Business Partner Highlight: Matt Wilkerson

Keith McKeever: All right. Welcome mortgage. Matt, go ahead and tell us a little bit of who Matt Wilkerson is.

Matt Wilkerson: Key. Thanks for having me. Yeah, so mortgage Matt comes from being in the mortgage industry for about 20 years. It's kind of a name that some of the realtors call me and it's stuck. So but as far as my background, you know, I went to college, you know, out of high school, studied finance, got a four year finance degree. And right out of college started with a large national bank, I spent most of my career there worked for, for them for 15 years. You know, all throughout that time, I was involved in the mortgage industry, whether it was home purchases, refinances, you know, running a team. And then about four years ago, went off on my own, opened my own independent mortgage company, ez mortgage. And that's, that's where I am today.

Keith McKeever: Awesome. Well, you kind of answered some of my questions he took about 20 years in the industry now has been,

Matt Wilkerson: Yep, totally 19 and some a few months. So

Keith McKeever: sometimes it's like weird, you blink in your life, learn all the time go right. almost 10 years in real estate, and it's like gas has really been 10 years. Just wild to think about sometimes. So you started EZ mortgage? Correct? Correct. Okay, what what went behind that versus, you know, aligning yourself with another brand? Because I know you've been with a couple of the other companies, I've known you for the better part of the 10 years I've been in real estate. So?

Matt Wilkerson: Yeah, that's a great question. I will say, it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And, you know, a lot of sleepless nights, but it's been well worth it. Really, what led to it is I was looking to make a change. And so, you know, even when I was with Wells Fargo, I was the top producer, you know, within the company and around the country. And I just started, you know, I wanted a couple of things that I wanted to change, and have more control on. So I reached out, I talked to several different, you know, mortgage company owners, I talked to originators in the business with various companies. And two big things really led me to, to wanting to make a change and going off on my own. And that was really like, you know, I wanted to have more products and programs available for my customers. So when you work for just one bank, you basically have the products and programs that they offer, you know, versus an independent mortgage company and broker, I've got access to dozens, if not hundreds of lenders that I can partner with and try to pair my customers with that best fit their needs. And then the second thing is I just wanted more control in the process. So very focused on our client experience, trying to make sure our customers have the best experience. And I wanted to have control over what that look like. So those are two things that really led me to make that change. And it's been very positive so far,

Keith McKeever: totally understandable. I think, for somebody might not be familiar with the mortgage industry, how it works, maybe I can paint this picture, let me know if I'm correct, kind of correct on this. If you go to your local bank, or local institution, and they only offer one thing, it's like going to a Ford dealership and saying I only want a Ford Mustang. And I get it that you only come in like five 610, colors, whatever. That's all you get. You only get that car those colors, you get a handful of options. That's about it, versus a mortgage broker, you go there, and you've got the whole Ford lineup, and Chevy and dodge. And, you know, you can search all over the place and find it. Hope that explains that difference. Because I think consumers sometimes don't quite understand what that difference is.

Matt Wilkerson: Yeah, I'd say that's very accurate. And a lot of times I describe it as a box. You know, it's some institutions, there's basically a box and they got to see if you can fit inside that box. And if you don't, they say, you know, sorry, you know, we're unable to help you and good luck, right? Versus I like to say we build a box around the customer, which means not every lender takes certain credit scores, but there are lenders out there that have much, you know, a different set of lending guidelines or parameters. Not every institution or investor has the same interest rates. And so some loan amounts, you know, certain investors may offer lower rates that we can take our clients to try to get in the lowest interest rate. Or you know, some lenders may say we don't take anything below 640. While there's a lot of, you know, mortgage companies and investors that do too low As you know, down to 580, so it's yeah, it's very customized. And it's really for me, it's all about trying to take care of our customer, and let them make informed choices and let them know what's available out there. What's good,

Keith McKeever: because informed choices are always the best choices. But you know, there's a lot of people that don't feel I know, you see it all the time just preaching to the choir here, but a lot of people don't think they qualify, right? They just have no idea what goes into it, and then they're just absolutely amazed. And they're like, oh, I can buy a house. Yep. You know, even with my 590 credit score, and how much I make and all this stuff, like, yeah, you can, you know, you can have some bad knocks on your credit score, your credit reports, and you still buy there's, there's options. So well, another question, you know, kind of had some standard questions to ask the lenders, but I know you've got a lot of options. So this one probably doesn't apply. But is there anything that that you guys specialize in or anything that your company really likes to do loan wise?

Matt Wilkerson: Um, yeah, so I would say I love doing VA loans. I hold a special place for veterans and those that have served our country, I come from a military family. My dad was in the army in Vietnam, Uncle retired colonel from the Air Force, you know, cousins that have been in the Marines and, and so on. So, I, I would say if I had a passion, it would be to help those that have served and give back to them, and try to ensure that that we get them the lowest interest rate and lowest fees and best service. You know, aside from that, I really just like helping people. So you know, whether it's your conventional loans through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA loans, USDA Rural Development loans, and VA loans, that's really where we specialize in, which takes, you know, most things, I guess, with most loans would fall under that there's a few niche products that we don't do, because they're so specialized, but

Keith McKeever: we definitely like a two or 380, rehab loans and stuff like that. Or you can do some of those.

Matt Wilkerson: Yep. And it was mostly just because I wanted to get really good at the products and programs we offer in that process. And, you know, maybe down the road, we will look to add some of the specialty products. But you know, just initially, you know, the last few years wasn't somewhere where we wanted to allocate resources to

Keith McKeever: it, I don't know, I have not had anybody go through some of those rehab loans, but I know people who've, you know, had clients to do and I, you know, from what I understand that it's a lot more work, it's a lot more everybody, the agent, the lender, the buyer, it, there's so much involved into it, like you really got to, you really got to have a stomach for what's going to come if you're driving down one of those routes, so outside of work, who is mortgage man? What kind of things are you into hobby wise? And what do you like to do in your spare time?

Matt Wilkerson: Yes. So, you know, I have this conversation, just, you know, friends and realtors, you know, at social events or things like that, but I don't have a lot of hobbies, to be honest. You know, I'm really passionate about my family. And so, you know, if somebody asks, you know, where do you spend your time? And, you know, what do you do, I would say, you know, it's my faith. I'm a Christian, my family, who, you know, I've got three children, eight, five, and three, and then my lovely wife I've been married to for coming up on 12 years. That's where I like to spend my time and then work, like, to me work is a passion. Somebody brought that up to my attention recently, and they're like, Well, you do have hobbies, it's just that it's work. And I would say that, that's because I enjoy the process. And I enjoy helping others. And so for me, like I get the opportunity every day to come to work and to get better and to help people obtain financing and try to improve our process. And so I really enjoy that. I mean, it's to me, it's, it's a challenge every day that I get excited about.

Keith McKeever: I've got a little thing up there. So Success is a journey, not a destination. way it's you know, it's every day in these in because our industries are so closely related, you know, in hand. Every day is different. You have different challenges, different opportunities every day. No two days are gonna be the exact same one. For me one day is in the office one day is out on the road. It seems like it makes it interesting, and it changes it up and you don't have the same old boring, monotonous job every day. So I'm kind of the same way and it's kind of my hobby. I don't have much myself either, but nothing beats Nothing beats sitting on a couch Washington TV with the family they'll give you absolutely

Matt Wilkerson: I will say I like to Fish. I go on a fall fishing trip once every year. And it's just a couple of days. I enjoy that getaway. So yeah, no, we're gonna make it sound like I don't ever get away. I do like fishing around and keep away for a couple days.

Keith McKeever: Yeah, I sounds like a lot of fun. So how can we get in touch with you? I've got to scroll across the bottom here NMLS number, easy mortgage and the website. But is there any other ways that we can? Somebody could get in touch with you? Or your team?

Matt Wilkerson: Yeah, absolutely. So one of the things that, you know, I was very important to me when I started the company was to be available when you know, customers needed to get ahold of somebody. And a lot of transactions, you know, people work during the day. So they need to talk to somebody in the evening or on the weekends. And so I rolled out something where we said goodbye to banking hours. And it's basically my team's available from 8am to 8pm. Monday, you know, basically, Monday through Sunday, right? So, seven days a week, and they can always call our office we have licensed originators available to, to answer questions. That's 309-408-0708. They can certainly go to our website, we've got a lot of information posted about, you know, getting payment quotes or getting pre approved. They can message us, they can find us on social media. So a lot of different ways to get hold of us.

Keith McKeever: Awesome. Well, man, I appreciate you coming on here and talk a little bit about yourself what you guys do over there at easy mortgage and most importantly, how people can get in touch with you. They got questions, so I appreciate you swinging by and sharing with us.

Matt Wilkerson: Absolutely, Keith. Appreciate your service for Warren. Appreciate all you do in our community and yeah, it was good connecting with you today.

Previous
Previous

Business Partner Highlight: Adam Lofgren

Next
Next

Business Partner Highlight: Lori Hines