With your deep understanding of the mortgage process's complexities, how do you envision technology continuing to transform this industry?
Eddie: The mortgage industry as we know it today was born from the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Right now, the industry is very much a 14-year-old, and technology is a toy helping it imagine a brighter future that its parents don’t let it play with. I believe technology will help the top producers and those who care about delivering an extraordinary experience to a homebuyer but hurt those who have treated their homebuyers like a transaction. Technology will reduce the cost of originating a mortgage loan significantly and will help the great loan officers scale to capture more business.
Reflecting on your journey and the impact of your work, what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs aiming to innovate within their sectors?
Eddie: I would tell entrepreneurs aiming to innovate to have faith in themselves and allow their intuition to guide them. Life begins at the edge of your limit; if you don’t cross it, you’ll just be living the same day over and over again.
How do you balance your professional responsibilities with your family life, and how has this balance contributed to your achievements?
Eddie: Two years ago today, I didn't believe in the concept of "balance." I believed in sprinting towards my next objective as fast as possible and anything that "slowed" me down, I delegated. I learned this in an extreme coaching program. It served me well, in business, but not so much as a new dad. I was taught that preparing a meal for my kids, changing diapers, and many other such things was something I could pay others to do. At the time, I had a 2-year-old, a 1-year-old and had yet to change a diaper. Over the next couple of months, there were a series of events that forced me to slow down and stop. Still, for the first time in a long time, I began to pay close attention to my surroundings. They seemed familiar, and I realized I'd been going full speed in LOOPS, year after year accumulating money to "leave a legacy.”
A few days after that, I found myself with my dad in Sedona, Arizona, when he said, “true legacy is not built in a single lifetime. Look at these rock formations, they are millions of years old, built layer on top of layer, on top of layer, each a stepping stone for the next to grow and today be this beautiful masterpiece.”
That day, the word “balance” entered my vocabulary. I learned that I must pace myself to ensure my daughters are not just spectators but active participants in building our families’ own masterpiece if we want it to withstand the test of time, as the rock formations in Sedona had.
Today, my wife and daughters are part of everything I do and I’m excited for the day I get to be a dad again so that in balance I can enjoy every piece of the journey I missed with my first two.