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Welcome to the latest edition of the Agave Home Loans newsletter. Here's a recap of how our June finished up:

• We had a company record in new loans submitted to underwriting with 108

• We added a company record 8 new employees, bringing us to 31 total

• We set a company record for closed loans with 81 clients helped

• We set a company record for closed loan volume at $24,429,420.00

• New records set for outbound dials in a day

• Crossed the 200 5-star review mark on Google alone with hundreds more between Zillow, BBB, Facebook, and Yelp

• Our average turn-time was 17.3 days on all closings which included purchases and loans requiring appraisals

The mortgage market has been shrinking with a still limited supply of housing and most eligible clients already taking advantage of low-rate refinances but Agave is hitting company bests. We attribute this to the drive of our team in helping people achieve their financial goals with a mix of shorter-term loans like 15-year mortgages, paying off credit card debt and helping finance home renovations with cash-out.

Save That $$$$ and Puppies

My wife and I recently bought a puppy (featured above). His name is Finn Gottlieb. We're running some advanced data analytics on how many more folks read the newsletter when a cute puppy is placed toward the top of our images. Hypothesis is that people like puppies sometimes more than mortgage market updates. The breeder we got him from originally named him Barry. While Barry Sanders is the most elusive running back to ever live and my wife and I got married at (Barry) Goldwater Lake in Prescott, AZ, we opted for Finn loosely based on HuckleBARRY Finn. I liked Huck but my wife's co-worker has a dog named Huckleberry Finn and two dogs in the same circles can't both be named Huckleberry Finn. Now, what do puppies have to do with money and finance other than increased newsletter engagement? Puppies cost money. They cost money to buy, the vet costs money, the toys, crates and food all cost money as well. You can substitute puppies with pretty much any significant life decision. Added spending creates added stress. Stress keeps us distracted from the things that matter most, like family, friends, hobbies and ... puppies. To help solve the problems of financial stress, I highly recommend the books, Atomic Habits by James Clear and The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. In Atomic Habits, James Clear writes about identity and the feedback loop of a cue, craving, response and reward. Identity meaning how you define and view yourself. If you define yourself as a spender and someone that is financially illiterate, you'll likely stay that way. If you change the way you think about yourself to a saver and commit to learning about personal finance and money management, your behavior will likely change for the better. 1% better each day makes a big difference in the long-haul, baby steps. The habit loop above starts with a cue. For example, an Instagram ad pops up with a shirt you like (Cue). You envision yourself looking good in the shirt (Craving). Instagram makes it super easy to swipe up and buy the shirt (Response). You receive the shirt and get a temporary reward of satisfaction which will likely fade and normalize over time (Reward). Material things don't typically drive long-term happiness but lack of savings and substantial debt certainly drive unhappiness. You can pretty much rinse and repeat with almost everything we do in habit over the course of our lives. Most of these habits occur in the subconscious mind and aren't things we're really aware of. Some are good and some are bad. This feedback loop of habit formation can be made intentional and more obvious. Here's an example of getting into shape. Step 1: You say, "I am a runner." Step 2: You create your own cues that then trigger steps 3 and 4. For example, you place your running shoes at the foot of your bed next to your phone with an alarm clock. Step 3: There's a printed picture of you at your all-time best weight to help motivate the craving of going on the run. The running shoes and clothes placed out makes it easier to put them on. Once the clothes and shoes are on, you're more likely to go on the run. Step 4: You create a reward for yourself that you get to pick up or make your favorite breakfast only after you run. You've created a feedback loop. Identity change and then Cue, Craving, Response and Reward. My wife and I did this with our saving for Finn. First (my wife) decided we were going to be puppy owners. We talked about saving X per month in retirement and separately for a dog. We automated the savings for each and a bit extra for the recurring expenses of taking care of him. While we saved, we pulled up pictures of puppies and researched breeders to help keep us motivated. Once we hit the savings goal, we put the deposit down and bought Finn! Then the reward came hand delivered by my awesome sister-in-law from Texas. There's certainly more on the "how" side that goes into tackling debt and saving money but it starts with awareness and a simple plan using the habit loop. Start small and get better each day. Cut one small thing per week to allocate towards paying down your smallest credit card. Once the small card is paid off, cut one more small thing per week and take the payments towards the small one to tackle the next smallest one. Use the snowball method until debt is tackled, then play the same game with savings. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube for more financial tips and ways to get ahead!

- Marshall Gottlieb, CEO

Within the past 3 months, the average mortgage rate according to the Mortgage Bankers Association has only gone above 3% one time. A consumer confidence survey showed that 57% of people believe that rates will go up over the next 12 months, 30% believe rates will stay similar, and 13% believe they will go lower. Employers in the U.S. added 850,000 jobs according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase in jobs and employment gains could be good news for a continued housing market boom. Source: Housing Wire

Mortgage/real estate experience: None before this.

Best part about working in mortgages: Helping people save money!

Favorite restaurant: Postino

Favorite movie: The Dark Knight (Batman)

Favorite musician: Kanye West

Favorite hobby or pastime: Playing Ice hockey

Favorite quote: "Success is not final, Failure is not fatal: It’s the courage to continue that counts." -

Winston Churchill

Hometown or where you’re from: Glendale AZ

Fun fact: I enjoy the outdoors

AGAVE HOME LOANS

MORTGAGE BROKERAGE

PHONE 888.300.3440
EMAIL [email protected]
WEB www.agavehomeloans.com
AGAVE NMLS #1951574

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