On today’s episode of The Big Picture, Rich and Rob welcomed Dustin Owen, CMB, AMP—co-founder of The Loan Officer Podcast and EVP at Lower—for a fast-paced, no-BS conversation on influence, branding, and where the mortgage business goes from here. Dustin pulled back the curtain on how TLOP was born, what it’s done for his platform, and why he thinks too many LOs are still trying to sell in 2008. Whether you're building a personal brand or scaling a retail operation, Dustin dropped actionable insights and a few spicy takes on what works (and what definitely doesn’t).
As always, we kicked off with the latest market moves—this week highlighted by a continued rash of M&A activity as lenders look to scale, shed cost, or just survive the summer. On the macro front, we finally got a double dose of good news: two inflation prints that came in cooler than expected, giving the rate market something to cheer about for once. With mortgage demand still fragile, any sign of relief on rates could be a game-changer heading into the second half of the year. Between the M&A chessboard and some much-needed economic tailwinds, there’s a lot in motion—and we’re here to break it down.
