- 4 months ago
What gets said when the cameras aren’t rolling and the executives are off of the main stage? At the HousingWire AI Summit, the biggest conversations didn’t end when the stage lights went down. Filmed after hours at HousingWire HQ in Dallas, this executive sit-down brings together HousingWire CEO Clayton Collins and Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler with industry voices to continue the conversation.
LaTasha Waddy, Chief Strategy Officer at NFM Lending and Ryan Grant, Division President at NEO Home Loans, break down takeaways and stand out moments from the day’s sessions with candid perspectives on AI, the future of the LO role and more. They don’t shy away from talking about build vs buy, the rise of consumers arriving armed with ChatGPT and dig into the biggest shifts shaping housing and mortgage.
This behind-the-scenes conversation goes deeper than the conference agenda, and you won’t find it anywhere else.
Watch the full HousingWire AI Summit on demand — available now [here].
LaTasha Waddy, Chief Strategy Officer at NFM Lending and Ryan Grant, Division President at NEO Home Loans, break down takeaways and stand out moments from the day’s sessions with candid perspectives on AI, the future of the LO role and more. They don’t shy away from talking about build vs buy, the rise of consumers arriving armed with ChatGPT and dig into the biggest shifts shaping housing and mortgage.
This behind-the-scenes conversation goes deeper than the conference agenda, and you won’t find it anywhere else.
Watch the full HousingWire AI Summit on demand — available now [here].
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NewsTranscript
00:00This industry has never promised us consistency, like, and like, it's kind of a nice reminder,
00:05like, I mean, I mean, I've been leading HousingWire for nine years now, and I feel like I've been
00:09through like three or four credit cycles and like a decade and as have we all but it's like,
00:15if you're not like, on your toes, this industry will leave you in the dust.
00:30We're on the precipice of a very different consumer.
00:47Yeah.
00:48So like, we're on the precipice of a consumer that is very educated and very leveraged with
00:56student loan debt.
00:56And that is a different type of consumer that we've ever faced.
01:02And so like, for me, technology is where we're going to have to meet this consumer because
01:08this consumer historically is going to be younger and they're, they grew up with technology already.
01:14And so like today's conference was so exciting for me.
01:18I think my takeaway on top of the fact that I was telling you earlier, like, I was like,
01:22oh my goodness, I love this vulnerability.
01:24I was like, single tier when you were talking about the transition.
01:27But the, I think the thing I'm leaving the conference or the summit thinking about is,
01:34should we be focusing on building more technology or should we be focused on buying more technology?
01:41That was a topic in two of the, two of the sessions today, as it was demographics.
01:46Like, I, like, let's, like, can we come, come back to the build and buy?
01:49So demographics, I think that was in one of your sessions.
01:52Like we, like, yeah, go into, what did you learn?
01:54I think interestingly, actually it was, it was a session with Ryan and with Chad Smith,
01:59where we were talking about, um, first of all, what does the, the personalization of how that person wants to be,
02:06um, you know, talk to, but before that, it's like, the consumer is very smart to your point.
02:11They want to do all this research first.
02:14They don't, they want, they're going to come in knowing a whole bunch.
02:17And then at that point is where you make the difference, right?
02:20Kind of goes back to our previous point about leading our teams.
02:23We have to do a value shift because so many people have believed that their value,
02:28this industry was dependent upon how good they were at calculating income.
02:31Sure.
02:32Right.
02:33Their value was how good were they at getting docs out on time, right?
02:36How good were they at, you know, taking a complete loan application?
02:40All those things are essentially value lists in a high tech world.
02:45So what is it now?
02:46What are the most valuable characteristics a loan officer needs to care about?
02:49Consumer experience, right?
02:50And it's not, again, it's not just the originator, right?
02:52Like the credit analyst, like being really good at reaching out to the client and saying,
02:56hey, we have, you have some variable income here.
02:57I want to help you go through it, right?
02:58Because the technology couldn't make it through.
03:00So creating confidence while still doing their job.
03:04But normal process has never had to do that.
03:06They never really talk to clients.
03:07And not making the consumer feel bad about not being like a vanilla W-2.
03:12Like this, like our current ecosystem values just like the straight line W-2 so, so much.
03:19And like doesn't account for the fact that there's going to be consumers who have rental
03:24homes or gig economy income or side hustles that, yeah, Bitcoin and like, and like, don't
03:31feel like you need to hide that or feel guilty of that.
03:34You're not just like, oh yeah, I just get paid X amount every year via W-2 like salary
03:38based on that.
03:39Bring your whole self.
03:40So like, you know, we, in, in my team, I, we laugh about it.
03:45Like bring your whole self.
03:46If you need like a mental health day, bring your whole self.
03:48Like we need to translate the same thing to the consumer, you know, cause bring your whole
03:53self to the conversation.
03:54Tell us everything that's going on with your financial picture.
03:57So those same consumers are definitely doing more research in advance on chat GPT.
04:03Like they're asking these questions.
04:04I'm saying like, Hey, like I have a $72,000 a year salary, but I earned $14,000 a year in
04:10my side hustle.
04:10How does that impact my, my, my mortgage application?
04:14So like the originator has to, or credit analyst has to be like prepared to say, like to encounter
04:19somebody who's already gotten an AI answer that may or may not have been sourced from a
04:23credible, like a credible like source.
04:26I think it was on the, one of the talking points today is that 15% of, and I don't know,
04:30I don't not fact check this, but 15% of chat GPT output is, um, hallucination.
04:36So we have to like assume that like some of these consumers that are doing research are
04:39coming in with like not complete pictures of like what today's mortgage process should
04:44look like.
04:45You have influencers as well that are, you know, interjecting their own, um, experience
04:51or, or their own philosophy on it.
04:53Something y'all know about an NF, NFM, like an influencer business is interesting.
04:57A hundred percent.
04:58And, but then you, you also don't have necessarily that conversation being had by people who've
05:03already been through the mortgage process.
05:05And so the, the thing that's very fascinating specifically about millennials and Gen Z is
05:11they're going to research and look online or social media before they actually talk to
05:16an individual that's been in the process for, for the business for a very long time.
05:22I don't know if you experienced in some of that too, in terms of, yeah, because consumers
05:26coming to your loan originator, they already have a list of things to chat.
05:30It's the last mile concept, right?
05:31It's like they've gotten so far.
05:33Yes.
05:34Right.
05:34And now we need to take them the last mile.
05:36Yeah.
05:36And a big part of that is education.
05:38All right.
05:39It's helping them create confidence because people, if it wasn't for money, we'd have a
05:43hundred percent homeownership.
05:44Yep.
05:45Right.
05:45And inventory.
05:46We probably need to build a few more houses.
05:49Yeah.
05:50It's showing up.
05:51But the reason why people don't buy, even though they're pre-approved is because the
05:57internet, like you can go online and better in three minutes and get a pre-approved, right?
06:01But that just means you have a piece of paper that says what you can do.
06:04But more often than not, you need someone to tell you what you should or shouldn't do,
06:09right?
06:09And then if we really take that to another step, it's like, well, what actually, like, but
06:14I think a lot of people must buy a home because if they don't, the train's going to pass
06:17them by and they won't catch up.
06:19And I think that's where our job becomes more valuable.
06:22Well, and I think it goes back to what you said about like, you know, filling out the
06:27docs or that's not the value.
06:29The value here is understanding the customer and like how you get them to the next level.
06:34And to me, that's, this is the thing that everyone in the mortgage industry has been
06:37trying to figure out is like, it's not, it shouldn't just be a mortgage, right?
06:41I mean, you should be an advisor.
06:43You should have a relationship because that's really where your opportunity is.
06:47So starting to reframe the conversation where we become advisors, consultants, coaches,
06:54cheerleaders is like where we can get these consumers confident, but also where they can
06:59actually perform when you're serving perhaps underserved market, first generation, first
07:05time home buyers.
07:10I feel like the, the room today at the AI summit was very like executive leaning.
07:16It was a lot of people thinking through like, like corporate solutions for their real estate
07:20brokerage or their, their, their lending institution, whatever the strategy is.
07:24Um, but like the topic kept coming up, like adoption and like, that's so like, we're talking
07:29about like what the future means for like, what the future looks like for, for LOs and
07:33processors who may or may not become credit analysts or advisors or, or wealth advisors
07:38or, or, or mortgage advisors, whatever terminology we're going to use.
07:41But like, um, how do we like get LOs to come along in terms of adoption?
07:48And like, do you, are you, I don't know if you're seeing in your business, like resistance
07:52from anybody or, or, or people not realizing their highest and best value that like that
07:57consumer experience is where they should go spend all their time.
08:00Yeah.
08:00When I talk about, I do a lot of social media around technology and what I believe the future
08:06of the mortgage industry is going to look like.
08:07And the amount of negative comments I get, like law officer will never be replaced and
08:12blah, blah, blah.
08:13Like that's just someone who's digging in.
08:15Yeah.
08:15Right.
08:16It's, I talked to a broker the other day.
08:18She was interested in potentially joining us.
08:20And I, I said, well, you don't have to do any of those things anymore.
08:24But she goes, well, that's my job.
08:26And I go, it used to be your job.
08:29Yeah.
08:29Right.
08:29But like your job now is out of the tip of the spear, like your personal brain.
08:33Like you need to tell the story of why people should engage with you to have conversations
08:37about real estate and finance, right?
08:39You need to go partner with the best agents and builders so you can help them in some unique
08:43ways, right?
08:44Like your job is almost all business development with education analysis and influence to the
08:50consumer being kind of the secondary level, but everything else is kind of gone.
08:55If you're thinking about the fact that the average loan originator is 55, 52.
09:01Yeah.
09:01So we're 50, mid-55.
09:03But it's like, there are two opportunities here, right?
09:06I mean, if they've been in, if they're 55, they've been in several cycles of the mortgage
09:12industry, but they also are old school.
09:15And so it's almost like reintroducing those fundamental skills that they had day one.
09:21And then you have this next generation.
09:24So that's your second swim lane of loan originators, where you're introducing this next generation
09:28to how to do it and really just preparing them and coaching them towards being a financial
09:35advisor, which is, which again, is, is all very exciting.
09:43I have a question.
09:44When we talk about technology, you know, one of the promises of technology is that sort
09:49of can level the playing field in a way of like, you don't have to be like at the biggest
09:55lender or you can, you know, it gives people more advantage or more opportunity.
09:59But I'm not sure when I look at AI, when I look at what you guys are doing, it feels
10:04like it's even more now the haves and the have-nots.
10:07Do you, do you guys feel that way?
10:08I want to jump in here.
10:09So I had a few of these conversations today and I think, let's, we started the day like
10:13with, with Jason Bressler from UWM, like doing the kickoff and like Jason has a, a technology
10:19team that's of legendary scale.
10:21And so like, I think you could like look at like his presentation and say like, oh, well,
10:25I mean like, that's great that UWM can do this with like thousands of people working
10:29on tech, but that's like harder for me.
10:30He did a very good job tying it back and making the strategy feel like accessible and like sharing
10:36knowledge that he's learned with his, with his big team.
10:39But like what I'm sensing and what I'm hearing from some of the technology vendors in the
10:44room is that when the big lenders, even folks like better, like come swinging with new technology,
10:51it pushes adoption from like the mid market to the vendor ecosystem.
10:56And like, like every time like rocket or better UWM or NFM launches something new, your competitors
11:02say like, all right, I got to build this or I need to go partner with somebody and introduce
11:05it or, or, or I do get left behind.
11:08So I feel like the vendor adoption like cycle, like is a, is a playing field, like leveling
11:14mechanism.
11:19All right.
11:19Well, let's, we're almost out of time.
11:21Lightning round, final thoughts.
11:23Okay.
11:23So media executive here.
11:26And I like, I mean, host this event was awesome, but like I sat there in the audience and I
11:31actually walked away with like some like actionable things I can bring to housing wire.
11:35I was texting with holding our product leader today, like some of the messaging around,
11:39like don't wait for perfection, like ship product, like be willing to, to learn in public.
11:45And like, so we have some AI projects here at housing wire that we like, we were just in
11:50this room last week talking about like baiting with like some of our like key, like, um, like
11:56friends and like loyalists of, of housing wire.
11:58And like, now I'm like, hold on, just ship it and let's learn with everybody at once
12:03and, um, and let's run.
12:05And so, yeah, I've came out like ready to run.
12:07So that's my, like, that's my, my final thought is, is related to that.
12:11And that's what you guys brought up is just the speed, the speed of change, the acceleration,
12:16the velocity that the, that is happening right now around AI is from last year to this year.
12:24Unbelievable.
12:25A month from now, it's going to be even, even more.
12:27So I, I was really, that just was, came home to me.
12:31One of the quotes was the, the worst AI product you're ever going to use is the one you're using
12:36today and the one tomorrow will be better.
12:37Like, so like what we're using now is like, yeah.
12:40Yeah.
12:40It's experimental.
12:41Oh, I just want to thank you guys for today.
12:43Um, I thought it was one of the best events that I've been to.
12:46And I go to a lot of conferences.
12:48Um, you could tell the energy in the room was curious, was inquisitive, was people were
12:56there because they knew that this was like a tipping point in time that you don't want
13:00to miss.
13:00And so I, I told somebody, you know, got to buy our ticket for next year, like tomorrow.
13:05So, um, but that being said, you know, that the rocket CTO, I can't remember his name,
13:10but Sean, Sean, yeah.
13:13He said something about, you know, they're writing texts and then the people show up
13:17and some of them are good or some of them are awful.
13:19Right.
13:20I think what we're experiencing is people want to wait for perfection.
13:24Right.
13:25Like you, you were saying earlier, like just ship it.
13:26Right.
13:28If, as long as we're in partnership with whatever future partner we believe is the right, whether
13:35it's a vendor, whether it's your tech team, whether it's anybody, we have to be okay.
13:39Yeah.
13:40We have to be okay testing and retesting because if we wait for everything to be perfect, we're
13:47always going to get behind.
13:48So in the right areas where you don't, where you don't get into compliance issues and like,
13:53where are we willing to take risk and where should we not?
13:55Break, build, break, build, break, build.
13:57Like that was my takeaway from today.
14:01We, we have to realize that this generation, this is the next revolution.
14:07This is, you know, railroads that came across, I'm a historical nut, but when it comes to
14:14what's the revolution that is in front of us, this is our next revolution.
14:19And so we have to be bold and we have to be a little bit fearless in terms of the break
14:25build.
14:25And so that is my takeaway for today and for the conference and so many things.
14:31So thank you guys for, um, thank you guys.
14:34Yeah.
14:34Thank you for the conference year three.
14:36Like we won't even be here year three, AI, there'll be bots replacing us.
14:41Holograms.
14:41Yes, it was like, it was, I mean, I wasn't joking on stage at the end of the night.
14:45We did like onsite, we signed the contract for next year for August 11th.
14:50So exactly 364 days out.
14:52Hey, you guys want to go downstairs and get a drink and, uh, and wrap this up.
14:55Awesome.
14:55Thanks for joining us.
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