Ain't My First Mortgage Podcast

More Than the Loan: Why Getting Involved Changes Everything

Today Skip welcomes Karley Bond, a First Horizon market manager for West Tennessee and North Mississippi with 20 years in mortgage lending and active involvement in the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and Tennessee MBA. Bond explains the value of industry association participation—education, advocacy, leadership development, and especially networking, mentorship, and relationships. She shares time management strategies like prioritization and time blocking while balancing work, volunteer leadership, and family.  They discuss avoiding burnout by focusing on relationship-based mortgage banking and impact-driven service. Bond highlights the industry’s aging workforce and the need for recruiting through MBA’s Mortgage Banking Bound 100-hour certificate program and state Future Leaders programs. She also discusses pursuing the Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designation and advises new loan officers to build systems, seek coaching, and commit to lifelong learning. Episode Highlights: 00:00 Welcome and Intro 00:56 Why Industry Involvement Matters 03:46 Mentors and Saying Yes 05:52 Time Blocking and Priorities 08:34 Avoiding Burnout Through Service 12:09 Aging Industry and New Talent 14:01 Mortgage Banking Bound Explained 16:45 CMB Designation Journey 20:03 Career Advice and Systems 22:10 Connect and Closing

How MLO’s Can Drive Branch Referrals at Banks and Credit Unions with Ralph Remy

Today Skip welcomes Ralph Remy, Senior Director of Client Digital Experience at National MI, about growing mortgage production by better leveraging bank and credit union branches as an internal referral source. Remy explains that poor branch leads often stem from lack of training, and urges loan officers to start with education that teaches tellers and bankers “cues and clues” to identify mortgage opportunities without overselling.  His top advice: educate branch partners, be present and engaged in branch huddles, and clearly communicate a value statement so teammates can confidently refer. He and Skip also emphasize reciprocal referrals—sending deposit, credit card, or investment business back to the branch—to strengthen the partnership and generate mortgage referrals tenfold. Episode Highlights: 00:00 Welcome and Introductions 01:58 Why Branches Are Gold 03:14 Educate for Better Referrals 04:53 Branch Huddles That Work 07:24 Three Tips to Start Today 09:32 Make Referrals a Two Way Street 11:45 Treat Branch Like Top Realtors 13:11 Tampa Bay Rays Trivia Break 15:10 Final Advice and How to Connect

Scaling Production and Growth with Laura Witte

On the show today, Skip welcomes back a good friend and top producer Laura Witte, Co-owner/Founder and Loan Officer at Highland Mortgage in Atlanta, Georgia, recognized as the top producing woman mortgage originator in Georgia with 130+ million in volume and a career-high year.  Laura and Skip discuss how she builds trust and puts borrowers at ease, emphasizing respect for clients at any credit or price point. She shares advice for loan officers scaling from 25M to 50M and beyond: maintain belief and persistence, adopt a growth mindset, stop micromanaging, build and trust a support team (including hiring an assistant early, even part-time), and rely on repeatable processes.  She also stresses diversifying mortgage products, continuous education, protecting personal time, and connecting goals to a personal “why,” shaped by losing her childhood home to foreclosure.  Episode Highlights: 00:00 Welcome Back Laura 00:19 Meet Laura Witte 01:00 Top Producer Milestone 02:21 Comfort First Approach 04:04 Mindset to Level Up 05:40 Trust and Build a Team 08:28 Hiring Before the Chaos 10:21 Diversify and Keep Learning 11:54 Find Your Why 13:50 Working With Your Spouse 15:15 Dogs and Quick Laughs 15:42 Gamer Trivia and Favorites 17:26 How to Reach Laura 17:49 Final Thanks and Wrap

Tech Vs People-Who's It Gonna Be?! With Steve Richman

Today Skip interviews Steve Richman after spending time together at the Mortgage Bankers Association State & Local Workshop and advocacy events in Washington, DC.Steve emphasizes that advocacy and PAC education need a clearer elevator pitch and that relationship-building with legislators can influence rules affecting the mortgage industry.  They discuss what loan officers are facing now, especially the tension between technology (CRM, AI, automation) and relationship-driven sales, arguing there’s no substitute for face-to-face networking. Steve cautions against using AI note-takers and tech as a crutch, advocating handwritten notes for retention, and explains the value of boredom for creativity versus laziness. He encourages LOs to build strong elevator pitches, expand networks, and adopt AI to build skill and comfort, including prompting AI to ask clarifying questions and creating a voice profile to match personal tone. Episode highlights: 00:00 Cold Open and Introductions 00:30 Catching Up and Summer Vibes 01:02 DC Conference Takeaways 01:28 Advocacy and PAC Explained 02:31 Relationships With Legislators 03:51 Tech Versus Human Connection 06:22 Networking Still Wins 07:57 AI Note Takers Debate 08:56 Writing Notes to Remember 10:10 Tech as a Crutch Examples 11:43 Memory Offloading Fails 12:26 Notes Versus Distraction 13:10 Boredom Sparks Creativity 15:21 AI As Steroid Not Crutch 16:18 Elevator Pitch And Networking 18:07 Bored Versus Lazy 19:00 Practical AI Habits 20:33 Voice Profiles And GPT Tells 21:05 Contact And Wrap Up

MISMO’s Brian Vieaux Sets the Standard

Today Skip welcomes Brian Vieaux, president of MISMO (Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization), a nonprofit that creates mortgage data standards so technologies can exchange loan data seamlessly. Brian explains MISMO’s recent Mortgage Compliance Dataset, developed over two-plus years after parallel requests from CSBS regulators and a large 50-state lender to standardize state audit data requests; vendors are now building solutions on it to help regulators and reduce lender costs. He discusses MISMO’s small staff, industry workgroups, funding via vendor membership and a voluntary lender Innovation Investment Fund, and adoption challenges, especially legacy platforms versus newer AI-focused startups building on MISMO standards. Brian also previews a second edition of “Rethink Everything” for next-gen loan officers focused on AI, and promotes the June 1–4 MISMO Spring Summit in Louisville with hybrid access. Episode highlights: 00:00 Welcome and Intro 00:21 What MISMO Does 01:09 Standards in Action 1003 03:40 Mortgage Compliance Dataset 09:00 Workgroups and Adoption 09:59 Funding and Buy In 13:43 Legacy Tech and AI Startups 15:24 Rethink Everything Series 18:33 Michigan State Trivia 20:41 Connect and Spring Summit 21:51 Closing Thanks