Read word for word from our Honolulu episode with Jodie Tanga below:
Team Lally Show with Jodie Tanga
Pacific Rim Mortgage
Announcer: It’s time to enter the world of real estate in Oahu with Hawaii’s only true real estate radio show, the Team Lally real estate show. Grab a pen and get ready to take notes! For the next full hour, Hawaii’s premier real estate leader, Adrienne Lally and Attilio Leonardi will bring you the latest in real estate news and real world strategies on how they can guarantee to sell your home at a price and deadline you agree to! Or they’ll buy it! Now, here are your hosts, Adrienne and Attilio!
Adrienne: Welcome to the Team Lally real estate show home of the guaranteed sold program, or we’ll buy it. If you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or you can check us out on the web at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Well hey everybody this is Attilio. I was sitting in traffic the other day and I was reading this guys’ bumper sticker in front of me and it said “If you can read this, I will kill you.”
Adrienne: Wow! That’s pretty dramatic.
Attilio: And I thought to myself, those are some pretty big words coming from a guy driving a Volvo.
Adrienne: Well it is a pretty safe car. (laughing)
Attilio: (laughing) Anyway, you’re used to like my little Mom disclaimer at the beginning of the show. I’m, I’m just going to throw out these little—
Adrienne: Random things.
Attilio: I don’t know what you call them. Well, you know—
Adrienne: Attilio-isms.
Attilio: Attilio-isms but the other thing I want to share with you and, and our, and our coach said we’ve got to do this. People, we build rapport with people when they learn things about you that they can relate to. Correct?
Adrienne: Correct.
Attilio: So, sharing is caring. My mom separated from my dad. Whoa, we’re going deep here! Getting personal, getting vulnerable! Uh, and she moved, she took me and my sister to Hawaii, I think we were like four years old and five years old. Because we’re one year apart, my sister, Michelle, and we actually lived on the beach and we used to pick puka shells every day and we would string them up and sell them to the tourists. But for, you know what, at, when, for us as kids, we just thought this was like extended summer fun.
Adrienne: You’re like camping on the beach?
Attilio: We’re camping on the beach.
Adrienne: All summer.
Attilio: This is totally like in the ’70s, so this is like total hippie-ville. Hawaii’s still kind of hippie, but just imagine ___ back in the ’70s!
Adrienne: (laughing)
Attilio: So, I was, you know, sunburned kids running around all day, we were like this is awesome! So, anyway, that’s a little bit about me. Do you have a story like that, before you get the coach and then I want to watch story from Jodie?
Adrienne: I do not have a story about living on the beach. I did—
Attilio: No, no, no, just something about you!
Adrienne: You know, we did go camping one summer for our summer vacation on the beach and I thought wow, that’s, this is cool and different. But, you know, I didn’t realize that, you know, we were camping on the beach because we really, we couldn’t afford to go on a real vacation at the time. But it was, you know, it was, it was, it was—
Attilio: That was your version of extended summer fun?
Adrienne: Yes! We were, but we were camping on like Ocean City Beach, over in Maryland. That was, it was, it was okay, but I, you know what? I’m, I’m not one for camping. I don’t like camping.
Attilio: Jodie, you have a camping story?
Jodie: Camping? Yeah, I actually, I have a summer, my parents were divorced as well when I was one and one summer I think my dad took us to ___, for, which is where he, my grandma, his mom, is from. And we stayed, it must have been at least almost 3 weeks and just kind of, like living out of the car, couple days in a hotel, couple days in a tent, fishing, hotel, just cruising. And it was the best time ever for Derek, my brother, and I, and our dad and then I guess come to find out, years later, he, my mom was freaking out on, on Oahu because he wasn’t supposed to take us and we weren’t supposed to be gone for that long.
Adrienne: (laughing)
Attilio: You guys are like borderline homeless, today we call that being homeless! Back then, we called it camping! So. Alright.
Adrienne: Alright, so, we’ve got some quotes to start our show. None of them are about camping. But these are courtesy of Hawaii Pacific Property Management and Duke Kimhan. So, the first quote is from author unknown. “The pain you felt today is the strength you feel tomorrow; for every challenge encountered, there is opportunity for growth.”
Attilio: Wow.
Adrienne: (laughing)
Attilio: Sorry, I was, I was having a brain freeze from my Jamba Juice that Jodie got me.
Adrienne: Alright, the next one is from Jack Canfield. Do you know who that is?
Attilio: Oh, yeah! Jack Canfield! I have no idea.
Adrienne: That’s the author like The Chicken Soup guy.
Attilio: Oh, that guy!
Adrienne: Yeah, yeah. Okay, “Don’t worry about failures. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t’ even try.”
Attilio: When you don’t even try. It’s better to fail!
Adrienne: It is! Than to not try at all.
Attilio: Than to not try at all.
Adrienne: And then this last one is from Garrison Keillor.
Attilio: Oh, I know him!
Adrienne: Who is it? I don’t know.
Attilio: Uh, he’s on like uh, National Public Radio, he actually retired, he’s, Prairie Home Companion for you uh, radio listener nerds like me. You know who that is.
Adrienne: Alright, so, this is what Garrison has to say: “Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough.” So, yeah, be grateful!
Attilio: Be grateful!
Adrienne: Be grateful, every day!
Attilio: Have an attitude of gratitude!
Adrienne: It’ll take you places.
Attilio: When you’re in traffic, show them the aloha, not the middle finger!
Adrienne: Or the bumper sticker that says “I will kill you.”
Attilio: I will kill you!
Adrienne: (laughing) That is not aloha.
Attilio: Alright, so, this is the part of the show—
Adrienne: Where we have our uh, our tip of the week.
Attilio: I have all kind of tips of the week.
Adrienne: Yes.
Attilio: Okay, I’m going to give you a tip of the week. I’m going to read, I’ve been doing a lot of studying of, uh, one of my big passions is working out, exercise, fitness. There’s a miracle drug. It’s the key to health, wellness, and longevity and there is a doctor who prescribes it to every one of his patients. If you take this miracle drug often, you’ll live a longer healthier life, your medical costs will be lower, your sleep better at night and your work days will be more productive. Your mood will improve and your risk of developing any chronic disease will drop. It works for just about everyone who takes it, young or old, and if done correctly, it has few or no negative side effects. Every dose is 100% effective, even small ones. It’s the most powerful, readily-available drug in the world and it’s free! This miracle drug is called . . .
Adrienne: Exercise!
Attilio: Exercise!
Adrienne: And do we have a website?
Attilio: I thought he was going to say cupcakes!
Adrienne: Or cupcakes.
Attilio: No, no, no, not cupcakes, it’s exercise!
Adrienne: And do we have a website for this miracle? I know you had one that you had made up.
Attilio: Yeah! Okay! So, go to this website! It’s called www.getoffyourbuttanddosomething.com!
Adrienne: (laughing) Or what is it? Www.eatlessandexercisemore.com?
Attilio: Www.eatlessandexercisemore.com.
Adrienne: What’s another one?
Attilio: And www.stopreverseparkingpeople.com.
Adrienne: (laughing)
Attilio: (coughing) Anyway.
Adrienne: Alright, so, we uh, we can give a property management tip.
Attilio: I think we should go with the mortgage tip of the week.
Adrienne: We’ll be going, you know, we’re going to have a whole show about the mortgage tip of the week, so, you can stay tuned for that. We’re going, our whole entire show is going to be with the Mortgage Genius.
Attilio: Alright so, if you’re thinking about selling your home, here’s one thing you should think about: get a rental analysis!
Adrienne: Yeah!
Attilio: Why?
Adrienne: Because you don’t’ want to be over-charging or under-charging, if you’re like, advertise it for too much—
Attilio: No, no, no, if you’re thinking about selling your home.
Adrienne: Oh, I thought we were talking about property management.
Attilio: No! I’m segueing into it.
Adrienne: Oh, okay!
Attilio: You’re just over here in the weeds, you’re off the trail!
Adrienne: Oh, okay, got it!
Attilio: Stay with me. If you’re thinking about selling your home, if you’re thinking about selling your home, why should you get a rental analysis?
Adrienne: Well, because you want all options. You want to know, like, alright, if I sell it then I’m going to net this amount, if I rent it out, if I hold onto it.
Attilio: We know this—
Adrienne: I can build wealth and have great tax write-offs.
Attilio: Here, listen, listen up folks. Come closer to the radio. 95% of the wealth in this country was built through real estate. Here’s something we know about Hawaii: the average median sale price in 1980, 1981 was $150,000. Today it’s $750,000-$780,000, right around there. If you had bought ten of those back then, paid them off, today you’d have a portfolio worth at least $7.5 million. 350% has been from that time period to today, the growth that you expected on your original investment on any kind of real estate here in Hawaii. 3-4-5% is usually the uh, the growth that you’re seeing in the value of a home. In Hawaii. I cannot talk about other cities; all I’m talking about is Hawaii.
Adrienne: But, you know, it’s also, you know, the get-rich-slow. You don’t like, buy a home and then expect to sell it 2-3 years later and make a big—
Attilio: Yeah, all that stuff you see on the shows, flipping this and flipping that, you know what? Flip that. That’s not for real. It’s not real. (laughing) It’s the original, accumulate properties, pay them off, delay gratification, you know, go on a vacation every once in a while, but save money, buy properties!
Adrienne: So, Duke and his team, they will—
Attilio: Are they here?
Adrienne: Yeah, I mean they’ll do rental analysis and uh, give you like best-case scenario, worst-case scenario. So, that you know, you can, you can explore all of your options.
Attilio: And what’s the number one reason why you should have your investment properties professionally managed?
Adrienne: Well, because there—
Attilio: Liability.
Adrienne: Yeah, well, there’s the tenant-landlord code and it’s actually, it factors the tenant and—
Attilio: Treble damages, do you know what that means? I’m not an attorney, but I do play one on TV. That means that if they, if they, if they rule against you, it’s triple! It’s triple, that’s what they mean by treble damages.
Adrienne: And there are some tenants that really, that they really know the law here very well and—
Attilio: They’ll go work it.
Adrienne: And they work it. So, Duke and his team, they know the laws better!
Attilio: I had this tenant, her name was Lomilomi. She would really massage the situation. Took advantage.
Adrienne: So, Hawaii Pacific Property Management will protect you, your property, and uh, get you top dollar for your rent.
Attilio: Thinking about selling? Get a rental analysis! See if maybe renting is the direction to go. If you already have property under management, you know what? I would say 90% of the people that are self-managing are not charging enough for rent. If you, if you had a rental analysis, and let’s say they got you another 10-15%, that would pay for the property management and guess who gets the phone calls for the plugged toilet on Super bowl Sunday? Not you!
Adrienne: Yup, it’s them and they take care of it all.
Attilio: And when you have to evict your drunk uncle, Duke will take care of it and you can still say hello to him at Thanksgiving.
Adrienne: (laughing)
Attilio: Sorry, Uncle! My property management company! He wasn’t paying the rent, but how’s he doing today? I still, you know, talk story at Christmas party and stuff like that. Alright.
Adrienne: So, you can give them a call at 445-9223, that’s 445-9223 or check them out online at www.hipacificpm.com.
Attilio: Do we want to give more; do we want to give an insurance tip? Because remember we got those from Bradley?
Adrienne: Oh, yeah! Bradley, Bradley did come out to our office and he gave us uh, 5 tips on uh, like these common things that are happening with insurance. I think the first one was about the slow leaks.
Attilio: Slow leaks! Not covered by insurance!
Adrienne: Yeah, and then—
Attilio: What the—
Adrienne: It can be costly, you know, if your toilet is having a, a slow leak. It could really cause a lot of damage.
Attilio: Now one of the things we learned from our property, our property inspector, our home inspector, is he uses what?
Adrienne: The infrared.
Attilio: The infrared.
Adrienne: Yup, so, it will detect the slow leaks. So, either, you know, have our home inspector come out or a licensed plumber, we have uh, recommendations for both!
Attilio: Anyway, you should call, call, call our team or go to www.teamlally.com, go to our “Preferred Vendors.” If you, just work with us and we point you in all the directions, we’re going to take care of you, we’re going to swallow you in the, in the baby clothes and take care of you just like a little baby through the whole transaction. Termite damage! You have to get it repaired while you’re in escrow! You have to have the seller fix it, because, when they go to write the, they give you the insurance binder which says hey, we’re going to insure you and then they have to do the inspection 30 days later, if there’s termite damage, and it’s not covered, they may not be able to give you that insurance and then you stop—
Adrienne: Yeah, it’ll, well, they’ll give you insurance but it’s not going to be through Allstate it’s going to be like—
Attilio: They call it forced insurance. More expensive.
Adrienne: Yeah, not, and not as great.
Attilio: Okay.
Adrienne: And then we have the uh, the loss of use insurance. You want to make sure that you have that insurance writer under your hurricane policy.
Attilio: You know what? Here’s the deal. I’m like, I’m one of those people were like uh, I learn my lesson like, if you’re dong ceramic tile on your floor, don’t do it! It just ends up being, even if you watched YouTube videos, it’s a bunch of bologna! It just ends up being worse. Any time I go fix something that’s plumbing it just gets worse. Bring in a professional. If you’re like, oh, I was taking all these notes, what was it, what were they saying again? Forget that! Just call Bradley, what’s a good number?
Adrienne: You can reach him at 591-8016 and he will do a free review of you know, your current policies and uh, kind of take a look and see if there’s any holes in there that will leave you, like, you know, additional liability so, you want to give him a call and he’ll make sure that you’re covered.
Attilio: The other thing he mentioned is, why is it timely for you to have him do that now? What’s coming up, he’s talking about it.
Adrienne: Hurricane season is coming up.
Attilio: Hurricane season.
Adrienne: So, make sure to give him a call and get uh, get fully protected there. Alright, so, I think we’re going to take uh, a quick break.
Attilio: Yes.
Adrienne: But when we come bac, we have the Mortgage Genius, Jodie Tanga.
Attilio: She’s actually in the studio! I feel so smart! Alright.
Adrienne: Alright, stay with us!
[Music fades to commercials]
Announcer: The Team Lally real estate show continues.
Adrienne: Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne—
Attilio: And I’m Attilio.
Adrienne: And if you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or check us out on the web at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Alright.
Adrienne: Alright, so we have a guest today in the studio.
Attilio: Our guest today is a highly-experienced loan officer, mortgage, banker, broker in Hawaii.
Adrienne: She hails from ___, Hawaii and is a graduate of ___. She went to the University of San Francisco where she studied Financial Economics in undergrad and graduate school.
Attilio: She’s uh, worked in banking, on the mainland, until coming back to Hawaii and started up Pacific Rim Mortgage. Please welcome our guest, the Director of Business Development at Pacific Rim Mortgage, Jodie Tanga!
Adrienne: Otherwise known as the Mortgage Genius!
Attilio: The Mortgage Genius!
Jodie: That’s the one I prefer.
Adrienne: I prefer that one too. That one sounds so, too formal.
Jodie: Yeah, I don’t like it.
Attilio: I know, I was pausing, I was like, who?
All: (laughing)
Adrienne: Well, you know, you are um, well, we just want to welcome you, I know that you’re, you’re calling weekly with your mortgage tip of the week and you’ve been our, our guest on the show before. So, welcome back!
Jodie: Thank you, thank you for having me!
Attilio: So, you’re a repeat offender! In the studio, again!
Jodie: I feel honored!
Attilio: So, what do we want to talk about today? How do we, what do we want to educate, edu-muh-cate our listeners on, regarding the world of finance?
Adrienne: Well, I, I think that we should do like a quick little, intro, in case our listeners haven’t heard, haven’t heard Jodie’s story.
Attilio: (singing) Getting to know you! Getting to know-oh-oh! Okay, so we want to know about you, what high school you went to again?
Jodie: ___.
Attilio: ___.
Jodie: Raiders.
Attilio: The Raiders. We were listening to Glen Farrah, he was talking about people when they say, I went to ___, but don’t worry, I wasn’t as smart as all the kids.
Jodie: I was just about to say that.
Attilio: That’s what, he said that! He said—
Adrienne: That’s the local style.
Attilio: And ___, we undersell!
Jodie: I was, I was about to say ___ but I only wen there from 9th grade and I’m not, I’m not like one of those nerdy smart kids.
Attilio: He said you would say that!
All: (laughing)
Adrienne: But you, but now you’re the Mortgage Genius, and I—
Jodie: I am the Mortgage Genius, however. (laughing)
Adrienne: You’re a specialized nerdy smart kid, in mortgages.
Jodie: Yes, yes.
Adrienne: So, uh, so, speaking of mortgage how, like how did you get into the mortgage industry?
Jodie: It’s a really cool story actually uh, I’m so grateful.
Attilio: Do tell!
Jodie: I met a man and he was on a one-month vacation in Hawaii. And I was, met him through friends, at a bar, and he was just, and I was still in graduate school at the time and he was telling me about all his mortgage, he, he owned a mortgage company and I think he had like 10 branches all over the Pacific Northwest, so, um, Washington and Oregon mainly. And uh, you know, he was just living a really great life and he was starting to help his community and he was talking about all his different uh, top producers and how he helped their families and you know, I was just like, that is, that’s so cool! It’s, it’s really cool and you know, it was, he was able to do all of that with, I mean, he didn’t go to college, not that college you know, makes you or breaks you, but he didn’t have that background and I just thought that was so cool. Uh, and so, from then on I had decided I would start a mortgage company.
Attilio: Wow! Never know what’s going to happen at happy hour!
All: (laughing)
Adrienne: So, so, what was his background? Was he more of like an entrepreneur or like he just was really good with numbers?
Jodie: He was, like a, he was a loan officer. So, you know with, to be a loan officer, you don’t need any sort of like an educational background, you don’t even need to have a finance degree or you don’t have to have anything really.
Adrienne: What about a criminal background?
All: (laughing)
Jodie: Okay, you can’t be a criminal!
Attilio: If you have stabbed somebody—no.
Jodie: Okay, yeah you can’t, none of that stuff. No fraud, no weirdness, but as far as like, education a lot of people call me and they say they want to get into the industry and they’re asking like what kind of like classes they should take at like maybe a community college or something, you know, and I’m, I always explain to them, they don’t need anything, they just need to be, be ready to work hard. As long as they’re ready to work hard, and of course you can’t be scared of numbers because you know.
Adrienne: So, you’ve got to like numbers and be able to work hard?
Jodie: Right, yeah, but so he was a loan officer for like one, a major bank, like a Countrywide or one of those, and then I think he broke off and he just decided, like, I can do this, I don’t need to be in this corporate world, I think I can do this on my own and then he started his company.
Adrienne: Wow. So, okay, so, when you decided to go into the mortgage industry, did you go and work for like a big box or you always had started from—
Jodie: Yeah, so that’s the, that’s the funny thing. I, I just uh, decided and then I called uh, the DCCA, which at the time was the overseeing agency, and I said, you know, I want to start a mortgage company so, tell me what I have to do and they were telling me, “Oh you can’t because you have to have two years of experience.” You know, and I was like, well I have a graduate degree. That has to be worth something. It has to be worth two years of something, right? And—
Attilio: A whole pile of student loans.
Jodie: (laughing) And so, they actually were like, “Uh, no one’s really ever said that before. Let us talk to our boss” and then I, I scheduled a meeting with the boss and I was just like, these are the reasons why I think that you should approve me to get licensed and start my company, and I just made it, made it sound all technical, like financial development, economics, I—
Attilio: You had a proposal.
Adrienne: You gave him a business plan.
Jodie: Yes, yes. And he, they said yes!
Adrienne: Wow.
Jodie: Yeah, so, I didn’t have any experience, they gave me the license, I paid for the bond, I, I basically followed the checklist of what I had to do. I got a space because you do, I did need an office space. Uh, and then I was like, okay, I have, I, I own a mortgage company!
Adrienne: And you’re like, now what?
Attilio: Hey, so, now what? The crickets are chirping.
Jodie: Right.
Attilio: Bills are due.
Jodie: So, I was, so that was like ’05 and I pretty much bought leads.
Attilio: Bought leads?
Jodie: Mmm hmm. So, you said there was a company, I don’t know if it still exists but it was uh—
Attilio: There’s tons of them.
Jodie: Ah, man! I can’t remember the name. But it was like a major one, like, www.lowermybills.com. Like something like that. And so, I talked to Stan, my mentor, the, the person I met who inspired me to start a company and he was like, hey, all you have to do is call them and get their name, date of birth, social security number, current address, what they do for a living, how much they make and see what you can qualify them for! And so, he was like, but don’t get ahead of yourself, just call, call on the list and see if you can gather their information. So, my very first day of having a list of like 50 leads or whatever, I called all 50 and I think I got 7 applications. So, I called him and I was like, okay, I got 7! And he was astonished. He was like, you got 7?! Full, all the information I told you to get you know, and then pretty much from there I just hit the ground running. He explained to me how to structure, he explained to me uh, you know, variations of FICO stores, debt-to-income ratios, all the different loan programs and I just, I call it learning by braille, I mean I just—
Attilio: Learn as you go.
Jodie: Yup! And, and that’s how I learned. That was my first year.
Attilio: Alright, so let’s recap! You want to be an entrepreneur, you go get licensed, you want to me a mortgage broker—
Adrienne: You get a mentor!
Attilio: No, no, no!
Adrienne: That was like, that was like the first step, was the mentor.
Attilio: Well, you go get your license, you get a mentor and you go buy leads.
Jodie: Yeah!
Attilio: Mentor, mortgage license, buy leads. Go!
Adrienne: And then, and then when did Derek come into the picture?
Jodie: Derek, you know, Derek, his uh, risk averse, extremely smart individual—
Attilio: So, you had to put it all together first.
Jodie: He waited until we were a little bit more stable and uh, had, had kind of, I don’t want to say, arrived, but a little bit more backbone, more uh, data points to review and—
Attilio: He’s a container.
Jodie: Yes. He’s the container so, he was uh, basically you know, next in line I mean, he, he was possibly next in line for COF of First Hawaiian Bank, I mean, down the years. He was Assistant Controller at the time and it took many years, it took 4 years to recruit him over.
Adrienne: So, what, so what was Derek’s background, and Derek is your brother.
Jodie: Derek’s my brother, yes and—
Adrienne: Is he, now is he older?
Jodie: One year older, one year older. We’re like the Irish twins. And he went to UCLA.
Attilio: What does that mean, do you guys drink a lot or what does that mean? I don’t know what that means.
All: (laughing)
Adrienne: Did you guys graduate the same year from ___?
Jodie: No. No, he graduated a year ahead of me so we were, we’re like less than 16 months apart. So, but he was a year older, I mean, in a grade older than me and he went to UCLA uh, graduated in 3 years, business economics, uh, just an extremely knowledgeable individual. Yeah. So, he is uh, yeah, he’s, he helps me with a lot of the major overseeing, planning—
Adrienne: Logistics.
Jodie: Logistics, business development uh, and then of course, stop spending so much money!
Attilio: There you go.
Adrienne: So, it took four years to recruit him away from First Hawaiian Bank?
Jodie: Mmm hmm. Yeah, it took a, it took a long time and I was, it finally got to this breaking point, where I said, I need a partner and I really want it to be you. I don’t want it to be anyone else, but at this point I have to commit to someone, so, can we make this happen? And I think he realized, like, we, I was really at this breaking point where I just, I was working uh, stupid hours. Uh, not necessarily offering the level of service that I had come to be known for uh, just too many phone calls, too many clients, too much business!
Attilio: Insane! Too much business!
Jodie: Yeah, so then uh, he came over! Mmm hmm.
Attilio: So, we’ve got eh four step plan, we’re going to see if there’s a fifth. Number one! Get a mentor. Number two: get your mortgage license. Number three: buy leads. And number four: recruit your smart brother!
Jodie: Yup.
Attilio: To come help you.
Jodie: And then sister. Sister followed suit.
Adrienne: Sister was next.
Jodie: Sister was next. Sister was a couple years later, and we, it took us, she was at the Four Seasons ___, uh, Director of Recreation uh, it took us a solid 3 years to convince her and we had to really jump, we had to you know, what is it that you want to do before you come over? I want to, I want to do a trip around the world. Okay, we’ll fund it. Give your notice, go on your trip around the world, we’ll see you in 6 months, be, be here in November.
Adrienne: And be ready to work hard.
Jodie: Yes.
Attilio: She got all that wanderlust out of her, all that gypsy—
Jodie: She did. Yeah, she went to see the Pyramids, did all that good stuff, but and then we got Casey and she’s, she would be the third head of the 3-headed monster.
Adrienne: (laughing)
Attilio: Right on. You know, if it wasn’t, the right brothers, if you never have your brother help you out, you’d still be flying in one circle right now. So, good thing your brother joined you. And that’s how we have air flight today. No, I totally made that up. But anyway! It sounded like a good story. So, for our listeners, because this is what we get, this is what we call uh, oblique learning. We don’t know, we have a conversation, we learn things about you, and maybe that wasn’t even the direction we were going to go, but it taught people because you know what, I’ll tell you right now, we have entrepreneurs, business owners, listen to our show all the time and they’re like, what is that little thing that I can take from this, or there’s, there’s people sitting gin their sucky jobs going, I don’t want to work for somebody else anymore, I want to go on my own. So, there’s the game plan. It happens.
Adrienne: Or they might be thinking, wow, that sounds like an awesome company to work for! How can I apply? To be part of that Pacific Rim Mortgage team? And the Mortgage Genius. Are, are you guys always looking for talent or like what’s your, what’s your status right now as far as your, your office capacity?
Jodie: We are very similar to you guys, I, my goal is to interview at minimum, 1 person a week. So, uh, and yes, we’re always, we always have room for the right culture fit. There’s, there’s never, as long as you meet the, you align with the culture, align with the values, and you know, you’re a talented individual, we want to help you to grow and love what you do. You know, love your life and uh, that’s what we’re always looking for.
Adrienne: Okay, you guys look like you have a lot fun! A lot of different theme days there at the office. I think you had like twin day—
Jodie: We do, we have, uh, yeah, we go a little bit overboard I mean we had our, uh, piñata on Cinco de Mayo, we have our twin day, I think we, once a month we have like beams, the whole office but then within the month there’s multiple different subthemes and, and, the office is decorated, we have our dogs in the office, and kids running loose. So—
Adrienne: Little helpers.
Jodie: Our, our little um, junior loan officers.
Adrienne: They, so, they have name, name badges?
Jodie: They do have their name badges, and then we have our fur officers.
Attilio: Fur officers!
Jodie: Yes. Mmm hmm.
Attilio: Ah, they’re the uh—
Adrienne: So, pet and kid friendly too.
Attilio: Officers in charge of picking up anything that might be edible that falls on the ground.
All: (laughing)
Attilio: They do a lot of, they sniff out the competition. Always.
Adrienne: So, so, if any, if any of our listeners are interested in being one of those interviewees, like what kind of—
Attilio: Do they go to a website?
Adrienne: Is there a website or email? What do they do?
Jodie: Yeah, they could, they could go to our website and contact us. Yeah. So, www.pacrimmtg.com. I’m not saying it. I, oh I dint’ say the “www.” I didn’t want to bother Attilio.
Attilio: So, I’ll give you my list of pet peeves. They’ll be saying “www” before a website. Reverse parkers. People who take things from my desk and don’t put them back. In the exact place that they were originally.
Adrienne: That would be me. I do that all the time.
Jodie: Uh-oh!
Attilio: Messy cars.
Adrienne: I have that too.
Jodie: I did have an interesting topic I kind of wanted to hear your guys’ thoughts on. So, I, how much would you say when, when you’re receiving an offer in this competitive market, right? How much weight do you guys put in the pre-approval letter?
Attilio: It depends on who its’ coming from.
Adrienne: It can make all the difference between the offer that we accept because we’ve been, we’ve been burned in the past by “pre-approvals” that really aren’t completely pre-approved.
Attilio: Well here, well here’s the black and white of it. We tell our sellers, this is not even a legitimate offer without one!
Adrienne: Yup!
Attilio: It’s not even, you don’t need, it’s not even, it’s a non-starter.
Adrienne: But she’s also saying like who that pre-approval comes from, yes.
Attilio: And that’s the part. Who.
Adrienne: Yeah, so it does, it does make a difference. We’ve got a list of uh, companies that have sent us pre-approved buyers and they really aren’t pre-approved and so we are you know, highly suspicious.
Jodie: Right, I mean so you guys take a, regardless of if you have a list or not, the bottom line is, is if something goes wrong, something didn’t go perfectly as planned, in a previous transaction, that’s going to remain in your memory bank in some capacity uh, and so, perhaps when that same company and loan officer appears again, there’s some sort of oh, remember what happened last time, right?
Adrienne: And then we ask them to uh, make sure that they’re cross-checking us with Pacific Rim Mortgage. Just to make sure they didn’t miss anything.
Attilio: Yeah, so, you realtors out there, you want to, you want to get your offers in and people call us up and ask us all the time because in our agent remarks it does say, uh, we request, we request that all offers be submitted with a pre-approval from uh, Pacific Rim Mortgage, and again, people are like, well do I have to do that. No. If it’s have to or we require, that’s a RESPA violation. We’re not doing that!
Adrienne: We’re requesting!
Attilio: We’re requesting!
Jodie: Right. One, one of the things that our buyers, uh, you know, and we’re similar to you guys in that there’s a large funnel of people that we’re communicating with, not all of them will always end up working with us, uh, unfortunately. But.
Attilio: And fortunately, with some people.
Jodie: And fortunately, right, right?
All: (laughing)
Jodie: It goes both ways uh, but that’s one of the, I, I would say intangibles that a buyer, in our market, struggles with.
Adrienne: They don’t understand like, getting a pre-approval from like U.S.A. A.
Jodie: Right.
Adrienne: I loathe those pre-approvals because they don’t, I don’t think that they really take all of the steps to make sure they really are pre-approved.
Jodie: Right I mean, I mean, I would even wonder if that U.S., the person who produced it at U.S.A.A. looked at the property at hand. The property matters! You know, and, and so a lot of, sometimes buyer will say, I’m already, you know, I, we’ll say hey, you know, these are, this is the numbers, we really want you to come and sit down and I want to discuss in-depth, I want to talk about short-term, medium-term, long-term goals, I want to figure out uh, you know, there’s, there’s so much more I need to know before we can really have a plan of attack, a solid plan of attack. And they’ll say, well, XYZ company pre-approved me for more so we’re going with them. And it’s like, okay, there’s so many levels of concern that I can communicate with you, Mr. Consumer, uh, but I feel like sometimes they don’t receive it.
Adrienne: They don’t completely understand like, they’re, they might have pre-approved you for that amount, but can they really get it done, you know, based on the complete picture?
Jodie: Right! And, and it’s just like, it’s, those types of intangibles that I, I wonder, you know? How can I share that with someone, with a buyer better?
Attilio: Well, you know, analogies. Tony Robbins says, use analogies! Take things that, an analogy is taking something that people understand and know to try and communicate a theory or a concept that they’re not familiar with or don’t know. So, as you guys were talking, I was thinking of the analogy you know, an offer is like a car. And, and the pre-approval is the engine. Would you ever buy a car that did not have an engine? No! And then there’s the type of engines. There’s a Hyundai, or you can have one that was put together by Porsche with German engineering, that’s Pacific Rim’s pre-approval! I want the car with the German-engineered, highly uh, precision engine, the per-approval from Pac Rim. That’s the car I want to buy. That would be the offer I’d want to work with if I’m a seller.
Adrienne: So, I, I think analogies and then stories. And examples of previous clients who have been in the exact same situation and then how did it end? And you know, like a lot of the times, like, they end up spending a lot of time and money and then they can’t buy the home! And they’ve wasted their time, their agent’s time, the seller’s time.
Attilio: Everybody’s time.
Adrienne: And it all could have bene avoided.
Jodie: Right.
Attilio: We have personally been in transactions from other lenders, mortgage brokers that we will not name, because we’ve blocked them from our memory it was so bad! I had to go to 6 months of therapy I just, I was cold sweats thinking of these people. That, in the middle of the transaction it totally blew up!
Adrienne: Because they weren’t really pre-approved!
Attilio: Nope!
Jodie: Right.
Attilio: You’d be surprised at the names that I’m not mentioning.
Adrienne: So, it matters. Consumers, it maters!
Attilio: It matters!
Adrienne: Alright, so, on that note, we’re going to take a short break, but stay with us! We’ve got more stories and questions for the Mortgage Genius!
Attilio: Jodie, Pacific Rim Mortgage!
Adrienne: Stay with us!
[Music fades to commercials]
Announcer: It’s the Team Lally real estate show. Here’s Adrienne and Attilio!
Adrienne: Welcome back and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program, or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne—
Attilio: And I’m Attilio.
Adrienne: If you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or check us out on the web at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Well hey everybody we’ve got the Mortgage Genius in studio with us.
Adrienne: Of Pacific Rim Mortgage.
Attilio: Pacific Rim Mortgage. You know, what’s there, give them the number and the website.
Adrienne: So, you can give them a call at 488-5510 or check them out online at www.pacrimmtg.com.
Attilio: Uh, if you’re just tuning in, Jodie shared with us her stories from the beginning. In the beginning, she just, she had a great conversation, let’s see if we were good listeners.
Adrienne: The mentor. (laughing)
Attilio: We were good listeners. She went, she went happy hour, met this guy, and he talked about all the exciting things he had done by, by, with his mortgage business and she’s like, oh, that would be something neat to do! She goes down to the DCCA, they tell her you must have 2 years of experience.
Adrienne: She pulled out the graduate degree.
Attilio: She, she does the 3 snaps, listen up girlfriend!
All: (laughing)
Attilio: I have a graduate degree.
Adrienne: And a business plan!
Attilio: Let’s talk! You know what? I want to stop there because Tony Robbins talks so much about it, there’s this one podcast, I’ve listened to it at least 50 times. Why is there a different between the people that are successful and the people that aren’t? One word.
Adrienne: They do it now? Grit?
Attilio: Resourcefulness!
Adrienne: Resourcefulness!
Attilio: Resourcefulness! It’s not about resources, oh, I was supposed to have 2 years of experience. I’ve never done mortgage before! That’s what people who think of low resources or no resources thing.
Adrienne: Just figure it out! It’s www.thefigureitout.com.
Attilio: That’s another of our favorite websites. Www.figureitout.com.
Adrienne: (laughing) You know what, that actually is owned by Nickelodeon, right?
Attilio: Oh, yeah! We looked it up.
Adrienne: (laughing)
Jodie: Oh!
Attilio: It goes to www.nick.com. Smart, you know why? Because what do kids, what do these kids need to do?
Adrienne: Figure it out!
Attilio: Figure it out, that’s your new parental advice. You get all kind of information on this show. Today, number one thing that you can tell your kids when they come, they can’t figure something out, and they’re having a hard time. Tell them well, you know, go to this website, ww.figureitout.com and tell me what you find out.
Adrienne: So, they did not have this website back then, but Jodie did, she just figured it out. Very resourceful!
Attilio: Awesome, and here we are today!
Adrienne: And then she recruited her brother. Uh, out of, out of First Hawaiian Bank.
Attilio: And sister.
Adrienne: And then recruited the smart, the smart sister who’s got great customer service skills out of the Four Seasons.
Jodie: Mmm hmm.
Attilio: Do your people stick around in your team? I would imagine they do.
Jodie: We, we have some nice longevity within our team, yeah.
Attilio: That says something about, so people hey, look! If you’re going to do business with someone, ask them, you know, do people, you know, how long have your people been on your team? That says something about their culture, their level of service and obviously that they’re still in business and keeping people around. As a client, that’s probably who you want to do business with.
Adrienne: And, and! They’re always looking for talent.
Attilio: Always looking for talent.
Adrienne: Just recapping. An interview a week.
Attilio: Interview a week!
Jodie: Yup.
Attilio: If you feel you have grit! You know, you talk about grit, uh, on one of our huddles.
Jodie: Yes.
Attilio: What is grit? You know, here’s a question: do you, and Adrienne and I talked about it and I, I, I talked about it with my kids, is grit nature or nurture? What do you think?
Jodie: It’s such a, you know, I am, and, of the belief that it definitely, it’s nature. Some people have, you either have it or you don’t. However, I believe that you can nurture it.
Attilio: Yes.
Jodie: So, I guess—
Adrienne: I had this, I had the same kind of response because like even if you have that, that talent and that drive, you don’t, you still are going to need some support, right? So, for like me as an example, I was very talented with gymnastics but if I didn’t’ have that family support to get me to practice and—
Attilio: Pay for it.
Adrienne: And pay for it, that I may have never gotten to the level in gymnastics that—
Attilio: Slap that Twinkie out of your hand.
Adrienne: (laughing) Yes.
Jodie: And I, I also think that some people that don’t have it, as a God-given gift and talent, with proper—
Adrienne: Coaching.
Jodie: Hard work and coaching, I really think that they can get it. I really do. And I know that I, I would say like that would be a, you know, less than 5% of people that don’t have it that will, that will still have the preservation to, to do it. So, stick to it because I think some people would probably, even though they might have just been on the verge, they might stop before they, they get it. Um, and maybe lose it too.
Adrienne: Or maybe like just with the proper, you know, people that you’re surrounded with that can also help to bring you up and increase your, your grit.
Jodie: Yes! And one of my uh, in all the interviews and obviously within our team, uh, I explain to anyone that’s interviewing that our team mascot is a honey badger because honey badgers you know, get surrounded by a pack of lions and they just don’t accept the fact that they’re, oh, it’s lions, we’re supposed to die. So, we’re just going to die right now, we’re going to get eaten by these lions. No! They don’t’ do that! They survive, you know, there’s that one video on YouTube that went viral and they, it’s like two honey badgers and four lions. And they got away!
Adrienne: Wow!
Jodie: Yeah! And so, I always say we’re honey badgers, that’s what we are, we’re honey badgers.
Adrienne: You fight!
Jodie: Mmm hmm.
Attilio: You’re constantly going to www.figureitout.com and, and Tony talks about, I’m not going to even say who, because if you listen to this show, you know me, you know when I say Tony who I’m talking about. Tony says this: your condition. Your condition does not determine your destiny.
Jodie: Yes.
Adrienne: So, alright, so Jodie, we’re, we’re coming towards the end of our show. Is there anything that we’ve not discussed that you want to share with our listeners?
Attilio: Yeah, how about this?
Adrienne: Like kind of final notes?
Attilio: Top three tips for starting your business, top three things you need to know about getting a loan.
Jodie: Okay, so, for, for, for starting your own business I would say don’t be scared. Just don’t be scared. I would say don’t be scared, just do it. And I would say, uh, everyone, even the most multi-billionaire that exists, they, they’re just human! They’re just like me and you.
Adrienne: They started somewhere.
Jodie: They started somewhere, they went to kindergarten. They may or may not have been picked on in high school. They may or may not have gone to college, I mean, we’re, we’re all, you know, I, I really like to emphasize that, it’s like you can, you can do it! You can do it! Um, and then for anyone looking to, actually they’re kind of similar, anyone looking to want to attain home ownership, it’s like it might take sacrifices but you can do it. I work with some people and there’s nothing wrong with working at Jack in the Box! I have helped people that work at Jack in the Box buy homes.
Attilio: Wow!
Adrienne: That’s awesome!
Jodie: That they, it took hard work. It took hard work, it took sacrifice and it was one of my greatest pleasures because they never thought, they were told by all of their friends and family they would never be able to afford to buy, and, you know, it took four of them on the loan but they now have their house and their house has appreciated, so they have a, they have wealth that they didn’t have before. So, that’s uh, my one. My one for—
Adrienne: The one thing.
Attilio: There you go. Focus! So, go to Jodie, even if you work in the fast food industry she’s going to talk to you about loan locks and you’re going to say can I have fries with that? Keep moving forward.
Adrienne: She’ll help you, yes. Okay.
Attilio: Alright.
Jodie: Thank you guys.
Adrienne: Alright, so we’ve got, we’ve got Brooks on the line.
Attilio: Brooks!
Adrienne: Are you there, Brooks?
Attilio: Brooks, are you there?
Brooks: I am here!
Attilio: What’ve you got for us?
Brooks: Do you like cool breezes in the evening?
Attilio: Sure do!
Adrienne: Yes!
Brooks: How about the sound of rustling of the Eucalyptus leaves in the trees and nice shade and beautiful tropical surroundings?
Attilio: Yes!
Adrienne: We love that too.
Brooks: Well then you’ve come to the right place in our new coming-soon listing in __ Valley in ___. It’s adjacent to the ___ Park, kind of close to, it’s on the same straight actually as Oceanic Cable, everybody knows where that is. It’s a beautiful ground-floor unit which means the pets can run around freely and, and it’s an impeccably maintained property with new appliances, beautiful floors, it’s just awesome! So, it’s going live soon, our first uh, showing will be June, Sunday, June 11 between 2-5.
Adrienne: Awesome.
Brooks: Awesome property.
Adrienne: That sounds like a, like it’s going to go quick!
Brooks: (laughing) It’s going to go quick, that’s why I’m announcing it for the second time this week. So, that the listeners out there can, can get over there and see it. Because it is going to go quickly.
(Dog whining noises)
Adrienne: What is that?
Attilio: That’s a doggy!
Adrienne: Why, why are you doing a dog sound?
Attilio: He says pet-friendly.
Adrienne: Oh, it is, okay, pet-friendly. (laughing)
Brooks: (laughing)
Adrienne: Alright, thank you, Brooks!
Brooks: You’re welcome, thanks, you guys!
Adrienne: So, if any of our listeners want to learn about our coming-soon properties, they can uh, they can give our buyer hotline a call.
Attilio: What’s that number?
Adrienne: At 234-4421. And they can also go to our website, we’ve got a whole list of all of our open houses that we’re having for the weekend.
Attilio: What’s our buyer hotline number again?
Adrienne: The number is 234-4421.
Attilio: You know what that spells?
Adrienne: What?
Attilio: It doesn’t spell anything!
Adrienne: Nothing!
Attilio: Just remember the number and write it down!
Adrienne: Just call it! Just call it. But you could also go to our website, all of our properties have a full video tour so you can check out the home and make sure that that floor plan works for you and uh, yup, and then come out and then, and visit in person. So, we’ve got, we’ve got Michael ___ on the line.
Attilio: Michael, what’ve you got for us?
Michael: Hi guys! Great show, I will be sitting in open house this Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. in God Century. Come visit me at 46283 ___ Street. Over at the high school ___ building. When you get there, look for the red signs and look for my phone number. I will have to buzz you out, but it’s’ for a 3-bedroom, 2-bath unit, out in the high school ___ building, beautiful location guys, great for a first-time home-buyer and family. Can’t beat it!
Attilio: You said ___?
Michael: ___.
Attilio: Okay, I challenge the visitors for his open house, bring Michael a haiku.
Michael: Oooh!
Adrienne: A haiku poem?
Attilio: Yeah. Haiku. I think it’s 7 words, 3 words, then 7 words, is that what it is?
Michael: Yes, it is!
Attilio: Bring Michael a haiku.
Adrienne: And, what do they get if they bring him a haiku?
Attilio: Uh, a warm handshake.
Adrienne: Oh, okay.
Michael: And a hug!
Adrienne: And a hug!
Attilio: And a hug. Hugs for, are you doing, are you doing hugs for haikus?
All: (laughing)
Michael: Hugs for haikus. Absolutely! So, again, guys, visit me on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. over at 46283 ___ Street. Look for my bright red signs, again, you will need to give me a call so that you can come up and see this beautiful unit.
Attilio: Yeah, okay!
Adrienne: Alright, thanks, Michael.
Attilio: Thank you, Michael.
Michael: Alright, guys!
Attilio: Alright, so we have what, about a minute?
Adrienne: Yes, a minute left.
Attilio: Okay, I want to share this with our listeners. Did you know siting is the new smoking?
Adrienne: Uh-oh! I did not.
Attilio: That’s not like, oh, okay, you really sexy hot, and you’re siting and you’re like man, she’s smoking, no, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about as far as your personal health. Sitting is the new smoking. Research shows that the less you move, the higher a risk of just about every, you have a higher risk of just about every health problem. Americans used to spend their waking hours doing physically-demanding tasks back in those farm days, says Steven Blair, exercise scientist and professor at the University of South Carolina. Today, the average person sits at work all day and goes home and sits in front of a TV.
Adrienne: Stop sitting already!
Attilio: Stop sitting!
Adrienne: Alright well thank you for listening and thank you to our sponsors!
Attilio: Jodie Tanga and Derek Tanga of Pacific Rm Mortgage!
Adrienne: Bradley Maruyama of Allstate Insurance!
Attilio: Nathan Baker with Pillar to Post Home Inspections!
Adrienne: Ben and Tony Mamood of AAA Roofers Hawaii!
Attilio: Janice Myrland with Dream House Drafting!
Adrienne: John Speed of Kilauea Pest Control!
Attilio: Duke Kimhan with Hawaii Pacific Property Management!
Adrienne: Mike Metts of Kama’aina Plumbing!
Attilio: Thomas Pattison with Pattison Land Surveying!
Adrienne: Myron Kamihara of Kamihara Law!
Attilio: If you want to get ahold of any of our sponsors, just go to www.teamlally.com.
Adrienne: We also want to give a big thank you to Lea, our producer here in the studio!
Attilio: Chi-hoo!
Adrienne: Make sure to tune in next week, we’ll have an awesome guest talking about something that’ll change your life—
Attilio: Forever. This is the Team Lally real estate show, home foe the guaranteed—
Adrienne and Attilio: SOLD PROGRAM!
Adrienne: If we can’t sell your home at the agreed-upon price and your time frame we’ll have it bought for cash!
Adrienne and Attilio: THANKS, AND ALOHA!