Phil Crescenzo: Reopening Doors When the Loan Falls Apart
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
Release Date: 11/21/2025
Dr. Rick Roque: Why Most Mortgage M&A Deals Break After the Press Release
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
M&A in mortgage isn’t just about who writes the biggest check. In this episode of Microscope by Telescope Advisors, Julia Brown is joined by Dr. Rick Roque to break down what actually makes deals succeed or quietly fall apart after the press release. From leadership readiness to AI strategy and post-close reality, this conversation offers a candid look at why consolidation is accelerating and what executives often underestimate when navigating today’s market.
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Embracing a Big Life: Goal Planning and Self-Discovery
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
What if your goals this year were less about resolutions and more about intentionally building a life that feels full, aligned, and expansive? In this episode, Julia Brown shares a grounded and repeatable approach to New Year goal setting centered on living a big life. She walks through a simple framework she has returned to year after year to set goals that support the mind, body, and soul. Julia offers five practical tips to help you move beyond surface-level goal setting, get clear on what truly matters, and choose goals that feel bold, slightly uncomfortable, and deeply motivating. This...
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Carrie Kountz: Supporting the People Who Support Foster Kids
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
What if the biggest gap in foster care isn’t the system itself, but the lack of support for the people holding it together? In this episode of Microscope, Julia Brown sits down with Carrie Kountz, founder of The Unbound Collaborative, to talk about what foster care really looks like behind the scenes and why caring for foster parents is essential to better outcomes for kids. Carrie shares her personal journey as a foster parent, the moments that pushed her to start Unbound, and the very real logistical, emotional, and financial challenges families face every day. They explore why supporting...
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Michelle Berman-Mikel: How to Use AI Without Losing Your Voice
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
AI can speed up your work, but it cannot replace the relationships that actually move your business forward. This episode digs into the difference. Julia sits down with author and keynote speaker Michelle Berman-Mikel for a candid conversation on using AI without losing the human connection that drives real business. Together they explore how tools like ChatGPT can support efficiency while still keeping your voice and authenticity at the center of your work. Michelle shares her perspective on balancing content creation with genuine prospecting, the discipline behind her book The Black Line,...
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When Limits Rise, Families Don’t Win: The Truth Behind the Increase
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
Most leaders see the annual conforming loan limit increase as a stat to acknowledge and move past. In this episode, Julia Brown challenges that mindset. She traces the shift from a decade of flat limits to today’s near automatic jumps, highlighting how price acceleration is not progress but a signal of systemic imbalance. From institutional investors reshaping comps to supply constraints and income misalignment, she makes the case that higher limits are a concession to affordability failure, not a win for the industry. Julia breaks down why stretching debt further with ideas like 50 year...
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Phil Crescenzo: Reopening Doors When the Loan Falls Apart
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
What happens when a borrower hears “yes” on their dream home, then the loan falls apart days before closing? On this episode of Microscope by Telescope Advisors, we talk with Phil Cresonzo, leader of Team C and head of the Southeast Division at Nation One Mortgage Corporation. Phil has built a specialized niche as a backlog lender, the partner builders, realtors, and even competing lenders turn to when a deal goes sideways and there is still hope. He explains what true backlog lending is (not backup lending), how his team steps in with urgency, deep guideline expertise, and surgical...
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Darryl Baker: What Your 20s, 30s, and 40s Are Really Training You For
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
What if the first 15 years of your career aren’t about finding the perfect path, but about collecting clues for the one you’re meant to build later? In this episode of Microscope, Julia sits down with Daryl Baker for a warm, funny, and deeply grounding conversation about what it really looks like to grow a career over a lifetime. The two swap stories that start with Dip N’ Dots and call-center headsets and eventually lead to the surprising clarity that comes from trying, failing, pivoting, and trying again. Daryl shares the philosophy that has shaped his own professional journey, a...
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Quit Treating Your CEO Like an Alien: Why Leaders Need Humanity, Not Hype
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
In this episode of Microscope by Telescope Advisors, Julia Brown flips the script on how we think about leadership. Drawing from her own experiences in executive roles and candid conversations with peers, she explores why so many CEOs seem “weird”—and how much of that weirdness stems from how we treat them. From broken feedback loops to over-polished interactions, Julia argues that the way we communicate with leaders often isolates them more than it supports them. With humor, honesty, and zero corporate jargon (by design), Julia invites listeners to rethink what it means to “manage...
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Microscope vs Telescope: When Leaders Need a New Lens
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
Are you stuck in the weeds or lost in the clouds? In this episode of The Microscope Podcast, Julia Brown breaks down one of leadership’s hardest skills: knowing when to zoom in and when to zoom out. She shares why leaders burn out in the details, how vision gets lost in the big picture, and the simple practices that help you strike the right balance. If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s time for a microscope or a telescope in your leadership, this one’s for you.
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Fix the Brakes: Stopping the Silent Erosion of Company Value
Microscope by Teloscope Advisors
Dragging your toe might stop a bike when the brakes fail, but it destroys your shoe. In business, those quick fixes do the same: they get you through today while eroding long-term value. In this episode, Julia Brown (Founder, Telescope Advisors) shares the five hidden forces that quietly eat away at company value and how leaders can spot and stop them early. You’ll learn practical ways to align teams, design organizations intentionally, and create a culture that surfaces problems before they spiral.
info_outlineWhat happens when a borrower hears “yes” on their dream home, then the loan falls apart days before closing?
On this episode of Microscope by Telescope Advisors, we talk with Phil Cresonzo, leader of Team C and head of the Southeast Division at Nation One Mortgage Corporation. Phil has built a specialized niche as a backlog lender, the partner builders, realtors, and even competing lenders turn to when a deal goes sideways and there is still hope.
He explains what true backlog lending is (not backup lending), how his team steps in with urgency, deep guideline expertise, and surgical communication, and why getting to a fast “yes” or a fast “not yet” is one of the greatest acts of empathy in this business. Phil also shares how he developed this capability over time, from leaning into difficult cases early in his career to now running one of the most respected teams in FHA and VA loans in South Carolina.
We also dive into how he invests in his people: slow hiring, culture first, constant improvement, coaching, community commitments like TLOP, and real personal support when life hits hard. As Phil puts it, “We don’t make someone feel like a 495 score. We stay with them until they’re approved.”
This is a conversation about operational excellence, leadership with heart, and reopening doors to generational wealth when others walk away.
Learn more about Team C at myteamc.com.