a great start.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 11:38

That is a great start. So do you help investors that are looking like I want to buy a house to fix it up? You lend money on that. So I need someone to I need to buy a dump. I need some rehab money. Do you work on that side as well?

Dante Royster 11:53

So, yes, I do. It it really depends on uh if you're a first-time investor or if you have proof that you've done you know, fix-and-flips, let's say three in the last three years. So we want to see if you have a proven system where we can get into more heavy rehab work, I would like to call it, where we're maybe changing a two and one into a three-and-two or remove and beams per se, or it's totally

Fix And Flip Loans That Work

Dante Royster 12:15

a dump and we're just rehabbing it a full, oh, like a full gut rehab. But if you are a first-time investor, we won't give you all that, you know, free and clear, do what you want with that. Correct. It's very light work, cosmetic. Um, and even the Atlanta, Georgia uh example I gave you, you know, that was nip and tuck, you know, that the underwriter was pushing back on me, like, Dante, this looks like it's gonna be a lot. You know, there were some issues with the crawl space, and um, you know, the contractor said you would have to do a little bit just to reinforce the home and stuff like that. And they were nervous. You know, the underwriter truly was nervous, like, do we want to give this project to this first-time investor? And I had a fight, you know, and that's the thing about mortgage brokers and people that don't know, you know, you're a good mortgage broker is going to be fighting underwriters on your behalf to try to push and believe in that deal.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 13:04

Yes, no, I know that. So I'm saying someone they've done five deals, they're experienced.

Dante Royster 13:10

Sure.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 13:10

And then they come to you and they say, because a lot of mortgage brokers won't lend you, people hard and money lender will lend people on houses that need to be rehabbed, but a lot of um mortgage brokers won't lend to people that are buying an actual rehab. So I'm 10 deals in, I know what I'm doing, I come to you, and you'll lend me money on a rehab.

Dante Royster 13:33

That is correct.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 13:33

Will you lend the rehab money too?

Dante Royster 13:36

Yes. Yeah, so we'll do a situation like uh with an experienced person where you're looking at potentially put 10% down, and then we'll cover 100% of the financing. Um, so you know, that's very aggressive. Um, and and I think really, you know, and like I said, that 22, you know, we're gonna look back in time. 2022, really, you started seeing these traditional lenders moving into the space. Yeah. And so I I almost say hard money is no more. You know, you might have some private financiers that have their own rules and guidelines, but you have all these, you know, traditional lenders that you wouldn't think of now are offering these types of products because we we just generate, we need that business.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 14:16

Yeah, I like that. I I guess I didn't I haven't rehabbed other than like this entire downtown of Clinton, Iowa. I haven't rehabbed any singular homes for a while. Like, I don't know. Well, I guess maybe about a decade ago. My husband and I rehabbed some houses up in the mountains, but I haven't rehabbed any uh houses for a while. So I did not realize that some of the mortgage companies were now lending rehab money to investors. So that really makes it a lot better because you can help lend them the money to buy it. When they get it all fixed up, you can lend the money to the person they're gonna sell it to.

Dante Royster 14:51

Yes, yeah, we can actually do uh 100%. I mean, and and usually um the you know, the provisions are they give you 12 months, you know. So the provisions will be like, hey, Dewan, you're gonna have to you have 12 months interest-only payments. Yeah. And then within that 12 months, we're looking for you to either sell the property or refinance. Because a lot of times the investor gets into it and they put so much work, especially a first-time investor, they put so much work into it, they're like, oh man, I I may not make as much money as I think, or the market has changed, right? The value, the ARV of today is not the ARV of next year. And so now they're going to say, well, shoot, I got to keep this and rent it out and try to, you know, at least break even. So then we can do the refinance as well. So we give that option. We can't give extensions as well. Sometimes, you know, you're not done in 12 months. I know here I'm in the Chicagoland area, and Chicago is notorious for you know, waiting on permits. You might wait, you know, three to four months on just getting their permits, and so that may delay your actual renovation. So we do allow, you know, up to two different extensions to give you a little bit more time so you can, you know, make sure you finish the project.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 15:59

I mean, with all that being offered to people, how can they fail?

Dante Royster 16:04

People still do, unfortunately.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 16:06

Oh, I know. Whenever I um, because I do a lot of coaching and mentoring with people, so whenever they tell me, oh, we're gonna rehab, I'm like, okay, let me ask you some questions. Like, first of all, are you gonna rehab? And like, oh yeah, me and my husband, we're gonna rehab on the weekends. We're so excited. I'm like, okay, do you know how to rehab? Well, you know, we watch HTGB or whatever. Or we can watch it on YouTube. I've had people like, oh, we're gonna rehab it through YouTube. And I'm like, and then I'm like, okay, uh, do you have any? Like, do you have people that are gonna have no? We're gonna do it ourselves. I'm like, listen, don't do it because the first weekend you'll work all week, and then you'll go rehab. That first weekend, you'll be like, look what we did, we're so excited. And then the second weekend, you'll be so excited, and the third weekend you'll be like, gosh, we're so tired, we haven't had a day off. Let's just take a day off. And then by the fourth weekend, you'll be like, Oh, I don't want to go work over there, it's too hot. And so then by you know, four months, four or five weeks in, you'll be like, We need to hire someone. Well, then you're gonna hire someone, they're gonna charge more than you think, it's gonna take longer than you think. You can't be a weekend warrior. So, unless you actually know how to rehab and you have people to help you and you're knocked it out, don't do it yourself. Because I'm telling you, a few weeks in you're gonna wish you weren't doing it. And then people will just let it sit there because now they're tired, they don't have anybody, they're trying to find someone to help them out, and then it just sits there. Next thing you know, they're trying to get rid of it.

Dante Royster 17:30

Exactly. I mean, yeah, you want to get professionals, like you said. You want to build that team around you, you want to have a licensed general contractor. Yeah, you want to make sure you vet them and that they have experience doing that type of work. And that's you know, working with a mortgage broker, that's some of the stuff that we do. Those are the conditions. Yeah. So, you know, uh going back to that example with the uh uh the Georgian lady, she, you know, had to provide me a license. You know, I need a copy of the license of the general contractor. I need to know that he's insured, and I need to see some invoices that show that he's done this type of scope of work before because we don't, you know, now that the lender, the bank is lending money on these projects, we want to make sure that everyone knows what they're doing and that they can execute it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 18:13

Yeah, yeah. I've had so many talks to people like, listen, don't be a weakened warrior. I promise you, you won't like it. If you just get in there, now when I started rehabbing, I wasn't working. So I I would move into the rehabs and live in them and rehab them.

Dante Royster 18:26

Wow.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 18:26

Which I love. It's like I'm living in it and rehabbing it. I got my daughter with me, she's not in daycare. I went to Home Depot, took lots and lots of classes because I didn't know how to do as much as I thought I did. But I was living in them and rehabbing them, and like, you know, and then I'd sell it and I'd move, and I did that for a few years. And then I was like, boy, I need to hire some people because this is a lot of work. Rehabbing all by myself and a lot of work. But I'm always telling people, you gotta have somebody. If you think you're gonna do it yourself, it's just not gonna be as easy as you think that it is. And I'm not trying to like discourage them, but I know all the weekend warriors, and like three, four weeks in, they're just like, oh so you gotta know people.

Dante Royster 19:04

Yeah, you you know,

Rehab Reality Check For Beginners

Dante Royster 19:05

one of the biggest issues that I see is um the price of homes have increased. You know, so depending on the pocket that you're looking at, you've seen the price of homes increase, you see the uh labor and material cost has increased. And so now you're saying, I don't see a profit margin, I don't see any profit on that deal. But they're so eager, and because of social media, because of all the YouTube stuff, they want to get in the game that they might take on something and then they say, Well, I'll just try to do it myself, I'll just DIY it because you know that way I can save some money and cutting those costs, it just that wasn't the deal to take. You gotta you gotta be patient.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 19:44

And you don't cut really any cost because you end up having to have someone come along behind you and fix it and do it, and next thing you know, it went over budget and it went over on the time, and then their big giant profit is like this much right now. And it's like that's why I always tell people if you want to rehab or wholesale or whatever, you need to have someone like me or someone like you that's like really giving them the downside. Like, don't do it on your own. If you don't know how to do it, hire the right people, get people with licenses, get all the right people, because you can end up getting stuck, like you said, waiting for permits or something. You can end up getting stuck in a house for six or eight months waiting to get whatever permits and all the kinds of things like that. And that eats up every single month, eats up more and more of your profit.

Dante Royster 20:28

Exactly.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 20:29

So people just like, oh, I'll knock it out in a couple weeks on myself. It's like, oh my god.

unknown 20:34

No.

Speaker 20:34

No, it it's it's a job, you know. It really is a job. It it's kind of a situation where if you don't like corporate America, if you don't like, you know, where you're standing, you know, real estate is a great opportunity, but you're gonna work, you know, but you have to you have to work smarter, not harder.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 20:49

Yeah, you are. You are gonna work. It's a lot of work. I loved rehabbing there when I was doing it. I loved rehabbing, I loved making these houses really beautiful. I really loved rehabbing. Then I discovered wholesaling. I was like, gosh darn, I can make you know a little bit less money, but I can wholesale this in a week. While I'm over there rehabbing a house for three months, I can just make some money in a week. And then I start wholesaling like a crazy person. And the next thing you know, now we're doing a whole town. So it's like, and let me tell you, when you have a town, you've got every kind of inspector of the world. You've got the electricians, you have the fire department, you have that there's so many inspections and things. This looks like a but it's super fun though. So if somebody um, so I want you to give us like a uh a couple of actionable tips. So somebody is joins the Chicago Rhea, the real estate investing group, and they find you and they're like, hey, listen, I want to start working on some rehabs. Give us like three first steps or some some actionable tips someone could listen today and go, oh, if I do these three things, well, they could also just call you and work with you personally. But um, what are some things that people, what's like the first thing people need to do?

Speaker 22:03

Well, you know, maybe they found a house.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 22:06

Let's just say they found a house.

Speaker 22:07

Yeah, they found a house. Uh, you know, the first thing is uh, and and this is a little bit different, you know, because if you're coming to me to some degree, you're you're not wanting to pay cash for it, right? You're gonna get this loan. So we have to check credit. Credit is going to be the first thing. You know, this is not, you know, for anyone. So, you know, if you're a 500 credit score, I can't help you. You know, uh these lenders are going to have different criteria as far as your credit goes, generally at least a minimum a six fifty credit score to move forward. So we want to make sure your credit is uh, you know, ready to go. That's the first and foremost. Uh the second thing is we we've got to get a licensed general contractor. You know, we can recommend some. For you, obviously that you know have gone through the vetting process, but if you have one, we we want to get an idea. I think you would, you know, you know the sales price, obviously, but how much is this work truly going to be? Too many times do we see people are guesstimating and they're way off. You know, they're thinking, oh, this is oh yeah, this should only be 20,000 and it's actually 80,000. You know, they're they're not factoring in, you know, labor costs have gone up and material cost has gone up. So we we have to be mindful of that. Um and also too, you know, working with a great realtor, you said it's so important in that area. What is that after repair value? What is the market going for? You know, so hey, I think I got this great deal. Well, if you've spruce it up, you know, how much do you need to spruce it up to get to those higher numbers? I think those types of things would probably be the first thing, three things I would recommend.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 24:14

Yeah. And if they've got a realtor, you know, and also the nice thing about an investor-friendly realtor is they might be able to show them some of the foreclosures and some of the houses, you know, that are on the market have gone to foreclosure or whatever to help them start up. So you like to have a contractor go in and like give you guys a quote, like this is what we think.

Speaker 24:36

Yeah, so I mean, I I I'm always trying to work with the investor, especially when they're first time. That that's normally in my space, that's what I get a lot of first-time investors. And so, you know, it's it's teaching them the strategy, show them that there is a way. And then it's like, okay, how much is the work gonna be? Because they really just don't have an I idea. They they don't have the the knowledge like you to eyeball something and know, like, hey, this should roughly be around here. So we really want to kind of get these numbers and and line them up so then they know, hey, this is what you're playing for, you know, this is what the potential is, so then when we move forward, we're excited too, right? That creates that energy and excitement because I'm gonna ask you for, hey, I need this documents, I need this amount of money, and and then we make it happen.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 25:17

Yeah. And then, you know, they bring it when they sell it, they bring the person through and you have that person buy the house, and then the realtor, you know, gets the listing and all the things like that. So you create like a really nice little team.

Speaker 25:30

100%. I mean, uh, another story comes to mind is uh I I had a lady, um, she took out a line of credit. She took out the line of credit and she uh went off, she bought the property. She bought this property for $130,000. She put about $70,000, and then she sold her for $350. And when she sold it, you know, the the buyer didn't come to me, but it was okay. She called me and told me it sold. And she got this check for $120,000 and she was crying on the phone. Yeah, she was crying, and and it it's life-changing opportunities like that. That why not?

Dwan Bent-Twyford 26:05

Yeah, no, I listen. Way back when I first started, if I would have got a check

Three First Steps Before You Buy

Dwan Bent-Twyford 26:09

like that, I would have been crying too.

Dante Royster 26:11

Sure.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 26:12

But they all checks are life-changing. That's why I always tell people, I'm like, honestly, if you want to work for yourself, be a real estate investor. You know, you've got mortgage brokers you can get on your team, you've got uh real estate agents you can get on your team, you can get a contractor on your team, and then you can just like work for yourself and make your hours and you know, organize everyone, doing whatever they need to do, and you know, and pull things together. So I I like it. I love the fact that you know people can make their own hours and do their own things, but they can't do it without a team. They just can't. I tell people all the time, you cannot do it without a team. This is not a one-man job.

Dante Royster 26:54

No, no, it is not.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 26:56

Right. So now what so you guys are in um the Chicago area. In the Chicago area. And so what made you want to branch out and go, hey, you know what, we want to help people across the country?

Speaker 27:12

You know, really the pandemic.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 27:14

Single family, new houses, like that thing.

Dante Royster 27:17

Yeah, the the pandemic really opened the door. You know, I mean, you know, it's uh my my my vision uh was always just money travels, right? The conversations are the same, regardless if you're in Colorado, if you're in Chicago, North Carolina, what have you. And so I just felt it it it was I was ready to, you know, experience something different, want to have a different um, you know, an eyesight to what's going on. You know, obviously we're we're licensed in Florida, we're licensed in Texas, and those are different conversations, those are different ideologies and mentalities, and there's different things going on. And so I just wanted to kind of see the world, or at least, you know, a region of the world, um, mainly, you know, mountain time, central time, and east coast time. And I just wanted to get a different feel. And so it it kept everything going, you know, especially in the bottleneck of uh the pandemic. Some states were kind of closed off and other states were still vibing. So, you know, a lot of that had to go into kind of consideration of just expanding our territory.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 28:13

Nice. And so you have to get license and all those things.

Dante Royster 28:17

I did. I do still. So so yeah, it is cumbersome in nature. Um, you know, but it's it's paid itself uh, you know, well more than than anything I could imagine. But you know, it's just it gives us a more insight to what's going on in marketplaces and things are different, right? I mean, things are much different in Virginia than Chicago, that things are different in, you know, so and it's interesting to see those different dynamics and have a little bit more of a knowledge of what's what's really going on, you know, especially you know, with fake news, you don't know what's true and what's not. So, you know, having some insight really helps.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 28:51

That's true. Now, do you lend money on anything besides single family homes? Like if I came to you and said, I want to buy a four-flat.

Dante Royster 28:59

Yeah, a four a four-flat is fine. Uh, you know, one to four is not a problem for renovation and fix the flips. Um, we can lend money uh up to, you know, I can do, I can do some small commercial. I can also do, you know, uh like an apartment building. Um, those have to be uh obviously a little bit more vetted, you know, as far as the building and the structure. Um, because you know, obviously, and more as we go up in higher uh units per se, we're focused on the cash flow, you know, kind of the net operation income. You know, we really focus on those uh components.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 29:31

Yep, yep, yep. No, no, no, I imagine all that too. So okay, let's um switch topics for a minute. Tell me who is your favorite band of all time.

Speaker 29:41

Favorite band?

Dwan Bent-Twyford 29:43

Of all time.

Dante Royster 29:44

Of all time. Oh, that's tough. Um I don't know. I I I you know I'll a band always makes me think of like rock. I so uh if I'm thinking rock, I'll probably say uh Aerosmith. But I actually do have red hot chili peppers on my Soundhound app. So maybe I'll say red hot chili peppers.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 30:09

I loved red hot chili peppers too.

Dante Royster 30:11

Yes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 30:12

They're both really good. I tell you what, I Aerosmith, I started seeing them when I was back in high school. I graduated high school, hold on, in 1977. And so they were playing at you know, smaller arenas, so they weren't like giant yet. I probably saw them three or four times before they became like giant, and I have loved them forever. I've I bet I've seen them ten times.

Dante Royster 30:33

Oh my gosh.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 30:34

I love concerts. I love concerts. My husband and I still go to concerts even today, so it's like they're so much fun. But Aerospace and Red Hat, really good choices. You can tell a lot about people by the music, but they're both really great choices. And I love the Red Hat chili poppers too. They're just they're great.

Dante Royster 30:50

Yeah, yeah, they got some great songs.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 30:52

They're great, they're great. I like that. I feel like I kind of like some of the older music a little bit more than the newer stuff. Because everything today, people are so synthesized, and yes, back then you actually had to have talent, you had to have real talent and a real voice and know how to play everything. Everything wasn't so synthesized up today. So, like my little grandkids listen to all these new people. I'm just like, Oh, that's not even their voice. What happened? What happened?

Dante Royster 31:19

A lot of these songs have been remade like for the third or fourth time, and you can hear it, and it's like, oh my goodness.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 31:25

I know. I can't remember what song. There's a song out right now that one of my granddaughters 11. She's made me listen to this song. And I started singing all the words. She's how do you know the words? Like, hey, that's a remake. She's what's a remake? Because I went and showed her back like who did it first,

Going Nationwide And Expanding Products

Dwan Bent-Twyford 31:39

like something way back when maybe the 70s or 80s. I said, 90% of the stuff you had listened to and 90% of your movies are remakes off something else. So nobody can come up with anything new.

Dante Royster 32:25

Unfortunately, yes, you are creating.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 32:31

I can't think of what it was. But it was just like, no. I I have a little 45 of the original one. So what's your favorite food?

Dante Royster 32:40

Favorite food is rice.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 32:42

Rice.

Dante Royster 32:43

I love rice. Jasmine, basmati. I'm a big rice connoisseur.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 32:48

I like rice too. I like it's funny. When I was uh pregnant with my daughter, I craved rice every day. I'd go down to the Chinese restaurant and get like a big thing of rice and put soy sauce on it. I swear to you, I ate that for like two months.

Dante Royster 33:02

Uh you must be friends with my mom. She said the same thing. She she her craving was Chinese food. And so I love rice.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 33:09

I would

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Dwan Bent-Twyford 33:09

just go get, yeah, I would just go get a big thing of rice and I get it on soy sauce and I just ate it and ate it. I'll be like, everybody, like, I need my rice, I need my rice, I need my rice. It's so weird. I mean, I still love it now, but I mean, this is like daily for a month. I was like, go get me rice.

Dante Royster 33:26

Yeah.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 33:27

Yeah, I've never met another woman. I had that same baby. So your mama. Um, what's your next big goal? What are you looking to do with your company?

Dante Royster 33:37

Uh, that's a good question. I I think personally, my next goal, I I wrote a book in 2023, and uh I I want to write again. So I uh my goal next year is to have uh my second book out. That that would be my goal.

(Cont.) Going Nationwide And Expanding Products

Dante Royster 33:52

Okay. Yeah, I I think uh my first book was The Ultimate Mortgage Guide, and it it really was uh something kind of uh on my heart of just you know, the same questions I was getting in 2002, I'm still getting today. And I and that was what really kind of set the tone of uh just the prerequisite of like, man, no one knows some of these things. You know, uh they have no clue. And I was like, you know, if I write this book, you know, maybe the the people that read it, you know, can at least have a prerequisite, uh, an understanding of, you know, a mortgage broker, what's the difference, and just uh, you know, how much money do you need to bring to closing, and you know, things that are are more universal for everyone. And so that's what the reason I wrote the book. But now it's like, you know, I I have some ideas of where I want to take it from the next part of uh, and so I think a book would be uh pretty cool.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 34:44

All right. So how could we over here at Dwanderful help you reach that goal?

Dante Royster 34:49

Uh just being on this podcast is is awesome. I mean, you know, any any opportunities that uh anyone needs that's listened to this, you know, love to help. I mean, obviously we're working with people. I like to consider myself a business owner, but also operator. So, you know, uh I have clientele that works with me directly. We do have other loan officers, um, you know, which is super cool and you can work with them, but you know, definitely working with me and and we can build Epic Mortgage to just be more of a uh name that people know.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 35:17

That's right. So how do people get in touch with you? I know you gave us all your socials, but is there like a direct sure.

Dante Royster 35:24

My phone number, my office number is 708-905-5300-708-905-5300. That's uh direct line to my office, and uh, you know, we'll take a conversation and see where it goes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 35:37

And they can find you at Epic Spotlight on YouTube, and then they put an Epic Mortgage on like social medias, they'll find you and give you contact information there.

Dante Royster 35:47

Yeah, they should. Yeah, look for Dante uh Dante Royster, Epic Mortgage. Uh, you know, sometimes I'll I'll do uh on the social media, I'll do some goofy videos just to get someone's attention. So I don't I don't necessarily dance, but uh, you know, I very much.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 36:03

Come on, man. I know you're looking for that.

Dante Royster 36:05

I told I told the team I said, hey, I'll do anything but not dance. You know, uh I do like to dance, but I I just said, you know, I won't dance for this with uh attention, but you know, definitely I I answer some questions.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 36:15

Well, you know, now everybody's gonna want to see you dance.

Dante Royster 36:18

I know. Oh my gosh.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 36:19

So you can't say that. All right, everyone, find Dante and say, do a dance, do a dance. Do a dance. Wonderful people want to see you dance, man. That's funny. Well, I hope you know you do get your second book out. I mean, you know, it's surprising sometimes how people are involved in real estate and just our whole industry, and they just don't know much.

Dante Royster 36:44

So true. So true.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 36:46

Sometimes I sit and talk to you, they go, Oh, yeah, I've wholesale you know three houses, or I did this, or I did that, and I asked them questions. I'm like, I don't even know how you don't know the answers to some of these things. Like, how are you making it? So I don't know. I think sometimes people just start off and it's just a lot of good luck or something down the road. But at some point you got to really dig in and learn everything if you want to grow yourself into like a nice big business.

Dante Royster 37:08

100%. Yeah. I mean, you you can get lucky in real estate, and sometimes those are the worst situations. I mean, uh, you know, even looking at a loan officer per se, they might uh stumble upon two quick deals, but they don't know how to generate business ongoing. So, you know, that that is the the death and curse uh or the gift and the curse of uh, you know, real estate. You can get lucky maybe on a deal that you stumbled on, but you still don't know what you're doing. But if you want to make it long-lasting, you know, I've been doing this for 24 years. Obviously, there's a rhythm, there's a knowledge that I know that makes it happen.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 37:43

So, my very, very first deal. So I decided I was gonna rehab this house. And I met some people and they said, well, we buy houses, we fix them up and we sell them. So in my mind, I thought, okay, they buy, they fix them, they sell them, so they decorate. So I was really new, I didn't know anything about real estate investing. I was just, I had gone through a divorce when my daughter was eight months old. I was looking for a job I could do by myself in the house and have her with me. So I was like, okay, buy, fix up, and sell. How hard could that actually be? Well, as it turns out, fixing up and that rehabbing, which I did not know how to do. So back then I went to Home Depot every day and took a Home Depot class. I like took a tile class and went and tiled the kitchen and took a class here and went and did that. But when I went to sell the house, it was my first deal. The first couple, the couple that bought it, were like the fourth people that walked in the door, and they were completely uh pre-approved with FHA, like everything. Done, ready. They were a fourth person. We signed a contract. I had my friends telling me because I didn't know how to sign contracts, and it closed right away. And I thought, this is not that hard. These people just walked in with all kinds of money. This is gonna be great. Well, I got lucky and I got spoiled because then, like, all my houses for a while, I had to look for mortgage brokers and people couldn't get loans, and they kept getting turned down. And I got spoiled because the first one walked in, like, these are all my papers, and I can close right away. Right. I thought, this is so easy. I don't know what people talk about. And then I never had another person like that for

Books, Favorites, Reviews, And Determined

Dwan Bent-Twyford 39:21

like five years.

Dante Royster 39:23

That's a rude awakening. Yes.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 39:25

Sometimes you do get lucky and you're like, oh, this is great. Look how easy this was. And it's like, no, it's not like that.

Dante Royster 39:31

No.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 39:32

So now fortunately I have to learn what a mortgage broker does, how to find them, I had to learn what all these things are because it just kind of fell into place the first one, which is good because I made 22 grand. So I was thrilled to death to make that much money, but it was not all that easy going forward.

Dante Royster 39:50

No, no. It's a process. I mean, you know, obviously we we're sharing good experiences that have recently just happened for folks. That's not always the norm. Um, you know, I think the average, you know, even nationwide, is about 65,000 on a fix and flip nowadays. So I mean, obviously, there's things lower, things higher. So, you know, you have to have a reasonable expectation. We're just, you know, I think with this conversation, we're showing people and telling people it can be done.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 40:16

It's possible.

Dante Royster 40:17

It can be, it's possible.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 40:18

It's done, it is possible, and you've got two great people right here to help walk you through it. So there you go. Okay, so the last thing. So, first of all, folks, if you have enjoyed um talking to Dante and listening to us chat today, I want you to do me a favor and I want you to like and follow and leave a five-star review. I need more. I've got like 7,000 of them, and I need some more, but I can't do it without you. And also, if you're uh tell me the name of your podcast.

Dante Royster 40:49

Uh Epic Spotlight.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 40:50

Okay, Epic Spotlight is your YouTube. So I'm gonna be on his podcast too. So I want you to go find Epic Spotlight and like and follow over there because he's, I mean, look how sweet and cute. He's so cute, right, folks? So cute. And you're so sweet, and you're such a nice, gentle spirit. I feel like people would really learn a lot from you because you're in, you seem to be in it for the right reasons, like genuinely wanting to help people.

Speaker 41:14

I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean, you know, my mom was a teacher. I feel like I had that education standpoint. It starts from education, and I think people naturally will make the right decision if they know what options are available for them.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 41:26

Yeah, yeah. And I feel like you'd be the perfect person to guide someone and say, hey, listen, this is not gonna work or this is gonna work or or whatever. I feel like you would be honest and helpful with people. No, you have a good heart. You have like a good, he's got good juju, everybody. So uh last thing from you is I want you to give us a word of wisdom, but just one actual word.

Speaker 41:52

One word. Determined.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 41:56

Okay, now um every I used to ask people like, hey, give us some partying words, and people would sometimes talk for 20 minutes. Oh jeez. Oh my god, I just want a word. So now we just go for a word. So everyone that follows me and everybody in the dwandal world knows that what we do is we take this word determined, we put it on a little sticky, and we put it up on our mirror, and every day we say determine, determine, determine. So this is the word of the week in the dwonderful universe. So I want to know what that word means to you.

Speaker 42:30

It means to me to be determined, be, you know, uh make up your mind on what you're gonna do and and execute and get it done.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 42:38

Good. I love it. Me too. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, people give a word and then I have them explain what it means to them. I'm like, well, I didn't think that at all. So everyone thinks different. So I like the word determined. And yeah, I mean, if you want to be successful at anything, you have to have some sort of determination somewhere along the way.

Dante Royster 42:56

That is correct.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 42:57

Otherwise, you just work for other people your whole life. And I just think, you know, like you, working for yourself, but I don't know. I feel like there's, you know, people, some of like my parents grew up with the like work for the man your whole life and retire. I feel like that's just not there anymore. There's no like man to work for. If companies come and go and everything comes and goes, then if you really want to do good, just you know, work for yourself.

Dante Royster 43:19

Agreed.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 43:20

Good people on your team, work for yourself, and then you can't complain.

Dante Royster 43:24

Agreed. Yep, no, you're right. We got it.

Dwan Bent-Twyford 43:28

All right, everybody. We will be back next week, and thank you so much for being on the show today. I really, really enjoyed talking to you. We'll be back next week. Same bad time, same bad channel. And remember that the truth is in the red letter. All right, everybody, see you next week. Ciao.