The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a multitude of uncertainties and myths on just about everything, especially the mortgage industry. In this Minority Business Access, Charles Giscombe of Malibu Funding enlightens the masses by debunking existing myths about the mortgage industry during COVID-19. He discusses the value of gaining people’s trust in business, as well as how Malibu Funding’s going public will set a positive tone within the culture and the community. Ignorance can never be blissful when it means exclusion from wealth opportunities due to not knowing about them. Now is the time to get information.

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Well If You Don’t Know…

I have Charles here with Malibu Funding. A lot has been going on since COVID, we’re going to talk a little bit about the mortgage industry, about getting home loans, things that you guys have been asking about, being curious about. We’re going to try to get the information that you need to help educate you on making a sound decision to be able to benefit your family and your friends. Share the information. Thank you, guys, so much for tuning in to the show. We’re going to jump right into it. Charles, I’m so glad to have you here young man. It’s good to see you.

It’s a pleasure to be here. Thanks for inviting me. Thank you for having me.

One of the questions that everyone has is, what is the benefit of your company going public? We understand your company is going to go public. What’s the benefit?

The benefit of the company going public, obviously it provides more opportunity, the ability for wealth, visibility and an opportunity for investors to get in, get involved, making money and live in their dream. Sharing what we all like to share is our vision and opportunity.

It mines reminds me of this, your company going, public investors, getting in on the early stages, and being able to share in the growth as your company continues to grow as it’s helping other people. That’s so exciting. How do you feel about that?

I’m super excited because, at the end of the day, there have opportunities for us, especially people of color who have not come across so often in the information we didn’t have. Now that we have the ability and going public, we bring these investors in and they have an opportunity to share in our vision, sharing the wealth opportunity, and share an understanding and learning.

COVID took place. Everyone’s a little afraid, although a lot of people are out there getting mortgages and buying. Can you speak to what’s going on post-COVID?

You’d be surprised. Speaking for Malibu specifically first, our business has tripled since COVID. A lot of people think that the market, the mortgages and money weren’t going to move but it’s the contrary. More people are relocating and refinancing because, in these kinds of situations, the interest rates drop, which provides an excellent opportunity for people to refinance their higher-interest loans. With this money in this market and the pandemic between the relocation and the refinancing, industry standard is through the roof now in regards to people transacting in the mortgage industry.

 

COVID has changed a lot of things the way we do business. Employers have gotten smarter. They realized they don’t need as many employees, people are working from home and have been subcontractors. Is that going to impact loan lending in the future at all?

I believe that, especially in the mortgage industry, a lot of people, loan officers, processors, underwriters, everyone, essentially can do all their work from home, because of technology you can get things done faster, quicker. You and I are both from the old school. We like looking people in the eye, shaking hands, sitting down and talking to them but at the end of the day, you still can get business done and get it done at a much more rapid rate.

In your industry, I know you are not a fortune teller but is your industry an industry that is going to grow and benefit from everything that’s taking place in the economy?

I believe so. I always believe that one thing is for sure. 9 or 10 people were in the room with us while we were doing our business. At the end of the day, 7 to 10 of them are going to have mortgages, or have them already or will refinance. Every room you sit in, someone’s going to be doing a loan or a mortgage because homeownership is becoming more important. It’s only going to grow. That’s the natural wave. As the Boomers come in or as the Millennials come in, they’ll buy more and faster. The business will always be on an upward rise. Interest rates may vary at times but it’s going to be a constant flow of people, transacting and money moving in mortgage industry.

You can still get business done at home and get it done at a much more rapid rate.

That’s so exciting because personally, I also feel the same way. Your industry is going to grow tremendously because a lot of people will just be working from home. They’re going to want bigger homes because they’re going to spend more time at home and that because of the interest rates may go up a little bit. The pricing of houses may fall because they keep saying there’s going to be a bubble. I’m looking at it like, “This is exciting times,” especially for people of color or people who haven’t had access to the type of financing, the buying and purchasing homes. Your company going public, to me, I believe will give it more access to you loaning out more money and being in more places to help more people. Is that an accurate statement or am I over here on cloud nine somewhere?

You couldn’t be more accurate and dead-on. That’s one of the most exciting things about a company like Malibu Funding going public is because now, if you have a person of color involved in that situation, we can provide more financing for individuals that normally would not have the ability to get financing. I always call it we’re earning while we’re learning.

I follow some simple principles. One is we always look at management within that industry and see how they rank. You, as a manager in that industry, ranked extremely high and it’s like, “You’ve done this for so long and you fair out well.” Another thing we look at is the industry itself. What’s going to take place within that industry? How are things going to work? The exciting thing what I found out was that it looked like the industry was going to continue to grow by more than, we like to say, 3% to 5% of the industry growth but it looked like it was going to exceed that by 10% to 15% just within the industry. I was like, “Something is pushing that.” People, it’s extremely important to know, their company, Malibu Funding, is going public.

That means if you have an opportunity, you want to go check out their company. You want to look at it, do your homework, look and see what’s going on. You’re probably going to find out the exact same thing that I did, especially if you are on one of my platforms. You’re going to realize that the industry itself is growing, good management is reinvesting their resources back into the company, and management is looking to grow and scale both organically and through acquisitions. Those are the kinds of companies you want to become a part of so that you, as an owner, a new shareholder, can share in that opportunity. I have a couple more questions here from the community. One of the things they want to know is, how will this impact the community itself?

 

It can only benefit. We always like to talk about it, and you and I talk about often about demystifying situations. A lot of times our community specifically has an innocent ignorance. We haven’t been given the information. It hasn’t been provided for us, so you don’t get a chance to take advantage of the opportunities. I love what you’re doing because it gives any community an opportunity to learn, to get involved. Now when you start having that ability to spread that knowledge to individuals, it only becomes better and it trickles down. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of.

I’ve heard some interesting things about you. I heard a lot of people that you get help or athletes and people in the entertainment world. Why is that important in the finance world? Can we go anywhere?

They can go anywhere, but a lot of times, it comes to understanding and trust, and you’re not given that information. You feel it’s fear. There’s a fear factor that comes into play.

What I hear you saying, Charles, is their trust level in you and Malibu is so high. People, you got to understand trust is important. You have a man that’s taken a company public and everything of that nature. You already have people at a high level within their careers trusting him to do a good job, to provide a great service for them. You should be trusting him as well. You need to look at his company. You need to look and know that when this company goes there, you want to get in on the early stages, whether it’s his company or any company, anytime you get the opportunity to invest in a company in its early stages, that’s where you receive the biggest rewards and gains.

When you have the ability to spread knowledge to individuals, it only becomes better. And it trickles down.

That’s where you see and hear about a secretary going from $50,000 to becoming a millionaire. There are people like Charles who have already earned the trust, who is willing to turn back and give back to others to help the average day person who’s working the ordinary job to get first funding so you can buy your dream home. Second, so that you can become a stakeholder in a company that he owns corner. He shares that opportunity with you. Charles, I didn’t do that justice as you probably can. I’ll let you say all that in your own words.

You said it best. From our first meeting, it was important and it caught me in a good way that you were the individual who has gone through all this, you will provide the information and are always willing to share your knowledge. From this standpoint, and even with the platform, you’re offering opportunities and information that people of all communities, all races or types, wouldn’t have the opportunity to have this information. By giving it, they can learn, do their due diligence and they can invest in these companies that they normally would never have access to. From that, I feel like I want to be a part of that growth and I want to participate in people’s wealth.

It’s one thing that I do is as far as providing financing for homes, it makes me feel good to know that I’ve gained the trust of grandmothers, mothers, their daughters and children. I have generations of people coming to me because they believe in me. From a mortgage standpoint, they trust me and they know that they’re not going to feel that they’re not as intelligent or don’t know. I help them and teach them along the way. This is the same thing that your platform is doing. You’re teaching these people along the way to create generational wealth and opportunities for individuals like ourselves, who would normally never have an opportunity to experience it.

You said something important because I had placed some emphasis on the athletes and entertainers. You are so gracious and humble. You mentioned the people from all walks of life that are equally as important. You didn’t emphasize the celebrities and the athlete. You placed emphasis on the average and the ordinary. That reminds me of a story from the Bible. Anyone would want to help the ones that are way up top but sometimes we forget about the ones that are down here and we think there’s no money in. I say thank you for that and sharing that and making sure that I got the right perspective that, “You guys got to listen.”

That’s what I was doing. I was listening to the man because when I said athletes, I thought that was important and said, “The man is trustworthy but what’s more important is the man is trustworthy because he doesn’t judge anyone. He does the same job over and over, no matter what your background, where you come from, all walks of life, he’s going to give you the same service.” That’s the person you want to follow. That’s the leader you want to get behind because you know his integrity and character are there.

Charles, I’m going to ask this question. If I invest in your company, what’s the benefit of me and some of these people from this show? I’m not trying to promote your company and to be a broker dealer or get anyone to invest in your company. What I’m trying to do is educate people and get them to understand what it looks like and what the benefits are. I’m going to use it myself. If I invest in your company, what are the benefits?

The benefits of investing in a company like Malibu Funding, first and foremost, you’ll be investing in a company that caters to all walks but we also placed a special emphasis on our own. We’re making sure individuals get involved and have an opportunity to be a part of a company and a stakeholder in a company and a minority company to grow it, build it and attain their wealth by doing it. You’re also helping the community in the growth and learning. At the end of the day, that’s the platform that we provide. I’m proud to be able to lead that situation and to have individuals trust in us as a company so that they can help us and themselves grow at the same time.

Tell us about your father and his experience with purchasing stock from IBM.

My father was a big-time real estate individual from Harlem, New York. He did many things. One thing he talked about with us when he was young, and I always think about it when I’m thinking about Solomon Ali, the platforms and the different businesses in the public trading, he always said, “I had an opportunity to invest in IBM. It was my fear and my lack of information.” An innocent ignorance that he had because he did not have the information. From that fear, prevented him or stopped him from taking that jump or that leap of faith into this.

Obviously, he says before he passed away, “Look where we would have been.” When I say that, I say what you’re doing is amazing because it has individuals like myself, the athletes, and the common man to have the information on your platform, to know how to do the due diligence. Also, to know how to not be innocently ignorant anymore and understand that you can make an educated decision on these stocks or these opportunities to jump into them because you’re provided the information in one place. These opportunities don’t come all the time and you have to jump on them right away.

Sometimes it’s just so much time and not knowing where to go look for the information, how to go look and how to seek it. Some individuals don’t have that skillset, but the platform, it makes it very easy for you to go right there. Find all the information out importantly about the leaders, the management, the growth and how the company has been performing at its level at this point to let you know how to invest to have faith in your investment and to be strong enough in knowing that. Nothing’s 100% guaranteed but at least you know going in, “I’ve received all the information that I could get so that I can make a sound decision when I invest my family’s money into this.”

I am so touched because I’m asking you questions and you talking about my platform. I might have to do one of my partners and take a moment here because the platform is important. The platform that we put together to help people to do the things so they can make informed decisions, educate them, especially in the minority community. One is normally they’re outpriced, so they probably can’t afford it. We were trying to solve a problem, not just for people of color but for people that came from all walks of life, no matter what color they were that have the resources to be able to do their own due diligence, look at companies, be able to stand and say, “I want to get in a company like Malibu in these early stages. Before I do, let me do that research and let me make sure that I’m making the right decision, and then I’ll be able to hold my investment and scale while Malibu does their thing, and grow.” I’m so happy and proud that you guys have made the decision to go down that journey. It’s going to be an exciting journey. One who has dealt with a lot of publicly traded companies. It’s going to also be an experience but it’s going to be one that’s going to affect your life and a lot of other people’s lives.

That’s probably going to be the most important piece, the impact that you will have on other people’s lives. There’s not a lot of people of color that own and that are going to be running mortgage companies, helping other people of color and get the financing necessary to purchase their homes, to purchase that which they want to place their family in a nice environment and neighborhood. Here it is, this man is going to be helping people from all walks of life, not just people of color. I’m talking to you guys because, one, you read this and that’s we’re trying to help to demystify and educate you and bring information to you that you can take advantage of.

This will help you. Tell a friend about his company and please, by all means, go, look and find out about his company and invest in it if that’s what you wish to do. I don’t invest in stocks. I invest in companies and people like what the Warren Buffett method is. I look for the management teams to do what they do and people. Please look at the company, they’re doing great things, trying to help people. He was shown to be a person. They’d been around the industry a very long time. Charles, we’re about to close out. Are there any other things that you would like to say?

This opportunity is very humbling. I want everyone to have an opportunity to learn, to have someone that will give them the information because for so long, we have to be honest. The banking system and the non-banking system, as far as mortgages are concerned, were not made for us. For that reason, I want to make sure that we make it available to all. We take the confusion and the fear out of it and help individuals. At the same time, by building a company that way, if individuals would like to get involved and invest in a company like us, then they can go along with the ride.

Charles, I want to thank you so much for coming to the show.

Thanks for having me here, I appreciate it.

Everyone, thank you so much for tuning in to Minority Business Access. I hope you learned something and picked up a few tips here and there. Please go check out Malibu Funding. Don’t miss the Facebooks and the Vodafones. Don’t miss like his father did the IBM. Take a look at the companies. Don’t be afraid. What we’re trying to do is educate and help people. Do your due diligence, make your own decisions, and do your homework.

 

Important Links

• Malibu Funding