How a Loan Officer Built a Real Estate Referral Marketplace | Lori Gibson

Lori Gibson (00:00)

If you receive a phone call from a client or an agent, call them back right away. Answer your phone. I think so many fail because they’re not quick. Real estate agents and clients, consumers, they want an immediate. I think that’s my biggest takeaway. I definitely do that. I answer my phone even if I don’t recognize the number. And it could be just a call that I didn’t want to take—we all get the spam calls—but if it’s a client, I’ve answered my phone right away, they know they can trust me, and then I hook them right away.

Issa Hanna (01:04)

Welcome back to another episode of the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Issa Hanna, and today we have Lori Gibson here to share her knowledge and a new, exciting platform for real estate professionals and consumers. Lori, welcome to the show.

Lori Gibson (01:17)

Thank you.

Issa Hanna (01:19)

Super excited to have you. We were talking before— Key & Kaboodle. I mean, what a revolutionary idea, what a revolutionary software, built from years of knowledge in the industry, near and dear to my heart. It was the first thing I started in real estate, and that’s the finance game. You have a long time as a loan officer, long time as an originator. Before we dive into your story, though, I want to get a day-to-day in your life.

Lori Gibson (01:43)

My day-to-day. Well, when I get up in the morning, I always—you know, the normal getting ready in the morning. And then I check my emails. I usually keep a—I’m old-school, so I keep a legal pad of things that I need to do for the day. I always try to do my marketing in the morning, creating posts for social media or something like that, following up on my emails, and just, you know, start working, start calling as a loan officer. I mean, it’s important for us to keep up with our real estate agents, and so I always try to make at least three calls a day just to touch base and catch up with any of my real estate agents.

Issa Hanna (02:28)

I love that, because the relationship between real estate agent and loan officer is super important. I told you I started off as an LO; I closed hundreds of deals as a buyer’s agent, and that was strictly off the referral network I had with my loan officer. So I can definitely appreciate that. And then when you’re at the top, and when you run your own business, and when you’re responsible for bringing in, you know, everything, you really got to know how to delegate and manage your time.

And that’s why I ask all my guests that question: you know, you got to wake up in the morning, you gotta have some type of to-do list, whether it’s old-school like me and Lori and we write it down, or it’s on your phone and it’s like reminders in a notepad, you know—just make sure you’re delegating that time, you’re keeping up with relationships. I mean, amazing, amazing first answer, Lori, dropping golden knowledge on us already.

I wanna get into your background in the loan game, in finance, right? Because super important in teaching you how to go with guidelines, make your own system. And then like I said, you know, you’re kind of out there on your own, getting your own clients. It’s a rough world to build this business, and it plays directly into what this platform is and how you’ve built it. So a long time ago, you said you started in the loan game. So I’m gonna give you now the floor: give us your origin story. How’d you fall into it?

Lori Gibson (03:51)

Well, my mother—she worked for a mortgage company in the ’70s and ’80s. And I was in between high school and college. It was the summer, and I was hired at the same mortgage company that she worked for. I started there, went to college, came back, went back to work for the same company that she worked for. And so long ago, I had started in closing, where we would type the deeds and the notes for the closing with carbon paper. That’s how long ago it was: you messed up, you had to take it out, start all over again.

I’ve seen the entire business evolve so much in the last 40 years, and the changes that have been made, you know, with everything, with the technology—you know, with DU and LP, I remember when those first came out and we as loan processors became underwriters where we just followed those guidelines. And so it’s been great, and I embrace all of the technology and all of the changes. So, you know, I’ve just—I’ve seen it, I’ve seen everything in this industry, the good days, the bad days. So been a part of…

Issa Hanna (05:36)

I love that. And that’s why I said it directly ties into the platform you’ve built, right? Forty years in the game, you’ve seen the technology revolution. The whole thing has changed since you’ve got in. You’ve had to adapt with the times, and the ones who’ve been around as long as you have adapted with the times. You’ve seen the internet revolution, is the one thing I wanna talk about. Now you’re seeing the new AI, the new tech boom. You’re able to see holes in our industry, and you saw a hole as a loan officer, and you decided to fill it with Key & Kaboodle. Can you kind of give us a story of what you were seeing, and then how’d the light bulb go up?

Lori Gibson (06:15)

Absolutely. So when I started originating—it was just 20 years ago; before that, I was in the background: processing, underwriting, closing. I’ve done everything on those sides. But when I started originating, we originally would market ourselves in real estate books, in the Yellow Pages, in the newspapers, before the Zillows and the Googles were really active where people would look for their real estate agent. Of course, as a loan officer back then, it was usually partnering with another real estate agent. Real estate agents would get their business from their “For Sale” signs that they would have in yards, or, you know, like I said, the newspapers, the real estate books.

But then when Zillow came along, everything really started changing for them. And now more and more consumers will go online versus—obviously, we don’t read the newspapers; we don’t look at that anymore. And the real estate books have gone away as well. So now consumers are shopping online, yet there’s not a really good way to showcase real estate agents and loan officers or all of the industry professionals. And therefore, I thought, well, there’s a need for this type of marketplace for consumers to go. There are different platforms that they can go; however, if a consumer—I’m not going to name the different ones, but if they go to a certain platform, they would put in their information and then get bombarded. And consumers don’t want that. They want to be able to shop privately and, you know, search for who they feel they will be comfortable with. So…

Issa Hanna (08:40)

I love that, because this platform was built through one thing that builds our industry and your referral network and any successful professional: integrity. You’re not selling the consumer’s information. This is a consumer-focused website, right? So they’re going on—an agent like me, I can make a profile, guys, on Key & Kaboodle, and I can kind of showcase who I am, what I’ve done, all that stuff. A consumer could almost get to know me first, yes, before and vet me before, as opposed to going to one of these big websites and getting the agent that just pays the most for their ads, and you’re calling them and they don’t answer their phone and all this stuff.

Because you guys have heard me say it on the show a million times: not every real estate professional is created equal. Everybody has their own specialties, and then everybody has their own work ethic and drive. So you really need to find that professional that fits. And that’s what Lori’s done on Key & Kaboodle—truly amazing. And I just wanted to jump in, interject a little bit, and just give everybody that this thing was built on integrity; you’re not gonna get bombarded with all these ads.

So man, I’m loving this, I’m loving this. And I’m looking into the future: I see big things. We all have a five-year plan as entrepreneurs, as founders. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Lori Gibson (10:02)

Well, hopefully this is nationwide. I’m hoping that—and that’s the goal, to build this for a nationwide platform marketplace for consumers as well as the professionals. Because one thing I do know: I get many calls a week from the Google ads or, you know, any of the advertisers—”We can sell you leads.” They’re very expensive. And that was another reason why I wanted to come up with this: it’s very reasonable for anyone, any in our industry professional, to be able to put their profile on. And you set it and forget it; you’re just going to get referrals through the website.

So I’m hoping it will go nationwide. And if it does, that will be fantastic, and I would have a great team that I would work with. Right now it’s just me—my idea. I’ve learned quite a bit becoming, I guess what you would call an entrepreneur, with getting all of the information that I need to get a business started. But I took the leap, and it’s my passion right now. I wanted to do it because I know that there is a place for it. And if it grows the way I feel it could, it will be a big success.

Issa Hanna (11:22)

Definitely. Like I said, I can see it being a huge success anywhere where our consumers can get information, our agents can come out there, and you get a shot to the real estate professionals—you’re not being priced out, you’re not, you know, in the high times having to pay more for advertisements. You’re on there, you’re paying it, you’re getting leads, just like the big real estate agents. I mean, truly unbelievable, built by our fellow real estate professional who’s been in the industry, who’s seen it all, you guys.

If you were to get on one new website, you were to use one new marketing, this is it right here: Key & Kaboodle. And if their ears are perking up at home—the consumers, the real estate professionals—and they wanted to get a hold of you and they wanted to get involved with you, how could they reach?

Lori Gibson (12:09)

Well, it’s—you can search it on—it’s KeyKaboodle, no “&” sign, just KeyKaboodle.com. And then just create a profile. Can I say the cost right now, or no?

Issa Hanna (12:21)

Yeah, of course.

Lori Gibson (12:22)

So I’ve opened it up just to try to grow: for the first hundred profiles, free for life. So now is the time to sign up and create a profile. In the site, in your profile, you’re also going to be asked to invite your vendors. And when they create a profile, everyone will see on your website how many other professionals in the industry recommend you. It’s not going to be listed by what their professions are, but it’s kind of like a five-star thing, you know: if you’re recommended by others, and that’s a big thing. So I wanted to cross-reference that for consumers to be able to see, “Wow, they’ve got 10 people that also recommend them as a real estate agent.” That’s like a five-star. But after the first hundred, it will be a $29-a-month subscription, and that is very affordable.

Issa Hanna (13:22)

Yeah, guys, thirty bucks a month, unbelievable. You know how expensive marketing is for us real estate agents. Truly unbelievable. Like I said, built by a professional: KeyKaboodle. No “&”—KeyKaboodle.com. Run over there; the first hundred members are free. I know I’m gonna go sign up right now. Truly, truly amazing advice, truly amazing knowledge.

I wanna leave off on one piece of advice for our young professionals, right? Growing your network, establishing business relationships similar to what we just did today, right—super important in the game, right? “Show me your network, I’ll show you your net worth,” or whatever the saying goes. If you had to give these young professionals one piece of advice on where to get the ball rolling on growing that network, what would you tell them?

Lori Gibson (14:07)

Stick with it, and make sure you follow through. Call right away. If you receive a phone call from a client or an agent, call them back right away. Answer your phone. I think so many fail because they’re not quick. Real estate agents and clients, consumers, they want an immediate. So, you know, I think that’s my biggest takeaway. I definitely do that. I answer my phone even if I don’t recognize the number. And it could be just a call that I didn’t want to take—you know, we all get the spam calls—but if it’s a client, I’ve answered my phone right away, they know they can trust me, and then I hook them right away. So I think that is lost quite a bit where people are not following up right away.

Issa Hanna (14:58)

I think the—you know, the fear of answering the phone. A lot of people now, they’re texting, they’re sending messages. But a good old-fashioned phone call, y’all, especially when somebody calls you and you answer that first time, you’re accessible. They might have called three other real estate professionals that didn’t answer their phone. You’re the one that did. Now they automatically like you because you’re accessible to them. Accessibility is super huge in this game, I mean…

Lori Gibson (15:24)

It is so true.

Issa Hanna (15:25)

Truly golden knowledge. I wouldn’t expect anything less from somebody who’s been in our industry so much. It’s a true honor to have you, Lori. I know Key & Kaboodle’s gonna be huge. Thank you so much for coming on.

Lori Gibson (15:39)

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Issa Hanna (15:42)

I enjoyed our conversation. And to our viewers at home, if you guys enjoyed my conversation with Lori and want to see more like it, make sure to hit like and subscribe. I talk to people every day that can bring us different knowledge on every aspect of the real estate industry. Until next time, the Real Estate Pros are out.