The LO Down Mortgage Podcast

25 years. Five company closures. Same team still standing. That is not luck. That is a system. Mike Burke spent two decades watching the mortgage industry make the same mistake on a loop — recruit, neglect, lose, repeat — and decided to build something different. In this episode, Mike breaks down the three-part recruiting machine he used to hire 46 people in 3.5 years, including a 72-hour rule tha...

Most loan officers spend 20 years getting better at closing loans. Richard Lytle spent 20 years getting better at building a business. There is a difference. And this episode is that difference made audible. Richard got into this industry because a college buddy faxed him a paycheck. His first job was a boiler room. Red Bull in the fridges, cold calls all day, convince people to say yes to things...

She went commission only in January 2013 with two kids under six, no salary, and a mother who thought she had lost her mind. Then 2013 happened. She got hit in the face with a softball. Twenty stitches. Hospital bed. Starting a coaching class the next morning she had just spent money she didn't have. Her kids' dad died. Her car got totaled. And she closed her first home and kept building the busin...

She couldn't walk for two years. She built a 100-loan business anyway. Blaire Laudermilk got her mortgage license at 19. Closed 8 deals her first year. Then over 100 the next. Then life came for her — hard. Two years of not being able to walk without pain. A newborn she was putting down at 10pm to go back to work. A business that ran entirely through her personal presence — and then her presence g...

She was a fisherman, a lighting tech, a bartender, a drafter, a teaching artist, and an escrow officer — before she ever closed a mortgage. And somehow, that's exactly what made Amanda Filori dangerous. In 2023, she went commission only. No salary. No safety net. No guarantees. Just a roadmap, a mentor who believed in her, and the willingness to be, as she puts it, "dumb enough not to quit." For s...

What if your best business development move wasn't a cold call, a CRM campaign, or a paid ad — but a dog walk? Meet Matt Hunter. Chemical engineer. Farm owner. Nearly thirty years in mortgage. And one of the most quietly effective operators you'll find anywhere in the Southeast. Matt didn't plan to be a loan officer. His mom needed help. His wife said he needed a job. And then one day he looked up...

What does a $5 million/month mortgage producer, an elected mayor, and a dad who almost lost his son have in common? The same guy. And he's giving you the playbook. Chet Mann built one of the most productive mortgage businesses in the Carolinas — not by grinding 60 hours a week, but by obsessing over systems until the whole thing could run without him. The $60 Million Production Engine isn't a moti...

She Stumbled Into Mortgage at a Christmas Party. 23 Years Later, She's Just Getting Started. Erin Hamilton didn't plan this career. She ordered Bailey's on the rocks, met a woman who saw something in her, and the rest is 23 years of building, grinding, and figuring it out the hard way. Here's what makes her story worth your time: she was doing a lot — builder tours, open houses, broker tours, work...

From Yoga Mats to $30M: How Alex Turner Figured Out What Actually Builds a Mortgage Business Most loan officers are out here competing on rates, chasing every lead, and wondering why they're exhausted and stuck. Alex Turner said forget that. Fresh out of college, no sales experience, caddying and teaching yoga just to survive — Alex had every reason to play it safe. Instead, he made a decision: he...

Most loan officers are out here chasing the next app, the next platform, the next "hack" — while Bryant Delgado is driving to client apartments and closing 100+ units a year doing it. Bryant didn't stumble into mortgage. He came up through loss mitigation, processing, and underwriting — and one cold call to a high-earning LO flipped the switch. Within three months, he quit. No safety net. Just con...

Greg Anderson almost got fired in 2005 for refusing to put people in bad loans. Twenty-one years later he's in the top 500 loan officers in the country and building toward a business that runs without him. That is not a coincidence. While other top producers were buying the fancy cars and over-leveraging during the boom years, Greg was living on a county employee's budget, quietly investing in ind...

You built a book of business. You've got referral partners. And you're one bad quarter from watching half of it walk out the door with them. Brett Baldwin saw it happen to himself — stepped away from production, handed off his best realtor relationships, and watched them evaporate in real time. So he made a decision: never again. What Brett built instead is the kind of business most loan officers...

Nearly 4 Decades. One Rule. Zero Shortcuts. Monica Bowman started in finance at 19, managing a branch of middle-aged men while she was still in college. Law school was the plan. Mortgage was the calling. In this episode, Monica breaks down what it actually takes to build a reputation so strong that real estate agents tell buyers they don't even need a pre-approval letter. Spoiler: it is not grindi...

From Cat Memes to Closing Loans: Evan Robinson's Unconventional Playbook Most loan officers will tell you they never planned to be in mortgage. Evan Robinson takes that to a whole new level — we're talking internet cat memes, Uber kittens, Instacart deliveries, and business cards stuffed into toilet paper rolls during a global pandemic. But here's what's actually worth your attention: Evan has gro...

Zero sales experience. Zero origination experience. $51 million by year three. Ben Naranjo did not stumble into mortgage because it was the easy play. He spent a decade in corporate finance building financial models and PowerPoint decks, quietly feeling like none of it meant anything to anyone. Then he overheard a woman crying on the phone with his dad, thanking him for changing her life through a...

What happens when a loan officer stops winging it and starts running a real business? You get David Wechsler — 14-year mortgage vet out of Metro Detroit, who went from 21 units and $4.1M in Q1 of 2025 to 40 units and $13.6M in Q1 of 2026. Not a typo. Here's what actually moved the needle: 15 face-to-face meetings per week for six straight months. No Zoom. No shortcuts. Just boots on the ground, bu...

What separates the loan officers who survive from the ones who build careers that compound for 20+ years? In this episode of The LO Down, Michael Harrington breaks it down with zero fluff and a ton of practical wisdom. This isn’t the “make 100 cold calls and pray” approach to building realtor relationships. Michael explains why the best referral partnerships are built like legacy businesses — thro...

What if the path to freedom was already mapped — and nobody told you? Shayla Gifford started at 23 with no degree, no network, and $1,000 to her name. Today she leads 85 loan officers across the country, has helped close over $1.5 billion in loans, and coaches LOs from survival mode to legacy-level wealth. But this isn't a rags-to-riches flex. It's a roadmap. In this episode, Shayla breaks down th...

What separates a $50M loan officer from someone grinding themselves into the ground? Turns out — it's not hustle. It's identity. Travis Smart didn't come up easy. Mom gone at 15. Kicked out at 16. Working graveyard shifts just to graduate high school early enough to enlist. One of six people out of 35 to make it through Navy rescue swimmer school. Single dad at 21 — in Guam. Most people catalog th...

28 years. Zero clients who regret buying. That's not luck — that's a system. Tony Valdez didn't stumble into mortgages. He watched his parents sign a mountain of paperwork they didn't understand on their first home and decided — there's a better way. That moment became a 28-year mission. In this episode, Tony and host Gino pull back the curtain on what's actually working right now in one of the mo...

You don't have a production problem. You have a clarity problem. Chad Lubben hit $100M+ six times, built a team that now closes $50–60M without him touching a file, and coaches loan officers every Monday — for free. This episode is a masterclass in what separates the top 1% from everyone else grinding themselves into the ground. Here's what most LOs get wrong: they think volume is about working mo...

What happens when you stop chasing volume and start building real relationships? Christine Covington has the answer — and it doesn't come from a CRM or a fancy drip campaign. It comes from 25 years of knowing the same agents, the same houses (some of them 4–5 times), and the same communities in rural West Texas. Here's the thing most loan officers get wrong: they think scale means distance. More l...

What do you do when your $250 million niche disappears overnight? If you're Josh Sanford, you spend a few months on the floor — then you rebuild from scratch with nothing but a phone and a better idea. Josh closed over 200 loans in a single year, completely solo. No CRM. No assistant. No system. Just a calling routine he ran like clockwork and a relocation niche he built by calling rejected DR Hor...

What if the most powerful marketing tool in your mortgage business isn't social media — it's the transaction you're already in? Mike Newman spent 18 years at one company, built a top-producing book of business, and still walked away when the trust was gone. Not impulsively — methodically. He kept an email folder of every red flag until the evidence was undeniable. That's not weakness. That's disci...

Most loan officers are leaving money on the table — not because they lack skills, but because they never ask. Slade Terry figured that out at 29. While every other LO in his market was sitting on their hands during two of the hardest years in mortgage history, Slade went from $12M to $36M — then $50M — by doing the one thing most people are too scared to do: showing up, making the call, and asking...