 Hey guys, I'm Ken Ross here. I'm a business consultant that specializes in reducing costs for businesses By looking at their essential expenses and today as you can see I'm at the local Starbucks here getting ready to meet with a good friend of mine His name is Emmanuel Blakemore and we're gonna continue this financial time series. So well guys here's Emmanuel Like I said, this is my friend here says here on your card Mortgage advisor, tell me a little bit about your background how you got to be a mortgage advisor You know your education and things for sure So I went to Stetson University up in the land, Florida right by Orlando, Florida Played football there division one football for us Stetson. They brought back their division one team in 2013 So it was actually a new fresh program got to help build up that program and you know meet a lot of nice people at Stetson and then after graduating from Stetson, I Wanted to go into some type of business field with my business degree and I felt like Finance was a great field and I felt like mortgages was a great opportunity Especially the fine the way the financial market was when I was graduating. Yeah in the housing market. Yeah, even more You know, it was a great opportunity. So I got an interview In a company in Miami in Brickle. It was in the Brickle Arch. So wow, okay I came down in the middle of my senior year. I drove down to Miami for the interview after doing the phone interview You know brought my girlfriend along. We stayed in the hotel. I was able to actually ace that interview Nice couple rounds and then you know, they gave me the call and I came back up to the land and said yeah You got you have the position. I accepted the position and I Graduated came down to Miami where the Brickle the Brickle Arch for a while and Went through a couple things with that company and my license finally it went to a brokerage where I'm still currently working We've been working with the same Branch, but we've transferred to a bank now Okay, Pacific mortgage, you know Powered by preferred rate. I know a little bit about Brickle. I've actually done some work on some other channels, too Brickle is quite a big area for business a lot of banks there Let's set you apart from your competition Big thing I mean especially with me is how I like to treat my clients a lot of the time It's churning churn out with these bigger, you know banks But we're a top-ten lender and I like to sit down and be an advisor, right? Like my car sets is a mortgage advisor. Yes, not a mortgage salesman I'm not a mortgage and that door-to-door guy I'm a guy that wants to advise you on how to create the successful roadmap to your dream of ownership Right, and that is the key to getting relationship business referral business A lot of people purchase a lot of leads. They're going out and they're purchasing a lot of Advertisement and advertising Facebook marketing stuff like that. I don't spend anything on that real what I do is I create Relationships with guys like yourself realtor You know professionals industry do well by them help them build their business and they help me in return You know as well as helping my clients. They also refer me a lot of business as well because when you do well by them When you save them money, they want the same treatment for their loved ones and their friends That's that's a really good sake way honestly because you said when you save the money. I love to save money I really do so I can't resist asking you this question about this review. I saw and I'm gonna make sure I get it Right, so I saw it on here. I read it says Clint Clear to close in 11 business days with over $27,000 in savings and nearly a full percent better on the rate How are you able to find these kind of savings? This is something that I feel like my audience given that I'm a cost reduction guy Yeah, it's something that they'll want to know for sure for sure. That was actually a funny funny loan That was it came from Bank of America Bank of America. They couldn't do it Also going with a cross-country mortgage for a while to his satisfaction. So My realtor was actually the listing agent on that property Okay, not the buyer's agent, but she got it convinced the realtor that was the buyer's agent to Give their client to me because she knew that I can handle those those clients I can handle those deals that she knew I could get it closed So that's another you know example of how creating a relationship with that realtor that referral partner brings me business, you know, I don't know that buyers agent I know that client what we had to do is Renegotiate the contract which a lot of loan officers don't know how to do they might know how to do finance They might not do then type in loans, but negotiating the contract is the first part now It's the agent's job But it's also you in the background knowing how the numbers work and how to get the deal done Coaching them on how to get the the right concessions how to get the right down payment You know the right loan type for that client and that leads to a lot of savings for them Yeah leads to a you know 20k in savings. We went back renegotiate the contract I've added a couple addendums to there that both parties agreed to and We restructured is his loan So we were able to save him 20k in closing costs. We were able to reduce his rate by almost a percentage Yes, you know and you know, we got we caught that long day window So I said, you know, I don't even need the 20 days. Let's close it in 11 Only did you save money, but you save time and clearly that's something for the average consumer for somebody like myself If I tried to do what you did it would take me much longer I probably wouldn't find as much in savings and I certainly wouldn't be as happy as I'm sure your client was in this particular instance because you navigated them through this whole process Definitely, you know, if you go out and you do something by yourself and you're not with a trusted advisor It's hard first of all to even get financing without getting someone to pay that loan, right? You don't want to just go straight to an underwriter or go to a hard money guy That's just gonna throw you alone, but you don't know how the system works You don't know that every few months, Benny and Freddie are coming out with new laws new regulations new ways that they're Scoring you new long-level price adjustments. We just had a new low-level price adjustment come out this month where You know, I'm sure you've heard about it where they're saying, you know higher credit scores are getting penalized Right, right everybody everybody. Yeah, everybody has taken that excuse me as this welfare type of program these things have existed You know in the market already. It's just adjustments, right exactly just adjustments Changes, but you have to have someone in the industry that's knowledgeable about the industry to make sure that they you know to prepare for those changes to prepare for the different things that are being Talked about within the Fannie and Freddie regulations within even non QM regulations So that way you're getting the best mortgage product because Every loan has to be tailored to that client not every loan is for everybody, right? There's a three-year to five-year window where typically you hold the loan No one really holds it for 30 years and you have to plan for that three to five years for that client for their family for what they Won't they see the future of that property being you got to have something someone and somebody that has the resources to get those special loan products and someone that's going to be able to teach you and Explain them to you in a way that you understand so that way you don't feel like you're in a limbo when going through the loan process Could be a lot of sleepless nights if you don't do it right it's a stressful process, man I had I never knock anybody for getting stressed out within the process I 100% get it sometimes. It's the biggest purchase of their life. Absolutely. Of course you want everything to be Simple for you so that way you can feel safe and secure and that you're making the right decision Kind of last question here What would you say is kind of the state of lending right now because if you look at what I do? I work with a lot of business owners a lot of business owners have properties They leverage those properties. It's important that banks are in good spots and Lending as far as being able to buy a home or even float alone for certain things is important So what what would you say are some of the highlights of the state of lending right now? See it really depends on you know, what you're lending on when it comes to residential real property It's a little bit easier to get funding because we're talking about property that a lot of people are going to be Living in so it's a safe investment for banks, right? You're not going anywhere if you live there We know where you are and if you aren't gonna pay us we're gonna foreclose on the property They're like it doesn't matter either way but When it comes to investment property things are getting tighter, especially with construction projects, you know Because a lot of them are banks are seeing that as a risky Moral risk, right? Yeah, it's definitely more of a risk You have a lot more stuff that has to go in you got permitting got zoning you got the bill You got the scope of work. You got to make sure the GC is on time with everything so that way you fit into that Construction loan term. There's a lot of stuff that goes into that on top of the fact You got to make sure that you're coming out with the right ARB after construction All that is in limbo until the property is uncompleted and rented out or sold and that's with the exit for the loan So Especially investment property more so commercial properties getting hit very hard right now Lending is very tight right now commercial properties based off the NOI and that operating income and the way that Rates are right now, you know Invests commercial properties based off the prime rate. It's very high right now I think it's about eight percent So when you're putting a margin on that it's just throwing off the numbers with NOI and the income of the property which makes it Not as appetizing to a lot of lenders now, of course the big banks in the big Relationships they're gonna keep getting their money. They're gonna keep doing business Blackstone all of them They're gonna as many properties as they want, right? But usually we're not talking to those types of people That's that's why that's why I'm talking to you, right? Exactly, man. We're not talking to those that so, you know credit unions those smaller mid-sized small banks They're hurting right now because they have to keep their pockets tight So they don't run into the falls like we saw over the weekend Right, you know, that's something that we don't want to see again and that a bank doesn't want to see for their shareholders So it makes sense that they don't want to put too much money out If they're not sure about the money that they're holding internally and the notes that they're holding in turn People are shying away from buying homes. Is that also causing a lot of stress because you know You see people they don't really want to buy a new home unless they really have to right They don't want to move if we have to if we don't have to that this that effect Yeah, right now Yeah, I mean it affects lending as far as the competition The man isn't as high as it previously was okay, so you have a lot more competition with within a group of lenders, right? So now banks are competing with brokers are competing with the credit unions which are competing with the big depository institutions Everyone wants a slice of a very, you know small pie So it's you know real the people that are doing those they're getting undercut by the next guys Just so that they can originate loans. So some people You know right now aren't making money off the loans. They originate some some people You know some banks I should say aren't making any type of money off. They're actually losing money for the ones They're right and I think you mentioned this when we were getting coffee here There's some banks that are giving people money just to close right just to close You know that's that instead of you know, we do good business. We get you the best loan possible You should do business with us is oh, we'll give you $3,000 or we get $5,000. Please work with us You know, we'll just make it up in the end, right? So they don't they don't the average a lender right now is losing $350 plus on the on the loans they originate prior to this year. They were making about 25 to 2600 off each loan that they are really so That's why a lot of independent mortgage companies and independent mortgage banks are Losing money at every quarter Q4 of last year almost all of the independent mortgage makes we're losing money Okay, you know, everybody's operating in the red and just trying to get by so it really really pushing people and pushing lenders to To give a lot they're bleeding themselves just to get by and get to the next quarter right now. Okay Well, I've really had a great time here asking you some questions Where can we find you if people want to reach out to you? My socials are Emanuel Blakemore underscore, you know first name last name no peers or anything like that. Okay You check me out on my website www.blakemoremortgages.com Okay, you know if you need to reach out to me directly my number is 717-829-8308 And you know, if you know anybody that's looking to buy sell refinance, you know Consultations are free talk to a professional talk to someone that is knowledgeable about the industry Don't talk to your uncle that bought a house in the night, right? Or you know, you're great on that swore She did real estate that ten years ago and knows what's going on in the market now, right? Well, and it's important that people realize this right night I've tried tried to train my audience or I tried to at least explain to my own it's having good partners that are Understanding of a market where you could ask them a question like we could sit down here and have a coffee and you tell me about What it is, you know, what it is that you do and in the state of lending That's something that you can't replace you can't just find that on the internet somewhere You can't just ask your uncle who's not in the industry like you were saying and and get the right answer or get a clearer picture of it And so that's that's why I do this. Thank you for inviting me and being a part of it. You're gonna grow Hey, well, I'm doing I'm doing my part, right? I'm doing my part You can say what you want, but I don't I don't I don't I don't claim to Have any other knowledge other than a than a desire and a passion to want to see Good people Excelling what they do and then that's something that I see in you and in all the people that I'm out to serve too So I want to be be a sharer rather than a taker, right? That's the way to succeed Well, this has been Financial times right I feel like financial services is important something that all people need to be a part of and I will continue The series on my channel with more people like Emmanuel and thank you for your time today