Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: My prediction, more lender realtor relationships are going to crumble in the next 12 months.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: It goes back to there's so many, like, myths and misleading things that we learn early on that have been around for decades.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: They let the buyers wander around the world and find their own lender because they're like, well, if I don't prefer anybody, then I'm not responsible if something goes wrong.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: That's the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard in my life. When you choose a loan officer that leads with whatever promises and it doesn't come through, doesn't cure communicate you as the real estate agent you can be the best in the world, you will not get a referral from that client ever.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Ed and Ken's mini podcast. I am KJ the Closer, Ken Jordan, AKA KJ the Closer. And I'm with my man Ed Fordyce, as always. And we are excited to bring you another episode of why we are smarter than Everyone Else on the Planet. That's the subtitle of all of our episodes. Humbly, humbly, asking you for your attention for this 20 minutes to share with you why we think how we think agents and lenders can just do better, be better, get unstuck. And today's no different. So, Ed, how are you? Good to see you again.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: I'm doing great. And I'm a little, little resentful that you did not team me up with a nickname. You didn't tell me you were coming in with KJ the Closer. Dude, that's not even.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: I did not. I did not.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: I literally feel like you're sitting in the big boy chair looking down at me. Now all my self esteem is wiped out. That is not cool.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: You knew I changed my Instagram. Ed, you had to know it was coming.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: I know you changed your only fans too, but that's a whole nother story, dude.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Come on. Yes, that's not KJ the Closer. All right, man, listen, we, we've had a couple of passionate conversations and yes, yes, we have a vested interest in this topic, but it doesn't change the credibility that we have around the subject. And that is how and why realtors refer certain lenders and what lenders should be doing and more importantly, what to expect in the next 12 months. My prediction, more lender realtor relationships are going to crumble in the next 12 months in the face of increased activity. There's my prediction and we'll talk about it. But, but you know the big thing Is, you know, what, what is it as the, as the, the agent portion. What scares agents from being authoritative in that area, who they recommend for their mortgage?
[00:02:42] Speaker B: It goes back to, there's so many like myths and misleading things that we learn early on that had been around for decades. So I'm still a real, licensed real estate agent, npa. And I remember back, way back when it was like, okay, you always recommend three lenders to your buyers because you don't want to specifically tell them to use anybody because if it goes wrong, you might be sued like that you're being hired. First of all, real estate agents, listing agents, we're just going to talk about for a second. When they talk about selling a house, it's like that's the easiest part of the whole deal is actually selling the house. You've got a buyer who's looking in a certain area for a certain home and a certain price point. That's everything. If that happens to be the home that you're listing, someone's going to buy it.
It's the risk reduction, knowing the contract, knowing how to navigate and advise your client through the whole process. Where at the end of the day it's like, that was easy.
So when it comes to real estate agents recommending a loan officer, I've always said, why, why would you recommend three?
Like if it's me, I'm saying, hey, I recommend to get pre approved and take your mortgage through with Ken Jordan with Princeton Mortgage. The reason being is the feedback that I've got on him from clients through the years is phenomenal. It's five star now. I can't tell you who to use.
You can shop around, I can't tell you who to use.
But there's one reason, another reason why I'm saying Ken Jordan is because if there's a blip, I literally have a key to Ken Jordan's house. Like I'm going to unlock the door, walk in and wake him up and say, dude, what's going on with this transaction here? Right?
So I think it's like really weak, weak for agents to recommend three loan officers. My doctor didn't tell me to go interview three surgeons for my surgery. He was like, dude, this is who you're going to. People fly in all over the world to have this dude operate on, on them. That's why you're using them. He's done over 20,000 thousand of these operations. Okay? That's who I'm going to.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: And it, it is that important. And I, I'm not, I always get Uncomfortable.
When people compare what we do to surgeons who are, you know, literally cutting people open and, you know, to save their lives. Like, it's not. I'm not trying to say that agents and loan officers are. Are of that, you know, magnitude when it comes to the impact it has on people's lives, but it is important.
You know, there's so much more than just, you know, who bought me coffee in the last month? Certainly that should not be a precursor. You know, low. Even. Even lowest rate. Like, lowest rate. Listen, there's. There's websites out there you can go to. To get the lowest rate. You really. There really are, but they're also.
The likelihood that it's going to close and you're still going to have friends when it's all said and done is. Is. Is pretty slim. So as an agent, you know, you really have to think in 4D. You know, you really got to think about the next level of that. Of that recommendation.
Some agents don't refer anybody.
They let the buyers wander around the world and find their own lender because they're like, well, if I don't refer anybody, then I'm not responsible if something goes wrong. That's the second myth. Talk about that for a second.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. That's the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard in my life.
Like, I. And I have no problem saying, if the agent who's representing you says, oh, I can't recommend anyone because I'm afraid of being sued, number one, they more than likely haven't done enough business to represent you at the highest level. Number two.
So what's the alternative? What that agent is doing is going, I'm putting my needs in front of guiding you.
That's the weakest thing I've ever heard in my life. Run from that agent. Run from that agent.
Because anytime something gets a little bit, maybe litigious, dicey, which it's probably going to, they're going to go, whoa, whoa, whoa. Again, I'm not going to handle that one. I'm not going to handle that one. I come first. That's, like the most selfish thing a real estate agent could do.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Honestly, I think you're right. I think it is. It is a. It's often. Well, it's two things. Either they're inexperienced or they've been burned so bad that they can't now get past it. And that's a shame. And that does happen. Don't get me wrong. Like, yes, there's a lot of great lenders out there. There's some really shitty ones. No, there's not. No, there's not.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: There isn't.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: There's some. Look, let's put it this way.
I know three kj, the closer is one of them, right?
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Yes. Ben Jordan is the other one.
And then real name Bill is the third one.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: There it is. Dropping the other Instagram. I love it.
So. But there were some bad ones out there. And when it, when a transaction goes bad, when you're dealing with a lender that, that doesn't know that. I had an honest situation in the last month where one of my agents, when I say my agents, a referral partner I've dealt with for the last 25 years, got a pre approval letter, came across her desk for one of her listings. And it was my pre approval letter with an agent that I'm working with for the first time. And she immediately picked up the phone and she's like, thank God it's you, number one.
Number two, here's what just happened. She was supposed to go to closing. And this buyer who was.
Everything's fine. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. Everything's fine.
Things are starting to get weird. No, everything's fine. Starting to get weird answers. Everything's fine.
People stop taking my call. Everything's fine. And then we're not closing. 34 days under contract. And it now it's not closing at all. So she's coming at me now. Here's somebody I've worked for, with for 20 years.
And even in that situation, Ken, this has to close. Is there anything, is there anything I need to know? Is there anything about this buyer that, that that could make. Take the transaction. Silence. And the best advice I could give was. Or the best answer I could give is Christine, I shouldn't be using names. I said, Ms. Agent. I vetted these people. These people are pre approved. We're going to get you to closing. You write it, I'll close it. Okay.
She does. Now fast forward three weeks.
The buyer has to. Well, first of all, just a side note that lender should have never let that happen. Period, End of story. Should have never let it happen. That. That should have been ahead of it, should have been honest and should have been upfront from the gate. We have issues. And that, that goes for the agent too. The buyer. Agent. Lender. Partnership is important when you're dealing with the trust of, you know, the listing agent. But I digress. So here we are. Now we're under contract, the buyer's getting a gift, the money's coming from a financial institution. The donor of the gift deposits the money into their checking account. And the bank says, we're putting a seven business day hold on this, on these funds. Now that puts us four or five days past settlement. We got. I said, look, you need to get this to me in writing that they're holding your money because this listing agent and this seller are not going to mess around. So I call the agent, I say, here's the issue, here we go, here we go again. She says, all right, now she's like, I trust you, we'll get it done. I'll talk to the seller. Now in the meantime, I told this young lady, go back to the bank, talk to the manager, get something on the phone, put me on the phone if you have to because holding your money for seven days is insane to me. And ultimately manager got, they cleared the funds, it's going to close on time, hallelujah.
But here's an agent who I've worked with for 20 years who can still get rattled because they've been allied to yes. And that just can't be overstated. You know, honesty and transparency are incredibly important. Sometimes I even use the word calculated risk when someone says, is this is X, Y and Z, what's the scoop? Or here's the deal, I think we're going to get it done. I think it's worth the calculated risk to get it done. Does it mean it's 100%? No, obviously, you know, if it was, if every deal was 100%, we would lend the money the day we pre approved them. But that's what the process is for, right? Yeah. So it's our job to peek around corners.
But yeah, I mean when people get burned sticks, it stays with them for a while. And, and yet, but, but you can't, you can't let that stop you from being a leader and recommending who you trust. And if you don't trust the person you're working with, then put the feelers out there and start asking the right questions of the lenders of who you do want to work with.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah, the, the thing that I just uncovered in the last year, I'm a very slow learner since I've been licensed since 22,004 is.
So how does that affect the real estate agent's business?
And I can tell you from my personal experience is when you choose a loan officer that leads with whatever promises and it doesn't come through, doesn't communicate you as the real estate agent. You can be the best in the world, you will not get a referral from that client ever. And that is, you know, when you, when you look at the price of that,
[00:12:37] Speaker A: right.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: That's one referral a year for 10 years. And let's just say the average sale price is 500,000.
You do the math.
That just cost you not just tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business, but the time that it takes to get another client to replace that client.
It's huge.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: And if you're a lender listening to this right now, what Ed just said underscores how important every single transaction is in your pipeline. There is no such thing as, you know. Well, you know what?
Didn't. Didn't really fire on all cylinders on this one. Oh, well, we'll get them on the next one. No, there's a reason why agents say you're only as good as your last deal. And that's something that we as lenders have to deal with and understand and accept. And some people resent it. Some lenders resent the fact that they're only as good as their last deal. You have to accept the fact that you're only as good as your last deal. And that goes for your buyer agent reputation as well as your listing agent reputation. Because if you think the listing agent's not on the other side saying, I know this loan officer, I've never heard of this loan officer, if you think that conversation's not being had with their sellers, you're fooling yourself. Your reputation is everything on every single transaction. Yeah.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: And I will tell you, when I, with my tribe, I get the, the meltdown call Ed.
Oh, my gosh, this just happened. What should I do?
Well, first, did you use Ken Jordan?
[00:14:21] Speaker A: No.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Why?
Why not?
Well, because. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So now you're making a problem.
That's the loan officer's problem, your problem, and my problem.
Well, my, my buyers are freaking out, and they should be, they should be freaking out, and they should be freaking out at you. Right? And that's when, if it's possible at that time, you know, can we save the deal? Most of the time, yes. But if we would just. It's like putting together, you know, a top professional team.
And that's where with everything, like with my coaching role, when I get referred, preferred a, a potential client, I say, I'll ask a question, like, are you looking for a structured big box real estate coach? And if they say no, I'm like, good, then I'm your guy. Right? Because I can dissect 5,000 things just like you can dissect 5,000 things. You're not a cookie cutter loan officer.
So putting together the team and going back to my days, I'm going to have my picture, right? I'm going to have your picture, I'm going to have my title company picture, I'm going to have my transaction coordinator picture, I'm going to have my assistant picture and everything that they do. And I'm going to say, here, you have access to all of us. This is my professional team. It's like SEAL Team six, man. Like, you don't get any more elite than this. If a real estate agent doesn't have that, then they're just a salesperson, man.
That's all they are.
They go to the classes of let me learn objection handlers. Like, I won't even get into that. If you have to learn objection handlers.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Some people early on, they gotta learn, they gotta understand, right? Sales is sales. Lenders are going to lose relationships this year, and I'll tell you why. I think we're going to get busy this year.
I think that this is what we've all been waiting for.
And if you are a lender who hasn't built the right team, built the right systems, built the right processes, you're gonna stumble. And I think if you're an agent, there are very specific things you need to be looking for in your lender partner throughout the course of 2026.
You know, one of them is, what is their response times?
Now, we all know, like, get back to you in five minutes or, you know, whatever unrealistic promises people make, just look for inconsistencies.
Are they getting back to you slower than normal? That's a sign that they might be getting a little bit overwhelmed.
They dropping the ball. Are things falling through the cracks? If you call them and say, hey, I just want to follow up on Mr. And Mrs. Smith. Do they even know who Mr. And Smith is that you're talking about? Do they have teams? Do they have systems? Do they have redundancies in place? For instance, if someone calls and I can't answer, my phone rings to Andrew too. So when I can't answer, Andrew can. Stacy. My processor has visibility over all of our text messages and all of our emails. We have systems where our mesh points, our handoffs, we're handing off the file, the notes, transcriptions of conversations that we're having with our borrowers that outline all of the strengths, the weaknesses, the potential pitfalls.
Seeing around corners is critical, and the only way to do that at Scale is to have the systems in place. Anybody, any loan officer can do two to three loans a month and do a pretty decent job. Again, Ed, you're probably right. Maybe not all. There's a lot of them that can. But once you get above that number, if you don't have the right systems in place, man, things start to crumble. And I think you're going to see that this year. And I am. I have spent the last four years building the system and the team to scale into what is going to end up be 20, 26, in my opinion. And. And I'm excited for it. I think that there's more opportunity for good lenders out there to create new relationships with new real estate agents. And if you're. If you're listening, get ready, be prepared, and make sure you're staying in creation mode. Make sure your systems allow you to stay, allow you to execute, but you have to stay in creation. But I think a lot of lenders are going to pull back from creation mode. I think a lot of lenders are going to not reach out to their agents, spend time with their agents, pour into their agent relationships. That's going to be costly. And I think people are going to get overwhelmed and they're going to lose transactions, they're going to lose relationships as a result.
[00:19:11] Speaker B: I agree. And we've been awfully serious in this series or in this episode. So I'd like. There's two things. Number one, I have to be a little boy. Number one is check the show notes, okay? That makes me feel like Joe Rogan's gonna be calling me next.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: He might.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: And the other thing is I wanna be beeped out on this episode. So can I.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Can I go for it.
[00:19:38] Speaker B: I can't wait to hear this where it beeps me out. Because then I've arrived and I don't even know what I'm going to say that would have me beeped out. But here it goes.
Don't be a fucking idiot.
When.
When it comes to anything, real estate, just call me first and say, who should I use?
How should I structure my deal with my brokerage? Who's the investor guy? Like, call me first. I know everyone in almost every state and it doesn't cost you anything. Just fucking call me.
God, that feels good.
I can't wait to hear the beep.
I can't wait to hear the beep.
[00:20:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I think. I think it's incredibly exciting to hear you curse and to hear the beeps. I might just beep out a bunch of stuff and make it sound like you're cursing this whole episode. And I.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: That would be really cool. And I just want the audience to take notice of who. And I hope Rich is watching this. Who is representing Rich's company better right now as a brand ambassador?
Kj, Those are real name, Bill. Ken Jordan. Oh, those are three different personalities. Or Ed Fordyce, the man.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: So wait, what is your nickname, dude?
[00:20:57] Speaker B: I just. I can't say.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: It might have to beat that out, too.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: We'll think of that for the next show.
[00:21:03] Speaker A: All right. All right. KJ the Closer and Crazy Eddie 4.
Check it out. It sounds good, guys. Here's your action plan for the next seven days. Sit down. Think about the lenders that you worked with that you liked. I would begin to look at asking the questions. You know, what systems do they have in place? If you call them, can they tell you exactly what's going on with your lead in real time? Can they tell you exactly what's going on with your file in real time without having to get back to you in a day or two? Are they maintaining consistency? Are they maintaining that high level of enthusiasm with your borrowers? Are people still excited to work with your lender? And if all those answers are yes, then you're in a. You're in great shape. If not, start considering who you're going to start using next.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: So just use Ken Jordan. Don't be an idiot.
Ken Jordan.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Kj the Closer, AKA Ken Jordan.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: All right.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: All right, Ed, we'll talk soon.
