Full Transcript is Below:
– 20 years. That’s how long our top producer for the month of March 2022 has been a member of the NFM family. Unbelievable, two decades he’s coming up on. October 2nd, will mark 20 years at NFM, and joining us right now is Jason McLaughlin. He is a Branch Manager for NFM out of the Baltimore area. Jason, congratulations. Your numbers certainly support the honor, but the 20-year thing, that’s pretty cool, too.
– Yes, it is, Greg. Thank you so much. I’m excited to be here, and definitely been a long time, for sure.
– [Greg] We have a lot to catch up on, and we have some incredible pictures from back in the NFM day. What do you remember about those days, about where the office was, about the things that took place?
– [Jason] I remember doing things out in the courtyard there for top producers of the week or the month or the night, whatever we did back in the day. I remember my call log for my first ever day at NFM, and we used to just track each call that we made, and the objective was to get someone to allow you to pull their credit and work up a loan for them and call them back the next night. So, for whatever reason, I kept this, just as a memoir, if you will, to my first day ever at NFM. So there’s definitely things that bring back a lot of memories.
– I asked you for a list of all the different capacities in which you’ve served at NFM, and we can get into a few of them right now. So, here we go. Among your roles, LO, Team Lead, Division Manager, Co-Sales Manager, Director of Sales, and now Branch Manager, and there used to be kind of an ongoing joke. NFM’s been in three locations, but your seat used to move every couple of weeks in some years. How many different seats, actual chairs in different locations, do you guess you’ve occupied in your 20 years?
– There’s a lot. I always was willing to move my desk, if you will, with new endeavors that NFM was trying to do. I always volunteered to do whatever I could, to be a team player, but to answer that question, there’s been a lot of chairs, but I always tried to take my same chair and just slide it around to the next desk.
– So not only have you had many seats, but you’ve also made many transitions in terms of the type of business that you do. And for the longest time, you did refis, refinances, and now, you’re mainly a purchase guy. So what was it like to make that move from one to the other?
– Getting into the purchase business was difficult for a lot of us that didn’t do it every day, but I was fortunate to have a lot of friends that were realtors, and just started with that. Just kind of slowly but surely kinda picked that up. Definitely say it was not an easy transition.
– [Greg] I wanna go over your numbers now, let’s talk production. In 2020, you personally closed 57 million in loan originations. Your branch closed close to 175 million. And then, in 2021, 56 million personally, and your branch eclipsed 150 million in production. Those are not small numbers, so how do you get there?
– My production really is based upon having that support behind Mary and I, my partner. Our team does a fantastic job. Once we get the contracts in and get those files moving, they pretty much handle it from there, and we couldn’t be more blessed to have such a great support staff behind us.
– I wanna ask you, over a 20-year period, how many times you were recruited by other mortgage companies?
– I mean, if I had to take a ballpark, I mean, my phone rings all the time. Let’s just call it 100. You know, really, right off, the first question is, “Hey, I’ve seen you been in the business for quite some time. You got good numbers. I’d love to talk to you. Are you happy at NFM?” It’s usually the first question I get from a recruiter. And I said, “I’m very happy, and I’m definitely not looking for a change.”
– I’m gonna put you on the spot, though, because there are, some recruiters are better than others. So, without identifying the lender, how close did you come to maybe pursuing another avenue, and what went into the decision not to go there?
– Yeah, without naming that, I was offered an opportunity to lead a group out here where I live. It was a large institution at the time, and it was pretty close. I had actually said yes, to be honest with you, and then spoke to Jan, spoke to some other people, and came back to NFM and you all gave me an opportunity to work with Tim Rhodes, I believe, at the time, or do something else. I’m happy that I made that decision and did not choose to leave.
– I know your family means so much to you, and your wife, Anne. We’ve got a lot of pictures of your beautiful family. It’s not easy supporting someone in the mortgage business, is it?
– No, it is not. And, you know, you work a lot of hours and you need that support, especially during that pandemic. You know, when that hit, it was like, oh my gosh, what’s going to happen? And then, all of a sudden, and it’s gang busters, and then you’re like, whoa, who’s gonna take care of the kids and who’s gonna do this? My phone won’t stop ringing. I’m busy, I’m working, getting up early. So, yeah, that’s definitely important, really in any business, to have that support system, but it means so much.
– Now let’s talk about what the world looked like when you started at NFM. Are you ready?
– I am.
– [Greg] Kelly Clarkson was the first “American Idol” winner.
– [Jason] Wow.
– Average cost of a new home in 2002, when you started, was $228,700. It’s now 453,700, so it has just about perfectly doubled. And lastly, the average income, $42,400, now 65,800. Well, before we let you go, I’m gonna share with you a message from David Silverman, our founder and CEO, about what you mean to him and what you mean to NFM.
– Jason McLaughlin, happy 20-year anniversary at NFM Lending. Man, we’ve been working together a long time. You’ve taken great care of all my friends and family that have ever done loans through NFM, have basically gone through you. What a beautiful journey that you’ve been on, and it’s been a pleasure for me to watch that, you with Anne and your beautiful family, and everything you’ve done for NFM. I’m so grateful. I can’t even believe that it’s been 20 years, but it’s certainly been a long time. It doesn’t feel like 20. Anyway, I appreciate you. I respect you so much, and love you like a brother. Thank you for everything that you’ve done and continue to do.
– That message means a lot. Thanks for sharing that, and thank you, Dave, for those wonderful comments there. I mean, you know, we’ve been through a lot. A lot of people don’t know this about me, but coming out of college, I only had one job at the time. I got into doing financial planning, and I actually met Dave New Year’s Eve Y2K, if you will, year 2000, 1999 to 2000. We were friends before I had started, and got to talking at one of the Ravens tailgates that we did so frequently back then, and said, “Hey, why don’t you come down to my office this week and we can talk about mortgages. It’s a great time to get into the business.” And I had no plans to do that, and that’s essentially how we got started. Dave’s the Founder and CEO of this company, but I’m proud to call Sandy and David friends of ours, so I’m very blessed and humbled for those comments. Thank you.
– Jason McLaughlin, thank you so much for agreeing to be our top producer for the month of March 2022. Congratulations on just an incredible milestone that I know means an awful lot to David Silverman and everyone else at NFM.
– I appreciate it. Thanks so much, Greg, and thanks for having me.
– It’s my pleasure. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV. We’ll see you again next time.