On this episode of the Building Interest Podcast, we sit down with Leader Bank Loan Officer Kate Garabedian. Greg and Kate tackle a range of topics from changing careers, work life balance, and even racecar driving!

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Episode Transcript

 

Greg Farber  00:00

Whether you're seeking inspiration, wisdom or a fresh perspective on leadership and entrepreneurship, the Building Interest Podcast has you covered together. We explore the successes of groundbreaking leaders, the triumphs, the challenges and the invaluable lessons they learn along the way. Our discussions go beyond strategic decision making and delve into the personal hobbies and passions that keep these leaders inspired and grounded in their work. I'm your host, Greg Farber, let's jump right in. Today, we're joined by Kate Garabedian, loan officer and real estate financing expert here at Leader Bank. Her passion for real estate and her go getter mentality have allowed her to become one of the most successful loan officers in Massachusetts, ranking in the top 3% of loan officers in 2024 to be exact. Today we'll discuss the challenges involved in changing industries, her entrepreneurial values and how she has turned her love for fitness into a way to give back to the community. Welcome. 

 

Kate Garabedian  00:50

Hi. Thanks for having me. 

 

Greg Farber  00:52

It's very exciting. 

 

Kate Garabedian  00:52

Yeah. 

 

Greg Farber  00:53

First episode of the new year. So this is really cool. So we'll kind of go back a little bit at first. And I know that before you found your calling as a loan officer, if that's your calling. Now we'll get into that you were in healthcare. Can you tell us a bit about that and why that was an industry you enjoyed and got into in the first place? 

 

Kate Garabedian  01:12

Oh, okay, so I don't know if we have enough time. I'm gonna have to cut some parts out, but I started out in at Sacred Heart, an exercise science major. I thought I wanted to be a once I ruled out being a forensic scientist because I was scared of the dark, I wanted to be an athletic trainer for a sports team like sports were always important to me, so that, that's where I started exercise science. And then I realized quickly that you had to work a lot of hours, and The pay wasn't really great. So then I was like, I'm gonna be a doctor. So then I was pre med. I added on a bunch of classes. I got a minor in Chemistry, I took MCATs, I passed, you know, I got a decent score. I started applying to schools and they wanted, like, $200 at school. And I was like, Screw this. You know, I gotta apply to like, 20 schools because it's hard to get into them. So then I stopped doing that. And then I quickly, I actually worked for an eye surgeon at the time, and one of the eye technicians, who is what I did, he said, Well, why don't you become a nurse and you can become a CRNA? So my then, my goal was quickly to become a CRNA, which is a certified registered nurse anesthesiologist. So you work nurse hours, but you get paid, you know, much better for your time. So then I was like, that's what I'm doing. So then I applied to an accelerated nursing program at Fairfield, which was 20 minutes away from Sacred Heart. So I graduated from Sacred Heart in May. I started an 18 month accelerated program in August at Fairfield, and I did that, and then I worked at Yale New Haven on a trauma unit for 18 months because you had to get into an ICU. But nobody's going to hire you directly in an ICU, typically right out of school. So, you know, I had to put my time in, but then I ended up loving it. I loved the people. I loved the, you know, experiences I was having. I mean, trauma, trauma is mentally and physically taxing, but I learned a lot and appreciated, you know, everything that I got from being there. But then I had enough of being in Connecticut, so I travel, nursed to Boston, I applied for a travel agency, and I got a call on my way into work one day, and they're like, Oh yeah, you're starting in three weeks at Beth, Israel. And I was like, okay, called Kristen. I'm like, we got to move in three weeks. So that was, I'm very like, Bring on the change. Let's do something different. Kristen is the opposite. So that was, that was a fun time, but, you know, we figured it out and we got here. So then I was at Beth, Israel as a travel nurse, and Brigham as a travel nurse. And then I never got into an ICU, so I was always burn and trauma for the most part of my career, for six years, but I had never gotten into an ICU. So then I was like, This is frustrating. So then we moved here in 2015 and in the parallel because I had my degree in exercise science, I started realizing that there was no and I'm probably jumping ahead here, but there was no real outlet for kids to work out. So in 2016 we started the fitness studio for kids. And I can go into that further later. But then I, while I was there, I worked, 

 

Greg Farber  04:17

You were still working in nursing at the same time? 

 

Kate Garabedian  04:19

I was still at Brigham. I started the gym, and I also got introduced to an executive director at a school for children with learning disabilities in Natick called Accept. And she found out about my gym, and she needed a fitness program for kids at the school, because it wasn't a like typical physical education like program. So she needed something. So she brought me on for that. Then I ended up being the nurse leader at that school. So I was a nurse leader, and I was, I was like, I don't know how to be in charge of people. I can, you know? I keep people alive. That's what I do, you know? So it was a very different shift, but she trusted me, and I did that. I create a fitness program there. I was running the gym, and I was still doing night shift at Brigham. So I don't even know if I answered your question. 

 

Greg Farber  05:03

You definitely. And then some and we'll come back to some things. I definitely want to dig into that, but it's kind of funny, because you started out with the exercise science, you came back around to exercise here later, which we'll get to. But in the in between, you seemed like you were just sort of trying to find your way, and kept bouncing around, but didn't ever find that place where you really were gonna land. 

 

Kate Garabedian  05:23

Yeah. 

 

Greg Farber  05:24

So then how does that translate into, okay, I'm gonna pack my bags and move over to mortgages? 

 

Kate Garabedian  05:30

So while I was doing all that at the school, 

 

Greg Farber  05:33

You weren't busy enough? 

 

Kate Garabedian  05:34

Yeah, honestly, after three months, Kristen's like, something's gotta give you're miserable. I was miserable, but I was, like, making all this money, and, you know, doing things that I thought made me happy but I wasn't sleeping. I was just like, never home. It wasn't worth it, you know. So after three months of doing that, Kristen was like, It's time for you to give something up. So, so then, while I was at the school, this was in 2018 my dad had been really sick for a while, and then he got it accelerated, and then he ended up passing away. And once that happened, I was like, I don't want to be in a hospital anymore, because he was in and out. So I was always visiting him, and I just felt like every patient was like, you know, it just didn't. It gave me the ick being there. So unfortunately, that was kind of like a catalyst, I'd say, 

 

Greg Farber  06:19

To reevaluate where you wanna be. 

 

Kate Garabedian  06:21

And so I was, I don't know, I was 28 at the time, and I'm like, listen, I should be happy with where I am and what I'm doing, and why can't I be a CRNA yet? What am I doing wrong? And all this, you know, you have all these, like, limiting beliefs in your brain. And while I was there, one of the nurses who worked at the school with me, my now manager's wife, I was like, oh, what does your husband do? We just got in a conversation, and I started talking to her, started talking to her, and she told me what he did, and I started googling what a loan officer was, what entailed, what was the lifestyle, like, all this stuff. So I researched it for months, and then I kept saying, like, can you get me a phone call with your husband? And she's like, lol, you're a nurse. For like, months, I had this conversation, and then this is also a long story, but then I stayed at the school for a year. At the end of the year, I, at this point, I had left, kind of left the hospital, you know, because of my dad, and then I stayed at the school, but I still wasn't like, something wasn't like, igniting me, right?

 

Greg Farber  07:21

You ended up getting the phone call?

 

Kate Garabedian  07:23

No, no, no. So for the-

 

Greg Farber  07:26

You just showed up to work without the phone call. 

 

Kate Garabedian  07:29

Took me a while to get the phone call. So then I stayed at the school for a year, and then at the end of the year, I was I had a conversation with the executive director, like, listen, I you know, I want to be compensated higher. And she's like, I love you, but I can't do that. And I totally understood, like, everybody's on a budget, so that was me, like, that's what I wanted to hear. Because then I was like, All right, Lisa, I need the phone call now. Like, I need it now. And she's like, All right, so the next day, I show up to work, and the executive director brings me her office, and she's like, Here you go. And gave me what I asked for. So then I stayed for another year, because I owed it to her. She was a fantastic woman. Marcia Berkowitz, if I can plug her, she's a fantastic human, and it was her last year, so I didn't want to leave her on her last year. So I felt I owed it to her, so I stayed. And then after that, another year. And it's funny, I just went through my emails, like, last month between me and Jimmy, and it's like, like, all me, me basically saying, like, oh, haven't heard from you. Oh, haven't heard from you. Can I have an interview? Can you meet with me? You know, so it took me three interviews and them sending me off, like, three times before they are like, alright, Kate's not going anywhere. We just got to take a chance on her. So that's a very long winded answer as to how I how I landed on loan officer world versus any other world.

 

Greg Farber  08:41

It's kind of interesting, right? Because as a kid, you might wake up and want to be a doctor or nurse or something like that, but no one really wakes up when they're 10 and says, I want to be a loan officer. Not to mention you don't even know what that means, but it can be a rewarding career in its own right, and its core mission is not all that different, right? You're still ultimately trying to help people. Is that what kind of guides you in being a loan officer?

 

Kate Garabedian  09:07

I mean, I think so. I think, you know, when, I was a nurse, I was obviously helping people when they were at their worst, you know, their life, like just being in trauma. It's like, you know, one day, everything's great, and the next day everything's in shambles. So, you know, to help the patient and the families. Was very hard, you know, at times, but I feel like I learned a lot, and I think obviously not the skill set necessarily, like what I did for the patients translated, but I I'm able to critical think, you know, I'm able to be empathetic with people like, you know, once you once we get into like,

 

Speaker 1  09:40

People have to trust you to make a big financial decision, empathy is a big part of that.

 

Kate Garabedian  09:44

So and like nobody. And, you know, maybe we're going to talk about this later, but no loan is the same, and it's not often where you get, you know, two first time home buyers who own no other real estate, and they're both w2 base salary employees, and they've been there for three years, and they have no, you know. Not a lot of debt. Like, everybody's got a different story, right? And it's not always easy to make it work for somebody. So to be empathetic and what they're going through or what they need, I think, helps me a lot. So I think I learned that, plus the critical thinking aspect, like, like, I said, you know, you have these people with all these layers, like, it's usually self employed, people who make a lot more than it looks like they do on paper. And they own a few real estates, but they run them at a loss, you know, for tax purposes. So to find programs where they fit, you have to critically think like, oh, this program will allow, you know, real estate, right? You know, income, or this one won't. And then this one allows, you know, less than two years tax return, you know, whatever the special case might be, there's

 

Greg Farber  10:40

There's  lot of problem solving, and I don't know if you know, I used to be mortgage underwriter. I share your understanding that two borrowers are the same. When you do get that one easy file, it's a unicorn. It's once in a great while.

 

Kate Garabedian  10:54

There's a chain of emails that says, Wow. This was a great one. Wow. This is a great one. So,

 

Greg Farber  10:59

So do you have any advice for someone that is maybe going to look to transition into mortgage? I mean, you make it sound easy, right? You I mean, not easy in the sense it took you forever to make get the phone call and sort of get your way in. But you heard about it, you researched it, you decided you liked this, and you made it happen, but there's got to be some sort of, I don't know, hurdles along the way, or the advice you'd give to someone?

 

Kate Garabedian  11:25

I mean, I'd say the best advice I could give somebody would be, if you're going to do it, you have to be 100%especially, you know, if you want to be, you know, Leader Bank, in and of itself, is a credible place like I'm I don't want to be anywhere else. I'm glad I've never had to go anywhere else I hear, you know, not great stories at other places. So I'm super thankful where I am. But you know, there are other places you could go and have an easier time, per se. But when I started out, I was 100% commission, right? So, like, if I didn't get, if I didn't make this work, we were living on Kristen's salary, you know, so I had to make it work. So for me, I and it's a it's a world where, and like I said, Leader Bank is great in the sense that, like, even though it's sort of like an individual, like, I get my own business kind of thing, there is a team aspect to it, right? Like my processors, my underwriters, Jimmy and Dave, my managers. Like, if I have a question, I can go to any other Lo and ask them, you know, if they've encountered this, what do they think? You know? But when you're starting out, you have to be your own cheerleader. Like, nobody's gonna sit there and, like, pat your back and like, you know what I mean, like

 

Greg Farber  12:35

Anybody could start as a loan officer, but not necessarily be successful at it. If they don't understand, sort of those key parts that you just mentioned.

 

Kate Garabedian  12:42

Yeah, you got to have the drive. And I think I'm just trying to go back. Like, all I did was I just hustled. I tried to meet as many people as I could and tell as many new people as I could what I did. And, like, essentially faked it till I made it right. Like, you know, any question that was asked of me, I was like, That's a great question. Let me, let me ask my underwriter, you know, like, I didn't know when I first started out. I was like, one trying to learn how to do sales, because it's, it's essentially sales in the sense, but not like, slimy sales, right? Like, I think one when you do mortgages, if you work for a credible place like Leader Bank. It's like, it's, I don't feel like a salesperson, like, you know, I get referrals from realtors or past clients, and I really just talk to them like, we're humans, you know, I don't, I don't, I don't do the hard sell thing. I don't have to, you know, because a lot of the times realtors are like, here's Kate. She's a great LO. She works at Leader Bank, great bank, you know. So that helps me not have to be super, like, aggressive in my sales, which I like, because if I had to be pushy, it would be a lot less fun. And well, I keep hearing things that kind of along the lines of the word motivation. And so maybe what we'll do is we'll go a little bit onto your entrepreneurial side now. And I guess being entrepreneur kind of starts with just starting, for lack of a better word, right? If you don't start somewhere, you don't ever get anywhere. So how do you stay motivated in that entrepreneurial mindset, whether it's some of the other projects you've worked on, or just jumping in and doing a whole new career, what keeps you going? The motivation. It's not a tough one, per se, but I feel, I feel like a broken record. If I say, like, for me, it's just setting goals right? Like, my goal this year is 100 million. Am I gonna hit that? I don't want to say probably not, but like, you know that that's a big feat. So for me, I set a goal that is hard to attain, and I worked my ass off to get as close to it as I possibly can.

 

Greg Farber  14:56

It has to be somewhat attainable, but it has to be far enough out that it's not like, well, it's February, I've met my goal, I'm done for the year, right? That keeps you, yeah, firing towards that ultimate reward. 

 

Kate Garabedian  15:08

I feel like people want what they can't have. I can't have 100 million yet, and I want it real bad. You know what I mean? So 75 million sounds great, but my best year was 70. So like, you know, yeah, that would be a more attainable goal, but I want 100 million, and I'm not gonna stop grinding until I get there. So that's what keeps me motivated. Literally, I printed out $100 million piece of paper, and I put it on my computer next to my desk at the office, and every month I'm gonna write what I close, and if I get there, I get there, if I don't, I'm not gonna beat myself up over it. I'm gonna try again next year.

 

Greg Farber  15:40

Right, you have to stay positive, but you have to keep reminding yourself that that's where you want to get to. I was going to ask you if you had a recipe for success, but it sounds like that's your recipe. Post it on the wall and go for it.

 

Kate Garabedian  15:52

I'd say it's like, there's no one thing I think that makes entrepreneurs successful. But if I had to narrow it down, I'd say, like, just being persistent one, because it's funny, like, I started eight months before COVID, and people are like, Oh, you're so lucky. Okay, fine, maybe the timing was right, but I was persistent to get the job. I was persistent for those eight months, and I was consistent in my grind, in my meeting people. And I met so many people in those first eight months that allowed me to go into the COVID,

 

Greg Farber  16:24

right, where you couldn't meet people, but you already,

 

Kate Garabedian  16:26

I had already established what I needed, you know? So I think luck, yes, has something to do with it. But for success, I think it's you have to be persistent. You have to want it like if you don't want it, then it's not going to happen. And if you expect to get rich or successful overnight, that's also not going to happen. So I'd say consistency and being persistent.

 

Greg Farber  16:46

And I think being a loan officer does definitely require some entrepreneurial spirit, right? I mean, there are loan officers that kind of just hang out in a call center and they get incoming calls based on the brand or something like that, and you need that, but the traditional loan officer really is kind of an independent character, like you were saying, like you're working on your own book of business and to your own relationships and everything. So have you found that having that sort of independent entrepreneurial spirit is what's able to make you successful as a loan officer? Or is there, like, is there something else? Is there another secret sauce that goes into being a loan officer? Is it just that I'm doing this for myself? It keeps me going, and I don't have to necessarily meet other people's goals?

 

Kate Garabedian  17:35

It's funny, because when I met with Jimmy and Dave The Needham branch managers. They were like, Why don't you go to a place where you can sit at a call center and get leads and they'll give you a salary? And I said, I don't want that. And they're like, Are you sure you don't know anything about sales or the mortgage industry? Like you're gonna not get a salary here? And I'm like, You don't understand that's what I want, and that's what I need. Like, if I went to the call center, I'm right back to where, essentially I was in, you know, the nurse world, as far as, like, scheduling and pay, right? So my goal, like, what drives me is financial freedom and time freedom, right? Like, I used to want, like, unlimited money. And then I, as I got older, I was like, Yeah, that's great. Financial freedom is still my goal. But I really want more time, like, I want to do what I want with my days. So if I'm somewhere where I'm capped to a salary and I, you know, I'm like, All right, I'm gonna, I just don't want to get trapped. 

 

Greg Farber  18:29

Our stuck the desk hours.

 

Kate Garabedian  18:30

Yeah, so it's just not for me. So, for me. So yes, to your point, I think the fact that I had to build my own book of business from zero is what truly made me bust my butt to make it, to make it happen for me. So I didn't know it was gonna happen quite as fast as it did for me. But, you know, I like to think my hard work kind of helped a lot.

 

Speaker 1  18:56

Well it seems like the kind of thing that can snowball a little bit too, like once you get that first foot in this door and in this store, you said you have realtors that would recommend you or use our brand as Hey, she's at Leader Bank. This is a great platform thing that helps kind of move it along.

 

Kate Garabedian  19:10

Yeah, for sure.

 

Greg Farber  19:13

Awesome. So let's step out of the office a little bit. We talked to you offline. Just from your intro and from your comments earlier, we know that fitness is a major part of your life. Um, kind of open ended question, what do you love about fitness? Like, why is this such a big part of your life?

 

Kate Garabedian  19:30

Yeah, I think I became in love with it, probably like my senior year of high school. And I feel like when you're younger, and, you know, life sucks. Like, you know, my mom was sick, my dad was sick back then. I you know, everybody has their stuff going on, and I never wanted to talk about it like that wasn't that wasn't my outlet. Wasn't to, like, talk about how I felt. It was to compartmentalize and internalize and go to the gym and, like, 

 

Greg Farber  19:56

Punch a boxing bag to get the energy out. 

 

Kate Garabedian  19:58

Yeah, do the exercise that I have control over, right? So, and that's what I've realized now as I'm older. I did it because I had control over the exercise, right? Like the stress in my life, I didn't have control over, and I didn't know this back then, and I made this revelation recently, but I think that's why exercise was such a big outlet for me. And then it, you know, catapulted into college, and I played basketball in college too. So, you know, there was a point in time where I was probably exercising too much, and Kristen had to reel me in a little bit. But, you know, now I think I have a healthy balance of of it. And also now, talking about my feelings, I've developed that skill as well. But as far as a fitness like, I think, I just think it's a nice outlet for people to, you know, express themselves in a way where there's no Well, I guess I'm kind of jumping ahead here to the gym, like, express them. So the gym, we created it,

 

Greg Farber  20:53

Well that's what I was gonna ask. You mentioned for yourself that you used it as an outlet at a time when maybe you didn't have another way to express the emotions or the frustrations that you were feeling at the time. Is that kind of the motivator behind doing this for kids?

 

Kate Garabedian  21:07

Yeah and so when I was younger, I did more martial arts with my dad for like, a decade, and I and it's so and, like, when I was at that age, all these like, now that I look back, I'm like, oh my god, I was such an entrepreneur when I was younger. I was like, Wow, this business model is great. Like, these kids come here after school. They do this fun thing, they meet all these friends, they hang out. We used to have sleepovers there, and parents paid. We'd buy shirts and parents paid. And then I started making nunchucks out of I had my dad cut PVC pipe and I made nunchucks, and I'd sell them for $20 each. And, like, I didn't even know that, like, for me, it was just fun and not something I was doing. But like, looking back, I was very entrepreneurial. Anyway, I did a tangent there. Sorry, so I did martial arts for that time, and then, you know, there's and then I also played sports, right? So, like, I did martial arts, which I thought was, like, an inclusive kind of scenario, and then sports, where it's, like, it's got a different vibe, right? And like, you have to want to do that. And then as I got older and we moved here in 2015 I was like, there's no outlet for kids who don't want to necessarily do martial arts, but like that sort of social aspect of it, but also don't want to do, like team oriented sports, right? So Kristen and I came up with this idea to like create, it was group fitness classes. So we would do 20 minutes of cardio, 20 minutes or 25 minutes of cardio, 25 minutes of like muscular endurance, because when they're younger, you don't really focus on strength, which I don't want to totally age range.

 

Greg Farber  22:32

What age range are we even talking here? 

 

Kate Garabedian  22:33

So we did as young as two, and then our oldest was 16, yeah. So we had toddler classes, and then we had different age brackets, but the classes were geared towards athletes and non athletes, and they could be in the same class, and they could do the same stuff at their own pace, and we blasted music, and we played games at the end, and there was, like, zero bullying. And people could just, you know, people who, kids who would probably never be friends in school, became friends at our gym, and then they'd, they'd start coming to the gym, and they'd be like, Oh, I saw you in the hallway today, and that was just, like, awesome, you know?

 

Greg Farber  23:04

Just a super fun place to go and let it out and be yourself out feeling like the pressure of a team sport or something like. Now that can't be easy to set that up. 

 

Kate Garabedian  23:15

No, it wasn't.

 

Greg Farber  23:17

Again with the entrepreneurism. So like, how do you I mean, I can, I can only sit. I'm the thinking here, like, Oh my God, every like, there's like, 100 million obstacles to prevent you from opening a gym for kids, no less, and the age and the consent and the liability and all these other things. How do you navigate through all of that? And just how long did this take from, from conception in your brain, yeah, to we actually have a gym, and we have kids enrolled, and they're coming and they're, yeah, a great time.

 

Kate Garabedian  23:44

So I think that the idea started in my head, probably in like, 2012 but I never did anything about it until when we moved here. So 2015 and then I started doing a lot of research, and, like, what would it take, and what would I have to do, and how much money? Much money would I have to have? And then I was, like, looking at, you know, loans versus, like, all this stuff. So by by 2016 I have, and Kristen won't let me throw it out. It's like a friggin yellow pad of paper with my handwritten like, my why and my motivation, and like, what's the point of Natick Youth Fit and all this stuff.

 

Greg Farber  24:23

There you go again, writing it down, 100 million dollars on the wall.

 

Kate Garabedian  24:27

We still have that, but I just, you know, I started that, and then I, literally, I was a nurse, and at the time, our nephew moved in with us for six months. So we were navigating that world as well, which is also very complicated, but my point is, I was, we were Kristen, and I were trying to support a two year old and ourselves, and we were, like, 24 and our salaries weren't great, and so I had like, $500 in my bank account, and I'm like, let's start a gym. So I took my, you know, savings. And bought like, six pieces of equipment off Amazon. Started looking on loop net to rent places, and I found this facility in Natick, and they use it for Jiu Jitsu. So I was able to sublease it for very cheap. It's like $1,000 a month, but I shared this space, that's what allowed it to be so cheap. And so then I literally would just make print flyers, like, cheap, cheap flyers. And we would walk parking lots and put them in the on car windshields. And then we would, I, you know, do like a Natick market, and I'd set up a stand, and we'd bring some obstacles and have the kids do it, and, like, give away, you know, little things and and then I would just literally sit at the desk, and probably for like, six to eight months, had nobody come in, like nobody ever wanted to do it. So then eventually we started getting, you know, more traction. And then we created schedules and bought more fancy equipment. We had, like, a huge wall for the kids to jump over. It was, it was great. We got to, like, 100 kids at one point.

 

Greg Farber  26:00

Was that kind of an "I made it moment." 

 

Kate Garabedian  26:03

I think so, I think so.

 

Greg Farber  26:04

 Like it was all worth it once comes together. 

 

Kate Garabedian  26:07

I mean, when we were, when we got to the point where we could have, like, weekend seminars and had, you know, 60 kids sign up for it, that was pretty cool.

 

Greg Farber  26:13

So, with all that going on, and you mentioned before, with the nursing and then with the trying to get the other your other job lined up and moving into mortgages and everything else. You know, I often hear from people, no matter how smart or energetic or motivated or whatever else they are, that they're just tired, right? And so I think one of the most overlooked parts of success is taking care of yourself. And you mentioned at one point that you also kind of knew you got to a point where you had to let something go in order to be able to go further. Can you share with us a little bit about managing work life balance, especially with so many different projects and ideas that are coming from your head and into reality?

 

Kate Garabedian  26:53

Yeah. So I eventually, you know, we had the gym for two, for probably six or seven years, and then eventually, you know, COVID didn't crush us, but it kind of, just like, slowed us down a bit, and then I started getting very busy with the mortgages, so we made the tough decision, probably, I think it was a year and a half or two years ago to just like, be done with it. And so releasing my time from the gym was super helpful, but also just, you know, the, one of the biggest reasons I want to become a loan officer was the flexible schedule, right? Like, I'm always on essentially, like, if we're, you know, if somebody needs a pre approval on the weekend, I have my laptop with me. I can crunch numbers, I can send it. But, you know, there's some days, like, when I don't have a lot going on, and I'm like, you know, Kristen, let's go get lunch, you know. So I think that helps a lot. And when I started, when I took when I went in this direction, I had the conversation with Kristen, like, one, I'm gonna make no money in the beginning. And two, I'm gonna have to work a lot in the beginning, but then hopefully get to the point where I can do things like, you know, I'm gonna work a half day today because I need a break, you know. So it's not as hard as I thought it would be to balance work life. I think essentially also because we can go to the cape for a week where I'm relaxing, but I also am working, you know, but I'm not working every waking moment that I'm there, 

 

Greg Farber  28:21

Right, it's a different mindset. You're available, 

 

Kate Garabedian  28:24

Yeah. And for me, I'd rather have that kind of lifestyle than somebody telling me I can take two weeks off a year. Do

 

Greg Farber  28:29

Do you find you have to keep reminding yourself of that? Do you get too deep into it and you have to step back? Or do you have you managed to kind of just figure out to pace yourself?

 

Kate Garabedian  28:38

Yeah, I think I've finally figured it out. There was a point in time where I was working like, you know, 7am to 11pm most days. But I think I honestly, there was a point in time where I burnt out a little bit. So, you know, some of my Realtors might have, at some point in my career, noticed it took me 40 hours to get back to them, instead of 24 or two, you know, depending on the question. But I think going through the burnout helped me find balance and, like, calmness. Like I felt like if I wasn't working, then I wasn't. I felt like I should always be doing something to, like, try to grow my business, and if I wasn't, I felt guilty. So that took some time.

 

Greg Farber  29:21

I'm sitting down relaxing. I should be doing something else.

 

Kate Garabedian  29:24

Right, because I don't have a boss who says, do these 10 tasks, then you're done for the day. It's me, right? So like, if I do those 10 things and then I don't finish them, and then I do finish them, and I'm doing nothing. I'm wondering why? Like, there's got to be something else I could do, you know? So that was hard.

 

Greg Farber  29:38

But you can pace yourself and focus on the quality over the quantity, the better relationship and the better product versus, like you said, not getting back to people in the time frame that they've gotten used to, or things, get back to the quality of it. And that probably helps you more in the long run than your quantity.

 

Kate Garabedian  29:54

For sure, and I think that will prevent me from having another, you know, burnout kind of scenario. So it was short lived, and I'm I'm fine.

 

Greg Farber  30:04

I think that is generally a really important thing that people overlook. That there's this feeling you have to work hard, you have to you have to earn it to get ahead. I mean, unfortunately, there's some people who get ahead without working hard, but most of us have to work hard to get somewhere. But if you work so hard that you ruin yourself in the process, you're also not getting ahead.

 

Kate Garabedian  30:24

And this industry is tough too, right? Like, rates go up, rates go down. People buy, people don't, people refi, people don't, 

 

Greg Farber  30:30

Right, you have ebbs and flows. 

 

Kate Garabedian  30:32

So it takes, you know, every year, I know February is slow, but every year, in February I'm like, why am I not? Like, producing, like I produce in other months. You know, it's, it can be mentally taxing.

 

Greg Farber  30:45

Even though you've rationalized it, you still don't like to sit there and see the business go down.

 

Kate Garabedian  30:50

Yeah, even though I have a spreadsheet for year over year, what I do each month, what I do each quarter, loan like, I have the numbers to support it, and then the year end, you know, the bigger picture. But I still like hyper focus on, why do I have such less business in February? You know? So, just being okay with that and understanding, you know, that that's just part of the industry I'm in, and reminding myself that I'm super thankful that I made this choice and made this jump and worked hard and got to where I am, so that I have the freedom that I have, you know.

 

Greg Farber  31:22

Some reflection and some self awareness. All right, well, let's move to a segment that we've been doing recently where it's what would you choose. I'm going to ask you a couple of rapid fire questions. Just tell me what would you choose. There's no right or wrong answer. They're just kind of for fun. But feel free to elaborate on anything. If you feel like there's more to the answer, or if you're like, Oh, I can't pick, you have to pick. All right, colonial or Cape style? 

 

Kate Garabedian  31:56

Cape.

 

Greg Farber  31:56

Really? Okay. Now, you didn't mention ever living on the Cape, but you mentioned going to the Cape. Is this just like a getaway thing that you like Cape styles, because it's sort of a happy place for you?

 

Kate Garabedian  32:09

Well, to go on another tangent, I grew up in Westerly Rhode Island, so I grew up on the water, so the Cape for me was always like people in Massachusetts drive an hour to the Cape? Like I skip school and go to the beach for fun, you know, like, that's where we went. But then when I moved here, Kristen and I actually recently bought a house on the Cape, so we have a property down there, so I have become a little bit more. And our first house was also a Cape style, I think.

 

Greg Farber  32:37

So Cape house notwithstanding. Do you prefer city or suburb?

 

Kate Garabedian  32:41

Oh God. So another tangent, I always wanted to live in the city, but we start out with two dogs, and Kristen is like, we can't have dogs in the city. They need grass. So we moved into Natick, and then we bought a house in Framingham, and then we moved again. And I was like, why don't we move into the city for a year, and then we'll keep the place and we'll rent it out. And she's like, on board, and then we just, we made a couple offers on places, and then kind of changed our mind, and never happened. So I think at heart, which I never saw through probably city, but I don't know, I also hate traffic, so maybe suburb. Can I split it down the middle?

 

Greg Farber  33:17

I mean, kind of have to pick one, but,

 

Kate Garabedian  33:20

Suburb!

 

Greg Farber  33:21

It sounds like you picked suburb functionally but you kind of lean towards city.

 

Kate Garabedian  33:24

Yeah, I think my heart is always interested in just like living here and seeing what it's like, but I feel like I can't pick it because I was never here.

 

Greg Farber  33:30

Well you got to go just suburban enough that you can hop on the train and still be in the city really quickly, which we do, and almost never go. You want it, but then you don't even use it when you have it. Alright, and I'm probably going to pronounce this all wrong, but basketball or barre. 

 

Kate Garabedian  33:48

Like, alcohol, bar?

 

Greg Farber  33:50

No, like barre. Oh, basketball for sure. Yeah? Okay. You said you played, do you play competitively?

 

Kate Garabedian  33:57

I played in college, and since then, I just kind of play pickup now in Weston and Wellesley, I play in Cambridge a little bit. You want to play? 

 

Greg Farber  34:06

No, I'm horrible at basketball. 

 

Kate Garabedian  34:10

They might want to play. 

 

Greg Farber  34:10

They might, Jay will play with you. Jay was talking about basketball when he comes on.

 

Kate Garabedian  34:16

I know, he made me be his cornhole partner, and then I totally let him down.

 

Greg Farber  34:21

Slightly different throwing motion. 

 

Kate Garabedian  34:23

Well, he saw me play once, and I played well, and then he put me on his team, and I couldn't I was like, Where's the hole over there? Sorry, Jay,

 

Greg Farber  34:32

Okay, so you're gonna go work out morning or evening. 

 

Kate Garabedian  34:34

Morning.

 

Greg Farber  34:36

Any reason for that? 

 

Kate Garabedian  34:37

If I work out in the evening one, I want to just like, chill out in the evening, 

 

Greg Farber  34:40

But then you'll feel guilty that you're not doing anything. 

 

Kate Garabedian  34:42

That's true. That is very true. So when I say, chill out, I'm usually on the couch and have my laptop open on my lap so I know 

 

Greg Farber  34:52

I get the morning thing. 

 

Kate Garabedian  34:53

Yeah, morning kind of just like, catapults me into the day kind of thing.

 

Greg Farber  34:59

Now, maybe not so much for working out, because that's something that you probably have more of a routine. But do you prefer things in your life to be more routine or more spontaneous?

 

Kate Garabedian  35:12

So that's also a hard one. I feel because I'm very much like, I need a routine to, like, get my stuff done, but then sometimes I'm like, Screw it. Let's go. We're going to do this, you know. So I have both for my mornings. I like a routine, for sure, and I like to like, so my goal is to, like, my morning routine, and then, like, work super hard in the morning, and then I'm trying to build a team to help me out, like, with backend stuff. So I don't have to necessarily be bogged down with all that, and then I can be out there meeting more people in the afternoon, or, like, you know, if I want to go get lunch or something, you know. So the goal would be routine in the morning, spontaneous in the afternoon, evening. Here I go pick a both again. This is not good. I'm supposed to be more decisive than this.

 

Greg Farber  36:01

Oh, that's all right, but you're getting both things accomplished.

 

Kate Garabedian  36:03

Yeah, well, you told me I had to pick so routine.

 

Greg Farber  36:08

Last one then, and you've mentioned team a couple of times just now, with kind of building a team around you, as well as the support that you mentioned, as far as you know, being able to go to Jim and Dave with your questions or other LOs, or processor, underwriter, everything around you? Are you more about working with the team or succeeding individually? And I don't mean that in a bad way, like succeed individually in spite of others, but is your focus for you, or is your focus part of the team? 

 

Kate Garabedian  36:33

I'd say my focus is for me, because my team while they helped me. And I couldn't do anything I do without them, you know, if I left, they still all, you know, are part of the Leader Bank Team I have to fend for Kate, right?

 

Greg Farber  36:54

You're the one with the hundred million dollar goal.

 

Kate Garabedian  36:56

Yeah, exactly. So they helped me get there, for sure, like Matt Gatewood, Mike Girard, G, my processors, underwriters, like everybody at Neeham. They're fantastic. So I love my team. There's not a single person there that I have a single bad thing to say about. But I'd say my drive is based on me individually growing.

 

Greg Farber  37:19

Awesome. You did good. I think you split some answers, but that's the whole point. It's just fun. It's just a little get to know you. All right, all right. So now we're going to get to know you one more interesting way. Okay, this is the part we call bringing inspiration. And so as you know, we asked you to tell us or bring or share something with us that does or has specifically inspired you, and kind of tell us a story around that and why that's important to you.

 

Kate Garabedian  37:52

Okay, well, this was hard because I don't I didn't have, like, a specific item, but I did bring something. 

 

Greg Farber  37:57

You brought your yellow pad of paper.

 

Kate Garabedian  38:00

I should have, actually.

 

Greg Farber  38:01

You mentioned it earlier.

 

Kate Garabedian  38:03

My friend's gonna be so pumped. I brought this, so my friend recently made this for me. It's called a lithophane. Do you know what that is? 

 

Greg Farber  38:10

I do not. 

 

Kate Garabedian  38:10

So it's like a 3D plastic printed image, and that's my race car. And so if you hold that up to the light, the thicker images will be darker. 

 

Greg Farber  38:20

Oh, wow, 

 

Kate Garabedian  38:21

You see it? 

 

Greg Farber  38:22

I do. 

 

Kate Garabedian  38:22

Isn't that so cool? 

 

Greg Farber  38:23

Now, when you say your race car...

 

Kate Garabedian  38:25

Yeah, that's my car. So the reason I brought that for my inspiration, his name's Tim Hicks, by the way, he made that. So the reason I brought that is he just made this for me recently, is because I love, I have a new passion for racing vintage cars. I do it with my father in law. And my goal, one of my goals, is to have a fleet of cars, so fleet of daily drivers and a fleet of race cars. So that's why I brought this.

 

Greg Farber  38:50

You actually take it to a track and do racing. Yeah. Can I come?

 

Kate Garabedian  38:54

Sure we go to, it's so cool.

 

Greg Farber  38:57

That it really is, and the detail is amazing. When you hold it up like that, you can't see it when it's like laying flat on the table. On the table.

 

Kate Garabedian  39:05

So that's, you know, he brought this over. It did surprise me with it, and I thought it was so cool. And I was like, why is it so small? I want a bigger one. I want, I want one that has, like, four squares and I have four cars in it, you know.

 

Greg Farber  39:17

Set a goal. 

 

Kate Garabedian  39:18

Yeah. I thought that would, I thought that would be a good inspiration. Because my goal is, like, you know, financial freedom and time and have a have a fleet of cars.

 

Greg Farber  39:26

Like you said, unlimited money can get you all the cars, right then if you have no time. So the goal is actually use it.

 

Kate Garabedian  39:32

Yeah. So we race, I race in West Virginia once a year. Actually, there's two races. It's at Summit Point, and then we're at Thompson in Connecticut, which is like 45 minutes from Metro West. And then Lime Rock, Connecticut. That's a fun one. Watkins Glen, New York. I'm actually going to Canada this year for a week race. That will be super cool.

 

Greg Farber  39:52

Wow, like with the whole like, you have the car in the trailer, the whole works?

 

Kate Garabedian  39:55

So this is a whole nother conversation, but when I started with my..

 

Greg Farber  39:58

I know, I don't want to wrap up now. We're done here and I want to keep talking about racing. 

 

Kate Garabedian  40:01

My father in law's been doing this for, like, I don't know, somewhere between 12 and 15 years. And so I recently, not recently, like, probably four or five years ago, I got more interested in it. So for a year, he took me to the track, and I just watched and all this. And then he, one of his friends, was selling his BMW 2002, it's a 1976 and he wanted me in a safe car that he knew was maintained well and all this stuff. So he basically was like, You're buying this car. So I bought that car, and then I started racing. I think this will be my fourth year racing with him. So something we do together. I actually have a picture of us I can show you quick of him in front of me, coming around to bend at Lime Rock. And he's on three wheels. It's on my Instagram. 

 

Greg Farber  40:43

Have you like souped up all the components? I'm guessing. It's not original mechanicals in there anymore. 

 

Kate Garabedian  40:50

It's not original. And I have in there whatever I'm so I like to race the car, but I don't necessarily, oh, so I know what. I went off on another tangent. I don't necessarily know how to handle under the hood yet, I'm trying to learn. But when I started racing, I bought the car, and then I told my father in law, I don't want to try. I don't want to tow it. I want someone to bring it for me. I want to be an arrive and drive. He's like, That's expensive, but if you want to pay for it, go for it. And it's like, it could be anywhere from, like, $3,000 to $10,000 a race just to have somebody, you know, maintain your car, bring your car, be track side, all this stuff. So then I was like, All right, fine. I'll tow it. So he, he got himself a nice, fancy trailer, and I use his old trailer and put the car in there. And then I bought an SUV that could tow. So I tow it. I tow it to West Virginia once a year. But that's him on three wheels in front of me. Nice, yeah. So he's the same car.

 

Greg Farber  41:37

If you're, if I don't know if you're willing or able to share that, but we, if you could send that to these guys, they could put it up in the video.

 

Kate Garabedian  41:45

Oh sure. He has a few race cars. So also, my inspiration, he's got a Porsche 911 he's got that. He's got a E30. He's got another 2002.

 

Greg Farber  41:54

So do you want to revise your earlier statement for people who want to get into the mortgage business? If you were successful at it, you can do this. Is that your new support line for people?

 

Kate Garabedian  42:02

Yeah, right.

 

Greg Farber  42:04

This was this was super fun. I love that. I really appreciate having you on any other thoughts or comments or anything you want to share?

 

Kate Garabedian  42:11

I don't think so. Thanks for having me. This is great.

 

Greg Farber  42:13

This was really a lot of fun. Don't forget to subscribe and rate our show. The Building Interest Podcast is live on all podcast platforms and YouTube. We want to hear what you think of each episode, and encourage you submit any questions that you want us to cover. So please find us on YouTube or Tiktok and comment your thoughts, all opinions expressed by Kate Garabedian and are her own, and not the opinions of Leader Bank. NA. For more information on today's subject, visit leaderbank.com. In addition to past episodes, you can also find our Learning Center blog for more insights, this podcast is a production of Leader Bank, an equal housing lender Member FDIC NMLS, number 449250.