Unlocking Homeownership: 5 Key Insights from a Top Mortgage Advisor

Dylan Silver (00:00.598)
Hey everybody welcome back to the show I’m your host Dylan silver and today on the show we have Zachary Zac D’Amato in Ohio a mortgage advisor based in Ohio Zac welcome to the show.

Zachary D’Amato (00:15.502)
man, it’s good to be here. Thanks for having me on.

Dylan Silver (00:18.038)
Absolutely, man. know, before we hopped on here, I let you know, I always like to get folks background how they got into the real estate space. How did you break into real estate?

Zachary D’Amato (00:30.466)
Well, you know, before I got into mortgages, I used to run a sales team. I had about a thousand people nationwide, part of a telecom company. I would just stick and tire to that business, looking for something different, and I landed in real estate. I reached out to a friend of mine. I ran a marketing company also, so I reached out to a marketing client and asked him to teach me the business.

He taught me the business. I said, I’ll run your ads for free. I will make calls for free. Pay me a commission if they close. But I just want to learn the business. So that’s what I did.

Dylan Silver (01:08.034)
OK, so I’m imagining I’m thinking about Texas, lots of tests that we have to take to get our real estate license. I’m imagining there were some exams and maybe some classroom hours involved.

Zachary D’Amato (01:20.79)
Yeah, yeah, of course. mean, to be a mortgage professional, have to pass tests. You have to take X amount of hours, depending on what state you’re in. yeah, it’s a process. You have to go through background checks, credit checks, things like that.

Dylan Silver (01:37.39)
So as you’re doing this and you’re going out of running a sales team into becoming a mortgage advisor, is it a slow burn or is it like one day you wake up and you’re like, this is what I’m going to do.

Zachary D’Amato (01:48.898)
It was kind of a slow burn, you know, when you when you’re leveraging and then you have people that’s generating you income you you tend to not just tell them all to stop, right? You just you just stop recruiting you you just slow down and so that that’s what I did

Dylan Silver (02:07.406)
So then going from a high pace sales team, thousand people you mentioned, to then going into mortgage advising, was it a lifestyle shift, was it a day to day shift, or was it more or less you ran the first couple days and the first month and year, just like you were running at the sales position?

Zachary D’Amato (02:33.062)
you know, it was, it was definitely a shift, right? You know, I, I wanted to, you know, going from having a team of a thousand people and then shrinking that down. you, I wanted to be a hermit. I think that’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to talk or build, sales teams. I, I wanted to just focus on me and, and that’s what I wanted to do. You know, that business was really challenging for me.

We took a company from zero to 250 million in that telecom space. But virtually, it wasn’t just me, it wasn’t just me, it was a group of us. And I just, wanted to get out because I lost some friends. And sometimes money changes people, unfortunately.

Dylan Silver (03:21.102)
That does that can’t happen. You know, so you go from from that to being a mortgage advisor and was the first year smooth sailing or was there lots of obstacles and lots of learning through trial and experience in that first year?

Zachary D’Amato (03:37.666)
I’m a kinesthetic learner. You got to jump, I just jump right in. And so there was a lot of learning to do. But because I had marketing experience, I knew that was the main thing that I had to do as a mortgage loan originator. So that’s what I did, is I just did marketing, I did sales. I worked for a gentleman for four months. I closed four transactions in three months. And then on the fourth month, when I had two or three more transaction, he

told me that he’s going to change my compensation drastically. So then I went to another company and, you know, been to two other companies since then. But just last year, I decided to stop being a hermit and start building a team again.

Dylan Silver (04:18.798)
Okay, so going back into maybe a team large scale organization and picking up the pace. Let’s back up a bit here, Zac. For folks who may be thinking about themselves on the outside looking in and looking to get their first home without giving away all the game here, Zac, why is it generally better for someone in Ohio or you can’t speak for Texas, but generally speaking to go to

a mortgage advisor versus just to go to their bank and go to one destination. What’s the benefit of going to someone in a mortgage advisory role?

Zachary D’Amato (05:00.802)
You know, I’m not here to knock big banks. Sometimes they have great products that can serve the client. But most of the time what we find out is a mortgage broker. I’m a mortgage advisor who’s an independent mortgage broker. And so what that means really is I have options. And so big banks, have a box, you know, 720 FICO, 15, 20 % down. And they’re a depository. So they’re going to require that you deposit money in their bank to get the best deal. But a mortgage broker…

they have options and so I could shop rates, not only find the best product, but I could find the best rate and the best terms for the borrower. So, you know, it’s very simple, one option versus many options.

Dylan Silver (05:44.184)
So when I think about this, came from a car sales background, Zac. I was working for Nissan was the tail end of it. And when I was doing that, we had the box FNI, the finance and insurance team, right? And they would call banks and sometimes quite literally negotiate rates with banks to try to put together a deal so that this person can buy this car. Now this is all happening in one day, right? So.

It’s kind of a warp speed process, sometimes even just an hour. Right. Is that on a really broad strokes, something similar that is happening when a mortgage broker calls calls a bank? Is there a negotiation happening at

Zachary D’Amato (06:25.398)
That’s a great question. know, one thing I like to tell people is when you go buy a car, you go to a car dealership. Okay. And the car dealership then takes an application and they do something called shotgun your credit. And what that means is they actually send that application to many different. And each lender actually runs your credit, which is, you know, harmful to most people. Imagine getting your credit 10, 15 times hit from one application, but

A mortgage broker, look at an application one time, they run credit one time, and then they’re able to shop the rates. Because you’re looking at many different lenders, yes, there’s some opportunities there to help with lowering your rate, lowering fees, things like that. But at the end of the day, it’s matching up the guidelines to the borrower’s needs, making sure the borrower is a right fit for this program so they can get the right product and the best rate.

Dylan Silver (07:24.024)
You know selfishly Zac I’m thinking about when I get these pre-approval notifications on my Capital One app saying that I can go buy a car now. Does that exist for I don’t have any deeds in my name I hope to soon but does that exist for homes will people get a notification on their Capital One or wherever that hey you now qualify for a home is that something that’s happening.

Zachary D’Amato (07:45.378)
The day of click, get a mortgage is here. Yes, you could absolutely click and get a mortgage, but here’s the thing is that if you’re not speaking to somebody and you’re just using technology to get a mortgage, I could guarantee that you’re not getting the best mortgage. And more importantly, you’re not getting educated along the way. so a mortgage advisor, they’re there similar to a financial advisor. I’m no financial advisor, right? That’s a complete separate credential, but

A mortgage advisor should position themselves as somebody who knows the goals, knows taxes, knows some concepts that are going to help the borrower become wealthy. Because look, my mission is to help more people build wealth through real estate. So understanding accelerated payments and amortization and compound interest is very important to educate the client and the borrower.

When we look at owning a home, the wealth gap in America will be disrupted by home ownership. But you have to know what that means as a borrower.

Dylan Silver (08:56.162)
This is a very interesting topic I think for middle class and lower middle class specifically because people can feel like they’re locked out you know if you’re millennial Gen Z you can feel like you’re locked out if you don’t own a home and specifically discouraged because you may work with a realtor who may tell you need this score you need this income and it can be very discouraging when you’re encountering

these different types of situations. Are you able to guide people as far as next steps if they do not qualify or is that something that they kind of have to do on their own?

Zachary D’Amato (09:35.242)
Absolutely, I mean we sell from a servant’s heart. And so when we talk to somebody who’s not qualified today, it’s okay. We wanna take them through the process. Maybe they have to fix their taxes. Maybe they need to fix their credit. Maybe they need to learn some budgeting tips, right? And be loan ready, right? know, loan preparedness is what they might need. And so we take them through the counseling program. And more importantly, not only give them a blueprint,

but we also hold them accountable because we know that if you’re held accountable, you will actually accomplish your goals about 90 % of the time. So, and that’s with me and you Dylan, right? Whatever your goals are, you need a coach, right? And you need someone to hold you accountable. You know, for me, it’s my wife and my coach, right? They hold me accountable. But for the borrowers, they need a mortgage advisor who’s gonna help them hold them accountable with a servant’s heart. Very important.

Dylan Silver (10:32.238)
You I just thought about this act pivoting back to the kind of click pre approval idea. I certainly know from selling cars when I sold cars that you could get a approval or it says approval and it’s not necessarily an approval. So does this ever happen where you get someone who says look I’m qualified for a home and then it actually for whatever reason it’s not a qualification it’s more like a let’s let’s open the door to go look down this and a pre approval if you will.

Zachary D’Amato (11:02.626)
Yep, know, unfortunately most people who get pre-approved are not pre-approved at all. You know, they haven’t looked at their taxes, they haven’t looked at the documentation to truly pre-approve them. So, you know, for me, when I talk to somebody, yes, in the beginning I’m asking them questions about their goals and what they think their income is, but a lot of times I’m dealing with business owners and I’m dealing with entrepreneurs who are savvy on their taxes. So when I ask them their income, but then I look at…

the tax documents to verify, most of the time they’re such savvy business owners that they are writing off a lot of their income and it looks like on the program that they don’t qualify. So we do bank statement loans, we do a lot of profit and loss statement loans, so we have solutions for that. But if you’re just clicking to try to get a mortgage, you’re not only gonna get educated, but you’re gonna get at the 11th hour, you’re gonna get a denial.

Dylan Silver (11:36.59)
Yeah

Dylan Silver (11:55.256)
When people are coming to you, is there a percentage that you would say that is, and forgive me if this is a very base level question, because I’m brand new to the mortgage advisory space, are predominantly people coming to you for traditional, for VA, for FHA, or is it a fair mix of everything?

Zachary D’Amato (12:16.47)
You know, for me, my online avatar is business owners because I’ve always been in the entrepreneurial space. It seems like people who are entrepreneurs and business owners, they are attracted to me online. And so for me personally, I work with a lot of business owners. do bank statement loans and other type of non QM loans, but majority of people who get a mortgage, they’re going to be your standard conventional, right? Conventional makes up most of the market.

Dylan Silver (12:45.046)
Okay, for bank statement loans, this is a niche area of the industry. Are you finding that people in many cases have had difficulty elsewhere? Because as you alluded to, Zac, they’re taking so many deductions, they’re not showing a tremendous profit at the end of the year or none at all. And so they’re having to maybe go to alternative means and finding it difficult. then so then that’s how they’re reaching out to you.

Zachary D’Amato (13:13.206)
Yeah, sometimes, you know, I talk to people who they find me online and they say, hey, I know you’re the person because I’ve worked with XYZ company and they drop the ball in the 11th hour. They don’t communicate. But I’ve seen your videos and I know you can help me. And that’s a great thing because sometimes you don’t know what you have until you’ve had something different. Right. And so if they’ve experienced a different click, here’s a mortgage or they experience a local bank, they know we’re different.

But a lot of times people just come to me and it’s their first time, right? They haven’t talked to anybody else. They’ve been watching some of my videos. They’ve been seeing my ads for a year, two years, whatever the case is. And they finally reach out to me because now they’re ready. Now they’re prepared. And the market, the media in the market, you know, kind of drives people to call us also.

Dylan Silver (13:57.058)
Yeah, that’s it.

Dylan Silver (14:03.214)
It’s the best time to buy a home was 10 years ago, but the next best time maybe right now, you I think things will only go up. That’s my unprofessional opinion. But I’m curious, know, you you’re starting out going back to your origins as a mortgage advisor, you’re starting out and to where you’ve grown today. Did you see?

Zachary D’Amato (14:10.594)
Right now.

Dylan Silver (14:28.258)
that being an advisor to business owners was going to be the niche that you carved out or was that a mix of divine intervention and focused effort that got you there?

Zachary D’Amato (14:40.544)
Yeah, you know, when I got into the mortgage space, I actually didn’t realize that was going to be my niche. But looking back at it, I should have known, right? I’ve always been an entrepreneur, you know, even since a kid, right? A child, you know, door knocking, selling magazines, painting people’s fences, picking up the weeds, whatever the case is. And so I’ve always built businesses. I’ve built a handful of businesses. And so for me, I just…

Didn’t realize that until I started marketing and testing my ads testing my conversions And then I realized wait my avatar is business honors. That’s what I should zero. I should go all in

Dylan Silver (15:19.864)
So it sounds like you really saw a niche carved it off for yourself. Then was a mix of organic and then also targeted advertising to where now this is really what you’re known for. If you need a mortgage and you are a business owner right taking lots of deductions reach out to Zach D’Amato. And so talk about that that scaling process from just getting into where you are today as far as

client outreach and then also building that brand.

Zachary D’Amato (15:54.26)
I’m still trying, man. I’m still trying to figure it out. But last year I decided I’m going to build a team. I’m going to build an office. So I went from working from home, making $150,000 a year, working six hours a day, to deciding that I’m going to build a team, build an office. And so that realization really was something that came from me.

You know, you could call it divine, right? I just say it was Jesus, right? God Almighty, He said, hey, it’s time to lick your wounds and stop being a hermit because I know when I built businesses, I was around a lot of people and I truly believe that ministry in the marketplace is the impact that the average person can make. And so for me, learning how to scale, I’m still trying to figure it out. Still trying to figure out how the team operates.

We’re not recruiting consistently like that. I have team of like five people right now, but it’s just figuring it out, trial and error. Yeah, I’m still trying to figure it out.

Dylan Silver (17:03.394)
It’s very interesting because I’m very passionate about marketing and one of the things which I feel differentiated myself from just any other wholesaler was the marketing that I was putting out there. And so the partner that I was working with and am working with has a full time graphic artist. So we have this graphic art that’s going up and it’s a little outlandish but people see it and they remember it. And then so even if they don’t know me.

They’ve seen the artwork and they see it on social media and then I’m posting as frequently as I can. There’s a rule I’ve heard and I don’t do it. I should be better about it but three times a day and I said I don’t know if I can do three times maybe I can do once and so that’s how it started and it got rolling and before you know it you know I had wholesale deals going under contract. We found end buyers and then I became known as a wholesaler and then from there got my license and now I’m here sitting on this

this podcast. just truly the and as you know, Zac, like the power of fanatical networking, being guerrilla networking and marketing is you cannot underestimate it. Yes, you got to be competent. Yes, you got to have those interpersonal tact and professionalism. But being a self promoter is both difficult for some people it was for me and and crucial.

Zachary D’Amato (18:24.994)
Yep. By the way, Dylan, love the, you buy trap houses, right? And so, totally, like, you have to be a little outrageous, right, for people to remember you, right? Like, you have to be different or else you you blend in with all the other noise, right? And so, it’s very important. You know, for me, I’m not a big poster. I actually just started getting organic.

Dylan Silver (18:43.82)
Yeah.

Zachary D’Amato (18:50.818)
This year, I started using opus clip and I’ll make long-form content like I’ll take this podcast and I’ll chop it up into a bunch of different clips but You know for me. I just I use paid advertising right I spent about fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars a month on paid advertising and that’s how I get my clients a 95 % of my clients come through paid ads and so I don’t spend a lot of time posting

I spent more time this year than I did last year, but I spent very little time, maybe four hours a month.

Dylan Silver (19:25.976)
That’s you know talk about asset management which is something that my mentor says and that I’m passionate about. It’s not just money. It’s also your time. It’s your relationships. You it sounds like Zac you knew for better or for worse that the the thousand man team and the sales life was was was what was not filling your soul. Right. And so you went and as you described that you became a hermit but then also seeing

the traction that you’ve been getting has inspired you to put your efforts and your life force and your spirit back into it in a way that is fulfilling. And so it’s interesting, know, someone can be doing a similar thing, a similar way, and yield two totally different results for themselves, and I have that experience. And as an aside, when I was selling cars, it was 12 hour days, you would work six days a week, and just by the end of it, there was so many.

reasons why I got out of the business, but the biggest one was just the the incredible feeling of like this is not sitting well with me. It’s hard to describe and now you know I’m putting in a similar amount of time into a totally different career and it’s it sits great with me because I’m talking to interesting people. I’m networking. They’re connecting me with with this person with this person. I’m leveling up. I’m getting on a podcast have my own podcast and it’s just a totally different vibe.

Zachary D’Amato (20:51.788)
Yep, absolutely. know, I call it, lately I’ve been calling it the Jesus burden. And so if you read the Bible, I’m not an expert in the Bible, but in the Bible it talks about, you know, his burden is light, right? And so when you think about that, it doesn’t say that there’s little work, okay? It just says the burden feels light, right? And so I think when you’re aligned, when you’re aligned with your purpose, the burden feels light.

Right, you know, there’s a lot of talk, especially with the young kids today, they say, you know, do what you love, do what you love. But I don’t love every single thing that I do right now, but I’m aligned. I’m aligned with my purpose. And that fills me up. And that makes me want to do more and makes me feel like it’s not work at all.

Dylan Silver (21:38.84)
Pivoting a bit here, Zac, I have a selfishly a question as a real estate agent and then also as someone who’s going to work with mortgage advisors and different folks in the industry. I heard in Texas when I’m going through my real estate school and I’ve now seen that appraisals are really super critical for every part of the process. And so for someone who’s maybe coming to you and not sure how this process works.

and they’re concerned about exactly what to do and when to do it and how the deal goes down. Is it something that is critical and you talk about it ad nauseam or is it is it not as serious or as crucial as some people make it seem and what’s your perspective on appraisals in general?

Zachary D’Amato (22:27.254)
Well, know, the reality is there are some pockets in America where values have gone down, for sure. Majority of America values are going up, okay? But if you look at some pockets, and definitely some pockets in Texas, I think you definitely want to do the due diligence to make sure that it is going to appraise, right? And there’s tools out there, resources out there that could help you find that, you know, and so…

You know, we want to do the due diligence upfront. We don’t want to just take the word of the borrower, what they think the house is worth. I work with a lot of investors who are doing fix and flip loans. And so sometimes, you know, the ARV, know, lot of investors, right, they’re optimistic, right? But you need a mortgage advisor that is going to tell you the truth, right? And tell you, this is not a good deal. Your exit strategy is not going to work.

Because the reality is this is that mortgage advisors real estate agents they all Contractors they all make money off of you. So of course, it’s a great deal and Transactionally if you work with people who are just thinking about a transaction They’re gonna tell you it’s a good deal. So you have to have a team that are gonna tell you no, I don’t think so

I don’t think this is a good deal. Tell me why you think it’s a good deal. And so I think appraisals are important, but more importantly, it’s the right team to make sure that it’s going to work out.

Dylan Silver (23:55.842)
Yeah, to your point, Zac, you know, you can look at, especially as a new investor, you can look at this thing through rose colored glasses and you could say, look, the flip is, this is what they’re going for in the market. You know, this is what we think the repairs are going to be. Everything’s lined up. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But specifically for fixing flipping, I mean, it doesn’t even really depend on the decade, but specifically if you’re looking at an older home, you tear down the wall, you rip up the subfloor.

crack in the foundation, there’s serious electrical issues, know, plum, it can be massively over budget. And then there’s no guarantee that it’s gonna sell for what you think it’ll sell for. And on top of that, if it does, it could take, you know, six months, right? So there’s so many moving pieces, you know. I’m actually glad that we’re talking, because I didn’t realize that mortgage advisors ever,

told clients, you know, this might not be a good investment for you.

Zachary D’Amato (24:55.862)
Yeah, a lot of what I tell people is I ask them what the exit strategy is. And you know, I tell people all the time it’s not going to work out for them. And sometimes they take my advice. Sometimes they find another transactional mortgage advisor who just says yes. Because there’s a difference between getting the deal done as a mortgage advisor and the borrower making money, right?

Like, I’ve talked to people who actually don’t make any money on their transaction because everyone else made all the money and they didn’t.

Dylan Silver (25:28.366)
That’s actually how one of my guests, I’m forgetting exactly which area of the country he was in, but this was a military guy. He ended up getting out of the military, bought a home, and he found out how much the mortgage advisor made on the transaction. He’s like, I gotta go become a mortgage broker. And so that’s what he did. And to your point, Zac,

Zachary D’Amato (25:47.458)
Ha

Dylan Silver (25:53.304)
there’s so many moving pieces in this. It’s easily overwhelming for someone who’s new to it. You know that having if you’re in the Ohio area and you have a trusted resource in Zac, I would just say, you know, they’re they’re a dime a dozen and they truly are because just like Zac was saying, it’s not like my mortgage advisor doesn’t want to sell you a mortgage. they’re they’re they want to sell you a mortgage. Right. So Zac is going out and saying, you know, this may not actually

see you any ROI, which I think is probably rare.

Zachary D’Amato (26:28.832)
I think so. You know, I like to think so. I wish it wasn’t the case, but yeah, I think you’re right.

Dylan Silver (26:35.598)
Zac, you know, we are coming up on time here and thank you so much for giving our audience your time here today. Where can folks go to get a hold of you?

Zachary D’Amato (26:43.638)
Very simple, just type in my name, Zachary D’Amato. You can type in Zachary D’Amato Mortgage. You can find me at www.zacharyd’amato.com. I’m everywhere. If you can’t find me, it’s my problem, not yours. But yeah, I love to connect. I got a bunch of resources, yes. But the most important thing is just schedule a call with me. I don’t care if you’re looking to buy or invest 10 years from now. It doesn’t matter. Let’s get prepared because I think preparation.

is super important. It’s better to be prepared and not have an opportunity than have an opportunity and not be prepared.

Dylan Silver (27:20.236)
I couldn’t agree anymore, specifically with life’s biggest purchase, the biggest purchase, right? And so if you’re in the Ohio area, reach out to Zac. Zac, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Zachary D’Amato (27:31.66)
Dylan, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it. Thank you.