00:00.810 --> 00:02.748 Allyson Berger: Hey everyone Allyson Berger here for 00:02.802 --> 00:06.249 deBanked. We are live in midtown Manhattan. I am now with Andrew 00:06.303 --> 00:09.103 and Nick of the Central Diligence Group. How are you 00:09.157 --> 00:09.750 guys doing? 00:09.780 --> 00:11.250 Nick Gregory: We're doing great, nice to meet you. 00:11.400 --> 00:12.720 Allyson Berger: You too, great. 00:12.720 --> 00:13.440 Andrew Hernandez: Nice to meet you as well. 00:14.100 --> 00:15.960 Allyson Berger: So we are going to keep this fast and simple. 00:15.960 --> 00:18.630 Just like your business motto. Have you been keeping things 00:18.630 --> 00:20.730 fast and simple throughout this past year? 00:20.910 --> 00:22.590 Nick Gregory: Absolutely. Without a doubt. 00:23.010 --> 00:23.700 Allyson Berger: Do you agree? 00:24.690 --> 00:26.730 Andrew Hernandez: As much as we can, with everything going on. 00:26.910 --> 00:28.950 Allyson Berger: Has it? How has it changed for you guys? 00:30.150 --> 00:32.400 Andrew Hernandez: Well, we've had to obviously adapt to the 00:32.430 --> 00:35.970 company culture and people working remote and trying to 00:36.000 --> 00:39.540 work through problems and issues through you know, social media 00:39.540 --> 00:41.400 and other types of chat platforms. 00:41.880 --> 00:43.590 Allyson Berger: It sounded like when we were chatting earlier 00:43.590 --> 00:46.020 that it's been a little difficult at times to do things 00:46.020 --> 00:48.150 virtually. How has that been for you? 00:49.980 --> 00:53.040 Andrew Hernandez: So we did a couple months working from home, 00:53.040 --> 00:55.950 everybody was working from home. A few of us got back into the 00:55.950 --> 00:59.880 office in July. And I eventually the whole office was back by 00:59.880 --> 01:02.670 October. It's just easier to work from home doing what we do. 01:03.300 --> 01:06.960 Easy to communicate. We tried the Zooms, we tried the chats 01:06.960 --> 01:10.050 and whatnot. But ultimately, we all like being together anyway. 01:10.050 --> 01:10.980 So works out. 01:11.400 --> 01:14.040 Allyson Berger: It is nice being people to people face to face, 01:14.040 --> 01:16.500 and and it must help your business doing things face to 01:16.500 --> 01:16.890 face. 01:17.160 --> 01:19.710 Nick Gregory: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's it's very difficult 01:19.710 --> 01:23.250 now that even just to, you know, cultivate the relationships that 01:23.250 --> 01:26.820 we've had, for so many years, it's just, you know, we're 01:26.820 --> 01:29.190 working through it. We're working through it as much as we 01:29.190 --> 01:29.850 can. So. 01:30.300 --> 01:31.710 Allyson Berger: You guys have been doing great. I mean, you're 01:31.710 --> 01:35.130 here right now to tell us all about it. How do you see things 01:35.130 --> 01:36.150 going in the future? 01:37.380 --> 01:40.260 Andrew Hernandez: We think this is a good, you know, 01:40.410 --> 01:43.500 reassessment of everything that's going on with just small 01:43.500 --> 01:47.220 business in general, we've made the changes to and adapted to 01:47.220 --> 01:51.360 what's going on, in terms of, you know, what's going forward? 01:51.390 --> 01:52.710 I don't have a crystal ball. But. 01:52.740 --> 01:53.670 Allyson Berger: Wait, you don't? 01:54.120 --> 01:56.430 Andrew Hernandez: Unfortunately, not. But we're doing our best. 01:56.820 --> 01:59.010 You know, we're always talking to each other. And communication 01:59.010 --> 02:02.250 is key with not only ourselves, other funders, other brokers in 02:02.250 --> 02:04.830 the industry, and looking to build on those relationships 02:04.830 --> 02:07.380 that we've cultivated over not just this time, but over the 02:07.380 --> 02:07.740 years. 02:08.280 --> 02:11.100 Most definitely. And I wish you had that crystal ball, I would 02:11.100 --> 02:14.400 help out with a lot of things. Do you see anything happening? 02:14.400 --> 02:18.140 Nick Gregory: I think we're definitely at a moment where 02:18.140 --> 02:21.050 we're going to springboard forward from here. You know, 02:21.140 --> 02:24.470 there's constant media news with different variants coming out 02:24.470 --> 02:27.290 and everyone's getting vaccinated and not vaccinated. I 02:27.290 --> 02:30.230 think eventually we'll get to a plateau of, you know, kind of 02:30.230 --> 02:33.290 somewhat normalcy. But, you know, it's gonna take time, but 02:33.290 --> 02:35.990 we've been pushing through and, you know, trudging forward as 02:35.990 --> 02:37.760 much as we can over the past several months. 02:38.090 --> 02:39.950 Allyson Berger: Of course, and I mean, we're here right now. 02:39.980 --> 02:42.980 We're live in person. I feel like this is a good step 02:42.980 --> 02:43.490 forward. 02:43.910 --> 02:45.050 Nick Gregory: Oh, 100%. Yeah. 02:46.430 --> 02:49.340 Andrew Hernandez: It feels good to be back. Weather's nice. Good 02:49.340 --> 02:52.220 to just be around people again, people we know. So. Thank you. 02:52.220 --> 02:54.890 Allyson Berger: Right. Of course, you're most welcome. How 02:54.890 --> 02:56.780 do you feel about New York coming back? 02:57.680 --> 03:00.140 Andrew Hernandez: Um, little by little, like I said, we've been 03:00.140 --> 03:03.770 back in the office since late June, early July. And we've seen 03:03.770 --> 03:06.830 the progress that you know, has been happening over the past 10 03:06.830 --> 03:10.100 months or so. And we think it's going to bounce back, New York 03:10.100 --> 03:12.440 always bounces back. So we're looking forward to it. 03:12.890 --> 03:14.840 Allyson Berger: I definitely agree, we got to see the hope. 03:14.840 --> 03:18.200 Well, I'm gonna let you bounce to the next hot seat. So you can 03:18.230 --> 03:20.780 get into some more about your story and what you guys have 03:20.810 --> 03:23.510 going on. So stay tuned, everyone, there's more to come 03:23.510 --> 03:24.710 from deBanked live. 03:31.260 --> 03:33.660 Kevin Travers: So here we are, again, at deBanked TV live. Now 03:33.690 --> 03:36.780 Allyson sort of introduced these two from behind the scenes. But 03:36.780 --> 03:40.380 we're here with Andrew Hernandez and Nick Gregory, from Central 03:40.380 --> 03:44.220 Diligence Group. And how's it going, guys, I hope your family 03:44.220 --> 03:46.830 and friends are staying safe and healthy in this time. What can 03:46.830 --> 03:50.640 you tell me about, how long have you been open and working in the 03:50.640 --> 03:51.090 office? 03:51.210 --> 03:54.960 Andrew Hernandez: Um, we started to come back late June, early 03:54.960 --> 03:59.730 July. And once everybody got comfortable with everything, the 03:59.730 --> 04:04.020 whole office was back by about October. So it's been a slow 04:04.140 --> 04:07.410 progression towards that. But I think everybody now is 04:07.440 --> 04:09.840 comfortable with everything. It's better to be back in the 04:09.840 --> 04:13.500 office for us. I think everybody has realized that as we've been 04:13.530 --> 04:16.740 going through it. We tried the Zoom chats, we tried the chats, 04:16.770 --> 04:20.550 the regular chats. And ultimately, I think the 04:20.550 --> 04:23.280 communication is just better being all in one place. 04:25.340 --> 04:27.830 Nick Gregory: Yeah, no, I would definitely agree with that. I 04:27.830 --> 04:31.670 think the human interaction of you know, being face to face, 04:31.850 --> 04:34.490 especially in our type of business where we actually need 04:34.700 --> 04:37.430 to interact with the underwriter and, you know, you convey your 04:37.430 --> 04:40.700 message a little bit more effectively in person as opposed 04:40.700 --> 04:44.630 to, you know, discussing a deal or talking about a file over 04:44.630 --> 04:47.870 chat, you know, for that matter. So, it's definitely, you know, 04:47.870 --> 04:51.140 more of a collective approach when working on certain files. 04:51.290 --> 04:51.740 Andrew Hernandez: Exactly. 04:52.490 --> 04:55.370 Kevin Travers: And speaking of, I guess, trying to adapt this 04:55.370 --> 04:58.850 year, how has underwriting changed or had to maybe 04:58.850 --> 05:02.750 accelerate or, what changes have you looked at through your 05:02.750 --> 05:03.860 underwriting process this year? 05:04.170 --> 05:07.050 Andrew Hernandez: Um, I think one of the, you know, in terms 05:07.050 --> 05:09.630 of underwriting, especially for alternative financing in 05:09.630 --> 05:15.300 general, the criteria is always changing, you're always kind of 05:15.600 --> 05:20.130 looking to see what's going on in the world and COVID-19 really 05:20.130 --> 05:23.520 kind of took that to the next level, there was multiple 05:23.520 --> 05:25.410 changes that needed to be made, and they needed to be made, they 05:25.410 --> 05:29.070 needed to be made quickly. And we had to pay attention to what 05:29.070 --> 05:34.170 was going on. And, you know, things change over time, as. You 05:34.170 --> 05:36.810 know, what an essential business was in one state wasn't an 05:36.810 --> 05:39.660 essential business in another state, and that made things a 05:39.660 --> 05:43.050 little tough, but not only with us, you know, and our other 05:43.050 --> 05:47.250 partners, our actual underwriters or employees had 05:47.310 --> 05:50.670 very much to say, and kept track of everything, and they provided 05:50.670 --> 05:54.660 their feedback to get us better in, you know, underwriting and 05:54.660 --> 05:55.590 doing our diligence. 05:57.420 --> 05:59.820 Nick Gregory: Yeah, for sure. No, I was just to kind of add on 05:59.820 --> 06:04.710 to that. I think, prior to the pandemic, and working remote, we 06:04.710 --> 06:08.250 were definitely looking at files in a more traditional manner. 06:09.030 --> 06:12.450 You know, what kind of business that we're dealing with what 06:12.450 --> 06:15.690 kind of FICO score, what kind of cash flow, etc. Things of that 06:15.690 --> 06:19.680 sort, and just kind of placing them in different boxes and risk 06:19.680 --> 06:22.950 associating that, you know, accordingly. I think, you know, 06:22.950 --> 06:26.940 as things have kind of evolved through this, this, you know, 06:26.970 --> 06:31.560 era, if you will, we've we've definitely had to shift gears 06:31.560 --> 06:34.890 and look at businesses that are, you know, were high risk before, 06:34.890 --> 06:37.020 and now they're, you know, deemed essential, you know, 06:37.020 --> 06:40.290 trucking, for example, you know, you hear that industry thrown 06:40.290 --> 06:42.780 around, and nobody wants to touch trucking, and everything 06:42.780 --> 06:47.310 is just, you know, let's keep it to, you know, tier one, retail 06:47.310 --> 06:51.060 shops, but those are actually becoming more problematic, at 06:51.060 --> 06:54.330 least now in the short term than they were before. So we've 06:54.330 --> 06:57.090 definitely had to shift gears and kind of look at deals a 06:57.090 --> 06:58.980 little bit differently. Definitely. 07:00.220 --> 07:01.840 Kevin Travers: And I guess, talking about shifting gears, 07:01.840 --> 07:05.590 how did you guys look through staffing and finding or training 07:05.590 --> 07:09.670 new underwriters that has to be different, when suddenly, we're 07:09.730 --> 07:10.750 a lot of the world's remote. 07:12.400 --> 07:15.190 Andrew Hernandez: Definitely makes things difficult. And it 07:15.190 --> 07:19.150 always depends on you know, the position that you're hiring for, 07:19.150 --> 07:22.540 obviously, you're you know, underwriting in, especially 07:22.540 --> 07:25.900 again, in whether it's MCA alternative financing, um, it's 07:25.900 --> 07:28.750 a very particular thing, and you're looking for someone 07:28.750 --> 07:31.720 that's kind of gonna fit with the whole team. And at the same 07:31.720 --> 07:36.430 time, you know, somebody that's gonna want to be in the office, 07:36.430 --> 07:39.250 and that was very challenging for us. I think Nick can speak 07:39.250 --> 07:42.520 to that in terms of bringing people in and making sure that 07:42.550 --> 07:45.430 they were comfortable with being in the office again, so. 07:45.430 --> 07:48.870 Nick Gregory: Sure, yeah. I mean, definitely, from from an 07:48.870 --> 07:51.450 HR standpoint, you know, there's, you're dealing with 07:51.450 --> 07:56.400 the, the implications that were, you know, obviously dealt to us, 07:56.760 --> 08:00.750 and just trying to adapt from a company culture. And now 08:00.750 --> 08:03.450 everybody's working remote, and everyone's in their own silo, 08:03.450 --> 08:07.620 and, you know, working independently, and from saying, 08:07.650 --> 08:12.930 we're dealing with underwriting files. So it's, it's very, very 08:12.930 --> 08:16.860 simple in that regard. But at the same time, like I said 08:16.860 --> 08:20.550 earlier, to, to work through a deal and to work through a file 08:20.550 --> 08:24.390 and to really kind of pin pin the, you know, the high points 08:24.390 --> 08:26.850 and the low points and discuss if this is something that we 08:26.850 --> 08:30.090 want to approve or not, that's where we had to adapt and make 08:30.090 --> 08:33.210 certain, you know, fine, fine tuned adjustments, if you will. 08:34.410 --> 08:36.750 Kevin Travers: And I guess, knowing how to adapt is what you 08:36.750 --> 08:38.940 guys are good at, you've been around underwriting for a very 08:38.940 --> 08:41.250 long time, what can you tell me? I mean, what's kept you afloat? 08:41.280 --> 08:43.620 You have to be making good decisions if you're underwriting 08:43.620 --> 08:44.100 for this long. 08:45.210 --> 08:48.120 Andrew Hernandez: Yeah. You know, as far as kind of what we 08:48.120 --> 08:52.050 touched on earlier, it really comes down to being able to 08:52.080 --> 08:55.680 adapt to whatever's going on, and making those changes in your 08:55.710 --> 08:58.260 underwriting criteria. And what you're looking for always 08:58.260 --> 09:02.370 looking new data sources that become available, you know, your 09:02.370 --> 09:04.950 own internal information, whether, you know, just 09:04.950 --> 09:08.280 performance on your own portfolio, what you hear from 09:08.310 --> 09:11.910 other funders or other brokers that are obviously in the space 09:11.910 --> 09:14.520 and what's going on what they what they hear from their 09:14.520 --> 09:19.710 clients. So, taking all that into account is always, you 09:19.710 --> 09:23.700 know, it changes the criteria from month to month, week to 09:23.700 --> 09:27.060 week, and we you have to be willing to do that in order to 09:27.060 --> 09:27.570 keep going. 09:29.640 --> 09:32.400 Nick Gregory: Sure, yeah. I mean, you know, obviously, 09:32.940 --> 09:36.390 making sure you have a pretty sound collections process is 09:36.390 --> 09:41.670 also imperative, especially during, during COVID. And, you 09:41.670 --> 09:45.390 know, we tend to try to understand the situation with 09:45.390 --> 09:49.500 each merchant independently, and not just throw them into one 09:49.500 --> 09:52.740 specific box. Everybody's in a different location, dealing with 09:52.740 --> 09:56.010 different circumstances, but collectively as a whole, we 09:56.010 --> 09:58.680 understand what's going on. So we've been trying to work you 09:58.680 --> 10:01.020 know, those files we can. And, you know, keep those 10:01.020 --> 10:03.900 relationships strong. So I think that's, you know, the other side 10:03.900 --> 10:04.170 of it. 10:04.290 --> 10:05.400 Kevin Travers: You need an enforcer. 10:05.580 --> 10:07.500 Nick Gregory: Yeah, absolutely. 10:08.310 --> 10:09.540 Andrew Hernandez: Ultimately, you need somebody that does 10:09.540 --> 10:13.980 understand what's going on. As Nick said, every business is its 10:14.010 --> 10:16.320 own individual, you're dealing with an individual, for the most 10:16.320 --> 10:19.230 part, and especially with these small businesses, and everybody 10:19.230 --> 10:21.630 has their story, and you have to be willing to work with them. 10:22.440 --> 10:25.950 You know, everybody's in the same boat. So just understanding 10:25.950 --> 10:26.430 that is key. 10:27.660 --> 10:29.820 Kevin Travers: Now, what do you have to working with an 10:29.820 --> 10:33.210 individual a lot of your work is sort of sifting through making 10:33.210 --> 10:36.630 sure the deal is you agreed to are deals that are, I mean, 10:36.630 --> 10:40.770 gonna profit. Good. So how, I guess on the other side, what 10:40.770 --> 10:44.670 can a broker do to sort of bring the most attractive, the most 10:44.670 --> 10:47.520 likely to get funded deal to you guys, what sort of stands out 10:47.520 --> 10:50.310 when looking through stuff that, you know, oh this is gonna make 10:50.310 --> 10:50.610 money? 10:52.770 --> 10:55.140 Andrew Hernandez: I think in terms of kind of touching back 10:55.140 --> 10:58.560 on the collections aspect, and, you know, understanding the 10:58.560 --> 11:01.830 client's needs, I think that's key for a broker understanding 11:01.830 --> 11:04.350 that, you know, what do they need? What are they going to use 11:04.350 --> 11:07.530 the funds for? Is this the right product for them, spending more 11:07.530 --> 11:10.770 time with them. To understand that makes our job easier as 11:10.770 --> 11:14.790 well. And, you know, it's something that that's how we 11:14.790 --> 11:18.120 build our relationships, understanding our client's 11:18.120 --> 11:22.110 needs, which are the brokers and building on that, so they, you 11:22.110 --> 11:24.810 know, if they do the same thing, I think we'll all be very, very 11:24.810 --> 11:25.350 successful. 11:25.350 --> 11:28.990 Nick Gregory: Yeah, no, I think we do that from from both 11:28.990 --> 11:32.170 levels, actually, you know, from the merchant side, you know, we 11:32.170 --> 11:35.440 want to bring those relationships, you know, and 11:35.440 --> 11:39.430 expand those relationships over many, many years, as long as the 11:39.430 --> 11:42.460 products the right fit, but at the same time, we also want to, 11:42.490 --> 11:46.210 you know, cultivate those broker relationships, which, you know, 11:46.210 --> 11:49.060 that's, that's our, our niche, and, you know, we like to 11:49.060 --> 11:52.000 provide good customer service, they can get on the phone with 11:52.000 --> 11:53.950 the underwriter, if they have questions, they want to sort 11:53.950 --> 11:56.770 through certain issues, or whatever may come up from a 11:56.770 --> 11:59.920 black and white standpoint, but sometimes that black and white, 12:00.250 --> 12:02.860 you know, we're living in a gray world. So, you know, that ends 12:02.860 --> 12:07.450 up getting, you know, through in a very structured manner, where 12:07.450 --> 12:10.900 it runs through our checkpoints, but you know, if it, if it hits 12:10.900 --> 12:15.460 all that those those data points, and we kind of provide 12:15.460 --> 12:18.520 the right assessment, then yes, ultimately, that's a, that's a 12:18.520 --> 12:21.100 client we want to keep, and some someone that we're willing to 12:21.100 --> 12:23.860 work with. It's funny, because, you know, yes, we've been doing 12:23.860 --> 12:26.440 this for so long, and the businesses that you think are 12:26.710 --> 12:30.340 not going to pay back and not going to perform actually do 12:30.340 --> 12:33.190 better than the ones that you think so, you know, there's 12:33.220 --> 12:36.280 there's a fine line between looking at just the data and 12:36.280 --> 12:38.530 understanding the business and the relationship. So. 12:39.760 --> 12:42.910 Kevin Travers: And I guess part of the changes this year is an 12:42.910 --> 12:47.350 increase in fraud. I imagined, I mean, I get like two robo calls 12:47.350 --> 12:49.600 a day trying to steal my bank information. So I can't imagine, 12:49.840 --> 12:53.230 like well targeted fraud attacks towards funders or in your 12:53.230 --> 12:55.930 industry, what can you tell me about how you guys have managed 12:55.930 --> 12:58.510 and dealt with that new or changing environment? 12:58.510 --> 13:02.140 Nick Gregory: I think just, you know, from our underwriting 13:02.140 --> 13:05.890 practice, you know, once once a file comes in, we do more of the 13:05.890 --> 13:08.530 heavy lifting up front, you know, we don't just kind of run 13:08.530 --> 13:11.710 it through a quick process, send out a contract, and kind of 13:11.710 --> 13:14.470 handle the deal from there, we do you know, more of that, that 13:14.470 --> 13:17.680 diligence and that analysis upfront. So we kind of get a 13:17.680 --> 13:20.050 good handle as to what we're working with, who we're dealing 13:20.050 --> 13:24.220 with. But ultimately, we have our checkpoint, sort of the pre 13:24.220 --> 13:27.610 approval all the way through the underwrite to the contract being 13:27.610 --> 13:30.460 signed, and the merchant interview. So we have different 13:30.460 --> 13:33.730 levels of, you know, fraud checks, if you will. And some of 13:33.730 --> 13:36.370 the data sources that we use that are proprietary, I think 13:36.370 --> 13:39.010 that kind of gives us a little bit of an edge to mitigate that 13:39.010 --> 13:39.380 Andrew Hernandez: Yeah I think part of it is or a key part of 13:39.380 --> 13:39.670 that fraud. 13:40.380 --> 13:41.910 it is always having the manual underwrite in place, it doesn't 13:41.910 --> 13:43.050 always have to be a full manual underwrite. There's always 13:43.050 --> 13:44.550 pieces of that process that can be automated. But you always 13:45.660 --> 13:54.090 need eyes on that. And again, understanding what's really 13:54.090 --> 13:59.550 going on with the business, you can look at all the data you 13:59.550 --> 14:05.010 want. You know, we've seen tons of fraud from other parties just 14:05.010 --> 14:07.410 using data and kind of pushing it through the process. 14:07.410 --> 14:10.750 Kevin Travers: Yes, speaking about data, it's like, 14:11.050 --> 14:13.270 everything is automated this year, but you're saying it's 14:13.270 --> 14:16.990 good to have still some hands on approach. But speaking about 14:16.990 --> 14:20.560 data and tech, there's changes this year that I've seen 14:20.560 --> 14:24.310 automated process, automated funding, do you think leaving 14:24.340 --> 14:27.760 from the pandemic after this, are things going to change? Are 14:27.760 --> 14:30.490 we gonna build back better with a bunch of tech and automated 14:30.490 --> 14:33.280 process or are things going to return to a lot the same with in 14:33.280 --> 14:34.690 person transaction? 14:34.690 --> 14:35.620 Nick Gregory: I think, you know, as we kind of come out of this, 14:36.040 --> 14:37.360 you know, people talk about going back and you know, what's 14:37.360 --> 14:39.850 life like before, and I think this is just the new norm and 14:40.180 --> 14:45.760 what we have to adapt to, and it's going to take, you know, 14:45.760 --> 14:50.260 months, maybe, you know, a few years before things get to more 14:50.260 --> 14:53.230 of a level playing field that we're, you know, maybe 14:53.260 --> 14:55.780 comfortable with or accustomed to. There's always going to be 14:55.780 --> 14:58.570 little nuances in between and, you know, people have made 14:58.570 --> 15:01.420 shifts during this time whether It's from how they operate their 15:01.420 --> 15:03.940 own business. Are they going into the office? Do they 15:03.940 --> 15:06.370 realize, hey, you know, I'd rather just work remote in 15:06.400 --> 15:09.640 Tahiti, as long as I got a WiFi connection. I mean, these are, 15:09.670 --> 15:12.820 these are the the changes that we're seeing, you know, in the 15:12.820 --> 15:17.050 landscape. And, you know, as far as certain retail businesses 15:17.050 --> 15:19.690 that we've probably traditionally underwritten in 15:19.690 --> 15:22.960 the past that have performed well, we're not seeing too many 15:22.960 --> 15:25.870 of those right now, because there's a longer curve to kind 15:25.870 --> 15:29.080 of getting them, you know, back on track, and one that we're 15:29.080 --> 15:33.100 willing to really, you know, overreach for, I think, 15:33.100 --> 15:36.610 collectively, just from the type of paper that we've seen, you 15:36.610 --> 15:40.180 know, if you want to touch upon that, you know, credit and 15:40.270 --> 15:41.860 certain pedigree of the client. 15:41.860 --> 15:47.480 Andrew Hernandez: Yeah, I think, you know, similar to 2008, in a 15:47.480 --> 15:50.780 way, you know, when this industry was still kind of in 15:50.780 --> 15:55.490 its infancy, you know, we started to see back then, a 15:55.490 --> 16:00.200 higher quality candidate. We've seen that 10 times over, I 16:00.200 --> 16:03.170 think, this time, this time around, guys that normally 16:03.170 --> 16:06.200 wouldn't be applying for this type of financing. Everybody was 16:06.200 --> 16:09.830 hurting, obviously, during this time. And, you know, looking for 16:09.830 --> 16:15.020 those alternative financing types. Definitely, you know, we 16:15.020 --> 16:18.260 got more of those. So, and understanding their needs, 16:18.290 --> 16:21.290 obviously, is challenging, but, you know, we got through it with 16:21.320 --> 16:22.160 our team. So. 16:23.380 --> 16:25.420 Kevin Travers: That's excellent. And I know you guys are both 16:26.170 --> 16:28.900 living and working in New York City. And we're now talking 16:28.900 --> 16:31.210 about building back better, we're still trying to build back 16:31.210 --> 16:33.070 at all, we haven't opened up in a while, and we're still waiting 16:33.070 --> 16:36.910 for restaurants and stuff to our bars or outdoor spaces. What can 16:36.910 --> 16:39.250 you tell me what it's like to live in the pandemic in New York 16:39.250 --> 16:39.550 Andrew Hernandez: It's been, it's been, it's been 16:39.550 --> 16:39.880 City? 16:43.980 --> 16:47.820 interesting. It's been it's weird times for sure. Again, you 16:47.820 --> 16:49.980 know, back to when we first started and those first few 16:49.980 --> 16:54.270 months, the city was I've never seen the city like that. New 16:54.270 --> 16:57.210 York City's, always, there's always something going on. 16:57.540 --> 17:01.110 Morning, noon, night. And this time around, there was, 17:01.140 --> 17:05.400 completely dead, ghost town, you know walking to work, or taking 17:05.400 --> 17:09.090 the subway or whatever it was, you saw maybe a few other people 17:09.090 --> 17:13.380 around. I think when we first got back to the office, you 17:13.380 --> 17:18.750 know, our office building was 44 stories. Only 15 people a day 17:18.750 --> 17:22.650 were showing up, and we were about six of them. So yeah, it 17:22.650 --> 17:27.120 was, it was weird. But, uh, it was definitely an experience. 17:27.120 --> 17:30.150 And we got to live through it. And we're on the other side of 17:30.150 --> 17:31.410 it. Almost. So. 17:32.310 --> 17:34.260 Nick Gregory: Yeah, no, I mean, I would definitely agree with 17:34.260 --> 17:38.460 that. Definitely a ghost town. Not much going on a lot of the 17:38.490 --> 17:41.610 normal lunch spots shut down, where am I supposed to do and, 17:41.640 --> 17:43.650 you know, it just kind of changes your whole, you know, 17:43.650 --> 17:47.700 day to day. You know, at the same time, I was happy to be 17:47.700 --> 17:50.970 back because I couldn't do the remote work from home for so 17:50.970 --> 17:53.820 long. Maybe if I was on an island, different circumstance, 17:53.820 --> 17:57.420 but you know, just going through that, that grind every day and 17:57.450 --> 18:00.450 kind of just being in your own, you know, world. It definitely 18:00.450 --> 18:04.290 detaches you a lot, you know, from from just interaction with 18:04.290 --> 18:07.320 people. And I think that's just that a big point, you know, in 18:07.320 --> 18:10.560 our space, and at least in what we do in underwriting, we need 18:10.560 --> 18:13.770 that, that back and forth, and just kind of, you know, 18:13.770 --> 18:16.260 discussion, because that's how we succeed. And we're able to 18:16.260 --> 18:18.840 look at deals and, you know, make the right decision. 18:19.410 --> 18:21.210 Kevin Travers: Absolutely. As soon as deBanked was able we 18:21.210 --> 18:24.360 were in the office llike distance, but still at least 18:24.360 --> 18:26.010 sharing a space together. Because that's sort of how 18:26.490 --> 18:29.490 that's how Sean's used to doing business. That's how that's how 18:29.760 --> 18:34.230 we do things. The world, as you said, a lot of. Well on, I 18:34.230 --> 18:37.260 guess, working remote working from remote or changing your 18:37.290 --> 18:39.660 working location, a lot of people I mean, we've written 18:39.660 --> 18:43.560 stories like moving to Miami, and do you think it's possible 18:43.560 --> 18:46.740 to I mean, have you thought about moving or opening offices 18:46.740 --> 18:49.620 in Miami? Do you think it's possible to like shift a New 18:49.620 --> 18:51.840 York style New York hustle business all the way down to 18:51.840 --> 18:52.230 Miami? 18:53.700 --> 18:55.890 Andrew Hernandez: I think, I mean, we've all thought about 18:55.890 --> 19:00.240 it. In the office. I think there's some functions that 19:00.240 --> 19:04.410 could definitely be placed that down in Florida. There's some 19:04.440 --> 19:08.580 that I think needs to be up here to be honest. But yeah, we've 19:08.580 --> 19:12.390 always thought about, you know, either a satellite office in 19:12.630 --> 19:16.140 Florida, California, you know, to handle some more of the West 19:16.140 --> 19:20.100 Coast stuff due to the time difference and whatnot, but it's 19:20.100 --> 19:21.210 always a possibility. 19:22.260 --> 19:24.540 Nick Gregory: Yeah, I mean, Florida is another another MCA 19:24.540 --> 19:28.830 hub. So there's definitely some good talent down there. You 19:28.830 --> 19:32.100 know, something like Andrew said, we have discussed briefly, 19:32.400 --> 19:35.100 but we have to make sure everybody's on board. If we were 19:35.100 --> 19:37.590 going to do something like that. I don't think that's a quick 19:37.590 --> 19:40.920 shift for us. You know, we're kind of humming right now, with 19:41.160 --> 19:43.980 our current operation. I think we're looking to grow and expand 19:43.980 --> 19:48.510 as things begin to continually open up. And yeah, maybe in the 19:48.510 --> 19:50.610 future, we'll definitely consider that. 19:50.960 --> 19:53.660 Andrew Hernandez: Yeah, we're about to sign a lease to stay in 19:53.660 --> 19:56.210 the city. So I don't think we're gonna be going to Florida 19:56.210 --> 19:59.780 anytime soon. Aside from maybe a small office to support some 19:59.780 --> 20:00.380 people, but. 20:00.650 --> 20:02.360 Kevin Travers: Sure, well as a New York based business 20:02.360 --> 20:06.230 ourselves, that's good to hear. Talking about opening up soon, 20:06.230 --> 20:09.620 what's, what's, what are you looking forward to when the 20:09.620 --> 20:11.990 pandemic's long gone and business is back to usual? 20:14.630 --> 20:16.340 Andrew Hernandez: Things like this, just being around other 20:16.340 --> 20:20.300 people. We haven't been in contact with too many other 20:20.300 --> 20:24.440 people within the space for quite a while now. And that's 20:24.590 --> 20:27.680 part of the business, you know, the deBanked events that you 20:27.680 --> 20:31.070 guys have. That's, you know, we look forward to those. And I 20:31.070 --> 20:34.640 know you guys will be having one later this year, hopefully. So 20:34.850 --> 20:38.030 you know, we welcome things like that. And hopefully those are 20:38.390 --> 20:39.770 back to normal sooner than later. 20:40.970 --> 20:41.960 Nick Gregory: Friday, happy hour. 20:42.080 --> 20:42.860 Kevin Travers: Friday happy hour. 20:42.860 --> 20:44.840 Nick Gregory: Yeah, we're definitely missing out on that, 20:44.870 --> 20:46.850 you know, getting out as to what the weather's getting a little 20:46.850 --> 20:50.180 bit warmer. It'd be nice to you know, kind of have some kind of 20:50.810 --> 20:54.320 social side of life these days. So yeah, I think that's 20:54.320 --> 20:57.830 definitely something that we're, we're all kind of, you know, you 20:57.830 --> 21:02.330 know, eking towards and wanting as, as the time progresses, 21:02.330 --> 21:05.660 because it's been over a year now. So it's quite a it's quite 21:05.660 --> 21:06.110 a ride. 21:06.110 --> 21:08.250 Kevin Travers: A year spent indoors. 21:08.280 --> 21:08.610 Nick Gregory: Yeah. 21:08.730 --> 21:10.410 Kevin Travers: Well, happy hours, hopefully coming soon. 21:10.920 --> 21:15.270 deBanked. Our event is on December 6. But otherwise, I 21:15.270 --> 21:17.340 guess we're signing off. Thank you guys so much for coming on 21:17.460 --> 21:18.030 the show. 21:18.090 --> 21:18.990 Nick Gregory: Thank you. Thank you.