Blog Post #5 Core7- 2012 Interview

To get started, I thought the best was to tell you about the Core7 and it’s successes was to let you read the transcript of an interview I did in 2012. There may be some stuff repeated later when necessary, but this is a good overview.

JB:  Hello, this is Justin, and I’m joined today by Mark.  Mark is one of the founders of the Core7 Referral System, and he’s also the author of an Amazon best-selling book called “What’s Your Rate?”  It’s about personal finance.  

The reason we are talking to Mark is not only did he help create the Core7 Referral System, but he’s still a top-producing Mortgage Originator; one of the top producing in the country.  

What makes his business unique is that he derives almost all of it from his Core7 network and past clients, friends and family.

So Mark, let’s talk about the benefits that this has had in regards to your business.

MM: Well Justin, I’ve been in the mortgage business for almost 20 years, and in my earlier years I used to put up some really big numbers.  I broke the $100,000,000 mark multiple times, closed close to 500 units per year pretty consistently, but I was working 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day and I wasn’t really confident that I had the strong relationships that were needed.  

It really didn’t feel like a partnership and a team effort, so even though I did a lot of business and was making a lot of money, I wasn’t really happy because I really didn’t know where the next deal was coming from.  The business could just shut down at any time.   

JB:  That’s interesting.  You were doing a lot of business, but it wasn’t where you wanted it to be.  

 So, what does your business look like now? 

 MM: Now it’s different.  I only work 3-4 days a week in my mortgage origination business.  I do not work weekends.  I have a predictable, systematic business and I’m really clear where my next referral is coming from.  I’m very confident that I have a sustainable business.  

 JB:  So what do your numbers look like now?  Talk a little bit about your schedule, how that comes together.  

 MM: Well right now, I close anywhere from 40 to 50 million in loans per year, which is about 100-120 units, and I’m working with people I really like.  I feel like I’m making an impact in those client’s lives by helping them create a full Core7 financial team and to get their whole financial house together.     

 JB:  So Mark, you and I have personally discussed how you like to set up a protective wall for your clients and that’s sort of more your terminology than it is mine, and a lot of that is based on personal experience.  Now you’ve said ‘this is why I got into the mortgage industry’, ‘this is why I’m writing a book’, ‘this is why I started Core7’. 

 Can you talk about your personal experience and what led you here?

 MM: Yeah.  Well, when I was growing up, my family was pretty comfortable.  My mom and dad had a thriving business.  We had a very nice home in Newton, Massachusetts.  We had a summer home on Cape Cod, and things were really going well.  My sister and I felt we had a pretty perfect life and a pretty good family situation.  

 Then, in 1986, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away six weeks later, and had no life insurance.  

 So over the next few years, I watched my mom work really hard to maintain the same lifestyle for my sister and I. The result of this was that she ended up spending her entire savings, we had to sell the summer house, and we had to eventually sell the Newton house.   She actually had to sell her business also. All totaled, this was well over $1,000,000.     

 JB:  So there’s an ironic, an unfortunate ironic twist to this.  Can you share with us what your parents did for a living?

 MM: They sold insurance.  Property and casualty insurance and my mom was actually in the process of getting her Life, Accident and Health license at the time of my dad’s death.  This is just the classic case of the cobbler’s children having no shoes.  

 JB:  So funny, but not so funny.  So, lo and behold, years later her son becomes a mortgage originator.  

 MM: Yep, that’s right, and one of the things that always made me laugh was the fact that my mother thought her Mortgage Originator who had done the loans for the Cape house and the Newton house was the best and did an amazing job.  My mother was a smart woman so I didn’t think much of it until I became a Mortgage Originator myself.

So one day I asked my mother, ‘Mom, if your Mortgage Originator was so great, why didn’t he suggest you speak with a Financial Advisor to evaluate how the changes in your mortgage structure would affect your overall financial plan?’

After I said that, I think she realized he probably didn’t even mention it just because he thought that they knew exactly what they were doing because they were in the insurance business and she already had this covered.       

 JB:  That’s probably true.  A lot of assumptions were made, and that’s something I feel most likely happens more often than not when a professional assumes someone is not interested or doesn’t want to be pushy.  The one small move that could have made a huge difference wasn’t done.  

So, that was your inspiration behind the Core7 Referral System and your book?  

 MM: Yes it was.  I know I can make a difference and help clients get way ahead in their pursuit of financial freedom, usually when they are making what is their first major financial investment, which is the purchase of their first home.  

 JB:  I appreciate you sharing all the personal information Mark. I think that brings a lot of information to the table about what this is really all about.