Meet Reginald Masters | President of Masters Home Mortgage

We had the good fortune of connecting with Reginald Masters and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Reginald, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process behind starting a business was a guarantee to myself to never be laid off from work again. Throughout my professional career, I experienced several layoffs in which I felt I had no control. The thought of being laid off and living off a savings until I found another job was not good feeling. I no longer wanted to put my fate in the hands of a company or another person. I never felt secure working a job. There was a time when I wanted a stable career I could retire from, but I was never able to land that secure job. Starting and managing Masters Home Mortgage has been the most stable career I’ve ever had. Although it’s more work that I would like to do, it has been the best decision I could have ever made for my career.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Masters Home Mortgage is a lender headquartered in Georgia, but licensed in 4 states as of May 2022. We are licensed in Georgia, Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. The business was established in 2017; however, we became fully operational in March of 2020 right when the pandemic started. While being operational just under 2 years, we were able to graduate from being a mortgage broker to a mortgage lender. As a mortgage lender, we are able to fund mortgages in our own name and use our own funds to close loans. This is a huge step toward our bigger goal of becoming a nationwide lender. We are a lender that can still broker loans which give our customers the best of both worlds.

I started the company as a one man operation; however, we now have 7 loan officers and 2 processors on the team. We also have a branch office in Houston, TX. Getting to this point hasn’t been easy; however, the vision has always been clear on how to get here. My previous career experiences equipped me for the challenges of building a mortgage company. The biggest challenges come from building a company organically without using any outside investment or going into debt to fund the company. We’ve been overcoming those challenges by keeping a flat organization with a little more workload from everyone as we build up reserves to bring on new employees who will make a significant impact. I realize debt can be beneficial to a company sometimes; however, growing organically is sometimes be best for the long term. It can keep us from growing too fast which can impact the quality of service and avoid layoffs in a cyclical business.

I’ve learned that you can have a goal in mind but you must remain adaptable and you must continuously evolve. The market will always be changing and you have to be agile and be able to adjust. There is a way to be profitable in every market, you just have to make the necessary adjustments to do so. We will strategically expand even if the market contracts. Our brand will ultimately be defined by our integrity and quality service.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I like the outdoor festivals they always have in Atlanta. I always attend any kind of R&B or Jazz festival in the Atlanta area. Any live R&B music is always an option for me. I’m a bit of a foodie so I like to go to different restaurants. I have a list of restaurants on my phone for when any of my friends or family come to Atlanta to visit. I like brunch spots like Negril Village and Breakfast at Barneys. A few other restaurants I like are Old Lady Gang, Milk and Honey, Coppers Cove, Gypsy Kitchen, 5 Church, to name a few. Any interesting events at the Fox Theatre or any of the Amphitheatre is a would make a fun night out.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a special shout out to a man named Greg Austin. Greg Austin gave me my first real job out of college which led to me gaining the skills & knowledge to start and successfully run a mortgage company. When I graduated from college with a business degree in 2002, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t have any real connections to help me find my first job out of college. I printed out a stack of resumes and went door to door of any office building I saw in the Houston, TX area. I ran into Greg Austin and he was impressed with my drive to go out and look for work. He challenged me to follow up a couple of times and he subsequently offered me my first job at a mortgage technology company he co-owned. During that experience, I worked with many owners of small mortgage companies which allowed me to see what was needed to start a company. Greg then moved on to a direct mortgage lender in the Dallas area and took me along with him. I learned many things from a high level about mortgage companies from origination, processing, underwriting, closing, and secondary marketing. I received a wealth of knowledge during that time that I use to this day. Greg told me a long time ago, the knowledge he is opening me up to I would never learn in school and it would make me a very good living if I put in the work. He couldn’t have been more right. When I look back, Greg Austin was probably the best person I met in regards to my career as none of this would have been possible had I not met him.

Website: www.mastershomemortgage.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reginaldmasters/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginald-masters/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reginald.masters

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/regmasters1