How Julio Silva Quadrupled His Mortgage Business

BRIDGET: Welcome back to CCM Talks. I am Bridget Linton, and today I’m so excited to be joined by Branch Manager Julio Silva. Julio, first I just have to say congratulations.  

JULIO: Thank you.  

BRIDGET: Do you know what I’m congratulating you on?  

JULIO: I’m not sure. 

BRIDGET: You have doubled your production since joining CCM. It’s so wildly impressive.  

JULIO: It is. 

BRIDGET: So let’s get into it. Tell me your secrets.  

JULIO: Well, I haven’t doubled. I have tripled, I think, maybe quadrupled since I’ve been at CCM now for about seven years now. And I just love the company, the culture and what we have to offer. So it’s amazing. Yeah.  

BRIDGET: Oh my gosh. That is so impressive. So for anyone watching, do you have a piece of advice to reach the success that you have? 

JULIO: Well, I think it’s really know your product and understand what you have in your hands, like we have a huge awesome vehicle which is CCM. They give us all the tools that we need to succeed and all we have to do is tell a lot of people what we do here, what are we able to, you know, accomplish because the stuff that we’re able to do at CCM, I mean, not a lot of lenders have the power that we have to get things done. 

BRIDGET: Yeah. So since you have joined CCM, obviously the success you’ve had speaks for itself. But what is it about CCM that you can build a business so quickly?  

JULIO: Well, I think CCM, it’s a very entrepreneurial company. It gives us the opportunity to grow as much as we want and give us, giving us the tools like what CCM has done in the last five, six years is, you know, we’ve been here. It’s been amazing, like, there’s no other lender out there that have offered the tools that we have, like a great product variation of different things that we’re able to do and get it done here. I think as a loan officer, that’s what you want. You want something that you’re able to sell, you’re able to help as many people as you can. 

BRIDGET: It certainly helps when you have the tools and you do your job much easier. I know you work with a lot of Hispanic clients. So how can you build trust with them, also while encouraging homeownership? 

JULIO: Yeah, yeah, I’m from Brazil originally, so we deal with a lot of, you know, Hispanic Brazilians and, I think, you know, the American dream or the dream of having homeownership or becoming an investor, I think it appeals a lot to the Latin community. And, you know, just telling that there’s an opportunity for them. A lot of people, they don’t know they can qualify for a loan because they don’t think they have enough income with their taxes, but they don’t know about bank statements that we offer at CCM. They don’t know about any investor loan. So it’s all about educating the people, educating your realtors. And that’s what I spend a lot of time doing, just educating my realtors on the products that we have to offer.  

BRIDGET: And I’m sure you have so many stories where you really could and do change lives. Is there one specific story though that was a huge success for your team and community? 

JULIO: Well, I think, we get calls all the time, like, Julio, we need your help. We need you to save this deal. Can you guys step in and get it done? And we do. We go through this all the time. I mean, we had a lady, she was purchasing a condo. She was about to lose $45,000 in deposit. She had to close in 12 days. Chase denied her, they did not structure the loan correctly. When they came back to us, we put it together. We closed in ten days, and we saved the day. She was so happy. She referred so many people to us. And that’s just what we do here. You know, we do a little bit of magic. 

BRIDGET: I mean, I can’t even imagine. I’m sure you just wake up every day and it makes you passionate about your job, knowing you’re helping so many people. 

JULIO: Yeah. Very much. 

BRIDGET: But you, obviously we talk about your production that you do, but you’re also coaching your team, so how do you balance both?  

JULIO: Well, it’s a lot of work, right? But you know, what we’ve done the last seven years is really built a team. Like the people, they’ve been with us, they’ve been with me for over five years, four years, six years, seven years. And because, you know, like, I spend a lot of time with them as well, just, you know, coaching them and preparing them, you know, to understand and maximize their potential here at CCM.  

When I started at CCM, I was doing about $30 million a year in production. Last year, we closed about $130 million. This year we’re going to maybe do about $150 million. So it’s amazing. Like the stuff that has been happening here CCM and the growth potential is so huge and everyone sees that. They see how much I have grown and how much their business have grown as well because of, you know, we’re growing. So it’s the environment, it’s the culture, it’s the people. I think it’s a combination. 

BRIDGET: And now you see why I started this conversation. Congratulations. I mean it is, it’s so amazing. And something that I love about CrossCountry Mortgage is the team, the culture.  

JULIO: Yes.  

BRIDGET: Everything about it. So for you and your specific branch, how does culture play into your success? 

JULIO: Huge. I think everyone has to have the same vision. Has to have, you know, I talk a lot about this with my people. I say, listen, I cannot be the greatest salesperson in the world if my team does not speak the same language. So we all have to be synchronized that way. We all have to speak the same language. We all have to have the same goals. We all have to treat the customer as they were speaking to Julio, they’re speaking to a loan processor. So everyone has to deliver a great service and great care for the clients. And, I think, you know, once they understood this, you know, I think everyone just grows together because the growth on our team is, well, it’s amazing. Like, see guys that, you know, they were producing, you know, $500,000 a month, a million a month, to now $3 million a month, $4 million a month. It’s just because of the environment everyone’s producing. So I think it’s contagious, you know? 

BRIDGET: Yeah. I mean, it is inspiring for new loan officers. Hey, I might start here, but I can get here. 

JULIO: Work with a winning team, you know? It’s where things are happening, where there’s activity, you know, that is contagious, you know, and that’s something that you can really, you know, put time and effort into it. So I just making sure everyone is there with the same vision, you know. 

BRIDGET: And it’s so easy to see when you have the proof of success, but for new loan officers that are breaking into this market, it’s competitive. What piece of advice would you give them? 

JULIO: Just ask realtors, ask for business and ask for an opportunity. I started knocking on doors and talking real estate offices and they had their partners already, they had their mortgage companies already. And I said, listen, just give me a chance. Give me your worst client. Give you the most difficult scenario you have. Give them to me. Let me work with them. And that’s how I got into the door with so many real estate offices.  

You know, it’s just, you know, just being there, being consistent, you know, there are going to be hard days. They’re going to be, you know, not, you know, as glamorous days as, you know, sometimes you go through this business, but you just got to be consistent and ask for business. Ask for an opportunity. Because I think, and that’s what happens, you just got to show how to deliver results, because real estate agents, they work with us, they work with us at CrossCountry because they can trust that we’re going to deliver, we’re going to, you know, give the results. When we issue a pre-approval letter, we’re closing that loan. 

BRIDGET: I love that you said consistency. If you just stay consistent, of course you’re going to have successful days.  

JULIO: Right.  

BRIDGET: And you’re going to have some days where you have failures. 

JULIO: Challenges. Yes. 

BRIDGET: For sure. So for you, I mean, we keep talking about your success, which again is amazing, but of course you’ve had failures as well. So, how did those failures make you the strong leader you are today?  

JULIO: I learned one thing a long time ago. I do not dwell on my failures for more than a second. If I lose a deal, if I lose the transaction, or if it’s something fell apart or something happened, you know, it just, all right, next. Like, how do I change my focus? How do I change my thinking?  

And I started to celebrate the victories more because we don’t celebrate victories so often. Right? So we get, you know, like this deal that we close in ten days for this lady, such a huge victory. Then I call the real estate agents and this is a piece of advice, you know, celebrate your victories with the estate agents that you work with. Right? Look, here’s what we accomplished.  

I just gave news to a client today that we were able to reduce his interest rate about 1%. From the initial disclosure to the closing date, we reduced interest rate about 1% because, you know, things got bad in the transaction. And I told the realtors, hey, listen, look what we did for your client. Just celebrate that victory because the estate agent, he’s like, oh my God, I’m such a huge fan of you guys now because of what you’ve done for my clients. So just celebrate the victories more than whatever failures can cost.  

BRIDGET: I mean, I’m taking that advice because it’s so easy when you have these challenges and failures. It’s so easy to overthink it focus on it.  

JULIO: Yeah. Don’t dwell on it.  

BRIDGET: But when you focus on the victory that’s going to bring more.  

JULIO: Yeah. And failures, they’re going to happen. They’re there for you to learn the lesson, for you to, you know, grow, for you to understand what’s going on, for you to rethink and reposition and then guess what? Next. Just, you know, don’t think about that. I lost a $2 million deal. Guess what? There’s $5 million more coming.  

BRIDGET: There you go. There you go. 

JULIO: That’s the thinking. That’s, you know, and the universe conspires. God bless us. We’re so blessed to be here.  

BRIDGET: And it’s a powerful thing. It’s a skill too. You have to train your brain to think positively. 

JULIO: Mental toughness. Yeah. You got to be tough to be in this business and you understand the challenges, but just, you know, just go from success to success and celebrate your victories more than failures. 

BRIDGET: Well, we are so thrilled to have you here at CCM. Keep inspiring, keep growing. I appreciate you taking the time to chat with me.  

JULIO: Thank you so much. Thank you for the invitation.  

BRIDGET: Of course. If you would like to learn more about a career at CrossCountry Mortgage, be sure to visit CCM.com.