Taekwondo to Mortgage Mastery | Arjun Dhingra

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Episode Topics:

• Discover Arjun Dhingra’s journey from Taekwondo champion to mortgage expert.
• Learn how resilience and community can drive success.
• Understand the importance of holistic financial advice.
• Get inspired by the creation and purpose of the LFG Society.
• Hear practical tips for navigating tough economic times.

 

Rick Jordan  

What’s shakin Hey, I’m Rick Jordan. Today, we’re going all in I’ve had this theme today, man, to where it’s like, I just start talking. And we haven’t really, like done, like, a real intro, anything’s done in post production anyways, but it’s just like this. It’s been a good it’s been a good feel for the day, a lot of good people, but it’s just been like, conversations like that, you know, like, like, how do you pronounce your last name? Is that? Dhingra,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

just like, as if there’s no “h” there. Dhingra. Dhingra,

 

Rick Jordan  

Arjun. Dhingra, yes, there you go. I’m looking at you. You’re you’re wearing a denim shirt. I haven’t seen a denim shirt in a very long time. It looks freaking awesome on you. 

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Thank you, brother. And I’m wearing yesterday I was in your classic, uh, attire. I was a black shirt, t shirt and black jeans. I love it black.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, that’s whenever I wear all black.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

I think of you now. 

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s awesome. I appreciate that, man. Yeah, really cool. So, yeah, I mean the resiliency, right? That’s the that’s the part of what we have to go through. But, I mean, it’s so we started, by the way, we’re just, here we go. Here’s our conversation for the day. Everyone on this is my my friend, Arjun, and he’s just a phenomenal dude. There’s something I didn’t know about you, though, as I was looking through the nose, because, I mean, we’ve talked investments, we’ve talked real estate and everything, freaking two time taekwondo world champion.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Yeah, I was a while ago, but, yeah, I did it.

 

Rick Jordan  

I’m sure it’s like, muscle memory, though, you know, because, I mean, I’m a big dude, but I mean, you could just, like, crush me in probably, like three seconds because of that, that’s I’m

 

Arjun Dhingra  

A little slower these days, so it might take four but I got into martial arts as a kid, because I got bullied. And, yeah, like the original Karate Kid, you know, yeah, and that was eight years old. My mom got me into taekwondo kind of by accident. She was looking for karate, and Taekwondo was just there. And then I just stuck with it. And then I had the great opportunity and privilege for competing for team USA for seven years, and then I was co head coach for team USA for 10 years, and I just stepped down last year, wow, because family demands won’t allow for it anymore. But yeah, it’s been a I still, I still keep up with training as best as I can. And like you said, the muscle memory, you know, it doesn’t go away, but you gotta, you gotta keep exercising and sharpening it.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, no doubt, that’s really cool. Well, that’s a resiliency too, isn’t it

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Big time? Man, yeah. I mean, because takes lot. I mean, like, you’ve built so many businesses, right? Like, you understand, like, to get you have to keep pushing the rock up the hill, and you sometimes can’t look around. There’s no way to look around it to see how close you are, how far you are. You just have to keep pushing. But with martial arts and Taekwondo, especially, competing at that level, it’s the same thing. You just have to keep going and keep pushing and not you can’t really stop. There can’t be any quitting, you

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s interesting. You talk about the rock pushing it up the hill. And I say it’s interesting because that’s literally a slide that I use, you know, when I do presentations from stage, I don’t like, you know, I don’t like doing like, typical, like, PowerPoints, you know. And you’ll see people with like, these bullet points, and then the slides just become their uh, maybe this is what separates, like, the professional speakers. And I’ll ask that I am a professional speaker versus those that might just be starting out. You know, is the slides become their notes. And when I, when I give people like little tidbits about speaking, it’s always, know your talk beyond memorization, you know, which is, storytelling helps a lot with that. So you always know your R and it’s like, just know your transition points with that rock pushing up the hill. I use that in one of my talks because it talks about scaling, you know, it’s like the visual element that’s all that’s there. It’s just literally the word scaling. And then this dude pushing the rock up the hill, and I throw it out there like guys, let me tell you, this scaling sucks. It is quite literally like that.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Yep, that is, that’s true. It’s about as good of an analogy as you can come up with. Yep,

 

Rick Jordan  

for sure. Man, though, taekwondo, obviously, but you’ve been in, you’ve been a mortgage advisor for a long, long time. Yeah. How did you roll into that? 

 

Arjun Dhingra  

By total accident, because nobody sets out looking to get into the mortgage industry. So I was living in Reno. I was in my in college, my last year of school, was in a fraternity house, and just started helping out some of my fraternity brothers that were already in the business. I lived in Reno. They were in Vegas, and they needed help up in Reno, visiting clients and picking up paperwork. Because, you know, everything was done off of fax machine and overnight mail at that time, it wasn’t digitized the way it is now. So that’s how I got started. And then my grad school plans got put on hold. And 2425 years later, they’re still on hold. I’m still doing it. So, yeah, that’s, that’s how I ended up in this space.

 

Rick Jordan  

So your grad school plans got put on hold. Right? I’m smiling, obviously you can see me. But anyone who’s that, what were you originally going to do? That’s the question there.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Yeah, no, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t know what exactly I always knew that I love. People. And I love business, you know, I love commerce. I’m fascinated by economics, so I was gonna go do my MBA, that’s what I wanted to do. And then I figured things would just kind of unfold from there. But, you know, like, like the many gifts in life, it’s always the unexpected or the thing that you’re not paying attention to, that kind of blindsides you, and it ends up being this gift. But it’s opened up so many doors. It’s created so many, you know, relationship opportunities, and I’ve met so many incredible people along the way that don’t even have anything to do with mortgage, like how you and I connected, you know, and my connection our good mutual friend David, and none of that had anything to do with mortgage. But it’s from being in this space and then being entrepreneurial and getting outside your comfort zone and taking some shots and saying hello to people that maybe you might have been afraid to say hello to. And then you forge something beautiful. And then you just never know what you know where it’s gonna lead you, even though

 

Rick Jordan  

You’re the dude in the room that can, like, kick the ass of every other dude I know, Joe. Like, that’s the one part of your bio that I’m stuck on, you know, I saw them like, what? No way,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Yeah. Well, you know, we can’t talk too much about it, right? Because then, then what ends up happening is, then somebody starts a fight, and then they just push me out there to, like, kind of go deal with it. No, I’m just kidding, but no, I can’t in college, it would, yeah, in college, it really would. People would talk all this game. And I was actually a DJ in college, so you know, I was, I wasn’t the one trying to start crap. I was trying to keep people happy, right? Moving, playing good music. And then fights would start, and then someone would say, You know what, I’m not gonna fight you. That guy over there is, I’m like, Huh? What do you mean? But I would never get in any fights. I’d always diffuse the situations, because the best answer to any fight is to not fight and such in life, right? So, yeah, that’s always, it’s

 

Rick Jordan  

like, there’s, there’s only two methods I’ve discovered, right? Because it’s a, I had a physical security company too, you know, like guns and guards, right? And it was always de escalation was most definitely the the way to go. You know, like 99% of the time, that’s what you had to do. But it was, like, the only other choice behind which is interesting to look at it this way. It was like, total scorched earth mentality. It’s like, yeah, you know, it’s like, obviously all in, that’s who I am. But it was like, it was all in on either side of those there was no, there was no kind of straddling the line between those two. That’s probably what you found, too. It’s like, you know, I’m gonna do everything I can to de escalate this situation, you know, whether it’s a union business deals, whatever it is, you know. But then if it flips over the other side. It’s like, oh, here we go. LFG, yeah, right,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Yeah, I love that. Love that plug. No, you know. And honestly, the whole LFG mantra, and the energy is actually in the de escalation, yeah, you know. But then if it does have to go scorched earth, or goes to that and look, some things happen that way, right? If we look at business conflicts, global conflict, interpersonal dynamics, marriages, we try and de escalate, and then sometimes there’s just no way out, but, but through, and we got to go all the way to the end, yeah? But even then, there’s an opportunity during those like devastating or kind of like scorched earth moments, to try and get some type of a better solution or a better outcome. So yeah, it’s not always lost. Yeah,

 

Rick Jordan  

I think whenever ever I’ve had to go that route in a business deal, you know, like even, even taking the company public a few months back, you know, it was probably eight times, you know, in like, the last 10 days of working this deal that the deal completely fell apart, you know. And it was a, you know, it literally, like a scorched earth kind of thing, you know, you get up to, it’s like, it doesn’t seem like there’s any way through at this, you know, you end up finding the way through, which is the resilience that we were talking about to begin with. But still, even with that, it’s like the the scorched earth. When I see that, it’s almost like a, it’s more like a no compromise scenario, you know, it’s like, I’m not going to reduce my values in this moment, and that’s the only reason to go that direction. You know, de escalation is more like, you know, it’s a calm way to talk through things. But when you get to that point of where, at least, I’ve noticed, maybe you can relate or not, but it’s just, it’s like, scorch Earth. It’s like, I am not going to reduce my values. I’m not going to compromise my values on whatever this is, you know, just to, just to please you, just to move forward, just to get the deal, just to, you know, stay married, you know, whatever it is, like you were talking about, you know, it’s like my values and my boundaries around those values are things that absolutely have to stand and that if that means destroying whatever this is, then I’m okay with that. Yeah,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

I think arriving at that systematically and methodically, the way you did there in that example is the key. Yeah, most people just opt for scorched earth because they don’t think they they think they’ve exhausted everything, or that they did have to compromise. Maybe they didn’t. They weren’t actually looking at it, you know, through a clear lens, and just go to scorched earth, either because they’re not patient enough, yeah, or they can’t spend the time there and kind of work through it, or they just, you know, have a natural flair or an insatiable desire for scorched earth, and that’s

 

Rick Jordan  

be an emotional decision, which is never the role to go there. Yep, totally Yeah.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

So it can happen. Yeah, that’s

 

Rick Jordan  

intriguing. Man. I love that. So I mentioned it a little bit. I plugged it right? The LFG society, yeah. Yeah, I want to hear all about this. And what’s cool is that, you know, even when we’ve seen each other in person a few times, I’ve never gotten a chance to ask you about this, yeah, you know. And what it is why you founded it, you know? What’s the purpose behind why you’re doing it? What do you love that the people involved in it do and get involved in and get out of it as well? Give me the whole thing, because I’m pumped, especially with the name dude, yeah,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

I agree. I’ll tell you, like the LFG it is, effectively now a media company, and underneath LFG is our online community of entrepreneurs and like minded individuals and amazing humans called the LFG society. And a society, by definition, is the collaborative effort of everybody lifting it up. I wanted it to be something different than a mastermind, because I feel like the contributions amongst the peers or amongst the members or the people that are actually like part of the group is sometimes as impactful, if not more impactful, upon one another than it is that if I bring in an amazing thought leader and entrepreneur, which I still will, and want to as in Rick Jordan, someone who’s talking about and David, you know, I mean, David’s a faculty member, right? And that’s why I’ve gotten to know you too through that. So we definitely want to have you involved. But the reason I started it was because I knew through various tough cycles in life, and I, the biggest one that you know, comes to mind for my professional career was 2008 right? The market crash, the great the Great Recession. Yeah, that one during that time, if you were in mortgage and real estate, it was pretty lonely. In fact, most everyone that was around at that time exited, they were probably smart, you know, and got in and pivoted into

 

Rick Jordan  

other industries moments you said, like, those people were smart, but you ever feel it’s like, Hey, I’m just gonna keep going, and then it’s like, you take them, it’s like, what the hell am I doing? You know? But it’s the resilience thing, again, that’s the theme of this show. Yep,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

totally Yeah. It’s the resilience and pushing through and then kind of seeing an opportunity in the rubble, right? And in this in this storm and in this chaos and through this Blaze, which is what it was, it was a terrible time, economically, personally, you know, it was just really, really tough for everybody around like it was, it was abysmal. You remember those days like you’re just not, it was not, it was not good. But I remember the one thing that I felt that I never wanted to ever feel like that again, or if I could help other people avoid that feeling, and that was this, like, just dark state of being on an island alone. There was no camaraderie, there was no community, there was nobody to talk to or collaborate with to get through it, and a lot of that was because the industry was so wiped out, and nobody wanted to talk to us like you couldn’t even tell people you did mortgages, because everyone was so upset at people in finance for the financial collapse, and rightfully so, to a degree, that blame had to be shifted somewhere. So it wasn’t a good time to be talking about what I did, and it was all I was doing. I hadn’t pivoted anything else. I figured I’d kind of stick it out. I was waiting to see what the regulatory environment would be. But I just remembered during that time, I don’t ever want to feel like this again, and I don’t want anyone to ever have to feel like they’re alone whenever there’s a big shift. So over time, in putting on events. And, you know, LFG kind of starting as a media company was nothing. It was actually just the the host entity for some of the events I was doing. I said, You know what? I want to create something where I can give people proximity, because it’s all about being in the right rooms and shaking the right hand. That’s that one opportunity. You’ll get, that one conversation, that one handshake, that one podcast, whatever it is, yeah, it could you’re one move away, one moment away from your whole life turning in another direction. So I wanted to create that, and that can only be done through proximity and community. 

 

And I wanted to do it in a way that was really, really affordable for people, because most masterminds are some of these groups to, you know, to get into the upper echelon of the very successful and highly networked people. It’s a tight circle. It’s very tough to penetrate, if not right, downright impossible. And it’s also very, very expensive. So I thought, well, what if, through all the relationship capital, and, you know, relationship equity I’ve built up over the years through entrepreneurs, people I look up to, people I’m friends with, I could get them to contribute back and create this community of everyone coming together, getting the proximity to hear from somebody like Rick or from David, or whoever it might be, ex Olympians, athletes, coaches, high level thought leaders, and it could have an impact on their life, kind of hopefully spin them off in another direction. And then during that downtime in between, when we have our next call, you know, because they’re all done virtually, we really focus and look inward within the community and try and lift one another up. So we get this external, you know, validation and infusion of energy by way of somebody great that operates on such a high level, and then the rest of the time is spent. Okay, let’s take all that. And how do we totally hold each other accountable? How do we create, you know, a stronger community? How do we stay there for each other and lift each other up? Because, you know, it’s like that old expression in business, if you are not in service to others, you will be very lonely in business, and your career will probably be pretty short lived. So that’s a huge mantra, we’re all in service to others. Man, it’s a lot of the same principles that I know you have sworn by, and why you’ve built the amazing companies you have, and why you’re at. Where you’re at and why I know everyone who knows you and me, having spent time at a dinner that I felt really lucky to be at when I last saw you in Vegas, that you put on, just even your team, and how people around you like you’re clearly Rick in service to others, that’s always apparent. That’s so obvious, right? So those are my kind of people. Those are the people I want to be around. They’re not on the take. They’re literally out there trying to help as many people as possible and lift other people up. And along the way, all the success that you want in the world will come with it, right? Because you’re doing good. So that’s how the LFG society started. We’re very new. I mean, we only started and launched in November. It’s really exciting, because so much possibilities out there, and this continues to grow into a nationwide, you know, group and community, and with an unlimited amount of people and resources behind it, and we’re just hoping to continue to have more and more impact and lift people up. That’s

 

Rick Jordan  

awesome, man. I think we’re gonna cut that down and, just like, distribute it out to everybody too. Because I think that was probably one of the best pitches I’ve ever heard for any group, you know. But the reason is, as it came from your heart, too. I appreciate your kind words about me. Man, thank you, but I want to return, reciprocate, because what you were just doing, you could tell like you were just seeping your desire to see everybody within the LFG society just get to a place that was better than where they were before they entered. It’s awesome to see that. It’s awesome to feel that from you. Like, I mean, I know we’re virtual right now, but it’s like I can feel you coming through the screen and through the through the microphone and the earbuds. When you’re explaining all this, it’s incredible.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

We all have to be right in the right areas, right like, there’s so much in execution. There’s so many groups and things and courses you could take, and they’re great. I’m a part of many of them. They’re all about this, the actual fight, the execution. But unless you’re right here and you’re right here, yeah, none of this matters, right? So I focus here with my group and all of our faculty members and all the people that contribute, we focus here and this will come. You know, there’s plenty of resources for that, but I feel there’s not enough attention on this, right? And that’s what society and the world needs more of. So that’s interesting,

 

Rick Jordan  

because, I mean, the thought that’s coming to my head around that is literally where we started this conversation today, you know, with taekwondo. Because Taekwondo is, I’m sure, just as any martial art, just as much mental as it is physical, yes, and the discipline that you’ve got there, you know, that’s, can you connect these dots for me, please? Because I’d be curious where you have, maybe intentionally or subconsciously injected some of the mindset and discipline that you’ve obtained through being a taekwondo World World Champion into what you do and how you do the LFG society.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

Well, you know, it kind of goes back to that quote we were talking about with service, right? Being in service to others. If you’re not in service to others, you’ll be very lonely in business and in life, right? Then any success you have will be very short lived, if not just, you know, ultra temporary. There are a couple of mantras as part of the Student Instructor code and relationship in taekwondo that I think really apply it. And one of them is from the student side, that a good student is willing to learn anytime, anywhere, anyplace. They’re always ready, and they never want to stop learning. They recognize that they are works in progress whose work is never done like you just you never stop learning. Conversely, on the other side of it, and this is where it’s this beautiful, harmonious like circle, a good teacher is willing to teach anytime, anywhere, any place, and never tires of teaching is always wanting to give. So if you always have people that are wanting to give, and you have those that are wanting to receive, and they’re feeding off of one another, I mean, you’ll never have a lack of resources in the way of energy and the way of spirit and the way of optimism and the way of light. That to me, because that’s how I got brought up in the arts, and it’s carried forward. I mean, I’ve been doing this. Now, I’ve been in, you know, in taekwondo, since I was eight, so it’s been 37 almost 38 years. Wow, that I’ve been doing it right. You can’t say I’ve commitment issues since I’m still that’s awesome. And I got married. I got married very late, too, so people did think I had commitment issues waiting around. Yeah,

 

Rick Jordan  

Same. That’s hilarious, ironic, but,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

you know, yeah, I just, I think, though that part of Taekwondo and like that, those frames of reference that I had from growing up in it and then hearing it, it made it very natural, because it was such a core part of who I am. Those are my core beliefs. You the core beliefs are who you are. Yeah, you don’t change them. They’re not nothing you aspire to. They’re what you are, or they’re right there, you know, right? You know, it’s pretty transparent. You can’t change it. So those things were part of my core values, which made everything I’ve done in terms of wanting to continue that mantra, being in service to others, really natural. It wasn’t a pivot or a shift of saying, No, I’m going to do it differently. No, I’ve always naturally done it, and it’s kind of how I’m hardwired now. So the evolution and the manifest itself, initially, of LFG society, coupled with this, you know, these constant frames of reference that I draw from on the martial arts side, and that, you know, there’s 38 years of training and still being a student and still never tiring of learning. You put the two together, it’s, it’s pretty. Actual that way. Rick,

 

Rick Jordan  

I love that. I love that man. I was looking behind you here. I mean, this is totally off topic, but I thought as you were talking at one point during this I’m like, Man, that is the best virtual background I’ve ever seen, you know? But then I saw somebody walk by like, oh, that’s real. Are you? Are you in we work right now,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

I’m in a, I’m in a, it’s kind of like a WeWork. I call it a more mature WeWork. So where I’m at here in San Francisco, it’s called canopy, and these are private equity groups and VCs and one mortgage guy, and they’ve got four locations throughout the city, and then they just open up Miami and Seattle. WeWorks are still around here, although they’re kind of going through their waves. But WeWork is definitely more startup culture, yeah, and canopy is a lot more established, but, yeah, it’s a beautiful office right here in Jackson Square in downtown San Francisco. So it’s nice.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yep, it’s fantastic, man. If you’re ever traveling, it’s like, just step out of the frame real quick and do a frame grab of where you are and use that as a virtual background for yourself.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

That’s a great idea. I’m gonna tell my media team there, man. But always, everyone will always think I’m at work. 

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on, absolutely. Yeah, you got it for sure. That’s cool. It’s so you’re still doing mortgages. I mean, from what you were saying right there, it’s not just the LFG society. You’re still doing mortgages these days. Yes,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

yeah.

 

Rick Jordan  

What are you seeing? You know, because this is going to be totally like application time. We’ve gone through mindset stuff and everything. Let’s give some people what you’re seeing, because it’s a feds are talking about cutting rates, right? Finally, you know that that’s great, which is good for your business, of course, and it’s we’ve come through a lot of the muck now, at this point, where do you see things going in the next couple years, and what’s the best way for somebody to actually go out and obtain a mortgage these days, because you’re hearing a lot of stories now, like it’s becoming a lot more difficult. You know, buying a home now is like the monthly payment, right? The mortgage payment is at least maybe 50% higher just because of the interest rates. You know, yeah, I think the way that people have had to buy homes needed to shift. And there’s probably some creative things that you’ve been able to do around that to help make things more affordable for people as well. Yeah,

 

Arjun Dhingra  

you know, I recognized probably about six or seven years ago, so obviously, well well into the career. But you know, just a few years back that it is far more important for people to be very strategic and holistic in their approach to getting a mortgage and having the right mortgage strategy paired with a competitive loan product and rate, as opposed to the old consumer way of chasing the lowest rate that’s out there, or what feels to be the cheapest paired with the wrong strategy. Because I’ve looked at and I’ve noticed countless people that have made terrible decisions around taking out mortgage debt. So where my passion kind of got reignited in the industry was I want to help people and kind of take a little bit more of a financial literacy approach going forward. I want to help people make better decisions around taking out this debt. Because if used well, and you and I know, and you know many of these people that I even allude to in my content, Rick, like some of the wealthiest and most successful people in the world know and understand the power of debt. They know how to manipulate it. They know how to leverage it. They know how to use it as a tool, as a weapon. And that teaching and that, you know, that school of thought and approach is really now where I spend a lot of my time in helping guide people. 

 

Yes, we are in a higher mortgage rate environment. It’s definitely cooled off in the last four months, we’ve come down. In fact, I shared this today. Somebody’s buying power in the last four months has increased by roughly $100,000 because, wow, mortgage rates have come lower in the last four in the form. They’re at, like about a four month low, and they’ve been trending lower because of two things, inflation is getting under control here in the United States. It’s taken a while. It was very stubborn. Yeah, and then also, the labor markets have shown a little bit of cracking. Unemployment. It’s kind of a quiet story that’s not getting talked about. Unemployment the last four months has crept up small increments. Still, it’s creeping up. Some reasons for that, some to be alarmed by, or maybe a little bit weary of others. It makes sense, you know, because we have a larger labor participation force, or number, so more people participating and seeking jobs, naturally, your unemployment number starts to climb. But there’s some cracks in it. In the Fed, you know, has really has to just watch for the labor markets at this point, because inflation will just kind of do its trick. It’s been stubborn, whatever. So, you know, obviously, they’re in a two day meeting that started today. They’ll come out tomorrow. There’s very, very little likelihood, I would put it at, like, less than a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of a percent, like, like, just, it’s that small that they’re going to do anything this meeting. However, it is baked, it is priced in and very highly anticipated and substantiated that a cut will be on the books for the next meeting in September. September 18 is the next meeting. And why is that? Because we have a jobs report that’s coming out this Friday, there’s a very high likelihood that we’ll see that unemployment number tick up again or remain the same. Either way. Eight the Fed, who was very late in getting to the game and answering the bell when it came to inflation. 

 

They don’t want to mess up again. They have a huge credibility problem right now. They are going to be very, very hawkish and very forward thinking in trying to avoid any kind of a recession in this country. So if they see that unemployment is trending, and they look peel back some layers and and and see that there’s some cracks in the data, and they see that unemployment amongst African Americans and Asians has actually been climbing, which it adds two months in a row. That’s a bit of a troubling sign. If they see any of these trends and connect dots, they’re going to come in and cut rates in September, which I feel is a foregone conclusion at this point, and they’re going to do what they have to do to help the economy avoid going into recession. Now tie that all back to housing because mortgage rates and the Fed rate are very different. There is a little bit of a potential behavioral trend between the two, but the Fed doing what they need to do is to help the overall economy. Mortgage rates have already been moving the last four months, as I said, and that’s what the Fed having done nothing. There’s been no rate cut, but mortgage rates have been trending lower, because, again, inflation is starting to cool off, and that’s the single driver of mortgage rates. The reason why mortgage rates spiked in the last year is because inflation was a hot button topic. So just that’s all we need to know. As inflation goes so do mortgage rates. So it’s getting easier for people. People with buying power is increased by $100,000 in the last four months, getting a mortgage is as accessible the difference between this current market we’re in and say, the 2008 market credit completely tightened up. And I’m, you know, remember, like yesterday too, you couldn’t get, you couldn’t get a loan if you were willing to give away, like, if you were willing to give them money, like, in exchange, like, you just couldn’t get one. It went from there being too many loan offerings to zero because there was just no credit. 

 

We don’t have credit issues right now. Banks are very, very well capitalized. They’re flesh with money. Their balance sheets are very healthy. And if anything, we’re seeing on the inside, more mortgage products, more creativity for self employed borrowers, for entrepreneurs, for doctors, for lawyers, like all these different niche products, they just keep coming to the market. So that’s how market. So that tells me that the banks believe in housing. It’s not going anywhere. Housing remains robust because we still have this huge imbalance of the of demand and supply, and as long as that happens, you’re still going to have strong prices. So if you own a host, it’s great because it just goes up in value. If you’re trying to get in, you got to be strategic and intentional and work with good people to try and get your way in. It’s not easy. I’m not touting that. It is. It’s tough because it’s very competitive. But we’re, you know, the asset class itself remains and will always be one of the strongest and best ones in the country for creating wealth long term. But you got to work with good people. You got to understand what you’re doing. It’s not a linear process. And again, like I said, to kind of tie this up, you have to understand the power of debt and use it to your advantage. And if you do, you can still create great wealth within this space. 

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah, right on, even those who want to get into doing what you’re doing as well. I mean, this is probably a great time to jump in, because we just came out.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

I think so. I think, you know, the higher rates fleshed out. A lot of agents and lenders, right? Some 600,000 have exited in the last 18 months, 600,000 nationally, and that was needed because these cycles have purged the excess, right? There were a lot of people got into the industry during covid because things were just flying and it was easy money. And that’s not, you know, right now, there’s a strong need in calling for people who are actually true advisors. They understand how money works. They understand how inventory channels works, how markets work, and they can advise people through stuff, because that’s the keyword advisor. Like, if you’re a financial advisor, calls you Rick, you listen, yeah, for sure you’re not telling him what to do, or she you listen. So mortgage people and real estate people need to elevate and they themselves become real estate advisors, or mortgage advisors, so that clients can really be led and guided properly, and they’ll listen. And you know, as a result, that’s the calling for the industry, for people that are looking to join, is you have to elevate your game. It’s not just being a transactionalist, and I think that’s what will keep the industry healthy going forward. 

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s incredible. I absolutely ascribe to what you’re saying there, because, I mean, you look at what it’s like, you are a veteran mortgage advisor, you know. And I noticed that up front, you know, you are not a mortgage broker. Which, right? Which? Brokering is part of what you do. You know, you’re fine. You’re finding the right loan products for everybody, you know. But as you were talking, I’m thinking about this like, everyone’s like, Oh, I need a real estate guy. I need an agent. You know, I need a real estate girl. I need an agent. You know, it’s like, it’s so transactional. When you look at that totally in that perspective, you know, rather than somebody that’s like, you know what? Let’s plan this out. What is it? I can imagine a real estate advisor thinking, it’s like, where are you at in your career right now? Like, that’s literally a question I have never heard from a quote, unquote agent. You know, how’s your business doing right now? You know, is this, you know, what’s your family life look like? You know, your kids are this old right now, but what’s gonna happen, you know, in two years with that? Is there another child that you plan on having? You know, it’s like all these surrounding things, you know that I could see, it’s like, those are actually. I would think those would be the more fun conversations. I could never be a transactional guy.

 

Arjun Dhingra  

You’re going deeper there. You’re already better than 90% of the industry right there, and just what you said and those questions you asked, but that’s what it takes. That’s a peel back so doesn’t actually show some genuine interest in the life and the plans and you know what’s going on in someone’s world, before you gonna actually come up with some type of a solution? You can’t just offer the solution without, like, looking at everything right, diagnosing it properly. And to do that, you’ve gotta listen. You gotta ask questions, gotta peel back so yeah, right on. 

 

Rick Jordan  

I love it, brother. I appreciate your heart. I appreciate your your contribution to everything that you do. LFG, society, you know, well, we can find you it at our June mortgage, right and correct on Instagram, yep. Where can we find info? I don’t have this in front of me about the LFG society. Is this like a secret society? Not too many people can get in. 

 

Arjun Dhingra  

How does that secret code word? No, no, no. Is this society? Lfg.com, is the website society? LFG, comm. You can also always message me directly on Instagram to learn more about it, yeah, and and connect and talk about it. And, yeah, that’s, that’s how you’ll that’s how you’ll find us, man. And like I said, I’ll be reaching back out to you, brother, here soon to have you on one of our calls to talk about entrepreneurship. And, uh, yeah, everyone would love to hear from you. Be a huge thrill for all of us. So I’m excited about that. And getting you involved.

 

Rick Jordan  

Sounds good, brother, thank you for coming on. I’m excited to do exactly that, and I don’t know what to do next, except that I love you. I appreciate you, that that’s it. Yeah, thanks. 

 

Arjun Dhingra  

I appreciate you too, brother, thanks for all you do for all of us. Man, in the entire space, I look forward to seeing you again, and it’s always a treat. Man, thanks for having me on.