Full Transcript is Below:
– Welcome into June’s Top Producer Series. I am Greg Sher. So happy to be back here in the studio at Corporate in Linthicum, Maryland. We continue to make our journey around the NFM family of lenders. We talked to Mike Farrell at Main Street Home Loans, we talked to Hans Stone at BluPrint Home Loans and now we shift focus and talk to Kevin Murphy. A top producer at the Freedmont Mortgage Group out of Lutherville, Maryland. Kevin, thanks for being with us on NFM TV. Congratulations on being our top producer.
– Thank you so much, much appreciated. Thanks for having me today.
– Of course, we’re happy to have you here. You do $36 million a year. You’re a consistent guy. You’ve been in the business since day one at Freedmont Mortgage Group. That’s 27 years. So, you’ve made your journey around the good and bad times. Let’s see, you survived 9/11 in this business, and then the financial crisis. And of course, right now we are knee-deep in the coronavirus. Tell us how you’re doing and kinda how the moments in time compare.
– Well, this is certainly a much different world than anything we faced in the past. For me, it’s actually easier going through this than what we faced with the banks going out of business 12 years ago, I guess it was now. Losing a lot of programs at that point. It was really difficult to adjust. Now we get to stay at home. Well, we get to stay home, We have to stay home, right?
– Yeah.
– So it’s a little bit more difficult, as far as developing relationships. We don’t get to see our Realtor Partners, we don’t get to see our teammates in our office. So that makes it tougher. But, we’re all getting through it.
– Yeah, and so your production. Let’s talk about how it’s kinda broken down. Are you mostly referral-based, you’re doing refinances?
– So I’ve always focused on purchases. They are mostly all referral-based. Refinances maybe 10 to 20% just because they’re available at this point. But really trying to focus on purchases and maintain those relationships.
– So doing 36 million a year, even I can do that math, that’s 3 million a month. So a lot of business, it’s more than 10 loans a month. How do you keep churning through that and making sure that you don’t get stuck in loan details. Like so many originators do. So that you can continue to originate as loans are going through your pipeline.
– So blessed enough to have a great teammate, to help me track down documents with clients. Also have a Business Development Partner to help with the relationships parties, that sort of thing. Hope to add two more to the team within the next six months or so, depending on when we can get back to somewhat normal and do some training in the office, that sort of thing. So that’s difficult at this point. So hopefully we’ll get there soon.
– All right, secret sauce man. What is it? What makes you different from the guy that’s doing or the gal that’s doing two to four loans a month. That kind of next level look.
– So, part of it is just the availability. If my agent needs a letter at 10 o’clock at night to get an offer then I’ll do it. If it’s Sunday night, Tuesday night, doesn’t matter when it is, being available is huge. I also attend all my closings whenever possible. So just being at the closing table gives everybody, just, you know, they’re relaxed, happy. If they have any questions, I’m there to answer them. There’s FaceTime with the Realtors. So it just works out great to be able to do that.
– All right, so you go to the settlements, oftentimes the listing agent attends that. So, do you approach the listing agent at that time for the first time, or is there another point earlier in the process where you call the listing agent, introduce yourself?
– So actually sometimes when our buyer’s agent sends an offer to the listing agent, I’ll make a phone call that day, to introduce myself and that I’ll know what a great buyer that we have and start the relationship with that point.
– Okay. So, I wanna go backwards just for one second, because you mentioned one of your keys is being available all the time. That’s difficult for some people. Spouses don’t like that, children running around the house. So is your rule of thumb mate, you know,my phone is attached to me at all times. Or do you have a balance there, that we don’t know about yet?
– So luckily my kids are grown. So my phone is attached to me at all times.
– Okay. At least for the last three years or so. So it’s easier for me that I don’t have to worry about homeschooling kids right now. I know it’s difficult for a lot of people to worry about little ones running around and that sort of thing. But I’m not in a place at this point. So it’s easier just to be available at the time.
– So what’s next for you, in terms of your level of originations. So your 36 million now, is that a comfortable spot for you? Do you aim to get to 60 or another number or are you kinda cruising right now? 27 years in the business.
– Really hoping to get to 50 to 60, once I bring on another teammate or two. Hopefully if that can happen in the next three months or so. Training takes quite a while. So, if we can do that soon, by next year we should be able to get the 50, 60, no problem I would think.
– Kevin, before I let you go, I wanna talk about the leadership at Freedmont Mortgage, because this company is a real stalwart in the Maryland area. It’s known by virtually everyone. There’s a very popular radio show that one of the founders, Carl Delmont, hosts. Locally, Jay Delmont his brother, is such a shrewd operational guy. What’s it like working for those guys and the Freedmont brand?
– So it really is a family atmosphere. As I said, I worked with Carl for 27 years. And he is really a great down to earth guy. He does a fantastic job on his radio show. Brings a lot of different guests on there, and not just from the industry, but senators and all kinds of industries. So he educates the public, which is really appreciated by our Realtor Partners and everyone else out there. I was on the radio show for the first time about two weeks ago. So that was the first for me but fun to do. Hopefully I’ll get some more realtors on there. And do some live interviews with them, once we get back to the new normal.
– And Jay, we have to, we cannot leave Jay out, he’ll be upset. So, what do you have to say about Jay?
– Jay has become a great leader. Everybody loves and respects Jay. He has a big heart, and he’s really fun to work with.
– Yeah, appreciate that. I know Jay does as well. Kevin Murphy, Sales Manager, Loan Originator extraordinaire from Freedmont Mortgage Group, a division of NFM Lending. Congratulations on being featured in our Top Producer Series for June Continued success and we’ll talk to you down the road.
– Thanks for having me today. I appreciate it, Greg. Have a good one, take care.
– It’s our pleasure. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV. We’ll see you next time.