Mortgage pro on helping clients escape post-COVID 'handout mentality'
Elevated interest rates have become normal for most of the year to date, causing some potential homebuyers to hesitate to enter the market. One broker is reminding customers that spending too much time worrying about the rate isn’t the right thing to be focused on.
Mylo Draven (pictured top) is a loan originator and brokerage owner at Inclusive Lending LLC in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. He is surprised that many people who don’t even consider the interest rate on a credit card are so invested in their mortgage rate.
“The interest rates, the one you're using a credit card at 29% it's not stopping you from buying anything, so why is the 7% interest rate stopping you from buying a house?” Draven told Mortgage Professional America. “Please make it make sense. And at the end of the day, it's not about the interest rate, it's about your ego.”
He understands clients' frustration with excellent credit and down payments when they see their interest rate.
“People want to be rewarded,” he said. “I want you to tell me that I'm adulting amazingly, therefore I deserve 4% right? So, I told one of my clients, ‘I would love to give you a 3.5% interest rate because your 800 FICO and your $45,000 down payment is delicious. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist. But here's a round of applause, and let's move on.’ She said, ‘I feel better. Thank you. I just wanted to be seen.’”
Draven said it’s important for brokers to explain the reality to clients without being rude or mean about it.
“You just have to acknowledge it,” he said. “It’s that elephant in the room. Don't tell people, ‘Well, you can't have it. It doesn't exist.’ Don't be a [jerk]. Acknowledge: ‘Listen, you've done great. You've done everything you were supposed to do.’ This is where the climate is. You can still, on budget, afford the house that you want.
“Because payment is reality, interest rate is ego.”
The post-COVID handout mentality
One of the biggest challenges Draven believes the mortgage broker industry has to overcome is the lack of information available to potential homebuyers.
“Because on one hand, you've got people who think they don't have enough money, and on the other hand, you know people who think they don't need any money,” Draven said. “So it's always the extremities. The truth is in the middle. We need you to have some money and good credit. Excellent credit and no money might work, but horrible credit and no money will never work.
“And again, realtors don't want to have those conversations, right? Because they want the lead. It's not a lead if you can't nurture it. For the LOs, we end up becoming the bad guy.”
Draven believes it’s important that brokers communicate that it might not be the right time for someone who has challenging credit or limited income to get a house.
“It’s our job as LOs to tell people, ‘You are not a prisoner of where you’ve been or where you are,’” he said. “We can help you move away from that if you make the choice. I can’t want the house more than you do. I can’t want your credit to be better more than you want it to be, and I can’t make those sacrifices for you.”
George Missiha, a mortgage broker for GM Brokerage Home Loans, advocates for brokers to learn second languages to better serve diverse communities, noting many immigrants face challenges with complex mortgage language. https://t.co/v2pqas0OEC
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) June 10, 2025
One of the biggest misconceptions borrowers have about the mortgage market since the pandemic: the idea of free money, according to Draven.
“But post-COVID, it’s the handout mentality,” he said. “They say, ‘Well, the government was giving me checks.’ Okay. Are they still giving them to you? Because if they are, I need to know what that government is, because it's not my government. I literally had this email from somebody this week: ‘What free money do you offer?’ I said, ‘Girl, there's no free money. Who is misleading you?’”
Even if their idea of free money is down payment assistance, not every borrower is going to qualify.
“If you're talking about a down payment assistance program, rates are slightly higher,” Draven said. “There's sometimes income limitations. There's a credit score limit. You've got to fit in a box. And I tell a lot of my clients, ‘Have you ever walked into a bowling center and you see 200 bowling balls? And how many do you stick your hand in to find one that almost fits?’ Welcome to DPA. Yeah, it's out there. But will it work for you?”
Representation in the mortgage industry
After a bad experience buying a house, Draven decided to enter the mortgage industry. After 10 years, he just opened his first brokerage.
“Now that I'm in the playground, I'm trying to figure out where am I comfortable and where can I service my brand and my clients best,” he said. “I opened a brokerage in March, officially Inclusive Lending, LLC. I’m super excited.”
Attending industry events and association conferences is a key part of growth and networking for brokers. But Draven, speaking of his experience at recent conferences, believes the industry has work to do in order to be more inclusive of minorities.
“I just thought, where's the representation?” Draven said. “I see a lot of white people. And listen, I like white people. But I thought, ‘Well, where are more people my skin color? You know, where's the chocolate? Where's the latte?’ And then I thought, ‘Well, where's the gay [representation]?’ I don't know that we're excluded, necessarily. I would never say that, but I don't know that we want it. Some people don't want to have a voice. Maybe it's because of the political atmosphere.
“At the end of the day, I need to be heard, I need to be seen. Because I need to eat, And ultimately, I have a servant's heart, so I want to work. I want to be busy. I want to thrive.”
One of his brokerage's missions was to ensure homeownership was for everyone.
“I believe homeownership should be inclusive,” he said. “It shouldn't just be for the top 1% or the top 10%. It shouldn't be a struggle for everybody. And so ultimately, that's what brought me there to the ownership. I never thought I'd be an LO, let alone an owner. Now I'm gearing up to speak more. We're creating our own platforms to be heard and seen, because I know there are other LOs out there that I'm relatable to.
“I don't ever want anyone to feel isolated, like the way I sort of felt. And I met someone here. He said, ‘You're the second out LO I've ever met.’ And then I had to think about it. Well, how many gay LOs do I know. And I know three.”
Draven believes one important trait for all brokers, regardless of their background, is to be themselves. It is the true way to make a connection with clients. But he is still surprised that there aren’t more gay LOs in the industry.
“I don't know if it's a fear thing, because it's a predominantly heterosexual world,” Draven said. “At the end of the day, I'm not trying to sleep with you. I'm trying to help you get a house.
Like, how am I the second gay LO that someone has met who is literally the top tier of the profession? He should have met at least 10, maybe 12, I don't know. It’s a sad commentary.
“I think the platform for me is, ‘Just be you.’ That's how you attract business. Be honest, be transparent, don't be fearful, and do what we're here to do, which is help people get homes.”
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