Welcome to Elevate with Elsner. Join us for inspiring conversations with individuals who have transformed their lives and are making a difference through the work that they do. And now, here's your host, Blake Elsner.

Welcome to another episode of Elevate with Elsner. Today, I have a very special guest. He's kicking this whole thing off. Tom Sinak, and his background is in sports, particularly involvement with CBC Baseball and University of Illinois Baseball. That's an interesting dimension to his professional profile. His experience in competitive sports likely contributed to a strong worth ethic and strategic mindset in the lending industry. It's always fascinating to see how skills and lessons from athletics can translate into success in other areas like finance and real estate. Welcome, Tom Sinak. We're thrilled to have you here today. As a top lender at New American Funding, you've built a remarkable reputation for guiding clients through the mortgage process with expertise and personalized care. But what makes your story even more compelling is your background. And it's clear that the discipline and the strategic thinking from all your athletic experiences have translated into your success in the lending industry. So we're excited to dive into your journey and explore how these diverse experience have shaped your approach to helping others achieve their home ownership dreams. So, Tom, thanks for joining us.

Blake Elsner

Yeah, thanks, Blake. I'm happy to be here and certainly looking forward to this.

So I joked and I was telling you I was going to call this episode Well, I'm actually am going to call this episode home runs to home loans. I kind of want to start. Obviously you played at CBC, which is a high school in St. Louis. You still hold records there in baseball. Um, but let's move from there to the university of Illinois and kind of let's start like, you know, when you, I think when you had a, what'd you get, you had a really good season and then you got hurt.

Well, I mean, we can back up a little bit. So I was recruited to a number of universities and ended up signing in the Big Ten. It was always kind of a dream of mine to play there. And just ironically, the guy that was our catcher and a good friend of mine, he had signed to play there as well. So the two of us went there together, and it was a huge, huge learning curve and learning experience when I got there. because I'll never forget it was probably midway through fall ball my freshman year and you know I don't know if I struck out or did something and the coach is all over me and I'm just thinking to myself what in the world did I get myself into here because like last year I was like man I couldn't do anything wrong and you're all state you're all everything and here I am and I'm just I'm absolutely getting wailed on by this coach and and anyway he hollered at me and he brought me over and he said I said, what coach? Were you all state in high school? I said, yes, sir. Were you all district? And yes, sir. And did you do this and you did that? I said, yes, sir. He goes, well, so did every other person on this field. And I was like, whoa, it kind of put it into perspective. Like every single guy out here, right, was the man when they were in high school. And, you know, now it's kind of, you know, feast or famine. So anyway, it was, it was just a huge transformation going from high school to being, you know, where you couldn't hardly do any wrong to getting into college where everybody at that time, they were all district, all state, all Metro, whatever you want to say, but this, the level of competition is so much higher. Right. So that was a big adjustment for me. Um, but it was certainly a lot of fun and, um, you know, but, but everything that we did from a training standpoint, to our, to our diets. And then, you know, this is 25 years ago, but we were still getting into nutrition. Weightlifting was still a big deal. So all the training we did both on and off the field really helped us. But that was for me, the biggest difference or the biggest change was just going from the where in high school your sheer athletic ability can get you by because the level of competition is not there and all of a sudden you get into a division one big ten university program where everyone was at that same level as you and so now how are you going to separate yourself and what are you going to be able to do to stand out and be successful at the next level?

Yeah, it's interesting to hear you say that because I just talked with a division one baseball coach, Brian and ball ski, and he told me that's one of the biggest. problems or one of the biggest adversities that kids have to overcome is when they do come from those high schools where they are the stud to coming to college where the little guy will beat you out if you don't put in the work because that guy will put in the work. He says that happens and some people do fall off in college because of that. So it's interesting to say that from your perspective.

Yeah, because when you're in high school, if you're a division one athlete, you can get by in high school. If not without a lot of, I'm not saying high level kids don't practice, but your sheer athletic ability is high at a higher level than the average high school player. So just sure. Athletic skill wise, you're going to get by, but when you, you know, and it's not to say, I mean, you'd have to be the elite of the elite for that to happen in college. So when you get to a high level division one program, Now, what are you going to do differently? What sacrifices are you willing to make? What are you willing to do to work harder, to eat better, to not go out on Friday or Saturday night like the rest of your friends, to not party, to be in the gym, to make yourself better, stronger, faster to play at a higher level, right? So not everybody is willing to make those sacrifices. But for me, that was the biggest difference was you could get by in high school, but that didn't work in college. And so for me, I had to be as disciplined as I possibly could and physically get as strong as I possibly can because, you know, in most sports strength is an advantage, but it's definitely an advantage in baseball.

Yeah. So you made that, I remember hearing that story about how you put on quite a bit of muscle going from high school to college, correct?

Yeah, probably, you know, in a, probably in a year, probably 20 pounds or so 20, almost 25 pounds. Um, you know, I, I played high school at around one 90. I played college ball at probably 200, two Oh five, but I reshaped myself, right? Like, you know, your waist gets two or three inches smaller and you physically just get bigger, stronger, faster. But, you know, in high school I was lifting, just doing things on my own and college I had a coach. And so the coach, you know, is specifically designing strength training programs for you. And obviously that's all custom, that's all done now at a much higher level. You got to think I was doing this in the mid nineties, but still, um, you know, weight training and strength training was a huge, huge part of our, success and what we did day to day. And, you know, we did it with football, did it, obviously basketball, did it, baseball, did it. So and it obviously really helped.

Yeah. Yeah. It's truly impressive that obviously you put in that work because then at the University of Illinois, what is it you led? I'm not sure if you still do, but you led. And the big ten with the highest, what was it in conference batting average?

Yeah, that record still holds. So my so cross my fingers. Obviously, you're always rooting for someone. But so my career batting average in the Big Ten Conference is still holding career record anyway. So it's been 20, 25 years. So we'll see if the young bucks coming behind me can pass past the old man. But for now, it's holding.

I was going to say, like, I'm surprised that that has not you know, taken off or, you know, been overcome by now that it's rare to see records that happened 20, 25 years ago still stand because of, you know, the technology and how kids are have different, you know, things at their disposal to do to get better.

And they're just bigger, stronger, faster at younger ages because there's so much there's so much It's so special. And to your point, all the technology with exit velocity and all the things that they can do technology-wise to help these kids. But batting average is still batting average. So you still got to get a lot of hits. And at the end of the day, too, certain records can get broke, like, say, a home run record or a doubles record or whatever. They play more games today than what we did a little bit. But in a way, it's harder to hit for a higher average over a longer period of time. But again, I certainly go back and watch games every year. I'm still very good friends with the head coach. The guy, Dan Hartle, that's the head coach there now was the assistant when I was there. And Illinois won the Big Ten last year in baseball. So and they're every year they're sending a couple of kids into the professional draft. So the program is doing really, really well. The coach is doing great. It was I wouldn't want to do it again, but it was for the best years of my life. And it certainly did help me, I think. using a lot of the things that I learned athletically and applied those same principles to my mortgage career.

Yeah. So obviously that is your bread and butter now. And you've been the number one lender in the Midwest for quite a while now. So, but going back right after in college, you got hurt, correct?

Yeah, I had back problems. So yeah, that plagued me throughout my junior and senior year. Yeah.

So you had to pivot and obviously. The MLB was not, you know, potentially not an option anymore getting drafted, and so after that, what you know, if that set in your mind, like what were you going to do?

Yeah, so again, when I was in college, I didn't really know what I wanted to do other than I knew I wanted to be in the big leagues, right? Probably like every kid in their sport, right? Whether it's football or they want to go to the NFL or. basketball, they want to go to the NBA. I mean, I, I truly did believe that I was, I was going to make it to the, to the, to the big leagues. And when, when you come to realization that that's not going to happen to your point, yeah, it's a culture shock, but you have two choices, right? I can sit around and feel sorry for myself or I can get out there and, uh, and be successful. And, you know, my dad, I learned a lot from my dad. He's one of my role models in my life and he owned a very successful plumbing company. And I watched him get up a quarter to four every single day and be at the office at quarter to five and maybe work till seven or eight and you work seven days a week or whatever somebody called. And so those characteristic traits that I watched my dad do, I tried to implement into my business. And I've been very fortunate and been very blessed to have a very successful mortgage career. And here I am, you know, 25 years later. But nothing in life comes without hard work. And you've got to be able to make sacrifices and do things that maybe other people aren't willing to do.

Yeah, and there's there's certain things about you that I always tell when I'm like, hey, here's a here's a good lender to call. I'm like, this guy didn't pick up a golf club until after college and he's a scratch golfer. So he's going to put in the work for you. Right. And that's what I tell people. I'm like, you know, there's not many people that just pick up a golf club after college can be so successful in a field where they're constantly working and be a scratch golfer and be a father. So like, that's a lot of hats to wear. So clearly, if you can do all that, I think you're going to do all right with this individual's purchase, right?

Right. Right. And it's, it's one of those things that, yeah, like I say, it's to be successful at anything in life. What I did learn a long, long time ago is obviously you've got to be very, very organized. You got to have very, very good time management skills. And for me, the number one thing is just discipline, right? I just feel like successful people are willing to make sacrifices and do things that the average person is not, right? And it's not always easy and it's not always fun, but at the end of the day, it does lead to success. And I think it's those characteristic traits that separate, you know, the average producer from the high level producer, whether it be in real estate or mortgage or anything.

Yeah, you're totally right. And as an individual who's gotten to see how you function on a daily basis, I know that obviously you get up at In early time, you work on your body, you work on your inner wealth, and then you knock out your emails, you do all that stuff to prep your day so that not only can you get your work done sooner and then give yourself some free time, but you're also putting in extra work when people are sleeping.

Well, and for me, it's, you know, I always say God gave me one body. I got to take care of it. It's not like a car or you can get a car and you can run the daylights out of it. And when it breaks, you can just buy a new one. Well, your body doesn't work that way. And the older you get, the harder you have to work, right? So you have to eat better in my opinion. And, you know, I do my best to eat as healthy as I can. And, and obviously you have to move your body. I always say you have to move it. You got to, it's like, you know, your car just doesn't work. You never, you never get oil changes and rotate the tires and have it tuned up. Right. Your body needs the same thing. And so again, I can't just trade in the one I got when my back starts hurting. I got to do what I can to make sure I'm strengthening the muscles that, you know, my core, whatever it may be to help my, my back get better. So again, yes, for me, it's not just keeping myself in good physical condition, but that helps my mental state as well. That is preparing me for my day. So when I'm on the treadmill every single morning, I'm looking at my calendar, I'm thinking of things. It's kind of like, It's kind of like my time, right, where it's just me and my headphones are on, but I'm thinking, what can I do to make myself better today? What can I do today to be more successful than I was yesterday? And, you know, I've got a large sales force in the Midwest region. It's not just me anymore. I've got, I don't even know, I should know, but 100, 150 loan officers or so throughout the Midwest. And what can I do to teach, train and motivate all of them to show them what I've done to help raise their game and raise their bar and help them be more successful? So again, my time in the morning is not just me exercising and moving my body, but it's me getting mentally prepared. for my work day. Um, and again, it's, it's proven to be for me mentally. I think it's very mentally healthy for me to do it. And I just don't even feel good now when I don't work out, I just feel sluggish and I don't have any energy. So I get more energy and I feel better about my day when I can get up and move my body. So that's what I do.

Yeah. And I mean, obviously there's science behind that and, uh, clearly you can, you can present that, uh, the facts of the, what happens when you work out and how you feel and how you, what you put in your body and what you eat. Because I, I also know that, uh, your diet and what you eat, you know, your body, um, extremely well, and you know, like certain things you put into your body, you know, it's, it's not going to end well, or it's not going to react well. And that's a, that's a. big trait to have as a human to be able to figure that out because most of us obviously in this country can't figure that out. It's difficult too. So switching gears over to when you say you have a lot of loan officers now that are kind of under you, I've noticed you've kind of become more of of a mentor to some of these people as this industry kind of changes. And I got to do a deal with an individual who does work under you, does loans. I got to see that he kind of worked very similar to you. And that obviously shows that they're following this new American funding process in a way that is really changing, I think, the whole industry on the mortgage side.

Yeah. Like for me, obviously, when I got out of college and I got into the business, I was trying to build my business. Right. And now fast forward 25 years later, I've got 10,000 plus clients. So it's not that I'm out, not still wanting to meet new people and meet new agents because obviously real estate agents, as you know, for, for lenders, they're an annuity for us, right? So that's what we're trying to do. It helps us generate our business, but I'm not actively out there pounding the pavement, searching for new real estate agents to meet. Certainly if I get introduced to them, that's great, But really, my role has changed to still service my own clients and work with the existing agents and referral partners that I've got. But a huge other component of my job is to recruit, to hire, to teach, train, and motivate my sales force. For me, it's almost more rewarding now because I was in their shoes once. I was a 20 something trying to, you know, hit these lofty, um, production goals and, and I did it, but I get no more. I get the most satisfaction or gratitude now out of hiring people and showing them the ropes. And then again, not every, I tell everybody the same thing, but everybody is not willing. and make the same sacrifices as others. But those that are willing to put in the time and do the things that the average producer or loan officer is not willing to do, they will see huge gains. And again, so for me, the best part about my job today is watching the people that I've hired and watching them succeed and hit goals that they never thought they could accomplish.

Yeah, that's pretty cool to be able to kind of have that other hat now. And I honestly didn't even really realize it to the extent of your your mentorship that you kind of do now until I did this deal. And I'm like, man, that's this loan officer acts just like Tom. I'm like, it's almost like a spitting image of him. I'm like he and he's like, Oh, yeah, I work, you know, I work right beside Tom. Like I had no idea how much of a mentor that you become in the industry. Because like you said, the whole real estate agents or everybody who's a you know, a profound realtor knows Tom Sinek in the real or in the lending industry. That's just a given. Now, there's not a lot of new realtors, so I don't blame you for stopping that. So that's pretty cool that you're starting to to mentor.

And yeah, it's not that I'm it's not even that I'm stopping. It's just as my career has evolved right over a 20, 25 year career. For me now, my role has changed, and I'm most valuable to my company by now going out and recruiting and hiring salespeople, but then showing them the ropes, showing them all the things that I did to build my business, and then letting them hit the ground running. So for me, it's really exciting to see the growth that we've had over the last 18 to 24 months and really where I can help my organization grow.

Yeah. I see some of these numbers when you, you post them on Facebook of, of the Midwest region. And it is impressive how many people are doing great production amounts. That's, that's truly what it's not that there's like, Hey, just two or three people doing 80% of the production. It's a, it's a good amount of people that are combined in the total volume that, that you do.

Yeah and it's to your point and it's spread out not just in Missouri either. I mean we've got great producers in not just Missouri and not just Illinois but I mean our team in Iowa is just absolutely kicking butt and taking names and we're now the sixth largest lender I think in the entire state of Iowa and you know we've only been on boots on the ground for a handful of years so the organization is really, really growing quickly. And you know, we're in Indianapolis and Indiana, and I've got loan officers now up through Illinois and up through Chicago. And again, so from our standpoint as an organization, I think it's just going to continue to grow. Our platform is fantastic. But with that said, again, just going back to my role and for me, the best or the biggest gratitude are what I get most out of my job now is watching these salespeople grow and increase their production and help their families. So for me, that's a huge win and it's the most satisfying part of my job right now.

Yeah, I definitely have always seen that in you, because I you would even come when I was younger in high school. You would even take time out of your day to come watch me play baseball, right? It was great. So and yeah, and you obviously enjoyed and gave me pointers and etc. And you know why I struck out three times. But yeah, no, no. Yeah, I really that is a is a cool cool aspect of of what you do now. As we sit and talk with. with rates, where do you see the future of rates going? And also, before I forget, you still have an office in Arizona, correct? I do. And Florida. So I always want to plug those two offices because I know you have two great offices down there that you can talk about. But Going back to the rate part, where do you see interest rates? I know nobody has a magic ball or eight ball, whatever you want to say. Obviously, they're the lowest they've been in quite a while right now as we record this podcast here in the middle of August, but where do you think they're headed?

Yeah, so I think the Fed is trying to bring us to, or the, to a soft landing, right? What they've got to be able to do is we've got to get inflation under control. And once we can get inflation under control, they want to do that without pushing, uh, the economy into a recession, right? So if they can bring us to a soft landing, they can slow economic growth some, but also get inflation under control closer to that 2% target they're looking at. They can gradually bring down the rate. So, I do think we're going to get a rate reduction here in September. They meet, I want to say, the 17th, 18th of September. The market, I think, right now is pricing in 50 basis points. I don't know if we're going to get 50. I think we're going to get 25 for sure, and I guess time will tell. But as the Fed starts to cut rates, we're going to gradually start to see mortgage rates come down. Uh, right. So, um, and then again, as long as we can keep inflation under control, then they will continue to drop rates. Like if you look at some of the forecast out 12 to 18 months from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they're forecasting, you know, 12 to 18 months out a 30 year fixed rate to be in the fives. So, you know, we're in the upper sixes right now. So that'd be another a hundred basis points. So I think, you know, we're never going to go back to the COVID years where 30 year fixed rates were in the threes. are fours. But I think if you can get 30-year fixed financing and rates, get those under 6% into the fives, it's a big psychological barrier for people. What's going to happen is you're going to bring back so many buyers. Because as you know, the biggest problem we have right now is a lack of inventory. So because there's no inventory, it's really driving the prices up. Not to mention, We have so many people that are sitting on the sidelines because they'll call me and I might've done their mortgage five years ago, 10 years ago, and they've got a three or 4% rate. And they're considering going from their $400,000 house to a six or $700,000 house. I run the numbers, but with mortgage rates where they were at seven, their payments might go up to 3000 bucks by time. You know, we, we take the difference in the mortgage rate, higher taxes, higher insurance costs, and they're just like, that's too expensive. We're just going to stay put. So that one person, there's two transactions though, lost, right? They don't sell their house and don't buy a new one. So we're sitting, it's stagnant, right? So when these houses hit the market, you have bidding wars for them because you've got way more buyers than sellers. So as mortgage rates will come down, cause I do believe housing drives, uh, as a major driver in the economy. So I do think mortgage rates will come down exactly when, you know, I don't have a crystal ball, but I think we're six to nine months out, but even getting into, you know, 12 months out, if the Fannie Mae forecasts are correct and we can get 30 year fixed rates under 6% a year from now, I think we're going to have a lot more inventory. And I think that'd be great. So we'll see.

Yeah, I think you're right on that, like psychological part of things when it's just like I looked at saw the 15 year dropped under six and you see that five and you're like, you know, it's not that far away from the 30 year, but that that just seeing that five was kind of refreshing and just going, wow, OK, yeah. So I can't imagine, yeah, if the 30 year drops into the fives, even, you know, five point nine or I mean, the highest it can it can go before hitting six. Yeah, I think that psychologically is going to spark a market that could bring a lot more buyers. And then you obviously have generations that are going to turn over. So, you know, there could possibly be more inventory. And like you say, the people that are sitting on the sidelines, um, that won't buy will now buy. And that means they have to sell as well. Um, so yeah, it could increase inventory and we all, we all hope that, um, happens.

And that's right. So again, if we can get these mortgage rates to come down, it will absolutely increase inventory. Because like I said, I get a couple calls a week from prior clients that are interested in, I run numbers for them as they are considering moving. And again, as their family size grows, they want a bigger house, a bigger house costs a couple hundred grand more, whatever the case may be. You run the numbers and that's just a little bit too expensive for them because their current rate is three or four. And I'm hypothetically running new rates at six and a half or seven and you're increasing their, you know, their loan amount by a couple hundred grand and you're almost doubling their rate. It's very difficult for them. And it's very difficult for the first time home buyer as well to compete in this market. So for those reasons, I'm confident that the rates are going to come down again, exactly how long that takes. I wish I had a crystal ball and I knew for sure, but I think if we were having the same conversation nine to 12 months from now, I'm confident that the rates are going to be significantly lower than where they are now, which is going to really, really help the market.

Yeah, that definitely will. And, and one thing with new American funding is you all have constantly kind of pivoted and created programs, um, to still drive production, like the, the cash cash buyer program that, um, That's really just the, the, the best program out there to, you know, and I, I mean, I can plug it a little bit, but I mean, at the end of the day for a buyer that is struggling to get their offer accepted,

to be able to convert their offer to cash because statistically a cash buyer is able to buy a house for a purchase price slightly less than someone that's going to obviously have financing and a loan contingency and whatnot. So to give people the ability to compete and to convert their offer to cash and make that offer look that appealing to a seller, is, it's just a fantastic option. And so, um, yeah, we, we, we use it all the time and we're doing our best to continually educate the real estate community in terms of how the program works. But I mean, if you're a listing agent and you get a NAF cash, a new American funding cash offer, nothing better for your seller because we'll close as fast as a seller wants to, and it's all cash with no contingencies.

And you got a real buyer behind there.

We got a real buyer behind it where we sell the property back to the buyer. That's right. But again, if you're a listing agent and you get that offer, you're doing cartwheels because what you know is New American Funding is going to pay cash for the house and your seller is going to get their money and they're going to get paid. And then obviously, yeah, we'll sell back to the buyer, you know, once we, you know, at a later date, or they might have a house to sell. Yeah, it's a fantastic product and a fantastic program and it's gaining more and more traction as more people and more agents learn about it.

Yeah, and I went through it and it is hard to, I always say to the millennial, trying to explain it to them. It's, I don't know, sometimes can be a little complex or they just don't want to listen or they just don't want to simply learn it. It is such a powerful program and I think as more people do it, it's just like anything, more people start to see the success of certain things and trends, then they start to do it. So I think you're right. It's just that snowball effect. It's just got to take a few more people to understand how powerful that is. cash buyer program is as I got to sit through it and hear about all about the process of it. It truly is something that is a great program to look into. Going to another question that I get a lot since I have a lot of people that own businesses and One thing I hear from them is how to, what would you say, like the best advice for somebody who's self-employed that wants to get pre-approved for a house, but has clearly as taxes wants to show they don't make a lot, right? Cause you don't want to pay a lot of taxes. What would you recommend to somebody like that? Who's a 1099 looking to purchase a real estate investment?

Yeah. So, When you go to get a mortgage, hopefully they've been self-employed for at least two years. There's a few products or programs that do allow for one year self-employed, but for a conventional mortgage, you need to be self-employed for two years with tax returns. Now, with that said, there's two options, right? We can qualify a borrower with the eligible income that they're filing on their tax returns. If, you know, they may be a sole proprietor just filing a Schedule C, or they might be an S corp or a C corp, but we need the corporate returns. So as we go through that, I always say, though, you know, you don't get your cake and eat it, too. You can't make three hundred thousand gross and tell me you make three hundred thousand and on your tax return show 20. Because when it goes to find a house, we're going to give you credit for 20. Right. So you can't tell me I make way more money than what my tax return shows. But I'm just writing off expenses on the pay taxes like I get the game. But if the income claimed on the tax return is not enough to qualify, then the only option is we have alternate documentation programs where borrowers can pay a little bit higher interest rate. But in order to qualify, we're not using tax returns, we're using deposits and cash flow into those bank accounts. So we can use bank statements as well. In terms of the best advice, I would just tell these people to keep accurate records, right? Like it's up to them. But from a lending standpoint, any bank or lender, regardless of who you're doing the loan with, they're going to want your last two years personal and corporate tax returns. And again, if there's not enough income or the way you're filing doesn't work, you're showing too many deductions. The only other option is to go with a bank statement type of program where the lender is going to evaluate the deposits going into the bank account and then, you know, you know, qualify the loan that way.

or plan ahead and say, hey, I'm going to show more.

Correct. You've been self employed for five or more years. The lender is just going to use the most recent year return. So, yeah. So if you to your point, you can plan ahead and, you know, don't show as many deductions and show more income. You have to pay more tax, but it's going to enable you to buy a home.

Yeah. And that's ultimately what I would say is one of the best things next to, um, obviously using bank statements. If you do, if you are sitting on cash, but that's what I would say is to plan that next tax year to say, Hey, look, if I'm going to buy a house in the next 12 months and there's, there's a tax return to be filed, I'm going to want to show if this is more than multiple years of Schedule C's, I'm going to want to show more this year on my tax return because I'm going to want to qualify for a purchase of a house at $400,000, let's say. So you're going to want to show more on your taxes.

That's right. And so, you know, again, advice is if you think that's something you want to do, you know, whether you're contacting me or contacting your lender, let the lender go through. I can tell somebody today, it's August of 24. I think they want to buy a house next year. That'd be great. Have them contact us now. We can evaluate their tax returns and income documents, and then give them some good advice that I think would help them secure financing next year.

Yeah, that's another good point. I tell people that you're not just there to pre-approve people. You're there to guide them to the pre-approval as well. It's not just call and be ready to buy a house. You can call. That's one thing I say is call Tom, talk to him and get the ball rolling. He will advise you on the process of getting to the free approval as well, because that is a process. And that's also my job as a realtor to prepare somebody for that journey. So yeah, no, I I'm impressed with the record and what you continue to produce on the lending side. It's truly incredible because obviously, as we know, the market has you know, it's tightened up as we just have talked about. So it's been difficult. But to know that you still have the passion and the impact of obviously clearly doing home loans, but then you're also doing this mentor and teaching, training new American loan officers. what made you so successful is, is really special. And I think that that says a lot about you and it says a lot about new American funding and the company that they are, because I know that you even know, you know, the high ups in that, you know, cause I've had even deals where you go, Hey, let me make a phone call and, and certain other banks, you're never going to be able to make that phone call.

It is very unique organization because I can text the president of the company right now, if I needed something, And I mean, unless she's in like a 9-1-1 meeting, she's going to text or call me right back. And I mean, and she's the president of a multi-billion dollar organization. I mean, we have $70 billion of loans and servicing. This is not a small company. We have over 4,000 employees, and we're in all 50 states, right? But yeah, so it's a big, big company with a small company feel. And we have tremendous, tremendous culture here. And anybody is willing to help anyone. And so again, we've got there's some crazy successful people that are in this organization. And, you know, it starts from certainly the top, but from my standpoint, like I said, it's, it is very helpful that I do have access to, you know, the president of the company. If I need a super important decision, I know what I can and cannot go to her for. But at the end of the day, if I know it's going to be her decision, then I can send her a text and ask her when she's available. She'll call me, we go through it. And if it makes sense, we do that deal.

Yeah. And that, and that obviously isn't, that's not earned overnight. That's a, it's earned over time and, and experience and skills and, and putting in the work for sure. So, um, well, I really, Tom, I appreciate you coming on here and, uh, I always say if people want to start the process, they can find you pretty much anywhere. I mean, you Google Tom Sinek and there's there's plenty of plenty of ways to get in touch with you. But what would you say is probably the best way to get in touch with you?

Yeah, they can either send me an email or honestly, just most people just call or text me. So, yeah, you just type in Tom Sinek mortgage. It'll come right up. You can just type in my name, Tom Sinek. It'll come right up. Again, my all my information is right there. They're welcome to reach out to me anytime and certainly be happy to help them.

Yeah, that's and that's one thing I always tell people. It's your name on the contract, not the lender. So you better have a good lender on your side. Correct. So that ball doesn't go rolling down the street without you. Right. Right. No doubt about it. Well, I appreciate it coming on here and we'll have to do this again. It's been a pleasure. All right. I look forward to it. All right. And let's elevate together.

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