What This Call Produces
This call is not a fact-finding mission. It ends with four outputs. If you don't have all four, the call isn't done. If you have all four, the call is done — stop talking.
| Output | Definition |
|---|---|
| 1. Payment Band | A floor, a target, and a ceiling. Three numbers, not one. |
| 2. Cash Position | What's committed to this purchase, and what's behind it. |
| 3. Search Box | Area, property type, new vs. resale — narrow enough to act on. |
| 4. Next Step | Application link sent + consultation on the calendar with a date and time. |
Before You Dial
- Know the referral source cold — name it in the first sentence.
- Application tool open. You are typing during this call, not after.
- Block discovery calls. Don't take them ad hoc.
0 Acknowledge the Source — 15 seconds
Hey [Name] — [Referral Partner] told me you'd be calling. They speak highly of you, so I wanted to make sure I took this one myself. This'll take about ten minutes, and by the end you'll know your payment range, what you'll need at the table, and what the next step is.
Why: Names the source, sets the clock, and states the deliverable. The borrower now knows what they're getting, which is what keeps them from wandering.
1 Sole or Joint — 30 seconds
FIRST QUESTION. Every call. No exceptions.
First thing — is this new mortgage going to be in just your name, or yours and someone else's?
Then, immediately and in the same breath:
And have either of you ever served in the military, or currently serving?
Capture: Number of borrowers, names, veteran/active-duty status for both.
Why this is first: It's the cheapest gate in the call. It sets whose credit and whose income you're working with — every number that follows depends on it. And the military question rides on it naturally instead of being a standalone stage that stops the conversation cold.
2 Timeline & Motivation — 60 seconds
This is the triage gate.
What's driving the move, and what's your timeline?
Capture: Motivation, target window.
FORK — decide here
| Timeline | What you do |
|---|---|
| Inside 90 days | Run the full call. They're real. |
| 90 days to 6 months | Run the full call, but the close changes (see Close, Option B). |
| Beyond 6 months | Stop the call at four minutes. Get the payment band and area only, set a calendar reminder, send a market-update cadence, and get off. |
Running a twelve-minute discovery on someone nine months out is not thoroughness — it's a waste of your block and theirs. Tell them plainly:
You're early, which is a good problem. Let's not burn your time on details that'll change. Here's what I'll do instead.
3 Payment Anchor — 90 seconds
Do not ask “what payment are you comfortable with.” That question produces a lowball guess that anchors the entire file against you.
Ask this instead, in this order:
What are you paying right now, all in — including taxes and insurance if it's escrowed?
And if the right house came along, what's the number where you'd start to feel it?
What's the number where you'd walk away?
Capture: Current payment (floor), comfortable target, hard ceiling.
Why three numbers: One number is a wish. Three numbers is a band you can put houses inside of. The current payment is the honest floor — it's what they're already proving they can pay. The ceiling is what protects you from showing them something that blows up in underwriting.
4 Cash Position — 90 seconds
What have you set aside specifically for this — down payment and closing costs?
Then:
And behind that — is there anything you'd rather not touch? Savings, retirement, anything like that?
Capture: Committed funds, reserves behind them, and whether reserves are liquid.
Why the second question: It surfaces reserves without a separate reserves stage, and reserves are what decide the rental question in Stage 6. You get it for free here.
5 Search Box — 90 seconds
Do you have an area in mind, or are we still narrowing that down?
New construction, resale, or open to both?
Capture: Target area(s), property type, new vs. resale, any builder or community already in play.
6 Current Home — 90 seconds
Skip entirely if they don't own.
Do you own the home you're in now?
Is the plan to sell it, or could you see keeping it as a rental?
Capture: Ownership, payoff/sale intent, rental intent.
If they say rental — do not solve it. Frame it and move:
That's doable. It changes the math — lenders want to see documented reserves to carry both, on top of your down payment and closing costs. Based on what you told me you have set aside, that's a real conversation, and it's the first thing we'll work through on our next call.
You already have their reserve number from Stage 4. You don't need to run the numbers now. You need them to know the constraint exists so it isn't a surprise in underwriting.
7 Employment & Income — 60 seconds
One question at a time. Don't stack these.
Who do you work for, and how long have you been there?
Is that salary, hourly, commission, or self-employed?
Capture: Employer, tenure, income structure.
Why it's this late: It's the least likely to derail the call and the most likely to be verified anyway. Front-loading employment makes the call feel like an application. It isn't one.
8 The Rate Objection — 90 seconds
Only if raised. Do not bring it up yourself.
When you hear “rates are too high” or “we're waiting for rates to come down” — you are not going to win a debate about the Fed. Don't try. Convert it into a trigger:
Fair. What rate would make this a clear yes for you?
Let them answer. Then:
Okay — [X]%. Two things. One, I'll put that on watch and you'll hear from me the day we get there, not a week later. Two, here's what I want you to understand about waiting: if rates drop, the people who've been sitting on the sidelines all come back at the same time, and you're bidding against every one of them. The house gets more expensive even though the rate got cheaper. Refinancing a rate is easy. Un-losing a house isn't.
Then close the loop:
So here's my recommendation — let's get you approved now so you're ready either way. If your number hits, you move. If the right house shows up first, you move. Either way you're not scrambling.
Capture: The trigger rate. Log it. It's now a monitored condition with your name on it.
Why this works: You didn't argue. You gave them a number they own, a commitment you own, and a reason to act that doesn't depend on being right about rates. The objection became an action plan.
Close — 90 seconds
The call does not end without a next step. Ever.
Option A — Timeline inside 6 months
Based on everything you've told me, here's what I'd recommend. I'm sending you the application link right now — takes about ten minutes. Once that's in, I can build you a real pre-approval, not a guess. Are you better Tuesday at 4 or Wednesday at 10 for us to walk through it?
- Send the link while you're still on the phone. Not after.
- Two options, both specific. Never “when works for you?”
- If a coordinator handles intake, loop them in via group text on the call so the borrower meets them while you're still on the line.
Option B — Beyond 6 months
You're early, and that's a good spot to be in. I'm not going to run you through an application you'd have to redo. Here's what I'll do — I'll put your payment range and area on watch, and I'll reach out at [specific month] so we're building this when it actually counts. Sound fair?
Calendar it. A specific month, not “in a while.”
Escalate, Don't Decline
If you hit a gray area — thin credit, visa or foreign national status, non-traditional income, anything you're unsure about:
- Do not decline a file solo. Ever.
- Bring it to a teammate or manager for a sanity check before you tell a borrower no.
- Document the specific barrier so it escalates with full context, not a shrug.
After the Call
- Log everything immediately. Payment band, cash position, search box, veteran status, trigger rate. Not from memory. Not later.
- If intake is delegated, hand off with the full notes so the borrower never repeats themselves. Making them re-tell their story is the fastest way to make a referral partner look bad.
- Confirm the consultation is on the calendar with an invite sent.
One-Page Recap
| # | Stage | Time | Must Produce |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Acknowledge source | :15 | Frame set, clock stated |
| 1 | Sole or joint + military | :30 | Borrower count, VA status — every call |
| 2 | Timeline & motivation | 1:00 | Triage fork — full call or nurture |
| 3 | Payment anchor | 1:30 | Floor / target / ceiling |
| 4 | Cash position | 1:30 | Committed funds + reserves |
| 5 | Search box | 1:30 | Two named areas, property type |
| 6 | Current home (if owns) | 1:30 | Sell vs. rental, reserve constraint framed |
| 7 | Employment & income | 1:00 | Employer, tenure, income structure |
| 8 | Rate objection (if raised) | 1:30 | Trigger rate logged, action plan set |
| — | Close | 1:30 | Link sent + consultation booked |
Full call: ~10:00. With rate objection: ~11:30. No-owner path: ~9:00.
The Discipline
Adapt the language to your voice. The sequence, the four outputs, and the military question stay fixed across every advisor.
If you're running long, you're solving. Stop solving. The consultation is where you solve.