00:10Hello, everyone. I'm Brenna Nath. I'm Vice President of Events and Community here at
00:15Housing Wire, and I'm super excited to be joined by Claire Barber. For one, something that blows
00:20my mind is I've only actually, I think, met you in person once, but I feel like I know you,
00:26which shows the power of how you're showing up lines, some of what we're going to talk about
00:30today, but also just how I think real and authentic you are, that you're able to create such a presence
00:35to those people who do get to even chat with you here and there. So thank you for joining me
00:40on
00:4010-Minute Talks. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. And for those who don't know
00:45Claire, she's a managing attorney at Barber Law, which we'll dive into a little bit more, but I
00:50wanted to jump off with what I just touched on, which is we're in this world. I mean, you went
00:55to the Housing Economics Summit at the start of the year. We talked about, you know, everything
00:58from where the market's headed and what are the trends that are going to be part of that
01:02from AI, automation is another big word. But what I called out about you that's so unique
01:07is your power to be human and authentic. So how do you ensure or how are you navigating
01:12that balance of the human element and staying, you know, present with your business strategy,
01:19client relationships, and the intersection of both of those things?
01:21Yeah. Before I get into that, I will say Housing Wires, the Economic Summit was my first Housing
01:26Wire event. I enjoyed it so much. And yeah, this has been a hot topic for a while. I don't
01:33see technology, artificial intelligence, and the human element as competing forces. I see
01:39them as partners. And at Barber Law, we use automation to make us more efficient. Things like document,
01:46delivery, data extraction, workflow management. But what really does this is it gives our team
01:54more time to focus on what matters. Making good judgment calls, communicating with our
01:59clients, showing up, building relationships. At the end of the day, we're helping lenders
02:04close loans. That's part of our job. But these are real people. They're families. They're first-time
02:16can't replace context. And they can't replace experience. And it definitely can't replace
02:21trust. And so our strategy is super simple. We use technology to move faster and be efficient,
02:27but we use people to be smart and to build trust.
02:31I love that call out with trust and the importance how that always is going to be so
02:36integral in the conversation, remembering just the power. Regardless of this just industry,
02:41we value human connection. Obviously, I'm biased. I run our events at Housing Wire. And we also use
02:46and harness the power of AI. But there's something I think I've been talking a lot about, which is the
02:51power of human connection. Where do you see that playing out? I mean, I was just talking to our head
02:57of product and something he was talking about is how far can you even remet from a tech stack standpoint
03:02with how fast things are evolving. So if you look over the next five to 10 years in the mortgage
03:07industry, how are you preparing for the reality of where people, connection, and all of this is
03:13going to intertwine? Yeah, that's a great question. I think personal connection is going to become more
03:19valuable with this increased use of technology, not less. So as our industry and a ton of other
03:26industries become more automated, that just makes the people more important. So the companies that stand
03:32out to me are the ones that feel human, the ones that pick up the phone, the ones that actually
03:36make
03:37time to get to know you and your business and what they can do to help you succeed, that's a
03:42huge part
03:42of what we do as a service provider, right? If our clients are successful, we're successful. So in
03:48this world where everything's becoming a little more digital and automated, trust becomes a
03:52differentiator, as you said. So how are we preparing for this at Barber Law? We're building our business
03:58around the extension of the lenders team. We want to come in. We want to understand your business.
04:04We want to help you succeed. Anyone can build technology. AI can build your technology. Not
04:10everyone can build relationships at scale. And so that human element becomes so much more important,
04:15like you said, in the next five to 10 years. I think what's going to be the differentiator
04:20is the human element. And that's kind of what essentially separate the good companies from the
04:25great companies. Has there been any examples of that that have tactically stood out to you? And I'll give
04:32my answer as you kind of maybe think about that. And one of them was, and it's, it's really not
04:36even
04:36AI, but, um, on LinkedIn, I saw a post the other day of someone who's real estate agent, the way
04:41that
04:42they stay top of mind for them was offering photos, um, kind of around the holidays to do a photo
04:48shoot.
04:48And then you can use it as Christmas cards. And they were like, Hey, I have 30 minutes with a
04:51photographer. You can come in and book an appointment. I just thought that was such a creative
04:56human touch, an actual value add that you want from your agent, but just something that I'm like,
04:59is that's the value of personal connection in a way that I thought was creative. It doesn't fully
05:04kind of align, but has that same theme, but do you have tactical elements maybe outside of that
05:08very one that was a recency that I saw, but that stood out to you for like, yeah, I saw
05:14it. That was,
05:14um, super creative, right? People remember that, um, when they can connect with you on, you and I've
05:20talked about the authenticity showing up. Um, I mean, that, that was a great example. Like not enough,
05:26but it's fine, but it's like, um, we remember it. We're going to be talking about it. Um,
05:31you know, memorable. Yep. So along the same lines, um, you have barber law. So what does
05:38entrepreneurship mean to you in the mortgage industry, the housing industry, and how do you
05:45navigate? And this is something I've seen. I joined housing war in 2013 and I've, I've seen a shift in
05:49the industry, whether that's technology or other trends kind of coming up. So how do you navigate the
05:55way things have already always been done and what you're trying to do? Yeah. Um, that little
05:59statement, the way things have always been done, like it makes me cringe. Um, but entrepreneurship
06:04to me means just having that courage, right. Um, to question things, to challenge things, to ask
06:09questions. Um, that's what we're doing here at barber law. Um, the mortgage industry has a ton of legacy
06:13processes. We all know, um, many of them and are familiar and still use, uh, some of them. Um, and
06:19some
06:20of them exist for good reasons. And some of them exist because no one ever challenged the process. So,
06:24um, I've never been someone who can accept that. Well, this is the way we've always done it
06:29mentality. Um, so when I started barber law, I spent time, a ton of time looking at what worked,
06:36what didn't, um, communication gaps, turn times, technology, outdated workflows and thought,
06:42why are we, why is this the standard? Like, why are we, you know, okay with, um,
06:47um, this continuing in this format. So we built something different. We made investments in
06:54technology and more importantly, in people, which we keep coming back to. So, um, as you know,
07:00navigating that, especially in a highly regulated industry, like mortgage, isn't always easy. Um,
07:06you have to balance speed with accuracy and innovation with compliance. Um, and I guess my
07:14approach to that has always been respect the foundation. Like there's a reason why it, um,
07:19it used to work that way or could possibly still be working that way, but don't be afraid to challenge
07:23it or, um, you know, burn it down and rebuild it. I'd also tie some of that into when I,
07:30you know,
07:31when I was asking, you know, thinking about examples in the industry of tactical being human,
07:35I would, uh, point that back to how you show up to me. You yourself is an example. I'd probably
07:42bring on someone has, as you come into industry with entrepreneurship, starting this, um, building
07:46this really is probably a better word. Um, is like, you're always authentically you through it all
07:52and you show up. And so you as a human being authentic, but also using the power of technology
07:56to grow. And I think that's a really cool balance that you embody, um, and what you're doing. And then
08:02also as you, as a person is how you show up. Is there anything else that you would like to
08:07add? I
08:07mean, I think to me, you are so active in the space. You're active with the TMBA. You get to
08:13be
08:13the eyes and the ears of a lot of conversations and in a lot of rooms in the industry, anything
08:18that's standing out to you or anything you'd want to add? You know, um, I go back to the people
08:22again.
08:23I think this industry is, is it's so transactional, but it's not about transactions. Um, like I said,
08:29at the beginning, it's about the people that we get to serve and the, um, making the American dream
08:34come true as cheesy as it sounds. Um, but I think for me as a, an owner and, and, uh,
08:40um, a very tech
08:41forward thinking, uh, mentality, whether you're using artificial intelligence, blockchain, whatever
08:47the best technology is that's available. If you lose sight of the human and all that, then you just
08:53miss the point. Yeah. It's such a great call out and such a great thing to say, especially as we
08:58look
08:58ahead into 2026, I'm noticing, especially as we build for the AI summit later this year, that a top
09:04conversation is like, where is the value add in AI? We all know it, but I think there's this,
09:08this reality check of the human. And I am very excited about that conversation that can happen
09:14as we go into the rest of the year that we know, we know it's there, but we also still
09:17see, um,
09:19where we need to, you know, like you said, it is the American dream. I still walk around my house
09:23and think like, Oh, this is, you know, we worked hard for this house. I have a mortgage. We did
09:26it,
09:27you know? And I, I, you know, that, that will always be something powerful and you, you help people
09:32also achieve that. It means something special. So thank you, Claire. Excited to kind of hear more
09:36about what you're working on and where you're headed. Um, and I will stay tuned to what you do
09:41next. Thanks for having me.
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