LOAN GOAT CEO Milad Shamoun | Coffeez for Closers with Joe Shalaby Ep. 40

0:28What's up, everybody? competitive world of mortgages, bringing the same discipline and determination that marked his military service. As the founder of the Long Goat Mortgage Brokerage, he quickly set a new standard for trust and reliability in the industry. His deep understanding of mortgage options has not only made him a top broker in the Golden State, but also helped countless families achieve their dream of home ownership. Join us as we welcome Milad and as he shares his journey, what he learned from the path of serving the country to serving the community. Please welcome our very own, our own Longo founder and CEO, Mr.

1:17Milad Shamoon. Welcome, Milad. That was fucking amazing. Thank you for having me, Joe. Thanks, bro. Thanks for coming. Thanks for coming down from San Diego. And we're blessed to have you. We're blessed to have a partner like you with the eMortgage family. It's been a huge blessing to have you join the community and show people a new way of doing business. You've been dominating here. Been a testament to how someone can quickly gain more resources, more insight, more production, extreme revenue within this ecosystem. So it's always awesome to have a great walking billboard like you of success and also just a great human being.

2:06And I like to gloat about you to others who are within the organization because, you know, being a top five partner with eMortgage Capital amongst 900 people and doing it in a quarter in 90 days or 120 days is like, literally, I don't think anyone's ever done it ever with our company or with any company. So kudos to you, my brother. God bless you and keep dominating. God bless you. Um, so I like to start every podcast, everyone I do with just a little icebreaker, just to let people know who you are and, uh, how you start your day. So I like to talk about your morning routine. Okay. What do you do every day when you wake up?

2:50What time do you wake up? What time do you go to bed? Sure. Sure. So I am a, uh, I'm a late bird. Uh, I go to bed usually around, uh, 1am, um, wake up around, say around 730. uh first thing that i do is i roll over and obviously i check my phone that's how you know we're in the real estate industry uh go through my emails um and i recently just uh signed up with a personal trainer um i put on a lot of weight on you know over the last couple years just building building building building yeah the business just focused on you know building the businesses and scaling and um i i i forgot that you know health is important yeah because all that I focused on in the last couple of years was just investing back in the business and making the right decisions and scaling and hiring and everything that's related to business, right?

3:45Yeah. So recently, I just hired a personal trainer, getting back in the gym. So I'm excited about that. Health was extremely important to me. I mean, you were a Marine. Yeah, I was a Marine. You ripped your whole life. I was. And me and you were talking about that. Money doesn't matter as much as health, right? No, it doesn't. uh and uh sharon our first guest has a podcast uh i listened to one of his podcasts and he said there's two things that you want to have an infinite budget for it's education does doesn't matter yeah what you what you spend on your education spend it spend there's no price tag and health like whatever the health price tag is just who cares spend it so it's like you need this for your health spend it you need that for your education spend it so you know money doesn't by happiness.

4:33No, it doesn't. And I used to think that it did. Now that you got a lot of it. Last year, I bought a$2.5 million house in Mission Hills. I bought a G-Wagon, brand new G-Wagon. I got a Day-Date Rolex. I bought all the materialistic things, right? Yeah. And even after I bought that house, which I thought this was the pinnacle of success, I still wasn't happy. Yeah. And I was like, what the hell? Like I thought this was supposed to be happening. So I can attest money does not buy happiness. Yeah. Obviously it does not. I feel like it's purpose. Yep, that's right. And, you know, it's good that you're recognizing this, this sort of wisdom at this age because you're only 28.

5:18So for you to have that sort of insight, like the world's your oyster now because it takes a lot for a man to realize that, right? Now really the journey of wisdom is beginning for you. And I think that you're going to be able to accomplish much greater things as a result of that wisdom that you're attaining. So let's start with your journey. How old were you when you entered the mortgage space? Well, I was, let's see, I'm 28 now. I was 20. In 2019, I got out of the Marine Corps. I got my real estate license in September. No. I got my real estate license in 2019 when I got out of the Marine Corps.

6:00I did real estate for roughly, I want to say 10 months, almost a year. And that is right before COVID happened. I recall wanting to get into the mortgage industry because at the time I was, what, 2021? I was 24 years old. So I told myself, let me try the other side of the industry. and if I love it more, then that's a side that I'll go with. And if I don't, then I'll just fall back on my DRE license. And I think I sold like 10 homes my first year. Really, it's pretty good. That's a top realtor, actually, 10 homes in your first year. Most realtors do like one a year. You're right, you're right.

6:43As I recall, my broker would say the average realtor sells one or two homes a year. Yeah, yeah. You're doing one a month. That's a top realtor. So I knew that I wanted to lead a team because the Marine Corps, it's all about, I think the Marine Corps has the best leadership experience, right? You learn leadership, right? And I got out as a sergeant. When I got out, I didn't know what I wanted to do, you know, and like I was lost. They didn't give you any direction in the Marine Corps? I mean, when you get out, it's when you get out, you're on your own, right? And I was in school for six months, and I was getting my business degree.

7:24I've always liked business. I grew up in a Middle Eastern household where my dad had a – he would always – Talk about education. Exactly, yeah. Like my sister was the first one to graduate with a degree. She's a nurse now at Vanderbilt in Nashville. But I got out. I got in school. Didn't know what I wanted to do. I got my real estate license because my ex at the time, her family was all in real estate. Right. And they have nice cars, nice houses. And I knew that I could speak to people. I had the gift of connecting with people. Right. I'm just very, I'm a natural when it comes to talking to people.

8:10I can approach anyone. Yeah. And I thought that that was easily taught, but I think either you have it or you don't. Yeah. So I got into real estate because of that. I got my real estate license, and I'm looking for someone to join, right, a team to join. And I go on Zillow Agent Finder, and I picked the first person with a Marine Corps flag in his headshot, Jim Betrell. So I joined Jim's team and I learned, you know, working for the guy, I disliked him a lot. I like because I'm a high D and he's a high D as well. I don't know if you this personality assessment, both drivers. I disagree to a lot of stuff that he, you know, he did.

8:54But now looking back at it, it all makes sense. Right. Worked there for about 10 months. Told myself I want to lead a team just like Jim leads a team. but I want to do it in mortgages because you walk into your local bar, you tap on anyone's shoulders and you ask them, do you know a realtor? The answer is yes. Everyone knows a real estate agent. Yeah, of course. Not everyone knows a really good mortgage broker, right? Not everyone knows a really good loan officer. So they have to think about that for a second, but everyone knows a realtor, their cousin, their wife, their ex-girlfriend, their dad, their mom, their sister, their neighbor, they know a realtor.

9:29So if I can master loans, right? And I can set myself apart. That's a path of success with least resistance. That's how I looked at it. And that's why I chose loans. I got into loans in 20, uh, 2021, 2021. I got into loans. 2021, three years, man. So let's, let's, I'm going to talk about twofold question. One, you're an immigrant. You came to the United States at what age? I was, uh, five years old. Five years old, you immigrated. Now, then you go as an immigrant, you know, and I face this as well as an immigrant. Like, what was it like telling your parents, you know what? I'm not going to go to school.

10:08I'm going to go start a business. Not only am I going to start a business, I'm going to start a mortgage company. And what was it like telling your parents you're going to go into the mortgage space? I'll one up you. What was it like telling my parents, I'm going to join the Marine Corps and leave? That was a talk. that I had that. That's something that they don't really approve of to begin with. No, no. Because my, my, I didn't even tell them that I was, when I, I've been on my own for 10 years now. I left when I was 19 years old, 18, 18 years old. Yeah. I left Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee.

10:43I grew up, uh, left when I was 18 years old. And I came home one day when I was, um, when, right after high school, I got out and I tried calls for a little, it just wasn't for me. It didn't fuel me. I didn't like it. I value education. And kudos to anyone that has a degree, but it just wasn't for me. One day I came home and I told my mom, I walked into a Marine Corps recruiting station and I ship out in four months. And she was like, you're out of your mind. She thought I was joking until I actually brought the recruiter to the house, Jonathan Lozada. I still remember the guy's name. Wow. Yeah.

11:27So, so then they, they were good then with you entering the mortgage space. Oh yeah. The mortgage. Well, I mean, like, so going back to, I've all, I've been alone for 10 years. They didn't really know what I was doing. Like I'm not updating them on everything. Right. Yeah. Because I mean, they're in Nashville. I'm here. You know, I speak to them, you know, a couple of times a week. Um, to them, it was like overnight success. Like what the hell? yeah you went from like you know dead broke marine to find a multi-million dollar house in san diego like in a couple phone calls it it was yeah when i saw that picture of you your mom giving you a kiss in front of the lone goat headquarters that's awesome and that that touched me i was like you know that that's that's a proud middle eastern mom right there yeah it filled your mom's heart yeah that was the best feeling you just you know you bring realtors to the office and you show them what you build you bring you know clients or employees but bringing your mom that was the first time she's ever seen it like that like i was so excited you know it's like look mom like shufi your mama look shufi your mama look what i did you know um it's it's like i i i want to give back to them you know they they my dad and my father and all my uncles were um you know under the dictatorship of saddam hussein yeah they all served the war they They were all at war.

12:49My dad spent his youth in war. He'd always tell me that. I didn't enjoy my youth. It was spent at war in Iran and Kuwait. He was a prisoner of war in Iran. He's got stories for days. I'm like, Dad, I've got to write a book about you. I have to document this stuff. Crazy stories. They were forced because we're Catholic. Catholic Chaldeans in Iraq. You've got to do it. They migrated. They fled the country. Persecution is a real thing. That's why we came to the U.S. They fled the country and they brought me and my younger sisters to America with a dollar in their pocket. We don't come from money.

13:28I took my family out of Section 8 and EBT food stamps. I bought my parents a home at 23 years old. And I owe that to them. Yeah. Everything we've done. A lot of people listening to this don't understand persecution. America is like, there's no persecution here. and people are talking about you know random rights right here we're talking about getting killed for our faith yep and that's that's a real thing it is uh and that's why we came to the u.s you know it's like fleeing for you know just just to wear the blood of christ on our our wrists right yep um so let's talk about um let's talk about your journey into uh so you started you started as a loan officer.

14:16Let's talk about your first job. How much did your first job pay you as an LO? $13 an hour. $13 an hour. And then what was your tax return in 2021? It's like$40 ,000. Your tax return in 2021 was$40 ,000. What was your tax return in 2022?

14:421.225 million 1.225 million yeah so those those that are listening right now there's a 3 000 increase in revenue in this mortgage space 3 000 god bless you brother that's that's an amazing testament of success i've never actually seen someone jump that much in revenue in one calendar year. That's crazy. And I'm hoping, uh, what do you think this year is going to be with EMC? What's the trajectory look like? 2 million, 2 million. Hey, I would love to see a 3000 % increase, but you know, I'll take, I'll take double. I'll take a hundred percent. You know, I want to know not to toot my own horn, but 2022 also is one rates went up.

15:27Yeah. So a lot of people were getting out and I'm all, I'm going all in. I'm all in. Yeah. Oh, that's another thing. You entered the mortgage space at the worst time ever in the mortgage industry. And arguably, people say arguably, that was worse than 08, 2022. It was worse than 08. But I love that. Relentless drive. Bring it on. So let's talk about your drive. What do you think is it that drives you so much?

16:00it's um you know i love to solve problems there's nothing more that i love when then when someone says you can't do this it's impossible right when i moved to san diego there's a lot there's a lot of flash in san diego right like i'm i'm in the marine corps i'm in ocean side right yeah i'm not I don't know what a Rolex watch is. I don't know what a nice big house is. In Nashville, it's very small. It's not like Southern California, right? So I moved to San Diego in 2020, and I get exposed to all this stuff. Like, wow, you know what I mean? It's kind of like why I joined Emortgage Capital. You get exposed to more things, right?

16:44You're around success. So when I moved to San Diego, I was surrounded by success, right? And I saw all this... you know, all these nice things. And I was like, I want this, right? Why can't I have it? And, you know, I, I, a lot of friends that, you know, I made, I would ask them that, Hey, you know, let me help me out with your business. You know, I'm a very smart guy. I don't have a degree in it, but let me help you. Everyone said, no, no, no, no, it's okay. You know, no one gave me an opportunity. So I said, fuck this. I'm going to create my own opportunity. Right. And I went all in, all in on what I had, my loan officer's license.

17:20and I leveraged every single, which is one of our core values at Lone Goat, leverage. Leverage not only loans, but leverage relationships and every single person that you know, right? So I went through my database of my contacts. I opened up my iPhone and I'm going through my contacts. Who do I know that can help me, right? And who do I know that's successful? I just sat down with everyone. And I didn't say, hey, how can you help me? It's how can I help you? a lot of people have it a lot of people have it twisted like I interviewed um someone the other day and she came in won't mention any names she was like how can you help me I was like interview is done and I said let me help you with your next interview and I coached her I was like if you have nothing to offer someone that's successful then why would they help you you have to offer your help, right?

18:15So I went through my contact list and I sat down with a couple of big people that I knew in the industry and I offered my help. Hey, how can I help you? Can I drive you around? Can I record? Can I manage your social media? Just to get my feet wet. And it all went up from there. You know, Milad, you remind me like you have a servant mentality. The first thing you did, I introduced you to somebody here at the office like, hey, listen, come stay with me you know like you just immediately just want to be of service you just want to help yeah you know like you and that's what's making you so successful is that giving mentality servitude mentality the mentality of abundance like you know and it just just god just keeps blessing that you know and that's what you have to hopefully the listeners realize like it's not a me me me mentality it's a you you you yeah i'm gonna do it for you you know like it's not me i'm gonna do it for you and then the god takes care of the rest right every single time i love to create opportunity that's right because no one gave me opportunity you know i i i can i can save that and and i'm kind of proud of saying this is i was never given the silver platter and no one said like hey here's what you do first and then you do this don't do this i tried it out do this instead i had to i had to figure it all out you know i didn't even know what a brand was in 2022 when I started Lone Goat.

19:39I just chose a logo. And then I remembered a trademark. I've heard of trademarking logos. What's a trademark? Let me look up a trademark attorney. I found Andy Nelson, who's in Orange County. Followed my trademark. And you got the best brand out there. One of the best brands I've ever seen. What inspired that brand? Lone Goat. Greatest of all time. Being the best. Number one. Elite. Ruthless. Marine Corps. That's what it's all about. And, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to create a brand that was exclusive, that portrayed the best of the best. When working with us, it's like work, it's like working with a, how do I put this?

20:24You walk into Ross, that feeling you get, then you walk into Louis Vuitton. That feeling you get. We're the Louis Vuitton of mortgages. That's how I put it. Best, we're not the most expensive, but we aren't the cheapest. You get what you pay for. But with us, you get the best service, 24-7 availability. We'll close your loan. And if we can't do it, no one can. Love it. And you like to coin yourself as doing the really difficult stuff. Talk to me about the difficult stuff. Sure. Set yourself apart, right? So I made the majority of my money and my success all from non-QM, non-QM, non-qualified mortgages, right?

21:14That's the difficult stuff, right? When I got in this industry, rates went up, right? So if I'm advertising just as your normal Joe Schmo mortgage broker doing conventional VA and FHA loans, no one's going to use it because there's thousands of those around. Now they would because everyone knows who loan goat is, but in 2022, they didn't. So I went after the hard loans. I would call these real estate agents and I'd say, Hey, pass me the loans that no one else can do that. You're, I don't want to take your preferred lenders spot. I know who he is. He's great. pass me the ones that he can't do go through your crm and i promise you look go to your crm i tell him go to your crm and go to the uh the back to the pond they call them back to the pond list and let me call those and i promise you i i would say this with confidence if i can't approve if i can't approve one of them i will wire you ten thousand dollars i don't even have ten thousand dollars.

22:18They loved that. They're like, wow, you're confident. I love this. Okay. And I started getting lists, right? And the first ever non-QM loan that I funded, amazing. We'll change wholesale. Tan, big shout out to Tan. Tan's a big mentor for me. He taught me non-QM. I call Greg Whitney. This is an amazing story. Greg Whitney, broker owner of Billionaires Row in La Jolla. And I'm after this guy because my first office was in La Jolla. had a small little 600 square foot retail space. I say, Greg, this is who I am. I've, you know, I've done a bunch of loans. I'm one of the top non-QM mortgage broker.

22:59Mind you, I haven't funded any non-QM, but I'm just, I'm just, because this guy's a big guy, he's not going to work with someone that just got in the industry. So he finally, after like a few phone calls and text messages and follow-ups, he was like, hey man, I'm walking on the beach right now, but here's actually, call this guy. I won't say his name, but there's a Persian, very successful dentist in San Diego. He's got like three dental practice. He's like, call this guy. He wants me to list his home in La Jolla. And he just, he won't qualify for the upgrade. Right. And he wanted to list his home for like 2.3, I believe.

23:34And he wanted to approve him for 3.7 million. And I was like, I'll take care of it. Let me try. Okay. Nice. Nice. So I get on the phone with Armin and – oops, just said his name. Whatever. I get on the phone with him, and this guy is very successful. So anytime I smell opportunity, like big opportunity like this, I invite them to the office for a face-to-face because when you're face-to-face, closing ratio goes up. So bring the dentist to the office. and I'm looking over his bank statements, right? Because his tax returns, he's written the majority of his income off, right? The majority of his income is written off.

24:19He's not going to qualify for$4 million house, right? So I'm going through his bank statements. I'm like, listen, I qualify you for a bank statement loan. And he's been to all these different banks that couldn't qualify him. And it's been over a year that he's been wanting to do this, right? So we qualify him for a bank statement loan. and because of our approval, I'm able to pre-approve the guy. Because of our approval, Greg Whitney, true story, Greg Whitney is able to sell his house on Caddington Row in La Jolla. Don't quote me on the numbers, but it's somewhere between$2.5 million. And we're able to help approve him and fund the loan within three weeks on his replacement home on Via Valverde for$3.62 million.

25:03You add those commissions up, they're over$170 ,000. Over$170 ,000 that Greg Whitney made because Malad relentlessly followed up and told him, this is an option to your client. And from there, I was like, wow, this is so powerful. Greg loved you. Greg loved me. And the client loved me. And now the client's on his fourth loan with us. That's awesome. for him. Now we're doing a commercial loan for his dental office and he's become actually one of my really good friends. That's what relationships are all about. Now you've built relationships with both parties. 100%. Realtor, the buyer. Yep. It just continues to snowball for you.

25:45I love non-QM. It's your niche. You think about the wealthiest people, right? The wealthiest people, business owners, they write their income off. you write your income off eventually you're not going to qualify for a fanny freddy loan yeah that's right that's right let's talk about like your transition when you decided to join e-mortgage capital sure um as a as a division um how have how much success have you seen and how has the ability to scale and learn and and gain additional resources been tremendous um the best move I made in the mortgage industry is joining you mortgage capital. You guys have a amazing platform, amazing people, amazing human beings.

26:32That's number one. There's so rare to come across people that just give and help. And that's what I think attracted me to you guys. Cause I spoke to a couple of different brokerages. You know, when I came and met you and Sam and you know, the rest of the management team, everyone that works, you guys are just nice people. And that's so hard to find nowadays. Just nice, kind human beings. Also, you guys are very, you're high level at what you do. When I joined eMortgage Capital, I was speaking to Brandon Martinez, who's also an LO here with eMortgage Capital. He's one of my - The West Coast Funding team, yeah.

27:11Yep. He told me, Milad, I see a lot of myself in you. You are not going to get to where you want to go unless you go somewhere where you're not number one because i've always been the top producer anywhere that i was right it's humbling for them even here yeah like never they were never went everywhere they went like so he told me about you guys and i was like you know what i mean you're right i need to be around an environment of killers sharks um around other people that i can't be the smartest in the room yeah i don't want to be the smartest in the room anywhere. I've always been the smartest in the room anywhere that I went.

27:48I want to be around people that are smarter than me. And that's why I joined you guys. And you guys are very, very, very good at what you do. You, Sam, the entire mortgage community. I mean, I've made more, I've made more and I've learned more in Q1 here than I did in the last two years. Love it. We love having you. We love having someone of your character. you know so character says a lot in this community and uh just you being willing to help other people being open about what you're doing always being of service to other people here it's just that's the way to win you know one of your pillars that your company is leverage one of our core pillars number two pillars community you know our number one pillar is service so you know like you don't get anything without community collaboration you know and being of service to each other and that's something we just try to instill in everybody here and uh that's something that you're you're embracing and before you even came here that was one you know leverage community we've been doing it so you know it's we're all of the same mindset um so let me ask you this what advice would you give to a brand new loan officer to attain success like you i mean you killed it in three years making millions and a lot of LOs in the worst market in history so what advice would you give to a brand new loan officer starting?

29:12It's absolutely game over when the race drop. You're not going to see me anymore. I'm going to lift you on the phone. But the best advice I can give a loan officer if they're just entering the industry is learn. Learn from everyone that you meet. Learn from everyone that you meet. Learning and education is so important. Two, think outside the box. Think outside the box with everything that you do. Number three is pick a home.

29:49Picking the right team is the most important part of it. Because there are so many people that I meet, not just loan officers, but realtors too, where they're just discouraged because they entered the industry. Someone sold them the dream and they didn't make any money. They couldn't make ends meet, and they had to go back to waiting tables or whatever. Picking the right team is everything. So when you enter the industry, are you going to know how to pick the right team? No. But pick someone that has good – go through your phone and find someone that you trust and ask them. Ask them, hey, what are some good teams?

30:35Third-party validation. Exactly. Get some third-party validation. because the right team needs everything. I mean, I did it. I don't know how I did it when I look back and I just kind of just, I put my head down, I worked and I just went. But picking the right team and someone laying out a roadmap for you to ensure success and having the right mentor. Mentorship is everything as well. And just work hard. Like nothing comes easy. Like you have to understand that nothing in this life is fucking easy, right? You have to take L's. You have to take losses. You have to feel pain. You have to suffer.