How Does Your Lender Make You More Money? Part 3

We’ve spent the last two episodes asking one question: Is your lender actually helping you make more money?

Now we’re finishing the conversation.

In Part 3 of Counterculture Agent, Shaune Corbett and Devin Dubuc get into the practical side of what a true agent-lender partnership should look like.

What happens when your buyer qualifies—but the monthly payment still doesn’t make sense to them? What should your lender be doing with buyers who aren’t ready today? Can the right lender actually help you write a stronger offer? And how do you measure whether your lending partner is really contributing to your business—or simply waiting for you to send them another deal?

We also tackle one of the more uncomfortable questions in the agent-lender relationship: Where is the line between a true business partnership and a compliance problem?

This final installment is about moving beyond the buzzword “partnership” and getting specific about what agents should expect from their lender—and what a lender should actually be doing to earn that relationship.

If you’re a real estate agent who wants more from your lending partner, or a loan officer who wants to become genuinely valuable to agents, this is the conversation to hear.

Counterculture Agent with Shaune Corbett and Devin Dubuc, presented on Loan Officer Success Live.

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Jennifer Rodriguez is the engine behind LOS.Live and The Mortgage Giants, leading everything from graphic thumbnails and episode descriptions to cross-platform distribution. With years of experience as an Office Manager and Executive Assistant, she brings organization, strategy, and innovation to every production. Mentored by Growth Leader Devin Dubuc for the past six years, Jennifer collaborates on branding and podcast strategies that help loan officers nationwide elevate their business. Known for her positive energy, adaptability, and commitment to growth, she is the trusted voice guests connect with throughout the podcast experience.

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I think we're on.

I think we're on.

Hey guys,

welcome back to The Counterculture Agent

presented on Loan Officer Success Live.

Hey,

today we're wrapping up our three-part

conversation around one simple idea.

Your lender partner should help you make

more money.

Hey, and over the last couple of episodes,

Sean and I have challenged a lot of

traditional thinking around what a

relationship between a real estate agent

and a loan officer is supposed to look

like.

So we're going to pick up that

conversation.

Sean's putting me back in the hot seat.

John Corbett, my man,

let's finish this thing out.

I hope you're ready.

This is going to be a tough one.

I know it's going to be tough.

Bring it on.

This is what lenders need to hear, though,

right?

I mean, this is what it's all about.

We've got agents that have certain things

and expectations they're looking for,

and they want to close more deals just

like lenders do.

Everyone wants to sell more houses and

want to see more success,

and they want to see more opportunities

and success for the future.

So the first thing in part three is,

you know, how do your lender,

how does your lender make you more money?

And the first thing that comes up is

prove it.

Okay.

So prove it.

So what does that look like?

So in parts one and part two,

I know you talked a little bit about

that.

What agents should expect from a lender

and why closing the loan is really just

the minimum requirement.

Today,

I want to make it a little bit

more practical.

Everyone uses the word partner,

but partnerships should produce an actual

result.

That's true.

So how does the lender help an agent

convert more opportunities,

win more offers,

and ultimately make more money for

everyone?

So I've narrowed it down to the last

five questions that we have.

Let's get through it.

And the first one is important today,

right?

It has to do with the payment and

the buyers are like, oh my gosh,

what do I do?

So how do you help a buyer who

can afford a home, gets qualified,

you check all the boxes,

but really isn't comfortable

with how high the payment is compared to

where it was before.

Because a lot of buyers technically

qualify,

but the payments still scare them off.

How should an agent and a lender work

together to start with the buyers to get

them more comfortable with the monthly

payment instead of simply telling them

that the maximum sales price they qualify

for?

So how do we focus on the payment

and make them comfortable?

It's really where we're looking.

You know, I love that question.

And I think, you know,

there's so many different directions that

you can go with this because this happens

all the time.

And a lot of the times it happens,

especially for the first-time homebuyers,

where they're online and they're,

you know,

looking at what the home's going to cost

and they're running through a payment

calculator.

And then they talk to the lender and

they go, wait, wait, hold on.

Escrows?

Am I?

Wow,

that payment is substantially higher than

what I expected, right?

And then it scares them off, right?

Because they were expecting one thing,

they wanted to be in one place,

and they're finding out that the dream

home that they thought they were going to

be able to go out and afford,

it doesn't fit the budget.

And so I think there's a lot of

things that need to happen here.

Number one,

this is a great time to sit down

with your agent and strategize and talk

about the fact that they're a little cold

feet and what different opportunities you

might have.

You know, in the green room,

you mentioned like two one buy downs.

I think that's a great way to look

at it because it allows for you to

take a improved rate for a short period

of time.

You know,

anywhere from two to three years,

you get that improved rate.

And then effectively,

it makes the payment more comfortable over

that period of time.

And then as the market transitions,

it scales up.

But if the market does rebound and gets

rates back into a more comfortable place,

they can always go in and refinance that.

But I've got another one that I always

like to look at.

And I think a lot of people forget

this one.

John,

and that is what if we could restructure

debt?

Hold on, Bubba.

Sorry, I've got my boy here today.

So he wants to jump on the show.

What if we could restructure debt, right?

Sometimes there's an automobile payment

and maybe they're paying too high of an

interest,

or maybe they could actually transition

that into a different term to make

payments more comfortable,

to get things back into a price range

that they can afford.

And I think this is what makes a

great loan officer partnership

is being able to think outside of the

box, right?

Hey, who do we have for insurance?

Is the quote that you got on the

insurance a little higher than what it

should actually be?

And, you know,

can we potentially go in and restructure?

Guy, you want to jump on the call?

Okay.

Hold on one second.

Yeah, of course.

All right, we're back.

You know,

can we potentially improve the insurance?

Sometimes what happens is these insurance

agencies quote the maximum insurance,

and you actually don't really need it.

That's why it's great to have a good

agent that you've worked with in the past

that says, oh, they're overinsuring.

This is all you really need to insure

this property,

and it's going to reduce the premiums by

this much.

And we're in an age, Sean,

where insurance premiums have the highest

point they've ever been.

And we're here in Texas.

I've got folks down in Florida.

Our premiums have jumped tremendously in

the last couple of years.

So if you have somebody that you can

reach out to that can help you restructure

those things,

these are ways that you can get somebody

back to a price point that maybe feels

more comfortable.

And I think the last one,

and you brought this up, is education.

What typically happens if you wait to buy

a house, Sean?

Well, I think it's pretty obvious, right?

I mean, at least for my standpoint, right?

So if buyers are looking at homes right

now, the deals are now, right?

Because there's no buyers out there

buying.

Sellers cannot sell.

This is the opportunity.

The moment that we all know when the

interest rates come down,

all of a sudden buyers all jump off

the fence at the same time.

And they're like,

I got to have a house now because

now the interest rate is at six and

a quarter or five.

When it hits the five,

when that five number starts showing up

again.

Oh,

millions of people come into the market.

The problem is there's so much built up.

need to move we're running out of time

there's so much of that going out there

and they're not moving until they see a

certain interest rate that's right once

that changes then all of them will the

demand will soar and then the sellers now

get to say great i have multiple offers

on every single property that's right that

buyer is now going to pay five percent

seven percent more and on a house that's

four hundred thousand dollars that's a

solid twenty five thousand dollars that

they instantly have to pay now

that they didn't have to pay today to

win the bid.

Yeah, just to win the bid.

So they're guaranteed to pay twenty five

thousand instead of taking the chance on

interest rates are high.

I can reify later.

You know, that's more you know,

that's a more favorable opportunity than

just guaranteeing to take the loss.

Well, so what you're saying is,

is the house you intend to buy is

only going to go up in price.

Not only because of the fact that homes

tend to appreciate four to five percent

per year annually,

but in addition to that,

because when the rates drop,

multiple people come into the market,

you have multiple offers and people have

to pay up to win the bid.

And I think there's another piece that

you're not bringing up in there.

And I know you're going to remember this,

but during COVID,

could an FHA buyer even get an offer

accepted?

They were at a disadvantage for sure

because they had extra requirements and

other things.

And it also implied that they weren't as

qualified as the cash or conventional or

other offers.

There's an implication.

It's negative.

It shouldn't be.

But when you don't have a choice,

I feel the same with VAs.

Yeah.

Government in general.

They're the hardest on the home.

And I'm telling you,

I just went through one.

It's very frustrating.

I told him up front.

I said, here's all of our fears.

is that the VA is going to get

their appraisal.

They're going to do the WDI.

They're going to have all these additional

restrictions or requirements.

Darn it if it wasn't true.

It was thousands of dollars outside of

what the buyer expected that we had to

supply and take care of in order to

get the VA to approve our home.

And this dude's like,

all I do is VA loans.

I'm an ex-military.

You're going to be fine.

I got control over the appraisers.

I'm like, okay, we'll see.

I mean, I'm telling you,

I've done this a long time and you

guys all, it's smoke and mirrors to me.

Well, I will tell you this.

There's still a lot of advantages to VA.

And so if you are a veteran,

don't not use your benefits because it may

cost you a little bit more money because

at the same time,

you don't have a down payment requirement.

You're going to have access to no monthly

mortgage insurance.

There is a premium,

but it's a little bit different.

And it's a great way for you to

get qualified if you don't have that cash

to put down.

So

Don't not use your benefits.

I'm glad we're talking about this because

I'm going to say it from the agent

standpoint in selling homes.

I primarily sell homes more than I work

with buyers,

so I know what the pain is on

the sales side.

And the VA benefit is extremely good.

It is.

It's just not as good for the seller.

Don't tell me it is.

Well, there's more hoops.

There's potential for more hoops.

Not every time,

but there's potential for more hoops.

Hey, man, if I have no offers,

I'm working that VA all the way to

the end.

No problem, no questions.

that goes back to our point which is

why is it important for people to realize

that just because the payment's a little

bit higher than where you want it to

be now okay waiting to purchase that house

can become more difficult especially for

fha and va buyers right but for everybody

because people will come in with multiple

bid offers which is going to cost you

more money in the long run where the

person that's interested in purchasing a

home at this point in time does have

an advantage there's sellers that are

actually motivated to

to reduce price.

There's sellers that are motivated to

provide extra funds that could be used for

buy downs to allow for you to buy

that rate down temporarily.

So there's a lot of different ways that

we can help get those payments down,

especially if you're talking to somebody

that is going to take the time to

listen to what your needs are,

find out what that payment point that

makes sense is,

and then figure out how we can get

you there,

even if it's potentially restructuring

your debt.

Another thing that people don't always

think about is, hey,

I want to put all this money down

on the house,

but what if we use some of that

money to pay down some of the debt,

which again could get you to the price

point that you want to be on the

payment, right?

Because what you're really looking at is

not just the mortgage payment,

but it's all your other debt.

And if we can reduce some of that

other debt to keep the payment

comfortable, there's opportunity in there.

Let me roll out of this and I

got three quick points.

Let's do it.

And yes,

buyers that are new to the opportunity,

they get on Zillow and Zillow only puts

principal and interest, right?

And so do builders and so do other

people.

They only put principal and interest.

So it makes that look like, wow,

I'm paying two thousand dollars in rent.

I can go buy a three hundred fifty

thousand dollars house and it's only two

thousand dollars a month.

Why don't I do that?

Yeah.

You know,

because they're not including insurance

and taxes.

That's right.

Or HOA or some of the other things.

um promoting lower payment this is a great

easy strategy for lenders when they can

partner with a agent that has a home

for sale you can partner and promote a

payment that may be three four hundred

dollars less per month so when the buyer

sees it and then they see other homes

in the same community your house is three

to four hundred dollars less a month

That's a real easy do.

You only need about one to at most

one and a half percent of the sales

price and concessions to get there.

And you can easily get that first year

reduction.

So that's an easy thing.

Any lender on the planet can do it.

That's a conversation agents can have with

lenders on how to do that and partner.

And the last thing is insurance.

You can float a high-risk policy for the

first year if you have that risk tolerance

to get that premium down.

I've seen it happen.

Or what they'll do is they want the

full coverage, two percent.

Okay, great.

Then I'll do...

know a new roof coverage policy to get

my thing down to the debt to income

ratio and then it fits and then we

can come back and have the premium later

when the lender is no longer telling you

no so that's an easy fix to reduce

the insurance to close after closing you

can get it back up to where you're

comfortable

So I'm going to wrap that one up

because we already got four questions.

We covered a lot there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We got it.

I think we got it.

You know,

buyers don't live in the sales price.

They live in monthly payments.

I mean,

that's really what everything's around.

Right.

So we're going to focus on working

together to look for buyers real comfort

level areas and search criteria.

Get us there.

Question two,

what should happen when the buyer isn't

ready today?

And that's obviously a big issue right

now.

Agents spend a lot of time and money

creating opportunities.

We send someone to a lender,

find out they aren't ready yet.

And then too often that person disappears.

So there's the people that disappear when

you give it to the lender.

And then there's the people that are

looking for perfection or they just can't

swallow the payment or whatever it is.

What should a real lender partner do with

that buyer in the interim?

I mean, they should just walk away, right?

Yeah, they should quit.

You know what?

They're not ready.

I'm only working with people.

I'm looking for people that want to do

business right now, Sean.

I'm like,

why am I waiting around for someone that

doesn't want to move forward?

No, I mean,

at the end of the day,

this is where you have to have a

good follow-up strategy.

And that has to be in multiple touch

points, right?

You know,

those touch points can be by phone.

They can be by email.

They can be by text.

But you have to have a strategy to

do that.

If you get a great CRM,

that can help you with the strategy,

not just by doing outreach for you,

but also reminding you to do that outreach

yourself, right?

You can set yourself task reminders and

set yourself follow-up reminders that make

sure that you're getting in front of those

people.

And again,

we've talked about this on previous

episodes,

but our philosophy is touch the lead,

touch the partner.

So anytime that we're outreaching

We talk to both sides, right?

We talk to the client and we talk

to the partner and we let everybody know

what's going on and where they're at in

their process.

And a lot of the times we remind

them why they were excited about

purchasing a home in the first place,

right?

What was it that was the motivating factor

to move you into that price or that

desire, right?

To go through the pain, right?

Buying a house sucks.

That's it.

You know,

unless you're moving up to a dream home,

which is not certainly not everyone,

but buying a home is miserable.

It's hard.

It's a lot of work.

You got to get naked for the lender.

You got to drive around looking at houses

and half of them are garbage.

You don't want to have anything to do

with them.

And it's hard to always see yourself in

the home, you know,

and you grew up in a nice home

and you got to buy junk.

I mean,

it's hard to like process all this.

Like,

this is what I got to live with.

um you know and i think most of

us know not ready today does not mean

not a client that just means buyers need

a plan like you were talking about a

timeline and someone willing to stay in

touch and i'm going to say one other

thing every time even in transactions even

in non-transactions when i'm communicating

with with a client i want to always

have next step every time i get off

the phone okay if they said hey we

can't list right now great

What is our timeline?

What are we looking to accomplish?

They tell me and then I say, okay,

that's perfect.

I will check back on this date and

then I put it in my calendar.

And the CRM can manage all this for

you.

It does.

Absolutely.

So that's a thing for anyone and everyone

out there should always have.

What's the next step with that person?

And then whatever they say,

if they say six months,

you're going to follow up in three to

four months.

I'm telling you,

they had the desire to do it.

And the wind blows and everything changes.

And all of a sudden, man,

we got to move now.

And you're going to miss that window and

they're going to forget about you.

Absolutely.

You are.

And that happens so often.

You know,

I can't tell you how many times that,

you know,

I'll have something that's gone back

through a database and they're like, oh,

I missed them.

They told me they were going to do

something here.

And, you know,

I guess they closed a month ago.

Right.

So you're right on the money.

You have to make sure that if they

say six months,

I still say follow up at least monthly,

if not monthly, bimonthly.

Because again,

what's going to happen is you're going to

stay in contact.

When they are thinking about doing it

again,

they're going to remember you because

you're always there.

And if you've got good drip sequences that

are giving them tips about what they

should be thinking about while they're

waiting, those things just help as well.

Okay.

The next question we're going to talk

about is how can a lender help an

agent write a stronger offer?

Okay.

I know this market isn't as competitive,

but these are kind of like timeless things

that are relevant.

I get offers now that are just time

wasters.

Like they're just,

everyone's wasting all their time on the

buy side.

They don't waste much of my time because

they put the effort into putting all this

together,

making a plan and committing to an offer,

but they've completely missed what they're

trying to do.

And there's nothing in it that makes it

so that I'm compelled to work with them.

That's right.

And a lender can be a part of

the solution, right?

How can the lender help negotiate more

than just the interest rate?

When should the lender become involved in

structuring the offer?

And what can the lender do to make

the offer stronger without simply telling

the buyers to pay more?

Yeah.

Well,

I think there's a lot of different windows

of opportunity we can look at in here.

One of the key things,

and I think this one gets missed more

often than none,

is when the offer is put in,

I think that it's good practice,

as long as your agent wants you to

do this,

to outreach to the listing agent and let

them know, hey, by the way,

this is who I am.

I represent the client on the other side

of this contract.

And I just want to let you know

that we are fully qualified and that this

is a strong buyer.

And this is how we intend to get

to the closing table.

And I'll be in touch with you throughout

the process so that they know, hey,

not only do I have a strong client

that has giving us a good offer,

but there's a loan originator behind this

that intends to be there every step of

the way.

And that's not common.

There's not a lot of originators that are

outreaching to the listing agents.

They should be.

But they don't because the listing agent

is the one that's going to go,

where are we at?

Why haven't we heard from the lender?

And they're going to call you, Sean,

and they're going to go, hey,

what's your lender doing?

Do we have appraisal?

And this is a way that you can

save those steps,

give your realtor some of their time back,

and help them create a stronger offer.

You know,

another opportunity we've talked about,

and I think this is,

it works in different markets, right?

And it could work in this market.

It depends on what the motivation of the

seller is, but a close on time guarantee,

right?

With a very short window of time,

because there's some people that need to

move fast.

And if they know that not only are

you guaranteeing the closing,

but you're putting money behind that,

right to support that if you don't make

that deadline you're going to pay for your

mistakes as a lender i think this is

another way to put out a very strong

offer that the listing agent will say hey

this is different this is different than

what everybody else is doing and i also

got a call from the lender and he's

seems to be very straight up right

or she.

Yeah,

it helps building confidence that you've

got a complete package and ready to close.

It certainly is a big deal.

And there are circumstances that

Sellers need to know that.

I've moved to a new brokerage where we

guarantee the closing date and the net

that the seller will receive.

That's giving seller peace of mind in a

market where there's zero peace of mind.

I mean,

it is countless times that I have homes

that I see on the market.

They just sit there and nothing's

happening.

They'll sit there for six months,

nine months.

I met with a client the other day

and she had a house for fourteen months,

not one showing.

No feedback, nothing from the agent.

The agent disappeared for almost the

entire time.

They take the listing, they gamble.

Hopefully I get paid on it one day.

Hopefully the market will do all the work

for me and we'll just pray.

But outside of that,

I don't have anything.

I have no solutions.

I have no way to get it promoted.

I have no way to beat anyone.

I have no way to get it in

front of buyers.

And it's incredible.

The no plan plan that doesn't sell houses,

Sean.

Yeah, I tell you, it's incredible.

I mean, every one of mine,

I get twenty to thirty hits on all

my group posts and on next door and

all the things that I do.

I create a lot of energy.

I mean,

I've become an exclusive opportunity for

those buyers.

That's how I'm able to move them.

Well, I just wonder.

It's why you're selling houses.

That's why I can have a conversation with

you and have something to add, right?

That's right, a hundred percent.

And something to add for people out there

that need value, right?

Because this isn't directed just towards

consumers.

We've got agents that listen to this

podcast as well.

And, you know, they need to understand,

you know what,

there has to be some sort of urgency

and some sort of strategy

to help people feel confident in working

with you.

And Sean,

that's a big part of the reason why

we started the series, right?

Was to help those people and give them

the support and information that they need

to say, hey, you know what?

I can do better, right?

I can do better.

I can get better at what I do

so that I can actually provide a better

service to the people that I serve.

And that in turn will help you.

It's going to help grow your business.

So let's keep moving, man.

Let's get, we're at twenty minutes.

So these things move fast.

And ninety percent of the tips and things

I share with people,

things that they can do.

You know, like giving someone next step,

anybody can do that.

They may not be able to make the

guarantees and do all the other things,

the magic tricks that they can do certain

things and anyone can do it.

That's wrong.

So here's the kill.

The key thing there,

the best offer is not always the offer

with the highest price.

OK,

so sellers are looking for peace of mind.

It's the same thing.

Buyers are looking for peace of mind.

They want to know that we've got an

offer that's going to commit to closing

because very often right now when buyers

don't have to buy today,

they can jump on a whim and not

feel a hundred percent on the house.

There are so many canceled contracts now.

It's really, really high.

because, you know,

they just they just don't have to move.

I mean, they're like,

I don't want that interest rate and I

don't want a house that I'm not totally

comfortable with.

And they're and they're not focused on

anything else.

But certainly communication,

financing structure and the buyer's net

monthly costs can all matter

and make the biggest difference for them.

So I'm going to go to the next

one just so we can push this.

Let's do it.

So this one's fun because this one's

really close to home for me because I've

partnered with lenders for many years,

lots of different lenders.

And I've had them sponsor events.

I've had them do the normal co-marketing,

right?

Where we both have split costs into some

type of marketing campaign together.

We've done open houses together.

There are a lot of things that I

put together.

So the question is,

where is the line between a true

partnership and a RESPA problem?

We're going to get into some fun stuff,

right?

Where Devin can't,

I can't do a loan for me and

say, hey, by the way,

here's five thousand bucks.

Thanks.

Probably going to have a problem with

that, right?

So I was going to say,

you tell me I can't just write you

a check, Sean, when you bring me business.

Yeah.

About twenty five years ago, you could,

but we could you could in the market

changing for good reason.

Right.

There was so much fraud that was taking

place in this industry that it was

creating issues.

I got a little guy back here that

is asking for some support.

So give me one second.

OK, sure.

So, yes, you can't write checks, right?

But there are partnership agreements,

as you mentioned,

where somebody does a certain task and

effectively there can be some guarantees

where some of the shared marketing

expenses can take place.

You have other options.

One of the things that we offer as

a lender for the right partner is the

potential of a business development

representative relationship.

We actually hire our agents and ultimately

compensate them for business that they

bring into the company.

So there are opportunities in there,

but there's also gray areas in there.

And you've got to make sure that you

talk to your compliance departments and

that you do the outreach to confirm that

what you're doing is not going to get

you in hot water and also not get

your partner in hot water.

Because at the end of the day,

A great partnership means that we're

looking out for each other.

And even if we want to find a

way to compensate one another for our

efforts together,

we've got to make sure that we're doing

it in a fashion that's not going to

put us out of business if the wrong

person comes along and says, look,

this is illegal.

What you're doing isn't right.

So I think that's a loaded question, Sean.

Yeah.

At the end of the day,

there's a lot of ways to support each

other.

What do you look for, right,

as an agent?

What do you look for?

I think, you know,

and I tell them up front,

whatever I am,

I'm in a particular different place

because I podcast.

Right.

And I do a lot of training events

and I do things that are way above

and beyond the way that agency approaches

traditional real estate.

Their view is I just want someone to

give me leads,

which isn't going to happen.

Generally,

lenders aren't really good for that space.

They get some,

but that's not a business building model.

for ninety nine percent of them.

I know there are certain lenders that have

found a way to tackle that and bring

leads to agents,

but it's incredibly expensive for lenders.

And it's generally not as profitable for

anyone because they would have to really

cut pretty hard on it to make it

work.

Getting leads from lenders is a problem.

For me,

I'm looking for people that will sponsor

in all these different things.

I do so many events, so many podcasts,

so many co-marketing opportunities.

If I'm looking for a lender partner,

I'm probably looking at bringing one

in-house and there are ways to bring them

in-house and strategies in order for them

to effectively be able to offer things

that that they can't offer outside of not

being in-house.

And that's a complicated legal position,

right?

I would actually set up an LLC,

create my own lender brand,

and then I would run it internally.

And that's not, and you're asking me,

that's what I would end up doing.

I know that's not for everyone.

It isn't.

Because there's a lot of steps there.

The reason why, Devin,

I want to do that,

and this is the main reason, right?

Because I've joined,

I made a big difference when I made

the move and I stopped being a commodity

and I started being a,

the consumer first.

And the consumer will benefit because when

I do an in-house loan,

is he wanting to say hi?

Yeah, I'm sorry.

He's got to use the restroom.

So I got to get in.

We'll have to get through these next

questions fairly quick,

but I think he's going to go on

his own.

Okay.

Um, I was talking about, uh,

bringing an in-house lender allows me to

be consumer first in the sense that I'm

going to give them a loan term that

they can't get with anyone else because

I'm going to have some internal benefits

on the way that it's going to work.

And I can take all the profitability that

I could make,

and I can apply it to give them

outrageously low interest rates.

And I'm going to do that on my

house.

Right.

So there's some really clever,

complicated way to work out.

That's well above and beyond what the

traditional agents doing.

And we can't go too far into that

because I got to kind of move this.

How should agents measure whether a lender

is actually making them more money?

So that's kind of the thing.

What are we measuring?

What are we tracking?

You measure what you treasure.

I'm sure you've heard that.

You got to go.

I'm sorry, man.

I hate to do this,

but I'm having a bathroom emergency on the

other side of this thing.

And this is something I got to go

get taken care of right now.

I don't know if you want to sit

tight.

I'll be right back.

Look at that.

We're live.

I love this.

This makes everything more exciting.

So I do a lot of podcasting,

so talking on the camera is not a

big issue for me,

but I'll talk a little bit about where

you can create a,

and this is high level stuff, right?

You have to generate a solid sixty to

a hundred transactions,

buyer transactions a month to be able to

sufficiently set up a separate P&L and

company to work in-house and have your own

in-house lending.

I'm working on setting that up right now

because I'm generating enough

opportunities where we're going to be able

to actually have that.

And it's not that I'm going to set

up the Sean Corbett lender.

It's going to be under the umbrella of

a major lender brand.

And that is going to give me leverage

because now all the opportunity and

savings is I can now add a value

proposition to buyers.

that are looking at my homes and they

see homes and neighborhoods,

now I can legitimately offer them as much

as one percent less a month on their

interest rate.

So it's one more power stack value

proposition that I can offer directly to

buyers.

So this this is high level stuff.

I'm not trying to share it in a

way that, you know,

anybody can jump in and do that.

But

You know,

I got free time to talk so I

can talk about some strategies that will

definitely take us beyond, you know,

the traditional, you know,

we both have a Zillow partnership

together.

We share leads on realtor.com.

We share costs and postcards and campaigns

like that.

And there's nothing wrong with all those

things.

But I'm going to tell you agents out

there.

There is no reason why any of your

marketing campaigns that do cost

significant money,

you can't have partnerships with title

lending or someone else that can make

contributions to whatever marketing you

do.

That's an easy one.

I see people do the postcards.

I see people do the coming soon and

the just listed and all the other things.

You can share that cost with lenders.

Those are easy ones.

Lenders want to be a part of it.

They're going to show up on the postcard.

They're going to show up on it.

together so that way they can get a

little bit of promotional and why not

you're not you know it's like having a

lender at an open house you're not

competitors you're they're only going to

you're only supporting each other we're

trying to chase the same business

simultaneous that's why it's better to

have a lender or a title partner at

an open house than maybe another agent so

just some thoughts there um but i'll

finish i'll wrap that one up we'll go

and then we'll go to the measure one

Yeah, and sorry.

Obviously, guys,

this truly is a live stream,

if you were questioning, and duty calls.

So let's keep this thing going, Sean.

That's okay.

Hey,

I threw some power-packed thoughts for

everyone.

I think you did,

because I see some comments popping up

over here.

Somebody said, I like the house idea.

So we're definitely getting some

communication over here.

But let me wrap this one up.

A partnership should make both businesses

better, but it still has to be legal,

right?

And there are a lot of things you've

got to do to make sure you have

that.

Like when I'm selling a house and I

post a interest rate or I post a

mortgage payment,

which is what lenders don't like to do

because there's so much legality behind it

because it has a lot to do with

qualifying.

There are specific language and things you

have to use as part of that process.

And I saw someone else doing it is

not a compliance strategy.

uh just fyi well you know what they

did it you know that doesn't hold up

in court

Yeah,

they were selling insurance and lending

and title and all of them were throwing

them some money.

I don't know why can't I'll do that

too.

I mean,

that's not really going to be good for

anyone and everyone's going to lose their

license if they do that.

All right, let's go to the last question.

How should an agent measure whether a

lender is actually making them more money?

You know,

let's finish with accountability, right?

Okay.

You know,

you've heard the term you measure what you

treasure or you treasure what you measure

either way.

That's right.

So if you measure it,

then we're going to start having my past

lender converted to

Twenty percent of the things I sent him,

that's that's my standard at this point.

I would like to get closer to forty

percent.

Right.

I'm just giving an easy example.

Absolutely.

Lenders often tell agents they're,

you know,

they're going to provide great service.

They're all going to say the same thing.

Oh, everybody loves me.

I'm going to talk all the way through.

I'm always going to close on time.

I'm going to communicate.

I want a partnership.

I want partners.

But what should an agent actually measure

to determine whether that is true?

You know,

I think that's a tough question to answer,

but I think the key thing is what

you talked about, which is, you know,

are they converting, you know,

and effectively,

how are they measuring that on their end

as well?

You know,

we measure it all through our CRM,

and I've talked to you about this with

you before.

You know,

we've got a shared portal for our agents

so they can actually see the communication

points that we're having with the clients.

So if the agent wants to come in

and see, you know, hey,

I've given them X amount of leads,

where do those leads stand?

Are they actually communicating with those

people?

They can see that, right?

They can see it real time.

And then the standout question is,

is how many leads did I give them?

And did they convert and end up in

closed and funded deals?

And, you know, again,

I think you nailed it with a measurement.

Twenty percent is a good benchmark, right?

We look for a minimum of twenty five.

That's what we want to do is we

want to do a minimum of twenty five

percent with an agent that we're working

with.

That's the expectation that we have on our

end.

uh to to confirm if it's a valued

relationship for us as well forty percent

would be magical right uh and i don't

know that i see that often uh but

at the end of the day um you

know twenty to twenty five percent i think

shows that you've got a good partnership

and that people are actually doing it and

then i think it's are they making good

on their promises are they doing the

things that they're saying that they're

going to do

What's the client experience look like?

At the end of the transaction,

does the client give a five-star review?

Does the loan officer actually make sure

that they transition them over to your

Google page and say, hey,

let's get that five-star review for Sean

too, right?

Are they doing...

uh you know uplifts of their their agents

you know making sure that when those those

clients are coming to them uh they're

telling them hey you know by the way

you did a great job in picking sean

sean is one of the best agents i've

seen in the city if i was going

to sell my house i'd use sean too

right you're an amazing hands and i think

You know,

these are all the different things that

really build a true partnership, right?

Is making sure that we're on the same

page.

Are we communicating?

You know,

are we making sure that we're having these

councils when we have that client that

isn't qualifying for some reason or needs

the payments to be improved because

they're scared about the payment?

How does that look, right?

Are we having these type of conversations?

And if we are and we're closing on

time and we're meeting those percentages,

then at the end of the day,

I think that's how I would measure it.

That's fun.

I like this.

You know, it's funny.

I throw out numbers.

I've done this for so long that I'm

generally spot on with my guesses on these

things.

I would have never even,

I've never even looked at that number.

But it's funny that the conversion rate

is, and that just seemed roughly,

that would probably be what it would be.

Because I know that, you know,

I go through, you know, I probably get,

you know,

three to five opportunities a week.

That's right.

You know, Devin, I'm different.

I qualify them myself a lot of times.

We've had this conversation.

Yeah.

I mean,

and it's not because I don't trust the

lender, but, you know, the buyer,

I ask them basic things.

And if I know that we're not even

close, why waste everyone's time, right?

Why pay for the cost of a credit

report?

Why, why hard pool?

Why do any of that when their DTI

is not even close or, you know,

and I think agents should be educated on

at least some basic things with lending.

That's something that no one is.

You know,

lenders always want to take control of all

that.

But if I'm a good, experienced agent,

why should I not know what DTI is?

Why should I not look at, you know,

their income?

And I realize there's things outside of

that that you can qualify them.

But sometimes it's just basic credit

score.

DTI is probably eighty percent of it.

You know,

it's funny you mentioned that we actually

have a class that we teach on that

and we typically teach it to new agents.

Right.

And it's basically you've got somebody

that's new to the industry.

They're coming in.

They're trying to figure it out.

You know, I've heard this so many times.

Well, if they're not doing business,

I'm not going to take my time to

work with them, you know.

I think that's exactly the wrong way to

look at it.

If I can help somebody come up in

the industry and give them some value and

help them early on as they're starting to

build their process and learn more about

how real estate works,

we're going to build a long-term lasting

partnership.

And so we actually have an educational

course where we sit down and we talk

to them about what to look for when

you're out there working with your

clients.

And we talk a little bit about FHA

and we talk a little bit about VA

and

USDA.

And we talk about, you know,

all the things that our underwriters are

really looking for.

So they understand when that loan crosses

that threshold, you know,

what we're doing on the back end is

a lender, right?

That's what the course is about is it's

helping them understand the lending side

of the process so that when they're out

there communicating with their clients and

something happens,

they can come back and have that

conversation and have a clear

understanding.

So but you're right.

I don't think everybody understands that.

And I think that goes back to how

do I know that I have a valuable

partner?

Is my partner providing education for me?

Right.

And if I'm a broker and I'm busy

and I've got a lot of agents in

my agency,

are they helping educate the agents that

work inside of my brokerage as well,

right?

Are they providing me that type of value?

I got to,

and I love that because I've had lenders

come into my office all the time,

teaching and training agents,

stuff like that.

I think that's a value add for sure.

I think that's additional, hey,

we're here to support not only closing

loans, of course,

but to educate you on things that will

make it easier for you in the entire

process and become more educated.

Knowing how lending works,

I think is a really valuable asset to

agents.

They're not really qualifying them,

but you know when you're going into a

situation where nobody's going to win.

And we all need more time, right?

But let me drop a bomb.

This is incredible.

I get ideas all the time,

and I just had a bomb idea.

What if after closing and funding,

the lender posted a social media post

about what a rock star that agent was?

No question.

Loyalty uplift.

I've never seen that.

But even if their experience was bad...

You can still write a positive review.

That's right.

I mean,

agents are thirsty for other people to say

they're doing good.

They all promote themselves great,

but nobody cares.

Nobody wants to hear you promote yourself.

Nope.

But if I had my lenders say, wow,

what a rock star.

We had some challenges.

Here's a couple of things that came up,

things that you could share and say, wow,

they were able to work through that.

Even just something specific in the

transaction is so that it's a legitimate

kind of post.

But that would be an easy thing.

If you could spend the five minutes after

closing and funding and do that,

you think that agent would want to work

with you again?

Or do you think that even if it

didn't go well, I mean,

things are negative and we are surrounded

by negativity,

but that would be just a bomb of

easy, easy, easy.

And all agents are on all social media.

That's right.

Copy and paste it and put it on

Instagram, put it on LinkedIn,

put it on Facebook.

It's super easy.

It takes no time.

But that's the last thing that I have

there.

So I'm going to close this out on

this one.

You cannot improve a partnership that

nobody measures.

So we've got to have some type of

standard of what we're looking to improve

together.

A lender does not make an agent more

money merely because they are friendly.

Attend the agent's events or occasionally

buy lunch.

You know, those are all wonderful things,

but that isn't going to make us money.

That's just us, you know, shooting,

talking about sports.

The partnership should create measurable

results, right?

So I'm going to close this out,

if that's okay with you, Devin.

Let's do it.

Yeah, do it, Sean.

Take the mic.

So here's the question I would leave with

every agent.

Can you clearly explain how your lender

helps you create, convert,

or close more business?

If the answer is they only answer the

phone and get loans closed,

then maybe a competent lender.

But that's not necessarily a business

partner.

Just being competent is just closing

transactions.

And it's good.

I kind of feel like that should be

step one.

A real lender partner should help you with

building a workable payment strategy with

any of your co-marketing and things like

that.

Convert buyers who are not ready yet.

Let's get them set up and closed in

the future.

They should structure stronger offers.

Those are things that they can do.

Protect the client and the agent.

You know, agents make mistakes.

Let's have somebody in our corner to say,

hey,

I know they're going to stay in this

for the long run.

They want you to have success.

Operate within the rules, of course,

and produce results that you can actually

measure.

That is how a lender helps an agent

make more money.

Amen.

Amen to all of that.

And what a great series that this has

been.

We appreciate those of you that have been

coming back every single week and leveling

up and educating yourself to get better.

Because that's what this podcast is about.

That's why Sean and I started it.

We want to help people find that way

to...

business, right?

To, to, to improving their strategies.

So, uh,

thank you guys so much for joining us

and thank you for the speed bumps that

we had today.

This is a live show.

So, uh, you know what,

we've got kids in the bathroom that are

background that need to use the bathroom.

We're going to take those breaks and make

that happen.

But, uh,

I think next week, Sean,

we're going to turn it back around and

we'll bring the topic to you guys later

this week.

So just be on the lookout and make

sure you keep coming back.

We're going to be here every single Friday

at ten a.m.

Central.

Until the next time.

Great to see you.

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