Mortgage Matters

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NB 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 to

Roland Daniels 0:43
Good Morning Las Vegas. Welcome to mortgage matters. I'm Roland Daniels, a certified mortgage advisor with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 355859, our company, NMLS number is 42056, and I'm here this morning as always, with my fantastic co host, Heidi Griffith, good morning.

Heidi Griffith 1:06
Heidi, well, good morning. Roland, happy Sunday. Happy Sunday. How are you today? I am doing awesome as always, as always. I'm Heidi Griffith. I'm also a mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, 247754, we've got a busy show today. We do got a lot to talk about. I think we're going to be talking about what's shifting in housing, not just prices and interest rates, right, correct, but actual policies, protection, systems, all that stuff that shapes what's possible for buyers, renters, sellers, all of us right here in Nevada. Sounds great. Yeah, absolutely. But before that, let's take a minute and talk about something we're incredibly proud of. It's our path to homeownership workshop, right? It is. Our next one is coming up on Saturday, July 12. That that workshop is from 830 until three. Yeah, we tried to get you out early. Absolutely, absolutely. It is a full day, but it's well worth it, isn't it? It is, yeah. So this is the workshop that we host in partnership with CPLC. They're the HUD certified housing counseling agency, and when you attend, you're going to walk away with a HUD home buyer education certificate, and that's going to be required for pretty much all of the down payment programs that we offer, right? It does. Yeah. And this class is for anyone who ever thought I want to buy a house, but I don't even know where to start. We break it all down, don't we? We break it all down. We talk about programs. Talk about budgeting, credit, credit, the real cost of buying, right? How to protect yourself when you're in all down absolutely. And we make sure no one walks away confused, right? We do? We cover like we talked about the 16 different down payment programs we offer you cover that in the the lending portion, I do, yeah, real questions, real answers. Absolutely. If you have any questions or you're interested in registering, you're more than welcome to reach out to us. We're at 702-210-2057. Again, that number is 7022102. 022102057, so let's talk really quickly about somebody who went to one of these workshops. I want to talk about Joss. You know, her journey. It still really makes my heart really, really happy. So Joss is in her early 30s. She She really is just a really sharp gal. She's one of the most responsible, motivated women I've probably ever met. She knows what she wants, and she was out to get it. She always, kind of has done things right way, right? She paid off her credit cards in full every month. She still does. She has excellent credit. She's super organized, but she didn't have the full amount saved for her down payment, right? So she actually originally went to her credit union, and apparently they had some program that they told her that they could put her into. And as that pre approval process started with them, somewhere along the line, they told them, told her that there actually was no funds available anymore, she was pre approved, correct with the credit? Yeah. I mean, she she checked all the boxes. It was just a matter of down payment, right, right? And so the credit union gave her a pre approval. It did not reference the program that they had originally discussed. The person she was working with there told her that there were no more programs available. But because she is so in tune, and she researches everything. She knows what she's getting into when she gets into it, right, right? She actually found us online. She found us online from a class that we had had previously. She reached out. We just had a quick conversation about, yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's still programs available, a lot of them,

Roland Daniels 4:42
and we hear this quite often, probably every week, that someone gives us a call and say, Do you have any down payment assistance programs? We've been told that they ended or there's no funds available,

Heidi Griffith 4:54
right? We hear from Realtors too. We do. Realtors call us up and ask us, say that they have clients but but in her situation, she. She was kind of like, man, there's nothing available. What am I going to do? I told her. She like, I said, She researches everything. So it was like, Well, let me check them out and figure out what's going on. We were having a path to homeownership workshop that following Saturday we were for after we spoke, and I said, You know what? Come to the workshop. You're going to be educated regardless of how you decide to move forward, because you don't just have to need down payment help to come to the class, right? Because this workshop is for people who want to learn about the entire process and then what it's like to actually be a homeowner, because the class teaches that too. So she came, she took all the notes, I promise you, she took all the notes, pages and pages. She asked questions. I mean, she was really into the workshop. After the class, we reviewed her information, we got her pre approved, and she started the home buying journey. It was frustrating, based on what she qualified for, she put in a lot of offers on properties that were rejected,

Roland Daniels 6:05
but not frustrating on our

Heidi Griffith 6:08
No, no, no, no, just in the process. You know, sometimes it's a little stressful. Those are things that a lot of people don't like to talk about. Buying the buying a house could be potentially one of the most stressful things you go through, because it's a it's a lot of money, and we don't take that lightly. So she was frustrated, but she she kind of kept going, and she kept and she got an offer approved, and she's now a homeowner, and she's already looking at, you know, after a certain amount of time, turning her current property that she's just closed on in the past couple of months, right, turning that into an investment property, into a rental property, and moving on to her next home. So she's just one of those stories that makes my heart happy. She's, you know, a lot of us sit back and go, we do everything right, and we still can't get ahead. It's tough, especially, you know, in in the real estate market that we're in, and she did it. And I just want people to know that, you know, if you really want something, if you're in a position, you can do it, and we'll stand right alongside you,

Roland Daniels 7:11
because, if I remember, she had to put in multiple offers, multiple correct?

Heidi Griffith 7:15
Yeah, no, there was she, they probably put in offers for a month before she got her accepted offer. Um, it was very specific property. Her qualifying amount was, you know, lower than most people want. But the one thing that she understood, that again, goes back to just she knew what she was doing, going in and purchasing a home. She didn't need to have the biggest house or the most, like jury is house. She wasn't looking for, you know, a million dollar property. She was looking for what she could afford comfortably and what had the potential to be an investment property in the future,

Roland Daniels 7:53
right? And she needed a single story, right? Or at least one of the bedrooms downstairs.

Heidi Griffith 7:57
She knew, yeah, she needed a single level home, and she needed at least two bedrooms, but she preferred three, because she works from home sometimes, and she wanted to make it a home office. She ended up getting all of that plus more. But, yeah, it was, you know, it was little grit involved, right? But she challenged through, and, you know, that's, that's just one of those stories, because we talked to a lot of people who will go into, you know, I need to have four bedrooms. Gee, and sometimes we do need to have four bedrooms. Maybe we have three kids. Maybe we have, you know, mom lives with us, or whatever that looks like. But if it's you, do you really need four bedrooms. And I'm not telling you should never have four bedrooms, but let's think about the logical thing and get you into a home. Start building that be in the game. Start building that wealth and move up. Yes, we don't have to keep up with the Joneses. We don't the time,

Roland Daniels 8:47
right? Yeah, so on your first home purchase, you shouldn't, how should I say it? You don't need the pool. You don't need to have granite everywhere. You don't need a five bedroom house, 3000 square feet, if you can't afford it or qualify for right? And some

Heidi Griffith 9:05
people, I mean, some people do. I mean, there are needs for people. You know, maybe somebody needs a pool for therapy, or maybe, you know, their kids an Olympic swimmer, right? But, but there's a difference between needs and wants. You know, maybe you need to be close to public transit. Maybe you need to be close to your job because you don't want to drive 30. Those are real needs. Maybe you need a three car garage because you and your partner and your you know your cousin who lives with you has cars so but aside from that, do you need to have granite or quartz countertops? You want them, right? I want them. I'm not telling you I don't want them. But do we need them? And is that something that we could do after we own the home and either save up for that improvement? You know, those kinds of things, and I love when we meet with people who understand that, versus, I mean, we have people that we work with who we've worked with for a number. Years, but because they can't get everything they want, not need everything that they want, they're willing to continue to wait to pay somebody else's mortgage. And you know, if, if that's what you want to do, absolutely, we're not telling everybody you have to be a homeowner, because not everybody should be a homeowner, right? But what we're saying is, if it makes sense, you're like you say

Roland Daniels 10:22
you're gonna pay a mortgage, you're gonna pay more or another you might as well pay your own mortgage instead of the land. I agree, right? Because just on on the simple fact that $1,800 a month in rent equates over five years to about $100,000 that you would have given to your landlord. So you might as well pay your own mortgage, start the process of building wealth

Heidi Griffith 10:45
and legacy, right and legacy, because these things can be passed down.

Roland Daniels 10:48
So we want to give people the tools, the clarity and the support that they need to build something bigger for themselves. So whether you're a first time home buyer or your first steps towards building wealth. You don't have to do this alone.

Heidi Griffith 11:05
Yeah, so if you're listening to us and thinking, hey, I want to do that too, we really would love to help you get there, you're more than welcome to join us on again, Saturday, July 12. That's our path to homeownership workshop at CPLC. You're going to get expert guidance, meet with real professionals and get connected to programs you may not even know you qualify. Seats are this entire year we've had a

Roland Daniels 11:28
full house, Full House since January, beginning of the year,

Heidi Griffith 11:32
so seats are limited. So we recommend signing up early if it's something you want to do. If you'd like some more info or help registering, you are more than welcome to give us a call or text us. You can reach us at 702-210-2057 Again, that's 702-210-2057 so let's get into today's show. Because housing isn't just about homes. Is it rolling? It's not? No. It's also about policy. It is. And there's some changes happening, aren't there a lot of changes down the pipe? Yeah. So let's start with something that's always kind of been a thorn in our side and really super important to us, right? It's called trigger leads. Sounds weird, right? It does. If you've ever applied for a mortgage or credit card, by the way, and then gotten slammed with calls and texts from random lenders. This is exactly what we're talking about,

Roland Daniels 12:20
and it happens the second your credit is pulled, how the credit bureaus, such as Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, they sell your information immediately, and suddenly your phone won't start ringing or stop ringing. Lenders buy that data, and they start to contact you like crazy, man, right? They're not supposed to to know your full details, but just knowing that you applied is enough for them to flood you with all types of offers. A lot of them even make it sound like they've already been that you've already been pre approved and already went through the loan process, we've had clients ask us, did you give out my information? And the answer is always, no, man,

Heidi Griffith 13:09
we did. No, no, we did not trigger leads are just kind of one of those buttons for me, this information that you know that they're getting and that they're presenting to people, it's misleading. I believe it's predatory, and for people who are just trying to make a major financial decision, right, it's going to add additional stress where I believe there should be support. I believe it's spam, and seriously, it's the last thing you need when you're trying to buy a home, isn't it?

Roland Daniels 13:35
I agree, but there's some real progress, which is called the Home Buyers Privacy Protection Act, and that's the bill that would ban these kinds of trigger leads, and it has passed in both the Senate and the House, but it still has just one more step before heading to the President's desk, but it's almost there.

Heidi Griffith 13:56
Yeah, this one's exciting. I'm keeping my fingers and my toes crossed on this one, because once this is signed into law, the credit bureaus will now be banned from selling your data unless you've opted in. So if you want people to call you, you can actually opt in, or if you already have an existing relationship. So if you're working with us, you've given us the authority to give you a call. If you want us to stop you can actually tell us to stop calling you can't you? They sure can. Yep, yep. And it might smell sound like a small technical fix, but really, it really is a big deal because it means less pressure, less confusion, and more control over your own journey.

Roland Daniels 14:32
And this isn't something that is far off. If the President signs it soon, the ban will take effect 180 days later. So we could be looking at the end or the middle of January of 2026, and that's something that everybody has been pushing for years.

Heidi Griffith 14:54
Yeah, absolutely, because nobody wants to get hit with all of those

Roland Daniels 14:57
calls, right? Because we have some borrowers that. Um, anywhere between 60 and 70 phone calls per

Heidi Griffith 15:04
day, yeah. So let's talk about this. So if once the President signs it, we're hoping that he does Yes, once he signs that it won't take effect

Roland Daniels 15:13
for 180 days from the 15th of June,

Heidi Griffith 15:18
right, right? Well, from the time he signs it, yes, yeah. So it matters, right? And here's why. We actually had somebody who came to a workshop. Here we go back with the workshop, but we had somebody who came to a workshop a few months ago. He went ahead and got pre approved. He did. We started with a soft pull, right? We were able to do those back then, right? And we tell everyone when they're applying that there is a service called opt out pre screen.com right. Okay, that actually allows you to sign up to opt out of these phone calls, or at least most of these phone calls. He never did. Go ahead and sign up. Some people don't. You know, we forget. I highly recommend it, even if you're not buying a house. I highly recommend that you go to opt out pre screen.com because it's going to help.

Roland Daniels 16:02
It will, and he did find a home that he loved. He made an offer, and once it was accepted, we had to do a hard credit pool. And that's when the floodgates opened. Right? Lenders from all over the country, such as Texas, Florida, even New York, started calling, texting, emailing, telling him that he was already approved, making it sound like that. It was our process, and when we did the hard credit pool, we didn't. We don't put the phone numbers or your email address. AI is seriously good, right? It is. They only need your name and probably your date of birth, your social and everything else is pulled in. And

Heidi Griffith 16:47
again, that's not something that we give out when we pull the credit report, the try merge. That's what lenders use when we pull that the information is sold by the credit bureaus themselves immediately, yeah, that's how they make. A big bulk of their money is selling people's data. Actually, they make billions. We I was just, I was trying to be nice and not, you know, give up too much. But I remember this. It was terrible. He called in a panic. He thought that there was identity theft. He thought that his social security was his social security number was compromised. But it really, it's really just how trigger leads work. Right the moment your credit's pulled, unless you've opted out, your data is up for grabs. Your data is for sale. It is, and that's why we always recommend, like I said, visiting opt out pre screen.com opt out pre screen.com that is actually the official site from the credit bureaus, because they had to have something in place so that they could legally sell data, they had to give you the option to opt out, right? So you can actually go there and stop any pre screen credit and insurance offers. You can also opt out for five years or permanently. Hopefully, when this bill gets passed right, it'll be permanent. We won't have to worry about that, but my recommendation still to this day is to go ahead get registered on it. You can do it for five years, maybe in six years. You want to get free screen calls, or you can actually do it permanently.

Roland Daniels 18:10
And you can also call 1-888-567-8688

Roland Daniels 18:18
once again, that is 1-888-567-5688,

Roland Daniels 18:27
and it only takes a few moments. And while it doesn't block everything, it drastically cuts down on those calls. And no, it doesn't hurt your credit at

Heidi Griffith 18:38
all. Yeah, no. So that's there. That's the opt out pre screen number. We get enough spam, don't we? How many? How many spam calls do you get a day right

Roland Daniels 18:45
now? Probably averaging anywhere between eight and 10 per day, Monday through Friday. Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 18:52
that's that's an easy number, plus the text. It's just, it's so much and nobody's annoying and when you're trying to buy a house. So what happened with the gentleman we were talking about? He was, he's trying to buy a house. First, he thought his, you know, information was compromised, and the people that were calling him were acting like they were part of Geneva financial, right, and that they were part of our team. Didn't call us out by name, but said, you know, we're, you know, and you're in the loan process, and we've got these great tools for you, and, you know, there's probably a better program. And it was tough. It was tough. It was no, yeah, it's one of the simplest things you can do to protect your peace of mind during the home buying process is to really do opt out pre screen.com so let's talk about really quickly, what's happening right here in our beautiful state of Nevada, and what's going on. Yeah. So earlier this year, the legislature passed the Nevada Housing Act, and that set aside 133 million to support attainable housing statewide. And it wasn't just money sitting in account. It was actual funding that was going towards builders, developers, nonprofits and other groups working to create more housing supply, because we're short, right?

Roland Daniels 19:54
We are, yeah, and when we say attainable, we mean homes for working people. People, those who earn too much to qualify for the different low income programs, but not enough to comfortably afford what's out there right

Heidi Griffith 20:10
now. And that's a lot of us. It is that's a lot of us, because here in Clark County, that target range is households earning 120% to 150% of the area median income. We call that the AMI. So that's going to be roughly 64,000 to like $150,000 depending on your household size. For example, a four person household at 150% of the area median income is about $135,000 and that's the income range where people tend to kind of fall through the cracks, right? You're doing everything right? You're working full time, you're raising a family, but you still feel like you're kind of priced out of the market, right? Yeah, because we, we've had, and we said this earlier, we've had clients that said they feel too successful to qualify for help. We showed them the numbers. That's why this matters. That's why we have these down payment assistance programs that will allow you to go up to $165,000 in income. That's by no means low income.

Roland Daniels 21:07
No, it's actually considered like middle income, yeah, so with this new Act that was passed, the AMI used to be 80% which is way too, right? It was around 70 some 1000, right? So up to 150 now it almost doubled. So it makes sense for just about everyone here in the valley,

Heidi Griffith 21:30
absolutely, right? Yep. But not every bill that was passed was super exciting, was it or wasn't passed? I should say Right? One that didn't was the rent cap pilot that was actually put into place, and that would probably have limited rent increases to 5% per year. And I think it was limited to seniors. It was limited to seniors, people on social security or disability. Wow. So really, the people that mattered the most, right? That one was recently vetoed on June 2 by the governor,

Roland Daniels 22:06
and that's a real blow for people on fixed incomes. Right? We see those people every day trying to keep a roof over their heads with little room to absorb sudden rent hikes, which we all experience. So pay attention to 2026 which is coming up, and with it, there are midterms and local elections. Watch who's standing up for the issues that make a difference in your life, and who isn't. If any of this hits home, if you're not sure where to start, and if you have questions about thinking where we're what we're talking about today, or to register for any of our upcoming workshop or classes, you're more than welcome to reach out. We are here to help you, whether it's understanding new programs, figuring out your next step, or just making sense of what's happening in today's market, our number is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 or you can head over to our Facebook page, mortgage matters radio To connect with us or find out about any of our upcoming events and classes

Heidi Griffith 23:26
that is right Roland, so let's talk about something that's kind of been quietly simmering for over well over a year now, right? Let's do it. It finally grabbed national attention when it was added last minute to a massive federal spending package known as the big, beautiful bill. The

Roland Daniels 23:43
proposal came from Senator Mike Lee of Utah, and it would have allowed the federal government to sell more than two and a half million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, or simply BLM, that includes over 65,000 acres right here in Clark County, added by the Nevada Congressman Mark ammo day.

Heidi Griffith 24:08
Yeah, these just aren't big empty spaces. Are they No? This land supports outdoor access, wildlife, water management. It serves as a buffer between fast growing development and everything else that makes our region livable, selling it off. Now

Roland Daniels 24:23
the stated purpose of the proposal was to generate federal revenue and make more land available for housing. Some supporters believe that in states like Nevada, where most land is federally controlled, this could ease housing shortages and create space for infrastructure, homes, roads, schools and

Heidi Griffith 24:44
job sites. Yeah. And they also argue that local and state governments should have more control over the land near the cities. They say it could speed up development and lock space that's been stuck in red tape. On paper, it sounds like it could help,

Roland Daniels 24:56
but the way the proposal was written, none of those. Outcomes were guaranteed, no affordability requirements, no community input, no plan for where the money would go. It would just have went straight to the US Treasury, not back to Nevada, yeah,

Heidi Griffith 25:15
and it also skipped the usual process, right? It was added quietly, without public hearings. There was no feedback from state or local officials, and that's one of the reasons why Congressman Susie Lee stepped in. She sent a letter to representative of Modi and called out the lack of consult, consultation and warnings that the land sale would hurt not help communities in Clark County.

Roland Daniels 25:35
To be clear, this wasn't pulled because Congress decided that it was the wrong move. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that the land sale portion violated budget rules, so it had to be removed. But Senator Lee has already said that he's planned to revise it and bring it back,

Heidi Griffith 25:57
yeah. So it was a budget rule, not it's out of the bill, right? And so that's why we're talking about it today, and why we actually invited Congresswoman Susie Lee to join us on next week's show. She'll be here. We'll be asking her directly about this proposal and other hot topics, where she stands and what she thinks Nevadans should know about going forward.

Roland Daniels 26:16
If you have any questions that you want to speak to us about, or you've been following this issue, we'd love to hear from you. You can call or text us at 702 to one Oh 2057, that's 702-210-2057 or leave us a message on our Facebook page, mortgage matters radio, yeah,

Heidi Griffith 26:39
because we're all for smart growth, right? We are, but I believe it has to be done with intention and transparency. You know, selling off public land with no strings attached, it just really depends. I don't know if that's necessarily planning. You know, could potentially just be a shortcut. Shortcuts usually leave people behind,

Roland Daniels 26:59
right? Let's keep watching this, because when the public land disappears, it doesn't come back, and what happens out there on that land, it affects what's possible here in our neighborhoods, in our homes.

Heidi Griffith 27:14
I agree. Yep. So if you've been feeling overwhelmed by what's happening around you, rising prices, changing rules, or just the weight of trying to move forward. Please know this. You are not imagining it. You are not alone. These policies we talked about today, they're not just politics, right? They shape real lives, real people every single day. And next week, we're going to keep the conversation going with Congresswoman Susie Lee joining us on the show. We'll be talking about housing, land use decisions being made right now that are going to impact Nevada families for years to come. You won't want to miss it. I'm excited that she's going to be on I'm excited to hear what she has to say. She's also a big advocate for veterans. So that should be a great conversation. It should be great, yeah, and here's what gives me hope, even in tough times, people still show up. They ask questions, they seek answers, and they take steps, whether it's going to a class, whether it's helping a neighbor or deciding to speak up when something doesn't sit right, that's where change begins.

Roland Daniels 28:11
If you have any thoughts or questions about anything that we've talked about today, or if you have an idea for a future topic, please feel free to reach out. Our number again is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 and don't forget, if you're curious about our next workshop, upcoming classes, or just want to stay in the loop. You can always find us on mortgage matters, radio, on Facebook. We'll be back next Sunday morning at 7:30am right here on K, U, N, V, 91.5, until then, believe in what's possible even when you've been told it's out of reach. And remember, stay true to yourself and your mind. Bye. You.

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