Full Transcript is Below:
– A brand new year, a brand new slate of top producers to present you with. I’m NFM TV’s Greg Sher. We’re kicking off 2023 by heading to Haddonfield, New Jersey, to welcome in an old-school kinda guy. I mean that with all due respect, he’s an OG. None other than Ron Gosewisch. He’s a producing branch manager at NFM Lending. His branch closed upwards of $300 million in volume in 2022. He personally closed just south of 100 million in arguably the most difficult market we’ve ever seen. Ron, quite an accomplishment, quite a resume to go over, here, too. I’m really glad you’re with us. Congratulations on being our top producer for the month of January.
– Thank you Greg, happy to be here.
– OG’s not an insult, right? I mean, you and I, let’s be honest, we’re not in our 20s anymore, so when you get called an OG, at least where I’m from, that’s a compliment. What about your world?
– Agreed, yeah, a lot of changes in this business, for sure.
– Let’s just start with how you got into the business, because that’s, like, as old-school as it gets. Most people stumble into this business, very few started as a freshman in college. but you, my friend, you own that distinction, do tell.
– That is correct, started in the mail room of a mortgage company when I was a freshman in college. Couple of my friends were looking for employment landed in the mail room, saw these guys, young guys, making money, having a good time, decided, “You know what, that might be for me.” Three or four years later, after getting out of college, you know, decided to join into a customer service role for a bigger mortgage company, and here I am today.
– How many years have you been in the game?
– I started in 1997, officially. That doesn’t account the mail room time. So it’s been what, you know.
– You’re going on 26 years.
– Correct.
– You’re approaching three decades, what a business, man. What a , what a ride we’ve been on. Clearly all those headwinds not shutting your business down. It definitely shut a lot of people’s business down in 2022. Let’s just start with how. How in the world did you manage to do almost 100 million in volume personally in such a difficult market?
– It’s 10 times the work with the same results. And so, you know, at the end of the day, you know, and our motto here in the branch is, just put our head down, put our blinders on, and just concentrate on the things that we can control. That’s what we’ve been doing.
– Tell us what that really looks like when you get down into the nuts and bolts of that, you know, 10 times harder thing. Does it mean more calls, more lunches, more hours? How does it show up?
– All the above. And yeah, obviously not taking any opportunity for granted, treating every referral like it potentially would be the last. And yeah, I mean we’re reaching out trying to set appointments, everything we could possibly do to one, get in front of realtors; and two, take advantage of the opportunities when given to us.
– Well, and you have real estate agents out there that’re also at this crossroads, right? They’re struggling, some of them, wondering if they’re in the right business, with rates so high and inventory so low. How do you balance that? Do you sift through the agents to make sure you’re just getting in front of the veterans that have solid business, or is it come one come all, and then you sift through after that?
– Yeah, it’s come one, come all. You know, we’re not gonna pick and choose who’s willing to work with us, and that’s kinda how we look at it. So we wanna, obviously, talk to as many people as we can, and be the number-one referral partner for as many agents as we can. And whether it’s a big team, whether it’s a huge agent, or whether it’s someone that’s just starting out, we’re trying to take advantage of any opportunity that’s given to us.
– So you were at NFM from 2001 to 2007, another reason I gave you that OG tag. So you were here for six years, and NFM is celebrating its 25th year in the business. You’ve very much been a part of the very fabric that is NFM. You came back to NFM almost two years ago, it’ll be two years in February. Why did you come back, and what about NFM brought you back?
– NFM has always been a part of my career. You know, we started the branch in New Jersey back in 2001, I believe. My part at the time, John Fitzpatrick, and I went down to 1111 Light Street, I believe, was the address. And met Dave, and someone we referred to Dave, and you know, we had a great run. It was a different environment at that point. I needed to get out and kinda spread my wings a bit, learn a little bit more about the outside sales business and the purchase side of the business. But I always had NFM, kind of, in the back of my mind. And so, when it was time and we had an opportunity to start our own branch, NFM was the first call I made. And you know, obviously, you know, we’re two years into it, and, I you know, wouldn’t want it any other way.
– No, we’re so happy to have you here as well. And you have a partner, so I don’t wanna leave your partner out. You know, I don’t want to catch any grief. So tell us about your business partner, I thought business partnerships don’t work in mortgage. So tell me how they do, and how you’ve managed to make it not just work, but work in a really big way.
– Dana Gounaris is my business partner. He is the epitome of the mortgage professional, let’s put it that way. The guy outworks everybody else. Ultimately he’s reinvented himself over the last couple years. You know, he was in a management role prior to starting out as a branch manager here, and handed off a lot of his relationships to, you know, the people that work for him. And so we had to recreate those relationships and create new ones, and he’s done a amazing job at that. So he and I compliment each other very well. You know, we’re very two different personalities, we operate and look at things very differently. But at the end of the day, that really helps.
– Well, and you convinced him to come to NFM, ’cause you had been here before, right? So you had to kinda vouch for NFM, I’m assuming?
– We were very close to inking up with another company, you know, we pretty much had made up our decision. And before we finalize that, I asked Dana, “Hey do you mind if I reach out to Jan, and let’s have a conversation with him?” And so, you know, a few weeks after, you know, talking to Jan and learning a little bit more about the company, Dana kinda agreed. And the rest is history.
– You’ve been married 22 years, you have three boys. Talk to us about your family and what kinda things you do to stay tight.
– Yeah, I’ve been married for 22-plus years. You know, I have three boys, like you said. I have a 19-year-old who actually just came home last night from Loyola University, I have a junior in high school, and a fifth grader. So I’m involved in their sports, I’m involved in, you know, as much as I possibly can. You know, it’s amazing, and it’s, you know, cliche to say, but it just goes so fast. And so, try to take advantage of everything I possibly can.
– Ron, before I let you go, technology is obviously something that is more prevalent and growing as the mortgage business continues to evolve, but you’re a blocking and tackling guy. So how do you kinda weigh that integration with just getting on the phone and making your calls?
– Technology’s a huge piece, and a lot of the great producers that we brought into our branch that’s their main, you know, focus, is technology and bringing that technology to the realtors. For me, I’m an old man, you know, I’d like to, you know, get my hands dirty, and I look at it completely differently. At the end of the day, you want it to be user friendly, you want the agents to have a good experience, but, you know, you’re dealing with someone’s, you know, majority of the time, their largest financial decision. So, you know, phone conversations, face-to-face, you know, just getting your hands dirty is, in my opinion, much more important than having a smooth technology process.
– Well it’s great talking to you. Really appreciate you kicking things off for us in 2023. I think if you can do 300 million as a branch and 100 million personally in a year like 2022, can’t wait to see what you do as things start to improve and rates trickle down. We can’t wait to feature you again in months and years to come. Ron Gosewisch thank you for being with us.
– Thank you for having me, Greg. I really appreciate it.
– Yep, it’s great, great to have you with us on NFM TV. That’s Ron Gosewisch, Branch Manager from Haddonfield, New Jersey. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV. We’ll see you again next time.