Mortgage Matters

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V 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 your host, Roland Daniels, a certified mortgage advisor with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 355859, company. NMLS number is 42056, and of course, I'm here this morning with my fantastic co host, Heidi Griffith, good morning. Heidi. Well, good morning.

Heidi Griffith 1:07
Roland, how are you this Sunday. I am doing awesome. How are you? I'm wonderful. Thank you. I'm Heidi Griffith. I am also a mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, 247754, so hey, thanks for tuning in this morning. Before we get into today's show, let's talk about the class we had yesterday. Yeah, it was the path to home ownership workshop that we did with CPLC. We love seeing so many people take that first step. We do it really is a nice class. Lots of great questions, and don't worry if you miss that class. We actually have a bunch of education opportunities coming up right around the corner. We

Roland Daniels 1:46
do. And just know that we do do those classes on the first Saturday of every month. Yep,

Heidi Griffith 1:52
yep, that's the first Saturday of every month. That is the HUD certified counseling agency class that we teach with CPLC, and that's from 830 until 3pm first Saturday of every month. You got it okay? What do we got coming up?

Roland Daniels 2:08
So we've got our all about DPA class coming up this Saturday, February the eighth. And the time is from 11am to noon. It's online, so you can join us from the comfort of your own home. Yep, that's

Heidi Griffith 2:25
right, just from your sofa. You can you can roll out of bed and jump into class if you sleep until 11. I wish I did. Yes,

Roland Daniels 2:31
this class is all about the ABCs of down payment assistance. We'll cover how Down Payment Assistance works, the programs that we offer how to qualify. And we'll even bus some myths and some crazy things that we hear all the time that are floating around when it comes to down payment assistance programs.

Heidi Griffith 2:53
Let's bust one right now. What's the biggest Down Payment Assistance myth that you hear? You have to put 20% down for down payment assistance, no down payment assistance, then

Roland Daniels 3:03
there is no funds available.

Heidi Griffith 3:05
There is no funds available. It's only for low income. I mean, there's a lot of not great information,

Roland Daniels 3:11
but most often we hear, at least on a weekly basis, we hear that there aren't any funds available.

Heidi Griffith 3:18
People call, we've told, we were told that there aren't funds. There are always funds available in one shape or form. Yes,

Roland Daniels 3:25
okay, so if you're thinking about buying a home, but need a little help with that down payment, this is the class for you. Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 3:33
it really is just a really informal class. It's Roland. And I a lot of people, you know, when we start talking about down payment assistance and you think, Well, gosh, I want to buy a house, and this might be my opportunity. But what the heck is down payment assistance, and how does it work? And you know, stuff that we're not completely sure about can sometimes seem scary. So this is where we break it all down. We talk about all of the programs we have available. We talk about how Down Payment Assistance actually works the difference between bonds and grants and federal programs and private there's a lot of stuff out there.

Roland Daniels 4:08
Yes, and this is the time to get all of your questions answered. Yep, it

Heidi Griffith 4:13
really is just a great time. It usually is about an hour. Sometimes it runs a little over if you have questions, but there's no timeline that you have to be on the call. You can pop in, pop out. It just really is a good way to get information. And then the following Monday. So that's on Saturday, the Monday the 10th, February 10. Because, Hello, we're in February already,

Roland Daniels 4:31
already here. How is it February? I don't know, but we are here.

Heidi Griffith 4:36
So anyways, Monday, February 10, we've got a class with Nevada housing, right? And we're going to go over the home as possible down payment assistance programs with the Nevada housing division, and that's from 11 to 12. That's an in person class. And this really just it's a great informative hour. You're going to hear from Josie over at Nevada housing. She explains how their program. Programs work. They've got a couple of different options. They've got a first time homebuyer program. They've got a home as possible program that even allows you to own a home in another state. They've got resources available for teachers. They've got a Futures Program, and then they even have reduced rates for veterans who don't need a down payment assistance, because they don't require a down payment. So that's going to be a great class, obviously, lunch, right? What about snacks? If you've tuned in before, you know that there will definitely be snacks, and since, since we've got some Valentine's candy at the store, I bet that there'll be some Valentine's candy. There's a fried chocolate. And if you or somebody you know might be interested in either of these, you're more than welcome to give us call or text us to register. We're at 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 and you can also visit our Facebook page by searching mortgage matters radio and we actually will have a link to all of the event registration pages. All right,

Roland Daniels 6:02
let's move into our question of the week. Let's do it right. So this one comes from one of our listeners, Pam, and the question is, I understand the importance of generational wealth and home ownership, and have had many conversations with my young adult kids. Hey. Pam, right, so with the way prices that are keep rising, and the stories that we hear about younger people never being able to become homeowners, how can I help my kids buy a home? Man,

Heidi Griffith 6:32
that's a great question. It is. That's, that's, that's an excellent question. I'm glad that you asked it. Thank you again. Pam, first of all, I really think it's awesome that you're thinking about help. How you're going to help your kids with home ownership, right? You will obviously understand that it's a pretty powerful way to start building generational wealth, right? There's a few different ways you can help your kids buy a home, and the right path is really going to depend on your specific situation and your kids situation. So I guess the first question that we would ask you, if we were talking in person right now, are your kids gonna? Are they planning on purchasing together? Are you trying to or set them up separately? It is great that you're having that conversation. So I mean, I think the first thing that comes to mind when you ask that question, what do you think Roland

Roland Daniels 7:14
giving them maybe down payment assistance or a down payment gift, right?

Heidi Griffith 7:18
So helping them out with the down payment, right? And that's always a great thing, right? Because as a buyer, you can get seller credits, like we talk about a lot, right? And those have caps depending on what type of loan you're using. However, you could actually get a full gift for the entire down for the down payment, yes, right? So mom, dad, somebody who's immediate, right? Can can actually give you the full gift. So if you've got the funds available to give them for their full down payment, then that's certainly an option. It is an option, right? What about CO signing?

Roland Daniels 7:53
And that is another option. So this could be helpful if your child has maybe lower income, not able to qualify for that dollar amount that they're looking at. So as a co signer, you're essentially agreeing to be responsible for the loan if they can't make the payments right,

Heidi Griffith 8:10
right? And but, and remember that. So these are, these are not, you know, just quick conversations. These are conversations that you want to have with your kids. These are things that you want to be sure of, right, because now you're signing up for someone else's liability,

Roland Daniels 8:23
and you're responsible for them if they decide not to pay Right, right? Because

Heidi Griffith 8:27
the bank, if you're a co signer, you're equally responsible. And you know, if you already own a property, remember, we'll obviously have to use your current debts

Roland Daniels 8:36
is going to be taken into consideration with your income, right?

Heidi Griffith 8:40
And it doesn't mean it's impossible. You just may qualify for a little bit less based on current debts. It's just every situation is going to be different. So what? What's another option? You know? I know that, you know, we talk about down payment assistance, right? So you could actually look at using down payment assistance and then maybe helping them with their closing cost. And then if they're fortunate enough, and they get, let's say, seller credits, and a lot of that is taken care of, then you could even help them by setting up an emergency fund or a home fund, right?

Roland Daniels 9:12
And that will help them with different expenses that come up as being a homeowner, absolutely.

Heidi Griffith 9:16
Yeah. So there's, there really is a lot of possibilities and a lot of ways that you can help. And again, I really think it's important that parents have these kind of conversations, especially even early, you know, early in life, about wealth and building wealth and what that looks like. And she made a really good point. Pam, did. She said that she's hearing because it is the word on the street is that there's going to come a point where it's almost impossible to purchase a home as a single person right to afford it. Absolutely it is getting it's getting tougher and tougher. We're seeing more and more people look towards like generational housing. You know, where multiple members of a family. Family or even together come together to purchase because it does make it more affordable, and it does make sense. That's why the the, you know, the the Casitas or the 80 use, right? Adu. Adu, yeah, ADUs are becoming so popular in places like California, right? We're not seeing them as much here, just because of costs, at

Roland Daniels 10:19
least not yet, right? And I believe that we will eventually, and 80 uses an adult dwelling unit, right, right? It's like, I mean, we

Heidi Griffith 10:25
call them mother in law's quarters at one point that we don't like to use that, obviously, but, you know, they're just, you know, Guest houses, Casitas, but just that type of living situation, obviously, makes a lot of sense. I actually know that there are a few builders in town that are building these generational houses where you've got separate living quarters for several people. And it really it does make sense. And having these conversations early, and kind of having a game plan and and being able to kind of come up with solutions is always great. I think it's wonderful that she's looking at possibly helping them. And there, it really just does depend on what her specific situation is and what your specific situation is and your kids, because

Roland Daniels 11:06
a lot of these topics aren't taught in school. And Pam, we hope this helps you. Helping your kids buy a home is a wonderful goal, and there's definitely ways to make it happen. And if anything else out there, or has a anyone else has a similar question, feel free to reach out to us. Jerks.

Heidi Griffith 11:25
We're at 702-210-2057 again, that number is 702-210-2057 so you know, I actually had a conversation with someone earlier this week, and it's February, it is already, and so people are going to start to see their tax refunds come in, yes, and I was talking to somebody, and she was trying to figure out the best way to utilize her tax refund. She wasn't purchasing home. She was just trying to figure out, you know, should it, should it spend it all because, you know, free money or whatever. But it was a great conversation, and it got me to thinking that, you know, maybe we should talk about this. Because obviously, if you're thinking about purchasing a home, there's a couple of different strategies you can use if you're getting a refund, right, right? But then, even if you own a home, or if you're not thinking about buying a home, there's also some great things that you can do versus just throw it in the bank or throw it in your pocket and go to the mall, right, right? So let's talk about that for a second. Obviously, you can utilize it for your down payment, or at least a portion, a portion down payment, because with your down payment, depending on whether it's conventional FHA, I mean, it's conventional, your minimum is 3% and if it's an FHA loan, three and a half, yeah, yeah. So you could utilize it, like I said, for either all or part of that, and if, if you know your mom or dad and you're helping out, that could also be some skin in the game for the kids. Because I think that's always a great option, too. Going back to Pam's question, that if you're going to help your kids, it might be nice to have them do some contribution, even if it's a small amount, right, to give them that whole learning tool as well, right? You can So, so that's going to help you get close to your down payment goal, right? And so even if you're using down payment assistance and purchasing because you've decided that's a route, having that extra funds is actually going to provide some stability, some more peace of mind, and then you can utilize that money towards your closing costs, yep. And

Roland Daniels 13:21
you can use it for the upfront costs. So which are so for your home inspection, your appraisal, and then your earnest money

Heidi Griffith 13:30
deposit, right? So those are the three things that you're going to pay for before you even close on the transaction. Yes. So utilizing that might be a good tool as well, especially if you're using, like, your 401, K for your down payment, this way you've got the free cash, you know, not free cash, but cash freed up, right, available from your tax return, right? Yep, so you could use it to cover closing costs, because people do forget about that. I mean, I we have a lot of those conversations. We have those on a weekly basis. So a lot of people say you can get into a home for as little as 3% down, or if we're talking, you know, down payment assistance and those kinds of things, as little as no money down. Not true, not true, not true. Still need money for closing costs. Always need money. Now we could ask the seller. You could get a gift. None of those things are guaranteed, but closing costs will have to be paid. And closing costs are, you know, lender fees, or title and escrow fees, or all of those fees, right? And normally we tell people, so if you got, let's just say you're using an FHA loan, you're using minimum three and a half percent down, your closing costs are going to roughly

Roland Daniels 14:35
be, say, around three, three and a half, right, right? So you're

Heidi Griffith 14:38
looking at about 7% that you would need in total,

Roland Daniels 14:43
right? So on the $300,000 property, 7% of that is around $21,000

Heidi Griffith 14:48
that is correct. So what if, let's just say you're using down payment assistance, and you've already got the funds available for closing costs, or you've got the funds available for both your down payment and your closing costs. Costs, another great tool to do, especially if you've got some high interest debt. What about paying some of that down? So

Roland Daniels 15:07
maybe you have some credit cards, let's say four credit cards, and they're all at 24 to 30% right? Maybe on those four credit cards, maybe you have $100 balance, $200 balance, $300 balance minimum payments, $25 a month. Well, let's look at paying those debts off, freeing up that monthly payment to help you with your debt to income ratio, which would give you more purchasing power

Heidi Griffith 15:34
so you could actually buy

Roland Daniels 15:37
more home, more home by just paying off those high interest credit cards, right?

Heidi Griffith 15:41
So what do you think? Like? Let's just, and I know, obviously we're not going to come up with exacts here, but let's just say you're able to free up $300 a month in what you would be paying. That

Roland Daniels 15:53
could potentially increase your purchasing power by anywhere between 15, probably to $20,000 and it can make a huge difference when you're looking at properties,

Heidi Griffith 16:04
yeah, by that much, huh? It is. That's that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. So you could pay down some of that debt to qualify, right? And what about people who aren't ready to buy it? And this is the conversation that I actually had with this gal, and we were talking about looking into the future, because obviously, it would be nice to be in our 20s again. We're not, and that, I gotta tell you, if you're in your 20s or 30s, please, Time goes fast. It does. Time goes really fast. And we don't think about this stuff when we're younger, because we're out having a good time, and it's gonna be a bazillion years before we get to where we actually are. And they don't teach this. No, they don't. And an emergency fund, I mean, that that was a conversation that we had for 30 minutes about the importance of an emergency fund, because life happens, life happens, life happens. And whether or not you own a home, cars break down, you know, medical stuff pops up that unfortunately we have to deal with, um, you know, those kind of expenses can hit us hard, especially if we've just got, you know, whatever our money is in the bank, right? Having that cushion of an emergency fund can really make life easier in the long run. It is boring. It does it's not sexy. It doesn't sound fun to have, but when we have it, and it's there and available when these things happen. I It's a huge relief. It is. So this isn't something that we just throw into our regular savings account, right? No,

Roland Daniels 17:29
you want to make it a separate savings account, its own entity.

Heidi Griffith 17:33
Yes. And what about putting it into like a high yield I

Roland Daniels 17:36
recommend doing that as well, so you can earn interest maybe 4% right? On a regular bank account with your local bank. And I won't say any names, right? You know, there's pennies on the dollar. Yeah, you don't make any money, right? At least with a high interest. You, you're looking anywhere between three and 4%

Heidi Griffith 17:54
easy. And I tell you, I actually got, you know, I got my 1090 nines from because I've got a couple of them. I've I have my emergency fund. I actually have a vacation fund with those. I just got my statements back for and you end of year, and it was nice, you I made money on my money, right? I didn't have to do anything but stick it in there. There was no additional risk. It wasn't a stock or, you know.

Roland Daniels 18:21
And what should we do with those extra funds, or that extra interest that we're earning on? Well,

Heidi Griffith 18:27
it depends on what we're doing in our budget, but you could put that, you could roll those right back into your emergency fund. So with an emergency fund, how long, you know, should we save for for emergencies? What's the golden rule?

Roland Daniels 18:40
Well, it's recommending anywhere between three to six months of your monthly expense of

Heidi Griffith 18:44
living expenses. So first and foremost, you should know what your monthly living expenses are, because a lot of people don't, yeah, you know that's budget. That is a budget or a spending plan, a spending plan, right? And we knowing what comes in, knowing what goes

Roland Daniels 18:59
out, and we do recommend that you look at it over a period of 30 days, because stuff changes too, and it does, and there's actual expenses that you don't even see or you pay attention, you know, that extra cup of coffee from Starbucks?

Heidi Griffith 19:11
Oh, easy, right? Easy, peasy. Yeah. And so this kind of this fund is not a Starbucks fund. This is an emergency fund that you don't touch. I, like a lot of these high yield savings accounts, right? Like, discover has one, I know I have a Capital One. Apple has one. So they're online, right? So there's not a physical branch that you can go to. And those are really one of those things that you don't go to. If you decide, you know you're going to go to Cabo, that's cool, but don't use your emergency fund for that. We want a vacation fund for absolutely a vacation fund. So those are the kind of things that you could actually start or put money into with your tax refund. Aren't they there? That is correct, yeah. And what about like investing in. Yourself taking those monies, because you know the world is going fast. Things are changing rapidly. Whether it be like using that money to start a side hustle, right, right and make some additional funds,

Roland Daniels 20:18
what about using money for an additional certification that allows you to have the ability to increase your salary. I think

Heidi Griffith 20:26
it's great. I think it's great. And so many employers are looking for different certifications depending on what field you're in, this might be a great time. I mean, if you're in accounting, maybe you go and do a QuickBooks, right? Certification, maybe you want to go back to school, right, correct, and with all of the unknowns that this might be a good way to get that kind of boost and start that, don't you think I agree with you, upskilling really is going to open doors to better job opportunities, and, you know, increase your income so you get a refund, you own a home, what are some good things to do with that? Well, I think, first and foremost, you know, if you're looking at doing some home improvements, this might be a great start. It might not cover everything, because stuff is expensive. Remember that when you're purchasing a home, we have all these big visions. When we go through a home, we're like, oh, I want to do this. I want these counters. I want courts in here, and I want to have the, you know, the shutters, or whatever that looks like. Stuff is

Roland Daniels 21:25
expensive. And when it comes to upgrades, where do Where do you think that you should start? Well,

Heidi Griffith 21:30
a realtor will tell you, you know, the best bang for your buck is kitchen and then bathroom shortly following. But that stuff is expensive. So if you're not getting a huge chunk of change, and if you are, well, you know, good for you. That's exciting. A lot of us don't, but if you're, you know, if you're getting some it's a great place to start. So in I think, I don't know how you feel, but instead of, you know, going out, going shopping, yeah, well, I like shopping, don't get me wrong. I just don't want to use this money for shopping. I have my own little, you know, that's that that account, but this is more for let's do some improvements to our home so that we can possibly, you know, increase the value of our home.

Roland Daniels 22:10
I think that will be a more prudent way of using that money towards something that will make things more valuable and increase your wealth? Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 22:22
I agree. Because instead of splurging on something that's not going to last, right, right, maybe invest in your biggest asset, which is your home. It is, isn't it, yeah? So, you know, you could also consider energy efficient upgrades. That's a big thing right now. Yeah, I am by no means a solar expert. I'll just speak from experiences that I've watched others go through. But you want to be really careful when looking at solar, especially with like solar leases right on the property. So do your investigating, do your due diligence. Do your due diligence, absolutely, but it's certainly something that you could look at. Weatherization is a great way. There's some great programs and some great things that are available with those kinds of things. It just makes your house a little bit tighter. It makes it a little bit more efficient. And efficiency is key, because things are not cheap anymore, are they? No, they're not. And what about like, retirement contributions? I think that could be a great way to

Roland Daniels 23:22
utilize maxing out those 401 K plans, right?

Heidi Griffith 23:26
Yeah, yeah. So IRAs using it to add to your 401 your IRA that those are all great things, aren't they?

Roland Daniels 23:32
I agree with you. So well, it looks like we're out of time today. Good, right? Yeah. So we hope you enjoyed today's conversation and learned a little something that helped makes your home only home ownership journey a bit smoother. Remember, buying a home isn't just about the interest rates or what you hear from others, it's about making the right decision for you and your future. Yeah, I

Heidi Griffith 23:56
agree, and if you're ready to learn more, don't forget, we've got some upcoming classes. The all about Down Payment Assistance online session is Saturday, February 8, and then we've got our in person home as possible Down Payment Assistance class with the Nevada housing division. That's on Monday, February 10. That's from 11 to noon. If you have any questions about anything we covered today, or you'd like more information about purchasing, refinancing or registering, please feel free to reach out. You can call or text us. We're at 702-210-2057 and remember, you can also visit us on Facebook, at mortgage matters radio,

Roland Daniels 24:32
join us again next Sunday at 7:30am right here on K, U, N, V, 91.5, until then, stay informed. Stay confident and remember, stay true to yourself and your mind. Bye. You.

Music 25:00
Fauci.