Ain't My First Mortgage Podcast

Skip Willcox

Strap into your saddles and hold on...you're about to enter the world of mortgages with Skip Willcox. The latest in sales, industry news and market talk, Skip brings that Big Skip Energy back on every show. 

  1. 1d ago

    Who's Responsible for This Decision?! Leadership Thinking with Melissa Peregord

    Today on Ain’t My First Mortgage podcast, Skip interviews Melissa Peregord, principal of Secord Consulting, about her mortgage and growth background and how she helps small to mid-size companies solve stagnating revenue and go-to-market challenges. Melissa shares her 12-year Rocket Loans experience spanning origination, capital markets, secondary marketing, and director of bank relations managing top investor and money-center bank relationships.  She explains her move from C-suite roles to consulting after seeing how boards and CEOs can block strategy execution. She and Skip discuss leadership decision-making, balancing short-term vs. long-term thinking, and avoiding comfort-based delays by assessing reversibility, whether problems are metastasizing, who is impacted, and what information is actually needed. Melissa emphasizes diagnosing core problems versus symptoms, aligning incentives across sales, ops, and client success, and planning changes with a six-month gauge plus 30/60/90 milestones.  Episode Highlights: 00:00 Welcome and Setup 00:17 Meet Melissa Peregord 01:12 Rocket to Consulting Journey 02:27 Why She Went Solo 04:21 Short vs Long Term Decisions 06:19 A Practical Decision Framework 10:02 Growth Consulting and Root Causes 15:18 Systems Over Blame 16:34 Incentives and Team Alignment 18:44 Common Client Challenges 23:36 Six Month Results Timeline 25:31 Contact Info and Wrap Up  #MortgagePodcast #MortgageIndustry #MortgageLeadership #GrowthStrategy #BusinessDevelopment #DecisionMaking #ExecutiveLeadership #CLevel #Consulting #RevenueGrowth #GoToMarket #SalesStrategy #Operations #ClientSuccess #KPIs #OKRs #IncentiveAlignment #MortgageLending #RocketMortgage #QuickenLoans #CapitalMarkets #SecondaryMarketing #NonQM #Servicing #PrivateEquity

    27 min
  2. Jun 24

    Ask the Underwriter: Dionne Bass on Pre-Qualifying Loans, Self-Employed Income, and Smarter Mortgage Training

    Today on Ain’t My First Mortgage Podcast, Skip talks with Dionne Bass (“Ask the Underwriter”), a former underwriter who now trains mortgage professionals and real estate agents to better understand the mortgage process. Bass specializes in proper loan pre-qualification, spotting issues that can slow approvals, and improving personal SOPs so LOs don’t rely too heavily on AI tools without understanding the inputs.  She offers targeted trainings including FHA, USDA, and a popular self-employed borrower class that breaks down tax returns, income analysis, and the “why” behind underwriting decisions so originators can ask better questions. She highlights common pre-approval breakdowns tied to incomplete application and credit report review across FHA, VA, USDA, and conventional guidelines, and notes many struggle when switching between government and conventional self-employed reviews. She recommends bite-sized virtual training with case studies.  #mortgagepodcast #mortgageindustry #loanofficer #mortgagebroker #underwriting #asktheunderwriter #preapproval #prequalification #creditreport #loanprocessing #mortgagetraining #realestateagents #selfemployedborrower #selfemployedmortgage #incomeanalysis #taxreturns #conventionalloans #fhaloans #usdaloans #valoans #manualunderwriting #loanorigination #mortgagelending #referralpartners #mortgageeducation Episode Highlights: 00:00 Welcome Dionne Bass 00:16 Meet Ask the Underwriter 01:55 Prequalify Beyond AI 05:25 SOPs and Front End Work 07:15 Credit Report Pitfalls 10:15 Deep Dive Self Employed 12:22 Agency Guideline Differences 13:27 Training Format Case Studies 15:03 Connect and Closing Thanks

    17 min
  3. Jun 17

    Turning Mortgage Data into Actionable Leads with Kortney Lane-Schafers

    On today’s episode of Ain’t My First Mortgage podcast, Skip interviews Kortney Lane-Schafers, VP of Growth and Client Advocacy at MMI, about using mortgage data to drive production and reduce the LO rollercoaster. Kortney says the best part of the industry is relationships, while the biggest challenge is shifting market cycles. She explains MMI’s evolution into “MMI 1,” combining the MMI Data Center, a communication platform, and MonitorBase monitoring so loan officers can find opportunities, communicate, and track their database in one place.  Key updates include the MMI 1 mobile app with integrated Chat MMI voice-driven AI for fast reports and a real-time leaderboard. They discuss retention challenges and how monitoring alerts, opportunity surfacing, and consumer tools like Pathways Home and a branded private home search help deliver value, confidence, and proactive outreach. Episode Highlights: 00:00 Welcome and Setup 00:30 Meet Kortney Schafers 01:59 People and Market Challenges 03:44 Data to Beat Volatility 04:36 Napa Wine Interruption 07:01 MMI One Platform Overview 08:52 Pathways Home and Search 10:13 Mobile App Launch 11:00 Chat MMI AI Search 12:37 Export and CRM Integration 13:27 Conference Takeaways 14:02 Talk To Search 14:25 Real Time Leaderboard 16:35 Why Data Wins 17:22 Bring Value To Meetings 19:33 Retention And Monitoring 24:19 Predictive Opportunity Alerts 26:01 Remove Friction Take Action 27:36 Adoption Make It Easy 28:09 Connect With Kortney 28:44 Closing Thanks

    27 min
  4. Apr 23

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

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

    22 min

About

Strap into your saddles and hold on...you're about to enter the world of mortgages with Skip Willcox. The latest in sales, industry news and market talk, Skip brings that Big Skip Energy back on every show.