The Importance of Human Connection in the Mortgage Industry Empowering Employees with Angel AI with Jennifer Martinez of Cross Country Mortgage (2024)

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Jennifer Martinez, a top loan officer, shares her journey and passion for changing lives through getting their first home. She emphasizes the importance of caring for clients and the joy of helping them achieve their dreams of homeownership. Jennifer also discusses the role of technology, specifically Angel AI, in streamlining the loan origination process and improving efficiency. She highlights the need for human connection and reassurance in such an important transaction. Jennifer’s success is attributed to her caring nature and commitment to delivering exceptional customer service. Jennifer discusses her love for Angel AI and how it has revolutionized the mortgage industry. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the ‘why’ behind mortgage decisions and how Angel AI provides transparent explanations for its answers. Jennifer also shares her passion for helping people and how Angel AI allows her to scale her business and have a bigger impact. She discusses her hiring process, which includes assessing candidates’ personality traits and love languages to ensure they align with her values. Jennifer believes that passion and energy can be inspired and drawn out in employees. She sees Angel AI as a tool that empowers her team and allows her to provide exceptional service to her clients.

The Importance of Human Connection in the Mortgage Industry Empowering Employees with Angel AI with Jennifer Martinez of Cross Country Mortgage (1)

Listeners. I’m so excited to have joining me on the podcast today, Jennifer Martinez. Jennifer is one of the top loan officers in the United States. She produces very successfully in the industry and so I want to get her on the microphone. We’ll put her bio down below in the description, but Jennifer, it’s so good to have you here. I feel like I’m meeting my sister from another mother. You’re just such a delight.

Thank you, my friend. I am honored to be here. I have heard so much about you throughout my career, I’m here 23 in the career and somebody that God puts you around people, in the right times of your life and seasons and, I am so glad that, you always look back and say, Oh, I wish we would have met sooner and this was the time that we were supposed to meet.

Yeah, it is a great time in the influence that you have and the success you have is so much about who you are, what you believe your mindset and I really want to get into that. And the person that introduced us for audience is Pavan of Angel AI and you guys all know that our listeners of my podcast that Pavan and I are good friends become very good friends. I met him when he was 11 years old. He is 55. So 44 years ago I met the guy. The money he’s built with the technology, it’s just phenomenal. And Jennifer recently discovered the power of Angel AI. So we’re gonna be talking to someone who is today a forward thinking, always looking for the next advantage so that she can stay competitive. Jennifer, that’s what you are. So first of all, let’s start by sharing with our audience a little bit about yourself, your background, how you got started as a loan officer and go from there.

How do I even back that up? That intro and thank you, I’m humbled. Obviously, as you can see, whenever you compliment me, I struggle to speak about myself. So I’m going to give it my best. My story is that I grew up very middle class and at 17, I became pregnant with my first son and it changed my life forever, and I had to make a decision of Florida academic scholarship to go anywhere in the state of Florida and it was just felt like I was being pulled in a different direction and I used, I didn’t use I prayed on and prayed on I said God, What do you want me to do with my life? Because most people can’t even spell the word mortgage I didn’t know what it was. But I just kept getting pulled in this direction. What are the gifts that God has given me, right? Like numbers and being able to help people, and what is the thing that just drives me? What’s my passion? What’s the desire that I have? What’s my purpose, right? I try to say a lot to people what is your purpose? and I think that’s the thing that people struggle the most with is like trying to find their purpose. I found out at the age of 18 that I was destined to change lives for the better. The thing that I said to my kid as they’re all growing up, I have three. So we’ll back into that. I had all three of my children by the age of 21. Alexis and Junior and I made the decision to go on a break, but I said to my children. Change someone’s life for the better, right? And that’s what I wanted to do every day, and that is what I get the honor and privilege to do now, is just changing someone’s life for the better, and I’m asked, how did I do it? Twenty one! You’re not really worried about you get to the top of the mountain, you’re skiing down and right now at this age, you look down and you’re like, I can break everything, right? In 21, it’s just we’re going to get to the bottom. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, but we’re just going to do it. I don’t want this life, my parents still live that similar lifestyle., if you look at the path that I came from of people that were either in prison, in jail, in the ground and I’m just saying, that’s not one. I don’t look good in orange. It’s not my color. I really just don’t and the other path was like, I didn’t want to go that path and so I decided this is what we’re going to do.

This is so good. One of the things that comes out in already is your faith and you have a very strong faith and when you come from what sounds like, I didn’t know this part of your story. You came from an opportunity to go some negative directions and starting your family young that maybe not was quite planned at that point in your life. You have turned all of this around into something that’s a wonderful story. Well, kudos to you for doing that and I know at the core of you, and I’m one of the things I love most about you is your faith and how you live that so transparently it’s not fake, It’s not this fakie thing. It’s real. It’s very real, and I understand it from my perspective as well, very much. Let’s talk a little bit about what do you find most rewarding as a loan originator?

Watching people grow their wealth through real estate. I feel like I was torn. You said the most. I’m like, so many things and I was like, and I thought of it.

The one thing, what are the many things there that things that the multiple things that probably give you the greatest reward of being a loan originator?

You can see, right? It lights me up. So how do you think you have? I go, Oh, which one do I have to pick? because I love my first time homebuyers. That brings me so much joy and then in my head, what did I do? I did that whole progression of now 23 years later. What does that look like? Helping them build wealth, grow real estate. But really what brings me that fire is that joy that they, like whether it’s, you’re like, this is a home that they get to raise their children and it’s very personal, right? or that I’ve made it that accomplished, not able to buy my second home. I can buy my second home and take my kids on vacation and again, memories, the memories that they’re going to have, on the beach in the mountains or whatever and then that third piece of building wealth through investment and to real estate and being able to do their mortgage for them and help them leverage their money and helping that work for them. It’s so cool to watch that and just to like, almost like a watch, my children I just adore them. I wouldn’t be where I am without my babies and they changed my life. God said, you’re going to get pregnant at 17 and I was like, I don’t feel like this is a good idea. And he said no. I got this. I got this, I would have gone a whole different path, right? If I didn’t have my children, I would have been in college, done all the things but this path and mortgages just brings me so much joy watching what I consider like a most of my kids, Like when I see that, I’m doing a loan right now for this 23 year old kid who could really speak English and it’s what I’m changing his life, I’m changing his children’s lives. His children’s lives that, there’s tears of I’m the first person, my family to ever own a home. And I’m like. This is me, I’m in it, right? Whether it’s today, tomorrow, or in two years, maybe we’re doing it, we’re doing it together. So that’s what I love about this career.

When you have that kind of passion, you’re making a difference in people’s lives. And I don’t think there’s anything that’s more transformed. The only thing that’s more transformative. I’ve always said there’s four most transformative things that can happen in someone’s life. First of all, develop a faith like you have, like I have, there’s nothing more transformative than finding and having that rock solid foundation. The second thing is finding, the spouse that your life partner that you can spend the rest of your life with. Third thing is watching your children be born. You started that at 17, the fourth most transformative thing is buying a home. I get so excited about what transformative or what home ownership does at transforming lives. It takes irresponsible boys make some men and it makes women who are just saying, I’ve got a house. This is really serious and I just love that part about what we do, Jennifer. It’s so exciting. But, one thing is having a desire to do something and watch it to have a transformative effect, but still you have to be successful in this, what do you believe is the reasons for your success? Beyond your dipping passion and wanting to help you, but it’s good. A lot of people have that, but they’re not successful. What do you think is the reason you’re successful?

I’ve asked myself this question and our good friend Pavan made me circle back to it again. I care and truly care, right? Like I’m so lucky I don’t get to take my work home with me. I’m like, I’m blessed. I get to take my work home with me. That part that drive when I say, when people are like, throw their hands up, you can’t qualify. Be gone. Go talk to somebody else, right? Like just care about another human that way. And, I think it’s a blessing and a curse because I do, I care so very much about my people and their dreams and aspirations. And I’m going to help them find a way to do that. So Just caring.

When you care for people there’s something that comes through in that and that is a real differentiator because you’re doing this not just for the JOB, the money as a job. You care about this because what you can see it do for other people’s lives is what I’m hearing.

Yes. Yes. That’s I’ve heard throughout the term of my career, you do it for money and I was like, money is the last thing I’m worried about. God is blessed and I have great life, make great income and that’s funny because of where I came from, right? Like to me it’s comical that money was never a driver for me. It wasn’t like, oh my goodness, like you can make this much money. I was like. No, I can go change lives. And then God just blesses you behind that, right? He takes care of the people that follow him, and do his work and then he will bless you.

Technology is going to be a bigger part of anyone that’s doing this for a living and you recently discovered angel AI, but. You were a little bit dismissive, if I understand correctly, when you first met Pavan, first heard about Angel AI, you’re a bit dismissive, talk about that.

Dismissive may be an understatement. So we’ll go back to rewind, play back. You talk about a gut check, right? Tony Robbins talks about what’s your driving factor at CoreFact, or core things that we need, mine is, I love being feel like I’m significant giving something to someone else. It makes me feel significant to be able to do that. So I was always the person that, I’m never issued a pre-approval, I can’t close. So, meeting Pavan, I’m like you’re literally giving away the thing that makes me and Pavan looked at me and I asked, Is that really the value you deliver to your clients and to your agents? And I was like, hurts back, right? And feel am I that selfish that I’m going to be unwilling to embrace something to champion my friend here, who is bringing so many to our industry the thing that when it brings me joy when someone can’t do it and then i’d be able to like those rest what we call our rescue loan. Somebody shows up They’re in distress. We put our cape on we tie it on and we go I can do it, right? We feel like a superhero when it’s done. I did in eight days and i’m amazing Yada, yada, let’s be on our chest type of thing and I was like, why do we have, why do people need to feel that pain, right? Do they need to feel that agony of my children may not have a home to live in and if we could give this tool to all of the loan officers out there and bless them, God has given me that gift where I can look at a 1003 and for those of us that’s a loan application, right? And when I look at a loan application, it’s it ring now, Done. That’s how that one’s going to be structured. I can do it almost instantly at this point in time in my career. I’ve been doing almost from the time that I get off the phone with the client and have no more than a 5 or 10 minute conversation. I know exactly where I’m placing them, what it’s going to look like. You ask the right questions and I am absolutely able to place it. What are they doing? What’s their future going to look like? Are they ever going to have a second home investment? What are we doing? And I’m just able to do that. So that’s a gift that I have. But being able to read the income documents that come in, reading those and being able to give that to everyone so they can bring that joy and people don’t have to feel that pain. I think we go through enough pain in this world. I think there’s a lot of pain in this world right now and I think that, God has brought that to us at a very specific time, right? People talk about all the different things that are happening in our industry, whether that’s the NAR things, the angel AI, all these things are being brought. God doesn’t do anything on accident. There is not in your timing. It’s in his timing and this is his timing. So when people are scared, it’s like buckle in. He’s never messed up. He disciplines hard sometimes, right? Disciplines his children. Maybe some people need discipline. Maybe this is him embracing us, but man, get in is life every day. It’s a roller coaster and it’s fun. It’s fun.

Talk about when you first saw Angel AI. Did you believe it was capable of doing what Pavan represented it?

Oh, I actually thought it was capable of it. I wasn’t sure if it was done. I was like, it isn’t easy.

You said yourself, you have the superpower of being able to look at a 1003. I remember when I was originating loans I got to that same place. You just knew by the time you’ve seen the form, you helped them complete the package or they completed and you’re reviewing it. You just knew how to structure the deal. Yeah. The transaction so that they could get this done and you knew the best way because you’ve been doing it for so long, that brain of yours like mine was working so fast, but that thing is that when this market where we’re seeing so many new aspects of the borrowers application, we’re seeing new elements that, we need more tools, but the key is to do more doing with less like you’re able to keep your emotion, your brain. Able to keep our brain and our emotion is on what it needs to be focused on, which is what you think drives you and I, which is that love, right? Have you always used assistance in your life?

As in what?

Do you have LPAs loan Yes. Processing assistance? Do you have that for LOAs, loan originator assistance and things like that? I did. I had a whole bunch of them. When I worked with this, we didn’t have any technology. I’ve been out of originations for so many years, it’s been decades, but I had multiple LOAs in my loan originations, when I say LOAs, for those that are not familiar with it, this podcast, I’m talking about a loan origination assistant, someone would help me in that. I focused my superpowers on structuring deals and making the transaction happen. A lot of the busyness, all of the facts of the details aspects, I was not real good at, but I hired people. I surrounded myself with people that did that well and did you do all of that? Is that something that where you had assistance,

Yeah, absolutely. So a couple of things that happened in that conversation with Pavan is so many things and I’ll try to touch on them as quickly as I possibly can, because I can get worried and just talk and talk. Obviously I had to gut check myself and then the second thing is that, I wouldn’t change someone’s life for the better. I have people in my life that I realized would not be in my life anymore because their job would now be obsolete and the people that would still be there are still going to be there. But then there’s a second piece to that is in the 23 years in business and I had heard this from multiple different people and it saddened me when I heard it. And also I have lived it as well, which is, If you can keep a good LA for 7 years, you’re doing a good job and now to me is. Heartbreaking. These are people that I love that have become my family, and I’ve gotta let them go after seven years because we are in, and I’m going to completely and totally butcher and paraphrase in my words here is that we’re expecting them to be superhuman.

Why is it that LOAs had a tendency to have only a life cycle of about seven years? Why is that do you think?

So I’ve heard that throughout my career several different times. So now I’ve been in this business for 23 years and to me that was just sad and heartbreaking because we burned them out, is essentially what it boils down to is we literally burn them out because we expect for them to be super human, right? Then super human, I can do all of these things. I can look at pay stubs and bank statements and W2s and never make a mistake. Presentation I did with Pavan actually in Texas in August of last year. You’ll see a clip on stage that I said, and I’ve said it over and. I have thought that it was a good thing and I’ve later learned that it wasn’t, which is that I am required to be perfect every single day, in my team, they require me perfect every single day. Because when I walk out the door every day, being a top loan officer, and if you’re the top of anything, look at Taylor Swift, she’s getting thrown at. Every day, right? People want to take down that shiny thing. Whatever reason, right? Just human, whatever. They want to take me down because they want to win. They want to see me fall. Don’t care what your motive is, but either way, they want to see somebody else be on top and why is it not fun to watch the Super Bowl? The same team went over and over. I realized that I got a bullseye on my back and it just keeps getting bigger the higher we go. So, we are required to be perfect every single day. That pressure is enormous. God forbid you messed up and then typo’d something instead of there being 24, months you wrote 25 months and you got a tight debt to income and you issue something that can’t close. God bless. Lord, please don’t ever do this to me, but I have issues with 100 percent accuracy that we’ve never issued a pre approval. We can’t close and every day I wake up and go, don’t ever let that not be, don’t ever let that not be. Yeah.

And it’s because, there’s the human factor that shows up in all of this and in all of us and the thing that we’re playing with something, one of the most important transactions, the most important transaction in anyone’s life and we’re in their lives and it’s so important that when we give a pre-approval and in their mind, that is a done deal. And if something changes outside of our fault, that’s a different matter. But if everything is as it’s represented and something pops up where we miss something, it’s devastating and it takes us off the game and it gives us a reason to get knocked off our pedestal being number one, which you have been. Are you still using LOAs, Jennifer?

I do. I still have one and because of just Customer Service. So I have one all the way as I’m on this right now, people still need answers. They still need to be talked to. If I’m doing a presentation or if I’m in a realtor, they still need clients don’t need to answer. And so what technology and Pavan’s company Angel AI has allowed us to do is I won’t tell you the story. Great at that is the stories. I’ve got a story, a fun story, but when I was sitting with Pavan at breakfast, he says, see this glass right here. There’s a machine that makes that glass and does it perfect every single time and I was like, he’s right, why are we not using that? and that was his introduction to Angel AI. So do I still use an LOA? Yes, it is because I need to have, I can only do so much, right? You as a person can only talk to so many people and we want to reach and touch and change as many lives as we possibly can. So I need more than just me.

So good. I think, and again, what is technology for, and that’s to make that glass, make consistency happen and when you have a really good piece of technology, such as angel AI, we can create something that’s consistent and replicable every single time. The part that technology does not yet do well is to be able to communicate to the consumer, because this is the most important transaction of anyone’s life and at the end of the day, want to be told that they’re making a good decision or be reassured. I’m not sure that a computer is able to, at this point, Pavan says it might be able to at some point in time, do that reassurance. But at this point, the LOA and yourself are there more to have the relationship, building the relationship is at least how I see it. Love to get your thoughts on that.

Absolutely. So going back to the gut check, right? That I said Pavan gut checked me. So I call my top agents and I said, listen, I need to know why do you send me your business? And this is after I poured into it because I said, I don’t want anybody, what my judgment call is to sway my desire to want to help a lot, right? So after just a few weeks ago, I reached out to my top agents and I said, okay, now that it’s done and I did the thing, I did what I wanted to do. Please. I’m like really playing like, please don’t tell me the reason why is because I don’t, I’ve never done it on a peripheral I can’t close. And I got the same response, which is the heart. Like people care. They know that I care and it’s my job to listen to them and reassure them and walk them through that path is this treacherous path, right?. The reason why I don’t do commercial lending is it’s very unemotional, right? This is that thing, and that’s what me and my LOA do, and I don’t know that a computer could ever do that for us, maybe that it can, and again, listen, there’s something for everyone, even where we’re at as far as how much we get 1 percent market share, and that makes us top, that means there’s 99%, And I cannot believe that 99 percent of those have somebody who cares, meaning like maybe a computer could step in and do that. I don’t know. I embrace it and think, ride the choo while it’s hot. This is what it is and if a computer ends up doing that then maybe I need to look at something else. But for right now, that’s what I get to do.

Have you started using Angel AI, then everything, virtually everything you’re doing.

Virtually everything that we do. I will tell you that the game changer for us, we were using it periodically and then I had a conversation with Ivana. We were talking about how, we expect for people to be perfect when it’s just unrealistic but the superhuman yada, yada. And the times in which that we do are those really stressful ones, the manual underwriting, whatever it is, right? Those lower credit scores, the ones that take more, right? And it took me and my LOA together, both of our time for a little over six hours and by the time I got done with it, I swear I could have drank a bottle of something, whatever. It was exhausting. I’m exhausted and I mean if you could have recorded it and probably would have sounded like he’s gonna upload this to Angel AI. Like I was just beat. He’s beat, I’m beat. We are quite certain we’ve done it. And I will never forget, it took AngelAI 63 minutes to come up. So you get your hourly rate. I am constantly looking at my hourly rate. Okay, I have what am I doing? Highest of best shoes. Highest of best shoes. How can I change someone’s life for the better? Do good with my time for God’s keynote, right? Am I doing everything that I can? And I looked at that and I said, hourly rate. What is Nick’s hourly rate and my hourly rate times 6 hours? What is that dollar amount? It hurt and then I said, what could I have done with that? What could I have done with that? And on top of it, let’s just even amplify that because now I’m spent. I am done and exhausted. I can’t give anything to anything else. In 63 minutes, that computer spit out an answer and here’s what I want to tell you. Ah, my punchline of why I love Angel AI. It tells me. Why? So for any of, I am speaking to the women here, we always want to know the why, okay? You talk to a wife, a daughter, a female, why? Why? That is our favorite thing. Why? But if Orange is, you’ve got to know why in FEMA with your answer. And it doesn’t just like any other technology that they have spit out at us from, Loan Beam to Candor to everything that they tried to make an attempt to do. It’s just, here’s your number And it’s okay, hold on, we’ll be, we’ll get everything deciphered. I’m still doing that job again. Now I’m literally still doing the same job I just did for six hours. It says, here’s how I came up with a number and here’s why. And I’m like, that’s so cool and accurate.

That’s the part of it is one thing is it’s cool. If it comes up with an answer, but when the answer is flawless. If it’s consistent, going back to Pavan holding that glass, are each one of these glasses handmade anymore? No, they’re manufactured and this is getting into what we’re now bringing. What’s been so prevalent in so many industries is we’re bringing that here for the first time. Our industry, the mortgage industry has been so reliant on really good people like yourself to do what you’ve done. How do you see this now changing the way you do business, Jennifer?

I get to do the things that I love.

And what are those?

I know you want to love on people. I love on people and love on them. I think, there’s again, like I was like, do I’m like that fear, right? Fear drives a lot of people and I’m like, man, I’m just excited. I’m just excited. If hopefully it gets those people out. I get to see. I say, I get to see the best and worst and every single client that I get to deal with. And hopefully those people that should not be in this industry are removed. I had to help more people, right? and those people are washed out and the people that we just get to touch and talk to and love on over and over again. I’m just giddy about it. Like on my team, right? Some of them, it will hurt me. It’ll make me sad to see some of them go and we’re going to help them find placement for where it is that God intended for them to be. and the people that are, the last, the Mohicans, I feel like we’re going to be able to compensate them the way that they should have been compensated the entire way.

That’s so good. Because when we’re pouring into lives, such as we’re doing to be able to make a difference in the lives of the people that work for us and with us to do that and be able to up their game from an income standpoint, from a reward standpoint, is another thing that gives us all great pleasure is to see the people that work with us. I’m thinking of my own staff and being able to increase their lifestyle so that they benefit as we continue to grow and benefit from this technology. Let’s talk a little bit about your company and how long you’ve been there and how much volume have you done over your time in the industry? Do you have any recollection?

I was asked this question and So I’m very good with data and numbers, all that good fun stuff. What I never went back to see is the whole thing, right? What was that whole thing? and the number was just shy of a billion dollars, is what we’ve done over our career and I say our I have a mouse in my pocket, because it’s not just me, it’s my team. Right? Everybody on the team gets to walk in and do what they love. I get to get my name on billboards and things like that. And so it’s my name, but it’s my team. I couldn’t do it without my team. I just, I couldn’t do it. Nobody can and if you think you can, you can’t. Let me be the first to tell you, you’ve got to have, God intended for us to be in community.

How many families have you helped? Get into a home that is extraordinary. And that is not about the billions, it’s about the number of families that now are in a home as a result of Jennifer Martinez’s fingerprints on their file, they may not have gotten it done, some of them may have gotten done elsewhere, but they didn’t get done with the level of quality and care that Jennifer Martinez bring to the team. How do you find and hire people that share your values that you have working with you on your team?

Oh, that’s a great question. So I have them take two tests before they start on my team. Two tests that I have them take are the DISC test. The reason why is because I wanna make sure that we’re placing them in the right role, right? So when I walk in every day, and I know what I’m gonna do, and I love it, right? I love what I do. I don’t want somebody to walk in and just be doing a job. Don’t want to shop right? And I tell them like, the thing that’s the most important to me is my consumer, my client, making sure I’m delivering that highest level of service. So I’ve got to make sure that you fit into that mold. So I will have them complete the test and then the second thing that I have them take is the 5 love languages.

That’s good I love that one.

I love it. Love it. I love languages. And they’re like, it’s I have to tell it’s not because I want to date you or any of that stuff or whatever. I want to know what drives you, right? If you know what lights you up and what areas and how can I give you what you need to be successful every day, right? If it’s physical touch, yeah. This is going to be a tough time. But knowing that you need physical touch, which means that you need more quality time with your spouse or whatever to get that touch, but making sure that I’m getting that full person in there I can lead them the way that they need to be led, whether it’s words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch, quality time, all the things, right? So all the different five levels, I can make sure I’m leading them to get the best life that they want. So those are the two tests that I do and then I asked them, what are your want in five year goals, right? If you’re want in five year goal doesn’t coincide. And I also asked them like, what are you expecting for like a salary perspective, what do you need? To get there, not only once, but one is important, but what do you need to get there? Can I deliver that for you? If not, I know one or two people in this industry, maybe I placed you on somebody else’s team. I don’t want somebody on the team that walk in the door and end up, eh, tons of time thought, get out, right? It’s not fair to you, it’s not fair to me, it’s not fair to my clients, it’s not fair to my agents. That’s why we do a little different to try to just make sure that’s a good fit for our team.

That’s a great point, because I think it’s got to be a fit. They’ve got to have the same commitment to your clients as you have and you have an immense commitment to make something happen for them. How is it that you discovered Angel AI?

I was at that summit that I was asked to come speak at. I was asked and hadn’t talked to him in a long time and he was just like, Hey, listen, do you want to come fly out to Austin, Texas in July, August of last year sometime? I’m thinking do I really want to go to Texas? It’s hot in Texas. You live there.

You’re a Floridian. It’s just a little bit different.

It’s like a blow dryer though. We’ve got air and cool air. You guys just have heat. And I’m like, I don’t think I’m sweating. Am I Did it already dry? I don’t know what happened. I’m gonna die. So people are like, the humidity in Florida, I was like, it’s phenomenal! Okay? Keeps me dry, all the things. I was asked to go out there, and they’re like, hey listen, this is somebody You need to meet. So that’s when I sat down and had breakfast with Pavan and Pudge Rodriguez, and I was just like, this is just a cool meeting getting to know both of them who live in Puerto Rico and what it is that brings them fire similar, right? They love giving back, love giving to people. I was excited when I heard him cause I think some of the things that people do so wrong is, just trying to put down their competition versus just championing them and just be like, I love what you’re doing. I love what you’re doing. And I want to learn off of you. And I heard that from Pavan very early on that his father taught him to never speak ill of anyone else and I was like, yeah, it’s when somebody’s like, why wouldn’t you use the bank? And I’m like, the bank makes sense for somebody. They’re doing a ton of business that makes sense for that person. So that’s how I was introduced to Pavan of Angel AI. So he told me a little bit about Angel AI and they just grew from there.

I love your passion for helping people. Jennifer, is this something you can train? Like when I’m thinking of the people that you hire, is this something you could train or is this something that just has to be innately there?

So I believe in energy. I believe in energy. So one of the things that brings me joy is when you walk in the room and the whole room changes and i’m like, I don’t know if that’s good or bad, You know at first I thought did they like me or did they not like me, you know So with that being said is I feel like that was one of the gifts that god gave me is that passion that energy and can it be taught? You can’t teach it, but you can help inspire it.

I think you can inspire it and draw it out. I think everyone has that. There is an innate ability there that just seems to be God given in my opinion, but you can find people that have that and then some of it’s been repressed. I think it’s our job as employers to bring that out and bring that out in our partners that we work with.

My key guy, my guy that runs the show he wasn’t, not was, is an introvert. I’ll just make out, I’m like, he’s just an introvert, right? and I flew him in, and I said, sit down, make cold calls. and he’s boss, and I’m like, pull up spreadsheet start making calls. I’m just watch me dial. He watched me dial and dial So again, it was in something Now that man will pick up the phone and talk to anybody about anything, but years ago you would have asked him he literally sat there and he could not make a phone call in front of me, that is a transfer man that has happened in such a short period of time. We’ve been together for years now, but I would say it was probably six, seven months before he was able to just even pick up the phone. It was like, he was scared of that person on the other end and here’s the thing that I found out about him. So you asked all those questions, like how do we get them placed? He didn’t want to fail them. He didn’t want to fail them. He didn’t want to tell them something that was inaccurate and I was like then let’s teach you. Let’s teach you so you don’t have to. And let’s teach you and script out how to make sure, because 23 years in the business, I know my guidelines inside now. I’ll tell you right now, almost on a daily basis, somebody asks me a question, I’m like, I have no idea, but I’m gonna find out, I’m gonna get back to you and being able to say that confidently was what I had to deliver or give to him is it’s fine to say, I don’t know. I don’t know.

Being able to say, I don’t know, but I’ll get back to you. It’s probably one of the most mature things you can help someone and it’s such a secure place to be, but that’s the value of Angel AI because now, it is a machine that is manufacturing the right answer consistently every single time. And that takes people like your assistants and all of a sudden superpowers them so that the number one skill that they have is being able to just to pick up the phone because they can have the confidence in the system. Is what I’m hearing you say.

Absolutely. It is, you know what? Hold on. Type it in the system. As in, I don’t know about you, but I’m bringing it up. Trying to bring it up and make the most ridiculous small talk ever. Of, oh, what’s the guideline? Let me pull up the guidelines. Fannie, Freddie, Ginnie, whatever I’m working on. Trying to. Question, what is this? Pop it in, it’s gonna give you a response back of what that is and then it also then takes it off of your task list. I don’t know about you, but I hate having task lists, man. I can’t sleep knowing I have undue things. I’m, end of the day. What is on that list for tomorrow? And then you’re already behind the eight ball, right? So it’s no, I forgot to call David back and I forgot to tell him there’s no worse feeling than being like I have failed somebody. So it’s done. Yeah. What I love something you said when we were talking about doing this interview. You said that it’s like I have an LOA, loan origination assistant, on every single file now. It’s every file has its own LOA. That is an amazing statement. explain how that works, if you could. So when you go into Angel AI, they have separate tasks, right? So like folders, almost, if you will, so you’re going back to your folder. You’re going back to that once you’ve got your system, that’s is working on it, while you’re on to the next thing, or while you’re having a conversation, but it’s not all lumped together and you’ve got to scroll through and find it. You’ve got an LOA that worked on each of those and answered it. And all you got to do is go back to said LOA and ask it the next question. If you need one.

Very good. Now that you’ve discovered angel AI, how do you see this changing the way you do business moving forward, Jennifer?

We’re going to scale. We’re going big. We’re going big. I have always had the want and desire to change people’s lives for the better. We can do it on such a big level now. We can go and change, showing people’s lives. It is just, this guy’s, how about this? And I, when I think of past numbers and what it is, it’s always Oh, that person was out or this person was out or that and on me every single time I can do whatever it is that I want in this career that I want to do because I have that tool and I love people. Yeah. At the scale, I think is the number one thing that you, yeah.

The thing that you’re hitting on there is the scale. Yeah. Be able to scale up and handle so much more business and have it not destroy your life. You actually have the tools now to be able to do that in such a bigger way,

Scale, not have to worry, are you buying people out What is that going to look like? Yada. Are they having enough time off? Do they remember to tell Susie that she needed to take a time off? Are they working too many hours? All of that, right? Like I will know that they’re doing the time that they need to do. And then also getting the time that their family, they need.

Jennifer. I love your energy. I love your vision. We’ve got to wrap this up. Anyone who is looking at the business. And wanting to come into the business, what would you say to them?

Please get in if you have the heart and care if you get in this business for money I think you’re getting into it for the wrong reason. That’s my personal opinion on that Get into it because you want to change lives is I guess that sums it up if you want to get into the business, it’s just like everything, every career you want to be and doctor, you’ve got to take, my daughter is one day going to be a doctor. She’s on her way. She’s did so many years she’s got to go through and learn and do all that. Don’t come into it half-heartedly and come into it with a fire and a passion to take care of others. That’s all I would say.

That’s the number one thing. And then looking forward into the, future, this just is going to allow you to scale a lot more. It’s what I think I heard you say, correct?

Yeah, absolutely. It’s going to allow us to scale to whatever it is that we want. And that’s why we tell people is, don’t feel pressure. And so it’s use it as a tool, embrace it. If you want to do 5 million a year or 500 million a year, you can do that or 500 billion a year, whatever that number is. You can do that, right? It’s a tool that was now given to us and embrace it.

Yeah. Thank you so much for being here. I just love your energy. I love your vision, mission, and values. Your values just are such a gift and so grateful to meet you and so looking forward to having you back and sharing your journey with us, especially as we start learning how to use this technology more because it’s causing us to rethink the way we do business. You’ve already got the number one key. It’s just gonna allow me to do more. I’m going to be able to have a bigger impact and more lives.

Yes. So I would like to ask a couple of things. First and foremost I know we’re wrapping up here, but how’s the house?

Oh, it’s good. Yeah, we’ve got we’ve had the insurance people all over the house this morning. The jester was on there So you it looks like your kids used to or what you used to or maybe are your kids do this? But our kids do this they used to take big crayons and mark the root in the sidewalk off and make these paths Our roof looks like a kid got up there with a huge crayons. Our insurance agent says of all the homes in your community, yours suffered the most damage, w hich, I look at it from a standpoint Jennifer’s that is so painful to hear what it means. We have so much work to that. Then I started thinking, this is actually a good opportunity. Yeah. I so wanna stay in touch with you and want to continue praying. So if there’s anything that’s coming up, please shoot over a message to me. I use this one app. The prayer app on my iPhone and I am using it constantly just to remind me to who to be praying for. Keep it on mind. And this list is growing and growing. And it’s one of the joys I have in praying for people. I love that about you and you kept asking, is there anything I could be praying about earlier? And I go on, where did I get out of that cycle? I got to keep checking in with Jennifer. Find what does it need to be praying about for you? Cause I love your commitment to prayer and I love your commitment to people. And I want to stay in relationship with you.

Thank you, my friend. Thank you.

Important Links

The Importance of Human Connection in the Mortgage Industry Empowering Employees with Angel AI with Jennifer Martinez of Cross Country Mortgage (2)

The Importance of Human Connection in the Mortgage Industry Empowering Employees with Angel AI with Jennifer Martinez of Cross Country Mortgage (3)The Importance of Human Connection in the Mortgage Industry Empowering Employees with Angel AI with Jennifer Martinez of Cross Country Mortgage (4)

During my 20-year career that has taken me from the Midwest to Tampa and several points in between, I have gained a unique variety of mortgage lending experience. This wealth of knowledge is exactly why my clients always receive the best home financing solution for their specific situation.

As a top producer, I’m dedicated to growing my business here in Florida by putting my clients first, meeting all of their lending expectations, and providing an absolutely positive experience. I specialize in conventional and jumbo purchase transactions, refinances, and loans for foreclosure properties.

When you choose me as your lender, you are my number-one priority. Service and communication are everything. It’s important that you trust me and my team, and we earn your confidence in us by providing consistency throughout your mortgage process and delivering the desired result at closing.

When I’m not working or hiking, I enjoy volunteering, and traveling.

The Importance of Human Connection in the Mortgage Industry Empowering Employees with Angel AI with Jennifer Martinez of Cross Country Mortgage (2024)
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