Start your week with intention.
On the first night of my President's Club trip with First Horizon, my husband and I were walking down a long set of steps in Hawaii to the opening celebration when I spotted Rose Marie David a few steps ahead of us.
I knew exactly who she was. Everyone at First Horizon did. She was a $100 million originator running a $500 million branch, the kind of numbers the rest of us talked about at our desks (and quietly measured ourselves against). I knew all about her, and she had no idea who I was.
I leaned over to my husband and said, "Hey, that's Rose Marie David." He looked at me and said, "Why don't you go say hi to her?" And I said, "Oh, she doesn't know who I am."
So I let her walk on ahead, and I never said a word.
A couple of years later, Rose Marie and I were promoted to district manager at the same time. Just like that, the woman I was too nervous to say hello to in Hawaii was my peer, with her in Puget Sound and me in Eastern Washington.
When the financial crisis hit in 2008, First Horizon sold its mortgage business to MetLife, and the two of us landed in the same division. With companies closing all around us, being part of a name everyone knew felt like solid ground (although in my daughters' eyes, the real upside was having Snoopy as my "boss").
By 2011, that ground was shifting. Dodd-Frank had passed, everything tightened up almost overnight, and I started looking at our offer differently. We were a mortgage division inside an insurance company, and when I compared us to the traditional lenders around me, I didn't think we had much to offer a loan officer. Somewhere in there, that turned into a whole story in my head that nobody was going to come work for me.
One day Rose Marie and I were meeting, and she asked me how things were going. I told her I felt stuck. I said maybe Met worked in Puget Sound with larger loan amounts and jumbo, but in a small market like mine, I just couldn't recruit.
She asked me one question. "Well, who are you calling?"
I told her the truth. I wasn't really calling anyone, because I didn't think anyone would talk to me anyway. She smiled and said, "I'm pretty sure you can never hire the person you have not called."
Then she walked me through how she had built her team. She built it on her vision, on what she could do for people and where she could help take their business, and on the kind of leader she was. She believed she could land the best of the best no matter what company she worked for. She wasn't bragging. She had the team to prove it.
And she didn't have to do any of it. We were peers, two district managers with our own teams to run and our own numbers to hit, and she could have wished me luck and gone back to her day. Instead, she took me under her wing. Nobody asked her to, and nobody would have noticed if she hadn't. That is what mentorship looks like. It was a gift.
I couldn't see it then, but that conversation and the staircase in Hawaii were the same moment. "She doesn't know who I am" and "nobody will come work for me" were the same story, and both times I let it make the decision without ever testing it. I had zero evidence. I hadn't walked up and said hello, and I hadn't picked up the phone. I had a feeling, and I let that feeling run my calendar.
Rose Marie has been my leader since 2011, and a lot of our team has stayed together through three acquisitions. When we moved to CMG, 98% of our people came with us. I think about that often, because it's exactly what she was showing me back then. People follow the person who believes in them, has their back, and can help them see where they could go.
So what's the story you're telling yourself right now? Maybe it's the agent who won't take your call, the borrower who's going to go with another lender, or the market that's too slow. Whatever yours is, it deserves to be tested before it gets to decide anything for you, and most of the time the test is as simple as walking up and saying hello, or picking up the phone.
Make it a great week! 💛🌟
MY LINKEDIN FEED
My post this week
I had 20 years of proof sitting in one room yesterday. Who you surround yourself with matters more than any title, any strategy, or any rate sheet.
Gary Vaynerchuk
There is someone right now who's down 29 points in the fourth quarter and can win. Do you know how awesome that is?
CHART OF THE WEEK
Builders are leaning on deals to keep homes moving. In October, 65% of builders offered sales incentives and 43% cut prices, the highest share since at least 2020. The average price cut held at 6% for the seventh straight month.
What to tell a borrower or agent: If your buyer is open to new construction, now is the time to ask what the builder will put on the table. A price cut, a rate buydown, or help with closing costs can make the payment work, and builders are motivated to say yes.
Source: HousingWire, citing the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index, October 19, 2026.
PODCAST OF THE WEEK
Brady Thomas sat down with Coach's Corner to walk through what he calls the Two Home Tango, helping families buy before they sell, which is now more than 60% of a business on pace for about $200 million this year. He opens up his actual MortgageCoach presentations, including how he answered a 9.99% bridge loan quote and how he gets buyers ready for an appraisal gap before they write the offer. His personal code is my favorite part: "We never say no. We always say how and when." It runs about an hour, so save it for a long drive.
LINKS WORTH YOUR TIME
Compass vs. the MLS is getting messy
Three MLSs have rejected Compass's demands, and brokers are warning that a fight over who shares listings could break the comps and appraisals our files depend on.
Stop asking people what they do for a living
Krys Benyamein, a former public defender turned agent, pulls five habits from Vanessa Van Edwards' new book on conversation. My favorite is swapping "What do you do?" for "Working on anything exciting lately?" and then actually listening for the story.
Apple's next launch could bring a touchscreen MacBook Pro
Bloomberg reports Apple is planning a Mac and iPad announcement around October 27, and the rumored headliner is its first touchscreen MacBook Pro. Nothing is confirmed yet, so if a new laptop is on your list, it is worth waiting a week.
Americans will spend $13.5 billion on Halloween
The National Retail Federation expects spending to top last year's record, with costumes, decorations, and candy each coming in above $4 billion. Our pets are in on it too, with almost $1 billion going to pet costumes before Saturday.
WHERE TO FIND ME
I am home in Coeur d'Alene for the rest of October and November. If you are in the area, reply to this email and let's grab coffee. If you want time on the books, grab a spot on my calendar here.
ON THE CALENDAR
Oct 26: New Home Sales
Oct 27: Case-Shiller Home Price Index, Consumer Confidence
Oct 27 to 28: Fed meeting, with the rate decision on Oct 28
Oct 29: Q3 GDP (first estimate), Jobless claims
Oct 30: PCE inflation
Oct 31: Halloween
Nov 1: Daylight saving time ends
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretzky
PASS IT ON
Or copy and share this link: https://newsletter.natalieoverturf.com/subscribe
Natalie Overturf
Cell: 360-606-7947
