Robin Wright from Silverton Mortgage

Speaker1: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Woodstock, Georgia, this is Woodstock proud, spotlighting the individuals, businesses and organizations that make Woodstock one of the premiere destinations in metro Atlanta to live, work and play. Now, here’s your host.

Speaker2: [00:00:28] Hello and welcome to Woodstock, proud here on Business RadioX, I’m your host, Jim Bulger, and if you’ve been with us before, it’s great to have you back again. If you’re joining us for the first time, we appreciate you spending a few minutes with us as we get better acquainted with some of the individuals and businesses and organizations that are making a daily difference here in the Woodstock community. Today’s guest is Robin Wright, another proud resident of Woodstock and a mortgage loan originator with Silverton Mortgage. Now, Robin is also one of the most active and effective business networkers in the Woodstock area. And we’re going to talk to Robin about the current mortgage landscape and a little later, get his thoughts about how networking can really make a difference in your business. So, Robin, welcome to Woodstock. Proud.

Speaker3: [00:01:18] Well, thank you very much for having me. I’m really glad to be here. Looking forward to it.

Speaker2: [00:01:21] Now, also joining Robin and me in the studio today is Stone Payton, the managing partner of Business RadioX and Stone. The reason I’m so glad you’re sitting in is that, first off, he recently opened this new Business RadioX studio here in Woodstock and just a few months ago also became one of our newest neighbors when you and your wife bought a home here in Woodstock. Plus, you’re another proven relationship builder who recently has gotten very active in many of the networking opportunities in the area. So Stone, so glad to have you sitting in.

Speaker4: [00:01:57] Well, thanks for inviting me to play. Man, I’ve really been looking forward to this one.

Speaker2: [00:02:01] Now we’re going to have a good time. So, Robin, let’s let’s start talking about home mortgages. I mean, as we sit here in June of 2021, we’re in an amazing time for home purchases here in the Woodstock area and really throughout Cherokee County. But over the past few months, I mean, Woodstock has enjoyed some impressive and exciting array of awards as Money magazine’s number 17 best place to live in the U.S. Home magazine just a couple of months ago, named as the third best suburb to move to in the U.S.. Yep. And people are starting to discover what we’ve known for a long time, and that’s at Woodstock is a great place to live. Yet housing prices remain affordable, mortgage rates have remained low, but with all this new attention, I’m hearing, a lot of people say that homes are only on the market for a few days and there’s a lot of action going on. So you spent over 20 years in the mortgage business. How does this compare to what you’ve seen in the past?

Speaker3: [00:03:06] It’s a very good question. This this is something that we’ve a market that we’ve never seen before. And there’s a lot of variables that that are attribute that are attributed to it. You know, one of them being what you mentioned, there’s, you know, with yet with covid a lot of folks. Found out because the technology and the way that their jobs are working, that they could work remotely from home. Sure. And be just as productive as they always have been. So their employers have also realized that and as a result, there are a lot of folks that maybe had previously lived in possibly more expensive areas of the country that see the opportunity that exist to to move to such a vibrant place. I mean, we’ve got, you know, some of the best fire employees in the state, you know, a great school system throughout the county and and everything else that Woodstock brings from a business and a personal perspective. Great trails, the arts concert series. The list goes on and on and on. So people see these things and and with rates being as low as they are on mortgages, even though inventory is low, it’s really still a great time to to to buy for those people who are relocating or or possibly moving up or moving down, depending on what’s going on with their families. But in regards to the level of inventory that we’re seeing on the market, it is fairly and I hate to use the word unprecedented because we’ve heard it so much over the last little while.

Speaker3: [00:04:41] But homes are seeing multiple offers, oftentimes over list we’re having to and working with our real estate partners. We’re having to, you know, find creative ways to have these buyers win offers. We’re seeing some some some really interesting tactics when it comes to negotiating contracts. I actually, you know, have a transaction. It’s in Florida. It’s not it’s not a Woodstock deal. But I’ve got a Florida deal that that I boarded yesterday that in order for them to win, they had to do a 10 day due diligence and waive every other contingency. So no appraisal contingency, no financing contingency in the financing contingency was fine because we already had them fully approved and we could talk about that. But, you know, when a seller puts a house on, it seems and I’m not a real estate realtor, you know, I don’t hold a realtor’s license. But based on what I’m seeing in the current market, it you know, if a buyer wants to win an offer, they definitely need to be prepared. And sellers are are usually seeing multiple offers in most instances with a lot of cases where they’re seeing offers over list, which is something that is is not typical in any fashion.

Speaker2: [00:05:57] So for someone who’s looking to buy a home. Knowing that they have to move fast in this market because the homes are only on the market for a few days. What are some of the steps they can take to ensure that they can secure a mortgage loan quickly?

Speaker3: [00:06:15] I would suggest that my my dad was a big fan of he had a saying it was the five P’s, which is prior planning prevents poor performance. So I would I would suggest that I would suggest that any potential buyer be extremely prepared in this environment. It’s kind of a joke in my house is kind of funny and a little bit I guess it relates, but it’s kind of a joke in my house that I could almost set my clock to every Friday between five and seven p.m., where I’ll get a call from someone that says, hey, the perfect house just hit the market. I know I’ve never talked to you before, but I need a letter in 15 minutes so I can make an offer, OK? And and, you know, I love that. I’m glad that they’re calling. I appreciate the person that told them about me and I appreciate the opportunity. I’m certainly not not pooh poohing that, you know, but at the end of the day, when it comes to purchasing what is largely probably going to be an individual’s largest asset in their lifetime, being extremely prepared is not a bad idea. So, you know, there are some things that an individual could do to be prepared and even to stand out from other buyers in this marketplace one way. Well, let’s say, for example, the typical real estate contract will have three different contingency periods, right? It’ll have a due diligence period where an individual can wake up in the middle of the night and say, I don’t like that shade of blue in the bathroom and I’m going to cancel the contract and they walk away and they get their earnest money back. Right. And then you’ve got a financing contingency and then you have an appraisal contingency.

Speaker3: [00:07:43] You know, the appraisal contingency is there to protect the buyer in case the house doesn’t appraise for the purchase price because the lender is only going to lend on the lesser of the purchase price of the appraisal. So that’s there to protect them in case the house appraises for less than the agreed upon purchase price. And then you have the financing contingency, which is there in place to protect the buyer in an instance where something happens and their loan gets denied, then they get their earnest money back. OK, so one thing that an individual could do is get fully approved for their mortgage in regards to fully vetting their income and assets and employment and, you know, credit and all the back office, IRS reports and everything that we have to pull to comply with all the federal regulations and whatnot, get all that stuff done on the front end. Right. And then be able to make an offer without a financing contingency. So if a seller is looking at three different offers and let’s say there’s static in regards to purchase price and closing costs and everything else, the numbers are the same. But they’ve got one person that’s got a generic prequel letter from ABC Mortgage. And then you’ve got, you know, a preapproval from a loan officer at, you know, X, Y, Z mortgage. And then you’ve got a letter from Silverton that says, we have fully vetted this borrower. And, you know, if we can close this loan in 14 days, if you go under contract and all we need is an appraisal, a title, reverify your employment and get a homeowner’s insurance policy that separates that buyer from other buyers in the market.

Speaker2: [00:09:20] Well, and don’t you have some special programs at Silverton, too, where someone can get a lot of the preliminary qualifying done even before they’ve decided on a home?

Speaker3: [00:09:30] Exactly. We actually have a program. And, you know, a lot of lenders do it, you know, but it’s something that we really specialize in is what we call our Silverton Secure Plus. And it’s really neat because, you know, it takes a lot of resources from an operational standpoint to underwrite and process a loan. OK, I mean, you’ve got we’ve got underwriters that, you know, are working 12, 14 hour days in this environment. You know, I mean, they’re just constantly cranking out files, processing and operations. I mean, there’s a lot of back office stuff that happens with the mortgage, much as like everybody and all the commercials that you might see on TV might lead you to believe it’s not as simple as just pressing a button. But that being said, you know, Silverton is because we truly value our our our realtor partners and our relationships with our clients. We have made a promise and we have developed a program. And it was around Silverton long before I joined Silverton, you know, clearly. But it’s the secure plus. And what it allows us to do is before a client has identified a property, we will fully vet them, will send out the state and federal disclosures. We will gather all their income and asset documentation, pull all the back office report, spend all the money, have an underwriter underwrite the file and then say, Mr. Borrower, Mrs. Borrower, this is what you’re good for. And and then we will guarantee a two week close in that scenario. And if we miss that close date, then we will pay the buyer and the seller a thousand dollars.

Speaker2: [00:11:04] Wow. OK. Helstone, you just went through this process a couple of months ago.

Speaker4: [00:11:10] Well, I did, and I feel so blessed that the realtor that we had and her name is Jill Heinicke and she’s a she’s a Business RadioX client as well. So I had a relationship with her and her show is on customer experience. So she takes that very seriously. Right. And she was so great at getting us connected with someone in the mortgage business that helped us think through all this. And we did very I think we did something very similar to what you’re describing right out of the box. And in this environment, we wanted to separate ourselves. We did not have enough cash to just go buy the house outright. We needed to sell our house eventually. But we had the assets and the credit that where we could borrow enough cash. And then we’re in the process right now and in the last little bit of recasting the loan. But all of that stuff was taken care. I don’t know. We didn’t understand half of it. And we were OK because we trusted Jill and we trusted the person to Jill got us connected with. But you talk about the peace of mind when you go out into the marketplace and your wife, who let’s admit it, that’s she’s the boss decides she wants that house. We can make an offer with or without that. Is that a contingency to like it wasn’t based on? If we sell our house, we’ll buy yours. Right. And the peace of mind that comes with that. But but yeah, I can’t I cannot overstate how how good it felt. The security the peace of mind that Holly and I had during the very brief time that we went out and looked at homes and found what we wanted.

Speaker3: [00:12:47] Well, it allowed you to shop with confidence. Oh, yeah, right. I mean, there wasn’t, you know, sometimes in and buying a house is kind of like a life experience, you know? I mean, it’s not like a divorce or a death in the family or something like that. But you’re really going through a lot. I mean, you’re getting put through the paces. You’re stroking a big check. Yeah, right. I mean, anytime you stroke a check with a comma in it, there’s a little bit,

Speaker4: [00:13:09] You know, so it was pretty nice out there.

Speaker3: [00:13:12] And then you’re committing yourself to this obligation for, you know, 15, 20, 30 years and all the upkeep. And you know what? If something goes wrong and this and that, this this is where, like I am in this market, there’s a lot of buyers in the marketplace. Right? There’s there’s not as many sellers as as we would like. And so what I’m trying to really advise a lot of these buyers to do is make sure that they’re working with a good realtor. They can you can protect them, can make sure that they’re not getting into a situation where they’re exposing themselves to to any undue risk because of real estate contract is a contract. I mean, there are ramifications to not fulfilling the obligations related to it in a first time homebuyer that doesn’t hasn’t done it before or has never been down that road, really needs someone to help guide them. And working with a licensed realtor is an important component of that.

Speaker4: [00:14:03] Well, so let me ask you about that. In our scenario, Joe Heinicke was our quarterback, right? She connected us with, you know, and we trusted her implicitly. I’ve known her for a long time. And, you know, like I said, she’s just a wonderful person. In our case, she was the quarterback. Is that typically the case for her? Sometimes Silverton, the quarterback, can you help coordinate all the other?

Speaker3: [00:14:25] It depends on the scenario. I mean, you know, because

Speaker4: [00:14:28] We need a quarterback, right, Jim, for for me and Jim to go out and build six, eight relationships with the appraiser and the realtor. No, I need someone I can trust.

Speaker3: [00:14:37] Well, you need you need a team. Right. Right. You need you need people that have relationships that do it every day. I mean, if I have a leaky faucet, I’m going to maybe try to tighten one or two things and see if I can fix it. But if I can’t fix it, I’m calling a plumber, Amy.

Speaker4: [00:14:52] Okay.

Speaker3: [00:14:53] You know, so I mean, with that being the case, it’s really important. And that’s we’re having a team like having a a good insurance partner, having a good, you know, having a good realtor partner. You know, it maybe it depends on where the client comes from. I mean, maybe it’s a client that’s a referral from a previous client for me. And they’re not being represented by a realtor. And then I can say, OK, here’s a realtor partner that I feel is a good fit for you.

Speaker4: [00:15:18] And you have those, right? You have some go to people that you trust. You know that they’re going to work hard for you and your clients. I mean, that’s got to be key in your business. It is,

Speaker3: [00:15:26] Absolutely. And I really try to I value those relationships tremendously, you know, because having a partner that you can count on and you know what you get and the expectations are so I don’t have to worry about it, you know, is is huge because, you know, put guiding someone through the mortgage in the real estate process. Much as you know, the lay person might think that it’s not I mean, it’s not stressful. It is stressful. I mean, we know I know that there are many lives that hang in the balance of this transaction. And if I did a calculation wrong or if a partner doesn’t turn something in on time or if we miss a contingency date. Someone’s earned his money, you know, that’s why we have processes in place and like, for example, when when we on board a new purchase contract client, we set calendar reminders so that I’m being reminded seven, five and three days before contingencies, making sure that everything is in line and communicating with our partners as we go through every step so people know, you know, what to expect and when to expect it. It’s really important because they have so many often times people may maybe relocating or starting a new job. It’s you know, there’s many there’s many instances where people have multiple things going on at the same time while they’re buying a house. Sure. Right.

Speaker2: [00:16:47] Well, let me I want to take advantage of 20 years experience that you’re bringing to us today. Let’s say someone’s planning to buy a house a year from now. What can they do in the next 12 months as far as their personal finances go to better position themselves to qualify for the mortgage when they need it in a year?

Speaker3: [00:17:09] Ok, there’s a there’s quite a few things that they could do. I mean, the first thing that I would advise them to do is to to meet with a mortgage professional and and sit down and. Well, let me let me rewind. I guess the first thing that I would suggest that they do is they sit down and they do their own good personal budget and they figure out how much money do they want to spend on housing when that time comes, OK? And when I say housing, you know, it’s it’s not just the principal and interest that you pay on the mortgage. Right? You’ve got property taxes. You’ve got homeowner’s insurance. If you’re not putting 20 percent down, you’ve got my mortgage insurance. You know, if you’re living in a in a in a place that has a homeowner’s association, you’ve got adieus. Right. So how much do you want to spend on that? You know? And then how much money do you feel like you’re going to have in 12 months for a down payment and then, you know, try to get an idea of those items and then. You know, meet with a mortgage professional and prepare a general analysis, we use you till I use a utility called the Mortgage Coach, which is a really cool utility that allows me to show people up to four scenarios in a side by side format.

Speaker3: [00:18:26] And, you know, generally people will have an idea of about where their credit score is, you know, the credit karmas and, you know, the those different utilities and whatnot. So generally, if they’re a euro, you know, I’m going to suggest like give me an idea of where your score is. Give me an idea of how much you want to put down or and how and where you want the payment to be. And then we’ll structure an analysis so that I can show them it. OK, at the end of the day, if you find a house that’s 250000 dollars and you put three percent down and it’s in, you know, Egle, watch, right? This is a this is what it’s going to cost you. Principal interest taxes, insurance, mortgage, insurance. Here’s a good, solid bird’s eye view of what it’s going to look like at the end of the day and then show them, OK, here’s 250. Here’s 275, here’s 300. Because invariably what happens, you know, it’s just like, you know, when I was a kid and I walked on to a car lot, you know, I walked into the car, Carlotto, I’m only going to spend ten thousand dollars on this car. Right. And then that one car’s there and I’m like, man, that was 13 grand. I really like that car,

Speaker4: [00:19:33] You

Speaker3: [00:19:33] Know, so that, you know, that happens a lot. It’s like people say, OK, I want it to be for this. And then they had the perfect house at the market and it’s two eighty. So I always think it’s a good idea to to well, be prepared for that. So when it comes to the planning stage, when we’re a year out for a client, I’m not advising at that instance that we would pull their credit yet. OK, because the credit reports are only good for 120 days. I have to fund the transaction within that 120 day time frame. And so, you know, in an instance where they know what their credit is, right. Then we can budget in plan and help them, you know, save for their down payment. And this is how much you’ve got to have ready and this is how much you have to have in reserves and whatnot right now in an instance where someone didn’t know about their credit or they thought that maybe, hey, maybe my credit’s a little wonky, you know, I don’t really know for sure, but I think it could be this. But Credit Karma says it’s that and whatever, then I would go ahead and yank it. I would say just go ahead and let’s do a quick prequel. There’s no there’s no fee. There’s no cost to that. We have a very easy online application that somebody you know, can hammer out in five or ten minutes. It actually is really kind of cool because even allows the borrowers to sink their accounts with our applications so that we don’t have to hassle them for bank statements and stuff like that. It just automatically pulls the data in. Technology is an amazing thing.

Speaker2: [00:20:56] Well, and as you said earlier, I mean, this is all part of the preparation to get ready for. One for most of us is the biggest single investment we’re going to make in our life, and it’s a traumatic time for people. I mean, you understand all the ins and outs of it. But for the rest of us, I mean, there’s a lot of different types of loans available. There’s a lot of legal paperwork that has to be signed. There’s a lot of jargon we’re unfamiliar with. We’re writing a big check, as you said earlier, and people just don’t totally understand the process that they know they have to go through to get that great house they just saw. So as you work with your customers. How do you make that process more comfortable, more understandable for them?

Speaker3: [00:21:49] Well, the first thing that we do is we start with every client. We start with just a general on boarding call, as you know, to give them a little bit of background on well, on me, a little bit of background on my team, and then a bird’s eye view of how the process is going to work. So, you know, it’s typically, you know, there’s you know, someone will send me a text and say, so-and-so told me to call you. I’m looking, you know, I’m looking to buy or I’m looking to verify or whatever it is. And I’ll say, OK, let’s call, let’s meet, let’s talk at this time. And it’s a 10 or 15 minute call. And depending on their scenario, we’ll ask a couple of questions. No, I won’t be taking an application at that instance or whatever, just kind of getting a bird’s eye view and then they’ll kind of step them through the first couple of steps. You know, does it make sense to even apply and have your credit pulled? You know, are you too far out or are you just budgeting and planning? And let’s do an analysis for you and we’ll kind of figure that out.

Speaker3: [00:22:44] And then once if it makes sense for an individual to apply, depending on their scenario, time frame, refinance purchase transaction, at that point, once I get the application, I just walk them through the next steps, like, OK, this is just the disclosure step. Once I get these back, my assistant Emma is going to move it into processing and underwriting. And in addition to that, we do weekly videos that we send out to all our clients there that are in process to update them in regards to the milestones that they are. So like when an appraisal gets ordered, a client will get an email from from us saying, hey, this is the appraisal step. The praise is going to go out there, do some measure and turn the reporter and underwriters got to. So it’s the communication aspect. You know, you kind of set the table early, right, by saying giving them a bird’s eye view of the process. And then as you’re approaching each milestone, you remind them of that.

Speaker2: [00:23:39] Well, I think that’s where people tend to get the most twitchy is when they’re not hearing anything and they don’t understand the process, they’re kind of putting their trust into people who they hope know the process right there.

Speaker3: [00:23:54] But our CEO, not just because you touched on it, our CEO has a saying that I remember very, very vividly. And it says he said, in the absence of communication, people make up their own story.

Speaker2: [00:24:07] Exactly.

Speaker4: [00:24:08] That is so true. It was true in the change management consulting world that I came from. Right. In the absence of that information, they’ll they’ll fill in their own gaps.

Speaker3: [00:24:17] I would rather I would rather communicate like, you know, I asked I asked my boss. I’m like, wait, I’m sending him a text message. I’m I’m sending them an email. And they’re getting a video telling them, you know, because I mean, I believe you were thorough, OK?

Speaker4: [00:24:31] And you sent a video. Yeah. How cool is that? I mean, to get you off track now, it’s a

Speaker3: [00:24:35] Little animated, little animated video. So I’m actually working with the guy to contract a series of like ten or 12 personalized where I’m going to do it myself. Yeah, I think I have a better voice than I do a favor.

Speaker4: [00:24:46] By the way, stay after class. I do want him to stay and do some voiceover work. And you’re listening to this as I interrupted you anyway about this thing of communication. Yeah.

Speaker3: [00:24:55] Overcommunicate Well, yeah, I would rather overcommunicate. So like I was talking with my boss a couple of months ago and and I’m like, well, you know, is this overboard? And he said, man, they can always hit the unsubscribe button at the bottom if it’s like if they don’t want the video, you know, they’d like that text or whatever he said. But why not hit him on several different mediums? Because maybe they’re not checking their email or, you know, maybe it went to a spammer. Juncker I would rather air on the side of caution. And I think that’s just when it comes to this isn’t you know, we’re not going down and buying the TV from Best Buy. Right. You know, I mean, this is a serious deal.

Speaker4: [00:25:27] There goes my Best Buy sponsors.

Speaker2: [00:25:30] Ok, well well, we talked about I mean, that communication is so important and you’ve both talked about the trust that needs to be present to really kind of be the foundation for all this. And obviously, I mean, the relationships you’ve built with your mortgage customers are a testament to the trust they have in your guidance and the sincere way that you focus on their needs. And the way you’re able to build those relationships also carries over to your interaction in the business community with other business professionals in our community. You’re a very active presence. I see you everywhere. So let’s talk a little bit about business networking and the numerous opportunities that business owners and business people have to connect in the Woodstock area. Probably too many individual organizations to list, but you’re so good at it. Talk a little bit about the types of groups that you found to be beneficial.

Speaker3: [00:26:34] Ok, I’ll be glad to. I really enjoy this aspect of what I do for a living. I mean, it’s, you know, those types of interactions and those relationships, you know, are great. You know, some of our best friends are people that we’ve met through networking groups over over the last few years, you know, which is really, really awesome. We really do live in an amazing community, a place that people really do truly care about each other. It’s not it’s not a cut throat cut throat mercenary crowd, you know, if you will, so that that breeds its own culture, if you will. But in regards to I do get around a little bit. I’m not going to lie. But, you know, the thing that nobody knows is I’m actually a twin.

Speaker4: [00:27:21] There’s no way you can pull it off. I know that. You know, it makes sense.

Speaker3: [00:27:25] You’ve got good Robin today. Bad Robin is locked away someplace else. But no, I mean, there was a time a couple of years ago when I had a little bit of a different gig, you know, where I was working for a company that was a little bit more lead based and not didn’t allow for as much freedom for me to get out and kind of do my thing, if you will. And, you know, unbeknownst to me, I wasn’t I mean, we were doing OK. I mean, we were close and loans and, you know, the production was there and all that stuff. But I had lunch with a buddy of mine and he was like, dude, you’re miserable. You know, this is not for you. You know, you need to look for something different. And then a door opened and one thing led to another. It wasn’t anything. It just happened. I wasn’t looking at that time. But in any event, it led to an opportunity that allowed me to really kind of sink my teeth into some of the different networking opportunities that exist here in Cherokee County. And, you know, being a Woodstock resident for the last 20 years, you know, I’d had my finger on the pulse a little bit and been involved in some groups. I had done close contact networking groups, you know, for I was in a close contact group for about seven years, started two different chapters

Speaker4: [00:28:31] For just saying, when you say close contact, is that one of those were only one person from a certain field. Like once you had someone from the financial services that said, that’s our financial services.

Speaker3: [00:28:41] Exactly. You’ve got like each profession has a seat, if you will. Got it. And then now there could be, you know, maybe you’ve got an insurance person and one person focuses on health insurance and the other person focuses on P and C. Got it. But only like one mortgage guy, one realtor kind of thing. OK, and that was great. I mean, again, some of my best friends in the world today are people that I met through those types of groups. But I did find that it was a little bit of a captive audience. Right. So one of the things that I learned, though, was that it’s important similar to like a golf bag. Right? You don’t just have a nine iron and a putter. You usually have a couple of clubs in your bag. Right. So I look at a table when it comes to networking. I look at a table, a networking, like a table, OK, a table. You can make a table level and and put something on it. If it has three legs, I mean, you just have to like kind of maneuver the three legs in a manner to make it so it’s stable. Right. So if you want to go with just a minimum of three legs, maybe you have like an open networking group, like for example, like a YPO Young Professionals of Woodstock, which is an offshoot of the in Woodstock organization here in town. OK, they meet every Thursday at seven a.m. at the circuit is when the meeting starts. Networking starts at seven, 15 or so. So maybe you’ve got like an open networking group like in like YPO or in Woodstock, the greater group.

Speaker3: [00:30:05] And then you’ve got maybe a community service organization of sorts. Maybe it’s a Rotary Club of which I’m a part of, or maybe it’s an optimist club. There’s several there’s several Rotary Clubs here in the county. There’s several optimist clubs. The Optimist Club is similar to a Rotary Club or a Kiwanis Club. Lyons, you know, there’s there’s many, many different community service organizations. And then maybe you do something with your church or you do something with your neighborhood, you get involved in the HSA or or whatever. So you’ve got three different legs. Right. And and what you do is you invest, you invest your time, a sweat equity. You show up early, you stay late. If there’s a committee or something, somebody somebody says that a meeting, hey, we need somebody to show up early and carry the tables from point A to point B, be that guy, you know, be consistent, you know, and that’s that’s the key. And that that right there, that that touches on something which I speak to people about, you know, often, which is you can’t start networking and show up at an event and just expect that business is just going to just kind of like just start flowing from it. Right. It’s not like you can show up at an event and throw business cards at people and then walk away and then the balloons are going to fall from the sky. OK, that’s not how it works when I typically go into a new networking scenario, which I’m fairly seasoned in the networking thing.

Speaker3: [00:31:30] Now, after a couple of years and really committing to it, it’s about getting the flywheel moving, OK, like you get when you get that flywheel moving and then you get consistency. But, you know, whenever I entered into a new opportunity, which is how every group or every interaction really should be seen as an opportunity, whether an opportunity to to delight in somebody’s day or maybe make a new friend or bring, you know, bring some positive energy to somebody. I mean, everything that we do this this radio is opportunity is awesome, for example. Right. So, you know what I what I tell people is if you’re going into a new opportunity like that, you have to expect that you’re probably going to be around for six to nine months before you realize really anything other than maybe building a you know, from a business, you know, profitability standpoint. And if you show up and you’re willing to give first and give of your time and then be consistent and and, you know, do so with a positive attitude and maybe bring an idea or two, you know, maybe invite a friend, maybe a little. It’s amazing how, you know, one new teammate can make such a big difference sometimes. And you look at things from that perspective and you’re not looking to take instead, what you’re trying to do is give and give value. Because when you do that and you do it consistently, eventually it will come back. You just have to be patient.

Speaker2: [00:32:48] Well, and I’ve seen some people who have gone into a networking event and they start talking to people and they say, well, this isn’t really my audience, but I think what they don’t get in that is that you’re building partnerships, you’re building relationships. And a lot of times those relationships will turn into referrals down the road because that person knows somebody who knows somebody who maybe will need you in the future, but they get to know you. They get to trust you. They know the kind of person you are. And, you know, I think the business community and Woodstock, from what I’ve seen and tell me if you agree, is a real reflection of kind of the overall charm of Woodstock. I mean, people want to help each other. There’s a lot of concern for the other guy.

Speaker3: [00:33:35] Absolutely. And it’s a reflection of the leadership of our of our city. Absolutely. And our county, you know, Mayor Dony and, you know, our city city managers. And, you know, I mean, they just do a tremendous job, you know, so it really starts from the top down. But Woodstock is built an amazing community. And, you know, there’s there’s multiple groups, you know, like the for example, just talking about a Thursday morning, you know, you’ve got white people that meets at 7:00 and then immediately following white, you’ve got the Woodstock business club that meets at Reformation. And that’s a very energetic group that’s been around for about a year and a half or so, maybe two years. And just an amazing group of people that really all they care about is energizing each other and helping each other. And, you know, I

Speaker4: [00:34:22] Got to break in here because let me give you some experience from a guy who’s lived here, all of like maybe 10 weeks. Right. So when I get to town, I’m a little bit spoiled because from a networking standpoint, a lot of people come to me because people want to be on the radio show. It’s part of the attraction. It’s part of our business model works, you know, putting accent. So I’ve been a little bit spoiled over the years, but I knew when I got to Woodstock, I really want to immerse myself into the business community. So one of the things that I did right out of the box, I knew Jim Bulger. I didn’t know you lived in Woodstock. You suggested I start getting involved with in Woodstock, which has been. Oh, my goodness, what a blessing. I’ve met so many wonderful people with and through that. And great organization. Oh, man. Absolutely. And then but I thought, you know what? I’m really going to pull out all the stops. And so I started looking at some different networking groups on the computer and I found this Woodstock business club. And so I just reach out with a few emails inviting people to be on the show.

Speaker4: [00:35:18] A guy by the name of David Jackson with Heritage Financial, David Gregory, right back out to me. And usually when they when I have those conversations, those people want to talk about themselves and see if they can get on the show. Now, they was talking about this great group he was part of. He says, you got to come, man. You got to I went first morning. I brought my kid with Kelly, who’s in the studio today. And so she witnessed this. I walk into the room. I meet this guy who I now know. His name is Rudy Garcia. Rudy Rudy is great, too. We did this little exercise where you introduced the other guy. I got the name wrong. I called him Steve. But, you know, we really, really never talked about Rudy. Rudy was all about how can I introduce Stone around, how can I get him? And he introduced me to a guy named Steve. I got to confuse. This group has been so and it’s really true. Both of these groups, they have been so embracing and welcoming.

Speaker3: [00:36:15] They’re very

Speaker4: [00:36:15] Welcoming. They’re very in their relationship. I’m attracted to I think the whole ethos of Business RadioX is much more we’re attracted. And I think that that we draw people who are more relationship oriented and less transactional, and my experience over the years, maybe I’m a little bit jaded, has been that some networking things are far more transactional. Oh, my goodness. I swear to you, and I don’t know when and how clients may or may not come from that group of referrals. I bet they do. They do. But everybody in that room right now and they they haven’t known me. You know, I’ve been to the four meetings or whatever, I they’re going to try to help me any way they can. They’re going to take my call. I mean, I really believe I could call really and tell them I got a flat tire I need to come home. I mean, it’s just it’s just completely different.

Speaker3: [00:37:00] Rudi’s that kind of guy. You’d help you.

Speaker4: [00:37:02] I know. And I think a lot of people in this group are. And I do have a little I got a tip for single guys. I don’t know. So I announced to come out, be good. Now, this is great. You know, look, I’m off the market and I’m no prize anyway, but I just I still think this is a valid tip. I was telling Kelly about this on the wall down, not this last minute, the one before I shared with the group. Hey, I’m here in the in the Cherokee Business RadioX studio. We’re going to launch a women in business show. Right. So if you’re interested, you know, I do eventually need a sponsor. But right now I’m looking for a lead host. I’m looking for good, compelling stories to share about women in business and how many women in business I’ve met in the last week and quite a few. Even if you don’t do it for business guys, if you don’t get yourself a women in Business RadioX but know the groups are fantastic, they really are.

Speaker3: [00:37:50] I mean, and, you know, it is about the relationship as as as Jim mentioned, you know, I mean, when when an individual, like, goes into a room is like, OK, let’s say that there was another mortgage guy and they go in there and they go, there’s 70 people in this room. There’s only three realtors like I mean, like, you know, I don’t look, I personally, you know, this is just my opinion. And if you ask Mrs. Right. I’ve been wrong about many, many things over the years. OK, but, you know, my opinion is that people do business with people that they like and people that like them. OK, so my job is at the end of the day to just make as many friends as I can, OK? And you do that by just being genuine and and sharing and asking questions like Rudy, you know, like Rudy does. You know, he was

Speaker4: [00:38:38] All about me. That’s, you know, that’s that’s so weird. The other three people in a group, they were all members and it was it was all about me. What can we do to help trying to

Speaker3: [00:38:45] Find a way to create a connection. Right. Because when you create that connection and this is this is a this could be a technique, if you will, you know, but when you when you create a triangular connection between two people and it has absolutely no benefit to you.

Speaker4: [00:39:01] Right.

Speaker3: [00:39:02] Those two people tend to think a little bit more highly of you.

Speaker4: [00:39:06] Sure. Yeah. You know, you’re the hero in the story, right? You’re that mega.

Speaker3: [00:39:09] You got nothing. You got nothing in it. Right. So every now and then, I’ll have an opportunity to either address a crowd, you know, talk a little bit about my history as a kid and some of the things that tied into like the mortgage business and stuff like that. But I usually finish with kind of a thought, which is, you know, the single best thing that we can do is human beings is to help someone else without the expectation of recompense. So apply that to your life and your networking, your business, you know, just everything. And in my in my experience, it’s not not that the road isn’t sometimes rocky, but usually if you if you live it that way, I think things tend to fall in place.

Speaker2: [00:39:47] Well, you’re so good at it. Let me let me ask you this. Let’s kind of look at the other side of the coin as you go to these events. What mistakes do you see people making where because of the way they’re interacting or because of the intent they have going into the event, they’re not going to get the full benefit of those interactions.

Speaker3: [00:40:08] I think the most common mistake that people make is they try to interact with too many people instead of going in to instead of going into a setting and having the mindset of if I have one or two meaningful interactions in this environment, then that’s a win for me, because then you’re really giving more value to the other person. I’ve seen it happen many times where I’ll be sitting at it. I’ll be talking to someone at a networking event and I can see their eyes

Speaker4: [00:40:40] And they’re looking over your shoulder

Speaker3: [00:40:42] To see who’s the next person. They’re going to talk to me. Oh, my goodness. So that that’s that’s a major faux pas for me and not necessarily at the event. So, like, you have the events which the event you’re not really going to, like, develop a huge relationship at the event. I mean, you’re going to like get to know the person a little. Right. What’s the weather like? What do you do? You know, do you have kids? Well, where the rubber meets the road is when you schedule that one on one point appointment with that individual to truly sit down, maybe you break bread, maybe have a cup of coffee, but it really gives

Speaker4: [00:41:14] You an idea. But, well, that works, too. We’re on the same page. Yeah, totally.

Speaker3: [00:41:17] Totally. You got a good brewery right down the road. That’s right. You know, so it’s amazing. To me, how many times I could have a coffee or a lunch meeting with someone, and that is, you know, they’re not a realtor, they’re not a CPA, they’re not a financial planner, they’re not my typical gate opener, OK, if you will. Right. But we met at an event and we, you know, hit it off a little bit and, hey, let’s get together and have a beer or, you know, sit it real and have a drink or or go to, you know, copper coin and have a coffee. And two or three days later, my phone would ring and be like, Hey, so-and-so. Stone told me to call you, you know, and that’s organic and organic, methodical. Consistent growth is sustainable if you do it right, I think

Speaker2: [00:42:05] Well, I guess two other things I’ve seen happen that I think take away from the effectiveness for people is unless it’s a social event, a lot of these will have some kind of presentation or some kind of guest speaker or something else. And I see people that will arrive just before the presentation. They’ll leave right after the presentation. And they’ve really missed that networking time before the meeting and after the meeting where you can really meet people, where you can really have those kind of conversations you’re talking about. The other thing is I see people who will go into a networking event and they’ll immediately gravitate towards the people they know rather than the people they don’t know.

Speaker3: [00:42:49] Yep. And I think, like I think it’s important. One of the things that I try to do is when I walk into a room and I’ve been at a lot of these networking events for quite a few years, so I know the feels right. OK, so I know when somebody is relatively new, I really do try to make it a point. I think that’s where somebody can win is walk up to that. Maybe they have been around for a while, maybe, you know, maybe they’ve never been there before. It can be really intimidating when you’re like a new guy and you roll into this environment and there’s a room of 30 people there and they’re all like chatting it up and they’ll know each other, you know what I mean? So if somebody walks up to them and says, oh, hey, Jim, you know, you’re maybe wearing a name badge, maybe you’re not. But, you know, hey, how are you doing? How’d you find out about this? And then what I what I personally try to do is I try to give them a rundown of how the meeting is going to work. You know, if I can if there’s enough time, I’ll say, like, hey, if you’ve never been here before, like four Wipeout, for example, I’ll say you’ve never been here before. You know, we’re going to network and have coffee for ten or fifteen minutes and kind of hang out and chit chat and whatnot. And then we’re all going to sit over here. All he’s going to ask a question. It’s going to be it’s going to be short. It’s going to go around and then there’ll be some time for announcements, you know, so so people know that it helps them feel a little bit more comfortable. And, you know, and I really it’s really neat for me, you know, because I love seeing, you know, we have had a lot of influx of new people into the into the county, into the city. You know, Stone, welcome. You know, glad to have

Speaker4: [00:44:19] You and your brother. I certainly feel welcome. I got to say,

Speaker3: [00:44:23] It’s an amazing place. It really is. You know, so it’s what I what I really dig is seeing the evolution of some of these folks, like, you know, the first time somebody stands up in a meeting and they say, like, I’m just I mean, sometimes, you know, I’m just terrified. I don’t like public speaking, you know, and this is, you know, like I’m outside my comfort zone. And then to pull them aside and say, like, hey, you did a really good job. Remember, when you go outside your comfort zone, that’s where the magic happens. And it’s going to get more comfortable as you as you progress. And then you see them evolve and you see their business growing. I mean, it’s very rewarding. You know, I mean, the mortgages is what we do to keep the light on, you know, to keep the lights on. But I think, like the networking, the community involvement, the rotary, you know, what we do up in battleground the association, those are the things that truly those are the things that help fill my cup.

Speaker2: [00:45:11] Well, and you mentioned ground. And I guess one thing I, I want to mention here is that while there’s a lot of networking opportunities within Woodstock, a lot of the surrounding area has started to build their own business, networking groups and business associations like ball ground. I think there’s one in Holly Springs. Obviously, we have the Cherokee Chamber. And with some of the larger groups like the chamber, a lot of that relationship building is going to happen in the smaller committees. Right. And in the smaller groups within those larger groups. But, you know, for a business person in Woodstock. There’s a lot of opportunities just outside of our city, too, as well as within totally and you know, you talk about relationships. I mean, part of the fun for me when I go to these is connecting people, just like you said, that triangulation. I mean, when Stone first got to town, I spent most of my time and networking groups bringing people over and saying, Stone, you got me.

Speaker3: [00:46:10] You got to meet this guy.

Speaker4: [00:46:11] Jim is the poster child for this triangle thing you’ve described. I mean, that’s what he did. And he really you did do that. And I love doing it well. And I should do more of that on purpose. I don’t guess I’ve intentionally it in my in my business. I guess we organically do that, right? Yeah, because because I get to be the host and some of these shows are connecting people and I’m connecting people and they get to meet each other inside the studio. So I guess that’s happening. But I will confess and this has been really helpful for me, this has been very instructional for me. I think I’m going to work harder as I go to these things to and now that I do know a few people right around me, you know, I’m meeting Darren in a meeting Ellen and I can and I’m going to start doing this intentionally. And, you know, just I think I’ll wear one of those bracelets, like, what would Jim do? There you go, kids. Get one of those. I mean, like Jade readily available. You know, I

Speaker2: [00:47:05] Think Robin said it best when he said that, you know, you can go to one of these events and you can pass out 50 business cards and you can shake 50 hands. And at the end of the night, nobody really knows you or what you do.

Speaker3: [00:47:16] Your business card ends up in file 13. Exactly.

Speaker2: [00:47:18] I’m sure. Or you can go and you can have two, three, five really good conversations with people learning about their business, even if you don’t talk about yours. But it’s that relationship and that and you’ll you’ll have time to talk about your business at some future meeting because they’re going

Speaker4: [00:47:37] Over that beer, over that coffee.

Speaker3: [00:47:38] If you if you do it the right way, people will ask you what you do instead of you telling them what you do. You know, I mean, like, that’s really my intent. And I’m this is something that I’m bad about. I know that there are some protocols like in the networking codex. You know, it says that, like, you’re supposed to wear a nametag. So, you know, people that forgot your name don’t don’t get embarrassed when they don’t remember your name, OK? I mean, but I’m terrible, but wear name badges and I’m terrible about carrying business cards around. I just I’m bad about it, OK, because I don’t go to the events for that.

Speaker4: [00:48:15] Right. Besides, you’re Robin Wright. Everybody knows Robin Wright. Mr. Right.

Speaker2: [00:48:21] And we should mention that whether you’re an established business or whether it’s a new business or whether it’s a new concept, getting ready to be a business, these kind of relationships can be very beneficial. I mean, they can build visibility for your business. They can definitely build those resource partners for you down the road.

Speaker3: [00:48:41] We’ll look at Eden in Woodstock that just recently opened. OK, they were participated. They’re members of the woods in Woodstock and also the WBC. And, you know, WBC helped out with their kick. A lot of people from WC helped out with their Kickstarter. The painter is a guy that’s a member of the business club. I mean, you know, there’s you know, when you’re starting a new business, you need a good CPA, you need a good, you know, insurance guy. You need you know, everybody needs a coach. Right? I mean, Larry Bird had a coach. You know, Phil Jackson had a coach. So, you know, everybody needs and there’s and the thing is, in the in in almost all of these settings, there are multiple people in multiple categories and we all work together. Darren Hunter, who is the the lead at the Woodstock Business Club. He and I are good friends. You know, we work in a very similar business, in the same business, you know, and but there’s a lot of business out there and it doesn’t have to be cutthroat. You know, we’re here to we’re here to to build up the community, to build each other up. And really, that’s the I mean, that’s the the pulse of this awesome place that we call Woodstock.

Speaker2: [00:49:51] So if you haven’t been networking and you want to learn about what groups are available, I mean, it can be as simple as doing a Google search of Woodstock business networking and I’m sure a list of groups will come up. But I think one of the easiest things is when you go to these networking events and you’re talking to people, a lot of people like you, Rob, and now like Houston are involved in multiple groups. And just ask them, say, what other groups are you a part of? I’m trying to get more active in networking in the community.

Speaker3: [00:50:24] Well, the benefit to that is, you know, when you start seeing cross pollination, OK, where whereas like, oh, I saw you at the chamber thing and you were doing this and you showed up and you were there and you didn’t leave early. And then then I saw you at the end Woodstock thing, and you’re a member of a committee and you help out and and then, you know, you know, so that that that cross polymerization is very important if. But I will make this offer if anybody wants to get involved, I think that they still sell those things where the toddler gets attached to the parent, where they have to follow them along or whatever. The if anybody wants one of those, they could just follow me around for a week or two and I’ll get plugged in pretty quick.

Speaker2: [00:51:04] Nobody can keep up with you. I’m sorry. But so, again, I mean, we could talk about this for hours. And, you know, it’s I think the keys here are get involved, go out there. And I don’t want to end this session without talking about how much you have contributed to the leadership of some of these groups and the way these groups operate, because obviously there’s groups out there that have multiple intends to and sometimes they don’t allow some of that relationship just because of the way the programs are built or the agendas built for some of the meetings. True. But I mean, you know, you’ve I know you’ve been very involved with the Rotary you’re on the board for in Woodstock. Yes, sir. And you are are you currently leading the ball ground?

Speaker3: [00:51:57] And the current president of the Battleground Business and Community Association next month, they’ll be VPE in the summer.

Speaker4: [00:52:04] So I. So how did these things happen? Did it naturally unfold or did you actively pursued like did you sort of accelerate the process to be on committees in that kind of thing, or do they just sort of organically happen or a little bit of both?

Speaker3: [00:52:17] A little bit of both. You know, it was one of those things where, you know, OK, so I when I got in when I get involved in a group, what I do is I take that group’s calendar for the year and I put every event on my calendar that they do. And then I start going to them and I go to every one that I can. And then as I’m there consistently, you know, what happened was sometimes someone would say something at a meeting like, hey, we need help with this. I’d be like, I’ll help. And then sometimes maybe someone in a leadership role would approach me and say, hey, we’ve got a vacancy coming up and you’ve been fairly active and we’d like you to consider this. And sometimes, you know you know, I asked, like they would say broadly in a meeting like this opening is happening and I would throw my hat in the ring. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve been nominated by my peers as what is what happened with the Woodstock board, which is a real privilege to be nominated. Yeah, the background group. You know, I just started going to the meetings, you know. You know, so just a quick synopsis like the background group is a is a is a community organization made up of community individuals, entrepreneurs, small, medium and large businesses, nonprofits.

Speaker3: [00:53:32] But one hundred and forty members in the group dues are fifty bucks a year. We meet monthly for a lunch and learn and we do a couple of fundraisers a year typically. And we’re we’re a five or Wannsee three. So we turn around and donate the money to other nonprofits in the county. We actually have a casino night coming up, which is pretty, pretty cool. But so that’s a really neat group, really laid back battlegrounds, a really cool town. You know, you got in Woodstock, which is the in Woodstock group in Woodstock, dawg, we typically do about 85 to 90 networking events a year between YPO mingles evening and power events, which are really great for personal or business development and other lunch, and learns dues for that organization. Very. But you can get in for as little as 100 bucks a year. You know, you’ve got the town like Business Association Rotary. You know, I’m fortunate. I’m on the board for Rotary. Incoming president tickled, very honored to be considered to be able to lead this this group in the upcoming year. We had our Rotary Club of town.

Speaker3: [00:54:37] Lake had a tremendous year last year navigating the challenges due to the just great leadership of of our current president, Phil Jackson, and the support of his wife, Debbie, and the whole leadership team all the way around. So really, really excited about that. And, you know, folks will sometimes ask me, you know, like, you know, because I do get around a little bit, you know, like, how do you have time to do these things? And, you know, the first thing is I’m never too busy to help somebody is what I try to first thing I try to remind people about is, yes, I do stay pretty busy. But, you know, my kids are older. You know, Robert and Claire have both graduated high school. You know, I’m not that cool anymore. They don’t want to hang out with me, you know, so I’ve got a little bit more time, you know, and I’ve got an amazing support team behind me in the Silverton operations team so that I can, you know, they allow me the flexibility and the freedom to build these relationships. And, you know, I’m I’m really thankful for the opportunity and I like to be involved. You know, it I’m a social animal. I can’t help it.

Speaker2: [00:55:39] Well, thank you for everything you’re doing out there. I mean, it means a lot to all of us and it means a lot to the community.

Speaker3: [00:55:46] I appreciate that, Jim. Very much.

Speaker2: [00:55:48] Stone in. The other thoughts or questions you want to add,

Speaker4: [00:55:51] I got a ton of questions, but I think we ought to ask them over that beer, over that cup of coffee. I did want to mention because I thought I thought I uncovered this before we went on air, because, again, I am just so enamored with within Wittstock, for example. Totally. I have not gone to a wide panel it meets. But, you know, you can throw a rock from where you guys me to my home. So I’d love to go. I have not been going to that because of the why. Because I am not a white. Understood. Understood.

Speaker3: [00:56:20] The joke that I use is I’m neither young or professional, but they let me hang out with them anyway. You know,

Speaker2: [00:56:26] The our part of the

Speaker4: [00:56:27] House at this point, I really could walk over there early, hang out with you guys, get to know some of those folks and then walk over to Woodside. Business Club is absolutely accurate.

Speaker3: [00:56:36] Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not you don’t have to be young to go to Wipeout. You just have to be young at heart.

Speaker4: [00:56:41] Well, well, and I would like to find a way if there are some young people there and maybe there are, I would like to find that say that is a real passion for me is to help young people in business. I mean, I would really enjoy that if I

Speaker3: [00:56:57] Got to say this. It’s a little bit of a tangent. OK, but like we’ve all heard the M word, right. You know, like people have oh, unfortunately, here in the last little while, people have a tendency to sometimes bash the millennial crowd. Right. OK, if you ever want to get energized and motivated and inspired by the millennial generation, come to a wipeout meeting. OK, OK. These are these are very energetic, smart, driven, kind. It’s just an amazing group of people.

Speaker4: [00:57:28] All right. So, yeah, that’s you know, I know that was all about me, but I know this about things which which

Speaker3: [00:57:34] Ypo is really a reflection of the culture that that Woodstock itself has created. You know, if you look at, you know, you know, friends, you know, friend Fris, you know, the groups will just get together and hang out at reformation. And, you know, there’s a playground across the field. You’ll see people throwing a Frisbee over at the Elm Street green. I mean, this is a very I’ve lived all over the place from, you know, the South Pacific to Hawaii to Canada to New Zealand. And I’ve never lived in a place that is community minded and caring and welcoming as Woodstock.

Speaker2: [00:58:10] Yeah, well, Robin, thank you so much for sharing your time. It’s my pleasure. Your expertize, your advice, we wish you and your team at Silverton Mortgage continued success. And I know we’ll be seeing you at about another business event around town real soon. Stone, thank you again for sitting in. Thanks for sharing your experience to the conversation. So, Robin, if someone listening would like to know more about the services at Silverton or would like to talk to you more about networking, how can they best get in contact with you?

Speaker3: [00:58:46] The best way would be to either shoot me an email or send me a text. You know, my phone number is 404 four or five six two, three, one, seven. And my emails, Robin Wright at Silverton Mortgage Dotcom, find me on Facebook, come to a networking event.

Speaker2: [00:59:04] You’ll be there.

Speaker3: [00:59:05] You’ll probably find me.

Speaker4: [00:59:07] So we’ll start from this point forward, I think

Speaker3: [00:59:10] Is really great. I really appreciate the opportunity. Guys, this is a lot of fun. Thank you.

Speaker2: [00:59:14] Oh, thank you. And thank you for listening to Woodstock. Proud until next time. This is Jim Bulger saying take good care of yourself. Stay safe, and we will talk with you again real soon.