- 2 days ago
In this episode of Power House, Zeb Lowe sits down with Patty Arvielo to discuss leadership, mentorship, and the role mortgage executives play in shaping the future of the industry.
Arvielo shares how she leads at scale by humanizing leadership — meeting people where they are, understanding different perspectives across teams, and taking full accountability when things break down. She explains how the culture at New American Funding was intentionally built over time, drawing inspiration from customer-first organizations like Zappos.
The conversation also covers her advocacy work in Washington and why mortgage professionals need a stronger voice in regulatory decisions that directly impact borrowers. Arvielo highlights her Thrive and Lead mentorship program and her commitment to developing the next generation of leaders, particularly women in mortgage.
From navigating market cycles to building durable teams, this episode offers practical insight for professionals focused on long-term impact and leadership.
Related to the episode:
Zeb Lowe’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebulon-lowe-a02353a4/
Patty Arvielo’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattyarvielo/
PattyArvielo.com
https://www.pattyarvielo.com/
New American Funding
https://www.newamericanfunding.com/
The Power House podcast brings the biggest names in housing to answer hard-hitting questions about industry trends, operational and growth strategy, and leadership. Join HousingWire’s Zeb Lowe every Thursday morning for candid conversations with industry leaders to learn how they’re differentiating themselves from the competition. Hosted and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
Arvielo shares how she leads at scale by humanizing leadership — meeting people where they are, understanding different perspectives across teams, and taking full accountability when things break down. She explains how the culture at New American Funding was intentionally built over time, drawing inspiration from customer-first organizations like Zappos.
The conversation also covers her advocacy work in Washington and why mortgage professionals need a stronger voice in regulatory decisions that directly impact borrowers. Arvielo highlights her Thrive and Lead mentorship program and her commitment to developing the next generation of leaders, particularly women in mortgage.
From navigating market cycles to building durable teams, this episode offers practical insight for professionals focused on long-term impact and leadership.
Related to the episode:
Zeb Lowe’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebulon-lowe-a02353a4/
Patty Arvielo’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pattyarvielo/
PattyArvielo.com
https://www.pattyarvielo.com/
New American Funding
https://www.newamericanfunding.com/
The Power House podcast brings the biggest names in housing to answer hard-hitting questions about industry trends, operational and growth strategy, and leadership. Join HousingWire’s Zeb Lowe every Thursday morning for candid conversations with industry leaders to learn how they’re differentiating themselves from the competition. Hosted and produced by the HousingWire Content Studio.
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NewsTranscript
00:03Welcome back to Powerhouse.
00:05Today, I'm sitting down with Patti Arviello, CEO and co-founder of New American Funding.
00:10Patti's impact isn't measured by headlines.
00:12It's measured by the people she's helped move closer to homeownership, especially in communities the industry has too often overlooked.
00:19If you're a loan officer, team leader, or executive trying to build something that lasts, you're going to get a
00:25lot out of this one.
00:36I don't remember where it might have been.
00:38I can't remember if it was a podcast or an interview or I read it on LinkedIn.
00:43And correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a minute, but it was something along the lines about your leadership
00:47and something along the lines that you feel it's your job to learn to lead people individually rather than them
00:54adopt your leadership as a mandate.
01:00Let's say, and that's a, you know, that's a really demanding standard to put upon yourself necessary, I would assume,
01:06but it's also demanding.
01:07So how do you, I mean, how do you execute that at scale?
01:10And maybe that was part of, I mean, that's in part of your answer.
01:12The previous answer was, I mean, you can call me, call me anytime access to you, I would assume, but
01:17what else?
01:17I think it's just taking the perceptions of what it feels like to be where, or sit where I sit,
01:26you know, I'm really humanizing leadership because I think the connection to people post COVID has been so important.
01:34I used to be embarrassed like years ago when I would talk about NAF 360 and our culture.
01:39Now everybody talks about a proposed culture that they have, but we bleed it.
01:45Rick and I trained on it.
01:47Rick and I flew to a company, Zappos, the shoe distributor in Nevada, and we took two-day training with
01:52that founder, Anthony, prior to him passing away because we knew that company had an extraordinary culture.
01:58We were willing to be open to learn that we don't know everything.
02:02You know, I think that some people are born leaders.
02:06I think I was bossy since a very young age, so quote-unquote maybe leader-ish, but you really, it
02:12is a skill that you learn.
02:13And what I figured out is nobody wants to be led one certain way.
02:17We all have different personalities.
02:18We all have different beliefs.
02:20We all have different cultural upbringings.
02:22I try to meet people where they are and try to be open to how they want to be led.
02:27You know, I don't know if you know, we have 600 team members in India.
02:31You think I'm talking to them the same way I'm talking to the person here in Cali?
02:34No, I'm not.
02:35They have a different lived experience.
02:37Their life is different.
02:38It looks different.
02:39So I try to meet people where they are.
02:42I am strong.
02:42I let people know that.
02:44And I am a fighter, and I will not succumb to, like, really anything because I think the true testament
02:52to leadership is making people understand that no matter how bad it gets, the market's really bad, that we're here
02:59to succeed.
03:00And we will win.
03:02You know, and Rick and I have very much that attitude together, and we speak that way.
03:06We never come down on our team members.
03:08We never blame.
03:09We never deflect.
03:10We take all blame for anything that goes wrong at NAF.
03:13It's mine and Rick's fault.
03:15So I think that's just a lot of humanizing going on at NAF.
03:19You know, there's no shiny object of being the leader.
03:22There isn't because it's hard, too.
03:24Right.
03:25Well, but, I mean, your leadership, you know, it goes beyond NAF, though, right?
03:28That's what I wanted to ask you about.
03:30You lobby in Washington.
03:32You speak with regulators.
03:34And, well, I guess whenever you're in those rooms, what's the thing that you're pushing hardest for on behalf of
03:44the borrowers that don't have a seat at the table in those underserved communities?
03:49Going back to our earlier conversation.
03:50Just awareness.
03:51I mean, I honestly have sat at the table with the CFPB.
03:57I sat with the secretary of HUD.
04:01Let me ask you this.
04:01How in tune are they with the realities of our world?
04:05When I sat on the advisory board of the CFPB, they didn't know the difference between a broker and a
04:11banker.
04:13That's funny and horrifying at the same time.
04:16So there's a lot of learning.
04:18I mean, I advocate for every regulator and any institution overseeing what we do to have someone like us at
04:28the table.
04:29IMB founders, leaders at the table.
04:32Oftentimes, when I showed up to the CFPB board, I was the only mortgage person at the table.
04:36Yet they were, you know, when they came out, it was the hammer to go after these bad actors in
04:42the mortgage business.
04:42But they only had me at the table.
04:46So I advocate for having leaders of the industries in which you're overseeing and regulating at the table.
04:54A lot of us will volunteer our time.
04:56I promise you.
04:58Yeah, you know, I'm going to Washington, D.C., the 14th and 15th with First Home IQ and the NBA
05:05National Advocacy Conference to go to the Hill and talk to our lawmakers about us to raise awareness, right?
05:15I'm going to educate the most first on my Q's thing is first time for, you know, money on Gen
05:19Z homeownership and that the lack thereof, rather.
05:25But they're gathering, you know, I don't know.
05:27There's 50, 60 loan officers that are that are going, which I believe I was talking to Dave Savage about
05:32this.
05:32The most that they've ever had ever before was like five or six.
05:35Yeah.
05:35You know, so I think I see a lot of positive movement, I guess, maybe not change yet, but movement
05:43advocating for change.
05:45And like I said, awareness.
05:46They just don't they just don't they don't know this world.
05:48They don't know the space, which is wild because of how central to the American experience homeownership is.
05:56You know, you're being in America is deeply rooted in owning a home and building not just the safety and
06:04the security, but building, you know, equity up through the home.
06:06That's that's that's everything to us in this in this country.
06:11So the fact that they're so far removed is home ownership.
06:14Still, the number one tool to building wealth in America is home ownership.
06:19Sure.
06:20OK, so let me ask you this.
06:22We've this audience is kind of diverse.
06:25We've got home builders that listen to this.
06:26We've got LOs and a few agents and appraisers.
06:30So but any originators, team leaders in the audience, you built something that's lasted through many cycles by putting people
06:38first.
06:39Right.
06:39So what's the what's the version of that lesson that applies to someone running?
06:44They're just they're running a branch or they're running a small team today.
06:47I think, you know, there's a when someone chooses to choose you, meaning that there's a load officer and they're
06:55going to choose a branch manager.
06:56They're looking at you as a mentor, someone that can take them to the next level.
07:00There has to be time spent in nurturing that relationship.
07:04When I see leaders in the industry have huge teams, I mean, we've onboarded teams of 100 people.
07:11I mean, these are they're like companies within themselves.
07:15Right.
07:16In leadership growth, you only get what you give.
07:20This is not a take take take industry.
07:23Loan officers will see right through leadership.
07:25That's just basically just into themselves.
07:29The true great regional leaders, branch manager leaders are the ones that take the time to put in to the
07:37people who choose to follow them.
07:39And that really is what it is.
07:40I mean, it's kind of an honor if you're a branch manager and you have you're recruiting.
07:43A loan officer chooses you, you know, and a lot of times, you know, we have there's all through the
07:49industry.
07:49We have originators that claim the branch manager title, but they're just really big originators.
07:54You know, so when you're out looking for leaders, just really make sure that you're getting that leader that's actually
07:59going to take the time to spend with you to nurture the fact that maybe you're starting out or you
08:04want to take it to the next level.
08:05What's that look like?
08:07You know, I mentor women, primarily women.
08:10I have mentored men throughout my Thrive and Lead Mentorship Program for the last five years.
08:15I've mentored now well over 500 people in the industry.
08:18I do not recruit.
08:19I don't talk about NAF.
08:21It's not about that.
08:21It's accessibility to to somebody who's kind of been through different things.
08:27Well, loan officers are looking for the same thing.
08:29You know, true regional leaders have a following like that.
08:33I mean, I can't tell you.
08:34We have some of the best regional leaders and and in the industry and they have huge followings.
08:41But when I watch them and I I watch them give back to the people, they're not just a name
08:46on a card or a name on a website that you claim as a boss or actually putting back and
08:51helping you build, helping you lead, helping you deal with daily problems.
08:56Right.
08:56I'm glad I'm glad you mentioned mentorship because I was this is this had totally slipped my mind.
09:02It was one of the things that I specifically wanted to talk to you about.
09:04You're coming.
09:04You're going to be on stage at the gathering in Austin, Texas, April 28th to the 30th.
09:09You're going to be speaking or kind of co-hosting a conversation between you and LaTosha Waddy.
09:16So can you I don't want to I don't want to give away the farm, but can you kind of
09:22preview a little bit of what the attendees might might be in store for?
09:26Well, you got two powerhouse mortgage women on stage, you know, I I'm very proud of LaTosha.
09:33I met LaTosha.
09:34She was one of she joined my mentorship program two years ago and we spent a year together and, you
09:44know, we have several phone calls throughout the year.
09:46And when I started the mentorship program, I put it out to the universe.
09:50It was like, why are you doing this?
09:51Why are you doing this?
09:52Are you going to charge?
09:53No, I'm not going to charge and put my name out there because super lonely.
09:55Especially being a woman in the mortgage industry wanting to grow.
09:58What's that look like?
09:59What did you deal with?
10:01I said, because I don't want to retire from the mortgage industry being one of the few female founders or
10:06female executives at the table in the top mortgage companies of America.
10:11That was the true reason why I started Thrive and Leave.
10:15So to have LaTosha be a prior mentee and now the president of a top tier IMB, that means that
10:23like that you can call it dreamy manifestation, whatever you are, me putting it out in the universe, that things
10:30that you drive for or goals that you have do happen.
10:33And I couldn't be more proud of her and I tell my mentees this when I'm mentoring them on screen.
10:41I will say that you show up thinking I'm doing for you, but actually what you all do for me
10:46is so much more fulfilling.
10:48You are building my legacy.
10:50They're making me feel like, you know, that I matter.
10:54And that really is significantly human, right?
10:58I want to know that I matter to people.
11:00It doesn't matter if you have an extra dollar in your bank account when at the end of the day,
11:03no one talks about that.
11:05They talk about how you impacted others in your journey.
11:08And I feel like LaTosha is one of my first wins.
11:12I've had many others, you know, that have reached out because they consistently will share their journeys with me post
11:17our year together.
11:18So I'm proud of that.
11:20I don't feel like I had a role in it.
11:22I feel like I gave her a vision of what that role was going to look like for her.
11:26Her story in itself is now being told and is super important to the industry for the women that are
11:32rising.
11:32Because this industry has a large percent.
11:36I mean, we're what, 43% of the mortgage industry is women, right?
11:39But yet we're mostly in the operational role or in maybe an originator role.
11:45But I'm seeing the trajectory of successful women loan originators rise.
11:51I mean, when you go to NAF's President's Council, it's almost 50-50 women to male.
11:57That matters.
11:59Yeah, of course.
12:00Well, let me ask you this.
12:01I'm listening to you speak about this.
12:05You know, you've said it multiple times.
12:07Like, you've been in the industry for a very long time.
12:10And, you know, the energy or the enthusiasm that you have now mirrors people that I know that are on
12:19their way up.
12:20You know, they're passionate and they're pouring everything into their branch and into their company.
12:27And, you know, you still have, to me at least, you still have that same enthusiasm and same energy.
12:32So, what, you know, what is it that keeps you, I mean, I assume this mentorship and legacy building, is
12:37that what's, you know, part of what continues to, you know, keep you up or get you up every morning
12:42and ready to attack the day?
12:44You know, I think everybody would say this.
12:47Mortgage is not boring.
12:50I mean, the shifts we endure, even just like, look at what we've been dealing with, with the war, with
12:55the wrong, what it did to the secondary market.
12:57I mean, literally, we are, it's exhilarating, exciting, challenging.
13:04I mean, even if you're a loan processor and every time you get to look on the screen, you get
13:09to go to the appraisal, look at the photos of somebody's dream.
13:12I mean, like, everything upon it is so exciting.
13:15But after four years.
13:16Whenever I was, I used to, I originated, I got into the career as an originator.
13:20And the guy that trained me and brought me in, he's, you know, like every five, like you're talking about,
13:25from an origination standpoint, at the ground level.
13:27You know, he was like, he spread his hands out real big.
13:29He's like, if you want to learn, you have to know this much to be able to do that much,
13:34right?
13:34Like every loan basically is its own, it's its own problem.
13:37It is a very, from the outside, it could look like a boring world, but it's really not what you're
13:41going to say.
13:41No, it's so exciting.
13:42Just the shifts in the market, the opportunity, you know, just the role to disrupt.
13:52I mean, you know how many times people will spread rumors that we sold, we sold, naffs for sale, you
13:59know, the very old rumor of that.
14:02If you ask Rick, he's like, I retired once.
14:05If you knew Rick's story, Rick had a company and he sold it in his mid-30s.
14:10He said it was the most miserable two years of his life.
14:13He likes waking up to disrupt what still is a very archaic business.
14:18I mean, we're still kind of doing the same thing over the last 40 years.
14:22I still look at credit the same way, right?
14:26We're working in an industry that's ripe for disruption, not disruption in a bad way, but a lot of innovation.
14:32And Rick is an innovative person, so it, you know, it still gets me really excited to listen to my
14:37husband transform this industry.
14:39For me, I love people, right?
14:45So I get to be around a lot of people all the time.
14:48I'm still very heavily involved in recruiting.
14:52So, yeah, the passion to continually do what I do.
14:56I'm going to be hosting a three-day event within the Avance NARIP umbrella.
15:03So NARIP has their big events, NARIP at Avance.
15:06So I'm going to be hosting Thrive and Lead for three days to really bring Thrive and Lead to the
15:12next level, thanks to Gary.
15:13When's that coming up?
15:15It's in September.
15:16It's September, I think, 14th, 15th.
15:18I don't have my paper calendar with me.
15:20It's during the NARIP event.
15:21So anybody who attends NARIP, they will have access to three days of my content, all directed towards women empowerment,
15:30female founders, female loan originators.
15:33It just comes from all different aspects of women leadership.
15:37I mean, I've been giving this all the time.
15:38Is there a link for that?
15:39We can put that in there.
15:39No, actually, it's going to be coming up on the NARIP.
15:41Yeah, NARIP LinkedIn.
15:43It'll be up on the NARIP site and the Avance site in the next few days.
15:48So, I mean, this is the first time I'm taking this to industry rather than just 50 people.
15:54So, I mean, how fun is that?
15:56I still get to innovate.
15:57Yeah, that's great.
15:57Yeah, so I'm still doing things that excite me, and I still think there's a lot of room for people
16:04to realize that the barrier to entry, I think it's nonexistent, really.
16:11You have to choose you, and you have to just find people you resonate with that have done it and
16:16just carve the path forward.
16:18Okay.
16:19Well, first, we'll get that as soon as that link goes live to learn more or to sign up.
16:23We'll put that in the show notes, and I'll include that whenever we post this on our house.
16:28Yeah, I'll send you the link when it comes live to thrive and lead in Avance.
16:32So, yeah, I know there's a ton of your listeners that go to NARIP.
16:36Sure.
16:36Yeah, Gary's had, you know, one of the biggest real estate events for years now, and so this will be
16:42pretty exciting to have a three-day event, really just putting out the information that I do, but to the
16:48masses.
16:49It's really fun.
16:50Well, let me leave you with one last question.
16:52You were talking about innovation in the industry, and I agree.
16:55I mean, I've only been in the industry 15 years, but I've been long enough to see the promise of
17:00innovation or the teasing out of innovation, you know, and beyond taking tech out, taking AI out, because obviously that's
17:10an easy answer.
17:11What area or what part of the industry do you see ripe for innovation that's really either being overlooked or
17:18that you think people really aren't even paying attention to?
17:21Well, a lot of it's been talked about, you know, the credit scoring issue, I think it's high and still
17:27it's taken so long.
17:28I remember being with Barrett Burns, the founder of VantageScore, 15 years ago, lobbying for VantageScore to be, you know,
17:37prolific.
17:38And now we're finally there.
17:40Why does it take 15 years?
17:42I mean, it's kind of ridiculous.
17:45I actually think we're right there.
17:47We're right there in automation.
17:50I think that the data pulling of AI will continue to evolve the automation of data.
17:56Data tells all stories, whether you're creditworthy or not.
17:59It's very difficult to fraud data, right?
18:01So the more access we have to data to drive creditworthiness, the better it will be for access.
18:09Okay.
18:09Well, very good.
18:10Patty, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us.
18:12It was great getting to know you a little bit.
18:14And again, just thank you for your time.
18:16Thank you for joining me.
18:16Thanks for having me.
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