Navigating Foreclosure: A Personal Journey

Brett McCollum (00:00.552)
All right, guys, welcome back to the show. I am your host, Brett McCollum, and I’m here today with Veronica Fairweather. Today we’re going to be talking about foreclosure prevention. But before we do, at Investor Fuel, guys, we help real estate investors, service providers, and real estate entrepreneurs to 5x their businesses to allow them to build the businesses they’ve always wanted and live the lives they’ve always dreamed of. Without further ado, Veronica, how are you?

Veronica Fairweather (00:11.659)
you

Veronica Fairweather (00:25.07)
I’m good Brett, how are you? Good.

Brett McCollum (00:26.51)
Doing so good. We didn’t get a long time to catch up before we jumped on here going, you know, live. But I mean, I have a feeling we’re gonna be best friends before we’re done. I really like just kind of with what you’re doing in the foreclosure space, everything is really interesting. I do wanna get into that obviously, but before we do, can you do me a favor? Let’s back up context, history, that sort of thing. Who is Veronica?

Veronica Fairweather (00:36.171)
I love it. I love it. I have the same feeling.

Veronica Fairweather (00:52.3)
Yeah. Okay. So great question. Hello, everyone. My name is Veronica Fairweather. I am actually a, obviously I’m a licensed real estate broker, but just context purposes. I grew up in Rhode Island, a small state, one of the, actually the smallest state in the nation, in a little beach town called Westerly. And so I traveled a bit. I left as soon as I graduated high school, I moved to Brooklyn and just really started to get familiar from just

a cultural standpoint. So you can imagine just the shock that I had and just going from a small town to a major city and right. And understanding just different cultures and how to navigate. And that really just started to shape my personality and the way in which the hustle and bustle of New York drives individuals. And so from there, I then moved to Philadelphia to go to Temple University. I know. So from small town, big city, smaller city. And I spent two years at Temple before I became pregnant.

So I left school and moved to New Jersey to start a family. And during that time, I had no idea what I was going to do. Right. I’m 22, just had a baby and was just navigating the world as I identify myself as a mother and then as a woman. so struggling to find money, I decided to start working at a daycare as a teacher. And the idea came to me as I don’t trust anyone with my child and I can’t afford daycare.

So if I become a teacher at the daycare center and roll my daughter there, I can still protect her in some way. So I was literally teaching class on lunch break, going breastfeeding. And so I did that for about a year before a friend of mine stepped in and said, listen, you are so much bigger than this. You’re selling yourself short. She worked in pharmaceuticals. New Jersey is major for pharmaceuticals. She worked in pharmaceuticals and said, listen, I have a way in for you. I interviewed and I happened to get the job as administrative assistant.

I had no idea how to work a computer, no idea how to schedule anything. At this point in time, I’m 24 and I’m just winging it. I’m supporting senior directors, VPs for international brands. And I learned so much on how to structure, how to organize, time management. And that allowed me, I bounced from pharmaceutical company to pharmaceutical company for a good amount of eight years. And I just became exhausted.

Veronica Fairweather (03:18.582)
of the corporate environment. I couldn’t do it anymore. It was taking me away from being able to pick up my daughter and drop her off to school and doing all the things that parents want to do. And in between that time, I became a single parent. And so it just became so much. I then at a certain point met a great, great guy. We wound up getting married and everything was perfect. I left corporate and decided that I was going to venture out into real estate.

Brett McCollum (03:27.682)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (03:45.934)
My sister and my mom were both in real estate and they just said, Hey, listen, you should just try this. So I took the class pass on my first chance. So I said, okay, this must be for me. Um, I was in Jersey city at this time and Jersey city was during this timeframe where there was over 250 abandoned and vacant properties and the city distributed this list. And, um, they had placards on the door that were red and they each placard had a different sign on it.

Brett McCollum (03:46.051)
Hmm.

Brett McCollum (03:58.433)
Okay.

Veronica Fairweather (04:15.168)
And those signs were indicative of the condition of the house. And I took up the chance of bartending so that way I can get to know the community more and get the insides of the information on the streets, so to speak. And so I just began door knocking and I started calling and a lot of these people left their properties because the property value depreciated.

or they couldn’t maintain the property anymore. So they just left and they were literally giving it to me. Veronica, you can have the house. I don’t want anything to do with it. So that’s how I learned about short sales and foreclosures because individuals were just leaving and not taking care of their property. So during that time frame, my marriage started to fall apart, unfortunately. And then because I am a very, think women, always have a safety plan in place.

So to speak, right. And so to speak in business terms, you create an exit strategy. How can I save myself and my child in this time? And I’m commission based. So I started to look for properties. I’m driving around trying to identify a property I saw on the MLS and I couldn’t find it. And one day I’m driving down the street and I see a row of townhouses. And I said, why can’t I get one of these? And a week later it was on the MLS foreclosure. I bought it.

And it was, had to bid and I won the bid and I won the buying it. And so I eventually divorced my husband, moved into this house and I’m there for a year. And because when you come from a dual household income and now you are an individual income, your budgeting comes into play. And this is when the impact really became a reality for me in 2019. I couldn’t sell a house to save my life. I couldn’t, no matter how much cold calling and door, I just couldn’t.

And it got to a point where I couldn’t afford my mortgage anymore. And so once I was an individual who was helping people, I am now the person that needs help. And so I was about four months behind on my mortgage. I’m trying to figure out ways. called the bank and thankfully they were able to help me and do a loan modification. And so with the skillset that I learned earlier on in my career, I was now someone who applied that same skill set to my life.

Brett McCollum (06:14.157)
Yeah.

Brett McCollum (06:24.078)
Mmm.

Veronica Fairweather (06:31.798)
and I was able to save my home. And now I am just, my mission is to make sure that I help as many homeowners as possible because life comes at you so fast. Death happens, divorce happens, all of these things take place and people move so much based off of loss of income. So how can we overall just help people when life throws you a curve ball? So that’s essentially who I am.

Brett McCollum (06:39.374)
Sure.

Brett McCollum (06:49.71)
Yeah.

Yeah, let’s all take a breath. Yeah, right? There’s a lot in fact, that’s incredible though. And by the way, thank you for being vulnerable and doing that. Cause I think there’s gonna be a lot of people that listening to this, it’s gonna go, I identify here with this. Cause while that happened and it was time, know, there’s times through that process. There’s a lot of people, unfortunately, that have that, that they walk through.

Veronica Fairweather (06:55.906)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (07:02.976)
Of course.

Veronica Fairweather (07:16.663)
Yeah.

Brett McCollum (07:21.068)
And that doesn’t mean that our business and what we do in the real estate arena is worse because of it or anything like it. It’s some life, like you said, it comes at you and when it does, it can happen very quickly. Yeah, so I wanna back up a bit. So you grew up in a small town, okay? This is my silly thing. I also grew up in a small town. So I always am curious of people’s definition of small town. Small town for you.

Veronica Fairweather (07:21.294)
Mm-hmm.

Veronica Fairweather (07:32.878)
fast, very quickly.

Veronica Fairweather (07:47.906)
Okay.

My graduating high school class was about 300 people.

Brett McCollum (07:54.862)
So my graduating high school class was 47. So that’s, you know, not, I kid you not. It’s, it’s like, yeah. And then you, cause you made a comment and I’m sorry, I’m not picking on you. forgive me. You said, and then I went to Philadelphia. So, you know, big town to small. I was like, Philadelphia is not small. You crazy person. What are you talking about? Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah. But I’m like,

Veronica Fairweather (07:58.413)
Okay.

my god!

Veronica Fairweather (08:09.076)
No, please!

Veronica Fairweather (08:17.742)
Well, I’m comparing that to New York City, right? So yeah.

Brett McCollum (08:24.238)
man, think where I live is like, if you think that small, man, we live in a, our County has 300,000, right? That’s huge to me. Cause I grew up in a town of like 5,000 people, you know, you know, so like, dude, we had one traffic light. Okay. So, uh, know, uh, yeah, that’s it’s, but you know, like, it’s interesting though. So you go from this and it is like, it’s perspective, you know,

Veronica Fairweather (08:33.314)
Okay. Okay.

Veronica Fairweather (08:40.246)
Okay, I can understand that,

Brett McCollum (08:53.966)
You grew up in a smaller town and you moved to New York. How long were you in New York before you went to town?

Veronica Fairweather (09:01.014)
moving to Philadelphia. So I was in New York for about three years. Enough, yeah. Yeah, and I was 18. I was 18. Yeah, I was a baby and just like roaming the streets. Exactly, exactly.

Brett McCollum (09:05.182)
Enough that’s why okay so enough to go. Whoa, this is a whole different. who am I already?

Yeah, what was that, let me ask you this, what was that like back then? Because at 18, the world was already so big anyway. And then you go to the biggest city in the world, or remote, relatively.

Veronica Fairweather (09:22.508)
It’s so big. It’s so big. I’m

Veronica Fairweather (09:28.206)
Right. So I actually moved to Brooklyn right after a year after 9-11. So there was this somber essence that kind of roamed the city because it’s still fresh for everyone. Right. And so it was the timeframe where it’s 2002. People are still selling CDs out of their trunk. Cabs won’t go to Brooklyn, right? They’re only in the city.

Brett McCollum (09:33.975)
Okay.

Veronica Fairweather (09:53.152)
And so it was that and just navigating, imagine driving, you’re going from a small town where you can drive to now you’re jumping on a bus or going on the subway and you’re seeing the most outlandish, crazy act, crazy. If I, if we had more time, I could tell you the most crazy stories that I’ve seen on the subway. And it’s just insane. So it was such a culture shock, not just from a diversity standpoint, but just the way the energy of the city moves on a daily basis. And you’re going from some place.

Brett McCollum (10:04.248)
ring

Brett McCollum (10:10.297)
truly.

Veronica Fairweather (10:22.158)
places that close at 10 p.m. the whole city like the town shuts down to 24 hours. Anything that you need. Anything everything is accessible. Everything is convenient. And so your mind starts to adapt that nature of convenience of aggressive tone right of making sure that you are moving at the same pace as everybody else. And that is what started to curate my character more right because in order to be

Brett McCollum (10:25.56)
Yep. Yep.

Brett McCollum (10:37.358)
and

Brett McCollum (10:48.802)
Mm-hmm.

Veronica Fairweather (10:51.03)
ahead of the pace, like the pack, you need to move with that same energy. And so that small town mindset that I had quickly evaporated within the first six months because everyone was like, I can tell you’re not from here. And I was like, no, I don’t want to stand out, right? Just because of the way that I was so polite. You’ll walk down the street and you’ll say good morning. And people are like, what are you looking at? Right. And so you just had to shift. So my personality really started to change for the better because it allowed me to become

Brett McCollum (11:11.118)
Who are you?

Veronica Fairweather (11:20.246)
a bit more aware of my surroundings because you’re in a city. So you can’t trust everyone. And, it also gave me that extra battery in my back that I didn’t know that I was capable of having because it just, there’s a certain, have you ever been to the city? Have you ever been to New York? Okay. So you can just tell when you’re walking down the street, if you don’t have the same miles per hour, just by walking, you’re going to get bumped. You’re going to get moved. It’s people are going to plow through you. And so it’s that mindset where I change where if I don’t keep up with this pace,

Brett McCollum (11:34.86)
I have,

Brett McCollum (11:43.426)
and

Veronica Fairweather (11:49.74)
no matter where I go, someone is going to take me, someone’s gonna push me out the way. And so you just always wanna stay ahead of the curve and that really is what started to drive my motivation in any career that I had. How can I be the best personally and professionally?

Brett McCollum (11:54.627)
Mm-hmm.

Brett McCollum (12:05.71)
Yeah, that’s it. And it’s, that’s gotta be like the, like you said, it was that six month learning curve of like, but you know, it never shuts off ever in, you know, I’m like, man, and me, my personality, I’m like, that just sounds exhausting. you know, don’t get me wrong, I never quit moving either. Meaning like, I’m up late and up early and we’re like, our friends all the time are always just like,

Veronica Fairweather (12:16.014)
shuts off, ever.

Veronica Fairweather (12:28.014)
Mm-hmm.

Brett McCollum (12:34.286)
How are you guys always doing something? Every day of the week you’re doing something. It’s just how I like to operate. But at my pace. And, no you’re good.

Veronica Fairweather (12:40.099)
Right.

Exactly. Yeah. It’s so interesting. Oh, sorry. I don’t need to catch up. I just want to tell a funny story. So the apartment that I had in Brooklyn, I had four roommates, including myself, and we had a half of bedroom, a half a bedroom. So that meant that we could only for four people. And so we could only know we had a queen and every month we would rotate who could sleep in the bedroom.

Brett McCollum (13:00.258)
for four people. Yeah, two more beds.

Veronica Fairweather (13:10.03)
And so you would have everyone, there was futons in each room of the apartment. So there would be a futon in the kitchen, a futon in like the dining room and a futon in the living room and in the bedroom. And so we would just rotate every month. And that’s just, you know, when you’re winging it, my rent was $150. $150. You can’t that anywhere now.

Brett McCollum (13:29.326)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can’t do that. No, can’t. Geez, man. That’s insane. Wow. All right. So you go to the temple and you have, okay, have son or daughter? daughter. Sorry. I think you said that. So you have your baby girl and you you find yourself out in Jersey and you’re working now at a, was it the daycare itself or what was it?

Veronica Fairweather (13:35.63)
Yep.

Veronica Fairweather (13:45.134)
I have a daughter. Yeah, it’s okay.

Veronica Fairweather (13:56.546)
Yeah, was a daycare, like a franchise. It was a daycare center that I worked in as a teacher.

Brett McCollum (14:01.376)
Okay, so interesting. So just kind of similar. Obviously, I’m not a mom, but like, my wife, when we had our firstborn, like that was kind of the your first time mom, that, that motherly like, got to take I’m going like, it’s just something inside of you that I and I wrote with it too. like, listen, everybody does this. What is what’s going on with you? Like everybody like we all were like, what? Why are you being weird? You know, like, and I know that’s not like,

Veronica Fairweather (14:19.05)
Yes.

Veronica Fairweather (14:27.982)
Thanks

Brett McCollum (14:31.074)
And guys, if you’re listening to this, I am not a mom. I don’t understand it the way as moms you guys do that. And so I saw my wife and she did the same thing. She had just gotten her teaching, like she just got her degree and she said, you know what, I’m gonna work at the school and have my kid there at the same place as me. And we found a place for us where she could teach and then still pop over and nurse and do the things that she, and still like every break she’s spending time and we did.

Veronica Fairweather (14:37.46)
Yes.

Veronica Fairweather (14:59.199)
Mm-hmm.

Brett McCollum (14:59.938)
We have four kids now, Veronica. Yeah, yeah. Jesus help. But, so she, we did that with two and I say and a half of our kids, right? Before she came home full time. But she taught at the school there for nine years doing this. And we were able to have our kids right there and close, you know.

Veronica Fairweather (15:02.84)
saying.

Veronica Fairweather (15:21.516)
Veronica Fairweather (15:27.022)
right?

Brett McCollum (15:27.766)
Yeah, so now we homeschool and, you know, and, well, and that’s why if you guys are hearing in the background here, I got a little cricket because, you know, I can’t work out of my office anymore. While I’m podcasting because it’s too loud. So now I’m in our talk about this pre show. Now I’m in my garage and I got I have a cricket and I can’t get rid of it. Story of our lives. Okay. But anyway, so you’re doing that. Remind and I heard when you were saying it like hot what happened when

Veronica Fairweather (15:30.756)
God bless.

Veronica Fairweather (15:42.625)
Yeah.

So funny.

Brett McCollum (15:57.951)
your approach with a friend of yours approaches you and yeah, what was that?

Veronica Fairweather (16:00.992)
Yeah. So moving to New Jersey, I didn’t know anyone, except for my daughter’s father. And so I was just engulfed around his life. I didn’t really have a separate life. And so I met a friend who actually his family and she and I became very close and she was, she came over one day and said, let’s go out to eat. So I said, sure. So we go out to eat and she’s just like, I see the light in you. And you know, as when you’re in the vacuum and you’re just doing, you’re not aware of self.

You’re just like, how can I just get things done and stay afloat? And that was my mentality. And when she just saw the greatness in me, she said, you deserve so much more. You can make so much more money. She wrote my resume. She actually enrolled me back into college because I had no desire to go back. I just wanted to just keep moving forward. So she enrolled me back into, into school at Kane university in New Jersey. She did everything. Cause she was just like, I see.

Brett McCollum (16:52.587)
wow.

Veronica Fairweather (16:56.354)
how great you are, but I understand what is on your plate and you don’t have the capacity to do like the minute thing. So I’ll take care of it for you. And she just launched me into a space that I didn’t know I was capable of. And so it’s sometimes it’s really your, like your team. need a really good team of people around you, especially when you have a child that can just help elevate you to the next level because you don’t know what you don’t know. And now he’s only 24. So I’m still trying to figure out what that means as a young woman.

Brett McCollum (17:04.078)
Hmm.

Brett McCollum (17:08.568)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (17:25.174)
let alone as a mom. And so she worked at the time at Sharing Plow. I don’t know if you guys are familiar with that. It’s no longer in business, but that’s where I started. was, like I mentioned, administrative assistant for a brand called Claritin, which is perfect timing because of the season. I had to close my doors because I was like, I’m going to be sneezing about this podcast with you. But so I learned about marketing. That was my introduction into marketing. I had no idea what it meant.

Brett McCollum (17:47.853)
yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (17:54.168)
from a long-term, just from the way in which the mind works and absorbs information. And like, you can think about all the jingles when we were younger, you know, the gum, juicy fruit. I’m sure you can still sing the song now, right? And so it’s all of the things that I didn’t realize, like focus groups. And all of that made me see everything that I went through from the time that I left Rhode Island up until present day prepared me for this moment. It allowed me to be equipped with the mindset.

with the motivation, with the ambition, with understanding diversity and cultures. All of that has shaped and formed my character to make sure that I’m performing as my highest self today.

Brett McCollum (18:32.27)
I love that. All right, so let’s fast forward a bit from there. get a series of life happening, which again, happens to us all. We get all the great stories, right? And I’m a believer in sometimes, the thing about hindsight is you never know what it is until you look back. So when you’re in the moment of the difficult season that you’re in,

Veronica Fairweather (18:35.38)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (18:39.97)
Yeah.

everyone.

Veronica Fairweather (18:55.248)
It’s very true.

Brett McCollum (19:00.206)
it may as well feel like the end is never in sight. And I know a lot. So I have to tell myself in difficult times, and sometimes it’s nothing more than I just have to tell myself this, because I don’t see it. I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I have to tell myself, this is just a season. This is happening. This is happening. This is not happening, because it’s the difference of a victim mentality and a victor mentality.

Veronica Fairweather (19:03.662)
correct.

Veronica Fairweather (19:18.328)
Yep, it’s temporary.

Veronica Fairweather (19:24.972)
Yeah, I love that.

Brett McCollum (19:30.114)
this is happening for me, not to me. And I have to tell myself that sometimes, even if I don’t really see it. So that said, you go through this and you’re walking through the season of, I’m four months behind.

Veronica Fairweather (19:32.748)
Yes. Ooh, that’s really good.

Veronica Fairweather (19:38.732)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Brett McCollum (19:55.022)
Financial stress is a very, very, very, very, very difficult thing. when you, I’ve said to people, you know, if you hurt me all you want, I can handle it. But when you start, when my kids and my wife are, don’t do that. I can take it. I can take it. Don’t let it mess with them. So when our circumstances, a lot of times in real estate, when, you know, especially in a market like we’re in right now, where things are doing this a lot for a lot of people and maybe people’s income are being impacted.

Veronica Fairweather (20:06.018)
Yeah, a different animal.

Brett McCollum (20:23.628)
and they’re not making the money they were making. Flips are sitting on the market longer. You’re not selling. You’ve got your holding costs are just bleeding you dry. This is the story for a lot of people I talk to. And financial stress is a very, very difficult thing. You’re going at a peak of losing your home and doing this. Like I can imagine with kids and I can imagine like mom instincts are jumping in like how long

Veronica Fairweather (20:38.648)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (20:49.315)
my gosh.

Brett McCollum (20:50.038)
you, how am going to do this? And you don’t see the end there.

How do you?

then become this version of yourself now. Because that is a powerful thing that you’ve done.

Veronica Fairweather (21:06.114)
That’s a great question. Especially because, you know, I left my husband. I’m starting this new venture where any woman would feel so proudful, right? Like, I’m now like this superwoman. I’m so strong. I can do all these things. And then you quickly get humbled. It was a very dark time. A lot of tears, right, by yourself. There’s a lot of shame that’s associated with not being able to stay afloat.

Brett McCollum (21:19.843)
Yeah.

Brett McCollum (21:23.629)
Yeah.

Brett McCollum (21:31.522)
Yeah. Sure. Yeah, no doubt.

Veronica Fairweather (21:34.51)
you don’t want to tell anyone because you just don’t want people to look at you sideways and say, well, this is why you shouldn’t have left. You should have stayed. You don’t want anyone to, you know, reinforce your self doubt already. And so, what I did was I started driving Uber. I went back to bartending just to make sure that I can maintain the necessities of putting food on the table, putting gas in my car so I can bring her to and from school and just living a really tight budget.

And then this is when my, my faith increased in God. This is when I leaned in heavily into it. And it’s those moments where you have to lean into something that’s going to give you a source of power to remain strong in this time. And that’s what really started to pick me up. And I kid you not at that fourth month, because what happens is, is if you don’t, if you don’t pay your mortgage after four months, it goes into pre-foreclosure. You’ll get a foreclosure notice. And so I was at that fourth month mark.

Brett McCollum (22:15.022)
Cool.

Veronica Fairweather (22:32.318)
And that same friend that got me that pharmaceutical job sent me a message randomly said, Hey, I was just checking on you. haven’t heard from you in while. And then my spirit told me to message you. And I said, you know, and this is the only person I ever told when I was going through this. said, things are not good. And I just let her know everything. And she said, I actually just got hired at this pharmaceutical company. They work remote. They’re looking for an admin. I’ll put a word in for you. And I got the job a week later.

Brett McCollum (22:57.144)
to this. I wish I could come give her a hug for you, right? Come on, man.

Veronica Fairweather (23:01.466)
Love her. She is an angel. She is an angel. when I tell you, it just aligned. And that put me right back into place. And then three months later, I closed a deal that was just someone’s salary. And I was back in the game. I was back in it. And I just, never turned back. But during that timeframe, again, it equipped me with the knowledge that I thought I already had. How to formulate a relationship with your bank when you are in financial hardship.

how to make sure that you’re on top of your game. And so those things allowed me to increase my skillset. So when I talk to homeowners who are facing foreclosure, I’m speaking from true experience, personal experience, not just from experience of working with various people. So I take it on very personally.

Brett McCollum (23:39.31)
That’s right.

Brett McCollum (23:45.422)
So tell me this then, how does the business today function? What is it exactly that you’re able, the specialty that you do?

Veronica Fairweather (23:53.102)
Sure. So what I do is there’s, like I had mentioned, there’s two stages of foreclosure. You’re in pre-foreclosure, which is when you are 120 days or four months or greater behind on your mortgage payments. During that timeframe, and depending on the state that you live in, New Jersey allows up to two years before they put your property on auction. So during those two, which is a great time, right? And so, and that’s because Jersey has a judicial foreclosure process, which means the bank has to file, go through the court system.

Brett McCollum (24:13.42)
Mmm.

Veronica Fairweather (24:22.496)
in order to file foreclosure. So because inventory is so high and the courts are backed up, it takes up to two years. I’ve worked with homeowners who haven’t paid a mortgage in 10 years. And yeah, it’s crazy, but nevertheless, that’s the first step. So I typically reach out to them and say, hey, listen, I noticed that your property is, you’re facing pre-foreclosure. You have time. Don’t wait, don’t ignore the signs. And I walk them through the steps of things that they can do. There are programs that the bank offers.

that can get you back on track. You have loan modifications, have forbearance, you have deferment. And that’s all based off of your financials, so you have to submit documents. If that doesn’t work, there are state programs that can help you reinstate your mortgage. So there’s always a way. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to be able to get back on track. Now, typically what happens is I then call a homeowner who’s on the auction list.

And even then I’ve stopped auction same day and sold the house on multiple occasions. So when I tell my clients, it’s never too late, it’s never too late, but each circumstance is different. And so you want to work with someone who is well-versed, very knowledgeable, has the experience, is aggressive, knows the relationship with the banks, knows how to talk to banks, right? Because there’s a certain language you want to have. And that is very aggressive, knowing when to go to court.

Brett McCollum (25:26.083)
Wow.

Brett McCollum (25:32.899)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (25:49.858)
when to use your adjournments. There’s so many different tactics. Now, many people say they know how to do it, but not many people are aggressive enough to get it done. And that’s the difference between me and everyone else.

Brett McCollum (26:00.078)
That’s incredible. Yeah, it’s so, and right now, I mean…

Life, as we said, happens to everybody at some point, and some people worse than others. And sometimes we, and right now especially where the economic climate is, taxes are high, insurance is high, inflation is high, tariffs are high, things are high, everything’s high, everything’s happening.

Veronica Fairweather (26:10.093)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (26:24.834)
Hi, everything.

Brett McCollum (26:26.602)
everything, everything, you know, and guess what’s not increasing? Wages are not increasing. And how can they? Because businesses are losing, because of everything, how do I pay my employee more money when we’re losing money left and right, you know, and it’s just…

Veronica Fairweather (26:39.543)
Right.

Brett McCollum (26:43.31)
there are things that we follow as investors you know a lot you know one of them is the inverted yield curve have you heard of that so inverted yield curve is just a basically and I’ll get the the clip notes is it’s the the treasury yield and short short term and long term treasury yields when one is higher or lower than the other it’s called an inverted curve right and so when this when short term outperforms long term that’s when it it well right

Veronica Fairweather (26:50.936)
What

Brett McCollum (27:11.278)
I’m not a big economist, so I’m not gonna pretend to know things, but one of the things that I’ve been told to look at is what happens to the labor market after an inward yield curve. And traditionally, it’s about 18 months to two years you start seeing a recession. Well, it wasn’t quite two years, about two and a half years was from when the yield curve triggered. So was like September of 23. No, 22, excuse me. Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (27:26.701)
Okay.

Veronica Fairweather (27:33.518)
Veronica Fairweather (27:37.549)
Okay.

Brett McCollum (27:41.198)
Yeah. uh, and we’re like, Oh no, what that, know, all the investors are going, okay, well, you know, da da da da da and fast forward us. We’re seeing a lot more things on the market with, with a foreclosure, increasing things, know, credit card debt at the most all time at the all at all time highs. And it’s like, Oh, maybe it did know what it was talking about. You know, um, are you seeing more of that too, like with today or what is that?

Veronica Fairweather (27:54.668)
Yeah. All time high. Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (28:03.682)
Mm-hmm.

Veronica Fairweather (28:09.108)
Yeah. just quarter one of 2025, foreclosures nationwide are up 11%. So that is over 93,000. And so, yeah, and it’s, it’s, it’s a large number. It’s frightening just because like, to your point, the economy is shifting in a way that people didn’t anticipate or some did and others didn’t. And if you’re unable to pay your mortgage now, because a lot of federal workers did lose their job.

A lot of small businesses are coming out of, you know, are shutting down. There’s going to be a rise. And if you don’t act now on just at least strategizing and start calling your banks and letting them know of your financial hardship, I always put it very simply to my clients. Imagine if you loan your cousin or a friend $1,500 and they start paying you and then all of sudden they stop. They don’t call you. They don’t, they cut off communication. You have no idea what’s going on. You’re reaching out to them. They’re just ignoring you.

How do you feel? You want your money, especially in times like this. That is the bank. The bank just wants to know what’s going on. And all you have to do is just call and let them know they’re there to help you. rent is at all time high. Rents are higher than a lot of people’s mortgages, right? So you want to be in a position where you don’t lose your house and have to rent and can’t afford the rent because then you’re evicted. It’s quicker to get evicted than it does to get foreclosed on. So you’re safer in a mortgage than you are in a rental. So it’s just important

Brett McCollum (29:15.63)
Hmm.

Truly.

Brett McCollum (29:27.31)
That’s right.

Sure. Yep.

Veronica Fairweather (29:34.958)
important that you know and you work with the right professionals to get you back on track. So my concern is yes, some states are a lot higher than others when it comes to the foreclosure rate. New Jersey does rank the third in the nation as the highest foreclosure state. And so you just want to be aware of what you’re doing and how to navigate it and just become familiar with how your state handles foreclosures overall.

Brett McCollum (29:58.146)
Yeah. for you. can like the, you know, we’re an investors podcast. How can we work with you in some way? What does that look like?

Veronica Fairweather (30:03.628)
Yeah. yeah, that’s a great question. So, you can contact me, right? Directly. If you want to go to my social media handles, that’s Veronica, the broker. but another way to just stay in the loop is that I do have an investor list where I do call on investors where I’m able to find distress properties. and there’s situations where you’re able to, partner with, do a joint venture as such with some of my clients to be able to get them back on track.

and then you act as the bank and they pay you a reduced fee, right? And there’s just so many opportunities, but that’s just one example where we’re able to leverage those relationships and maintain a dual responsibility on both parts where it works for both parties.

Brett McCollum (30:35.342)
Mm-hmm.

Brett McCollum (30:48.27)
That’s right, yeah. I think that’s special. Yeah, and being able to service both sides of it. And obviously, I love the fact that you operate from a place of care and experience. Because like, this was me at one point, you know? And never for, like, won’t share this podcast. This is not about me. But like, not forgetting where you come from, you know, is.

Veronica Fairweather (30:54.913)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (30:58.595)
Yes.

Veronica Fairweather (31:11.021)
Mm-hmm.

Brett McCollum (31:13.506)
hard for a lot of people because it becomes so transactional sometimes with what do. If we can always operate from the lens for each person we work with, like, hey, this was me. Hey, this was me. You know, that’s

Veronica Fairweather (31:16.899)
Yes.

Veronica Fairweather (31:25.71)
I understand, yeah, I understand what you’re experiencing. And to your point, it’s not happening to me, it’s happening for me. What am I learning in this lesson so I can be better on the other side of it?

Brett McCollum (31:34.466)
Yep.

Brett McCollum (31:38.958)
And now, Veronica, the thing that happened to you is the very thing that you’re serving. Sometimes you’re like, oh my god, I could have done something like that, huh? Because the moment you didn’t think that, I promise you weren’t thinking that when that happened. You were like, this is what I’m going to become. Yeah. And it’s just, you had to go through that. And you hate it. You hate it, that right? It’s like, geez, why?

Veronica Fairweather (31:40.695)
Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (31:45.014)
Yes.

Veronica Fairweather (31:49.23)
Yep. It’s all God. At all. Yeah.

Veronica Fairweather (32:01.058)
I had to. Yeah. Why? Yep.

Brett McCollum (32:05.262)
A biblical lesson is, none of us, I pray, have to go through, like, the Job lesson in the Bible, where… But it’s like… Sometimes that happens.

Veronica Fairweather (32:10.798)
Mm-hmm.

Veronica Fairweather (32:18.37)
It does.

Brett McCollum (32:19.266)
But then you look back and it’s like, this is what comes out. You had to go through that to have to go through it. It’s such a very, there’s the theology. I studied theology stuff too and I was talking with somebody the other day and we were talking about this and the theology is, it’s called sanctification. That’s what it is. So you’re always going from seasonality of like circumstantial, certain seasons. You’re either going into one, you’re in one, or you’re coming out of one. And it’s a revolving.

Veronica Fairweather (32:24.248)
to have the rest,

Veronica Fairweather (32:48.142)
yeah, it’s very true.

Brett McCollum (32:49.474)
You know, and yeah, it’s always that way, you know, and, know, when you’re coming out of it things are feeling good, you’re on that mountain, you know, things are good. And you guess what? You’re getting ready to go into another one, you know, and it just changes. And then you’re always, it’s called that process called is refinement and just who you are become through that couldn’t have happened another way, you know, and

Veronica Fairweather (32:57.016)
Yeah.

Brett McCollum (33:12.728)
But everybody’s a little different, right? So anyway, I’ll digress, but I just think that’s really special to see you walk through that, where you’re at today, what you’re doing. And I tell people from time to time, I hope it’s not weird that I say this, but if somebody hasn’t told you this, I’m proud of you, what you’ve done. It’s very cool. All right, but Veronica, what’s, like you said, you have your socials, what’s the best way for people to connect? does that look like?

Veronica Fairweather (33:19.746)
Thank you.

Veronica Fairweather (33:30.03)
Thank you. I appreciate that.

Veronica Fairweather (33:39.916)
Yeah, so you can email me at veronica.fairweather at exprealtee.com or you can go to my social media handles, Veronica the broker that’s on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.

Brett McCollum (33:54.072)
Perfect. Man, this is so good, Veronica. Thanks so much for being here with us today.

Veronica Fairweather (33:57.484)
Thank you for having me. I appreciate you. It was lovely. Okay.

Brett McCollum (34:00.214)
Alright, yes, alright guys to you as well. Thanks for hanging out with us spending your time and we will see each of you on at the next episode. Take care everybody.