🎙️ Val’s Vibe Episode 17: “Legislation, Leadership & Lending: What’s Next for Mortgage Brokers?”

In this power-packed episode of Val’s Vibe, Valerie Saunders welcomes back Jim Nabors, President of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, to break down everything you need to know about NAMB’s upcoming Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., happening April 1–2.

From powerhouse speakers like VA’s John Bell; Jordan Bell, Special Assistant from the White House; Representatives Emanuel Cleaver, Warren Davidson, Rtichie Torres and Senator Jack Reed, to hot-button issues like trigger leads, flood insurance, and VA lending changes, Jim shares what makes this year’s conference the most exciting in a decade. Plus, hear why networking, advocacy, and just showing up could be game-changers for your business—and your future in the industry.

If you’ve been on the fence about getting involved with NAMB, this episode will get you fired up. Tune in for insider tips, a little humor, and a whole lot of passion for mortgage pros making moves.

🎧 Listen now—and we’ll see you on the Hill! 

Transcript

  📍 All right. Hey everybody. This is Valerie Saunders. Welcome to another episode of Val's Vibe. Today I am very honored to have on the President of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, Jim Nabors. This is actually Jim's second time as president. And. He's going, he is going to talk about our upcoming legislative conference, which is April 1st and second in Washington, dc.

So welcome Jim. 

Thanks Valerie. Appreciate the invite. 

You're welcome. So I know we've been working really hard on our conference and we've got a lot of amazing speakers. What can people kind of expect if they're attending or contemplating attending? 

This is gonna be our best event and we've had in the last couple years a great event.

This is gonna be the best one. You know, maybe in the last 10 years. When we look at, when we look at our speakers, if, if nothing else, just our speakers, we've moved back to Tuesday, having the conference on Tuesday, which is April 1st, April Fool's Day. And, and then going to the hill on April 2nd. But, you know, do you mind if I give you an idea of who we have speaking?

Oh, no, please do 

you know, we're, we're gonna start out with John Bell, who's the executive Director of Loan Guaranty Services with the VA. Because you know, VA is very important to us for the first time ever, and I've been asking since 1995 to invite the White House. We are gonna have Jordan Wood, who's the Special Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Business Liaison is coming to our and come to speak with us.

Wow. You can't beat that. I, if that was just it, I'd be going that that's enough. You know, it even gets better. You know, insurance is playing a huge part. Part. Last year we had Representative Emanuel Cleaver. He's coming back to talk more about it because insurance has gotten to be even a bigger issue for us.

And then of course, Ritchie Torres, who had the trigger leads bill for us in the house. He's coming back and he's gonna be followed by Senator Jack Reed, who got a unanimously passed at the end of the last session through the Senate and will be handling the trigger leads bill in the Senate again this year.

And I think that's a great start. Yeah, yeah, of course. Then of course, we're all concerned about what's going on, you know, trigger leads, the cost of credit. We have Eric Ellman, the President, National Credit Reporting Association, he's coming to talk to us. And then we have Mark. I always pronounce his wrong name wrong.

Caa Calabria Calabria, who's not only with the CFPB, but with the Office of Budget and Management. He's coming to speak with us. And then my personal favorite, just because he is from Ohio, is you know, Representative Davidson, who happens to be the on financial institutions, the chairman of the housing subcommittee.

That's not bad. You know, that is a full schedule and I'm just excited about that. You know, and, there is something for everyone here you wanna talk about. Trigger leads fine. You wanna talk about affordable housing there? You wanna talk about the cost of credit bureaus. It's there. You wanna talk about va, it's gonna be there.

I know everybody's concerned about what's going on. You know, what's going on in the va, that's gonna be great. Wanting to know what's going on with the CFPB. We got that. So we pretty much have covered every topic that mortgage brokers are most concerned with today. And you know, I don't know of any other association.

If you're a member, you can attend their legislative conference for free. 

Very true, very, very true. You 

know, and, and yet we, we reach out to make this affordable so that more people will attend. I just think this will be, this is gonna be a great event. I mean, we've had great, like I said, we've had great events in the past, we've in, in the last couple years and, you know, go, like I joined in 94 one year.

I thought we were getting vice President Gore 'cause he showed up. It turns out the next ballroom over had the beer distributors and he went and talked to the beer guys instead of us. Well, I, I don't blame him. He's no fool. I, I, I would've given the choice beer brokers. I would've went with the beer too.

Yeah. But I think this is gonna be one of our best, best conferences. Our numbers are up on people that are attending. We switched to a new location, you know, that a brand new hotel. So we're just really excited about it. 

Yeah, I, I agree. I know last year representative Cleaver and Representative Davidson were there.

They were both amazing speakers. They were willing to answer questions. Very open. They were two very dynamic speakers. I too am excited to hear from the White House. You know, it's always interesting to get that kind of a perspective. And, and I know this is April one, so if you're listening to this and you happen to be in the Washington DC area or.

Pennsylvania or Virginia and you just wanna come for the day. You know, we have breakfast, I know we have lunch. We're having a, a reception that evening also. And we have a lot of states that are in attendance. Maybe tell us a little bit about who is going to be there just in the audience and who they can kind of.

Communicate with and network with? 

Well, you know, you have the entire NAMB board, you know, and I'm always trying, we're trying to recruit as many people on the committees, you know, because we're trying to expand the board, we're trying to get younger blood on the board. And the easiest way to do that is to get involved in a committee, whatever interests you, whether it's communications, membership, technology you know, we have, we now have brand new, we're introducing the young Professionals Committee for people 35 and and younger. And so the opportunities to get involved and then of course just I just think this, just networking with people from other states to find out what's going on in your state. You know, it is kind of.

This conference is our, our government affairs, our legislative conference. But the opportunity to talk to somebody about technology or, or social media, those opportunities are still available to you by just the people that are gonna be there. Right, right. 

Yeah. I, you know, I always think it's good to have the oppor.

We do so much zoom that, you know, to have an opportunity to talk to somebody face to face and kind of. See what kind of synergies where our, you know, maybe both of our states are experiencing similar things. I know Utah passed a trigger leads Bill recently. I think California might have that as, uh, some pending legislation.

I know some other states have discussed it, so I think it's just a good opportunity to see. You know what other people in your industry are thinking and be able to actually have a real conversation. 

It also gives you a great opportunity. Say you're from, say you're from Pennsylvania, or you're, you know, from South Car Carolina or West Virginia or wherever, that doesn't have a state association, but you'd be interested in, in trying to put one together.

People always ask me, how many people do I need to start an association? I said, well, you and three of your friends, you got four people. You're, you, you get, you go from there. And that's how we started in Ohio back in 1989. Just a couple of us got together and decided, okay, this was something we're gonna do.

You know, not everybody's gonna start. You can't expect you're gonna have, you know, a hundred members or a thousand members. But you know, again, the opportunity to talk, to, talk to you, to talk to our, our other staffers that are gonna be there and say, Hey, look, how do I do this? Talk to our membership chair.

Or, you know, or, Hey I've been sitting through some of these webinars from your industry partners or, or your strategic alliances. How do I get more involved in that? It is just so, even though it, it is geared around these speakers, there's gonna be plenty of time for you to network with just the other people in the industry and find out what are they doing that could maybe help you do better.

Right. 

And if they're sticking around to Wednesday, April 2nd, what's gonna happen on that day, 

April 2nd? Our plan is for people to go to Hill and meet with the congressmen that we didn't get because there are 435 congressmen and senators. So we couldn't get 'em all in on our schedule at this time. So you can either make an appointment, call and make an appointment, or you can just drop in.

We will have you know, packets that put together to cover all our talking points, whether it's trigger leads flood insurance gold star families. So any of the, the points that you could use as a point of reference on, okay, here's what I'd like to talk to you about. And it, it is very professionally done and I walked in, it was the first time I, I walked in and I didn't know I needed an appointment and I walked in and, you know, I was my first ever.

And I, I walked into and ended up getting to sit with, talk to the congressman. You know, and then years later I would just show up at his office and I spent more time talking to him about education because my wife was a teacher than I did about mortgage broker issues. But he had bought into that. We were developing a relationship and they are interested in, particularly you talking to, they like to hear from their constituents, you know, which is why we say, hey.

Stick with your, you know, somebody from California probably shouldn't walk into the, you know, a senator from Ohio's office, unless it's an election year for president and maybe they have an interest in being the next vice president. You never know, but, and that's what, that's how we in Ohio developed a relationship with Vice President Vance just initially walked in.

He became a senator. You just never know where that's gonna go. And our, our guys in Columbus has continued to build the relationship. Not so much with him, but with his staff. Right. And that's, I think, the other thing people say, well, I couldn't see the congressman. I had to see the staffer. That's good because the staffers are the one that, you know, gather all the information and.

You know, we will give you the most time. And then from there, you know, pass it on to their boss. Yeah. And that's definitely a positive for us. 

Yeah. No, I agree. I, I, that is one of the things I always enjoy is being able to go to the Capitol buildings. I've even gotten lucky enough to. One of my state senators gave us passes to go sit in one of the galleries and, and listen to some some hearings, which is definitely also a unique experience of just seeing how all the votes happen and, and.

You know, just how the, the legislative process occurs. So, 

yeah, and you're, you know, you're in Washington, DC the government's still open, so, you know, you get the opportunity, you know, you, you take some extra time and you, you go see the Washington Monument, you go see the Vietnam veterans Memorial.

You go see naturally the Lincoln Memorial, but at the same time. I've now eaten at the Longworth in the house office building cafeteria at least 15 times. We also have great food, which is really good. It's very good food's great and very inexpensive. 

Yes, yes. 

Somebody's subsidizing that. I don't know who, but I mean, there's just so much.

There's something for everybody. So, and we're hoping, you know, I, we realize this is the last minute you're hearing about this at the last minute. But there's just so much we we're, we have to offer you and all you have to do is be a member and you can come for free. So we hope you will. So 

kinda putting a bow on this to wrap it up, is there anything that you would, like if you had to tell somebody about NAMB?

Just your experience and why they should get involved and you know, whether they take that first step and become a member or they join a committee or maybe eventually you know, if they're interested, move on to serving on the board. What is it that you would tell them? 

Well, you know, I joined NAMB originally for protection.

I was concerned that I might be regulated or legislated out of business when they were looking at putting a 1% fee cap on what a broker could make. Again, this was in the eighties and we were making 5, 6, 7 points, but then it became so much more once you were in it. You know, I am not a technology person.

Probably the worst technology person, but to learn how to use technology. And now the coming thing is social media, learning how to develop more business. That's what it's all about. And that's, I think that's gonna be a continued emphasis. You know, we are working to make sure that our industry exists, and that's what our GA conference is for.

If you're joining NAMB, no longer are you joining for protection. You're joining to learn, okay, how do I develop more business? What are the steps I need to do? What am I missing? And things have changed from a long time ago when, you know, you just make cold calls or you went to realtor's offices and you develop contacts there with the use of social media.

And NAMB is big in it has been just is gonna be. The lifeblood of this association for the next 10 years. But you know, it's come so far. We actually had a session back in the early two thousands, or, you know, 1990, ah, 1990s. We taught people how to use email because nobody had ever used email before, and we assigned everybody an aol.com email address.

And it sounds funny now, but back then we had people that were fighting with us that they didn't think email was ever gonna work, you know? So, oh, it's 

a fad. 

Yeah. You know, so, you know, but it's just, that was before cell phones, but it was just kind of interesting how the industry has grown. And NAMB has been there at the front of it to say, okay, here's what you need to do.

And then again, you, you talked earlier about the other people that are attending. They may be a social media expert that you're following on TikTok or, or Instagram or, or Twitter or you know, even Facebook or LinkedIn that you wanna make, that, those arrangements with those connections with. So that's the great thing about our conference.

It attracts all types of people from all different types of lives and all different specialties in the business. Whether they're a broker or whether they're a banker, or whether they're just, you know, they're a mortgage loan originator. There's something there for everybody and you should come take advantage of it.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, it, it's, it is funny to just think 20 years ago. Email the internet, just being able to take online loan applications. All of those things were in, in its infancy. And I mean, my God, I mean, it's like light years ahead of that. 

Well, I, I remember when I first started in the business in 1976, the application was one page long.

Then you would call the credit bureau and they would read you the credit bureau and you would write it down on the back of the application. 

No, Graham Leach Bliley back then. 

Yeah. No Graham Leach Bliley No credit scores. No FICO no FICO scores. So it was like you actually made a decision based on, there was no, there was no previous employers, previous addresses.

It's where do you live now? Where do you work now, and where's the closest living relative their contact information so that if you don't pay, we know who to call. And that was it, you know? But then again. The average loan might be $30,000 or $40,000 because houses were a little cheaper. But the business has grown and we've grown with it.

And I think that's the one thing NAMB is now in, its 51st year. Yeah. And yeah, it's, what happened 51 years ago, we were a commercial association. We're now residential, although we still have commercial brokers that are members. But you know, and, but the one things never change. How do we help you do better?

Right? Yeah. 

And if we do help you do better, then we've been as successful. And if we do, shame on us. If we don't, shame on us. 

Well, I think that's a great place to end this conversation. I really appreciate Jim, you joining us. I'm sure this is not gonna be the last time you are going to be on Val's vibe.

I do have, 

I I, I'm, I'm just excited that I finally was invited. 

Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm happy to have you. I'm glad you could take time out of your busy schedule and join me. Awesome. So if you're in the DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania area and you wanna just come over for the day on April 1st, please join us.

If you're anywhere else in the country and you wanna join for the entire event, it's March 31 to April 2nd at the Washington Marriott Capitol Hill. We hope you'll be there and we'll probably do, maybe we'll do another. Discussion the week after. We can kind of do a little wrap up and talk about our experience and how things went and kind of take it from there.

Well, thanks. Sounds great. Thanks so much Jim, and I will see everybody on the next episode of Val's Vibe. Thanks. Have a great day. 

Stay healthy.