On this episode, Jon Maddux sits down with FundLoans account executive, Alexander Inda. Alexander is a top producing account executive who has funded over $21MM last month alone. The two speak about Alexander’s recent $8.8MM funding, appraisal dispari

Funding Super Jumbo Loans with Wholesale Account Executive Alexander Inda

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Speaker 1:                          On this episode, Jon Maddux sits down with FundLoans account executive, Alexander Inda. The two speak about Alexander's recent $8.8 million funding, appraisal disparity in the jumbo loan space, why you should text your account executive at weird times, and much more.
Speaker 2:                          Welcome to the Million Dollar Mortgage Experience Podcast. Listen in as CEO Jon Maddux of FundLoans reveals tips, secrets, and origination ideas to fill your pipeline with million dollar opportunities.
Jon Maddux:                      All right, welcome to the podcast. We're here with Alex, our top producer at FundLoans last month, and I think probably most months. Right?
Alexander Inda:                Well, recently I've been on a good streak, I'll say.
Jon Maddux:                      I'd say it was a good streak. I've seen your paycheck, so I know you've been on a good streak.
Alexander Inda:                Right.
Jon Maddux:                      You do some big loans, right? I mean, I know that's what we do. That's what we specialize in, non-QM. We specialize in jumbo. Even some jumbo A. But really, my opinion of non-QM, the word non-QM, is really it's a terrible name. It's like someone thought how can we not say, it's not subprime, but how can we not say nonprime, not subprime? Let's come up with some crazy non-QM type of name. And it's really not representative of what we're doing, because we are qualifying people. They are qualified. But, I understand non-QM comes from the Dodd-Frank and all the stuff that QM represents. What is your definition of non-QM?
Alexander Inda:                I would say non-QM was probably a lazy way of labeling it when they first came out.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, I'd say so too.
Alexander Inda:                But, you know, it's crazy. In the majority of the files, you'll see anything from 20 to 100 document pages in a file. Because we really do take an extensive look at these borrowers to ensure that they do qualify for a mortgage. So, a lot of times, I think it's even more of a qualified mortgage than some of the products that are out there, like in the traditional sense. Because we do a full scope. But, at the end of the day, these are great loans and we grind it every day, making them work.
Jon Maddux:                      That's right, that's right. Let's talk about the biggest loan you just closed. Eight?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, it was a $8.8 million loan, just shy of $8.9 million. And, of course, it was tough to get by. Every lender out there wanted it. Every lender out there tried, as you know. You told me right after we closed it.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, we heard some stories that some other lenders had tried to do the loan and they couldn't do it, so it's nice to hear, when we something done others can't do.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, exactly.
Jon Maddux:                      It's a good feeling.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, exactly. Especially when you can make that call to the broker and say hey, we're good. We funded it. He's ecstatic. He's like all right, let's do the next jumbo, super jumbo loan with you guys. But yeah, I mean, great income in the Orange County area, as you could probably assume in that area. A great house and-
Jon Maddux:                      It had a pretty good LTV. It was like, 47. Right? Or something.
Alexander Inda:                ... Yeah, just shy of 50% loan to value.
Jon Maddux:                      Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alexander Inda:                Owner occupied, single family. The borrower had three different businesses and we qualified using all of his business bank statements.
Jon Maddux:                      That's great, yeah. I know you put a lot of work into it, too. It's interesting when you see most loans, I think, that most lenders do are probably an average loan size of like, $300,000 or $400,000. Or even lower, $250,000, $300,000. What is it like to focus and just work on big, jumbo loans? I know you do some smaller loans too, but I think your average loan size is $1 million or more, something like that. Right?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, definitely. I definitely take it all in. Because you-
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, you're not going to be a snob. Be like sorry, we don't want your $300,000. I mean, we do have a cutoff, but-
Alexander Inda:                ... Right.
Jon Maddux:                      ... for our tier one brokers, we'll take anything, usually.
Alexander Inda:                Right, right. And you'll be surprised, as many brokers as I have send me $1 million plus jumbo loans, they'll have a client or a referral saying hey, would you do this $345,000 loan? All day. Essentially, once you get it down and get your guidelines down in the programs, you just kind of copy and paste to other files and other borrower situations. Yes, there's always going to be a small difference in each file, and you're never going to know unless you ask the question hey, why is this? What else can you tell me about this bank statement loan? Or what have you. By getting that full picture, you're easily able to place it. But, we do love jumbos here. I think our average loan amount is in that jumbo space, for sure. And people could trust us with that jumbo business. We get tons of referrals from it too.
Jon Maddux:                      Right, right. I think there's a slight difference in the way you care about a loan, and I think part of that is that you don't do ... You did $20 million plus last month. That's a huge number for an account executive, for anybody. But how many units did you do? You did 11? 12? 13?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, it was right around 13 units, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Maddux:                      So, any other AE that I know of that would do even close to that, even $10 million, would probably have 30, 40, 50 loans in that $10 million box. So, it's harder for an account executive to care about each one of those loans like you do, because you have less loans to care about. But, they're bigger. I think there's something to that. It's kind of like, I mean, this is a weird example, but like someone has six kids. How do they spend that much time with each one of them? I mean, it's harder, even though you love them all the same. But if you have less, not telling you to have less kids, but it's just the reality. It's hard to give quality time to that many loans. You can give really good, quality time because you only have so much bandwidth as a human. Do you see that, too? You're able to really care and really focus and give more time and effort to each loan that you get? Is that something that you find here?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, definitely. And I think the atmosphere kind of sets you up for that. Having everybody here in one roof, for the majority of it. Like upper management and underwriting staff and account managers. Being able to walk down the hall and say hey, on the Johnson file, can we get this, this, and this? Or, what else do we need? Or, how can we move it along? That's a big help in my ability to fund these loans. Because as we touched upon earlier on, we might have 50 to 100 documents in a file, because these are alternate based lending. For example, bank statement. It could be 12 or 24 month alone, in just bank statements. So you really do need to give that extra tender love and care, and being able to be in that environment to succeed is half the battle.
Jon Maddux:                      That's good.
Alexander Inda:                But yeah, you definitely watch these babies go across the finish line one step at a time. Especially that $8.8 million. We really want to ensure that it keeps on the track. Make the extra phone calls, do what you can to get it all across the finish line.
Jon Maddux:                      I think some people watching, I know if I was watching this I'd be kind of wondering, where the heck do you find these big loans? $8.8 million loan, you don't just stumble across that. Do you know? Do you ever ask your brokers hey, would you get this referral? I'm sure a lot of it comes from relationships and referrals and stuff like that, but do you have any examples that you can share with us and our viewers?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, I think right before this $8.8 million, I funded a $4.7 million the month before.
Jon Maddux:                      Now you're just bragging, dude. Just kidding.
Alexander Inda:                Well, it was funny. Yeah well, maybe I am a little bit.
Jon Maddux:                      No, that's good.
Alexander Inda:                Right. The way it arrived on both those scenarios is they were their clients for a long time. I think what we touched on multiple times over, self-employed borrowers, they're always going to try to succeed in every facet of their life. So, maybe they had that $500K home like, five years ago and then $1 million home four years ago, and then $2 million. Blew up their business, and now they're like you know what? Now I'm having six kids and I want that $8 million home. So, a lot of their clients are referrals they've seen along the way. [crosstalk 00:08:31]
Jon Maddux:                      Been in the business a long time and they've just kind of helped them buy houses, and then stayed in touch. And then, yeah, as they succeed and you succeed, you stay together. Yeah, I think I can see that.
Alexander Inda:                And that's how they got that business. Thus, we advertise with the $15 million. My $4.4 million, I met at a show in Vegas, a conference. Not a lot of non-QM lenders, at the time we were advertising above $2 million and we could go to $15 million. So, it's a no brainer. Priced them out right there at the conference and kind of got it going.
Jon Maddux:                      That's good, yeah. So, you enjoy doing the big loans.
Alexander Inda:                I do, I do.
Jon Maddux:                      That's good. I do, too. It certainly is a different type of ... It is more work, I will say. It's not always. Sometimes it's easier, right?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah.
Jon Maddux:                      I mean, because people have their shit together in some ways and in other ways they're not. But, you might find someone who has all the help in the world, when it's a jumbo loan, that they can easily just have those people send you the docs or things like that, so it does help. What do you consider jumbo lending? Do you consider it million plus or $500,000 plus? What's your definition?
Alexander Inda:                For my jumbo, I kind of consider anything above $2 million, for me. I don't know, just for my mind, I think above $2 million.
Jon Maddux:                      That's kind of like super jumbo, I'd say.
Alexander Inda:                Yep, super jumbo. Just, some non-QM lenders advertise quite a bit above X, Y, and Z to this loan amount. So, that's just kind of like my viewpoint. If I really had to think about it, it would probably be around that range, $1.5 million plus.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, that's good. And that's kind of where you typically need two appraisals.
Alexander Inda:                Right, mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Maddux:                      Which kind of brings me to a good subject, appraisals. We've seen a dramatic drop in disparity. Because when you start getting to like, the $2 million plus range or one and a half million plus, then you have to get two appraisals. And then you're ordering through AMCs, and a lot of times one will come in way high, one will come in way low. We've taken a real strong effort to fix that problem, and I think part of that is through our appraisal firewall and our chief appraiser and all that stuff. Have you seen a change ever since we've hired on the chief appraiser? You know what I mean?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, yeah.
Jon Maddux:                      Have you seen kind of a shift in that? I remember way back when you started, we would get some appraisals that would be different. Like crazy. It's like how can one guy or girl think this is a $3 million and the other one think it's a $4 million?
Alexander Inda:                Right. I remember I had one pretty bad that we were trying to go for a $4 million value. One came in at $4 million, the other one came in at $2 million.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, that's a big ... That's either fraud or someone doesn't care and they're not paying attention. Or something weird is going on. Right?
Alexander Inda:                Exactly. Our chief appraiser did, right away, this was like right when he got on board, was able to rebut it and we got it up like $1.3 million, something ridiculous. Which he did mention that for an appraiser to come up that much, there's a huge issue with that level of value. For us, being in this space, where we consistently do above $1.5 million to $8 million, $9 million, appraisals are very important.
Jon Maddux:                      Hugely important.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah. LTVs, pricing. Just the ability to do a loan. If you were going for a $21 million value and it came back at $15 million-
Jon Maddux:                      That's a massive difference.
Alexander Inda:                ... you're dead in the water, kind of, depending on the loan amount that you're asking for. So yeah, those conversations of saying hey, this is a tough report, $1 million less, has been few and far between in the last three or four months.
Jon Maddux:                      I'm glad that that sure helps, somewhat, to your volume. I mean, because without those appraisals with the right values, you're not going to be able to close the deal.
Alexander Inda:                Absolutely. Yeah, it doesn't matter how much income you have and things like that.
Jon Maddux:                      Right, right. You consistently put up big numbers. I see you, you're here before I am, and oftentimes you're here after I am. That's something. You're working really hard. You're always there for your brokers. You're putting in the hours, and it shows. It's like some people put in hours and then they don't have the results like you do, but there's got to be something beyond that. That's part of it. That's part. Like when I first started the company, I was working nonstop, 24 hours a day. I've been able to take off a little bit of time here and there because we're doing well and things and there's guys like you working really hard, but what else is it? What other things attribute to your success, would you say?
Alexander Inda:                I think it's my internal motor just kind of gets me going every day. As you know-
Jon Maddux:                      Do you have a routine in the morning? Do you just get up-
Alexander Inda:                ... Kind of.
Jon Maddux:                      ... and look at yourself in the mirror and say you can do this?
Alexander Inda:                Well, you know I'm commission only. So, nobody is driving this train but me. One thing I've learned from you guys a lot is nobody cares about your loans as much as you do.
Jon Maddux:                      It's so true.
Alexander Inda:                So I'll get on the road as early as 5:30 in the morning and stay here, recently, until 9:00 PM. Part of it is because I need to get better with time management and things like that, but part of it too is-
Jon Maddux:                      You must enjoy it a little bit.
Alexander Inda:                ... Love it. And these files, I look closely at the borrowers and when I prequalify, I want to do it 100% of the time. We're fortunate enough to have a lot of different ties to programs, to where if something were to fall off the track for the slightest bit, I already know in my head how we can cascade down. So, a lot of the times I'm spending troubleshooting and things like that, with not only everybody in this room, but our team out there. I think that drives the boat just as much as my work ethic or my time, the team out there. Definitely.
Jon Maddux:                      If an underwriter wants us to spend a file, they call you and they talk to you about it. I think that's something that ... Let's talk a little bit about cover letters. Do you do that a lot? Do you make your brokers do cover letters? Or do you help them do it?
Alexander Inda:                The majority of the files I'll do my own cover letter for the broker and for the file.
Jon Maddux:                      For the broker?
Alexander Inda:                Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Maddux:                      Wow, okay.
Alexander Inda:                Yes, because I know how our staff works and our underwriting team and our account managers. I speak with them daily. Our underwriters will talk to brokers, depending on what the circumstances are, but if I'm next to an underwriter every day, I know kind of what they're thinking. I can put into words before this happens and say hey, this is what we have in file. This is what I was thinking. Hopefully we match up at the end.
Jon Maddux:                      I think that shows ... I don't know if you guys every shop, like people shop at Macy's or Nordstrom's or whatever. I've been to Macy's before and it's cheaper than Nordstrom, but you look around and there's like nobody there to help you. You're like you got this in a different size? And there's no one there. You go up to the counter and there's still maybe nobody there. Finally, there might be someone there. But, you go to Nordstrom and there's someone always asking hey, can I get you sizes? Do you need this? Do you need that? And as soon as you pay, they walk around the counter, give you a pat on the back, hand you your ... It's like a different experience.
Jon Maddux:                      I know our pricing is good, but maybe we're not like the scrapy bottom, lowest price, and I know that matters in some cases, in a lot of cases, but it doesn't matter if the deal never closes. Especially if you have a big loan. So, I think service matters. And what you're saying really resonates with the service that we preach and that we talk about. It's very important to a broker that they can make sure that they close this loan and they know that someone cares about it as much as they do on the other end. Because it's true, a lot of people don't care about a loan as much as the broker does. The broker cares a lot. Usually the next person to care is the processor, and the processor does not care as much as the broker. And then the next person after that is maybe the owner of the company. You know what I mean?
Alexander Inda:                Right.
Jon Maddux:                      There's very limited people that care about a loan. But, when you have an AE like you, who's fighting for that deal just as much as the broker is, like as a team. And, I know you're big on teams. You're into team now. Do you feel like you're a team member with a broker? Do you guys feel like you're a team, with most of your brokers? Or, how does that work?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, I think, speaking with your broker multiple times a day or a week, every broker is going to be different. Some want you to call them once a week. Some want to talk to you every day. I have no problem talking to you every day. I have no problem calling you once a week. Everybody is a little bit different, but I think getting to that level of understanding each other and saying hey, Alexander, you only have to all me every other Tuesday. Or, let's go over the conditions once. You'll have everything. I have a broker that conditional approval comes out Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, I have everything on my desk.
Jon Maddux:                      That's awesome.
Alexander Inda:                And other brokers, you really have to go through it. It might be their first non-QM deal. They might need to talk to an underwriter, get the full picture. Either way, I'm more than happy to do either one of those because at the end of the day, as long as we fund the loan, then it makes sense. My repeat brokers are getting more from the non-QM side. My first time broker, hopefully we slam it out of the park so he could have the confidence of getting more non-QM business, too. That's equally as important.
Jon Maddux:                      I think when you do non-QM successfully and good and well, other business comes your way. I think a lot of people may be watching, they're like I don't know if I want to get into non-QM or I don't know if I want to do this. But once you do it and you do it well, people start referring you loans. I'm sure you've probably seen when you do a good job for a broker, they start sending you more business. And they probably get more business out of that too, right?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah.
Jon Maddux:                      I mean, I know as an originator, I've always got referrals from people when I do a good job. And if it's a tricky, hard loan, because a lot of times they, I don't know want to say rich people, but just entrepreneurs or self employed people, they hang out. They talk. Just like everyone else. Like if you're a veteran and your specialty is VA loans, they all hang. They talk to other veterans and there's just a circle that people have. That little sphere of influence in their groups. I think entrepreneurs have groups and organizations that they're part of and they talk about stuff. Oh yeah, I had trouble getting a loan. Oh, you should call my guy. And then it just turns into more business, when you're good at something. I think having, as a mortgage broker, on your tool belt, having a really great non-QM AE like you or a company like FundLoans is a huge benefit to being able to get more referrals. Would you agree?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, absolutely.
Jon Maddux:                      I think it really helps. I mean, because there's companies out there, I'm not going to name names, who do every kind of loan under the sun, and then they have a non-QM product. And then it's like their underwriter is underwriting FHA in the morning and a VA at lunch, and then they're trying to get a non-QM done before the end of the day, and it's like, there's just no way they can do that. It's like someone who's an eye doctor trying to do the ears or something different. You know?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah. You might not mess up too bad, but ...
Jon Maddux:                      You want [crosstalk 00:20:13] someone working on your eyes that's an eye doctor, that's all they do.
Alexander Inda:                Right, exactly.
Jon Maddux:                      All right, so we've said in the past, we have some videos out, we're the Spartans of non-QM. We pride ourselves. This is what we do, this is what we focus on. Where have you seen that in your business? Like where being highly focused on something just makes you that much sharper, makes you that much better? The Spartans were special because they were professional soldiers. Like that movie we talked about, I think in the last podcast, the 300. Where the Greek guys, one's a potter, one's a baker, one's a fisherman or whatever. And then the other guys, that's all they do, is they're fighters. They're soldiers. They're professionally trained killers. When an AE at another company that does a ton of different business, they got to remember FHA guidelines. They got to remember all these different types of guidelines. Then, to try to remember guidelines for non-QM, which are so different. I mean, a loan is a loan, but there is a lot of differences, right?
Alexander Inda:                Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Maddux:                      Have you ever gotten feedback from brokers that have said hey, wow, you know this right off the top of your head. Or, you know this information. I want to work with you. Have you seen that happen? Like, where someone's talked to a Carrington or someone like that and then they call you?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, I think quite a bit. Especially with our bank statement programs. The number one question I get, usually, after a bank statement scenario is how do you calculate income? I say well, we have over eight different ways. And they're like what do you mean? What do you mean eight different ways? They're not used to that kind of level of options. The way I explain it is not every one way is going to fit every self employed borrower. If you're a CPA that works from home or if you're a construction guy that has 100 employees, it's not fair to do a straight 50%. Things like that. So, usually when I have this conversation with a broker, they're like holy cow. You really do, not one, know your stuff, but two, have the tools for me to be successful in my business. I think that's the name of the game, giving our brokers tools for them to go get more business so we get more loans. Not only in the jumbo space, but all non-QM atmosphere in general. But, going back to your Spartan reference, I think one of the big things that they were known for too is the formation and moving all in the same speed at the same time, and knowing their role. We really know our role here at FundLoans in this non-QM space. As long as you move in the same direction, everybody is going in the right direction.
Jon Maddux:                      Right. Yeah, it's helpful when everyone is paddling the same way, right?
Alexander Inda:                Right, exactly.
Jon Maddux:                      When you've got a weak link, you're only as strong as that. One thing I will say that you've probably seen over the years, because you've worked here what? How many years now?
Alexander Inda:                It's about a year and four months now.
Jon Maddux:                      So, a little over a year. Non-QM is still fairly new. I mean, it's starting to come of age. When we really all work together as a team, part of that is because we've done enough loans together. Especially these big, tougher loans. We've done enough of those to where we can really kind of see, and through the experience. It's like if you're going out on a trail somewhere, like Machu Picchu or something, you're going to want someone that's been there many times and can tell you where to go. You don't want to go this way, there's scorpions.
Alexander Inda:                Right, yeah.
Jon Maddux:                      We've been there. We've been down this path so many times and we've finished these loans. Especially the big ones that are tough. I mean, lot of things that people don't understand about big loans is that unless you have billions of dollars as a company, it's really tough to fund really large loans. Because one, the warehouse banks don't want you to do it. They're like, it's over our limit. Two, the investors might say we want it, but then what if they don't after a certain point? We pool our loans together. We also have great relationships with our investors. It's a tough thing to do these big loans, but you've seen it. I mean, tell a little bit. Do you have any stories about where a broker brought a loan to you, didn't like the price maybe, and then left and then came back because someone couldn't do it?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, absolutely.
Jon Maddux:                      Tell us about that, because I've heard you talk about that a few times.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, and that's why sometimes ... I've said this before. I don't know if I've said it in the podcast, but usually the first conversation with the broker is about price and the second one is never about price. Because you realize there's so many people now doing non-QM. As you were mentioning, they might have a traditional FHA program plus a non-QM program so they could blend their rates maybe. I don't know what they do, but they go there. They try to make it work, spend 30 days. Next thing I know, I get a call saying hey, remember that scenario? Do you take transit appraisals? I love that question, do you take transit appraisals? Yes, I take transit appraisals.
Jon Maddux:                      That's awesome.
Alexander Inda:                Yes, we can do your scenario because I remember I did your bank statement analysis 45 days ago.
Jon Maddux:                      You already did the work, right.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, so now we're ready to go. Let's get it in. But, no hard feels. At the end of the day, can I service you better? Can I get you the loan? Can I get your borrower a loan? Yes. Okay, let's do this and then next time let's not have a conversation about price.
Jon Maddux:                      I think part of it is too, say another lender, they only have maybe one or two ways of doing bank statements, let's say. So, they have their little, narrow non-QM product. And maybe they have really good pricing on that non-QM product. Really low pricing. But, they're going to get a select number of loans that way.
Alexander Inda:                Correct.
Jon Maddux:                      You might price a loan out on the spectrum because you know, well, you're not going to fit in this little box, but we have these four other boxes. So, you're going to quote them this box. Not this box or this box, the lowest. Where these guys don't even know any better because it's all they have, is this box of non-QM. You could've quoted them probably a rate very similar, but with the experience that you have, you'd be like, you're not going to qualify for that. Brokers typically are looking for the best rate. Unless they're very thorough and they've done a lot. If they've done a lot and they know that's not going to fit in that little box. I'm not going to risk it and waste 45 days with these guys. One thing, I don't know if people do this ever, but do you ever tell your broker well, why don't you just leave it here? Let us get it approved. Let's get the docs. And, if you get them the docs too, at the three and a half percent or four, whatever the rate is. Take that one, but at least don't waste time and let us get you the docs. Have you ever done that strategy?
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, absolutely. It's funny, I just kind of had a situation like that a couple weeks ago. It was submitted with another lender. They gave us a call. I knew exactly what program they were talking about based off what they were saying that they needed an exception for to get that one approved. The exception was for multiple bank statements for a bank statement loan. We have no limit to the amount of bank statements we could use, so I knew it was an exception for us in this prime program. They were trying to go for this prime plus program, which I knew what it was and the rate was the same for us as it was for the competitor. I told them on the phone, I said look, we have the exact same prime plus. You're not going to qualify. Here's your rate for a prime [crosstalk 00:27:56] loan. This is like an eighth of a rate.
Alexander Inda:                I said we can try it this way, but I'm letting you know I know exactly why you're getting denied over there. But, the good thing about us is we have all these other different options. They have one, we have a ton. So, she brought it in. Condition approval out the next week. I don't know if they ever got the exception, but the next think you know we're ordering both appraisals. I will dissuade my brokers to double submitting, what have you, like you were mentioning, because you know what? If somebody else says they can do this for me at three and a half percent, go ahead. David always mentions [inaudible 00:28:31] saying go ahead, tell them to lock it as soon as they can because that's a great deal. If we're off by a point or half a point, I know we'll match if it's like for like. But, we believe in what we can do here. I don't believe a concession is always warranted. If it's one of my repeat brokers that's really saying hey, this is close, then yeah, let's have the conversation. But I believe in our ability to fund these things.
Jon Maddux:                      That's good.
Alexander Inda:                Versus everybody else's.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, I like that. I mean, it's like being in the desert with no water. You'd trade anything you have for that water. It's like if you can't close a loan, then a 3% rate doesn't matter. It can't close.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, exactly.
Jon Maddux:                      You got to just be realistic, I think, about ... I think people have to realize that yeah, rates do matter. But not if they can't qualify.
Alexander Inda:                Right. Another broker of mine just said we have to put a pause on an approval on an appraisal which you already have back because somebody else told me they could get three and a half rate. And they're not at three and a half bar. We're doing 90% interest only, complicated tax returns. We're using bonus off the new W-2 and the new pay stubs. Just changed businesses a year and four months ago.
Jon Maddux:                      Have you ever fired a broker? You're just wasting your time so much that you're just like I'm not going to talk to you anymore.
Alexander Inda:                Have I fired a broker? I've wanted to so many times.
Jon Maddux:                      But nobody that's watching, obviously.
Alexander Inda:                Right. Nobody that's watching, obviously. But, that's not my temperament. Sometimes in this business-
Jon Maddux:                      You're a kind AE.
Alexander Inda:                ... Right.
Jon Maddux:                      And anyone is lucky to work with you, so I get that you wouldn't just fire someone. There are some AEs in my past, where I worked with, and they're like oh, it's Jon Maddux. I don't want to answer this. He asks me the same question for or five times.
Alexander Inda:                Well, I flat out said hey, Jim, we talk to each other not the best of ways. Do you still want to work together? They're like, you know what, Alex? I do. They'll call me back a week later, give me a new scenario. I'm like okay, so we're on the same page. I think as long as you're on the same page, you can have an honest conversation. Be like hey, Jim, you know what? I'm sorry. And then he's like you know what? I'm sorry, too. And then, it's like you move on. Because we're in the business of funding loans. No hard feelings. We don't have to grab a beer afterwards. I would love to grab a beer if you want to, but if you don't want to, no problem. Just keep [crosstalk 00:30:56] business.
Jon Maddux:                      We're here to help lift the loans across the finish line. That's very true. What would you say you like best about ... Anything you could give? Like, any tips that you could give? Besides, obviously, the cover letter, what else helps separate the bad loans from the good loans? Like, one of your brokers. What's a good tip for your brokers?
Alexander Inda:                I think I get this more so with new brokers versus experienced brokers, but you'll get ... Again, I'm not familiar with the FHA or the government loans, but-
Jon Maddux:                      Well, that's a good thing, because you only have so much bandwidth in everyone's brains. It's like, if you had all those guidelines in your head, you would be less effective, I think.
Alexander Inda:                ... Yeah. Like, we don't do 100% down. No finance. We don't have those products. So sometimes when you get like a 90% loan to value, they'll be like oh, what do you mean? We need reserves? It just takes a little more time to go over those humps. But, I mean, my recommendation is, if you're a new broker or established broker, I would just text your AE at weird times of the day just to see how fast he responds, or if he does respond. Because if he's responding, he knows the business, he's working the business. He might be at work, he might be at home working. One of my brokers called me, he was in Florida, he called me at 5:30 California time. He called me and I answered. He's like hey, I know it's 5:30, but rise and shine. Loans don't sleep.
Jon Maddux:                      That's right.
Alexander Inda:                It was funny, but at the same time, he knew I would always try to answer my phone. Sometimes you can't answer your phone.
Jon Maddux:                      Right. No.
Alexander Inda:                If you're in a meeting.
Jon Maddux:                      In the showers.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, things like that. Dinner with the wife. My wife got tired of me answering-
Jon Maddux:                      You don't answer?
Alexander Inda:                ... She got tired of me answering the phone, but I still do. I'll be like hey, I'll be right back. But, if I was a broker, I'd text my AE at weird times and go hey, what you doing? I think it's-
Jon Maddux:                      Do you want to work on a loan?
Alexander Inda:                ... Right.
Jon Maddux:                      It's 2:00 in the morning.
Alexander Inda:                Yeah, because if they're up and they're at them, or if they're responding at least, or if they ... Don't, I mean, [crosstalk 00:33:05]
Jon Maddux:                      I think what you're saying is brokers should be looking for people that care about their loans as much as they do.
Alexander Inda:                Right, exactly. That's my point.
Jon Maddux:                      I mean, if I was doing a lot of loans out there, I would want to be working with an AE like that.
Alexander Inda:                Right.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah. It's hard to find someone that cares about a loan like you do. You know what I mean? Like, when you're the broker, you're talking to the borrower, it's all on your shoulders. And when you have someone on the team that's very into it and making sure that the deal is going to get done and you can trust them, that matters. It makes a huge difference, I think.
Alexander Inda:                I just care about the borrowers in general.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah. I mean, they're human beings. When they're going to the closing table or they're ... It matters.
Alexander Inda:                Right.
Jon Maddux:                      It's their life. It's not just numbers and a paper that you just saw. It's like you know there's humans on the other end of these who have to make their mortgage payments, but they also have to close or they have to ...
Alexander Inda:                Right, yeah.
Jon Maddux:                      We don't close loans, we don't get paid. That's what we're here for.
Alexander Inda:                Exactly.
Jon Maddux:                      Closing loans. Talk to us about team Inda. Just give us a little overview of team Inda.
Alexander Inda:                I hired both my brothers, Quinn and Joseph Inda. They joined the team. I think they just finished month one and a half, so it's their second month.
Jon Maddux:                      Cool.
Alexander Inda:                They funded just north of $2 million their second month.
Jon Maddux:                      Nice.
Alexander Inda:                And they're on track to do just north of $5 million their third month.
Jon Maddux:                      Nice.
Alexander Inda:                They're just hungry. They're hungry. Obviously, they're [crosstalk 00:34:38]
Jon Maddux:                      They're like sponges, too.
Alexander Inda:                Like sponges.
Jon Maddux:                      They're just learning so much.
Alexander Inda:                Right. Kind of like the Sparta of non-QM. If I go right, they go right kind of thing. But they both bring completely different things to the table, and that's why I knew they would be good as a team-
Jon Maddux:                      That's good.
Alexander Inda:                ... with me helping or guiding. They help me too sometimes. My plan is to grow the team to where we could deliver the service to all of our brokers to answer the phone call every time. So, if I don't answer, you know Quinn or Joseph are going to answer, and vice versa. Because my plan is to really take team Inda inside FundLoans. I want to do $30 million as a unit by the end of the year, and I think that's highly attainable.
Jon Maddux:                      Awesome.
Alexander Inda:                That's kind of the brief over.
Jon Maddux:                      Have you already thought about what you're going to spend it on?
Alexander Inda:                No. Well, there's a bunch of stuff. I want to get a new house and things like that, but my wife wants to have kids in the next year.
Jon Maddux:                      Nice.
Alexander Inda:                So do I.
Jon Maddux:                      Six kids. Six kids.
Alexander Inda:                Six kids. Yeah, we'll do six kids all the way next year. Just pound it out.
Jon Maddux:                      That's cool. Well, when you make good money, I mean, it doesn't matter if you're making money, you can have a lot of kids. But, it's just great. Family is great. Having a goal. Having what you want your future to be is huge.
Alexander Inda:                With this business, you get what you put into it.
Jon Maddux:                      You do.
Alexander Inda:                If you're a 9:00 to 5:00 guy, you're going to get a 9:00 to 5:00 paycheck. If you're just grinding it out, trying your best to do best and doing your internal work to learn the business and get better in your own aspect, you're going to pay some good dividends.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, they say work smarter, not harder. But you can do both, work smarter and harder.
Alexander Inda:                Right. I need to work on being more efficient, but that's why I'm here from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, because obviously I'm not.
Jon Maddux:                      But, I think as you grow and as you get more experience, there's ways that you can put together a plan and then know I got this covered with Joseph or this covered with your brothers. You can put stuff in place to scale, I think. I think that's what a lot of people do, is they grow in their businesses. Like brokers, they'll hire loans assistants and they'll hire more processors or different ... You have a big team. There's big broker teams that do huge numbers and they just scale it. They just know what they're good at. They know okay, my highest and best is not doing the bank statement calculations. I just can't do that. So I'm going to find someone that can take care of that. My best is just to be on the phone all day with borrowers. So, people make calls for them and then they get on the phone and then they transfer it. There's all kinds of ways you can leverage your highest and best use, I think. Finding that and knowing yourself is a key to success. If you know you're good at this, do more of that. If you know you're bad at this, don't do that. Hire someone else that's great at that, put them in that seat. Like you said with your brothers. They both have different strengths, right?
Alexander Inda:                Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jon Maddux:                      By doing that, you're able to grow and scale your business, which is just going to get you to $30 million sooner.
Alexander Inda:                Right. Yeah, for six months we plan to be at full pistons.
Jon Maddux:                      Yeah, firing.
Alexander Inda:                Broker visits. Everything every which way. Just show up at a broker office and say hey, here we are. Let's go through every file you guys have and all of us be subject matter experts.
Jon Maddux:                      That's good. Well, how does someone get approved with us and how does someone get to have you as their AE?
Alexander Inda:                It's quite easy to get approved. We utilize Comergence and our broker package is pretty quick to go through. It was just redone. We just revamped the whole broker approval process, so onboarding has been pretty efficient and with a nice greeting at the end. Once you get approved, usually it takes about 24 to 48 hours, depending on the package and some things that the brokers need to collect, then we can start submitting right away.
Jon Maddux:                      Nice.
Alexander Inda:                We have a pool of AEs here in the office. On the website, you could find us. LinkedIn, big presence there. Things like that. So, there's a lot of different ways to find an AE here at FundLoans.
Jon Maddux:                      So you're not just in one state or one city, you can work with brokers any part of the country that they want to do loans in the states that we're licensed in. Right?
Alexander Inda:                Yep. [crosstalk 00:39:11] closing loans in Texas, Florida, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, and California this month.
Jon Maddux:                      Nice.
Alexander Inda:                But we're licensed in Colorado, Utah, Maine, Wyoming, Georgia.
Jon Maddux:                      Did you say Maine? Maine? Are we in Maine?
Alexander Inda:                Montana. Montana.
Jon Maddux:                      Don't send us any Maine loans.
Alexander Inda:                Not Maine, Montana.
Jon Maddux:                      Not, it's true. But we're adding states too, so there's a few others that are on track to be getting us to 20 states, I think, here soon. So, that's good. Also, we have some announcements coming up pretty soon for automation, which is really cool. So, some cool stuff coming for non-QM. Even though we hate the name non-QM, it's what we do.
Alexander Inda:                Right, exactly.
Jon Maddux:                      Anything else you want to leave the broker community today?
Alexander Inda:                I mean, just be out there grinding. I'll be grinding with you guys. Let's do it one loan at a time. Not every loan is going to be easy, but we're going to be able to get them done.
Jon Maddux:                      That's awesome. Please like, share, subscribe, and tell your friends about our podcast. It'll not only help you, but help them, help us. And call Alex.
Alexander Inda:                Call me.
Jon Maddux:                      See you next time. Thank you for listening to our podcast. If you guys are looking for more content like this, we have a FundLoans YouTube channel, where we give away more tips, secrets, and origination ideas. You can also email us at info@fundloans.com. And if you've made it this far, I think it's safe to say you like our content, so please subscribe, share, and send us your scenarios. Let's FundLoans together.