Full Transcript is Below:
– Welcome into our Top Producer Series for the month of May 2022 as we make our way towards halfway through 2022. Tina Konidaris is a Branch Manager out of the Raleigh, North Carolina area for the NFM Family of Lenders and a seasoned veteran who joins us now. Thanks for being with us and agreeing to be our top producer for the month of May Tina, how are you?
– I’m wonderful, thanks for having me Greg.
– You have been in this business. It happens to be the month of May 2022 marks and even 20 years in mortgage, congratulations.
– Thank you. Congratulations for making it 20 years in this business.
– Of course and you’ve seen so many ups and downs, so you’re… I would consider you just based on that, you’re still in the business to be an expert on ups and downs. So let’s jump right into this environment that we’re in right now, where we went from easy mortgages to more complex mortgages and higher interest rates. How are you tackling this particular moment in time?
– I’m having very honest conversations with my clients. I’m letting them understand that rates are rising. The people that think that maybe now is not the time to lock and they want to continue to play that rate game. I’m advising them that that’s probably not the best approach as we are seeing rates increase on a daily basis. And just really trying to help them understand what a rate spike does mean for their payments.
– I wanna qualify what you did in 2021, no small feat. You closed 222 units, helped 222 families most importantly and approached $75 million in personal production. Did you need a moment to exhale or are you just used to that kind of pace in production?
– Well, that’s a lot of volume. You actually left out the volume and the families I helped before I transitioned to this amazing company, but I did not do all that work on my own. I have a incredible stellar group of people that work with me. I have a team that out shines every team out there.
– Well, I like the part about this amazing company. Tell us more.
– I changed to NFM, it was March of last year. I can honestly say I did not know that a company of this magnitude of this class even existed. The culture here is unknown to me. I feel like I have truly joined a family.
– I know that you have been a part of a larger team and growing people and having partners here at NFM one of the things you were able to do was just plug in and lock into being the best version of Tina that you can be. Do you aspire to build a team again? Or do you wanna continue along this path just multiplying what you’re doing?
– Honestly, I have vacillated on the answer for that Greg. I do really enjoy just having a team and doing the production. I like the interaction with the customers. I like the partnership with the agents and the builders. And ultimately I enjoy having the autonomy to make the decisions that I know are best for my team and myself.
– Well, I know you have a gift though as a leader, do you miss giving that gift to other originators? Is that something you think you’ll revisit?
– I think I still give it just in different forms. I still work on training my team and helping them understand the business in general. I’m still onboarding people who are completely new to mortgage and want to learn the business. So though I’m not necessarily growing and mentoring a bunch of loan officers underneath me. I am still having that mentorship with my team.
– That is a perfect segue because in getting ready for this I asked you to talk about kind of who mentored you and without hesitation you threw out the name, Dusty Charles, who you’ve had a a long relationship with spanning three decades. Tell us about Dusty and why he is so meaningful to you?
– His real name is Dusty Charles Anderson. In college I worked at his steakhouse. It was a fine dining restaurant. The owner was absolutely driven on giving the absolute best experience to every person. Every person that walked through the door. I see him on almost weekly basis. He lives in Raleigh, still he’s in his 70s and he really gives me great sound advice on how to run a business, how to run a team.
– Now you talked about food, so let’s get right into it. You went on a journey to Croatia among other wonderful beautiful places in September of 2021, to wet your appetite for great foods and different kinds of foods. I understand from our president Jan Ozga who is your number one fan, by the way, by far that you are a foodie. And of course you know Jan is a culinary chef by trade. So tell us about that experience and why you did it?
– It was presented to me. I was invited to go and I leapt at the chance. I’ll tell you something I learned, you can eat a lot of carbs overseas. You can eat a lot of pasta and bread in Europe and zero pounds are gained. We ate so much bread and pasta. It was incredible. And came back and had lost weight
– Among your passions and clearly you have many is helping end the homeless population. What inspired that? And why is that so important to you?
– My household was not one of joy or love. When I was a senior in high school I was forced to move out of my home and I was homeless myself. So I had a period of time where I didn’t really have a secure house. And then eventually a parent from one of my friends learned of my situation. And they took me in and I was able to have my senior year. I stayed in their basement finished high school and then went to college but it obviously had an impact on my life. And it has had an impact on my charitable focus. And I was elected to the board of CASA last year which is just an incredible honor. CASA is a nonprofit, they’re not just in Raleigh they’re all of the surrounding counties. And right in now we are housing 500 families that would otherwise be homeless.
– How big is the problem? And what would you like to say to all the people watching right now about how urgent it is?
– I think it is going to hit particularly your bigger market areas, your more populated areas. Housing is so expensive right now and there’s been a moratorium on rents. Now that’s ending and there’s gonna be a lot of evictions. I think if we all can contribute we can make a big impact on the problem. My team and I every time we close a loan, we cover the cost of a homeless family and contribute that money to CASA so that we can help end homelessness.
– That’s really incredible, Tina the work that you’re doing there and just hearing your story living with a friend your senior year. We all have our stories and our paths that we traveled challenging times growing up. I know I certainly had a lot. It sounds like you probably had some how did those experiences help you from a character standpoint?
– Well, they certainly make you resilient, right? ‘Cause if you don’t overcome them, you don’t go anywhere. I think in addition to resiliency, I’m very appreciative. I am shocked sometimes at how my life has turned out. I am overwhelmed oftentimes at the blessings that I have I have a family, I have six kids. I have a wonderful husband. I feel all the time I could pinch myself. I cannot believe the life that I live. It is incredible. And I feel very, very fortunate and because I didn’t have it growing up I think I’m really appreciative.
– Well, I appreciate you letting me take you through some of those times and moments and showing the human side of you. In addition to being an incredible producer, you’re very philanthropic and obviously a very deep and real genuine person and NFM is so fortunate to have you here. Thank you for agreeing to be our top producer for the month of May. keep up the incredible work down there in Raleigh, Durham. Tina thanks a lot, really appreciate your time.
– Thank you, Greg. And thanks for letting me be part of this company. I love it here.
– We feel just as fortunate. Really appreciate your time. That’s Tina Konidaris from Raleigh, North Carolina. I’m Greg Sher from NFM TV. We’ll see you again next time.