Ep 32 The Truth About Mortgages: Matt Doyle Reveals What Loan Officers Won't Tell You

Welcome to the chapter one podcast. Your inside look at the people powering Charlotte's business scene, real entrepreneurs, real stories right here in the queen city. Um, we're here today with Matt Doyle of Guild Mortgage. Matt, we're excited to have you on the show. Let's start at chapter one. How did you make your way here to Charlotte? Yeah. And first and foremost, honored to be here. So thank you guys for having me. So I am what's classified as a new born. I was actually born in the Charlotte area. Okay. I want to live here my entire life. And it's always funny to hear that because so many people come to visit family or friends and they're like, I want to move to Charlotte. It's great. And they move here. They visit me, never leave. So the fact that people that are born here rarely stay just, it never made sense to me. It's like two plus two is five. I think it's because there were just not a whole lot of people that were here in the first place. And so now the people just keep piling in and just keep growing. Um, but you're right. I feel like most of the people I meet and it's always how we start the show is when did you get here? And usually it's this whole, whole long story. And we get a very few of them that are like, well, I was born and raised here. Born and raised. Um, so, okay. Let's, let's start with, with one. What was, what was life like growing up here in Charlotte? Um, so for anybody that's known me for a while, I will, uh, give the disclaimer. I was not in Charlotte. I was in the Charlotte surrounding area. It all counts. Yeah. So where I was, uh, I was raised in Cheryl's Ford. Okay. Um, which is kind of like in a pocket around between like Hickory and Mooresville and Denver. Um, so where I grew up, you know, it's so funny because neighbors would drive tractors to school in high school for like a tractor day. And now 157 people a day moved here in 2024. Like that was the average people that moved there. 77 is four lanes. There's traffic 24 seven. We have, I just read a report and I don't remember the company, but like more and more companies are moving their headquarters to Charlotte and more jobs are coming here. And I remember when McDonald's was your only option to eat food in Mooresville and now there's more shops than you can think of. It's such a while to have that perspective because like we started off with saying, I don't think a whole lot of people do. A lot of people are just in that crowd. That's moving here. Um, I've been here for eight years and I already feel like I've seen part of the change that I couldn't imagine, uh, like you being born and raised here. Uh, so tell me what about, tell me about your, your professional life. Where did it start? What was your first job and how did you eventually make it? You know, it's what you're doing now. Yeah. So I graduated up button state, um, so go out and I double majored in marketing and economics. Had no idea what I wanted to do, but you know, I was just following what I was passionate about and I remember I was about to accept a job moving to Detroit, Michigan for a marketing gig, but long story short, did not do that. Um, and my dad connected me with somebody who knew from a local cigar shop that was in the mortgage industry, uh, met him. And he's like, look, you had like maybe an hour long conversation. He's like, I think you'd be great in the mortgage industry. Come work for me, get started. I'll teach you how to focus on, you know, growing your business, sales, all the different things that, you know, kind of just set me up for success in the industry. And so I kind of get the long story short, I was more like a support back office person for the first three to four years of the industry. And I learned, you know, what to do really, really well, as well as what to avoid, um, whether it be growing pains or things people did or didn't do that negatively impacted the process. So long story started back in like 2020 in the mortgage industry. So I've been a loan officer for six years at the time of this recording. And I've been amongst the top 1% of the loan officers in the nation for the last two. Um, so it's long story. Just kind of fell into it. Yeah. I've loved every day of it since. So what, at what point did you start Guild? Is this your, this is your company or. I would love to take credit for that. No, Guild is one of the largest mortgage companies in the nation. Okay. We've been around since like 1960. We're just headquartered out West in California. Okay. So, but I imagine it still operates in a similar fashion to, to being like an entrepreneur in the sense that you're kind of doing some of your own marketing and working on growing it yourself. Is that, is that true? Correct. So with, with most mortgage companies, you're pretty much hired regardless of if it's 1099 or W2, you're a hundred percent commission. So, you know, make it simple. If you don't kill, you don't. So there's all these different scenarios. Uh, is it going to be better for me to focus 110% of my time in video marketing, Instagram, marketing, Facebook, face networking events, everybody can just kind of has a different, uh, different way to cook the meal. And luckily I've found something that works for me and it's provided me a lot of opportunity to help a lot of people in buying a house or refunded to, to save them a month of payment. So what has that marketing looked like for you? I guess, and if it's changed, you know, start me from, you know, when you first started getting into it, how did you find clients? How did you meet people? It was a lot of cold calling, uh, when I started, but it was also, it was a weird time in the mortgage industry, especially to get started because it was, you know, it was 2020 interest rates were never lower 2.9. Everybody and their friends were wanting to buy a house ASAP and the loan officers that have been in the industry for five, 10, 20 years, have this big book of business of loans that they had closed where those clients were calling them saying, refinance my mortgage, refinance my mortgage, refinance my mortgage. And because of that, they didn't choose my words carefully here. They focused on the low hanging fruit of that quick refinance versus recognizing the seats that they had planted in the first place, which is your business partners. So while those, uh, seasoned loan officers were focused on the low hanging fruit, I was the one calling the business partners, real estate agents, financial advisors, attorneys, CPAs, you name it. I'm like, Hey, I'm a loan officer. I'm newer. Yeah. But I'll work my ass off to get whatever deal across and, you know, I was working if not a hundred hours a week, probably close to it, flying, jumping into deep and not knowing how to swim and figure it out. Um, so I learned a lot very quickly and very blessed to be sitting here today. Awesome. So, so what are, what are some of the bigger things because you've been a loan officer for a little while now, what are some of the bigger pieces of information that you've learned that you feel like most people don't know? So to answer that question, when you come up, like loan officers don't know or clients don't know, like buyers. Well, let's go with both. You can answer them both. So the thing for buyers, uh, I'm going to choose my words carefully here again. You mean the hard ones? Yeah. Well, the thing that I think buyers don't always understand is while it's super exciting to be buying a house and we want to help, there's not always an update on a day-to-day basis. Um, so like perfect example, client's under contract right now, we're closing in three months and he's calling me, Matt, what's the update? We got three months. Like the house isn't even built yet. Like that there, we haven't done a lot of the work needed to get to the closing. It takes time, but on that same note, another client went under contract this weekend and we closed in two weeks. So there's going to be some scenarios where it is super quick. And if we say, Hey, we need this document, you do need to jump. There's other times where you're fine to go on a week vacation. Just get us this stuff. When you get back, it's all good. So the answer for the buyer is like every scenario is different. Um, and the answer for the loan officers is to actually be transparent with how the job works, how the industry operates, what the rates are and what they need. More times than not, loan officers are, you know, they're just saying like, I'm going to say questionable antics. We try to steer a buyer or steer a partner to work with them. But if you talk to somebody that actually understands how this operates, like that's predatory. Like that's not being truthful. That's not being client focused. That's arguably the number one thing that I've done in my business to separate myself from 99% of other loan officers is I am, I do explain this process because this stuff was never taught in school, like nobody took a class in high school on how to buy a house. Right. So regardless of your first term or you're buying a house, you probably don't know as much as you think you do from a chat, GPT search or Google inquiry. Um, talk to somebody that actually explains the process because one thing is buyers always ask what's the lowest rate dumbest question people can ask because it just means you're waving a white flag saying, I don't know what I'm doing. Lowest rate doesn't always mean it's the best deal. So, so for you, and you mentioned it for a second, as far as something that makes you kind of stand out from other people, um, in the loan officer world, is that difficult? Is it difficult to amongst a whole bunch of mortgage people to be like unique and to have certain elements? Like if I was to ask you, you know, what's a unique part about what you bring to the table that other loan officers don't, what would you, what would you say? I don't just tell the buyer what to do. Um, I view it more like we're in a road trip together, like regardless if you're in, we'll say California wanting to buy a house in New York or if you're in Charlotte, wanting to buy a house in Huntersville, there's a journey we're going on. There's a million and one different ways to get to that final destination, but it depends on how you want to get there is going to take the best price or the best down payment, the best loan broker. So many mortgage companies or loan officers just operate off of the buyer one deal, like, Hey, you need to do this and this is your rate and this is your closing costs. That's the block. We have access to well over 800 different loan brokers. So you might be saving up for that 20% down payment, but you might qualify for a 5% difference in the monthly payment on a 15% down payment. Obviously it's going to differ between the loan amount, but since 500 bucks, all right, well, if you're buying a house, I don't advise spending all the money you have in savings and then financing a sofa for 20% interest. No, about it. And that's kind of what I do. So what about the whole process? I guess that you've been through, do you love the most? Like, what do you love most about what you get to do now? Truthfully, what I love the most is regardless if it's like after the approval consultation or closing day, we're trying to like, I could not have imagined doing this without, I mean, don't get me wrong, the money's great, but we get paid based off how many deals are closed. The joy I see is actually getting, having people tell me, like, I appreciate it. I'm so glad I reached out to you or you were able to help or whatever scenarios like that, that's what I'm chasing. Yeah. It's just that feeling of, you know, appreciation. Yeah. Yeah, no, totally. I think that's, I feel like we all start, like what you said, like the money side where it's just like, Oh, I'm trying to make a living. So I'm doing this thing. And you discover that you're like, Oh, I'm so passionate about certain elements of it is that I didn't realize we're going to be there. Like I'm actually, what I do matters in some way that I didn't see in the first place. Well, you know, it's funny because the first time I bought a house, um, I was, I would say I was in the industry, but I wasn't alone and I didn't know nearly as much as I do now that I remember sitting at the closing table and my heart was racing. I thought I was having like a panic attack because I'm signing all these documents, not knowing what the hell I'm signing and somebody's like sign that document and you're officially $350,000 in debt. I'm like, am I making a smart, like nobody's over my shoulder, making sure I'm making the right, the right decision here. And I remember leaving that closing table, not feeling excited. I was like, I don't know if I'm making the right decision. Did I get a good interest rate? Did I choose the right loan officer or mortgage company to partner with? I, and this isn't a dig on the loan officer that helped me in that scenario. It was just as a buyer, I was like, what the hell am I doing? So I remember that feeling every single time I talked to somebody, I'm like, look, I want to make sure that regardless of you close with me or not, you at least don't have that feeling. I want to make sure you understand what you're doing. Is there something unique about, I mean, you've only lived here in Charlotte, but, but being a, uh, you know, a loan officer here in Charlotte, I'm sure you have a more, uh, maybe detailed view of the land as far as like things that are changing and prices of things. How have you seen Charlotte change over the years and what are some elements about Charlotte that you really like? So I will say that downtown Charlotte has changed so much, uh, you know, with Carolina Panthers and Charlotte FC and all the sporting events. And now we're getting so many restaurants that are phenomenal. It's not just the same, you know, basic burger with ketchup and lettuce. Um, so there's just so much culture in Charlotte. Um, and it really is a mixing pot because we have so many people moving here from across the nation or across the world that we're just getting introduced to so many things that weren't around, you know, 20, 30 years ago. So it's just the opportunity to explore and learn so much more that that's been the biggest change since I've been born. So if you were to give your, maybe yourself advice, you know, younger you, um, or just somebody that's watching this, that's early in the stages of entrepreneurship or just thinking about taking a dive into, into kind of growing something in a similar way that you've grown what you've been doing. Um, what's some advice that you would give that person? So there's two pieces of advice and unfortunately it's not a Matt Doyle original, but we accept those. That's fine. Yeah. So I would say the first one, and I don't remember the, the boxer I came to this. It's a movie with mild color, but he's asked at the end of the movie, what's the best advice and he goes, it's not that simple. And you know, his scenario is very different. If you guys don't know the movie, watch the movie. But getting like successful loan officer, people will tell you it's not that easy. It, it really is. You just have to do right by other people. That that's the main thing. Don't try to, you know, invest a million in $1. You don't need to know a thousand people before you get started. You don't need to sell yourself short. Just bet on yourself, do the hard work and understand that tomorrow's going to be better than today. And the second bit of advice is kind of the opposite. No one's coming to save you. So if you get started in the mortgage industry and it's a hundred percent commission or the real estate industry, and it's a hundred percent commission, you're not going to make a lot of money sitting at home, not working. Like this is a dog eat dog world. It's still, if you want to eat, so bet on yourself and put in the work. Nobody's going to come give you a, nobody's going to call you and say, I'm your rich uncle. I'm going to give you a million bucks. You have to work for it. Those rich uncles. Where are they now? Um, Matt, if somebody was watching and wanted to get in contact with you, how could they, how could they find you? Yeah. So easiest way is probably Instagram. Matt Doyle mortgage. Very simple. And that's the same website to access my online application, Facebook, Matt Doyle mortgage, or you can call me or text me on my direct cell. Uh, 704-881-3308. Awesome. Well, Matt, thank you so much for being on the show. Uh, this was Matt Doyle with guild mortgage and we are the chapter one podcast.