Mortgage Matters

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a kunv Studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Roland Daniels 0:43
Good morning Las Vegas. Welcome to mortgage matters. I'm Roland Daniels s certified mortgage advisor with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 355859, company. NMLS number is 42056, and we're here this morning with my co host, Heidi Griffith, and together, we're excited to share our knowledge experiences and tips to help you navigate the world of real estate and mortgages with confidence. Good morning, Heidi. Hey

Heidi Griffith 1:14
Roland, happy Sunday. Good morning to you. I'm Heidi Griffith, a mortgage advisor and Director of Client Services, also with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 2247754, so we're gonna have a good morning, right? Of course, we are. We had our home buyer workshop yesterday. It was awesome. Yes,

Roland Daniels 1:35
it was. It was fantastic for the workshop. It was an amazing group of people that came together and we got to learn. We got to grow together and take real steps towards home ownership.

Heidi Griffith 1:52
Oh, it was wonderful. It's always good to see people show up, get their home buyer certificates and just fill their brains, right? I mean,

Roland Daniels 2:00
of course, it's all about providing the knowledge and the tools that they'll need to be successful homeowners. And

Heidi Griffith 2:07
that's the class that we do once a month. We do that the first Saturday of every month. So we did it yesterday. We'll do that one again. I believe that one is that one is going to be October. We

Roland Daniels 2:18
are scheduled for October the fifth, the fifth, yep, the first Saturday of every month.

Heidi Griffith 2:24
Yeah. And then we've got two more classes this month. Those are both online. Those are all about Down Payment Assistance classes. Those work really well. Those are very informal. We do them online. And what we do is we just really talk about what down payment assistance is and how it can be utilized, because there's a lot of bad information around about down payment assistance. Don't you agree?

Roland Daniels 2:49
I agree. We break down down payment assistance. What is down payment assistance? How many programs are available? We've got 16. That's correct, and we do have money. There's a myth out there that the state ran out of money and we no longer have down payment assistance programs, which is totally untrue.

Heidi Griffith 3:10
Yeah, we know that firsthand. We know that firsthand, there's always money and there's always down payment assistance available in every city, in every state. We've got some great programs here. So yeah, if you're interested in registering for any of these upcoming classes, or you have any questions about the classes, you can call or text us. We are at 702-210-2057, again, that number is 702-210-2057.

Roland Daniels 3:42
That is correct. And by the end of the workshop, everybody that attended will also be able to get their certificate right after class. And it includes the eligibility for all of the down payment assistance programs, including the wish program, which is a four to one match, which you can get up to $30,000

Heidi Griffith 4:03
it's that, that one wish is amazing. We can stack that with other down payment assistance programs, right? So let's just say you had, I think the the maximum that they'll match is $7,500

Roland Daniels 4:17
it is $7,500 and it has to be in your checking savings or 401 k plan, the minimum is 3000

Heidi Griffith 4:23
right? So if you had $7,500 saved in your account, or even in your in your 401 k, because a lot of people forget that that can be utilized as well. The wish program will give you $30,000 and you can use that towards down payment. You can use that towards closing cost, and if you stacked it with another down payment assistance program, you could actually then do a principal reduction. Principal reduction, yeah, those are awesome. Those are awesome. So let's get started. You know, we talk about generational wealth. A lot, I think that that's kind of a catch phrase nowadays. Don't you agree?

Roland Daniels 5:03
I agree. So sometimes we need an opportunity to break it down, because everybody uses the term generational wealth, and it's just thrown out there. So we probably want to take a little bit of time to basically explain what is generational wealth, right? Because

Heidi Griffith 5:18
I get that, I actually have people ask me, because we do use it in so many conversations, especially when it's relating to home ownership, and it is a good time to actually talk about, what is generational wealth, and then how could it apply with home ownership? So generational wealth is simply assets. It's at your assets, like money, maybe properties. Maybe have some investments. They get passed down from one generation to the next, and that will give your family and their heirs a financial Head Start and possibly a greater opportunity for the future. So maybe we break it down a little further. Roland, how do you feel homeownership helps sets families up for the future.

Roland Daniels 6:01
Well, let's go back to generational wealth. What is it? It's financial resources passed down, just like Heidi said, from one generation to the next. So instead of us leaving credit card debt, clothing, cars and furniture, why not leave an asset to your family that will increase in value, continue to increase in value, things such as real estate, stocks and bonds, and maybe you have a business, or maybe even a valuable life lessons on money management, those are all encompasses what is generational wealth. It ensures that your children, your grandchildren, start on a stronger foundation. We want to leave our children better off than we are. It's not just about money. It's about setting the stage for sustained prosperity

Heidi Griffith 7:02
that's so true, so true. And homeownership plays a huge role in that. Wouldn't you agree?

Roland Daniels 7:08
It is very crucial. Real estate is one of the building blocks to generational wealth. It is a great starting point,

Heidi Griffith 7:17
right? Right? And first off, when you own a home, you're building equity with every mortgage payment you make, right? So that equity is like a savings account that could potentially grow over time, and you can use that for other investments like starting a business or funding your kids education. And don't forget appreciation with that, because typically, homes increase in value over time. So if you decide to sell down the side, you know you you're going to walk away with a nice profit, and in turn, whether you continue to build a portfolio or you continue to be a homeowner. Now we've got some assets that we're able to leave our kids, our grandkids, right instead of leaving them with how do we pay for the services, of course,

Roland Daniels 8:03
and then looking at it, there is a it is a long term mortgage strategy that allows you to take advantage of inflation and rising property values where we are today. Now, the Fed is talking about inflation going down, but our home prices are still rising somewhat. Heidi, want to break it down when it comes to our real estate market today

Heidi Griffith 8:28
in relationship to what we're talking about. So yeah, prices have not seen the dip that the industry anticipated. They thought that once interest rates went up and, you know, people stopped purchasing, that we were going to see a decrease. We didn't. We didn't. And, you know, we talked about this on the last show, and a lot of that has to do with the environment, because sellers weren't, you know, they weren't throwing their houses on the market to try and get rid of them, because they had some pretty awesome interest rates. Yeah,

Roland Daniels 9:05
they were sitting at two and a half 3% who wants to give up a two and a half percent 3% interest rate? It's

Heidi Griffith 9:12
crazy. Yeah, you wouldn't. You wouldn't, unless you had to. And I had a conversation with somebody the other day, and we were talking about, why would anybody want to buy right now? Because of interest rates and the facts go like this, people will always have a need to purchase and sell real estate. It may not be the booming thing that's happening, but there's always a need for people, because life happens. So whether it's you know you need to downsize, or you need to get out of a two story home, because, let's say, you know you're having difficulty going up and down the stairs, or, you know the kids are moving out and the place is too big, or you've got to move because of a job. I mean, there's a lot of reasons why that happens. So we never saw the market get. Flooded with inventory. We didn't see that happen. So we had very little inventory. I mean, there was a point that in a city of almost 3 million people,

Roland Daniels 10:10
which is crazy, right here in Clark County, we are almost at 3 million.

Heidi Griffith 10:15
I know. I know. I remember when there was 300,000 people in the city. Of

Roland Daniels 10:20
course, both of us born and raised right here in Las Vegas, and we've seen the growth happen here, and it is absolutely crazy. It's

Heidi Griffith 10:30
grown a little. I mean, I remember when the end of Sahara was rainbow Boulevard, the end that is crazy. I know, right, yes. So, so there wasn't a lot of inventory put onto the market, but people still did have a need to purchase. So because at the lowest point we had, I mean, there was like 4000 homes available for a city of 3 million people, so there was still a need. So buyers still were paying and continuing to increase the value of properties. Everybody always wants to look for when's the next crash. Nobody has a crystal ball. Anything in the world could happen if you know 2010 taught us anything. If you know you were around at that point, the entire country took a big hit. Nobody really well, a few people anticipated it, but they didn't tell us about it. Nobody really anticipated that happening. So we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. What we do know is that the Fed's PAL has already said that he's going to reduce rates,

Roland Daniels 11:34
and we don't know what that's going to look out, look at we know that he is expected to speak on the 18th. Yeah, and it will be a quarter of a

Heidi Griffith 11:44
percent he's already but don't you think that's already been built into interest rates? I know

Roland Daniels 11:49
it is already built into our market mortgage and we see it day to day, right? So it's going to be very curious to see what happens on the 18th of this month. Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 12:00
and jobs reports come out tomorrow. Oh, no, no, no. Jobs reports came out Friday. So that's also going to be a telling piece of information. When it comes to all of that. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the market as a whole. But you know, even in the mortgage end of things, prior to the election and following the election, because things will always happen based on those factors. Don't you agree?

Roland Daniels 12:26
I agree. And there is one more meeting coming up right after the election. I think they're scheduled to speak on the seventh, sixth or seventh of November, if I remember correctly. So, right away. Yes, right away. So there's a lot of things happening. The job reports, employment reports. It all affects our market when it comes to interest rates. What's going on politically in the entire world, local everything affects interest rates. Right,

Heidi Griffith 12:58
right? And you know, markets matter. Obviously, the Vegas valley real estate market is different than, you know, I don't know, say a market in California or Arizona, right? And they're different. However, everything is driven by the economy. It's going to depend on the local economy as well. And we talked about that last week when we talked about, you know, obviously entertainment capital, obviously we're seeing a lot of sports teams. So if we had to guess, do we see prices going down? Probably not. What's going to happen when interest rates come down? There's probably going to be people that were waiting to purchase. They had that pent up. You know, we want to, we want to downsize, but we don't have to downsize. They've got a number in their head. You know, a lot of people are saying to us, low sixes, some saying high fives. Who knows where it's going to land. But there will be a point. If nothing drastic happens,

Roland Daniels 13:58
of course, people will jump into the market, just like Heidi was saying, maybe they want to see a rate at 5.75 whatever that looks like, 5.75 is a little bit closer to three and a half, 3% interest rate compared to seven and eight. So when you have credit card debt, at an all time high, most credit cards around that 20 to 25% right? So if you have credit cards as high as close to 30, that is crazy as well, right? So let's say maybe you have credit card debt, and you're paying 20, 25% in interest rates on that credit card debt, you can always do a debt consolidation and eliminate those credit cards. Maybe you want to eliminate that auto loan to increase your cash flow,

Heidi Griffith 14:49
right? So that's refinancing, right? Because we're getting questions again about when it looks like that, it's going to be a good time to refinance. You know, um. Um, so that's what roland's talking about, is if we've got those high interest cards, and hopefully, you know, we'll see a break in some of that. But right now, we're seeing people every day with, you know, even if they have low balances, they're paying top dollar Well,

Roland Daniels 15:20
we still have credit card debt, it's still an all time high. So why not use maybe some of the equity in your property to reduce your monthly outlay of expenses? Because we all live life in cash and cash flow. So the more money that we have, the more money available, the better off we can be, the better off that we our quality of life,

Heidi Griffith 15:47
right, right? So there's good reasons to refinance, and then there's not great reasons. I mean, if you're looking to refinance your your current property, strictly to reduce the payment, and you're looking rate wise, because everybody goes, when they talk to us about mortgages, everything that, you know, the first question we always get is, what's the rate that is? And rate is important, don't get me wrong, but it's not the only driving force when it comes to figuring out what's best for you and your financial situation, because everybody's, you know, situation is different. So if you've got those high rate cards, it might be the right time to at least have a conversation and find out what your options are, because options are important.

Roland Daniels 16:32
That is correct. I'd rather pay 5.75 or 6% compared to credit card debt at 20 to 30% it definitely makes sense to bring those pay off those debts.

Heidi Griffith 16:44
Or let's talk about cars for a second. I mean, what are we seeing in car payments right now? 800 bucks is not an uncommon number that we're seeing with people's car payments, and those interest rates are crazy high. I mean, we've had people that we spoke with that weren't able to purchase because they were car poor.

Roland Daniels 17:04
On average, the average that we see on credit reports is about $800 a month in a car payment. I've seen them go as high as $1,600 can you imagine having a car payment at $1,600 a month?

Heidi Griffith 17:19
Well, and even crazier than that, some people love their cars so much that they're willing to pay that and not put their money where they're gonna actually make money from it, because, unfortunately, cars are a depreciating asset, right? That is second they drive off the lot. Don't try and bring it back next week, because you're not gonna get what you paid for it.

Roland Daniels 17:40
Yeah, it could drop 25% of the value just by driving off the lot. Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 17:44
that's crazy. That's crazy. So, and what if you know you need to adjust your monthly payments for more flexibility? I mean, what if you're in a situation where you're thinking about retiring that that might be a wise idea too, because if you Reno finance into a new 30 year mortgage, maybe lower the payments, like we were talking about the credit card and the car and all of that, just to give you more breathing room, yeah, and

Roland Daniels 18:10
maybe you're 62 years or older, there's always a reverse mortgage, or a heck of mortgage, which means that you can eliminate the principal and interest and all you're responsible for is taxes and the insurance and if you have an HOA. But sometimes that'll give you breathing room, especially if you've been struggling with keeping up with car loans and other debts. It could be a definitely a possibility, depending on how much equity you have in the home and your own unique circumstances. Everyone is different. We are all different. We have different circumstances. I

Heidi Griffith 18:48
think we should actually do a show surrounding reverse mortgages, because, again, that's one of those things where there's a lot of bad information, there's a lot of myths, and they don't they don't work for everyone, for sure, for sure. And Roland mentioned heckham When he talked about reverse that that actually means Home

Roland Daniels 19:03
Equity Conversion Mortgage, which is the same thing as reverse a normal 15 year 30 year mortgage is called a forward mortgage. So when it's reversed, the the interest is added on to the back end of the loan, compared to your paying interest on a regular 30 year fixed loan every single month.

Heidi Griffith 19:23
Yeah, I think we do a show surrounding I agree completely, because

Roland Daniels 19:28
you can use now the reverse mortgage, or heckham, you can use it to purchase additional property. There's many uses for them. Things have definitely changed from the old days of reverse mortgages, and it makes it a more appealing,

Heidi Griffith 19:43
right? Because, I mean, I remember when I first heard about reverse mortgages. I'm gonna say that was probably early. 2000s is when I, you know, when I first come in front of me and I understood, and from what I recall, there was some usury stuff happening out. There. There wasn't, you know, it wasn't up and up, and it scared a lot of people, because a lot of people got themselves in trouble with that type of mortgage. That's no longer the case. I mean, right?

Roland Daniels 20:10
There's all kinds of myths out there regarding reverse mortgage, like they're going to take the house from you, or your heirs are no longer entitled to the property, and it goes directly back to the bank. That is not true. And a lot of instances you build a line of credit that is increasing in value every month. There are benefits, of course, and then of course, there's disadvantages as well. It all depends on your own circumstances, your own situation, but it definitely can make sense for you, right, right. So

Heidi Griffith 20:44
if you have any questions regarding you know, a reverse mortgage refinancing, maybe even purchasing, you can feel free to reach out to us. We are at 702-210-2057 you can call or text us at 702-210-2057 22102057,

Roland Daniels 21:05
that is correct. So if you think about refinancing or purchasing, all you do is just reach out. We're here to answer any questions that you may have or any topics, and we would like to how should I say we want to give you the opportunity let us know what you want to hear from us. Maybe there are stories that we can share with you that may relate to your own situation. How do you how do you feel about when the callers are that want to call in and talk to us.

Heidi Griffith 21:42
I think, I think it's a great idea, because we really do want to talk about what folks want to hear about, you know. And we've got some great things planned. We've got some great guests lined up, you know. We've got people from the Nevada housing division. We plan on having on rural house. We plan to have on air. And I think that knowing what people want to hear about is why we're here. I mean, I think that something people should know about us is that, yes, we are mortgage professionals. Yes, this is how we get paid. This is our profession. This is what we do. But I believe in my heart that we are here to help people. That is our number one goal is to help folks. Education is the forefront of our you know, of of what we do on a daily basis, we teach anywhere from four to eight classes a month. We're here because we want you to have facts so that you can make the best decision for you, even if that means not purchasing a home or waiting to purchase a home. Roland, I know I overheard you having a conversation yesterday with a veteran who was in a situation, and based on that situation, without giving away any details, obviously, it wasn't a good choice for him to purchase home today.

Roland Daniels 23:13
It was not a great choice for him at this time. His income doesn't really support a mortgage at this time. So he was better off staying where he is in, in his housing situation, and that gave, that gives him, or gave him the ability to live, not to be house poor, not to be mortgage poor. Maybe, you know, 60 to 70% of his income going towards his housing expense. But we want to be able to live comfortably. We want you to be the most successful homeowners possible. And we'll tell you if, if it's not in your best means, or if it doesn't make sense, we'll tell you at this time it doesn't make sense, and we'll

Heidi Griffith 24:01
give you the opportunity, you know, to decide what's best for you based on having information. I think that's the biggest thing. Is we're here to educate and give information. Homeownership is important, right? But homeownership is not for everyone, and maybe it's not for you today, but maybe you start thinking about what the future looks like. You know, there's there's just so much involved, but we are here to help, strictly here to help.

Roland Daniels 24:36
Yeah, so maybe it may not work for you today, but it doesn't mean it won't work for you tomorrow or next month or next year, maybe your situation will change. Maybe you'll have additional income, maybe you'll have a new job, or maybe you have some sort of assets that are coming into your portfolio, and at that time, we can always review. To and see where you fit in to being a homeowner, because we want you to be successful. We want you to be in a put in a position where you are a successful homeowner and allowing you the ability to buy additional properties, maybe you buy a duplex or a fourplex, and you let that support or maybe fund the education of your your child or your grandchild, and you

Heidi Griffith 25:26
could even, you know, I like the duplex, four Plex. This is always kind of one of those real estate cheat codes. I'm going to tell you. They're not easy to find in the valley. However, a great situation would be to find a duplex, you know, triplex, a fourplex, purchase it, live in one of those units and rent out the others to supplement that mortgage. Yes,

Roland Daniels 25:50
you only have to live there for a year, and then you can turn your your residence into a rental, right? And then buy another property. Yeah, so don't think outside of the box when we're here to help you, we're here to educate, we're here to teach and empower you to be the most successful homeowner possible.

Heidi Griffith 26:12
I agree. I agree wholeheartedly with that, you know, so if you have an idea about a future show or you have any questions, you're always welcome to give us a call or text us. Our number is 702-210-2057, that number again, is 702-210-2057,

Roland Daniels 26:36
and part of your calling in with different questions, where we will be having a question of the week segment, and we'll be here to answer all of your burning questions that you may have.

Heidi Griffith 26:47
So yeah, so this was good, right? Yeah, we

Roland Daniels 26:51
covered refinancing. We talked a little bit about generational wealth, we talked a little bit about the market

Heidi Griffith 27:00
reverse mortgages? Yes, yeah. So just remember, the journey to financial security starts with a single step, and we're here to walk that path with you. We will be back next week with more insights and tips to help you navigate the world of mortgages and real estate. In the meantime, keep this in mind, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. It's never too late to start planning for your future. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next Sunday at 7:30am right here on K, U, N, V, 91.5, where mortgage matters. See

Roland Daniels 27:39
you next week. Bye. You.