The origination market has changed. And those changes offer a different set of challenges to ensure a steady stream of referral business. In this funny and engaging presentation, Ruth Lee provides practical strategies to help mortgage originators woo and win the hearts and business of realtors.

The presentation highlights the importance of networking, building trust, and providing value to your realtors. Attendees will learn how to identify and target potential realtor partners, how to approach realtors effectively, and how to build and maintain resilient relationships in a challenging market. Additionally, attendees will get important advice on how to leverage digital marketing tools to build and maintain those relationships in today’s tech-driven environment.

Whether your team is looking to reignite a relationship with their current realtor partners or woo a new realtor relationship, this presentation offers practical insights on how to build a realtor referral base that is addicted to your awesome. Get ready to take their relationship-building skills to the next level!

Presentation Highlights:

– Identifying and Targeting Realtors

– What it means to provide real value to your realtor partners

– Leveraging digital tools to stay top of mind with your Realtors.

Presentation: 60 Minutes

Category: Sales and Marketing

The mortgage industry is a people business – and for most people, there is nothing more personal than their home.  Marry that with a complicated process and experience unique to each borrower and originator, well, there are going to be a lot of emotions.  So, while having strong technical knowledge is critical to your success, research shows it is only a fraction of the value of having strong emotional intelligence.

As problem solvers, mortgage brokers, bankers, investors, and servicers need to manage complex situations that often result in frustration, arguments, and misunderstandings. EQ is the ability to understand, use and manage emotions effectively to relieve stress, communicate efficiently, and resolve conflicts. Let’s face it, EQ was made for the mortgage business. This presentation explores the five components of EQ, which are further broken down into “Self” or self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, and “Other” or empathy and social skill.  This is a fun class that invites a lot of self-reflection and offers important techniques for gaining insight into yourself, your team, and your customers.

Presentation Highlights

– Understanding Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

– What the research says about EQ

– How to Build your EQ

Bonus Resources:  Add Ruth’s course exercises and curated reading list for an extended educational experience.  Course exercises and handouts include Self-Awareness Exercises, Being Mindful, Empathy Games to Know Your Customer, and Discovering Your Primary Values.

Duration:  60-90 Minutes

Category: Motivational

Strap on your heels and get ready to laugh your way through this funny and inspiring presentation on one woman’s journey from mortgage originator to the executive suite. With witty anecdotes and relatable experiences, Ruth Lee shares her story of rising to the top in a male-dominated industry.

The presentation delves into the unique challenges faced by women in the mortgage industry, from navigating gender biases to juggling family responsibilities. But fear not, ladies – the speaker offers practical tips and strategies for overcoming these obstacles and flourishing in the industry.

In addition to inspiring and entertaining stories, attendees will gain valuable insights on building a growth mindset, cultivating mentorship and guidance, and developing strong networks and relationships. Plus, the presentation emphasizes the importance of diversity and inclusion, highlighting the positive impact that women in leadership roles can have on the industry.

Presentation: 45-60 Minutes

Category: Leadership

“Ruth’s honest, problem-focused feedback targeted the behaviors that were holding back my career growth. We navigated through challenging conversations and devised game plans all while staying authentic to me.”  Chelsea Balak, Vice President Operations, wemlo, Re/Max Holdings

About Ruth Lee

“Mortgage is my sport.”  Ruth’s mantra reflects her passion for mortgage banking – the players, the winners, and the best teams.  It is what she most enjoys reading about and researching from origination to servicing.  Having spent a lot of time in the weeds with deep operational and compliance roots, Ruth relishes crafting increasingly competitive and efficient technology and processes.  But she has also spent a lot of time reviewing tape and has dedicated a significant part of her professional education to improving her mastery of leadership, personal and professional development, team building, and critical executive functions.

Ruth’s curiosity is born of an analog frustration at the sheer lack of automation and technology in early 90s origination.  Having built a mortgage company in the mid-90s in Austin, Texas, Ruth learned to navigate the very manual processes and lack of effective reporting and data plaguing her business model.  After her exit from Westlake Mortgage in 2006, she moved to Colorado full time and opened a national fulfillment company, Titan Lenders Corp, as a cutting-edge technology-enabled service provider.  The sub-prime meltdown honed her ability to pivot at the helm of her startup’s product development, sales, and marketing teams.  She helped evolve some highly specific and innovative technology in data, compliance, and quality control.  Ruth realized her vision by selling and marketing into one new market after the next – from hard money to warehouse lending to housing finance agencies to servicing.  She is most proud of her ability to carefully curate both profitable products and successful Go to Market strategies by leveraging a core set of process expertise and technology.

Through the years, Ruth dedicated a lot of time to state, local and national associations.  In 2017, Ruth completed a yearlong project leading the MBA Servicing Committee’s development of the Industry’s Best Practices for Mortgage Servicing Transfers for Fannie, Freddie and Ginnie loans. In 2018, she sat for and passed her written and oral testing as an MBA Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB).  Today her association time is spent sponsoring new MBA Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB candidates.

Since selling Titan Lenders Corp in 2018, Ruth went back to her roots in product development, building a new liquidity advisory channel for a prominent MSR analytics firm.  For a short time, she worked with another FinTech before committing herself to an idea simmering in the background – Big Think.  When you have a problem to solve, sometimes you just need a Big Think.  Whether working with companies rethinking process or being an executive surrogate for a specific product, project, team or division, Ruth is experiencing deep satisfaction living her highest and best use, one of true service.

“A brain trust coalesces on teams of which she is a member, and Ruth’s leadership skills repeatedly create outcomes in which the whole of a team is greater than the sum of its parts. She is always seen leading teams to accomplish what they could not without her.” 

Stephen Wojnar, CMB, CMT, Principal at Battalion Group, LLC.

Ruth has a degree in Economics and Politics from Mount Holyoke College.  She attended the World Championships for Parliamentary debate three times and is a newly chaptered member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  A proud Mexican American and Cajun American woman, she lives with her best decision, Mike Lee, in Lakewood, CO with her lovable black lab, Ned, and her two cats, Adams and Jefferson. An accomplished skier and avid scuba diver, Ruth likes to see what is over the horizon and under the surface in life, in family, and in business.

Recent Accolades:

• 2021 Women with Vision Award Winner

• 2020 Most Powerful Women in FinTech Award Winner

• 2019 Lending Luminary

• 2018 Certified Mortgage Banker Graduate

Investment

Click Here to Check availability and speaking fees. Please fill out the request form.