This morning, at the beginning of the third quarter of 2022, I learned about this morsel: The most common national holiday around the world is independence from the British! That aside, this morning I decided to start the 2nd half of 2022 with a healthy, low-cal breakfast: oatmeal. So I found the Quaker Oats, and began boiling. Then I gathered up the butter, pecans, chocolate chips, milk, maple syrup, banana, shredded coconut… where was I going with this? Oh yeah, food and learning. Real estate agent relationships are vital in the mortgage industry, especially for purchase-heavy shops. In hot markets, agents tend to already have established relationships with brokers or lenders, so some LOs are using food and learning. They are offering either breakfast treats with a baker, or happy hour wine tasting with a local wine expert, to local real estate agents, financial planners, contractors, divorce attorneys, whoever, with 20-30 minutes of mingling and then a 10–15-minute presentation on what a broker or loan officer does and the value a good originator can add for the agents. Hey, it’s worth a shot. (Today’s podcast is available here and this week’s is sponsored by Ignite Integration Solutions, Inc., a custom software provider that has created industry leading LOS CORE integrations in addition to a library of Encompass base tools and plug ins, and custom API development with our team of 100% on shore developers to support both Mortgage Lenders and Vendors as clients and partners.)