On Wednesday, Feb. 17, the Mortgage Leadership Outlook featured Delfino Aguilar, senior vice president, wholesale production at Kind Lending and host of the Del Talks podcast. Aguilar and series' host Andrew Berman, head of engagement and outreach for National Mortgage Professional Magazine, explored the wholesale lending business, what Aguilar likes most about it, why he started his podcast and what it's like working for the mortgage industry legend Glenn Stearns.
Before leading sales teams for a nationally ranked, top wholesale lender, Delfino Aguilar, was a top sales producer and president’s club member. He has more than 19 years of experience in the mortgage industry, as well as strong and extensive knowledge in agency and government guidelines.
Highlights From The Interview:
- “For me, if someone like Glenn Stearns calls you, you pick up that phone on the first ring,” said Aguilar. He knew Stearns from working as an account executive. When he first got to Kind Lending on May 11, 2020, there were about 40 employees and he was the sole salesperson. Now, the company has grown substantially.
- Aguilar said he was never worried about the company taking off because the leadership team was familiar with each other. He added that hard conversations were easier to have.
- “This business is a relationship business. We do relationships first and then mortgages second. When you have … that person behind you to have your back, you really don’t have those doubts.”
- Aguilar believes the industry will return to the natural face-to-face interaction that occurred before the pandemic. “People are going to be eager to see their customers. They miss them. The brokers are their friends and I think the AEs are going to be even more valuable once we get out of this for sure.
- Aguilar, like many others, fell into the mortgage industry. He kicked off his career with no mortgage experience and climbed through the ranks at Wells Fargo. He would later join Stearns Lending, working as an AE and then regional vice president.
- “I love the entrepreneur spirit. Brokers are entrepreneurs. They’re small business owners and large business owners. That has always attracted me to wholesale. They’re able to change their business quickly.”
- “I love dealing with brokers. They’re fun, in their community, and their customers are referral-based. All of those things really attract me to it. I do believe that wholesale is the best option for mortgages because a broker can present different choices and options to a borrower.”
- “To me, I won’t ask my team to do anything I would not do. I’ve been in their shoes. I understand how difficult broker conversations can be. It’s really putting them first before anything else,” said Aguilar when discussing the servant-leadership model that Kind Lending uses.
- Aguilar spoke to large crowds prior to creating his podcast but didn’t have much experience with multimedia content. He attributes a lot of the podcast’s success to his team. He created Del Talk to bring a different flavor to the mortgage industry, to humanize a mortgage company.
Check out the full interview between Aguilar and Berman below.
Click here to see the previous episode featuring Will Fisher.
Previous guests include Robert Broeksmit, Josh Friend, Joe Dahleen, Tim Nguyen, Kristy Fercho, Tony Thompson, Mat Ishbia, David Luna, Barry Habib, Rob Chrisman and more.
See all the interviews from the Mortgage Leadership Outlook series on its YouTube channel.
