SPEAKER_00: 0:30

My name is Selena Bryant, and I am with People's Mortgage Company as a mortgage loan officer. And I serve buyers, home buyers, new home buyers. First time home buyers is typically my preferred demographic of clients, but any buyers.

SPEAKER_01: 0:48

Okay, awesome. I can't wait to learn more about just everything you do. So kind of take me back to how you got started in all of this. Tell me how you got to where you are today.

SPEAKER_00: 0:57

Yeah, so I think it's a little bit of an interesting story because I got into my particular career unexpectedly. I was not planning to be a mortgage loan officer at any point in my life. And I was coming out of restaurant management looking for a career that would have more flexibility and balance and quality of life. And I was buying my own home. And through that experience, it was not very ideal. I just didn't feel like this is how it should have been. And then through that process, I was talking to the manager of the mortgage company, and she had helped me through the process and through the struggles of the process, the hurdles. And then she at the end of it, she introduced me to the job and asked me if I would like to look into starting a career in this business. And I I was actually taking classes at the time in real estate to become a realtor, and it didn't quite click. So when I looked into this side, I felt like I had more compatibility in it. And then my main drive was to get into it so that I can ensure a better experience for future home buyers.

SPEAKER_01: 2:09

Absolutely. It's really interesting how you went through that personal experience and you were like, I don't want anyone else to experience that. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 2:17

I just you should feel accomplished. There's a lot of positive feelings I think you should be feeling, aside from this just the normal stress of having to buy anything, honestly. And obviously, these homes are going to be the most important purchase of that most people make in their life. And it should be a more accomplishing, positive experience. And you would want to eventually do it again, but I can't really say the same from the experience I had initially. So that's why I think I'm very driven to keep myself going with this career because I really want to help buyers experience a more positive home buying experience. And that's why I gravitate towards first-time homebuyers because a lot of repeat buyers they just kind of treat it more transactionally and there's more personability and purpose in like a first-time homebuyer.

SPEAKER_01: 3:06

Absolutely. And those families just really seeking knowledge or individuals just seeking that knowledge of that first-time buy. And kind of going into that, you're six years into your lending career. What continues to excite you the most about helping people become homeowners?

SPEAKER_00: 3:24

Well, I think coming from like a first-generation Korean family, um, I couldn't relate to a lot of financial stability growing up as a kid. I saw a lot of financial struggle within my family and had to kind of get into survival mode pretty quick. And I feel like purchasing your first home is a really strong foundation to build on. And it gives you a lot of education outside of just becoming a homeowner. It gives you a lot of financial literacy. And that's a passion of mine to really set people up financially and give them the knowledge that's just obviously about home buying, but also about how to set themselves up, how to build upon this major asset that they just, you know, acquired and how to continue to invest money in those ways to secure their future.

SPEAKER_01: 4:12

For sure. Just being able to spread that good advice and make informed decisions.

SPEAKER_00: 4:17

Yeah, it's a beautiful thing. Like, I mean, home buying is going to be one of the it's a very secure asset. And it's gonna be one of the only things that most, I think, Americans can take advantage of. You can buy a home with little to no money if you look in the right places and work with the right people. And it's something that just keeps building for you.

SPEAKER_01: 4:40

For sure. And I love that point you made about knowing the right people. And I think it comes down to networking too at the end of the day. Oh, absolutely. And one of your clients recently told you that they trust you so much that they would let you lead them even if they were blind. What does that level of trust mean to you? And how do you build those long-term, almost friendship-like relationships?

SPEAKER_00: 5:02

Yeah, that's probably like more of an extreme sense. I don't know if I would trust myself to lead a blind person because my vision's not that great myself. But no, I think that is a valuable thing for me. I think the fact that people see trustworthiness as a characteristic of mine, especially to handle this very sensitive part of their life, because I mean, homebuying is very much attached closely to finances and money, and finances are very sensitive and important to most people. I think the fact that I can build these authentic connections through this process and they can just trust me so fullheartedly, it's very rewarding. And that's also like another driving factor, too, is that you do make valuable connections through this process. You get to know them on a very deep level from all their finances to their family dynamic to their personality. It's like almost like dating. But yeah. So you just get to know them so close and you share a very intimate milestone with them. So I think that they're just it's a beautiful process for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 6:06

Absolutely. Yeah, it's amazing to be able to create those relationships and have such a lasting impact on someone, like you said, and such a big kind of milestone in their life. And you place a big emphasis on making the process feel personal, not transactional. What does a personalized lending experience look like?

SPEAKER_00: 6:29

Yeah, so I think they need to know whose best interest I have in mind and who I'm focused on through the process, like who I'm prioritizing. Because I think a lot of times you feel more transactional when you feel like the priority is just either making the money or finishing the transaction. Where I think there's a lot of other services that I would like to include to make them feel more comfortable. Like I typically to meet, you don't really get to meet your lender a lot of the times, like your loan officer face to face. And I feel like me having these scheduling Zoom calls to initially start our initial consultation or before we even begin the application process to give them more comfort of like seeing who I am, that I'm a real person, and just having, you know, small talk to lighten the mood, and then just asking them a lot of questions. And some of them has to do with finances and things like that, but a lot of it has to do with what they want out of it, what their goals are. Like a lot of things that are just personal questions, and you just get to know them as a person. And then I think when you get to know somebody more fully, you can provide a better service to them and cater what you're doing through this process to make them feel more comfortable and at ease and confident.

SPEAKER_01: 7:49

For sure. It's definitely a personalized experience. And I think it's I think it's great what you're doing. And you're known for also just educating clients, not just about loans, but also about the economy, rates, credit, and the reasoning behind key decisions. Why is financial education such an important part of your approach?

SPEAKER_00: 8:11

I mean, I can just personally relate to this because walking into my home buying, I had was not very educated. I mean, I was educated in the sense of you need to make money and save money, but that's as far as it went, right? Like I didn't know anything about credit, I didn't know how to build it, I didn't know how easy it was to ruin it. I didn't know any type of like smart financial investments that I could be making, where to save my money, like all of these little things. Like it's just like such a such a can of worms that you can tap into and you learn about the financial side of life. And it just makes you so much more set up and equipped to make better decisions for you and your future and for your family. And like I said, it like times are getting hard, right? So I think finances are more important now than ever and just being educated about the right things because there's so much information out there that is not fully transparent or fully accurate. So it's mainly to draw people's attention, but not really to truly benefit them as an individual. And I think that's why being a real person that people trust, providing that financial education and them knowing that it's good information and it is gonna be best applied to their situation specifically, not just like an overall generic situation, that really drives me to focus on that part too outside of home buying.

SPEAKER_01: 9:37

Yes, transparency is key, especially in your field. Yeah. And being able to just provide that good, solid communication and just human interaction.

SPEAKER_00: 9:47

Right. Yeah, but you know that saying too, right? Like, if I would have known what I known now, like back then, I mean people would just be so much more ahead. And that's kind of like how I feel too. Like, if I would have known what I know now, I could have helped myself a long way before I actually did, right? And I just that's kind of the mentality that I have with people is that I want them to know as much as possible now so that it can affect them more in the future, like set them up better.

SPEAKER_01: 10:17

Wonderful. Well said. And pivoting a little bit, the market has shifted significantly from the intense COVID-era seller's market to something more balanced today. How are you helping buyers understand what this shift means for them?

SPEAKER_00: 10:34

So it really does go back to working with the right people. I think that I have a specific job, and we call it lanes in our business because when you work at the in the home buying, you work with a real estate agent, you work with a title professional, and then you work with a loan officer. And other people contribute too. But those are the three main people that you're really going to be communicating with because they hold like the biggest aspects of the whole process. And just working with the right people matter a lot when it comes to knowing like the market conditions and what type of offers you should be putting in to make it more competitive and what kind of things you can ask for from the seller and what interest rates to expect and what you can do maybe in the near future if it's not as ideal right now, like with market conditions. Just staying on top of those things, I think, makes you more of an expert at your job, right? Because if you don't stay on top of economic news or market trends or what's going out in your actual community when it comes to like the business, then you can't give the best help. So, so I think that is really important, is like working with real estate agents that are also have the same mentality as you of being on top of everything, being able to negotiate and know what is going to be best for their client. And a lot of that is education related. Knowledge is definitely power in our business, as it is in many careers, but for sure I do stand by that. And by branch manager, he's very much about that too. He's constantly making sure like we're on top of news and any updates that we need to be aware of to help our clients better. So, yeah, his motto is Knowledge is power.

SPEAKER_01: 12:25

Absolutely. I couldn't agree with that more. And it's really fascinating to kind of hear just all the moving parts and pieces that go behind this whole experience. It's a lot, and I think it just really shows that teamwork makes the dream work.

SPEAKER_00: 12:38

Oh, yes, absolutely. I it's really important who you want to do business with in this field. Because as much as I have goals financially and I have like career goals where I just want to close as many deals and close X amount of dollars, and I have those goals because anybody that's in a business should have a business plan. But my main priority is really to stay true to my purpose and working with the people that have the same vision as me. Because at the end of the day, you want to feel good about your job and you want to be able to sleep at night. Because I already have sleeping problems right now, so I don't want my job to be one of the reasons why I can't get to bed. And you just want to have that level of integrity and happiness about what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01: 13:24

Beautiful. Yeah, I feel good about the knowledge you spread and and the help that you spread as well. And you said something really powerful, and it was that there's never a perfect market, the right time to buy is when you are ready. Why do you believe that mindset is so important for buyers to understand?

SPEAKER_00: 13:43

Because buyers get moved in so many different directions more now than ever. Because before it used to probably be like you ask like your aunt or uncle or parents who's bought like 20 to 30 years ago, and you get their advice, but it's a bit outdated, right? It's not gonna completely apply to things that are available and things that are going on now, but now we have social media on top of that, and they can just get information from all of these different places. So it's just it's important for a buyer to just understand that home buying is very achievable, but there's never gonna be a perfect time to buy that's gonna be defined by outside factors. The perfect time for you to buy as a buyer is when you are mentally ready to take on that responsibility of buying a home and owning a home. Because it is a long-term commitment and it is a financial investment. Whereas when you can you can rent forever, if that's your comfort zone, but you're not really building anything right at that point with a secure asset and things like that. You might have the comfort of you can leave anytime you really want, you have more flexibility, you don't really have to like take care of all the maintenance in a rental. But if you really want to be a homeowner, then anytime you're ready mentally, that's the first step. That's the most important step. And then all the other things you can prepare for to get to that point. But if you're not ready and it's a great market and people are pushing you in that direction, it still might not be the perfect time for you because you're just not ready. You're just not there. Your heart's not there, your mind's not there. So it's not a good time for you.

SPEAKER_01: 15:31

I feel like it's definitely one of those situations where it's when you know.

SPEAKER_00: 15:36

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, yeah, people could help and introduce you to that step and kind of push you forward and say, like, you should look into it. But like I said, you have to be mentally ready to take that on. And when you do, that's the perfect time to buy because you are still doing something really good for yourself. You're investing in yourself, you're investing in a financial investment, and you're building on something and you're holding on to something that you know is going to grow. That's I think there's so many positives to owning a home that really the only thing stopping anybody is themselves. Hey, that is great advice.

SPEAKER_01: 16:14

And so I also want to talk about a people's mortgage company. What makes you proud to represent the company and what do you feel it brings to clients that they may not find elsewhere?

SPEAKER_00: 16:26

So I have had experience with different companies that I've worked for, but I mean we have people in our company name, and I think that pretty much says what I have to pretty much everything that I would say is that it is very people focused. We're constantly looking for ways to update things or adjust things that is gonna cater to the buyer more or cater to our referral partners more. I know that my branch manager Matt is very passionate about our growth as well. And that to me is very important that I work with someone who also can be a very good example for me and a mentor for me, but also just as passionate about my growth almost as I am, right? Like it drives me more to work under somebody who's constantly pushing me and telling me, giving me tools and giving me a different way to think about things or approach things. So it provides a lot of growth, and I think that makes me want to stay loyal to a company, right? Is that when you feel like you're not only serving the company, but it's also serving you as well. Because that's hard to find. I feel like when you join a lot of companies, it is very much down to just like the bottom line, and they don't really appreciate you as a person and see that you have goals too, and see that you have things going on that require some understanding and things like that. And I think that I couldn't, I don't complain, I can't complain about anything that I have going on with our company now because yeah, just from us being there, we've made a few adjustments and there's things that are available that wasn't available before that is gonna help buyers. But yeah, it's just it really does mean a lot to me when you feel like you're valued as a as an employee or just as a team member.

SPEAKER_01: 18:23

Exactly. Staying up to date, being innovative, and then also just having those really great morals and values in a company, it not only reflects on you guys, but it reflects on your clients as well. And those overall results. Amazing. And I know you're passionate about partnering with real estate agents and investors since they're such key collaborators. What do you think makes you a strong resource for agents?

SPEAKER_00: 18:51

Yeah, so that's one of the things we always brainstorm is how can we also bring value to our referral partners? And again, education's a big one, right? Everybody needs to be educated. We do have things that we try to stay consistent with by like sending market updates on a weekly basis. When anything releases that is like new information or important resources, we're trying to be first in line to get them the information and consistent follow-up. And I think honestly, a lot of the realtors they that I have met with in the past, the number one thing that they always request is just responsiveness. It surprises me how much of a lack of responsiveness there is in our industry because it's kind of like our key trait, I feel like we need, but just being responsive and just communicating, having good communication skills through whatever the process is really gives them more relief and trust in you. But we also have things planned, like in 2026, we are releasing an Ask the Expert series, which we are every month, like the third Thursday of the month, we're going to be hosting some type of topic and bring an expert to really give that direct education or information to help them become better at serving their clients, gaining that knowledge. But there's also fun stuff too. Like we don't only just make it like house home buying related, but we do make it more relative to like things they would need in their career. Like wellness is a big thing because our jobs can be very high stress and nonstop. Especially in like peak seasons. So we try to offer some type of information regarding how to keep up with like fitness or eating on the run or like even beauty, like skincare, because that's a topic that I really do care about. And it's important, right? To make yourself look more presentable in front of clients and maintain youth through all the stress. Because we don't want to be walking around with dark circles, right? No way.

SPEAKER_01: 20:56

Right. No, I think that's I think that's awesome. And it's a lot of great opportunities for people to tune into. So I'm excited for you guys in this series that's coming out. Yeah, I'm very excited for that. So since you work with People's Mortgage Company, what is something you feel real estate partners or clients should understand about the strengths of the company and how it supports the lending experience?

SPEAKER_00: 21:21

So with our company and just the process in general, I feel like we have a lot of back-end support and we do things pretty quickly. I feel like sometimes in certain companies I work for, it was really hard for me to like get direct communication from my backend team or like with Underwriter was and things like that. But here it's set up very like everyone is focused on getting this to close and as soon as possible, and everyone's communicating constantly so that every party is on top of whatever milestone we're crossing in the process, and that you could reach out to anybody with ease. And I think that provides a lot of comfort even for like the buyers because you want to be able to have a point of contact that isn't changing every time, or you feel like a call center is kind of taking your call and just transferring you all over the place. Like we don't have that feeling at all. Everything seems very reachable and easy to communicate. And I think that's a it's a relieving part of our team. And everybody, like I said, has the same goal. Like we prioritize making sure that the buyer knows how everything's going on and everything's proper, and then all parties are also informed on like the process and where we're at with it, so that nobody is left anxious.

SPEAKER_01: 22:39

Absolutely. It sounds like such just like a well-oiled functioning process. Again, just really showing in those awesome results in the end. And what is the lasting impression you hope viewers walk away with about you as a loan officer and about the experience of working with you during such a meaningful chapter in their lives?

SPEAKER_00: 23:01

I would say that my goal, like I said, is always to make an authentic long-term connection off of this experience. So that would just be the type of clients that really want to feel like someone is serving their best interest and someone is really representing them the way they want to be, and making sure that I have a protectiveness around my buyers too, right? Like I want them to have like what's best available and I want them to be confident through this process. So if that's the type of experience that they're looking for, and not just something that is very systematic and robotic, then then I would say that I would be a perfect candidate for the loan officer that they would want to be with. And then believe me, I am still going to creep into their lives after the fact. Because I also make an effort to show up to all of my closings. Mainly if they are first-time buyers, it is like a non-negotiable for me. I want to be at that closing. And I've even gone, I'm located in Fredericksburg, but I've gone to like Virginia Beach to go to a closing, which is like two and a half, three hours away. I've even gone to like Winchester, all over. Just because to me, I want to be there till the very end and make sure that like they can celebrate with me. Because I mean, why do all this work and then not have a moment to like celebrate it, right? Like have that moment together when you can finally like be like, yay, we did it.

SPEAKER_01: 24:29

It speaks worlds that you show up for your clients that way. And of course, you have to be involved in the celebrating as well because you definitely made it happen.

SPEAKER_00: 24:38

Yeah, I mean, it's awesome because real state agents always show up to the closings too. I mean, with my experience, I've I think I've never had a instance when the realtor didn't come. And it just puts you together, right? Because the settlement company is already gonna be there doing the paperwork and having you sign all this paperwork. So it's basically like you're just bringing the team together for like a last hurrah type thing, like we made it. And then you get to bring that energy to the buyers because it is important stuff for them. And that's the whole reason why we did it, right?

SPEAKER_01: 25:09

Such a magical and rewarding moment. Yeah, we covered a lot of really great areas. And I want to thank you so much, Selena, for joining me on the podcast and sharing your inspiring story. And I wish you the best of luck in all that comes your way in the future. Yes, thank you so much.