Inside HOME with Rogelio Goertzen II

Building HOME: Empowering Hispanic Loan Officers, Wholesale Wins, and Community-First Growth

Rogelio, Chief Growth Officer at Empower/EPM and Founder and CEO of HOME (Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts), joins the Broker Shop Podcast to share a powerful journey from retail LO to architecting growth in wholesale and building a national movement for Hispanic professionals.

We dive into:

• Why wholesale is winning for consumers and originators, and how disciplined ops plus culture scales growth
• The critical role of CRMs for AEs and broker shops to communicate, collaborate, and close at scale
• HOME’s mission: mentorship, scholarships, bilingual training, and tech that shortens the path to serving Hispanic borrowers
• ITIN and cash‑flow lending as economic engines, and why access, fairness, and risk‑smart underwriting matter
• Storytelling, faith, and authentic leadership as the fuel for community building
• Data tailwinds: Hispanic homeownership growth and the next generation of buyers coming of age
• Policy wins like credit trigger reform and why advocacy protects consumers and brokers alike

Plus, a heartfelt look at belonging, building “home” in our teams and communities, and the power of showing up—in person, together.

Ideal for: brokers, AEs, LOs, and leaders who care about impact, access, and scalable growth in the wholesale channel.

Call to action: Learn more and get involved with HOME, mentorship, and upcoming events.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening & Rogelio’s Background
• 1:05 Discovering Wholesale and Service-Driven Leadership
• 3:10 Role at EPM/Empower: Growth and Operations
• 5:15 Why CRMs Matter for AEs and Brokers
• 8:25 Introducing HOME: Mission and Vision
• 10:20 LMS, Bilingual Tools, and Free Lender AI
• 12:25 Data, Demographics, and Market Opportunity
• 15:10 Inclusion, Language Access, and Policy Work
• 17:15 Credit Trigger Reform & Consumer Protection
• 19:00 How Small Shops Can Help: Mentor One
• 21:00 Culture, Connection, and Mentorship Design
• 23:10 Naming “HOME” and Belonging
• 25:20 Community Growth, Events, and Impact
• 28:10 PR, Storytelling, and Authentic Reach
• 30:00 Faith, Voice, and Leading with Conviction
• 33:00 Wholesale vs Retail: Savings and Community Impact
• 35:20 ITIN, Cash Flow Lending, and Access
• 38:00 Performance Data and Portfolio Strategy
• 40:00 Homeownership as Identity and Wealth
• 42:00 Joining HOME, Events, and What’s Next

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:01

Welcome to the Broker Shop Podcast, where we broker ideas to help you thrive and execute. Today's guest, we have Rogelio, the Chief Growth Officer of Empower at EPM, and the founder and CEO of Home. Welcome, Rohelio.

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01: 0:16

It's a pleasure to have you today. Uh, thank you so much for making the trip down here. And uh it's great to see you in person, man. How's everything? I know uh uh with your journey, we know each other from the past, but how's everything?

SPEAKER_00: 0:28

Everything is amazing. Um, you know, the the growth that the wholesale channel has had, that the Hispanic community has had is is truly amazing. And uh it's a really great time to be in the wholesale channel, and it's a really great time to be a Hispanic Latino in this industry.

SPEAKER_01: 0:43

Amazing, amazing. Now, the additional follow-up question I have for you is uh I want our listeners to know more about you because you're a powerhouse, like the past the things that you have done in the past the 12 to 24 months. I want more people to uh to know about you. Can you share your personal journey into the mortgage industry and uh what drew you to this field?

SPEAKER_00: 1:04

Yeah, great question. So uh similar to a lot of loan officers, I started in retail um at you know one of the biggest lenders, Rocket Mortgage. At that time, it was known as Quicken Loans, and um I did that for about two years and uh got burnt out, like a lot of loan officers do in the industry. And then I was looking for other options and stumbled upon United Wholesale Mortgage, where at that time I thought it was like a Costco. I'm like, what is a wholesale mortgage? What does that even mean? And um then I stumbled upon this whole other side of the industry that I didn't even know existed. And 14 months into my career there as an AE, I got pulled into a room and they were like, Hey, we've been watching you. I was like, Oh man, that means I'm getting fired. Like, you're watching me, what did I do? Did it take a long lunch? Like, what happened? And um, they noticed that I had a heart to serve, and they invited me to create my own role, so I just said yes, I didn't discuss the pay. I should have discussed the pay, but always I did not discuss the pay. I didn't care about the title, just to be in that room with those leaders. And I was fortunate enough to grow their largest division expert app. So I was the very first team member growing that entire space, and um it was it was awesome. I I did everything from our national shows from NAM from AIM, like just everything helping the company grow. I was like that Swiss Army knife that would do everything, and also because I was had a passion for our Hispanic community, I was one of the very first Spanish speakers, so I would translate in VVOE servicing anytime that things need to get done, underwriting, and it was super powerful.

SPEAKER_01: 2:35

Amazing. I mean, that's a great journey. Uh, similar to Monolo, uh, Monola and I we know each other from uh UWM, obviously, at a safe trust as well. Uh, but we all come from either Rocket or UWM.

SPEAKER_03: 2:47

Or both. Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 2:50

So uh amazing history there. As a as the chief growth officer at Empower and EPM, uh, how do you balance these two leadership roles at home and also at as a chief growth officer? Tell tell me a little bit more about your responsibility or responsibilities as a chief growth officer at uh Empower.

SPEAKER_00: 3:10

Yeah, so um being uh a chief growth officer, you know, you're focused on the growth of what is the infrastructure, what is our goal, and how are we heading there? So, luckily, having the experience of UWM going from 10 billion to 300 billion, that growing 30%, which most companies can't even do, um, gave me the framework to be able to go do that. So, you know, EPM is a much smaller organization in retrospect. EPM has about 300 employees and uh they're a powerhouse, but they do some of the tougher manual underwrites, some of the loans that maybe a lot of lenders won't do, like renovation loans and such such like that. They even lend in Puerto Rico, which is one of the main reasons why I wanted to help them out. And they're 100% wholesale, they're the only other lender that's 100% wholesale, and that was my main reason for going over there so that I don't compete with you guys, brokers. You know, my passion is helping you guys grow. And um, so what how I balance that is by focusing on what their needs are and give them the roadmap to be successful and to create efficiencies. A lot of times, what I'm seeing with lenders is you don't know what you don't know. And luckily, we were fortunate enough to grow a very big company that was just a machine from everything, and and some of the best C-level leaders that I've ever met, like Melinda Wilner, like Matt Isbia, like Katie Foster, like these minds, these people were just amazing. And so to be um kind of like a child of them, if you will, because they helped develop me as a person, um, I'm able to go and effectively lead them as at what they're doing and some of the goals that they have.

SPEAKER_01: 4:53

Amazing. I mean, talk about uh the leaders that we you and I and Manolo learn from uh Matt, Katie, Melinda, the brightest and the best in the industry. And we take whatever we learn and there, we implement it into our businesses. How many people do you lead?

SPEAKER_00: 5:08

Um, so we're roughly smaller, so there's about 61 account executives. So as a chief growth officer, it's interesting because I'm like a Swiss Army knife. I do focus on operational improvement, on strategic partnerships, on business development, but then also on making sure that our account executives have what's needed to be successful. Um, so one of the main things that I was pushing for um was even a CRM. You know how important a CRM is. These AEs didn't even have a CRM. Um, and it wasn't, you know, because they they they had a marketing portal, but they couldn't effectively communicate. They were relying on their cell phone to communicate to all of their brokers. And it's like, how can you manage 2,000 clients that all need help on loans effectively? So little tiny things like that of giving that advice and giving that direction that then pivot the entire company, and now it has things working. Now they have each other's backs because they could see an underwriter called previously. Like, you didn't know, and that's what I really enjoyed about UWM. Like, I knew you know, you guys were both underwriters. I knew when you called out, yeah, and I could confidently have your back of like, I'm sorry, Mr. Broker, you didn't pick up the phone. They called you three times. Like, exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 6:16

You can see it in the comments, in the notes, in the uh well, talking about a CRM here. Uh, you and uh Manolo know each other very well. When Manolo started with Safe Trust Mortgage, first thing I said, hey Marnola, you gotta start use a CRM. And to this day, this is his CRM, which I get it, which I get it.

SPEAKER_00: 6:34

I'm working on it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 6:35

But you're hearing it first thing from a chief growth officer how important a CRM is that he implemented in at uh Empower. Uh, so I know one day you're gonna you're gonna use a CRM as well to manage your price.

SPEAKER_00: 6:48

You have to build those healthy habits, and even within my own organization, home, it's like we're smaller, and it's like, does a CRM make sense? And it's like, well, yes, when you have a team of people that are calling, you need to keep notes, you need to keep up to date, even with dealing with sponsorships or with memberships. Like, and I coach a lot of broker owners and loan officers. It's like, what did I have a conversation with them about? And how can I make that more come the next conversation more effective as well?

SPEAKER_01: 7:14

Absolutely. I mean, uh, it's part of origination, it's part of doing business. You gotta have a client relation management tool in order to keep your notes, uh, phone calls, you name it, because two, three, four, one month goes by. How are you gonna remember the conversation that you had with that client? Like, how are we gonna remember the notes uh or the or the most important things uh with that client? Like we're not gonna remember them except for the things uh that we post on that CRM. I'm a big fan of it, I use it on a daily basis. Um, and you know, I highly encourage loan officers to put more time into it because it's a big automation machine.

SPEAKER_00: 7:53

Absolutely. And the only person that I have found that is like a human CRM is Matt Ishbia. Yep, he remembers everything from team members, kids, birthdays. That um, you know, as he scales, yes, he relies on help, but watching him actively remember things in person unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01: 8:11

It it was a huge remembers every single one of us, yeah. From the name to uh the roles to how many kids, what makes us special, what makes you special, all of it. And man, yeah, you definitely definitely UWM is a machine, Matt is a machine, uh amazing things. Now, as stepping away from the CRM a bit, you know, I've come to follow you online a lot more with your uh home organization. What's home all about? Give me what what's the vision? What's the mission behind it?

SPEAKER_00: 8:45

Yeah, great question. So, um, the Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts is a fairly new organization, but our vision and mission is to empower Hispanic loan officers within the industry. So we recently found out that only 1% of loan officers are Hispanic, and they are projected to be the largest home buying population by 2040, 70% of the market is going to be Hispanics. And primarily, what's that driving factor? Every year, one million Hispanics will turn 18. So that driving force, yeah, every 30 seconds, another Hispanic American.

SPEAKER_01: 9:19

That means I have access to a million more home buyers every single year.

SPEAKER_00: 9:24

Exactly. They are actively working, they are in college, they are looking for a career path. And that's another thing we we initially started with let's let's help grow the Hispanic loan officers, but then also how do we find this talent? We are finding a lot of broker owners, they want processors, underwriters, closers that can be bilingual, and so that's what we really see us as being. And so we developed um a learning management system in Spanish and English, very first in the industry. Um, and we were recently featured in Associated Press by having that type of technology. And then we also have a chat GPT that has 150 lenders' information in it, and we give it away completely for free. Um, so you can search who does it in, and it will show you three different lenders what's the pros, what's the cons, what's the max DTI, those types of intricacies so that you're not guessing and sending a loan where someone would be qualified to a lender that won't qualify them.

SPEAKER_01: 10:17

Amazing. And we recently had an interview with a Hispanic processor. Is that how you got connected with her through home?

SPEAKER_03: 10:24

No, no, actually, that was that that came through our own internal network.

SPEAKER_01: 10:28

Like God, people know that we're we're growing, and obviously, like I know you, Manolo, you're you're heavily involved with uh with home as well as a Hispanic loan officer and a leader in our community.

SPEAKER_03: 10:39

Um one of the things that drew me to home was again, Rohalia and I have actually been talking this since Troy, to be honest. Back in the day, we were pushing, we were pushing like again, not just uh I remember talking to Justin Glass about having you know even the the um the the application in Spanish and and that was something he you know he believed in he he actually built that out. Um there was things that kind of at the time hindered that from the more priorities, yeah. But it was done. There was there was a need for it. We've always been we always talked about documentation, you know, like disclosures and such. And like from the operations standpoint, the operations is not sexy in any of this. Everybody talks about the sales and everything, but there's work to do, and I think within the community, you know, one I I was one of the originals here uh trying to found find uh sorry, be one of the founders over here of the NAREP group here in Detroit. But even then, you know, like those that's real estate from the origination side, there really wasn't nothing.

SPEAKER_00: 11:42

And you know, at live last year, O'Haley launched you know home, and I would he can tell you I went up to him and I'm like, this is this is it, and we just kind of kept in contact because we've already known each other, we knew what even before that at UWM, he would he would seek me out and he would try to find me and and I would run kind of kind of run away, and I'm like, man, you know, Matt has me running in all these different directions. Like, I know Spanish docs are important. I I fought for eight years for UWM to get Spanish marketing. I fought for eight years for them to sponsor now rep and they finally did because that was important to me because brokers weren't represented. For you as a broker to be represented at NowRep, you basically have to become a platinum sponsor, donate$75,000, and then pay for a booth, and then pay for all of this stuff. So realistically, I didn't see how all these independent mortgage brokers could reach that. They can't compete with the wells, with the Bank of America, with all of these big organizations. So I was really focused on how can UWM be that champion to do that. And we did all of that, but then I recognized we still have more work to do. And we were both a part of one of the Latino groups at UWM, and they wanted me to lead the organization. And and I was like, okay, let me check it out. And I went in and I noticed that there was, you know, me being the very first Spanish speaker, now there's a group of 30 of us, but then I recognized they're they work on the loan process, but they don't actually know how to get a loan. How do you work for a lender and not know how to get the loan? Right. So that's where I realized the mission is way bigger. And I said, hold on, guys, let me be right back. Let me go build home because this is going to help you. This is gonna help your career and mortgage. This is gonna help you and your family members get loans. And I'm super proud and humbled by what we've been building as a community. Like we have 20% market share of all wholesale loan officers are a part of home. And we're continuing to grow and just hit milestones that are impressive. Next, I shouldn't say this, but next month at NAM, we're launching a scholarship program. So oftentimes, you know, getting an MLS license, an extra four or five dollars, it's an expense for you to take a chance on something. So we are going to launch that program. We've already been beta testing it and we have five people that have successfully gone through it. But then aside from that, how do we give a mentorship program? So, how do I get my veterans to teach our brand new loan officers? How do I pair him up with someone brand new in the industry so that he can pass on his knowledge? Because what we are finding is that the average age of loan officers is 55. There's a there's another executive goes, Thank you so much for launching this, because I was really worried that in 10 years loan officers would be extinct because they just retire. So, how do we pass on that baton and keep the knowledge going within the industry? And this is what how we're gonna do it with the scholarship program and the mentorship program that we're launching.

SPEAKER_01: 14:27

I really like that.

SPEAKER_03: 14:28

Now, before actually before we go ahead, like one of the things I I pulled some stats, you know, because I'm a big stats guy, you guys know. Let's go underwriter data. No, but like honest on the writer mindset. Key stats, okay. Even this came out um, you know, from DowRep's uh, you know, uh their um what's it called the book? Hispanic home ownership. So for 24, the Hispanic uh Hispanic owned households hit a record high of 9.8 million uh with 238,000 new uh Hispanic home ownerships. And that's the largest within any demographic group. I mean, this is going back to your point, you know, we have a you know a million uh Hispanic people turning 18 every year, but but within that, you know, like if one fourth are looking to buy, you know, you know, in in it's not gonna stop, you know, as people get you know have families and such. Really that's the biggest thing. People look at homes once you you're trying to settle down and and you're trying to plant your your you know who you are in your family in an area. This is gonna continue. And these demographics right now, they're really like we said, like I know let's repeat this, but the wind is at our back right now. Yeah, there's this is not going anywhere. If anything, it's gonna continue to grow. That's why everything we're doing is important.

SPEAKER_00: 15:45

And and I would argue that the numbers are even larger, like that data. NAREP is is an amazing organization. They've been around for 25 years, but they're not in all 50 states, and that's where like some of the data might be might be missing.

SPEAKER_01: 15:59

Correct.

SPEAKER_00: 15:59

Yeah, a lot of the data is missing, and that's where home comes in. I like to say that NAREP is the antibiotic and home is the steroid, so we can work faster, more aggressively at helping the same mission get accomplished.

SPEAKER_01: 16:12

How does someone join home? That do you have to be Hispanic only to join home, or can me as an Albanian originator be a part of a home, or do I have to be Hispanic?

SPEAKER_00: 16:21

Yeah, great question. So you do not have to be Hispanic. I'm actually Mexican and German. Okay, um, so you do not have to be Hispanic, and we're even working on launching our LMS in in Portuguese as well, because that's another language that a lot of people ask for that's not readily accessible. Um, so you do not have to be Hispanic, and there's a lot of Hispanics that don't even speak Spanish. I you you probably speak better Spanish than my sister. Uh truth, I don't know about that. It's true. So we don't want to uh be one to create barriers, we want to be very inclusive of everything. So, what I love about you is is your heart to serve everyone, it doesn't matter what nationality, and that's really what we're looking for within an organization. But then also, how do we pair the right tools, the right technology, the right products? And then also, how do we go fight in Washington? Like, I want to make sure that that all of these things are accessible. And right now, like one of the big initiatives is English only, which I respect. English is my dominant language, although it wasn't my first language. That's what I feel most comfortable expressing myself. But at the same time, I understand that Hispanic loan officers struggle to translate things. Or earlier you were talking about how you have to translate things in Albanian for your community. Like it's something that does take time, that does take effort. And how do we shorten that, right? So that you can instead of spending so much time impacting one, two, three, how do we make that 30? How do we make that 40? So that's what we're actively focused on. And then even then, a lot of times, I'm sure you've experienced this, you get servicing questions.

SPEAKER_01: 17:50

Okay, whenever people ask me for servicing questions, I'm like, all right, I need to be a lot better at this, or please contact a number in your mortgage statement that will help you. Yeah. Uh, but over the years I've gotten better and better.

SPEAKER_00: 18:01

But yeah, so there's a bill that now rep was very big on passing that unfortunately didn't get passed to be able to help from the servicing side of things, and that's where home comes in. And then uh a side of everything that we're my board members is the lead Hispanic chair for BAC. So we go, we take all of the housing issues and then we go and fight effectively in Washington to with policyholders to get that done. So it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 18:26

I mean, the past couple of years we we we had some success with BAC uh fighting for on our behalf in Washington. And it's very important.

SPEAKER_00: 18:34

I got the first senator to sign the credit trigger bill. So I was very proud of that. That was you, yeah. That was me. Well done. Well done.

SPEAKER_01: 18:40

I I think you did uh uh all of us a big favor for uh fighting every single day to make that happen, and uh I love that. I love that. Um that's a big accomplishment, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00: 18:52

Absolutely, the credit trigger line and even think now it's not gonna eliminate the entire process of uh lending no, so borrowers can opt in and servicers will still be able to technically solicit their own portfolio in their book, but it does stop the random call centers that are just trying to hurry up and bait and switch a client. And think about it from this retrospective we're fighting for you know accessibility and different languages and such. Uh a Hispanic borrower that has like uh a loan officer calls with their information, says they're with this lender, they know that they just got their credit pull, they're going to believe them. So they call with all of this information, kind of bait and switching consumers, and that's what I'm not okay with.

SPEAKER_01: 19:35

Some of the items and marketing that I have seen from these bait and switch uh telemarketers, a lot of bad yeah, bad actors. I mean, some of them are like, hey, I'm Marcel's assistant. Yeah, they pretend to be uh what time is a good phone call? Uh no, we got you locked at this level, but uh I think we can do better. No, you're pretending to be me. You're you're uh do you they pretty much know everything about that client? Yeah, um, and uh you know I'm happy that things are heading in the right direction, things are being uh being better for us as originators because who wants to receive 40-50 phone calls in a mortgage process? No, nobody does, and it hurts the entire uh community, yes. Uh it really does. So um, you know, well done to you, well done to Brandon McKay for getting this completed as well. We need this initiatives, and we're all about it. As a small broker shop, how do we help more uh in helping home achieve their vision and mission? How can I help?

SPEAKER_00: 20:35

Yeah, that that's a great question, and we get that a lot. Um you know, first off, as a new organization, it's 100% funded by me. I haven't accepted one sponsorship dollar, and um, the main reason for that uh is because I wanted the heart of the organization to be the main driving factor. I want to make sure, yes. And everyone tries to tap in the$2.7 trillion and get a slice of that pie, but it's like, how are you effectively doing it? And I wanted to make sure that our members, first of all, it's been a tough couple of years in the lending industry. So I don't want to be like, hey, Manolo, give me$10,000 and come help me with this initiative. Instead, I want to say, hey, Manolo, how can I empower you as a community champion? And so now he's my community champion here in Michigan. When people call into our 800 number in Michigan, I I'm not a loan officer. I cannot originate the loan. I give it to him. So anyone that needs help in Michigan, he's my community champion and I give all those referrals out to him. And that's my way of giving back. Now, in the future, what does it look like? Yes, we're gonna open up sponsorships, we have scholarships and different things that we're working on. But what can you do right now today? My biggest piece of advice um and recommendation for people is find one person to mentor. So that's my call to action to loan officers to brokers that want to get involved. Find one young person to mentor, and they don't have to be Hispanic, but just mentor them in within this industry because they are gonna be the ones that serve the future community.

SPEAKER_01: 21:57

This all starts with education, yeah. So if you can educate one person and mentor one person, we get better uh as a community. I like that. Um, well, you're gonna have our support at Safe Trust Mortgage, and we're gonna do everything possible because we stand by exactly what you're doing. I'm an immigrant myself, uh immigrated to this country at the age of 13, and I know how important it is to have support behind you. Yeah, right. And uh especially for newer loan officers or Hispanic loan officers, any type of loan officers, you know, even if you're a veteran too, you need support. Right? When you when you have support, things are done easier, better, faster, and cheaper.

SPEAKER_00: 22:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

When you have somebody to um to to uh to mentor, coach, learn from, uh, I mean, let alone how how many times, how many conversations do we have on a daily basis of things that we're struggling with?

SPEAKER_03: 22:55

And I think it's more like it's not even just the mentoring. It's like if you and especially if you have somebody who can has a similar background, I think that's the the most it's it's important to have people to talk to, but when you have somebody that's that kind of knows your voice and that can speak to you and doesn't necessarily have to be talking in a way that's just like it's very kind of professorial or trying to if I can make an allusion to something that that you and I connect with, like Marcel and I talk about soccer all the time. Yeah, and sometimes I'll send them stuff that has nothing to do. If I can make an allusion to things and just connect with you to explain that thing in a way that you see it different, it doesn't matter how you do that. And I think a lot of the times with what we're trying to do is you know, when we're trying to mentor and trying to connect with people, like it's important to just make like whatever the point is we're trying to get across, you know, like find common ground. Find the common ground is what I was trying to get at. Like that's the biggest thing. It's if you can, you know, because like like I said, you don't have to hear it in that person's voice. You you gotta like think how how can I get it to them, you know? Like that's hard. It's hard to kind of find that common ground and explain.

SPEAKER_00: 24:09

And I think with different minority groups, that's so important. Like here in Michigan, we're very blessed to be surrounded by so many ethnic groups. You know, I grew up in Dearborn Heights with predominantly Arab American. Yeah, and it's funny because I was talking about this yesterday. Um, you know, I was the only Rohelio, like, and I got singled out because everyone was Ali, Mohammed, Abdullah, and like I'm here I am with the most name. And but it was a blessing seeing how they build up a community and what they're doing, you know, here in Dearborn Heights is truly amazing. But taking it one step further, um, Alan Baidoon, our EVP there at UWM, um, when I launched home, he actually pulled me aside and he goes, Thank you, because hopefully this could be a stepping stone for the Arab American community. And at first I was like, Okay, like how does that tie in? Like that doesn't make sense. And he goes, Well, hell yeah, I don't know if you know this, but Arab American isn't even on the 1003 as an option, so they don't even know that we're here. And that's where I was like, Oh my gosh, like what home is doing, even though yes, we're the Hispanic Organization mortgage experts, but realistically, collectively, as a community, we care about everyone. You know, even before this, I was like, How many Albanians are in the US? And I I searched it and there was roughly around 200,000, but I would argue more. I would think that there's 200,000 just as Anna. Yeah, exactly. Yep. Um, so so it's like, how do we empower and create that representation so people could proudly put where they belong, you know, and that they're not just all white, you know, that they are Albanian American, you know. Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_01: 25:48

No, um, I I don't see that option anywhere for me, at least. Uh, but again, you're right. I always check white. So, but what and you're you're you're talking from the heart today, and I appreciate that. Uh, like you're and what Manola was saying, in order to make an influence, you got to connect with people, yeah. Right, and then the only way you can connect with people is is speaking from here, and uh what you have done at home so far, like hey, I want to start with my passion because this is what my my heart is telling me to do, right? Not making an about monetary, I'm self-funding everything, and uh that's how great organizations uh are built from, right? And uh let that let the passion uh be your fire, and I know you're gonna do amazing things. We're only gonna support from here. Let us know anything that you need. Um, you know, one one thing that I can commit to as a broker owner is if any new loan officer wants to join the uh um you know the home, they need licensing, we'll pay for the broker X. Yeah, yeah, we will pay. Yeah, and give them the opportunity to help future generations, and uh we will commit to it.

SPEAKER_00: 26:54

We're yeah, we'll and then we'll give the home membership for free, we'll pair them up with the mentorship. You know, he's gonna be a mentor, and the the best part about it is I'm kind of simulating what UWM would do with our your time. So I'm I'm telling our mentors like just 18 hours a year. That's all I need from you. This is you're giving to the community, but that's it. One hour of teaching on a Zoom call, and we have different topics if you need topics, and then a 30-minute check-in a month, and that's it. And then you give that report back to home so we could track the progress and make sure that it's effective and that people are growing. So that's for 18 hours. You can impact the future of America, the future of communities, the future of minority groups, and the best part no, you don't have to be Hispanic to participate in this. We just want to empower the future of America.

SPEAKER_01: 27:38

I love that. I love that. I mean, just from the name, too, and the color, I'm like, how did you how'd you come up with home? It fits so well.

SPEAKER_00: 27:45

Thanks. Um, I to be honest, I I stumbled upon it. I was uh doodling it, you know, after UWM, I was at the hub. There was a broker event, and I was just on a napkin, just writing different things, and I was like, no, and I loved experts because of expert av and all of that. Uh, but someone randomly had created a mortgage company after that, and I was like, ah, I don't know if that fits in. So I was like just going back and forth of like different things, and I and and then suddenly I stumbled upon Hispanic Organization of Mortgage Experts, and I was like, home like that fits, that makes sense. That's that's what we're doing as an organization. We're we're making sure that you feel at home, not only for home ownership, but also within your brokerage. And one thing that was very strong and powerful, there was this member where this is an odd year in our industry. A lot of people are switching their license. There's they're going from broker shop to broker shop. 90% of the time, the problem is you as an originator, but we won't get into that topic. Um, but they're always looking for that next home. And um I mentioned to one of the members, she was walking around UWM, you know, kind of frustrated. And I said, you know, I don't know what drove me to say this, but I said, I hope that, you know, no matter where you hang your license, you always have a home with home. And she looked at me and she almost burst into tears and she said, Rohelio, you don't know how much that means to me because I feel like I don't belong anywhere. So the fact that you can offer your covering, your organization as a home for me, no matter where I'm at, where I'm plugged in, it means so much to me. So it's um the what we're creating is something very special and we're a family. Like he was just at our event. We had 150. This was our very first time in San Diego throwing a big event like that. 150 people had to go to an elevator in a tower, press the 32nd floor to show up to go to our event. Like it wasn't just right there across from the expo hall. So 150 people had to say, I want to go and hear more about home. And it was it was amazing. We were only prepared for like 40. Um, so it was great to have standing room only, but to see the support and the love in the community. Like, so many people love this guy from all throughout the country, and they're like, How can I help you grow? How can I help you scale? They're learning from him. He's helped my nephew. My nephew's 19, he was on the trip, he helped my nephew. You grow by answering different questions, and he wants to be a loan officer as well. So the sense of community and family that we're building is just unbelievable. And I'm I'm humbled to be a very small part, to be the steward of it, but I'm a very small part because to be honest with you, they're all the ones that are doing it. And that's why I wanted to create this organization because he's been a home champion for ages. He's been fighting for Hispanic loan docs, he's been trying to get with the right people, you know. So it's like, how do I empower you? But then also empower Jay Rodriguez in California and and Danny Velazquez down in Nevada, like all of these people that have been fighting for the same message, but they've been doing it independently. Well, now we can do it collectively as one unit and have a greater mission.

SPEAKER_01: 30:46

I'm gonna comment on two things there. Yeah, as leaders, one of the things that we strive for is to build a home for our uh for our uh team members, and uh it hit me, and you you're building a home because this guy we had an immersion class the same day that you had your home event in San Diego, yeah. So that to me, he chose to come and support the home event in San Diego over his own business, like being his own origination at that moment, but that's exactly what we strive for like a a family-oriented environment where people can feel at home, yeah, an organization that people can feel at home, you know. So I wanted our listeners to know that uh it's not just about business, yeah. It's not because he he could have easily uh been a part of the immersion class, brought his 10 agents, gotten in three applications, closed two loans that month, right? He did, but I'm talking about new business, yeah. But he decided to say, all right, hey, I'm I feel at home with this organization, I feel a part of it, uh, I'm at home, and he flew down to San Diego. I mean, that's that's amazing to me.

SPEAKER_03: 31:51

The the thing, bigger thing is too right now, it's like because this is all at a very we're at the genesis of this. This is just the start. Early, yeah. And so what's more important now, right now, and it'll pay dividends, you won't see it right away. It's the culture that's being set. I think in that to me, I'm kind of realizing because even with my own endeavors, like you know, I'm thinking like as a you know, when I set my stuff up, how do I when you lead? The key is how you set that culture because that culture is an extension of you, and then how people perceive you and you know, they can see you as fun, they can see they have to there's has to be a baseline of respect, right? That's how the only way you get people to listen to you, they have to respect you. And what's important right now, and like within with home, is the biggest thing is just there's more of us, and so I to me, the important reason for me being there was just it was just the fear, you know, the the sheer show of of of numbers to be there as part of the group to show like hey, yeah, I don't want to just be part of the group and and meet all these people and you see them on Zoom calls, you know. Um, I it's popular to do a lot of Instagram, it's a lot popular to do a lot of uh, you know, TikTok, but we get away from it, and at the end of the day, with these communities, it still matters to touch base, it still matters to show face, it still matters to like be in person because you can come off any way you want, like online. That's all spin, but in person, you can't fake it, can't fake it forever. You can feel the heart, you can feel it, yeah, and that's different, and that's what that's the energy, the culture, all of it. That was the why for me personally, it was more important. Like it was I wish it's more important, and it was it was important to be there, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 33:43

And we our booth was so it was this was the first event. It was like our first time being at NARAP. Got it. As Naurap having a booth and then having a mixer, and so and funny enough, I actually went last year and I went with my sister. No one knew who I was, I didn't have anybody, but this year I showed up with 30 volunteers. We had a home booth, we were represented by 10 different brokerages. Even talk about that. Like normally you see competitors, right? But how do we have 10 different brokers that all come together for this one mission to help make a difference? And you did see like a couple other brokers were there, but they were at lenders' booths, so it's powerful to be this organization that just collectively joins everyone and gets gets better every day. Um, so it's just been crazy to see the year over year growth. And like how last year I was there by myself, and I even bought my tickets a year in advance because I knew that that's what I wanted to do. And then they didn't tell us about these opportunities until a couple months ago. They actually called me and they were like, Hey, we want your organization here. How do we make this happen?

SPEAKER_01: 34:45

So yeah, um and I've been paying attention on social media. You always post about impressions. I mean, in in in in the millions of views, if I'm correct, yeah, right. How do you how do you get millions of views? Like, how do you do that? Yeah, each. I mean, that's that's impressive.

SPEAKER_00: 35:04

Yeah, millions of views. So it's it's through, you know, PR impress is is uh that's a whole other animal. So I hired someone that was very skilled in that, and then they taught me how to do it. And so um when you are articulating a press release, uh, a couple of things. One, you have to be able to articulate, and I didn't I didn't know this, but you have to articulate it as if everyone has a third grade reading level, very, very simplified and refined. But then you also have to make sure that you're storytelling and then you have your mission. Um, so whenever I write a press release, like we're gonna have one um in a in actually this month when we're launching the scholarship programs. I want to make sure that the heart and the mission don't get lost in what it is that we're saying. So um that's what you focus on, and then you get it out to the media, and then from there, people find you, and then different media outlets pick it up. And this was our very first time advertising in Spanish. We reached 21.1 million Hispanic homes. That is insane.

SPEAKER_01: 36:07

Yeah, I mean, that's that's impressive numbers. I'm gonna tell you a funny story. Um, September was my my anniversary, my wife's anniversary. Congrats, and thank you. And I went on Chat GTP. I'm like, write a letter to my wife, you know, it's on anniversary. Man, didn't she pick it up right away? She goes, like, what is this? Like, I know this is Chat GTP. And I was like, No, it's not, it's me. And she goes, like, I know this is Chat GTP, but talking about like PR marketing, like you gotta be your you gotta you gotta be your true self, yeah, you gotta be your authentic self. Yeah, we can use these tools to help us, uh, but she people know right away if they that's that's not Marcel, right? That's not Rohelio, that's not that's not Manolo, right? Yeah, and then talk about story, storytelling. I think it's one of the best ways to influence people, influence uh and and reach more people about your vision. Um, how do you go about storytelling? The tactics that you use and the strategies.

SPEAKER_00: 37:05

Um I I first look at the well, the heart, you know, that's so important for me as an organization and as I'm telling a story. And and to be honest with you, before I I pray a lot. So I grew up, my family started the very first Hispanic church in Windsor, Ontario. It um it started with five people in my uncle's living room, and it grew to a church about three thousand.

SPEAKER_01: 37:26

So you guys have a history of with starting organizations, helping the communities.

SPEAKER_00: 37:30

I fought it for many years. I did not want to do this, I did not want to be, you know, the person that it's in here. When it's in here, you when it's a calling, you know, you can't run from it. So um I I pray before I do a lot of things, and then I also rely on my team a lot. Um, you know, one of my assistants, she's uh always refining things, and she's like, she actually pulled me aside a couple months ago and she said, Rahelio, you know, it it's very important that you always keep God at the forefront of the things that we do. And I was like, you know, why do you mention that? She goes, I just feel like right now in these political climates that it's very important for our people. And, you know, I I I digested that for a minute, and then, you know, because I always have people that advise you as a leader, you know, as a broker owner, you have people that advise you, and they're like, stay politically correct, stay neutral, don't be too right wing, don't be too left wing, you know, be this, be that. And so I struggled with that and I was very neutral for a minute, and then um there became a point where it's like, I'm I'm sorry, like all due respect, like this is what my people need in this moment. Like they are being targeted, they are being oppressed. Like, how how can I be of service if I don't know what my people need? So I have to be very in tune to the moment of what it is that is happening politically so that I can serve. And then even bigger than that, um, you know, it's making sure that even before I go and I speak, like I will pray. I I will give myself a moment and I'll pray and I'll be like, okay, God, what what do you want me to say in this moment? You know the people that are in this room, you know their hearts. What is what am what is the mission? And make sure that I'm able to articulate and use me, less of me, more of you. And that's the secret sauce to some of the things that I do, and that's why I truly believe that we are blessed, is because I'm not looking for the fame myself. I'm looking how can I serve? You connect me with the right people. And going back to his point of the heart, like you feel that energy and you feel that heart. And I've always said, like it, I don't need the thousands of people. If I just find one Hispanic person and I change their mindset from being frustrated to serving the Hispanic community to now being empowered and happy, I did that job. And and funny enough, I took eight loan officers to see Bad Bunny in Puerto Rico, and um that was amazing, by the way. It was a very emotional moment and it was great for our culture and our people. But one loan officer pushed me uh aside and she goes, you know, Rahelia, I want to tell you that like I used to get very frustrated when I would educate Hispanics because they just wouldn't understand and it would take so much time, and it was just very frustrating to me. But ever since I joined home, I get happy. Yes, it takes more effort, yes, it takes more work, but I feel like I'm contributing to a bigger mission because of home, and I'm just very grateful to be a part of it. And I got emotional. I didn't let her know that I got emotional, but I got really teary-eyed, and it's because that's what my mission is. If I just reach one person to go and make an impact, and that's a lot of people are like, Why aren't you a loan officer? Why aren't you a broker owner? Well, because you're already doing it, you're already doing that, but how can I help you guys? How can I amplify your reach, your avenue? And that's how I can do what I can do because I recognize as a licensed loan officer, I can only impact my state, I can only impact the states that I'm licensed in. But as a nonprofit, I can be that gasoline that can help you guys impact way more people.

SPEAKER_01: 40:52

No, I think what home is doing is the missing piece of the puzzle. And uh you're you're doing amazing things, and we we need that. Our broke broker owners need that extra voice, that that individual that can't and may not be politically correct, right? Because it's your calling. We as broker owners, you you were right about that. Like, hey, you have to be politically correct, but who wants to be politically right uh correct all the time? Yeah, you don't stand out, right? You you limit your vision, you limit your your ability to make a positive impact to so many people, right? We need more uh individuals and leaders like you, right? Like, hey, I'm gonna speak exactly what's from my heart, and uh, because this is what my people need, yeah. Right, and um, I I appreciate that and value that so much. Um, like I value it a lot. When it comes to uh when when it comes to making an impact with storytelling, um do any of your videos incorporate the Spanish language or is it all in English?

SPEAKER_00: 41:59

Um that's something that I've been going back and forth on. So um primarily the audience is English speaking, but like I um funny enough, I've been struggling with when I first did one of our events, I actually opened up by praying. I was advised not to. They were like, Don't pray, say set your intentions. And I said, Well, with all due respect, like Hispanics aren't gonna know what that means. Like, what do you mean, set your intentions? That makes no sense to us, but they're gonna understand what a prayer is. And to be honest with you, I was nervous, so I did it more for me to get my nerves out, and you know, um, so that's I remember, yeah, I was there.

SPEAKER_01: 42:38

What where was this?

SPEAKER_03: 42:39

Uh, was it in uh this was um this was the first event, yeah. Yeah, I remember because you were I remember because I was actually standing by, I heard the con because I was standing right in the back. Yeah, I I heard everything, so I remember exactly that happening.

SPEAKER_01: 42:53

Think about it for a moment though. How many people did he connect with?

SPEAKER_03: 42:57

No, he took the the thing was it was the whole room, the majority, 98%, and not only that to go further, it kind of set everybody else on fire. It was the gasoline, it really was because it was like you know, it was sincere. That was you could tell, like there was no question of that, but it made everybody else, and there was some people were crying. I mean, literally, they were because I think you know, maybe Ro and I are a little bit more hardened because we've been in different organizations over our life, but some of the people that they were this was the first time for an organization for them, so they didn't they felt it, you know, like they felt it, and it was you know overwhelming for them. Yeah, it was true.

SPEAKER_01: 43:41

No, I I one thing that I have observed about you is you have a gift of connecting with people, and you have that positive energy, and in any room, I'm especially in this podcast room, um, you you have that positive energy, but you have that gift of connecting with people, you truly do, and keep continuing to do in these special ways because um you know one thing that I have focused personally this year in in 2025 is becoming a better communicator, an effective communicator. And one of the laws and and rules that exist out there when you when you become a better communicator is the law of connection. I John C. Maxwell, I read uh I read a lot of his books and use it to you know empower and inspire our our team members. But the law of connection is you have to connect with people in order for you to influence them in a positive way, right? You have to connect with them. And the way you connect with them is by Rohelio during that event, he was part of the uh he was part of instead of standing up on his own delivering a speech, he was part of the community, you know, and that's one way you connect with people. So well done to you, my friend. Well done. Um what else we got here? Let's see.

SPEAKER_03: 44:59

I think you're on page two. Already, I mean, this this conversation I only printed out how well I only printed out stats, sorry, because that's what I am.

SPEAKER_01: 45:11

All right, let's see. In regards to industry trends and insights. I mean, you mentioned there's over 14,000 Hispanic originators. Yep. Okay, how many billions of originations do they do on an annual basis?

SPEAKER_00: 45:26

They do a lot. Um, I will give you that information later because I'm prepared for that. But it's in the billions um uh of production that they do, that it's truly impressive. And most of it is retail. That imagine if they had more opportunity, you know, and and there there isn't the mentorship and loan officers, processors, like there isn't that career path that we've been so fortunate to have.

SPEAKER_03: 45:47

But to touch on that, so now all of a sudden, let's just talk about the loan origination side, all right. If you have what was it, 80 80% of them are on retail? What was the number? Uh, like 95. 95. Yeah, the majority. Okay. So because they are on retail and the margins that they make on those loans is a lot less than they would be had they been on the on the wholesale side. So now when you're talking about people impacting their own community, this is a big chunk of money that is not flowing into the community that could that could be used to reinvest in the community. Yeah, that is a big thing. Because again, we can extrapolate numbers, but we don't, I don't, I don't know the exact data yet. Because we'll dive into it. Like we can, yeah, but no, but but but seriously, the concept is is the same. It's like when you take, you know, when you have retail, you don't have wholesale, and you have the the officers that are producing, because again, the origination is is it's massive. The number again, I don't know how many billion, but it's a couple billion. That money is money that should be in the community, should not be in overhead in marketing, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 46:59

Period.

SPEAKER_00: 47:00

And we need to unlock that. And even taking it a step further at our event, one of the speakers because so I do what you do in terms of bringing together the community. Like, I'm not there to recruit. How do I bring all the loan officers and broker owners together to just communicate, to get better, to collaborate? And one of the speakers goes, you know, I I understand, and we recently posted this video, which was a little controversial. I understand that you want like the Mercedes Sprinter to take you around and to pay for this and this bottle service in Vegas. But what you're not recognizing is that that you going with a lender it that pays for that instead of giving that$200,$300,$400 to that family that really needs it is all that difference because that's where that's going. Like, yes, they're charging you a higher interest rate, or they're charging you more on that because it is retail. So in ultimately, you're impacting families. And so when you put it to a dollar amount, you don't think of that in that moment, but then you're like, whoa, and then you times that by how many families did I serve this year? Then you're like, whoa, there's a lot of savings that we can pass on through our community.

SPEAKER_01: 48:05

And uh well, the best place for uh originates to originate is the wholesale industry, and also a best place for a client to get a mortgage is through the wholesale industry, through mortgage brokers, um, uh just like Safe Trust Mortgage. Yeah, um, and we have so many options that we can help them with. I know one of the initiatives that you worked uh in the Hispanian community was trying to get the ITIN down payment down to five percent.

SPEAKER_03: 48:32

Yeah, there's there's there's a couple of things. There's a couple things that I know you always uh talk about that. There's things that are being worked on.

SPEAKER_00: 48:40

Well, funny enough, things I uh it's like eh, yeah, yeah. There's a bunch of things. There's a bunch of things.

SPEAKER_01: 48:46

Well, tell us, let's see.

SPEAKER_00: 48:48

Well, funny enough, I I mentioned to a reporter that doing 10% more ITIN loans could stimulate the economy by 300 billion. And with those are the stats because roughly there are like 700 million people that are legally waiting for identification, right? You know, we understand how hard the the government works hard, but not fast enough. And um, so they're waiting. So, meanwhile, they have to put so much down and they don't have the same opportunity, they get charged higher interest rates. So, how do we level that playing field? So, from me writing an article at a time when most lenders were exiting ITIN, we actually had more lenders go into the ITIN space as a result of it. And we even have some lenders that are doing jumbo up to 10% down all the way up to a million. Um, so it's it's cool to see uh that more and more people are opening up their mindsets because an ITIN loan does that help Hispanics, yes, but that also helps an Albanian family, that also helps an Asian family, and again, going back to the whole point, like most immigrants are self-employed.

SPEAKER_03: 49:51

A lot of them are self-employed. They they can't they need a bank statement loan, they don't have yeah, they don't have the they can't find the job, so they create their own.

SPEAKER_01: 49:58

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03: 49:59

So what do you do in these situations where conventional doesn't work? So one of the big things that we're looking at again is like, and we have this discussion, he'll tell you, I'll call him out of the blue. He checks my stats all the time, and then I'll double check the stats if I do, but like but no, but but cash flow loans are essential to the to the community, and so opening up those kind of uh opportunities that's one of the things that we inadvertently have become champions of because there's a need for it, and because nobody's really talking about nobody sits and talks about like you know, cash, you know, cash flow financing. They'll be like, oh, it's hard money, non-QM. No, no, no, it's cash flow financing, is what it is. Call it for what it is, yeah. And once you understand that, then it becomes different because what you have is you're championing for a bunch of people who are hardworking, who have the money, but because they don't fit a certain box in a certain way. And I I get it. We have to have conventional loans because they're mortgage-backed securities and they have to be secured and they have to be sold on the market. I get that. But there's these other loans that can cash flow, which the private sector has taken it over because they realize there's an opportunity there. What we're trying to do is push for more of that because some of the barriers to entry, it's not that there isn't with risk to these loans, but there's a risk for any type of there's risk for anything, but there's also ways to offset risk, right? So, okay, what how much of a difference would it be? What is what does a loan look like if you go from 20 down to 10 down? Where what would be okay? What to those statisticians that are like looking for risk? What is okay at that point to offset that risk? Okay, so less down, but what is it? Another secondary mortgage insurance? Is it what does that look like? Like you know, so those conversations those conversations are really hard to happen behind the scenes, those conversations happen at the sea level, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 51:57

And unfortunately, no one wanted to talk to me until I was a sea level. Yeah, so I had to create my own table and invite people that I knew had the brains and give them a title and say, you know what? I you've been a community champion for ages. Yes, let's have this conversation. And that what happens is a very beautiful thing. What you we even find in the ITIN space, oftentimes they will be married to a US citizen, but they have an item and they are the breadwinner, they make more money than the person that has a social security number. But unfortunately, they can't go the traditional conventional route, so they get pigeonholed into the ITIN side, and that's where it's like, what lenders do we have? How can we make sure that that process is still great and streamlined?

SPEAKER_03: 52:38

Because even with the item, like if you don't have a credit score, you'll go from you think okay, 20% down, 15% down. No, no, no. If you don't have a credit score, you'll end up at 25% down. That's crazy, you know? That's crazy. At that point, you know, you're treating them the same as a DSCR loan, but these are people who want to live in a primary, so you're treating investment in primary as the same, you're treating them as the same from a financial standpoint, and they're not.

SPEAKER_00: 53:05

And when you look at the data, I had the the the privilege of meeting the largest ITIN lender, and we looked at which one is it? Uh FNBA, first net.

SPEAKER_01: 53:13

Oh, is it FNBA?

SPEAKER_00: 53:14

Okay, we we yeah they're amazing. Um some of the things that they do. Where did they where did you meet them at? Yeah, I met them at your broker up event.

SPEAKER_01: 53:20

Oh, really? Amazing.

SPEAKER_00: 53:21

From that broker up event, one of the executives I met an AE there, but then an executive reached out to us on LinkedIn and invited us to take a tour of their facility, and uh, we were diving into some of the numbers, and we were uh very impressed that their loans actually uh pay off within three years. So the majority of ITN, which is impressive, yeah, and they're not getting a cash out, they're not getting another mortgage. It's just these are families that they don't want debt because that works very differently in our home countries. Exactly. So it's we don't want that, and nobody wants to want that. It's weird. Companies want that, it's it's it's interesting, but in our home countries, that is viewed very negatively, and you don't want to owe anyone anything because then they can take it away. So you're telling me these are the best performing mortgages, best performing loans, and they default three times less than conventional loans, so they have less defaults, they pre they they they pay off quicker, and um, these are very solid consumers. But interestingly enough, they don't have checking accounts, they don't have credit cards, like they're not doing the normal thing. So, even within our role at home, I'm looking at how can I help lenders? So that was an opportunity for them, and it's like, well, how can we refer that back into your checking ecosystem? How can we empower you? How can we create a credit card so that then you're not referring that business out to another bank, but then you have that portfolio client. So within home, like, yes, our mission is to empower the Hispanic community, but also how do we empower brokers? How do we empower our lenders so that we can be solid as a whole for the future of America?

SPEAKER_03: 54:56

I have a stab for you guys.

SPEAKER_00: 54:58

Uh-oh. It's huge.

SPEAKER_03: 55:00

All right, 75% of surveyed Hispanics state that owning a home is important to them. And so, again, what we're looking at is opportunity. That's the basic core of what home is, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 55:14

Well, and not even just Hispanics, like within the Albanian community. Like, how many times do you talk to an Albanian that like and I I remember I remember almost every dinner uh that was I was part of, um, you know, when we were renting, the second most important conversation was owning a home, right?

SPEAKER_01: 55:30

First was family, yeah. Second was owning a home. Like, how do we plan to purchase a home? Like, I want to raise my family in a home. I you know, because that's truly a home is the best way to to gain not only wealth, but to to raise your family. Yeah, to build love. All right, that's where the memories happen, that's where the wealth is built, and that's where the um we're the same way. Hispanics and albanians, like we're so alike. Um, and and that's all the things that you have mentioned today, I resonate with because it has happened in my family, you know, every single night. Like for five years straight. My father, my mother was like, How do we plan on to get our to our uh to get our home? Within five years, my father wanted to purchase a home within two years of coming into US. But my my mother was the the risk-averse one. She was like, Ah, not yet. You know, it's a little bit risky. Look at you know, 2006, 2007, things are happening. And then guess what? My dad, my dad was like, you know, I've I've we've had enough conversations, but I'm gonna I'm gonna push our stone in the home. And in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008, he bought a home. Wow, yeah. In November of 2008, we bought a home uh in Troy, and uh he negotiated too. Good, good, negotiated too. He bought it for uh 156,000. I remember and uh this paints the picture, this story, middle of the financial crisis. He bought it, wasn't scared. Why? Because he planned every single dinner, yeah. Second most important thing was owning the home. Now in 20 uh 24, he sold it. Obviously, we know what happened to uh to values, bought it at the lowest point, sold it at the highest point. Now he's retiring on that money. Yeah, right. Not only was not only did he achieve the vision and the mission of upbringing his family, educating them in the right way, uh raising them in a in a in a home environment, but now he had a retirement an asset he sold. Yeah, now he can educate my kids with it.

SPEAKER_00: 57:35

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01: 57:36

He can put it to use to make a positive impact for future generations. So um I I love what home stands for, uh, and it it hits home. It really does. It really does. Um great, great conversation so far. Manola, what other questions do you have? Because I know you have a lot more.

SPEAKER_03: 57:55

I don't know, I I don't I don't have that. I don't have questions. I I mean honestly, like I no, I have I want to say like though, no, that you know, I want to thank Rohelio, you know, obviously for coming out and speaking with us here today. But you know, honestly, it's thank you for putting this together, you know, because it's really important. Like you know it, like you and I talked about it with nobody, no like nobody cared. Nobody paid attention. Like we'd get the rejection emails, you you know. So seeing it where it's come to now and knowing that we're on the right path, and we're at the at the floor level, like the the stats are only in our favor, in sense, you know, in that sense, ownership of growth within the community, but building the foundation and knowing that we're not building it on like shaky ground, like that's that's what's hard. And then you're not doing it alone. No, it's like there's that's what the the thing that was important, like of San Diego and and even going into Atlanta to tag and everything is like seeing there's a there's a vibe, there's a feeling, it's it's not fake, you know. And it's like watching a toddler figure itself out is where it's at right now. But but you're like I'm the toddler, yeah. No, no, no, but like but the toddler's got a strong grip, and you're like, oh whoa, hold on. This is not they do a couple years from now, this toddler might mess up some people, like but yeah, but it's it's at that stage right now, it's still very ground level, but like all the work that's being put in, and like even you know, again, to recognize you, like one of the things that we've had discussions is is important is like how how do we bring in people, but not only just bring in the people, how do we bring in corporate, you know, sponsors and and such to to recognize because at the end of the day, all this it does need to be funded, it does need to happen. Like what are what are our value statements? What are we gonna do? And these are hard questions because at the at the right now. It's like we have some clear ideas. You've set forth some clear ideas. But we're figuring out everything as well. As where what works, what doesn't work. And that's hard. Like this is there's no roadmap. You just know that you're you're going in the right direction. You know, and you know, want to applaud you and thank you again for coming. And I appreciate you, you know, appreciate you again bringing giving me the opportunity to come along to some of the events. Like, you know, like I I I wouldn't normally have gone, I may have gone on my own, but it wouldn't have been as impactful because there's a group, and that's that's the big thing I feel like that's why I I you know probably went to Vegas.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:43

You know, it's like when I I can tell you that you're making an impact because every time he comes, every single week that he comes into the office, he's he says something about and in relation to home and what he has learned, people that he has connected with, and in return, it's making our broker shop that much better. It truly is. Um, you know, from the items to FNBA, we sign up with MVA, FNBA. Now we're we're doing business with them. So things like that of you're making a positive impact. Rohelio, how do our listeners join uh oh like tell us? Do we go on Facebook? What do we sign up? How do we how can we help you? How do yeah?

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:26

Um, so great question. You can follow us at tunuevohome.com. That's our our URL, what stands for your new home. Um, and then same thing with Instagram, follow us on Facebook, TikTok recently took off. Um, but connect with us, engage with us. Well, there's a lot of stats that we are posting, there's a lot of education that's going to be a part of it, and then join our organization. Um, and if money is is a hesitation, like we're not focused on like the money part, we're we've been giving away memberships for free because the community and what we're building is so much more important, right? That if if that's a hesitation for anybody, like I will sponsor you and you it'll be completely for free because what we're building is truly special. And no, you don't have to be Hispanic to be a champion, an ally, or a member of home. Any upcoming events that you guys have? Yeah, we are going to be at NAM National. We actually have uh, I shouldn't have talked about the scholarship yet, but uh that's where we are going to be announcing our scholarship program with the president of NAM and they're joining forces with this initiative. And we have a couple of sponsors that want to sponsor the scholarships. Um, but I'm ironing out all those details because again, I want to make sure that we're focused on the success of that loan officer and not just getting a bunch of people licensed just to get them licensed. It's more of making sure that we can help your brokers grow uh as well. So um that's the the next event. And then next year, we are planning on doing a home elevate every single month. And then the end of the year, we are gonna do a home elevate gala uh where we are going to recognize the scholarship uh attendees, the people that participate in the mentorship program that can actually speak as to how this has impacted their life. Cause I think that's one of the most powerful things. Like one of the guys that um was one of the scholarship, we've been beta testing it. So one of the guys that went through the program, he was a real estate agent for three years, didn't close one deal, and then within three months of being a loan officer, he's closing in five, six, seven, eight deals. Wow. So talk about financially impacting and in retrospect, going back to the data, you want to know how many Hispanic real estate agents there are?

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:32

I think I was closer, 48,000.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:35

200,000.

unknown: 1:03:36

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00: 1:03:37

200,000. So when you look at okay, there's 200,000 Hispanic real estate agents, but only four type 14,000 Hispanic own officers, the numbers don't match up. We need to grow this area. So that's where home is super hyper focused on that. But more than anything, it's how do we educate the community? How do we build people up? And it's it's starting with the young 18-year-olds. You know, I got in this industry when we all got in this industry when we're young. So it's finding, you know, the young people and then mentoring them and making sure that they can educate their families and communities on how to buy a home.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:08

Awesome. Home elevate. Is it going to be in Michigan only or different parts of the all over?

SPEAKER_00: 1:04:12

You know, I'm really letting um what we've actually recognized, funny enough, is that lenders and even broker shops will spend a lot of money putting together an event, but they miss the heart and the mission. So what we're looking to help do is we know how to throw a party. So we're looking to help with that and then also be able to position them. If we can fill a room with 150, 200 people that will actively be able to send you business and loans, let's do that and let's let's sell you effectively. So that's what we're looking to do in terms of lenders and brokerages and and same thing with uh the whole community. So that's what these home elevates are going to do. We're gonna do them online and then we're gonna also do them in person, uh, because that's another thing. Like you shouldn't have to fly to San Diego, although thank you for missing that. But you shouldn't have to every single time. It's how do we make this accessible to everybody? Because oftentimes, like even going to NARAP, when we were looking at the numbers, it's like a ticket's$600, then a hotel is$2,000. So when you look at it, a Hispanic person has to spend$5,000 to go to this convention. How do I make that accessible online so they can grow from the privacy of their home? And so that's what we're we're we're taking things on the road.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:25

Beautiful, beautiful. And talking about Hispanics knowing knowing how to throw a party, let me know your thoughts on Bad Bunny doing the halftime show for the NFL.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:34

Oof, I am so excited. Uh, funny enough, one of the posts that we're getting that's going viral on TikTok is um because everyone's frustrated with uh the halftime show being in Spanish. So I was I told my marketing person and I said, you know, since everyone's frustrated about that, we should be like, imagine signing a 30-year mortgage in a language that you don't understand, as an Albanian or as a Hispanic.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:57

So on the flip side, like at least like the halftime show is like 15 minutes, like you're you're signing a 30-year mortgage in a language you don't even understand and relying on someone to have to translate that. So um, I think it's it's huge and it's very empowering for not only the Hispanics and the Latinos, but also if you look, it's very strategic. Like Apple was the ones that that that are primarily sponsoring this. And if you what did they just launch? The AirPods that can translate in Spanish.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:27

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:27

So ultimately, like they're getting adoption because now everyone's gonna put those AirPods in and they're gonna learn actively how you know how excited was when Apple rolled that out.

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:36

And I'm like, I finally can do a Spanish alone, right?

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:39

I'm gonna is that what you used to talk to me?

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:43

Uh but how amazing is that technology helping us out, bad bunny doing the halftime show.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:48

Um it's and and even touching on bad bunny, like I was super inspired by what he did in Puerto Rico. Like, he did 31 concerts in Puerto Rico, he made everyone fly to Puerto Rico, and he stimulated the economy by 600 million in that little tiny island. And then on top of that, he launched uh an initiative with Amazon called Compra Local, which all of the local um vendors will be able to sell their goods on Amazon for relatively cheap because one thing that's frustrating with Puerto Rico, they have to um all the goods have to go to the US and then they have to go to Puerto Rico, so it's double the cost for certain things and it doesn't make sense. And the average income is$25,000 a year. So when you look at the disparity of all of that, it's like, how can we help? Uh so first off, I want to help with the lending side of things because there's only five lenders that lend in Puerto Rico out of 150. So I'm hoping to get more lenders involved. Uh, but even bigger than that, how do we create careers in Puerto Rico? Like, let's come and be a loan officer at Safe Trust. Exactly. Live in Puerto Rico, we'll go visit you in the summer, you know. Um, but everyone's officer, exactly. Uh, but be a loan officer, and then that way we can help contribute to that GDP as well.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:59

Yeah, you're right about like I'm the investment in Puerto Rico. I'm not sure why more lenders don't do it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:05

Uh or there's a lot of especially income. Um, and they get hurt with with hurricanes. So we talk to local people. The stability of yeah, so we talked to local people, and they were like, Man, not only do I have to put 20, 30 percent down, but then I also have to pay for all of the upgrades to make sure that the roof, the windows, and everything is hurricane proof because most of them aren't. And the insurance, and the insurance, yeah, similar to what's happened in Florida, exactly Florida. Got it. So it's the same climate, but not as many lenders and not as much jobs and not as much opportunity, even though they are U.S. citizens. So even then, um, and and part of what bad money's message is um, it was very emotional being there in Puerto Rico because a lot of them were were talking about how they have to say goodbye to their homeland. And I know this means a lot to you because so many Albanians are proud of their country, and you have to say goodbye to your homeland to provide for your family. And it's like you shouldn't have to pick and choose that. But most of the songs are like goodbye, Puerto Rico, but I'll see you again. I miss the beaches, I miss the sunlight, I miss the air. And that's what his concert was. It was his music, but it was storytelling that he was FaceTiming a little frog that's only available in Puerto Rico, and that frog was in oh snowy, I imagine it was Michigan because it was like snowing, and he was like, I it's so cold. I miss Puerto Rico, like and he had a scarf on, and and the house that um was there on his set was his grandma's house. So the frog was like facetiming him, and he goes, you know, make sure you take care of the house. And Bad Bunny was throwing a house party with all these celebrity Hispanic celebrities, and he's like, What's that noise? What are you doing? Like, uh you better not be throwing a party. So it was just really cool to have that all-encompassing moment and for it to mean home, and it was much more than just a production, it really spoke about the history, the lineage, and and what we all strive for is our home, our family, why we do the things that we do. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:04

I mean, I think we should end the party right there. Beautiful. Did you go to the Bad Bunny concert when he came to Detroit?

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:12

Yes, yeah. I was there as well. And I was super emotional. I was in the UWM suite, and I was super emotional because um, you know, in a lot of places, Spanish was illegal back in the 70s, 80s. You know, everyone wanted us to speak English, which I I get and I understand and I respect, but I was super emotional because everyone was singing in Spanish, and so to have that large of a group, and you know, people that weren't even Hispanic were speaking Spanish, it was very um it was very moving. And um, I'm just excited that he's doing it was really I mean that Bad Bunny is brilliant at storytelling. Yeah, going back to storytelling, I mean that's a horse. I was moved, yeah. It was an orchestra, like it was just it was so cool, and then everyone best concert I've been to. Yeah, everyone's lanyard lit up too, and it like created a whole vibe within it.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:00

It was just the color changes, all of it. It was all instrumental.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:04

I wasn't uh I mean, I've been to Cold Play concerts, you name it. Thanks. We'll invite you to the next one. Well, to invite us to the Super Bowl, then all right. Let's see if I can see exactly. Let me let me close 20.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:17

How do how do we um how do we reach Bed Bunny to become part of home?

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:22

Um that that must that message is gonna it's uh it it's in the works. Uh we are we are working on that. So hopefully he he sees this podcast and uh he becomes a sponsor of home and safe trust.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:35

That's exactly what we're gonna do. We'll figure out where his next concert is, and then we'll dump a thousand dollars on Facebook ads so we can whenever he's using his iPhone on Instagram, maybe he will see the home logo.

SPEAKER_00: 1:11:47

GeoFensit. Yeah, geofensity. Well, well, and that's the thing. Like, a lot of with what we're doing is how do what we connect with the Hispanic community? Like a lot of these organizations don't even know how to advertise to the Hispanic community, even on a on a global level. Like it's just it's something that's foreign. If you look at the American marketing technique versus a Latin America technique, like it's completely different. They spell things differently, they will use capital letters with with you know smaller letters, like it just doesn't make sense to corporate America, and that's what works. So, within home, what we're trying to do is um have a very grassroots approach. So, it's how do we promote this local champion within this community so that more Hispanics know that he is that expert? And then by doing that in tune, all of us grow as well. So um the marketing is very unique, but I anticipate that we'll be able to reach Bad Bunny closer because someone actually asked me the other day, they're like, How many people do you think you're removed from Bad Bunny? Like from actually meeting. I'm like, I have a feeling that I'm like a hundred people away, so I think that that's going to happen. But I'm just through meeting different people that connection is going to happen. And it's through the Hispanic community in that heart that it's going to happen. So stay tuned.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:59

We'll we'll be uh we'll be looking uh we'll be looking online pretty soon, uh, you know, within 12 months, you meeting a bad bunny and making an impact at home. Rogelio, we wanted to thank you uh for coming on to our podcast today, sharing the vision and the mission behind home. Uh, we can't be more proud of what you're doing to to the Hispanic community, not only to the Hispanic community, but for the rest of us as well. So, thank you for uh uh giving us something to fight for. I truly mean it. Uh, continue the the fight. We're gonna be right behind you to support you in everything that you do, and uh thank you to our listeners. Um, thanks again for coming on uh to our broker shop podcast. Thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you so much, of course.