Beyond the Loan: Inside the Mortgage World with Brent King

In this insightful episode, Shane Kilby and Duane Murphy sit down with Brent King, Vice President and CEO of Integrity Mortgage Group (IMG), for a candid conversation about the realities of the mortgage industry and how it intertwines deeply with real estate. 

Brent shares his personal journey—from knocking on doors to collect payments, to becoming a dynamic leader in lending. 

He opens up about overcoming personal and professional challenges, reveals what he's learned from successes and failures, and offers invaluable advice on the importance of clear communication and building the right team. 

This episode is packed with lessons on work-life balance, the power of relationships, and actionable tips for real estate agents and lenders alike.

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Transcript

Duane Murphy (00:00)
you

Shane Kilby (00:02)
Hey everybody, so today we are here shooting another episode of Real Estate Agent Life podcast. Today we have a special guest speaker with us that's not really in real estate, but has everything to do with real estate. So, Dwayne, my co-host and cohort in this podcast journey, go ahead and share with the folks who we're going to be speaking with today.

Duane Murphy (00:26)
Yeah, today we have the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Brent King. So Vice President, CEO, among many other titles with Integrity Mortgage Group, also lovingly known as IMG. And he's going to walk us through his end of it and the mortgage world and how it ties in with what we do. And we couldn't be more excited to be talking with Brent.

Brent King (00:49)
Thanks guys for having me. Appreciate it.

Duane Murphy (00:54)
Brent, don't you try to go back through all your history and all everything that got you to where you are. don't you give us a little breakdown of your past and kind of where you started and where you are now.

Brent King (01:11)
Sure, Dwayne. I was trying to think the other day, because I keep on telling everybody I've been in it 30 years. I think this is actually my 30th year. Been at ING nine years as of the day after Valentine's Day here this weekend. It's Valentine's Day, boys. Don't forget that Friday so you're not in trouble. And grew up in Western Kentucky, which is not the mortgage capital of the world. It's the exact opposite of that. Southern Indiana, Western Kentucky.

And my first job while I was going to college was actually in the finance company. And I was the only male in that finance company. So essentially what I did was collect it. went to door to door and willed out big screen TVs. We had the finance contract for Best Buy back then. we did all of the VCRs. I took people's VCRs and TVs and computers and stuff like that. And it was an absolutely horrible job.

I said, man, I don't want to do this anymore because you spend all month collecting from the person to get a payment on the 31st and you have to start over on the first, say, hey, when are you going to pay me? No, and they're not going to pay you till the end of the month and threaten to go get all their stuff and everything else. If you don't know anything about Western Kentucky and Southern Indiana, it's on the Ohio River. So about three or four months, a lot of those people live on the houses on stilts. And so they're not in those houses because it's flooded. So you have to find out where they live.

And I've collected in some places that you would not want to go in. I won't even remember. I won't even tell you some of the places that I've gone in to collect checks and post-dated checks and everything else. Everything from bars to adult clubs to businesses to a lot of places I collected. And finally, I had a friend that said, hey, why don't you, I to high school with, so why don't you come over and be an underwriter?

I'll teach you how to be an underwriter in mortgage business. And I was like, that sounds terrible, but it's gotta be better than what I'm doing right now. And so I went over there and worked for a guy named Gary Fioretti and he has since passed, was my first boss in the mortgage business. He owned three or four mortgage businesses. I followed him to all of them, relocated to Florida with one of them. And the guy that hired me that I went to school with, he actually quit and moved to the Carolinas about a month after.

I started there. So the guy took me under his wing, taught me everything about the mortgage business, taught me how to sell loans, taught me how to originate loans, taught me how to do secondary marketing, capital markets. It was a little bit different back then because you knew everybody and it was all about relationships. It still is in a certain way, but he was an Italian guy from Philadelphia. And if he wanted a loan bought, he'd just call the guy up and they would cuss each other out on the telephone and said, you are going to buy this loan.

Kind of reminds me of your wife, Shane, if she's determined about doing a loan. She's going to get that loan done nine times out of 10, but it was very different back then. And so I said, man, I love this business. And so I've been doing it ever since. I decided that, I think it was 2014. I was like, this business is terrible. I want out of it. Cause I've been through the 98 cycle that most people don't remember. 2005 to 2008, everybody says 2008, but it was

actually much longer than that. And so I'm get out of this. I'm going to work for AIG and that lasted about 10 months until I started missing it. So I've done a little bit of everything in there. I pulled closing docs, I've underwritten. I have my own mortgage business for a while. Now I'm part owner of this one. from sales to secondary marketing to processing, I think I've done everything. But well, I've done just about everything in the mortgage business there is to do. And there's when you...

are in the mortgage business, you wear many hats. So as Sharon earlier, I've been a contractor today. Sometimes you're a real estate agent. Sometimes you're a homeowners insurance agent. You're a master of all things in this business. It used to be a lot different. today, if you want to be successful, you have to put on a hat. And sometimes it didn't matter what hat you wear. But I love this business. I love helping people at the end of the day. I love the people I work with.

Duane Murphy (05:18)
next time.

Brent King (05:25)
couldn't see myself doing anything else unless, you know, that skateboard I won goes for several million dollars and I'm gonna be on that island that we were jet-skied by several years ago, Mr. Kilby, and enjoying myself. There's no sense to be, no sense in being stressed out every day of life.

Duane Murphy (05:43)
Yeah

Shane Kilby (05:43)
Absolutely.

an interesting aspect and the reason we have some lending professionals on here from time to time is a lot of real estate agents don't really understand the intricacy that takes place with the entire lending process. anytime that we have an opportunity to peel back that curtain and to shed some light

for real estate agents and other loan officers and stuff as well to bring these two industries together because we've been friends now for quite some time and we've been to lending events, you've been to real estate agent events and real estate events and both events seem to always have conversations about the other industry. It's like the lending side, it's the damn agents and the agents are like, God, these lenders suck.

It's like look guys we all we are all in this together like we can't get paid unless the end consumer sells and the other buys and that that loan is taken care of and and vice-versa it's like we all lead off the same place so sometimes it's easier just to peel back the curtain and say let's just take a little deeper look at what goes into all of this and i'll be honest like i didn't i we shared a lot of stories we never i never

picked up on the part of you being an underwriter. Like to all the underwriters out there, we have made my love for you guys. We couldn't do it without you. But seeing Brent King as an underwriter, like that, lost me that I'm like, I was like, is that really a thing? so, so take me through that process.

Duane Murphy (07:13)
Mmm.

I love all

underwriters. mean, they're awesome.

Shane Kilby (07:36)
Listen, my wife and I, as some of the listeners know, she's in lending. That's been some of her biggest struggles. And I said, babe, look, know, and all seishness, they're protecting your career, they're protecting my career. They're just doing their job, man, at end of the day. That's just how they're wired, and that's their best.

That's their best job description. That's that's the best thing for them to do and without them We'd give all the money away like what y'all be out of business in six months now everybody would get along But none would get paid back. So we're thankful for underwriters, but I never really did you do I am I missing something? Did you see Brent King is everywhere in underwriter name tag?

Duane Murphy (08:27)
I don't think Brent can wear it all the name-takes he actually does wear but yeah underwriter I just don't quite see that box as in you fitting in it and that and brother I want you to know that that is a compliment that is a compliment

Brent King (08:39)
I don't hear. I don't hear. God.

Shane Kilby (08:40)
Yeah!

Brent King (08:45)
I don't hear and don't plan to that's why I have a great person that oversees that department and she's worth every penny that she makes and then some it was it's not a fun job and I did it because I'm just like our head of credit that runs our underwriting now she's a very salesy underwriter so you have to think you know I started out underwriting I have a sales mentality

Shane Kilby (08:45)
No, absolutely.

Brent King (09:13)
And so what you just said, Shane, I'd be like, Oprah, you get a loan, you get a loan, you get a loan, and then I would be shutting the door six months from now. So it's a hard thing. And the opposite of that is underwriters really sometime look into things too deep. They underwrite with their feelings. Like I have a feeling that this deal is not gonna pay. Well, I can't put that on the denial letter. I don't care what your feelings are.

Like, tell me what the risk of a loan, why we can't do this. Like, your feelings have no play into this deal. You know, they don't debt ratio or their credit score's 400. That's why we're turning down your loan. I don't care if you have a feeling that they might not pay or not. You have to get that out. And that's hard for a lot of underwriters to remove the personal feelings outside of it. And a lot of companies really don't care about that, guys. They don't...

I tell you when things changed for us was a couple of years ago. Honestly, we changed underwritings, know, underwriters. We bought the person out that was head of underwriting and we changed the underwriter. came from a giant organization. God just blessed us with us that we were ever even able to get her at this company. And she's very salesy. And then we changed the mindset, which is not easy of every operations employee that works for us.

And it's the best thing I ever did. that was, and it sounds very cliche, but I said, I want every person to care about generally a minimum of two people or three people. And you said this while I go Shane that, that's the loan officer. Cause if the deal doesn't close, the loan officer doesn't get paid. There's probably a buying side real estate agent and a listing side agent. So there's three people that don't get paid. And if you don't care about that, then you don't have a job at IMG. That's just, you know, that might sound.

heavy that might sound, you know, arrogant. It's not meant to be any of that. It's just, and unfortunately I had to remove some people from this company that have been here many, many years. And you know what? They were great people, but at the end of the day, they didn't care. They were just doing a robotic job, just like you're talking about sometime with underwriters. And it can be anybody. can be a processor. can be a closing person. You know, I had a closing person the same way years ago that

Alone wasn't clear to close today by noon. She wasn't gonna send a CD out for a loan that's closing tomorrow Well, tell me why you can well, there was never a reason why I was told by you can't I mean we have loans now that we probably had a long closing Loan closing at five o'clock. It's 430 my time or whatever and it may not be clear to close yet But I guarantee if it's clear to close before five o'clock It's it's gonna happen. And so you just have to get the right people in the in the right time

and people that care about the job that they're doing. And that's probably the biggest thing, biggest change that we've made here that really changed the entire culture of our company. You have to the culture or you just, you have to go find another job in the mortgage industry. And so that's, I don't know if I answered your question about me being an underwriter or not, but yeah, I determined early on that I was, I had too much of a sales background and I care about.

the whole deal just to be stuck in the underwriting aspect. But it was great training and it gives me, even to this day, it's been many years since I've done that. I wouldn't even attempt to underwrite alone today. So when I underwrote guys, they were running credit scores, okay? When I started underwriting, then credit scores got introduced. There weren't AUSs meaning like desktop underwriter for Fanny, LP for Freddie Mac.

and you had to input all this stuff. And if you get a prove eligible, you get a loan. If you get a referrer, you don't get a loan. It doesn't matter how much we like you or not. We didn't have all this technology that we have then that makes it a little easier. I probably couldn't do the job today or nor am I no longer qualified to do the job. I could probably be taught to do the job, but I don't want to do the job. So I have very qualified people that do it now.

Shane Kilby (13:19)
Well, know, it's, Dwayne, we've heard this how many times you got to get the right people in the right seats on the bus. Sometimes you got the wrong people in the wrong seats, wrong people in the, in the right seats, but then you got to get the right people in those right seats. You know, you may have good people in your organization, in your own, team, in your group, great people in the wrong seats. Yeah. So sometimes they had, we had to transition them to a different seat.

Sometimes that seat's not on that bus, right? But it makes all the difference in the world to have the right seats and know, right people in the right seats on the bus because it's never, and you know this, it's like, it's not about how can we, know, it's not gonna work. It's like, many ways can we figure out for it to work? And that's kinda, guess that's when I heard you say, you know, I had a sales mindset. So I think that is the hunger for that.

salesmanship and and you know the profession of sales is is is one that never stops growing and never stops developing but one of the key aspects of that is is to be a great sales professional you got to be a great problem solver not and not one with no or low integrity there's a lot of that out there in both industries but they never last

They never last, you know, it always catches up with them, but you can still have integrity. Do it the right way. Do it to last. but go the extra mile, you know, go the extra mile. Brent, you know, this is one thing with having a spouse in lending and being as deep in the real estate side of things as I am. I've been the agent and I've had those same struggles and I'm like, man, the lender is just killing me.

There was a point in time in my business as an agent where I didn't understand what I could contribute to and what all the contributing factors were to make that thing close smoother, faster, and without any hitches. So one of the things I always try to focus on with our agents in-house especially, and students as well, is helping them to understand what that process is. And that closing has zero to do with whatever closing date

An agent myself or any other agent writes on that contract It has to do with how prepared to close on a home loan that the purchaser is right or wrong Brent

Brent King (15:53)
100 % right because we can in even then Shane we can give them all the tools and Prepare them and we give them a list, you know from start to finish and I know your wife does this You know the other 57 loss or have do this, you know, don't do this do this Don't open a new car. Don't quit your job Don't change jobs, but it happens once a month to us at least that somebody quit the job right before closing

Duane Murphy (16:14)
Yeah.

Brent King (16:20)
And nothing that the real estate agent did wrong or the law officer did wrong that made that deal blow up. But unfortunately, people do things that they shouldn't do and don't always listen, right? So you're 100 % right though.

Shane Kilby (16:35)
Yeah, even sometimes even like even to the extent of of And this is why because I hear her she's like no no no no no no don't we don't we don't let's you know Just don't don't rock the boat keep just stay like you are all of a sudden They want to be a boy scout or girl scout and they want to go paying things off that they that they've neglected right and this probably should have you know done this or that but

She's like, you know, just don't go get any more debt. Don't just keep everything. Just don't interrupt. Let me guide the boat. Let me drive this and let's get you to the closing table. what would be a piece of advice that you could give real estate agents, right? Real estate professionals out there that would possibly help them help their transactions close smoother and faster.

Brent King (17:09)
100%.

Shane Kilby (17:28)
Is there any one thing that you'd say stands out above the rest?

Brent King (17:31)
say a lot of things, it's communication, communication, communication with your loan officer and your borrower. The more we, I believe in educate. I know you guys do too, because you're always doing trainings. The more you educate your borrower on both sides, us and you guys as real estate agents, be very clear, precise, because it doesn't matter how many times I tell people they're still going to do it. No matter how many times we give people that piece of paper that says,

You know, don't do any things that I just mentioned. Just overly communicate them and how important it is. You know, a lot of people don't think it's a big deal to deposit 10K in a checking account or, you know, I'm buying this house in 30 days. So let's go buy 20 grand worth of furniture. And, you know, that stuff dramatically affects your credit score. can really, it make or break a deal. can kill a deal at the last minute. I mean, I remember even me, this is, you know, a little bit off the

But I was young just getting into the business I didn't really know what impact of credit scores and I paid all my debt off and closed all my credit cards, right? I never wanted credit card again. My credit score dropped a hundred points This is many many years ago. And you know, if you listen to Dave Ramsey, he'll tell you that you know, never buy anything on credit Well, unfortunately to buy home you need a credit score. And so I'm not going against anything a day Ramsey says he's very smart intelligent man I respect him but

When you're in the middle of a real estate transaction, you're under contract and you're applying for financing. Don't touch anything and just stay in constant communication with the loan officer. I know our loan officers try to stay in constant communication with the real estate agent and update them, hey, the appraisals order. Hey, we think we have a problem with the appraisal. Let's talk about this. Or hey, there's something that's came up on title. Just communicate every single part of the way. And the same thing with the borrowers. I know we do that. The more you do that,

the less likely you have a delay of closing, hitting the closing date and surprises. There's always something that's constant in this business. And one of the things I love about it, because you have to learn, you were talking about learning and always educating and growing, this business is gonna force you to always learn because it's always changing. It's nothing like, we talked about this early on, it's nothing like it was when I got into it in the 90s. In 2008 happened,

Shane Kilby (19:46)
Thank

Brent King (19:54)
And we went from giving everybody a loan, people working McDonald's, what's wrong with that, but saying they make 20 grand a month, no income, no asset loans, and 580 credit score, 100 % financing. Those bills don't exist anymore. Then 2008 happened, the CFPB happened, which is being closed for all intents and purposes. We don't know what the outcome of that is. I'm okay with it, because we spend in excess of a million dollars a year in compliance costs.

just in every other mortgage company and bank compliance Credit Union does, but just to protect us and keep us from getting sued. But the business went the exact opposite of the way. It needs to be somewhere in the middle, but we have so many rules that we have to follow and so many things change that it's just, I think that's the most important thing I can say off the top of my head is just communication all the way around. And when I go into and personally do a presentation for

done probably three in the last week to real estate partners and I always ask that question kind of what you guys just asked me what's the most important thing to you guys as real estate professionals when you're working with a lender and they all say the biggest problem is communication every single one I've never had a I've had other answers but that's always been the first answer

Duane Murphy (20:58)
Thank

Always. Always. Always.

Yeah, I think that's been the first answer for sure. Just as long as I've been in this industry, not as long as you have, but 19, 20 years in this. And the other part that just to give you props and to give IMG props is that, and we can talk further into it,

the purchase business, right? And having that be the primary part of your business versus all the refis and chasing all that other stuff, right? It's always something that you've always hung your hat on the fact that even during the big refi booms, You're still purchase driven, right? With the consumers, helping them buy homes where, right? All of a sudden, I can remember, and just share a quick story, right?

You know, during the, all of sudden there was no refis, right? Earlier in my business when the market had crashed, right? 2008 is about the time I got into, I got in 2007, right? Then the market did what it did, right? And lenders were everywhere, and cookies, and know, treats, and stuff in the office every day. there was, like man, it was like in the office, there was like a buffet every day. Like with someone's face on it, someone's card, whatever it may be.

Brent King (22:26)
donuts.

Duane Murphy (22:37)
like crazy and then all of sudden there's the big refi boom and all of sudden, you know, all the lenders that were on you every day, you never heard from again, right? And then, you know, it's like, hey, I got this, I got this, you know, we got this deal, we got to get it closed. Oh, wow, we got four refis going, we got all this going. So we're have to push your closing a few days, you know, because we got all this other stuff going. right in that, that definitely separated the pack a bit of

of choose a relationship with a lender who values you and values your business and what you do. just, I guess, little props on the fact that IMG has always been very, very focused on that purchase business. not going to say no to a ReFi, but it's like, hey, we're here to help the realtors close more deals.

Shane Kilby (23:17)
Thank

Brent King (23:29)
Absolutely not.

Duane Murphy (23:34)
make more money, help more people, right? And that is our bread and butter. That's right. That's been your bread and butter for as long as I've known you.

Brent King (23:42)
And

it always will be as long as I'm at the helm here, as long as I'm alive and no matter where I am, I was talking somebody about this today. So most when after COVID happened, we went from wondering if we're gonna have a business right there on March 17th or 18th to our business doubled and tripled in a matter of weeks.

Especially with rates in the twos and threes, right? I've benefited from one of those and and I don't think we'll ever see that again But a lot of companies were 70 80 percent refi We never dropped below we historically average ninety five percent plus purchase money transactions because we value our referral partners We always will that is always a consistent part of your business refis are like this And so we never got below I think it was 71 percent

purchase money transactions. We will take those refis all day, but I'll tell you the loan officers that I have that are most successful right now are the ones that never did really chase after those refis. The ones that I have struggling right now are waiting, still just like, man, I'm waiting on that refi boom to happen, waiting on that refi boom to happen. And more than likely, it's not gonna happen. So, you know, every economist, every Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, was in San Diego last week for a conference.

mortgage Banker Association economists they expect rates to be about where they're at give or take 25 basis points to three eights for the next two years So we're gonna have to grow our business by adding referral partners By adding to our core and adding more products, which we're doing It's not going to be chasing after refis, you know rates dropped a little bit last September and we didn't see a spike in refis and we're gonna do them

But the folks that really are the most successful, are the most successful, are the guys that are not waiting for that refi boom. When it happens, great, we'll do them. But that's the thing back then, I had funding sources. We fund our loans, if you're a mortgage banker, you're required to fund your loans not out of cash, but on a credit facility, just like the car business, a lot of other businesses. And I had a couple of those because they were so busy too. They said Brent, stop funding a certain amount of business, like don't fund.

Shane Kilby (25:32)
Bye.

Brent King (25:53)
anything the last week of the month, your loan officers will thank you. Or don't fund any refis the last two weeks of the month, your loan officers will thank you. I was like, brother, you don't know my loan officers. If I call Shane's wife and tell her I'm not funding any loans the last two weeks of the month, she's going to drive from Alabama to Greensboro, North Carolina and be on my doorstep in a matter of a few hours, however long it takes her to fly or drive here, along with numerous other people.

And what we did do is we prioritize purchases because we knew there were 15 other people waiting on that contract to cancel if we didn't close on time. And we would push the refis out. didn't underwrite those in the fast amount of time. We prioritize purchases, but we still got the deals.

Shane Kilby (26:39)
Is that your dogs? Whose dogs is that?

Brent King (26:42)
It's mine, I'm sorry. I mean my

office closed, but UPS, they're going after all the bad people. And when I say bad people, it's the FedEx, UPS, or Amazon. It's about time for Amazon to show up. they're probably trying to kill the, and when I say kill the bad people, they're just gonna lick them to death if they open the door. But well, shut and it's insulated, but they're pretty, they got a loud mouth. Sorry.

Shane Kilby (27:01)
Ha ha ha.

Duane Murphy (27:05)
Yeah, your

Shane Kilby (27:05)
Yeah, I figured

Duane Murphy (27:06)
Instagram

Shane Kilby (27:07)
that's what it was.

Duane Murphy (27:07)
is just fat-witted.

Brent King (27:09)
I've been in the office

all day, but I transitioned my home office because I thought it'd be quieter without any interruptions, but sorry.

Shane Kilby (27:16)
That's all right, we've all got the fur babies. Let me ask you this, so very, very great inside information and great, the way you've dove into each of these topics and kind of peeled back the curtain a little bit there for listeners, agents and loan officers alike. So let's take a different direction. So tell us about the, you've had a lot of experience around money from beating doors and chasing down payments.

To the underwriting to to where you are today. Tell us share with us that you know your biggest success in business thus far

Brent King (27:54)
Biggest success in business is really, that's a tough question to answer. I've had a lot of successes. Probably my biggest success has been over the last 12 to 18 months, Shane. I'm saying that after saying I've been doing, and I don't brag when I'm saying this is my 30th year.

I've had a lot of ups and downs. I've had a lot of, you know, heartaches, a of everything, but my success is really learned that I'm a control freak. I think we all are a little bit on this phone and I don't think anybody, if somebody's not doing it the way I think it should be done and as fast as what it can be done, I want to take control over it. And it was actually you that probably told me, I don't know, maybe four years ago, I don't know the exact date, but you said, man, you need to get some help or you're going to give yourself a.

And probably about 18 months ago or so, I started making a lot of changes in my life from personal to health to many things. I'm still not the healthiest person on earth. Although my latest lab work, blood work, they said I had lab work of 18 year olds. So maybe I am going in the right direction even though I'm not where I wanna be. You we never are not where I wanna be, not where I was, but not where I wanna be. Yeah, and so,

Shane Kilby (29:13)
Life's a journey.

Brent King (29:16)
I have stopped taking my computer on vacation. Last May was probably the first vacation in my life. There's one other time, May, that I didn't check in, I didn't take phone calls, I didn't do anything. And I have, sorry guys, I have people, I hired some people back, some people that I wasn't afraid that, hey, if they do a better job than me and want to replace me, want to take some of these responsibilities.

Take them, if you wanna take my job, take them. I'm not scared of that. I try to hire people that can replace me if I get hit by a truck. And honestly, when I simplified my life, both personally and in business, it made me more money. Okay, it's not all about money, but it made me more money. It made me happier. It made me less stressful. It made me healthier.

And so I would attribute that to a huge success. Did I make the most money I've ever made in my life last year? The answer is no, absolutely not. So if you determine success by money, that wasn't my most successful year in career. That was probably 2005. I made a crazy amount of money in that year because who couldn't? Everybody got a loan. Again, like we were talking about a while ago. what were you asking? Yeah, it was like Oprah. Everybody gets a loan.

Shane Kilby (30:34)
You get alone, you get alone.

Brent King (30:39)
But I changed every aspect of my life in a certain way, again, from personal to business to everything. And that totally changed who I was. I'm happier at work. I'm easier to deal with at work. I'm not as snappy at work if somebody says something to me. it just, so I attribute several of those things all together. And that's probably been my biggest success.

and I have a happier home life, I have a better relationship with my son than I've ever had, just a better relationship personally than I've ever had, a better relationship with people at work than I've ever had. So I'm gonna attribute that, I'm gonna answer that to that's been my biggest success. There's several things that I could say, but I'm most proud of that, that I listen to people like you. You didn't even know that you were speaking that into me at the time.

you did, you may have been joking because you and I rarely have a serious conversation. usually both of us just calling each other out of the blue and blowing off some steam or whatever and being silly. But you were giving me some advice even if you didn't know if you were speaking directly into me and if you were serious or not. I think you were serious, but that I didn't immediately listen to it because I'm hard headed like a lot of people.

Shane Kilby (31:38)
You

Brent King (32:02)
there came a point in my life that I was at my lowest point that I've ever been at. And most people don't know that, because I'll put on a fake smile just like everybody else and fake it till you make it. But I was darker than what I've ever been. I was coming home smashed every single night. I was drinking more than I've ever drank in my life. And I just changed all that, man. And again, I'm not where I want to be. I'm not perfect. I'm far from it.

I've changed my, you know, even my relationship. I've always been a believer in God Almighty and the one above. was raised playing instruments in church. I think you guys know that about me. I played three or four different instruments into you. But I refined that relationship more too and grew closer to him. Do a lot of devotions, changed who I listen to. I'm reading more, listening more. So all that stuff combined together. And I just said a lot of stuff.

to your short answer. I gave you a long answer to your short question.

Shane Kilby (33:01)
It's your answer, bro. That's your answer. We

asked the question and we just let it we let you run with it

Duane Murphy (33:07)
Yeah, it's literally

almost a, mean, it's almost a, a testament, right? A testimony of, the, of your journey. know, Shane and I, right? We get front row seats to it. And, you know, as well as many others and, and have, had seen how you've, right? The battles that you went through and the battles you fight in and the journey that you've taken and the transformation, right? And over this last period of time to

to where you are today and none of us are where we wanna be, right? All of us could be better and we could, right? We could work out more, could swear less, we could drink, right? There's so many other pieces. None of us are where we need to be, but being a co-pilot a little bit on watching where you've gone and what you've went through and where you are today is a huge thing. And I know, love you like a brother.

It's great to see where you are and to watch you on that personal journey and just getting stronger every day.

Brent King (34:15)
I that guys, love you guys too. And it's not easy, but I decided I didn't like who I was. And I made a lot of changes in a small period of time, a lot of small changes. But small equals big. both of you guys had some influence in that, even though you don't know it. I watched your 75 hard and some of the different things you do. Shane, you sent me some books from time to time and other people sent me some books.

I was invited to speak at another MIB, of you guys know, I'll mention his name, Tracy King, back a couple of years ago, or maybe a year ago this past December. And a guy that was there even spoke into me in another language that I've never met before. Now he's still a coach of mine. And I talked to him quite regularly that also helped change that journey. you know, it takes an army of around you and, know, the good word says you have two or three

know, close friends, you're a blessed man. And I thought I had, you know, probably 25, but honestly, I had to cut a lot of those people out of my life. People had been friends with me for years, and replaced with some ones that were true friends. And so sometimes you have to cut the fat and cut things that are not a great influence out of your life. And so I did some of that too, and that's okay when you do that.

Shane Kilby (35:39)
Yeah, we were shooting one of these earlier today and that conversation come up about our capacity to say no. And that, you you were more fulfilling in your work and personal life when you say no to what you need to say no to so that you can say yes to what you need to say yes to and pour into those yeses.

and have some leftover at the end because otherwise You're like a rubber band you get stretched so thin Till you get to a breaking point and then the closest people around you And this is crazy how this this works, but the closest people to you are the ones who catch the brunt of all of that stress and strain from you being pulled as far as you can go right they catch it all and it's

It is not we don't feel like those people or things are leaving us so we can we can let that out there we can that can be our pop-off valve and It's like when you learn and it all goes back to your daily activities your daily habits When you wake up and pursue the things that you need to pursue with consistency not perfection, but consistency day in and day out relentlessly consistent not perfection

then you're always going to create enough opportunities where you can say no to the good to say yes to the best. And then you have that capacity then to lean into the things that you want to lean into. And the ones that got the yeses, that's where you can go all in. And let's face it, you can't be all things to all people at one time. So you need the nos.

Brent King (37:29)
No.

Shane Kilby (37:31)
healthy amount of notes so that you can give the yeses what you had full intention to give and what they I mean Well, they rightfully expected and should expect you know So we do try to please everybody all the time and sometimes we just run out of we just run out of gas in that aspect

Brent King (37:43)
Good luck.

And I try and I think I tried too much. That was something that I just really struck. I felt like if I wasn't pleasing everybody every single day, I was failing. One of the biggest things, I know you know this because you're religious at working out, but another thing you and various other people had in me that, and I don't know why it took me 50 years to realize this, but I've worked out since you haven't always been able to tell it, especially if you scroll through some Facebook pictures, I was 120.

But Something about I will not go to the gym at night I mean I have I will I've been in the afternoon But if I start you said something while I go that if I wake up every morning I'm not as consistent is what I want to be way more consistent what I was I know I keep saying that But if I go to the gym first thing in the morning, I don't care if I lose weight from going to the gym

I don't care if I get stronger. I mean, I want to, I want to do both of those things, but you know what? I find out every time that I do that, my day goes better. I'm less stressed. I'm less likely to get, you know, pop off as somebody that, and I just feel more accomplished. It's probably all in my head. It's probably all mental, but every single day that I do that, my day goes better and I feel like I've accomplished so much more stuff.

and the day just goes smoother at the end of the day. And you know what, if I lose weight, great. If I gain more muscle, great. my, you know, whatever levels are better, great. But as long as I feel better about myself and, you know, I feel more accomplished, then I've won.

Shane Kilby (39:25)
Yeah, it's it's mean, it's definitely it's it's scientific that you know that those those physical exertion, physical workouts and stuff, you know, create the the endorphins and the epinephrine, you know, and the chemicals that that make the prepare you to drive through brick walls, you know, you know, and be able to handle obstacles and hurdles in your path. Like, I don't even know. I don't even I can't even

Duane Murphy (39:28)
Okay.

Shane Kilby (39:54)
I can't even fathom how someone gets up at 6 37 in the morning and talks about how stressed out they are by 10 a.m. I don't even understand what because that you know in my world if I did that I would my heart would have exploded 15 years ago. I mean it would have just disintegrated because you know and I'm not saying I had I carry the more stress anybody everybody carries own stress in their own ways all I'm saying is that the you know long long ago weights and just physical fitness in itself

Kept me out of a lot of trouble kept me out of a lot of trouble and then along the way It's like man. It feels pretty good You know I used to do that back in you know college stuff like going to even stuff like that and go out do the thing but it's like The later you work out the later you want to stay up and everybody's like I hear this all the time I talk to people all the time. It's like I'm just I'm just I just can't get up early I'm like, oh, I promise you can get up early meet me at so and so at 5 a.m. I'll bet you are in bed early tonight

I can go to sleep and I'm just getting that I said I bet you will put the remote down and I bet you'll fall asleep because when you

Duane Murphy (41:00)
Shane

tricked me with that one time. said, hey, we're gonna go check out this really cool, I don't know, coffee shop or something. And it was this sweatshop down in the middle of this basement where they lock you into this bicycle thing, start this strobe music blasting, right? Where all of sudden, like, sweat's dripping off the ceiling with some woman up in front screaming at you.

Shane Kilby (41:07)
The dark room

you

you

Duane Murphy (41:27)
and calling you all by name that you a mtl and fast enough like motivation the morning like

Brent King (41:34)
That's for Dwayne,

you suck! Who's that in the back room with no hair? Come on, stick it up, boy!

Duane Murphy (41:39)
It was hard. She's like come on you Wisconsin boy. Let's go

Shane Kilby (41:44)
Ha

Brent King (41:44)
I can totally see it. I'm surprised I haven't been sucked into that at some point because I've been off

Shane Kilby (41:49)
You know, it's

the first time, the first time I ever went, you know, my wife.

Duane Murphy (41:54)
It's a little intimidating,

I'm gonna be honest. Like, all right, but you get in there and I'm looking around like, dang, they're all ready to go. And then they start going, I'm just like, okay, just don't pass out, just concentrate. Don't look like an idiot and fall off your bike. That's all I was worried about.

Shane Kilby (42:16)
Well, she asked when she started she started that journey in the cycle cycle studio and You know and I was like all this girl stuff girl stuff And she said will you go with me on my hundredth ride? I'm thinking my god. That's that's like five years from now ten years now Yeah, sure, babe. I'll go with you in your hundredth ride. Well, it come up about I don't know seem like three months later four months later I was like that was quick. She said so you're coming right? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. I'm thinking

What am I gonna do? Then I go in there and then I am the guy in the back I'm like all in the back in the corner and and little did I know at that point time in the back is where all the heat comes to the back of the room and That's where the speakers are. So he's not telling you like it is You know, think when you go in these tight clothes and they listen to Taylor Swift and you know and Zumba whatever it is now they get some crazy music going on in this wild

But I don't have ACL on my right knee and my knee constantly gives me problems if I don't lift weights or don't exercise with it. So I used to enjoy to run, but it's hell on my knees running on pavement. So I rode that time and I was like, man, that's not too bad. I told her, I said, what would it cost me to come a couple of days a week? Anyway, long story short, that's two years ago, something like that, 250 rides in.

And course, I do that three days a week and then I lift weights three or four days a week and then we do the 45 minute walk every day with the dogs. But it has been so beneficial over the years. I haven't always did this stuff seven days a week. I have done it the three or four days a week or the five days a week. But one thing that I can always relate to is my best performance is mentally. And that's, of all things, mentally.

In the stressful times that I've dealt with mentally It's always been easier to navigate those storms and to come through those storms level-headed By being physically active as early in the day as possible I've even there's been times in business where you just stressed out the one, know, brenton I know, you know and i've been like i'm laying here for no reason and have 24-hour access But I know when I go in there and I lift weights for 45 minutes to an hour i'm gonna be on another level

So I just might as well go. But ever since then, it's just like, that's the magic button. It's like you hit that fog, go for a walk. You hit that, you you feel like you're not making progress, go lift weights, right? You you feel like you need to, you know, lean out or whatever, go get some cardio. But you can't go wrong. it just, never did. I still this day, I would go in the evening and lift weights or something, but.

Prefer not to we'll do that afternoon walk But it's it's so beneficial because it does clear your mind like I would rather give up lunch Or anything else in the day as far as that goes is before I give up that that workout

Brent King (45:21)
That says a lot because I know you like to eat.

Shane Kilby (45:23)
Alright, let me tell

you like I'm not the guy that go lift and lift and exercise to eat lettuce Lettuce lettuce on lettuce sandwiches. That's not me Like I go to I exercise so I can get hercules style with them wings

Brent King (45:36)
Well,

you said the one word too that it took me 50 years, like I said, I go to really grasp, because I was going, I wanted to see immediate results, either in my weight or I want to see my arms get bigger. I was trying to get on Shane Kilby status or something like that. And it took me 50 years to realize that the biggest benefit I was getting out of it was mentally. It totally changed my mental aspect. And I remember there's probably three or four weeks ago,

Shane Kilby (46:00)
Hmm.

Brent King (46:05)
I threw even some stuff in the truck today to go this afternoon, didn't end up going, but somebody in accounting said something to me and I was about to fly off the edge because I didn't go that particular morning. listen, my least favorite in any business is accounting. I think it's a lot of people, even people that get accounting degrees, I think hate accounting. but I literally left, it was probably two o'clock in the afternoon and hour and a half later, it's like,

What was I even stressed about? I don't even remember. I don't remember what I was mad about. I don't remember what I was getting ready to start cussing about. I don't know. So.

Shane Kilby (46:43)
Well,

can always consume me. If a podcast is your thing, or an audio book, or music, whatever, I usually pick up lot of mental aspects, consuming this or consuming that. There's no telling how many years of college I put in my brain through working out, listening to some good content of whatever. Now, I have had those days where I needed just some ACDC or Metallica.

And that's all I needed to have in between my ears But nonetheless, it's always been beneficial. Here's the thing about it and and you and I talked about this that I remember specifically that conversation that we had when I said dude you but you need some help you need some help and here's here's a here's a reason that I have seen people come and go and Not get to enjoy the fruits of their labor

I spend a lot of time every week with people that look at me and they go they go man You know, I don't know how you don't you don't grind like this ground. I'm like look When your day comes when your expiration date takes place It doesn't they don't it it's it's not gonna say on your headstone. He was a grinder She was a grinder. She worked 18 hours a day She was such a you know She was there to be to everybody's beck and call every time they needed something. It's not gonna say that on your headstone

You're not going to get that time back. So you better find a way to take those little chunks out along the way and enjoy them. The only way to do that is pick your battles. Say no to what you need to say no to so that you can go all in on the best opportunities. That's just what I've seen anyway.

Brent King (48:30)
Can agree more with your brother?

Duane Murphy (48:32)
Running along those lines a little bit, who would you, because you said 30 years in the industry and have met a lot of influential people and have met a lot, worked with a lot of different people and came across a bunch of different people. What would you say is your greatest influence in life and business? Who is that person that you'd be like, I can attribute a lot of

this to that person.

Brent King (49:06)
There's a lot doing so life in business One was honestly a lady that and I still sell her loans to this day. She's a personal friend of mine I sold her loans back early on people wanting to remember this investor more than likely but it was Ford consumer finance Yes, they were owned by Ford Motor Company I know Shane and I have some Ford vehicles, but then associates and I sell her loans to this day

she I called her a few months ago wasn't approved with her and got approved with her and She did a favor for me because this is still very much I mentioned early on this was a real relationship business back in the 90s and early 2000s But it's still about connections and relationships even though it's a much bigger business It's still small and I called her up and said Jackie. Hey, I need a friend. So her name is Jackie we like the flowers how you spell the

last night with her name. But she gave me my first job, not in the mortgage business, but my first job buying loans from people like me. And I wanted to change in the business and had no experience buying loans whatsoever. And I took a pay cut and she believed in me, gave me a great position, made a lot of money with her. But better than that, I...

met a lot of great people, some Wall Street people and some investors that are still friends of mine to this day. And then I'd also say, I know you're asking for one person, but my grandfather, he was a business guy. He was a pastor. He was a father to me. And I won't go into my whole personal story, but he was a father to me. He's been gone about six years now. But one of the hardest working men I've ever...

Hardest working men of most integrity at the same time because there's a lot of hard workers that have no integrity right so And he was also a husband a great husband. I wasn't even honestly his biological grandson So he was my grandmother's second husband But he treated me better than any man in my life ever has that was my biological father and so And I didn't put my mother in that too because you know there's nothing like a mom number one

know, my believes in you no matter what and, and all and nobody, how bad do you screw up? So I know you asked for one person. that's business and personal. And I didn't even have to think about that. Those, those three people came to my mind, you know, almost immediately. And Jackie and I, like I said, I've been doing mortgage business with her for 30 legit, 30 years. We met in Cincinnati, Ohio 30 years ago. Crazy.

Shane Kilby (51:30)
Always your biggest fan, no matter what you did.

Duane Murphy (51:35)
Yeah

Shane Kilby (51:35)
Mm-hmm.

Duane Murphy (51:37)
No, no.

Brent King (51:57)
Yeah, and she's doing this business too. And so she's just one of those people, know, I can call, I had a deal, like I said, it's very, still much a relationship business. I had a deal the other day that most loans you have to be, if you're self-employed, like you two guys, you to be self-employed a minimum of two years. And I called her up, I said, you know, you guys doing any sectional on this? She said, yeah, for you, I will. She said, I said, they've been self-employed one year. I said, you serious? She said, yeah, I'll do it. She says, it's decision I can make.

Shane Kilby (51:58)
That's pretty awesome.

Brent King (52:27)
So it's just important to have connections. Never burn a bridge. I remember working for a guy in 2000, actually 2000. And I told my wife at the time, I said, I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna quit tomorrow. I'm gonna tell this guy, I'll deliver pizzas for frigging Domino's Pizza. I remember this, I don't remember what I ate last year for yesterday, but I remember this story, what I said to her. I said, before I ever worked for this guy again, he's a terrible person, blah, blah, blah.

and won't mention any names. And she said, Brent, don't do that. And she said, never burn a bridge. And I'm so glad I listened to her advice because 10 months later, I was working for that guy again. Now, not directly. They brought in somebody else. But that step also introduced me and propelled my career to several other things versus if I'd went and told that guy what I thought about him, I wouldn't be where I'm at today.

So I tell that to a lot of people, especially my young law officers. I introduce them to people and even, know, I my lock desk out of San Diego with me last week. He's newer in this business somewhat. He worked for Rocket and Moory, so he's new in the business. I introduce him to a lot of people. I said, never know the power of connection, what this will mean. know, he's 22 years younger, or 20 years younger than I am.

I said, never know this guy that you meet today, what he'll be doing for you tomorrow. You might be working for him tomorrow. So.

Shane Kilby (53:58)
Powerful powerful stuff. Let me ask you this last question and we'll wrap this up But but this is what we always like to extract out of each speaker if we can You know you have a lot of experience in and I know that you've you've had a lot of success and I know that you've had a lot of mistakes you can't have the success without the mistakes if You were looking back at a younger version of yourself 20 years ago or 30 years back

Duane Murphy (54:09)
and

Shane Kilby (54:26)
or anyone else that's taking a leap into the lending business or in the real estate business, what would you look back and say to that younger self or that individual coming into these businesses that you wish you would have known then that you know now?

Brent King (54:45)
I wish I'd known a lot of things. I wish I knew what I was getting into. You know, it's not for the faint of heart. you know, younger version of Brent was still a very driven Brent, because my grandfather had a business. My adopted dad that passed last year had a business. It's kind of like one of my local loan officers. She was, you know, taught to never take a nap because it's lazy to take a nap. I don't know if I believe that, because I...

Shane Kilby (54:47)
Thank

Brent King (55:14)
I'll take a lot from Compton because I'm getting older. But I was very entrepreneurial. I wanted to sell this on the side of the road and sell that. I wanted to help the garbage men. They don't have these one-armed trucks today that they had four garbage men on the back. I wanted to help them. And so I think it's a different generation now than what we had back then. Not everybody, not every 21-year-old wants to go out and work.

and be entrepreneurial. But I wish somebody had told me really, you know, to just what we were talking about while we go, Shane, to not, you know, I saw my grandpa, one thing that he probably did wrong, and even my dad killed himself some work in crazy hours, especially my dad really had no relationship much with my mom because he developed cancer young.

on in their marriage and was in Vanderbilt University, which I everybody knows where that is. Shane, you spent some time there with your daughter. Like you said a while ago, nobody thought about him working on cars or being a mechanic or a mechanic at Chevrolet or anything else or having his own business. He passed away doing what he loved, which was talking on the phone to his neighbor and took his last breath unexpectedly.

Thankfully, it wasn't from cancer, but had a business in town and they had to hang up. And he finally learned that balance because they had to hang up a sign and said, is Charlie? And on his car wash day, he in the car wash business later in life, him and his sister in my mom's hometown to this day. there's signs his business is still open, but where is Charlie? Because everybody that pulled through that car wash knew his name. And he talked to every single person that came in it because he loved to talk.

But early on in his career, he worked from the time he got up to 10 p.m. at night. had no relationship with my mom because they just got married. They were young, trying to make ends meet. And then he got, you know, Hodgkin's disease. Within the first year they were married. And so I thought, same thing, I didn't learn a lesson from that. I thought I had to work, you know, 18 hours a day. I remember my kids being very young and that's where I felt as a father young.

Shane Kilby (57:28)
Well.

Brent King (57:39)
That I still had to bring those loans that weren't underwritten yet. Yes, I was underwriting Again, go back to that bring those files home with me while my wife was cooking dinner and My two-year-old was running around and the five-year-old was running around. I didn't have to underwrite those loans They were still gonna be there in the morning. Somebody was gonna help me do those but I thought I had to kill myself so

Duane Murphy (58:02)
Okay.

Brent King (58:05)
I would have enjoyed my 20s a whole lot more if I had somebody to tell me to have some more balance in my life because that's something I've always struggled with really until recently in the last couple of years as we talked about that I thought I had to give 150 % to everything that I do. And that's how I'm wired because I want to be the best at what I do, but you have to have balance in life and a healthy balance. And so I wish somebody

I wish my grandfather would have talked to me about that or my dad would have talked to me about that. Even though they weren't the best at it either. My grandpa knew a little bit more. He took my grandma on a lot of trips, took her on a lot of vacations. They may have been church, you know, things or whatever, but it was still, he spent a lot of time, took her in a motor home to Destin because she was scared to death to fly. She didn't like riding the car. So he'd literally go buy her a motor home so they could drive from Kentucky to Destin, Florida. But you know what? That was quality time.

And he was a tool and die maker. He wasn't working on tool and die parts. He wasn't making things to sharpen trailer tractor wheels. He wasn't doing any of that. He was spending time with her. And I didn't do that as a young person. missed out on my son that's no longer with us. missed out on him being, some of the fun age in kids is the youngest ages. Then they grow up to be teenagers and they lose their brain until they're about 25 again from about.

Duane Murphy (59:29)
you

Brent King (59:31)
13 and it may be getting younger. I don't know. Maybe getting it maybe 10 now don't know but about 13 especially boys they lose their mind up until about their 25 then they're cool again my my 26 just turned 26 and But Bailey my son that he passed four years goes past January I missed out on the first five years man He was fun and because I was underwriting some borrowers long

Shane Kilby (59:41)
See you.

Brent King (59:56)
And you know what? That borrower doesn't remember me. I don't remember that borrower. I don't remember anything about it. And I missed out. That was a failure. You asked me before we started this, what was my biggest failure? And I failed as a dad early on. so that's what I wish somebody would have talked to me about more balance in my life, Because I missed out on being a better husband. I missed out on being a better father. And that's really what people are going to remember.

Duane Murphy (1:00:07)
you

Brent King (1:00:26)
you know, when all this is said and done, not IMG or not. If I closed the loan in five, seven days or 15 days or saved a deal that the spaceship mortgage company screwed up at the end of the day or whatever.

Shane Kilby (1:00:40)
Yeah, it's a painful reality, you know, but as the saying goes, nobody's going to remember you for all of these things, what they will never forget you and will always remember you by is how you made them feel, right? And how you connected with them and the time that you spent with them. And so, you know, usually, I mean, that's what that was the pivot point for me. was a key person in my life that was taken

You know at a very young age, um, And I was I was burning the candle at both ends of the stick. I was I matured early from the work ethic Still, you know, still a heathen A sort but you know working and grinding has never been something that's been hard for me It's been natural to to to grow and develop into into other opportunities and I went through the same thing like uh, you know, my intention was to

be able to slow down earlier and make all of that time up, but make that time up more memorable and enjoy that because of the hard work in the beginning. And lo and behold, you wake up one day and you get that phone call and it's like, man, what just happened? Everything I've just done, I've been doing this for was to make all of that up. I had a plan. I wasn't even intentionally neglecting it.

or denying it, I had a plan. But we're not in control of that plan at the end of the day. That's not up to us, right? So I think it's just that is a harsh reality that they will. They will never remember how hard you worked. mean, yeah, they will remember, but that's not the memories that they want to be with them. know, when our legacy is complete and we're all here for a finite number of days, we can spend them all working or we can spend them all playing.

Typically neither one works out in the end But it's that good balance and then you hear you hear it all on both sides of the aisle is You you got to have work-life balance then the other side is like there's no such thing as a perfect balance and and I agree and disagree with both I think there's an intentional miss balance, you know an intentional imbalance whereas When it's time to grind it's time to grind but make it count

and have a line in the sand. It's like you like, know how we are like, like we'll work from here until mid July. It's just no to the grind. And then we're going to take a month and go to the beach. And I don't keep that secret to my agents, to my clients, you know, you're in good hands. You're not going to be left out all alone. You're going to be, there's going to be a plan in place and a process and systems that everything's going to succeed. Nothing's going to fail.

And as soon as we pop back up the next day, we have, you know, time set aside to see she schedules to work that I scheduled to work and we stayed long enough that the kids don't have to go 18 hours a day to everything all day long. They go in, you know, three or four hour burst and then it's three or four hours back at the the room at the house. And so we're back working again. We just worked with a different view. So there's always a way for all of us to be able to make time for the things that most of us are

investing all this work ethic into to to be able to enjoy on our downtime so

Brent King (1:04:11)
Well, I'll say one last thing and it's funny what you said because you know people say had work-life balance and then somebody will see you taking these trips and they're like man Do you ever work or man you sure are doing it doing this? No, you know what I said is is literally true I took more trips and I've ever taken my life last year because I decided I'm gonna have this balance and I'm gonna enjoy like I'm not gonna kill myself at this but you know, they're like, he must be making all this money I

I don't know, I haven't looked at my W-2 to see if I made any more money last year than what did in 2023. But you know what, I enjoyed the, you know what, out of 2024 because I took the trip. I made the phone call. I took the trip to see my mother more. I called this person more. And you you'll get some flack for that too, but that's okay. I'm gonna do what makes me happy, healthy and everything else. But it's always on both sides. I got a little bit of that. Where are you now?

I'm enjoying my time. got people that are looking after this and they're gonna take good care of you. If not, I'll fix it when I get back and the problem will still be there and we'll do it. But it's kind of funny how that happens, but that's okay. It's part of life.

Duane Murphy (1:05:16)
Yeah.

Just

a little thought on what you were sharing with, right? Maybe regret, failure, right? Some reflection that you had on that and some of those stories and what you had shared and super appreciate that.

Life is, I've always heard it kind of like life is a bunch of chapters. And so you're always constantly writing a new chapter in your book, in that book of life. And it's like, can't go, once that chapter's you can't necessarily go back and rewrite that chapter. You can't go back and, you can reread it, you can relive it, you can dwell in it.

but you can't necessarily rewrite that chapter. That chapter is what it was, right? But the great thing is with all of us is we are firmly in control to a certain degree, right? I mean, we all know there's a bigger, higher power that's got a little say in it, right, on how that book is gonna be written and how that story is gonna unfold. But at the same time, so do we. And much like all the work you've been pouring in,

to yourself and to life, just like you do others over the last year to 14 months, whatever it may be, we control how those next chapters are And again, and typically in a book, there's certain chapters that really stand out when you read one. You read a book, you're like, oh my gosh, that was a really good chapter. That was really engaging chapter. Ooh, I really liked that one. You're bookmark that one, bookmark this one.

Which chapters do you remember the most? Right. And I think it's the chapters towards the end more so than the chapter in the front, because especially if the chapters get better, right, you're going to remember the chapters towards the end of the book and the end of the story a lot more than you remember the ones in the front. it's right. It's not always how you start the race. It's how you finish it. And we all have regrets and in wishes and I do is and,

Could have done betters and whatnot, but ultimately we all control what's to be still written. So, you're doing a hell of a job of rewriting your story.

Shane Kilby (1:07:54)
Yeah, I think you're doing a pretty good job myself. So to put a bonus and tie us back together, Brent, would someone reach out to you, get in touch with you, follow you, get in contact with you if they wanted to connect with you between now and then?

Brent King (1:08:14)
Yeah, absolutely. Sorry, I unplugged my mic from by accident there. The best way to get me is on my cell. I have an office phone. I never answer it. And it goes into my voicemail to see who calls me. But the best is my cell phone. You can Google me and you'll find it out there. I don't have any of that stuff. is 864-498-8132.

864-498-8132, shoot me a text, give me an email. I have some crazy growth plans this year and we're gonna hit them. And I'd love to talk to anybody that even if they have real estate questions, I can answer the real estate questions like you guys can, but I'll direct them to the people I know, because I know a lot of good people, including you two that will, but I can help them in all things mortgages and I don't care who it is, whether it's a real estate agent, whether it's a,

you know, home inspector, whether it's a loan officer or another mortgage company, you know, the business is small enough that we can all help one another. There's enough business out there still to help one another. You know, they can email me too, all my stuff's on every social media outlet out there from LinkedIn to Facebook to all that good stuff. But always have a sub on me and I'll get back to that person or text them. It's the best way to get in contact with me.

Shane Kilby (1:09:30)
Brent, we appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule today. It's been great to connect and catch up. We'll have to do it again sometime. And in the meantime, everyone out there in Podcastland, if this has brought you some value, please do us a huge favor. Hit that like and that subscribe button and give us a good review. We greatly appreciate it and always helps with the algorithms. And in meantime, we will get some more good contacts, good, good.

Brent King (1:09:37)
I'm pleasure. Thanks for your time.

Shane Kilby (1:09:58)
Speakers on here contacts for future podcasts and we'll be uploading some fresh episodes real soon. Take care guys. Appreciate it

Brent King (1:10:05)
Thank you guys.

Duane Murphy (1:10:06)
Peace.