Mortgage Matters

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV 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 0:40
Dave, 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, our company, NMLS number is 42056, and I'm here this morning with my fantastic co host, Heidi Griffith, good morning. Heidi, well, good morning. Roland, good morning. How are you today? I am doing absolutely fantastic.

Heidi Griffith 1:13
Hey, this is why we live here, right? How's that weather? It's been perfect.

Roland Daniels 1:18
It's this is the time. It

Heidi Griffith 1:20
is amazing, isn't it? It is it is good morning, everyone. I'm Heidi Griffith. I'm a mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, mortgage matters is about helping you better understand your options around housing, home ownership and long term stability, whether you're thinking about buying your first home, buying again, or you're already a homeowner. Our goal is to give you clear, honest information so you can make competent decisions.

Roland Daniels 1:50
That is true, because we want you to be the most successful

Heidi Griffith 1:54
homeowner possible. That is the goal, absolutely, absolutely. So last week ran out of time again. We did. Here we are. We're gonna pick up where we were. Let's talk about just really quickly. If you didn't tune in last week, we went over some really important stuff. We were talking about homeownership readiness, preparing to become a homeowner. Right? If your goal for 2026 is to move forward into home ownership, you know it's possibly the biggest investment you make in your lifetime. I think it is, and it's not one you should take lightly. I agree, right? So, so it's talking about getting ready. So last week, you know, we had a really important conversation, because preparation is often the difference between feeling confident going into home ownership and feeling overwhelmed. Because, you know, here's the truth, purchasing a home sometimes is scary. It's a lot of money,

Roland Daniels 2:44
it is. And purchasing a home, I think you feel every emotion.

Heidi Griffith 2:48
There you do. I used to give folks. I used to have a jar of M M's, and they were the stress bills. I would hand them out, because it is, it's very stressful. It is exciting. It's exciting, it's overwhelming, and it just plain old scary. It is scary. Sometimes you stop and think about, you know, several $100,000

Roland Daniels 3:14
that's involved. Well, it's something that you've never done before, or even if you have it scary.

Heidi Griffith 3:19
I know every home that I've ever purchased, you get a little pit. It's exciting thinking about all the fun stuff on my end. Because I'm a colors person, right? I'm decorating, and I'm figuring out where I'm going to lay out the furniture and what I need to buy. I'm sure you're probably, you know, doing a budget.

Roland Daniels 3:36
I am looking for the strategy aspect of it, how to make more money,

Heidi Griffith 3:41
absolutely, but, but we all have this thing around it, and through the process, like I said, it does get a little frightening for some of us, so being prepared and understanding what's in front of you is always a great idea, don't you think, I think, is key. So let's just go really quickly over what we talked about last week. You know, the first thing was, we talked about what it means to actually prepare beyond qualifying. So the big one is preparing to pay your future mortgage payment now, right?

Roland Daniels 4:10
So to get you used, used to being in the habit of making that total mortgage payment, and I think last week, we just, we discussed like, setting aside maybe an extra $1,000 let's say that your rent was $1,700 and your mortgage is going to be $2,700 and just to get used to making that monthly payment, yeah,

Heidi Griffith 4:32
you just start, you certainly, you start mentally making it now, and you know, depending on when you're planning on purchasing, whether that's, you know, a month, or six Months, or 12 months, or if you plan in the next several years to become a homeowner, putting that money away starting now, not only teaches you what it's going to feel like to pay that mortgage, right, but you're also, you know, setting up this little savings plan. You are that's great, and there's a lot of reasons why we should have, you know, six. Savings plans when we're becoming homeowners,

Roland Daniels 5:02
which is called reserves, we need those reserves, yeah,

Heidi Griffith 5:05
and it's, it's not just for improvements, although it could certainly be for improvements. You know, you want to change the countertops in the kitchen, or you want new flooring, or maybe you want to build a pool, but bigger than that life, yeah, when you become a homeowner. Life is for real. And, you know, I think that's a lot of that's a big thing that a lot of people don't talk about when we're out looking at homes, you know, when you're renting from a landlord, you know, maybe of a property management company that handles everything. Maybe it's an apartment complex with a property management company, if something happens where you live, your toilet breaks, or the air conditioning goes out, or your garbage disposal, you call, pick up the phone, you make a call, and you say, hey, I need you to come out, and if they're not out, and then you know, however long we start to call again. Because, hey, you got to come fix my whatever it is.

Roland Daniels 6:00
So, so what happens if I own the property? Who's responsible?

Heidi Griffith 6:04
Now, you're responsible. You're responsible. I'm responsible. There are home warranty, you know, plans that you can purchase. Keep in mind that home warranties are are warranties, and like a Car Warranty, it's not going to cover everything, right? And they're all different. They're all different. They're all different. You want to make sure you read your contract. You know, in many instances, it's a nice little safety net. But keep in mind, make sure you read your contract. If you don't have that in place, your air conditioning goes out. We all know, down here in Las Vegas, we need air conditioning for a good portion of the

Roland Daniels 6:38
year, especially in the summer. Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 6:40
um, yeah. Now, now you've got to be responsible for that, so having that nest egg, right, that little safety net of money, emergency fund, can certainly make a difference. I agree with you, yeah, we also talked about credit, didn't we? We did why it's important to check your credit.

Roland Daniels 6:58
I recommend checking your credit. I do it daily, but a lot of people say they can do it weekly or monthly, right? Most of the time, you will hear experts or certain people social media say, check it monthly.

Heidi Griffith 7:09
And when you say you check your credit daily, you're not checking your credit score. Maybe you are, but, but you're mostly checking to make sure that nothing weird is popped

Roland Daniels 7:17
up, right? Because a lot of us have like, Credit Karma, credit sesame, you can use those for monitoring, right? But I like to go into my accounts on a daily basis, usually when I first wake up in the morning, just to figure it out,

Heidi Griffith 7:30
just to make sure that there's nothing weird that's popped up in your credit reports. Oh, that's just me, though, yeah. And sometimes you have access to check your credit reports daily. Others, you don't. Where can we get our free credit reports at

Roland Daniels 7:41
annual credit report.com right?

Heidi Griffith 7:44
And that is, that is the supported site. It is. It's the only site that we would recommend

Roland Daniels 7:51
you go to for all of your credit reports, such as your TransUnion Experian and equity. And you

Heidi Griffith 7:57
can pull those you can pull those reports separately. You actually will pull those reports separately. You can pull them back to back. Some people you know will pull one this week, maybe one next week, or maybe one next month, however that looks just so you can kind of monitor because we also talked about the fact that not all creditors

Roland Daniels 8:17
report to all three bureaus, right, because they

Heidi Griffith 8:19
pay the Bureau's to report. So maybe your, you know, your Visa card only reports to Experian and TransUnion, yes.

Roland Daniels 8:27
And I've noticed that when it comes to collections, usually they only report to one Bureau, not saying always, but usually.

Heidi Griffith 8:35
And that's, that's a great point, because the the collection probably was sold to a credit collection company, yes, and they're they probably paid pennies on the dollar for your debt.

Roland Daniels 8:46
I would say nine times out of 10 they did. So they're

Heidi Griffith 8:49
watching, they're where they're reporting that they're gonna make you feel it, but they're not gonna make you feel it at every turn. Yeah, yes. So we talked about what errors are more common than people think that the biggest one is going to be name spellings, isn't it? I think so. AKA, right, right. And, you know, especially if your name is hyphenated, that's a big one, because if your name is, you know, Heidi Griffith, Daniels, my credit report shows Heidi Griffith, Heidi Daniels. Heidi Griffith, no hyphen. Daniels, you know, onward, juniors are a big one, aren't they? They are. And then there's others, and then there's other stuff that's reported, right? So I know that I'm seeing a lot of duplicate student loans,

Roland Daniels 9:33
yes, on credit report. That can be huge, especially when it comes to your credit, right?

Heidi Griffith 9:37
And not even just your score. But when we're calculate, when we're going to talk about debt to income a little bit later in the show we will, but when we're looking at your credit report, even if your student loan to payments are in deferment, many of us have student loans that are being deferred right now. Maybe we're in school and you know, we're not being charged for those, but a lender will have to account for payment. Even if there isn't one today, because the lender is looking for futures, they know that at some point you have to pay it back, you're going to be responsible for paying this. So we account for half a percent of what that total loan is. So when we are looking from the mortgage angle of things, right at student loans, even if your payment has been deferred, right you know, maybe you're in school right now, you're not making any payments, or you've got to set up a plan with the the creditor. We as lenders still have to account for a payment, because we understand that you're not paying for right now, but at some point you will be paying for it. We need to make sure that you can still pay for the mortgage and pay for your student loans, right?

Roland Daniels 10:44
Because, like, one of the students loans may say, like, you owe $5,360 right next to it reflects zero. And then we have a lot of clients will say, Well, I don't have a payment. But that's not true.

Heidi Griffith 10:57
Just like, well, you don't have a payment today, but we do understand that at some point you're going to have to pay this back. So we account, if it's an FHA loan, we account for half a percent of your total balance monthly Correct. I have seen, like I said, in many instances, there's, you know, two exact dollar amounts for these student loans. So I always reach out to the client and ask, Hey, do you have two student loans for 5825 or is this a duplicate? And the best thing that they can then do is reach out and find out and make sure that it hasn't been duplicated on their student loan service, right? So we can make sure that we're not counting a debt that's actually not there, right, right? We also talked about why trying to fix your own credit score without a plan can certainly backfire. It Yourself. The do it yourselfers and I get it. I get it. A lot of people don't want to have to go and say, hey, my credit needs a little bit of help. A lot of people think that, you know, I can, in many instances, you can, if we're just looking at improving our credit, right, 100% you can do it yourself. There's a lot of tools online, there's a lot of information. But the bigger thing is, when you're looking at purchasing home, there's things that we do and that we don't look at, right, right? So the first thing that we don't look at, although it will affect your credit score on your credit, is we don't look at medical collections. That is true. We don't have to account for a payment for medical collections, and we don't, we don't count them. But when I say that, I also understand that. And so it medical was going to be taken off of credit reports when the administration changed in 2025 it was reversed, right? It was reversed. So, yes, medical is is reporting. I believe that the information is

Roland Daniels 12:55
for a medical collection. It won't be reported for at least a

Heidi Griffith 12:59
year, right? Okay, so they have to wait a year before they can report

Roland Daniels 13:03
it right. And if it's under $500 it won't show up on your credit report.

Heidi Griffith 13:06
So if it's $500 or more, it's been lingering out there for at least 12 months, then it will show up on your credit report. Now keep in mind it's going to affect your credit score, and depending on your credit profile, is going to be based on how much is going to impact your score. But if you're looking at purchasing a home, we're not going to go, Well, we have to charge you THIS MUCH for an account for that medical right? Same thing with charge offs, right? Charge offs are different than collections,

Roland Daniels 13:34
and most of the time with charge off it has already affected your credit,

Heidi Griffith 13:39
and yet you're coming out of it. So credit is usually affected the most when it's brand new, right?

Roland Daniels 13:44
Like you're 30 days late, that's the big one, right? 3060, 9060, 90, once it gets to, like 120 to 180 that's when it's going towards that collection and charge off, right?

Heidi Griffith 13:59
And as we go through that, and there is no timeline for when a collection becomes a charge off, that's basically just a creditor saying, creditor saying, I'm going to write this off. I'm going to take tax write off on this bad boy.

Roland Daniels 14:12
But it doesn't stop the creditors buying that. Like you

Heidi Griffith 14:16
said, Nope, and they will sell it. They will have written it off, and now maybe you have a different collection agency that you're working

Roland Daniels 14:24
and then once they do buy that debt, it can affect your credit again and bring your score down even

Heidi Griffith 14:30
lower, well, and that, that's another great point about when we're trying to fix our own credit, there's there's these little nuances. A big one is calling a creditor, especially if it's something that's aging right, that's not brand new. Calling a creditor could, in some instances, start that clock again and or making a payment, or just making a payment, making a payment and again. I'm not sitting here telling people don't pay your bills, don't fix your credit, you know. But what I'm saying. Is when you're looking at purchasing a home, or maybe you're looking at purchasing another big product, a vehicle, definitely sit down and talk with the person that you're working with to find out what the best plan is. We are big proponents of working with HUD counselors. We are we work with CPLC. There are HUD certified

Roland Daniels 15:22
credit counselors, I think one of four or one of five here in the state of Nevada, decision,

Heidi Griffith 15:27
so there's not a lot of them, but they are doing the good work. Yep, they are. They are consumer for they are here for consumers. They are here specifically to help you. And they will, you know, they'll do a soft credit pull for you. I There's a cost associated, and it's just the cost that it costs them to pull your credit report right. They'll go over it line by line. They'll talk about, you know, is this yours? Isn't this yours? Tell me what happened, and then they will help you create a plan to get things back on the right path, right?

Roland Daniels 16:00
And help you with the letters to send to the credit agencies, right?

Heidi Griffith 16:04
And they're going to say, hey, let's not focus on this. Because a lot of times I know I personally become hyper focused on something that might not even matter, right? It's one of those things that rubs me the wrong way, and I automatically want to take care of it, right? And that might not be the best thing to do. That's why, sitting down with somebody who really understands the process, understands the lending process, understands what it's going to look like when you got to make a purchase, and what's important on that report, they'll help you address that. They will walk side by side as long as you're willing to put in the work. They are just like we are, if it's something you're interested in, even if you're not purchasing a home, even if you want to get your credit in order, right? If 2026, is the year that we start to kind of make a few small changes, you know, feel free to give us a call or text us. We'd be happy to get you in touch with them. Our telephone number is 702-210-2057 again, our number is 702-210-2057 so a couple other things we talked about. We talked about lender overlays, like on a VA loan. So we talked we were spending some time talking about the minimum credit scores for each of the different loans. So we talked about that, and then we talked about lender overlays. So we did VA, their minimum credit score is what Roland there are? There is no credit score, no minimum credit score, minimum credit score according to the VA guidelines, according to the guidelines. So we as lenders, we look at guidelines, we look at VA guidelines, we look at FHA guidelines, we look at conventional guidelines. They tell us what needs to happen and what can't happen with that type of loan? That is true with the VA they say there is no credit minimum. However, most lenders, most lending companies, right? They do have what's called an overlay. So they say, Okay, we'll do VA loans, but they have to have this credit score. Yes. With Geneva financial, our company, it's 585 80, right? So that's where we left off last week, right? Yep. So let's get started now. We talk a lot about credit scores. We talk a lot about checking your credit. We talk about all that good stuff, but I've been hearing more frequently, especially from those of us who have great credit, yay. You know, that's great, but a lot of people think, just because their credit is perfect, that they should qualify for whatever there is. When we're taking a look at what you qualify for, when you give us a call and you're like, Hey, I'm thinking about buying a house, and I want to get pre approved, we might ask. So how much home are you looking at purchasing? What you know, what price point, price range you're looking? Where do you want to see your payment, all of that good stuff that typically, the payment doesn't match. I'd like to buy a $700,000 house, and I'd like to spend $980 right? Unfortunately, yeah, not not today. It doesn't work. Not today, not today. So, but something that we take into consideration along with your credit score, but sometimes more importantly than your credit score, right, is called the debt to income ratio,

Roland Daniels 19:12
which is one of the key factors in getting pre approved.

Heidi Griffith 19:15
It is so sometimes we call it a DTI, right? So, what is a debt to income ratio, DTI, that's the percentage that shows how much of your monthly income goes towards paying your debts. Yes, so give me an example.

Roland Daniels 19:29
So it's your the calculation is your gross minimum monthly payments, right, divided by your gross monthly income, right?

Heidi Griffith 19:40
That's the formula. And a lot of people think it's your take home pay, but it's which is your net income. We use gross income, so we go ahead and we calculate that, but when you're purchasing a home, we throw in that mortgage payment too, right?

Roland Daniels 19:54
We do. We're looking at all of the desks that show up basically on your credit report, right? So that's

Heidi Griffith 19:58
going to be stuff like your car. Payment, yes, credit cards, yep, student loans, yes, any personal loans you might have taken out, yes, right? And then if you pay child support or alimony, alimony as well, and sometimes some of that stuff doesn't show up on your credit report. And don't forget, IRS tax liens, yes, yes, or IRS payments, IRS tax liens, all of that kind of stuff, anything that you owe unless it's, you know, something that hasn't been reported or recorded, right? Because there are reports that lenders do after you're in the process. So maybe, maybe you do have a payment plan with the IRS and it's not showing up on your credit report, and we start the process, and we get into it. They do lenders do behind the scenes reports, and those things will show up. They will they will show up, and they might show up later. So the best thing to do when you're sitting down and talking to a lender like, hey, I want to get pre approved. We're going to ask you a bunch of questions. We're going to ask you, are there any, you know, undisclosed liabilities? Do you have a payment plan with the IRS. Do you owe the IRS money?

Roland Daniels 21:02
And it makes things easier if we know everything up front, heck yeah, so we can address it right

Heidi Griffith 21:07
away, heck yeah. Because there's nothing worse than getting through a process, finding a home that you love, putting an offer, getting it accepted, and going through the process only to find out what's this came up on this report,

Roland Daniels 21:20
and we have to scramble and figure out how to make it work.

Heidi Griffith 21:23
Yep. And so along with your debts, when we are pre approving you to purchase, we also then include a mortgage payment we do, and that's how we determine actually the number that you're approved for, yes,

Roland Daniels 21:36
because they all have what's called a front end ratio and a back in right? So the front end is just the debts, like your installment loans, and revolving the stuff that you that you owe now, right? And then the back includes the mortgage payments,

Heidi Griffith 21:50
the stuff you owe, plus the mortgage payment. So, for example, you make $6,000 a month, right in gross income? Yes, let's just say you've got $2,400 in debt. So that's your car payment, some student loans, all that kind of stuff, right? So when we take a look at that from a lender's perspective, how much is that?

Roland Daniels 22:11
That's about 40% that's about 40% and how do we come to that number? We take that monthly debt of $2,400 divided by that monthly income of 6000

Heidi Griffith 22:22
Right, right? And so the DTI lets us know you know how stretched your monthly budget is, right, and whether you can comfortably take on a mortgage payment, right? So sometimes lowering the monthly debt payment could improve your buying power. It could. And so we take a look at it. Sometimes, sometimes it makes sense. You're amazing at this. You're amazing at looking at someone's liabilities, their debts, and saying, Hey, maybe you know you've got this $2,000 credit card that you know you owe $2,000 on your payment is high, right? 200 I don't know, whatever that is, 100 bucks a month, or whatever, that can make a difference. Sometimes, yeah,

Roland Daniels 23:00
we look at all of the debts and figure out what which one works best. Do we need to pay off two? Do we need to pay off three? And just to look at and see if how to make it work right, right? If you're wondering how to get started or have any questions, please feel free to reach out. Number is 702-210-2057, that's 702, 022102057,

Heidi Griffith 23:26
so, you know, I want to talk about something really quickly, because I actually had a conversation with somebody the other day. She listens to the show. She's, she's in the business, right? We're friends, and she asked me why we focused strictly on first time homebuyers. She's like, you know, are you setting and I'm like, well, we don't focus strictly on first time homebuyers. We talk about it a lot, and, you know, and that was it. So I think that it's, it's probably best that we talk about, why we talk about first time homebuyers, why we talk about down payment assistance so much. It's intentional. It is intense, right? It's not the only thing that we do. It's far from the only thing that we do in our business, right? I think that we talk about it, because not everybody has ever bought a home before. Information is important and education is important. Education First, because there are so many bad myths about buying a home. There are what qualifying for a home looks like. You know, this is a great one. Renting is safer. And here's the thing, this is a conversation that I know I have with people, and there might be some people that disagree with me. In our industry, renting might be the right thing for you, if it's the right thing for you, because everybody is different if you want to become a homeowner, though, I think that you should certainly explore your options, right?

Roland Daniels 24:47
It is that's about opportunities and the options that are available to you.

Heidi Griffith 24:50
Yeah, and it is renting safer. Well, again, depends on what you're looking at. If you plan on being in town for, you know, six months, then yeah, absolutely. But here's the thing. About Renting. If you planned on being a renter forever, keep in mind, we have no rent cap. That is true, right? It's been put in front of legislature. A lot the last two sessions hasn't happened. Has not even for seniors, nope. So your rent can go up and more than like, well, depending on your lease, right, depending on what your lease says. But more than not, it does go up. You know what? If your landlord chooses to sell now you've got to move. There's a lot of stuff that goes along with renting. There is. There's a lot of stuff that goes along with renting, and rents continue to rise. Does it slow down? Sometimes, absolutely, it slows down. Does the housing market sometimes slow down Absolutely? There is no crystal ball. We don't know what futures bring. But I do know that when I was living in a rental apartment and well, I'm going to age myself here a little bit 1990 I was paying 480 bucks a month. Wow. So here we are. The next thing, right? The interest rate is the number that I need to hyper fixate on. No, no, I'm not telling you not to pay attention to interest rates. 100% know what you're looking at, but it's far from the full picture? Is it?

Roland Daniels 26:21
No, but that's what the everybody's been taught to ask. What is the interest? Right? There are more important things than just the interest.

Heidi Griffith 26:29
First of all, your your full monthly payment structure, yes, right? What's this going to cost you every month out of your pocket? Right? I was talking to somebody recently who got pre approved with another lender right came over to us because she heard the show, and she's like, I like what you guys are talking about, but the lender pre approved her for this dollar amount. When we did her paperwork, she didn't. She wasn't approved for that dollar amount. Same exact program, no additional things. It was. It was a down payment assistance program. So we knew what the guidelines were. Our guidelines would have to be exactly the same. And so what I'm going to go out on a limb and say, and after talking to her, found out was they didn't account for HOA. She was looking for condominiums. Condominiums are going to have HOAs. So the number that she was given wasn't necessarily the accurate number. It just sounded good up front. But my concern is now when you go out looking at properties, you put an offer in, maybe now you're not qualified anymore because of that HOA payment. So make sure that you're sitting down and you're getting all of the information what that total monthly amount looks like. It's important it is okay. So before we get out of here, as I do every week, I want to take a really quick moment to talk about fair housing. I really think it's that important. Fair Housing Act was put into place to help ensure people are not treated differently in housing based on things like race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or familial status. At its core, it's about access and equal opportunity. Here in Nevada, the Silver State Fair Housing Council works to promote these protections for renters, buyers and homeowners. One of the biggest ways this work happens is through their housing Tester program. One of the testers act is everyday people inquiring about housing, kind of like a secret shopper, right? These testers help identify whether discrimination may be happening. That information helps highlight where barriers still exist and support accountability. If you'd like more information on the Silver State Fair Housing Council Tester program, or if you think you may have been subject to housing discrimination, please feel free to reach out, and we'll get you in touch with them. Fair Housing isn't optional. It's the law, and it's worth fighting for. You can call or text us. We're at 702-210-2057,

Roland Daniels 28:52
if anything that we talked about today made you think about your next step, feel free to reach out. You don't need to have everything figured out to start the conversation, you can give us a call or text us. That number is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 thank you for spending part of your Sunday morning with us. We'll be back next Sunday morning at 7:30am right here on KU nv 91.5 until then, believe in what's possible, even if you've been told that it's out of reach. And remember, stay true to yourself and your mind. Bye. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai