- 10 hours ago
On this episode of Power House, Zeb Lowe sits down with mortgage veteran Joey Hansen to discuss what it takes to build a lasting career through multiple housing cycles.
Drawing on more than two decades in the business, Hansen shares lessons from navigating changing markets, evolving borrower behavior and shifting industry dynamics. The conversation explores affordability challenges, the lock-in effect and why many consumers remain overly focused on interest rates while missing the bigger financial picture.
Hansen also reflects on a major career move after 12 years with the same company, discussing the realities of rebuilding relationships, evaluating support systems and stepping into a new leadership role. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes a simple but powerful theme: markets change, but trust, education and consistent client guidance never go out of style.
For loan officers and housing professionals trying to navigate today’s market, Hansen offers a practical perspective shaped by experience, adaptability and a long-term view of success.
Related to the episode:
Zeb Lowe’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebulon-lowe-a02353a4/
Joey Hansen's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeydalyhansen/
Huntington National Bank
https://www.huntington.com/
Want more from Zeb? Don't forget to subscribe to LendingLife.
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.
Drawing on more than two decades in the business, Hansen shares lessons from navigating changing markets, evolving borrower behavior and shifting industry dynamics. The conversation explores affordability challenges, the lock-in effect and why many consumers remain overly focused on interest rates while missing the bigger financial picture.
Hansen also reflects on a major career move after 12 years with the same company, discussing the realities of rebuilding relationships, evaluating support systems and stepping into a new leadership role. Throughout the conversation, she emphasizes a simple but powerful theme: markets change, but trust, education and consistent client guidance never go out of style.
For loan officers and housing professionals trying to navigate today’s market, Hansen offers a practical perspective shaped by experience, adaptability and a long-term view of success.
Related to the episode:
Zeb Lowe’s LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zebulon-lowe-a02353a4/
Joey Hansen's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeydalyhansen/
Huntington National Bank
https://www.huntington.com/
Want more from Zeb? Don't forget to subscribe to LendingLife.
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
00:00Joey Hansen is a seasoned mortgage sales leader at Huntington National Bank, who has seen just about every kind of
00:06market this industry can throw at you, from boom times to rate shocks and everything in between.
00:11She sat down with me at the gathering.
00:14In this conversation, we dig into how she built a referral-driven business, what today's affordability crunch really looks like
00:20at the kitchen table, how she's navigating the rate lock-in effect, shifting realtor dynamics, and rapidly evolving borrower expectations.
00:29Joey also shares how she talks borrowers through persistent misconceptions, what's changed in her own process over the last year,
00:36as well as the advice she gives LOs who are wondering if they should still keep grinding in this market.
00:52Joey, thank you for joining me.
00:53Thank you so much for the invitation. What an honor.
00:55Yes, ma'am. Happy to have you here.
00:56Can you, before we get into some of the originator-specific stuff, can you give me, I guess, like a
01:02close-notes version of how you got into the industry, what your market looks like, who your borrower or your
01:08customer type is?
01:08Sure.
01:10Well, I always wanted to be a loan officer.
01:12Yeah.
01:13Said no one ever.
01:14Sure, right.
01:15A friend said, you'd be good at this, so you should do it.
01:19So at the time, I was living in Colorado, and I actually, my husband and I picked up a move
01:22to North Carolina in 2003 to give this whole mortgage thing a shot.
01:28And I jumped right into being a loan officer.
01:30I've never been in any other aspect of the industry.
01:32You know, it didn't come from title or processing or anything else.
01:35So I kind of know just this one thing in the industry, and I've originated and lived in three different
01:41states in the 23 years I've been doing this.
01:43I started in North Carolina, then moved to Texas in lending, and now I've been in Colorado for a long
01:47time, and Colorado's my home.
01:50And, you know, I would say my market, we're, I'm in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
01:55You've been there?
01:56Well, you were there last year, of course.
02:00I'd say our market is, you know, we're in the moderate, but still a little bit upper moderate of affordability,
02:08especially in Colorado Springs.
02:09People think Colorado is expensive everywhere.
02:11It's really not, just in some pockets, I think.
02:14So that's good and bad in our area.
02:17It's good in that you have a wide variety of people that can buy homes.
02:21It's bad, and that affordability is still an issue.
02:23What's the medium home price there around about?
02:25It's probably around $500,000, upper fours, depending on where, specifically where you are.
02:31And then Denver, of course, is significantly higher.
02:33Right, right.
02:33If you may ask me this, if you would have known, so that's pretty wild.
02:37I got into the industry, I became an originator through a friend, and it was supposed to be, originally it
02:43was supposed to be supplemental income really for me.
02:45I was an English professor, and my friend, who's a great originator, who's a branch manager, and he was looking
02:55for someone that could speak to larger groups of people, like go to lunch and learn for realtors, or first
03:00-time homebuyer seminars, and educate them.
03:02Right, so he kind of recruited me to fill that part of his business.
03:08But I had something else to kind of go, I fell into it, you know, and I dove into it
03:14after I got into it, but I didn't, I mean, yours is the opposite.
03:17You really went on a wing and a prayer.
03:18If you knew, if, would you have made that same jump six months after moving and being a loan originator
03:27for six months, like, did you have any idea what you were getting into, or were you immediately regretting your
03:31move a couple, you know, a couple months in?
03:34Never regretted it.
03:35Oh, really?
03:35Immediately, I was like, I thought, this is really interesting.
03:38And I didn't know what I didn't know, and I did jump in, and, you know, I jumped into 100
03:42% commission and all the things, and I was like, why not?
03:44I was younger, so it's, it's the time to, you know, for me, it was an easy time to make
03:50that risk, you know, to take a risk like that.
03:53But no, pretty instantly, I was like, okay, I like this.
03:56I really liked the finance piece, the way it's like putting together a puzzle.
04:00I liked the fact that it really was helping people in a very significant piece of their lives, and then
04:06just the people part of it.
04:07So it really does combine, and I've said that, I continue to say that today, it's why I love the
04:12business.
04:12It's the personal finance piece that I love, and it is a people aspect that I love, and we get
04:17to combine those two.
04:19I mean, what else, you know, is as good as that?
04:22You've been in the industry since 2003, so you've seen your fair share of market cycles and booms and busts.
04:29Where do you, where does this market cycle scale or fall into the previous cycles that you've been a part
04:38of?
04:38Because to me, I've been in the industry since maybe 15 years now, and this is particularly, there's, this industry
04:47right now, the market cycle feels like there's an eerie calm.
04:51So, you know what I mean, where like there was, there was panic and despair for the past couple years,
04:56but this last year or two, I feel like things have kind of settled out.
05:01I mean, they're not good.
05:02Right.
05:03Right, but they're, but it's not the doom and gloom that it was previously.
05:07Eerie calm is the only way that I know how to describe it.
05:09I call it a false summit.
05:11Okay, yeah.
05:11Right.
05:12That works.
05:12I live in Colorado.
05:13We summit.
05:15Because you think that we're like, just, I mean, quarter percent better in rates.
05:20We're like so close to magic, right?
05:22To really getting people into more homes, but we're just not quite there.
05:26So this one's tough.
05:28I mean, I think the, the drastic, drastic change in rates that we saw beginning in 22 and the way
05:36that ran up so fast.
05:37And it really put the brakes on a lot of activity and then hurt a lot of loan officers and
05:43companies.
05:44And I think in some ways we're still kind of recovering from some of that.
05:48We lost a lot of people in the business who were no longer able to survive when rates jumped up
05:53so much.
05:53So this one's different in that it just doesn't feel the same as the financial crisis or the other cycles.
06:00At the same time, I feel like we're not in that bad of a spot right now.
06:06Yeah.
06:07I may not be right in that, but I feel like we are not in that bad of a spot
06:11right now.
06:12Yes.
06:12Like it could be, could be better for sure.
06:14Could be better.
06:15But it could be way worse.
06:16Certainly.
06:16It could be back in the seven ranges.
06:18That's right.
06:18Just from a rate perspective, right?
06:19That's right.
06:20Yeah.
06:20So.
06:21Speaking of rates, I wanted to ask you about your experience, you know, your part of the world and the,
06:26the lock-in effect.
06:27Because that's been a constant in the, in the mortgage news cycle over the past several years.
06:34And I was telling you earlier that I had just, well, I skimmed over an article this morning.
06:40I didn't have time to get into the, the specifics of it, but that the lock-in effect is generally
06:46kind of dissipating across the country.
06:48But that varies, you know, national news is great until you talk to someone about the local market and it's
06:54like, you know what I mean?
06:55So for, in your market, does the lock-in effect, is that still at play?
06:59What are those conversations with borrowers or customers look like around rates right now?
07:05I think there will be a degree of lock-in effect for a good long while, right?
07:12So it, you can't say it's not there, but I also don't think it's there to the degree that it
07:17was.
07:18And I do see it easing up.
07:20Now I think about my own home.
07:22I'm locked in my own home.
07:23I like, even if I considered moving, I really would be like, where am I to get my 2.25
07:28% rate?
07:28Yeah.
07:29You know?
07:29So it affects even me when I think about that.
07:33At the same time, I think people can only stay in a house they don't love, don't, you know, all
07:39those things for so long, right?
07:40At some point you get weary of, of your situation and people do continue to change jobs, get divorced, have
07:49family tragedies, all the things.
07:51And so some of that's forced to get out of the lock-in effect.
07:53Some of it's just, they're just weary of how much longer can I wait for this and let's just go.
07:59Yeah.
08:00And so I see it easing up.
08:02I wanted to talk to you more about the conversations that you're having with, with borrowers right now.
08:07And I was curious to know what of the, what is one of the most common misconceptions that you're, that
08:14you're dealing with, that you're having to field, I guess, with, with customers whenever they, either whenever they first come,
08:20it could be both.
08:21Whenever they first come to you and then throughout the origination process.
08:27That's a great question and I probably have a couple of answers, but that I'll maybe give one.
08:32Um, I think some people still think that the lowest rate that I'm quoted is absolutely the best for me.
08:43And oftentimes they do not have education around what actually goes into that rate and how that affects other things.
08:49And so I think about, you know, for competitiveness, um, you know, when people are shopping for their lender, you
08:57know, they'll see something online or they'll hear something from their friend or whatever about what rate they can get
09:03from X lender or X loan officer.
09:06And don't have the education around that to really understand what that means.
09:09And therefore they may actually walk into a loan that's, was not the best for them because they just didn't,
09:16um, take the time to thoroughly vet it or just to get some more education around it.
09:22So that's one thing that that's not, um, it's not always prevalent, but it's the first thing that came to
09:28my mind when you asked the question.
09:29Let me ask you about that conversation. So is that something that you're having to feel to deal with like
09:33early on in the process, like the initial loan consult or whenever you're perhaps later on in the rate lock
09:37situation, do you, do your people kind of like crawfishing back and maybe trying to rate shop you?
09:42Is that, is that a common issue?
09:44Sure. To a degree. Yes. It happens at the beginning of the process. Sometimes I'm in the middle of the
09:48process, depending on, you know, where rates are and things like that. Um, but I, um, lost my thought on
09:56that. It was going to be really good though. I'm sure.
09:58Well, uh, one of the misconceptions I was curious about, uh, is the, there's, there's so much, uh, data and
10:06information now coming, coming out about the number of home buyer, potential home buyers that are coming to LOs that
10:12have already consulted chat or club AI. Right. Um, what does, what does that look like from, from, from your
10:20seat? Are you having to, as, as the average buyer now that you're dealing with, are they more informed coming
10:27to, to talk to you?
10:28Because they've consulted AI and is the consultation that they're receiving? Is it good?
10:33Some are, not everyone is. I actually had a situation not too long ago that someone emailed me very specific
10:41questions and they wanted to know, you know, four or five different things.
10:46And they were so specific that I literally thought it was like a secret shopper. You know, how like companies
10:52will have, I was like very convinced it was a secret shopper. It was not. Turns out, I think they
10:56just had probably used AI to, and they were, you know, emailing this list of questions to various lenders.
11:01Right. Um, so it happens some. Um, so around the conversation, uh, of, or the topic of affordability besides the
11:10rates, is there any other, what do those conversations look like again with your customers, with your demographic outside of
11:17rates or is rates all that they're really, is their concept of affordability tied just centrally to rates and then
11:25nothing else?
11:25Like where does, uh, where does, uh, insurance tie into, to this conversation? Is that something that kind of like
11:30hits them by surprise or certainly can certainly can. And that's a hard one.
11:35I'm certainly encouraging all my clients to get your homeowner's insurance quote up front because you don't know what that
11:40could do. I think at the end of the day, people really want to know, um, what, what am I
11:46going to pay for the home? What's my payment going to be? What's the rate? And what do I have
11:50to bring to closing to make this all happen?
11:52Right.
11:53Those are really at the end of the day, the majority of people that I talk to, that's what they
11:57want to know. And then they want really good advice and guidance along the way to get there. So if
12:02all of those things align, that's affordability.
12:05To them. And, and sometimes the person that makes a significant amount of money in no way wants to, you
12:12know, buy all the home they can qualify for.
12:15Yeah.
12:15They have specific reasons why they want to keep their payments low.
12:18Right.
12:19So as long as that meets their, what's my payment going to be? What's the rate? What do I have
12:23to bring to closing to make this happen? And what am I paying for this home? If those things align,
12:27the affordability is there.
12:28Okay. Last question I've got for you. This is a, you can answer it in multiple, uh, multiple ways. It's
12:33a 12 to 18 month.
12:35Um, retrospective, I guess, question. So I'm curious to know if there is one or two things. Is there something
12:43that you've changed over the last 12 to 18 months that's paid off dividends, uh, for your business?
12:48Or is there, alternate question is, is there something that had, that worked over the last, that used to work
12:56that over the last 12 to 18 months is no longer working? And that could be anything from your relationships
13:01with your referral partners or with, uh, marketing techniques with, uh, with, with home buyers.
13:08Well, that is a funny and timely question because I just a few months ago actually changed companies for the
13:15first time. And I had been 12 years at my, my previous company. And so for me, what's changed over
13:21the last 12 to 18 months? Number one, that two, I, and one of the reasons why I changed was
13:27just an opportunity to grow and, and help build something and help.
13:30Others succeed too. And so I'm in this now building, recruiting, growing phase that I've never been in before. So
13:37that part is really exciting. So that's definitely different, uh, over last year.
13:41And I'm a little bit starting over with some of my referral partners. I came from a real estate joint
13:47venture. I was, I was in a JV for almost 12 years. So I had some, some dedicated, you know,
13:54referral partners within that joint venture, the real estate company, um, obviously could not take all those people with me
14:00when I exited the JV. So I'm in rebuild mode with referral partners. So, um, part of that's been fun.
14:06It's brought some of the fun back for me to lending.
14:09Right. If that makes sense. Um, and part of it's just a challenge too. And so, so yeah, I'm, I'm
14:15in this new, new place, um, just than I was a few months ago. So it's kind of exciting.
14:20So I've got a followup question on that. This is kind of a half-hearted joke of a question, but,
14:25uh, so if we work with, I mean, in, in this world, do you know how easy it is to
14:29get caught up in the technology whirlwind? And, uh, and I see often thinking of someone that's decided to leave
14:36one company and go to another.
14:40How much of a tech stack really ever factors into your decision at the end, at the end of the
14:46day? Right. I would be, I would assume that is a, it's not, it is a factor in there. Uh,
14:52I also, from my experience, it's not as much of a factor as companies trying to recruit with a tech
14:57stack, make it out to be. So from you, what, what about you?
15:00I would agree with that statement. It's important. It's not everything. Yeah. There are other things that are important. I
15:06mean, do you get loans closed on time? Right. Can, you know, and, and I vetted this current company that
15:13I'm with probably more than they've, they were probably tired of my questions because I really wanted to make sure
15:18I was number one, making a good decision. And, and two, that they were, they did have all the things
15:23that were important to me. Technology is a piece of it. It is not the most important thing in my
15:28opinion. Yeah.
15:28Now that being said, if you're going significantly backwards. Right. Then that's not good either. Right. Um, fortunately where I
15:37am now is very forward thinking. We're a bank, but we're very forward thinking. And I think that there's a
15:41lot of really good things there, including the technology. So, yeah.
15:45Well, and the fact that they answered, like you said, you, that you thought that they were probably tired of
15:49answering our questions, but they answered them anyway. So that speaks to the relationship being a primary decision maker factor.
15:54Right. Yeah. I agree.
15:55All right. Thank you so much. Thank you, Zeb.
15:57Nice to meet you.
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