30 Years in Mortgages: Trust, Tough Files & Broker Loyalty w/ Stacey Eads - Beyond The Guidelines
Trust, Tech, and Tough Markets: What 30 Years in Mortgages Can Teach Real Estate Pros
Real estate is full of people who show up for a few good years and disappear when the market turns.
This episode of Beyond the Guidelines is about someone who didn’t leave.
Stacy Eids has been in the mortgage business for 30 years. She’s worked files from almost every angle: originator, processor, branch manager, MI rep, AMC rep, junior underwriting tasks, and now account executive at Freedom Mortgage.
If you work in real estate, she has probably touched a loan like yours at some point.
This post breaks down her story and pulls out the lessons that matter for real estate pros trying to grow careers in a changing market.
1. From matrix sheets to AI: why depth still matters
Stacy started in the business in her early twenties.
No training academy. No tech stack. No automated AUS findings.
She was handed a matrix and sent out into the field:
Learn what fits where.
Match borrowers with programs.
Figure it out on the fly.
Over three decades, she has:
Originated loans
Processed files
Run a branch
Run an interim construction branch
Sold mortgage insurance
Represented an appraisal management company
Handled junior underwriting tasks
She jokes she’s done everything except sit in the senior underwriter chair.
That background matters.
Because when she looks at a file now, she doesn’t just see a rate and a product. She sees:
How processing is going to feel.
What will trip up underwriting.
What a borrower is about to experience.
Where a realtor and loan officer might get blindsided.
For real estate pros, the takeaway is simple:
The more of the process you understand, the more useful you become.
If you’re an agent who understands loan structure, or a loan officer who understands title, or a broker who understands how investors think, you’re not easier to replace. You’re harder.
2. A day in the life of a modern AE: service, not just sales
From the outside, an account executive can look like “the rate sheet person” or “the rep who brings donuts.”
Stacy’s day is not that cute.
Her routine:
Early start
Prayer and quiet time to get her head straight
A to-do list built around existing files and active prospects
Deep dives into the pipeline to see what’s stuck and why
Follow-up calls with loan officers to push files across the line
Check-ins that sound like:
“What are you working on today?”
“What’s in your pipe I can help with?”
“What’s giving you trouble with your current lender?”
Some days she’s in the field across a wide territory.
Other days she’s at her desk all day, chasing answers and doing pure customer service.
She’s honest about one thing:
“If you don’t get out in the field, your phone doesn’t ring. Especially in downtimes.”
Real estate works the same way:
If you’re not visible, you’re forgettable.
If you’re not in front of your people, someone else will be.
Her approach is a reminder that service drives sales, not the other way around. The reason loan officers keep calling her is not because she dropped off a brochure once. It’s because when they were stuck, she picked up and solved something.
3. Finding people in a virtual world
Stacy has been around long enough to remember when everyone sat in an office.
That world is gone.
Post-2020, she sees:
Brokers working from home
Remote teams spread across cities
Loan officers who rarely, if ever, sit at a branch desk
Walking into an office is no longer a reliable way to build relationships.
So she adjusts:
Some LOs pick up the phone.
Some never answer calls and prefer text.
Some respond best to video messages or BombBombs.
Some want Zoom meetings to talk through scenarios.
There is no one magic channel. The skill now is reading the person and meeting them where they are.
For agents and lenders, that’s a practical filter:
Do you actually know how your top partners like to be contacted?
Or are you still trying to run everything through one channel because it’s comfortable for you?
Once she does make the connection, the real test starts:
“When they know they can rely on you in a pinch and you’ve bailed them out a few times, they call you.”
It’s not the first touch that builds loyalty.
It’s the third or fourth time you show up under pressure.
4. Tech and AI: faster answers, same judgment
Technology threads through the episode.
Freedom Mortgage uses AI inside its process to help move files from underwriting to clear-to-close. Stacy doesn’t pretend to know all the plumbing; she just knows it speeds things up.
On her own desk she uses:
ChatGPT for help with language and ideas.
A Freedom-built tool that layers agency guidelines with company overlays so she can answer scenario questions in minutes.
Her overlay tool matters a lot. If a loan officer calls with:
“I’ve got a Chapter 13. What do I need to know?”
She can click into the system and see:
Agency rules
Freedom overlays
Any extra friction based on the loan’s destination
Within minutes, she can give a grounded answer instead of “I’ll get back to you next week.”
For real estate pros, tech should be doing the same job:
Speed up research.
Shorten the loop between question and answer.
Support your judgment, not replace it.
Stacy still has to decide:
Is this scenario worth trying?
Is the risk of disappointment too high?
Do I tell this LO “yes with conditions” or “no right now”?
AI can’t carry that responsibility for you. It just gives you better inputs.
5. Loyalty, honesty, and the power of a fast “no”
A big chunk of the conversation lands on loyalty.
Loan officers complain about lenders.
Lenders complain about LOs.
Everyone complains about realtors.
Underneath all of it is one question:
Can I trust what you tell me about this deal?
Stacy’s standard for loyalty is simple:
“Say what you do and do what you say.”
If she tells you, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this, it’ll close on time,” she expects you to treat that like money in the bank.
Not because files never go sideways, but because she won’t say those words lightly.
She also calls out another hard truth:
Sometimes a quick no is worth more than a long maybe.
If she feels deep down that a file is not going to work:
She would rather tell you “no” early
Than drag you and your borrower through weeks of false hope
And then blow up a relationship when it finally dies
That fast no:
Saves the buyer’s emotions
Saves the realtor’s weekend
Saves your reputation
Every pro in real estate has felt the pain of a “we think we can do it” that turns into a last-minute denial. It can destroy trust for years.
Stacy’s point: if you can’t do it well and efficiently, don’t pretend you can. The short-term hit is better than the long-term damage.
6. Reputation and fit: you’re not for everyone (and that’s fine)
In an industry that encourages you to chase “every deal,” this part of the conversation is refreshing.
Stacy wants to be remembered as:
Trustworthy
A go-getter
Someone who stays positive in a hard business
A person whose word still feels like a handshake
She considers most of her customers friends. That’s not because she is casual with business; it’s because she cares about the people behind the pipelines.
And she’s clear about fit:
If you cannot have a civil, human bond outside of talking about a loan, you probably aren’t a good match.
If a partner doesn’t respect her effort, she’s not going to stay in that relationship just for units.
The host echoes this on the realtor side:
He’d rather have 15 loyal, aligned agents who share his approach
Than 100 agents where every deal feels like a fight
Quality over quantity isn’t just a slogan. It protects your energy, your team, and your sanity.
For you, that might mean:
Walking away from an agent who constantly blames you for issues they created.
Being honest that your style doesn’t fit a certain team or investor.
Focusing deeper on the partners who share your standard of service.
Not everyone is your person. That’s okay.
7. Redefining success: beyond loan counts and volume
At some point in a long career, numbers stop being the only scoreboard.
The host admits he used to measure everything by:
Volume
Loan counts
Business development metrics
He’s in a different place now:
Grateful to have built something strong
More focused on time with his wife and kids
Wanting a business that can run without him grinding 50–60 hours a week forever
Stacy is in a similar spot, especially after some personal challenges since COVID.
She’s paying closer attention to:
The Golden Rule: treating people the way she wants to be treated
Doing the right thing even when it costs her in the short term
The impact of her choices on her mental and emotional health
That shift is not a midlife breakdown. It’s perspective.
Real estate has a way of making every month feel like the Super Bowl:
New goals.
New leaderboard.
New pressure.
If you’ve been around long enough, you start to ask:
“What am I trading for this?”
“What does success actually look like now?”
“How much is enough?”
Stacy’s current metric:
Am I doing right by people, in a way I’d be proud of if I were on the other side of the deal?
That’s a different kind of scoreboard.
8. The current market: startups, stability, and non-QM headaches
Toward the end of the episode, they zoom out and talk about what they’re seeing in the market.
Stacy sees a few patterns:
Loan officers starting their own brokerages
Many pros are hanging their own shingle, just like the host did.
Freedom gives her a front-row seat to new broker shops trying to grow in a tough year.
Others retreating to banks and credit unions
Some LOs want paychecks and benefits again.
They’re trading autonomy for perceived stability.
There’s nothing wrong with that; different seasons require different structures.
Big-box brokers and large correspondents offering “net branch” style setups
You hang your license, work remotely, and plug into their system.
They may offer big signing bonuses or aggressive comp.
But you’re signing contracts, and if you don’t perform, you may have to pay that money back.
Her warning:
Be careful chasing carrots. Nothing is free.
She also talks about non-QM:
Demand has been strong, especially when conventional rates pushed up around 8%.
Investors from higher-cost states still see places like Alabama as affordable, so non-QM has been a lifeline.
But the non-QM world is messy in spots:
Some correspondent lenders are not the final decision makers.
Files can get passed along and reconditioned.
Terms can change late in the game.
Investors may layer conditions that weren’t expected.
In other words:
Non-QM can be profitable but chaotic if you’re not careful about which partners you choose.
The host is clear about where his shop wants to play long-term:
Help people without perfect credit
Focus on first-time buyers
Work with borrowers who don’t have 20% down
Lean on program depth from partners like Stacy to serve that segment well
He also points out a hopeful sign: FHA quotes in the mid–4% range starting to show up again.
No forecasts. No promises. Just evidence that the market is moving off the highs and giving buyers some room to breathe.
9. What real estate pros can do with all this
If you strip this episode down to the studs, here’s what it offers you:
Learn more of the process than your job technically requires.
Know underwriting quirks.
Understand non-QM basics.
Learn how your partners think.
Build routines that protect your head and your pipeline.
Quiet time before chaos.
A real to-do list.
Daily pipeline review, not weekly panic.
Match your outreach to the person, not your habits.
Phone for some, text for others, video or Zoom for the rest.
The channel isn’t the point; connection is.
Use tech to move faster, not to dodge responsibility.
AI and tools help you answer better and quicker.
You still own the yes, the no, and the explanation.
Protect your reputation with clear expectations.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
Say no when you know it’s a no.
Prepare clients for bumps before they happen.
Be picky about partners.
You don’t need every agent, LO, AE, or investor.
You need the right ones, where trust runs both ways.
Redefine success as you grow.
Early on, you might need every deal.
Later, you might need better deals and a better week, not just a bigger pipeline.
Stay grounded in a tough market.
Don’t chase every shiny offer.
Understand the strings attached.
Keep your focus on serving the kind of borrower you actually care about.
Stacy’s career is proof that you can stay in this business a long time without losing your soul, as long as you protect your word, choose your people wisely, and stay willing to adapt when the industry shifts under your feet.
4. Questions for refinement
To tighten this blog around your brand and audience:
Do you want this framed more as “lessons for agents” or kept broader for agents and loan officers?
Are you okay with the light mentions of faith/prayer, or should I soften or remove those references?
Do you want a second, shorter blog focused just on non-QM and market shifts from this episode?
Will this live on your company site or a personal brand site? I can tweak tone slightly either way.
Verification snapshot
Transcript coverage: I pulled all main beats: Stacy’s background, daily routine, tech/AI usage, loyalty/trust, reputation, fit, success definition, and market / non-QM commentary.
Audience alignment: Examples and language tuned to real estate pros (agents + LOs), with clear “what this means for you” sections.
Style checks: No banned buzzwords (e.g. leverage, optimize, synergy), minimal jargon, short paragraphs, skimmable structure, direct tone.
Potential gaps: I didn’t go deep into specific Freedom Mortgage product details (not in transcript) and avoided any rate quoting beyond what was casually mentioned. If you want compliance-reviewed product mentions, I’d need your guidance.
