00:00Hello, I'm Brenna Nath. I'm Vice President of Events and Community here at Housing Wire.
00:12I'm super excited to be joined today by John Overfelt. He's the Director of Sales at American
00:18Security Mortgage. They're a top 10 lender in North Carolina and really big in Charlotte.
00:24The reason why, John, I'm excited to have you is because something that's been super top of mind
00:29as we are gearing up for our Mortgage Banking Summit coming up in October is who are the
00:34leaders that are scaling smart in this space? What is unique about their model? How are they
00:40approaching the next year and strategizing with their team to make sure they're efficient,
00:44to make sure they're growing? And you are someone who's doing that so well. So saying I'm excited
00:49to have you, but also wanted to say welcome, John. I am. I'm glad to be here. I'm glad you're
00:54having me. I feel very grateful. Let's dig into the baseline of everything that I just
01:01unpacked for why I'm excited that you're on 10 Minute Talks. That being you're known as one of
01:06the best operators in this industry. When we were brainstorming this call, you were spitting out
01:10numbers that I can see really are creating that baseline success for you guys. So what stands out
01:16or can we dive into your model some and what's making your model successful at American Security
01:22Mortgage? Yeah, there's a lot of things, but at the core of it, we have four owners and then we
01:27have the loan officers. So within that, we do have teams. We don't have middle management. So what that
01:33creates for the loan officer is what we call LO to CEO. They can come directly to ownership to get a
01:39fast answer on a complex problem. Without having so much middle management or layers, we're also able
01:48to pay loan officers more, which empowers them to invest more within themselves. I think the other
01:55part of it is it's a little different is we push their brand. We don't push the American Security
02:00brand. We're not cheerleaders for us. We have several teams that honestly, people probably don't
02:06even know work for American Security. So we're very big on LO branding, team branding, and I think
02:12that's going to be a big deal in the future. That's what stood out to me when we were talking
02:17is the fact that you don't need to push your brand, that you're elevating their teams, but then also
02:23that you don't have that mid-level. It goes directly to the four founders. How is that being seen in the
02:30data and how your LOs are driving results? I think you and I talked some numbers beforehand, would love to
02:35share that now. When you take out some of those numbers or even the staffing, you guys are still
02:42originating and producing a lot. Yeah. So one, you have to get the right model match. I can't hire
02:48certain people. They've got to be self-sufficient. They need to know what they're doing. But when they
02:53slide into our model, they can operate at a very, very high level. So call it 62 to 65 loan officers
03:01will close about $1.4 billion with those guys. And this is a retail shop. We're not a consumer
03:06direct. We do it the old-fashioned way, calling on realtors, builders, working our database,
03:12circle of influence. So these guys operate at a high level and we're able to support that.
03:17Assuming we get the right person, we have to hire the right person.
03:21The right person, I think, is such a good call. And I know our listeners would probably love to know a
03:26little bit more there. How do you ensure when you're... I mean, talent and recruiting is a really big
03:30conversation. What does that look like in action to make sure you're getting the right person,
03:35whether that's a culture fit or even just that model fit we're talking about?
03:38Yeah. I have to know that they're good at sales and marketing and that they're able to drive the
03:43business in and that they know how to put deals together. They can't come in here and clog up the
03:48pipeline and pull down operational efficiency. Because when you run at this lean, it's kind of like a
03:55Ferrari engine. This thing's got to be hitting on all cylinders all the time. So it's a lot of
04:02looking at the data, maybe through Redder or MMI. And then it's also asking a lot of questions.
04:09We have to figure out, are they going to fit in with the team? And are they going to be able to
04:16execute given the tools that we're going to give them? So it's one, scoping the data. Two,
04:22it's asking a lot of questions. As someone who's on the news side, questions are valuable and
04:27questions are important. You mentioned that when people do come to one of the four owners,
04:32when they come to you, John, you guys are actually coming with real tangible solves that you can help
04:39them with that when it kind of comes to you, you guys are making an impact in those conversations of
04:43where they need support. So when you're running this lean, how do you guys approach building those
04:51habits and systems or the culture within this? How do you still, even if they're maybe they're
04:56branded on their own, operate as a unit that's growing or driving towards a mission?
05:01Yeah. So since there's four of us and my responsibility as a sales team, it's easier to
05:07do than it sounds because I am intimately involved with these guys. Like I've had a loan officer call me
05:12yesterday at five o'clock. I needed a price loan for them because they're on the way to their
05:16kid's ballgame. Most other owners aren't doing that. They don't know. I'm almost like a call it
05:24a super branch manager. So I'm so entrenched. It's easy to see. And you take that with the experience
05:31of that you've had over the years, plus the view that I get at the ownership level. It's really easy
05:36to help them scale business and put them in the right position.
05:41Yeah, that is huge. I think the fact that you can also price loan, you're in the weeds with them,
05:48that is unique about your model and stands out to me that you are just as in the weeds.
05:53Yes. I mean, some of the stuff I'm calling upset customers. I'm doing what branch managers did years
06:02ago. Well, how do you think that's going to be successful? I'm going to break this next question
06:07up into two because right now we're in August, even though we're just over half a year. I know
06:13a lot of us are looking at 2026, the year ahead, but still kind of looking at each month and how
06:18we're closing business. How do you think this model, your model, especially running lean and mean,
06:25taking away that middle section, how do you think that's such a key to being successful in the year
06:31ahead and how, and making your, you know, your model is key to sticking around in the future,
06:37given the market changes? Well, our model has been, the company was founded in 1999 by Phil Mahoney and
06:44Jim Abbott, and they built it that the model has been the same for that for, you know, 20, was that 25,
06:5026 years now? The other mortgage companies are moving to our model, lean and mean and trying to get
06:57rid of the fluff and they don't have a choice because the margins aren't there to support the
07:03business anymore. The consumer is different. That's one thing I see over and over. Not a lot
07:08of people talk about the consumer is very, very rate driven. They want communication on their terms.
07:14They don't have the loyalty that they used to have. They've been, I'll call it COVIDized or maybe Amazon
07:20effect. They want deals. They want communication on their terms. They want it fast. So those
07:27margins aren't coming back and companies are going to have to get skinnier to compete.
07:32How do you balance that with one key area of your success is being in the community. Connection
07:39is really important to you all. So is there something in your value proposition when you're
07:44talking to consumer where you still are offering competitive pricing, but also showing all the other
07:49value? How do you address what you just said, which is an issue in this industry? Borrowers are anchoring
07:56to COVID times. They rate shop more than ever. They're looking for a deal. So how do you approach
08:03that from a strategy perspective? You empower the loan officer. I mean, I'm not doing the loans,
08:10right? It's so you hire good people, you empower them, you give them all the tools and then they'll
08:15solve for it. So one of our keys to success isn't CRMs or AI. It's a lot of these top producers do events.
08:24They do blood drives. They do dog jogs. They do lunch and learns, wine and dines. They do all
08:32this stuff within the community because it helps them get seen and helps them get face to face with
08:37people. One of our biggest initiatives this year has been getting people to actually connect. People
08:43communicate more than they've ever communicated. You can communicate video, text, social media, but people
08:49don't connect like they used to connect. And connecting comes when you can get face to face and
08:53have a human conversation. Is there, I mean, when you look ahead for the next year, not a lot is
08:59probably changing in this space. Is there any other pieces of, I don't know if necessarily the word is
09:05advice, but how you're approaching the next year, strategies that you're bringing into how to not just
09:13stick around, but do well in 2026? Yeah. The connectivity piece is a big one. I would, I guess
09:19the advice I would give to others is one thing that we do well is we only track data and we only measure
09:29what we know we can execute on. And you can get all this reporting, especially with AI now, you can
09:35get all kinds of information, but if you can't execute on it, it really doesn't matter. So I would
09:41say pick one or two things, maybe three at the most and decide, track it and decide that that's where
09:49you're going with it. And just stick to that. Three's a lot. Everything you unpacked here, John, I think
09:54is a lot of really good, but just like tangible ways that people who are listening can see, here's how
10:02you're approaching the market, here, how you guys are saying focus. That's a very big theme in what
10:06I'm seeing you guys and how you're approaching 2026 and working together as a unit, even though
10:11you're only in a mean, you guys are very involved on the strategy. So thank you, John, for kind of
10:16giving us some of your inside story on what you guys are doing and hope to chat more. Thank you. I
10:22appreciate the opportunity.
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