From Special Ops to Mortgage Pro: Daniel Archer’s Mission to Serve Vets

Daniel Archer (00:00)
it kind of just happened totally by chance because as I was separating and I was getting my license to try to find that new purpose, direction,

I found horses at the same time.

And so my daughter was riding at a place, I somehow ended up in a stall with a horse, realized how powerful it was. Two months later, after a couple of quick conversations, we started a veterans program, eventually relocated to another barn that is completely all veterans. So it’s literally veterans for veterans,

it makes my entire business and all my actions focused on veteran care Whether it’s mentally or it’s financially

And being able to do that and blend that, the ultimate goal is to be able to support other veteran

Erika (02:14)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m so excited to be joined by Danny Archer. He is a special operations veteran who is now making waves as a lender with a passion for veteran care. Danny, it’s so awesome to have you on the show.

Daniel Archer (02:31)
I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me.

Erika (02:33)
So let’s dive on in. For those who may not know your story, give us the rundown. How did you transition from your career in special operations and then become a lender? ⁓

Daniel Archer (02:41)
Yeah.

Yeah,

well, so, you know, I lived kind of a crazy life, military career, 27 years. Got medically retired. So honestly, I would have probably kept going. Realized I was probably, I didn’t have any interest in traveling anymore. Had an entrepreneurial bug that I’d never been able to like feed.

and honestly stumbled on the mortgage business. I knew real estate was probably a really good career, but I had no interest in showing people houses on the weeknights or weekends, and the mortgage loan originator just kind of popping up. So.

During my last few months in the military, I got my license, started with a local company, kind of started to learn the business because I wanted to kind of have my legs underneath me before, you know, I was completely out of the military.

And I realized how powerful a person with retirement and disability and how dangerous and against the grain it could be in the business because I’m not starving, right? Which means I can give you a complete and unfiltered approach, ⁓ like answer to your questions. I don’t have an agenda. I only want to do right by you and your family and ⁓ realize that man, now you think about.

What could a team of people like this be with huge networks spread across the United States? And I’ve been in the business just over two years. I’m in my third year now. I’ve now partnered with one of the top VA guys in the United States, Pat and Gabe.

and we can support pretty much the United States. And now I’m kind of what a little bit of a power position, but like you’re like, how do you end up in this? It’s mission planning, bluntly. There’s here you are, here’s where you want to get to, what obstacles are going to be in the way, what route that we need to take to get you there and help you be a homeowner. And it’s great for my brain because my brain does not slow down, you know, so.

bluntly that’s it. And then now the, that’s how I got into it.

Erika (04:33)
That’s awesome. And I know that you have hired a lot of veterans too. What was the moment that you realized lending could be a way to serve your community beyond just financial transactions?

Daniel Archer (04:47)
So yeah, honestly, once I kind of got into this business and I realized the effect that, you know, a completely focused person could do and the strength of the network, you you figure how many veterans have I met and known for years and years in a 27 year career. Now multiply that with people. But what most veterans struggle with whenever they leave the military is purpose, right?

They lose their community, they lose their brothers and sisters, that forced accountability, the thing that drove every action of every day, right, is now gone.

And I realized pretty quickly, I’m like, holy crap, like this is another form of veteran care, right? You can put guys back in, give them a new purpose. And I say, look, don’t make it about money. Be a good human being and coach, teach and mentor. That’s it.

And if you do that, the business will take off on its own.

Don’t try to chase realtors down. Focus on your network. Focus on the brand. Learn as much as you can and your business will grow from there and you’re almost going to work from the outside in to your network. That’s where I’m at now. So that, man, I’ll tell you.

Having being able to be with like-minded individuals with like experiences to be able to talk, know, like rough talk with each other. Like that’s how we communicate. We, you know, we talk smack at each other and kind of give them purpose and kind of see the drastic financial change. You can help with people while not having to travel six months out of the year, gone on a moment’s notice from a phone call or whatever. That’s amazing.

Erika (07:03)
Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about your business. You focus on VA loans. How do you simplify that process for veterans who might feel overwhelmed by the financing process?

Daniel Archer (07:15)
Easy.

just, they need a shepherd. They need somebody to guide them through the process with no bullshit. Right? So you just give it straight to them. Right? Like, let’s talk about your credit. Let’s talk about your savings. If you’re a little beat up, you’re going to get your butt kicked a little bit, but I can help get you a house if it makes sense. Right? Nobody wants to be sold. So just, you know, give me that kind of that blunt force trauma of like truth bombs. Uh, and, and honestly, like

99 % of the people that I deal with love it. Every once in a while I get somebody that doesn’t like it, but you know what, that’s okay. Because if I’m not a great fort from, fit for them, you’re welcome to go somewhere else. But most people love it.

Erika (07:52)
Yeah, I totally get that. I want to talk about the project that you’re doing, the Equine Valor project. It’s really cool how you’re blending that therapy with lending. How do those two worlds complement your mission?

Daniel Archer (08:09)
So it kind of just happened totally by chance because as I was separating and I was getting my license to try to find that new purpose, direction, what am I going to do? I found horses at the same time.

And so my daughter was riding at a place, I somehow ended up in a stall with a horse, realized how powerful it was. Two months later, after a couple of quick conversations, we started a veterans program, eventually relocated to another barn that is completely all veterans. So it’s literally veterans for veterans, right?

And now what’s really cool is because It literally parallels so it makes my entire business and all my actions focused on veteran care Whether it’s mentally or it’s financially

And being able to do that and blend that, the ultimate goal is to be able to support other veteran nonprofits with sponsorships

to create this safety net of support for people across the US. So if you’re a veteran and you’re moving or you’re in the local area or whatever.

⁓ It’s amazing and like, you know, are we trying to be Yellowstone and you know, and I’m out there, know riding really fast. Honestly, I’ve ridden like three times Because the magic of horses is not on the horseback. That’s like the end result but You know if you if you watch any of the equine valor project ⁓ Stuff on social media or you or you follow me on social media. I post a lot about the horses

and some of the most powerful stuff, just grooming, right? The interaction, that right there grooming, and you’re like brushing a horse, how the hell is that gonna help you? Horses and our bodies and their bodies create this like perfect harmonious relationship.

And you start to naturally create, and they start to naturally create, you know, all those.

serotonin chemicals, right? Things that make you feel good. And you’ll actually see the horse. When I’m brushing a horse, I’ll try to touch it and kind of get close. And I made a post about this the other day because we had two veterans last weekend that were just over there brushing. I’m like, no. And I walk over, I’m like, come here, give me the brush. I’m like, here, watch the horse’s face.

And then I put my hand around its neck and then I started brushing it. And I just start talking. That’s it. Nice and calm like this. And you’ll see that horse head just kind of go down and relax. Kind of almost get like they’re going to sleep, start chewing cud. It’s like a sign of being really relaxed. And automatically, the body chemistry, like everything that happens in your body is game changing. It’s so powerful, but that both of them that I did this with, were almost started crying.

Like, how does that not melt your heart? Are you shitting me? Do you know what I mean? Like, you know, and so to be able to blend that with the business, mean, look, I mean, the more that it’s building and the more programs that we can support of different genres, right? I want, I want to support in every possible genre. If somebody, you know, wants to learn how to cook, you know, whatever. If it’s good, I’m in.

Erika (11:16)
Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Daniel Archer (11:35)
Especially if they’re there to support because I can’t stand I Support veterans. ⁓ okay. What do you do? well, I I do loans. Well, that’s not helping them. That’s helping them a little bit. But how are you helping? Like I don’t give it lip service because I can’t stand it. Please don’t take that wrong I don’t anybody listening and I want you to take offense to it but like for me The darkest struggles are after the military

Right? That’s when they need, they need a shoulder to lean on and you need, you need to be that shoulder. And then they’re, then they’re going to be the support structure for another one and so on and so forth. And it’s a movement that honestly can’t be stopped, but it can only be done by another veteran because they’re not, veterans don’t trust anybody else. It’s very difficult. And so that’s it. mean, and so blending the business with that, you know, guess what?

Social media is important to growing the business. Once I learned that, it forks my business almost immediately. But nobody wants to be told, save money, watch your credit, blah, blah, right? That’s boring. And the horses, man, honestly, we rescue horses from kill pens, bring them back to health at the same time we connect them with the veterans. Tell me that doesn’t parallel.

Erika (12:39)
Wow.

Yeah, that is so exciting. And I feel like there’s got to be some relationship with that, with all the success you’ve had with lending, that people just, get what you’re doing. I know you’ve closed a lot of deals for not doing, you started off in lending fairly recently. What’s been your go-to strategy for doing so many deals?

Daniel Archer (13:04)
Not being one if I’m not scared because I’m not coming at you from a position of weakness I’m, not scared to make a phone call Right, most people are going to tiptoe into a conversation and then try to give their opportunity pitch or whatever I don’t care If I don’t work with you I’m going to work with somebody else because if the way my business model works and I’ve connected with The buyer before the realtor when I call you I’m interviewing you And people don’t like it

But once I tell them, I’m like, look, this will happen again. I come with multiple pre-approvals. taking that kind of approach, now I’m getting referrals from the selling agents because of how I’ve commuted and functioned and operated with throughout the process. Because they see it, and now they’re watching, and now I’m popping up on their feed and whatnot because the algorithm feeds connections and whatnot. And it’s just growing. And it’s been amazing, honestly.

Erika (13:54)
Danny, what did the experiences with doing your equine therapy program, how did that translate into what you’re doing with the VA loans? Were there any experiences with that that directly poured into the loan process?

Daniel Archer (14:14)
Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say that it’s going to make me understand, you know, the VA loan better. knowing, think it. I think more importantly, I think it’s the fact that I think maybe it’s just the validation or that you can see somebody that’s truly there for the greater good of the of the veteran.

Erika (14:20)
Not the technical part.

you

Daniel Archer (14:33)
And you see that you’re like, wow, that’s weird. Right. mean, I understand that it’s a unique story. Not many people are in a position to be able to do what I’m doing right now. And it’s amazing. And it’s great for everything. And it’s what’s interesting. You know, there’s a couple of videos that we’ve made, like short films, if you will, that are out there. And if you watch them, then you understand the why.

It’s really good and it’s really powerful.

And that was really what knocked down my barrier to doing social media. Because before that, I mean, I didn’t have a social media presence with what I did. We didn’t do anything. And all of a sudden, you know, I learned from a guy that I used to work with, Jeff Fitzer, you know, how to do social media. And I was resistant.

But being on those short films or whatever broke down the barrier and it kind of got me to where I can do this stuff right now. Like I’m not here to tell war stories. You’re not invited. I’m sorry. Right? That’s my stuff. But the life after what somebody can do, that’s the transition.

I’m telling you people like literally today I had a buddy reach out to me out of nowhere man I’ve been watching your videos I love it I want to donate still an and ten thousand dollars to my program it’s the largest donation we’ve ever had just before I got onto this just from you know posting about it how freaking cool is that

Erika (16:29)
That’s awesome. Danny, what do you see next on the horizon? Whether it’s the therapy program or lending, what goals do you have in mind?

Daniel Archer (16:39)
I want to solidify the position in the market and grow a team that’s national and strong as hell. And then I want to each of those people, wherever they’re at geographically, to find something and support it to build the brand. That’s the sweet spot. Because if we can arm ourselves with, you know, look, I mean, there’s many, many very smart people that did what I did that…

You know, could transition into this. And if you could arm those people in the most lethal VA mortgage war machine and then support across the United States, all of these other nonprofits, how do you not want to work with that person? Especially if you have a veteran that needs counsel, that needs somebody to no kid and walk him down the dark alley of home, home, the home buying process. I mean, there’s so many vultures in the business. You know this, right? Not, not this is not like McDonald’s and

hamburger is a hamburger. Right? So it’s okay to acknowledge that and then they’ll attack it. And the goal is to be able to put people in everywhere. I mean, we can already support them, but it’s many geographical locations that we can support because it is good to be able to have a cup of coffee with somebody at some point. Because I don’t want to be referenced as an online lender. I’m not an online lender.

Call me and you like you shoot me a message on social media. It’s me, you know, or hey, what’s up? It’s gonna want to call, you know, like I want everybody to be able to do that because I want all of the veterans out there to know you can call and you can get unadulterated, unfiltered guidance and mentorship to help you through this process because ultimately it’s about lowering the stress of the buying process.

relocation, all that. But then guess what? I can help you with your VA disability claims or how to transition or lean into the network for potential future like employment.

And honestly, if they’re saying the right things, I might even talk to them about joining the team. And that happens more times than not. that’s just, the momentum is happening. And I’m lucky that I’m on Patton’s team because Patton’s got that name brand. You look him up and you’re like, how dumb is this? I literally was playing with Chad GPT and talking about the top VE people and what they would do and how to implement that in my social media. And who did it use as a…

as the person. Pat and Gate, my partner that I just got off the Zoom call with. How crazy is that? You know what I mean? Like, so is that, you know, feedback that you’re on the right path? I would like to think so.

Erika (19:01)
Yeah. Wow, Danny, I love what you’re doing, empowering veterans, both financially and mentally. We do need to wrap this up. So for our listeners who are interested, want to learn more and connect, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Daniel Archer (19:17)
So you can always look me up on social media, on Instagram, I’m DannyArcher underscore VA Loans and Homes. You can look me up on LinkedIn, DanielArcher. I don’t know, I work with you mortgage, you know, like I’ve got my email address that you can use. Daniel.Archer underscore your mortgage guy, the letter U and R.

or you can just shoot me a message. And I also will ask you to go to www.equinevalorproject.com and find us on social media, follow and watch, and please comment. And if you have any interest in kind of getting in something or helping build something like that, or you just want to donate, please do. We have a donate button right on the website.

Erika (19:58)
Well, Danny I love what you’re doing. Thank you so much for sharing your story, your passion and your mission. And thank you for your service.

Daniel Archer (20:07)
You’re very welcome. Thanks for having me.

Erika (20:09)
For those of you tuning in, if you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Daniel who are building incredible legacies in real estate and beyond. We’ll see you on the next episode.