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 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, as always, with my fantastic co host, Heidi Griffith, Daniels, good morning. Heidi, well, good

Heidi Griffith 1:11
morning. Roland, how are you? I am doing awesome. Yes, you are happy. Sunday. Happy. Sunday. Seems like we might start to see a cool down, huh?

Roland Daniels 1:20
I hope so. It's been tough last week.

Heidi Griffith 1:23
I guess that really, this year hasn't been as bad as it was last year

Roland Daniels 1:27
compared to last year.

Heidi Griffith 1:28
It's been nice. Yes. I mean, I think we're, you know, we're in the tail end. I hope so make it through September. Then we've got a few weeks in October that are absolutely amazing. Yep, Agreed. Agreed. I'm Heidi Griffith. I'm also your mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, so today we're going to have a conversation that I believe impacts, you know, all of us here in Vegas, from the housing shortage and the debate over opening federal land to Why bro and I kind of feel in field development might be a smarter move, and how big investors are shaping our

Roland Daniels 2:08
market. Let's start things off with a workshop that you've probably heard us talk about, if you've tuned in before, and that is our path to homeownership and financial literacy workshop. So we host this workshop on the first Saturday of every month, and the next one is coming up on Saturday September the sixth. In this workshop, we start at 830 and we usually end around three. A lot of times you may get out a little bit earlier. Yep, this is a full day workshop with our partners at CPLC with their HUD certified counselors designed to give you the roadmap from start to keys in hand, we'll cover everything from budgeting and credit preparedness to loan programs down payment options and what to expect during the home buying process. So whether you're brand new to the idea of owning or coming back after some time, way this workshop gives you the real steps, the real numbers and the real timelines, so you know exactly where you stand. I mean, there's,

Heidi Griffith 3:21
there's so much, like you said, we talk about budgeting, the HUD certified counselors, and you do the lenders portion, I do, you talk about the 18 plus different down payment programs we offer. And really quickly, you know, we talked about this the other day, and I want to kind of mention it, so we've been talking to a lot of people lately, and there's a little bit of confusion when it comes to how down payment programs work. From the mortgage side, when you're applying for a mortgage, I spoke to a couple of different people who were under the impression that they met with one lender to get their quote, unquote mortgage. This is the verbiage that they're using with me, and then they met with another to do the down payment. That's not the way it works. So in most instances, when you're using down payment programs, you've got your first mortgage, right? That's, that's the, that's the sales price of the home there, right? With whatever your down payment is taken out. And then you've got the second and that could either be a second that is a silent second that just kind of sits in the back with no interest. It could be a second that there's a payment on and or it could be a forgivable second, but there's going to be a second mortgage recorded that's for the down payment. That's that's the down payment help that you're getting, you will work with the same lender on both you do. And I think a lot of people might just not understand completely that it's not you go to this lender for this and you go to this lender for that. It's one lender. It's one loan with a silent second, or whatever kind of second that has attached.

Roland Daniels 5:00
Right, and a lot of clients, maybe they've reached out to other realtors, and then they're recommended by that realtor to go with their lender, but their lender may not be able to do the down payment assistance programs with the state of Nevada, and sometimes that can be confusing,

Heidi Griffith 5:19
and even not with the state of Nevada. I mean, there's lenders out there who don't do down payment help, you know, they don't offer it, and that's, that's fine. You know, everybody has a different business model they do. So you want to make sure you understand your options. But it isn't, you know, you go here, and then you go there. It's, everything gets done with one lender. Some lenders do down payment assistance. Some don't. Some have more programs than others. I know that we've got, you know, and it may actually be a little bit more than 18, because we actually have a few new ones that just came on board that are national programs,

Roland Daniels 5:51
don't we? Actually, I'm pretty sure we probably have more down payment assistance programs than just about

Heidi Griffith 5:58
anybody else. Yeah, we offer a lot. We sure do. But

Roland Daniels 6:00
if you have any questions or would like to register, you can give us a call or text us. That number is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 you can also find the link on our Facebook page, mortgage mortgage matters. Radio, that

Heidi Griffith 6:22
is correct, something that we did fail to mention about this class, snacks, lunch, yes, mostly snacks, because I love snacks. You do. They're on us. Yes, we feed you, we fill your belly, we feel your brain, especially if you're looking at the possibility of becoming a homeowner. So last week, we actually went over some information about how sometimes the advice to never touch your low rate mortgage, right? Because there are still quite a few people with low, you know, those two and a half, three and a half mortgages that we saw in that covid timeframe.

Roland Daniels 6:55
And I just saw some numbers, I think, like more than 70% still have the lower rate mortgages.

Heidi Griffith 7:02
Yeah. And so, you know, in in conversations people are hearing, you know, you don't want to touch that. In In theory, it makes sense, but in some instances, it might actually cost you more based on where we are in the world. And we talked about this last week, but right now, the average credit card interest rate, so we're talking average across the country is 22% I know as a fact that many people are paying closer to 30. You know, we're seeing, we're seeing people with, you know, 2728 29 percenters. And when you add in your car loan, your personal loan, and all of that kind of stuff, it can really be a lot, right?

Roland Daniels 7:40
And don't forget, student loans. Student loans are a big one, because they are no longer doing the income driven repayment plans. So they're, they're hitting you with the full amount so they can increase, say, 150 bucks to, like, 400 to $500

Heidi Griffith 7:56
a month, a month, a month. Yeah, because it's really, it's not unusual for us to see 1500 to $2,500 $2,500 a month going to high interest

Roland Daniels 8:04
debt. Is it? It is not. And this is where running the numbers matter. The client that we talked about last week currently has a 3.25% interest rate, and she pays about $745 a month for her car payment,

Heidi Griffith 8:18
which is not unusual either, that we said that average 750 is the average

Roland Daniels 8:22
the minimum payments on all of her credit cards is about $385 she also has a personal loan for some repairs that she wanted to do, and that payment is about 400 bucks plus. She has student loans and a few medical bills, her total monthly payment, not counting the mortgage, is over $2,000 a month, right? She decided that a cash out refinance would work best for her, for her goals and what she wants to accomplish. So her new payment is going up about $500 a month her mortgage payment, it is right, but here's where it makes sense for her, all of her other debts will be completely paid off. Her new monthly payments are going to drop. That's her total monthly expenses by $1,500 and she's going to go from six payments to just one payment a month.

Heidi Griffith 9:22
So she's losing the car payment. She's going to pay the car off by doing a cash out refinance. She's paying off her medical collection. She's doing all of

Roland Daniels 9:29
that stuff, right? She is, because at the end of the day, it's all about cash flow, yeah,

Heidi Griffith 9:34
and the relief that she's already feeling, really, it's not just about the money, right? It's that, that whole mental space that we're in when we owe money, there's fewer due dates, so there's fewer things to remember.

Roland Daniels 9:45
We feel overwhelmed by the debt, especially when we get those monthly statements in every month.

Heidi Griffith 9:52
And she was, I mean, that was the conversation that we had, and she was afraid to step away from that. You know that that rate that she had, but. At the end of the day, it's got to make dollars and cents, doesn't it? It does, yeah, and that's why we say that the interest rate on your mortgage isn't really the whole story, right? It's not. It's the effective rate that you're paying across all of your debt, though, is really what matters, definitely. And you know, here's something that caught my attention. So a recent UNLV study found more than half of job seekers right here in Nevada, they want to switch to a completely different industry. And of course, that sounds exciting, it does, but it also means that income changes in, you know, could leave you in a different position. Maybe there's going to be gaps in employment because you are switching careers, whether you know, you're going to get some education for that or whatnot. But lots of things can happen.

Roland Daniels 10:42
It can and that's where equity can be a lifeline if your paycheck changes, having access to your home's equity, whether through a refinance such as a HELOC or a he loan, can help you bridge the gap without turning to those high interest credit cards and personal loans.

Heidi Griffith 11:03
Yeah, exactly right. It's not about pulling equity from your home just to blow it. It's not about just, you know, pulling money out to buy toys, right? It's about protecting yourself and your home during transitions, so you're not backed into a corner if something changes in your life.

Roland Daniels 11:18
And a HELOC or a home equity loan can work the same way if you want to keep that current low mortgage rate. We've seen people use them to clear that high interest balances and interest rates and tackle big ticket projects without adding new revolving debt.

Heidi Griffith 11:38
Yeah, so in the situation we were talking about with the gal that we're working with right now to reduce some of her debt, we kind of sat down, we went over all of the numbers, didn't we? We gave her options on a cash out refinance, where you refinance, pull the equity out, or a portion of the equity out, and you're getting a brand new loan, right? And in this case, it was a higher interest rate. It was a higher it was, it was definitely a higher interest rate. We also gave her the option for a HELOC, a home equity line of credit, which would keep that original rate, and then she would have a second, right, yep. And then we could do the he loan, which is very similar.

Roland Daniels 12:21
It's a just a second mortgage, and it is a fixed mortgage. It doesn't behave like a HELOC, which is like a revolving credit, almost

Heidi Griffith 12:30
like a credit card, right? But when we sat down and went over her entire scenario, we put you know, numbers on paper and gave her all of the options, it actually made more sense for her specific situation to do the cash out refinance, where with someone else, it may make more sense to do a HELOC or he loan,

Roland Daniels 12:47
right? So if you have equity in your home, and maybe you start to feel the squeeze from other payments rising cost everywhere, or just want a safety net, it is worth finding out if restructuring your mortgage could work for you. It's not about creating more debt, it's about using what you have to create more breathing room. If you have any questions or would like more information, you can give us a call. Reach out to us. Our number is 702-210-2057 once again, that's 702-210-2057

Heidi Griffith 13:31
Yeah. So Roland, let's talk about this really quick. This is something that you and I keep a really close eye on. We do both from an investment standpoint, but also to a business, a financial and just knowing what's going on on our community standpoint, we both have been seeing a lot of headlines lately about big companies, in a lot of instances, even fortune 500 companies, moving their corporate base, or even their major operations right here to Nevada, right and you know, These aren't small startups. We're seeing Dropbox here, TripAdvisor and find it, fidelity, national financial, they're all coming here. And then there's even major players in the finance and tech space. We've got Anderson, Horowitz and Bill Ackman, Pershing Square capital that have made the move as well. So for a state that's been working to diversify its economy, but beyond tourism.

Roland Daniels 14:22
And don't forget, I just heard that crocs was moving another distribution center here as well, and they are expecting to hire more than 100 people as well.

Heidi Griffith 14:33
Well, that's good. I like to see job creation in our city, right?

Roland Daniels 14:37
Absolutely. So when large companies set up shop or incorporate here, it means more job opportunities, more local spending and more demand for housing over time that can strengthen certain neighborhoods, spark new development and boost property values, especially in areas to these new um. Business hubs. But we also want to be real about the flip side. Growth like this can sometimes put extra pressure on our housing affordability, especially if wages for new arrivals are higher than the local average. It can also strain roads, schools and other infrastructure, if the pace of the growth outpaces planning,

Heidi Griffith 15:24
isn't that the truth? It is. Yeah, I think that's why it's worth to pay attention if you're a current homeowner. So if you're living one near one of these growth areas, you know, what does that mean to your home's value? Maybe it's gonna rise. But maybe it might also be the smart time to start thinking about how to position yourself for the best return down the road, because most of us, although we get 30 year mortgages, most of us don't live in our homes for 30 years. Do we

Roland Daniels 15:48
know the average is

Heidi Griffith 15:50
about eight to 10 years? Yeah. And I think it's actually less than that before we

Roland Daniels 15:53
like a refinance or keeping that same low

Heidi Griffith 15:56
Yeah, absolutely. And if you're not sure what's happening in your neighborhood, we can certainly connect you with a local real estate expert who can walk you through what's selling, what's sitting and what buyers are looking for right now. And for buyers, it really is about being aware how these corporate moves can change demand in certain areas. Sometimes that means getting in early before prices climb. Other times, it means being patient and waiting for the right fit. But either way, knowing where these growth patterns are headed can help you make smarter

Roland Daniels 16:24
moves. If you want to know whether your neighborhood or the area that you're looking to buy in could be impacted by these relocations, you can give us a call or send us a text. That number is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057. We can help you map out the possible opportunities and the things to watch out so you're not caught off guard.

Heidi Griffith 16:53
Yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about this, real this. This is one that I really want to talk about. There's a lot of different opinions on this, but we're currently seeing more homes on the market right now than we have in quite a while, right? There's a lot of inventory right now. There's more inventory right now than there certainly was this time last year, right? You're right. My thoughts on that are, you know, this time last year, going back to those two and a half, three and a half, even, you know, mid four interest rates, people were holding on to them like clutch pearls, right? They didn't want to walk away from them. And as the economy has changed, and we've all seen, you know, things are becoming more expensive, we talked about the higher interest credit cards. We talked about student loans. Now you know that income driven, or those deferments and all of the stuff that has helped us in the past month to month we're a grocery store, we're seeing

Roland Daniels 17:55
everything is all time high. Yeah, so

Heidi Griffith 17:59
there are people who now have to make a financial decision. They do so we are seeing more homes on the market, according to a recent Zillow analysis, right? We're still short on homes, and this isn't just Zillow saying it. We do know this as a fact. We do the city. We're short about 32,000 housing units. And I know that seems a little odd as we drive around town and we see new construction popping up on every corner. We did add over 36,000 homes between 19 and 2023 but that hasn't really come close to keeping pace with the number of families that continue to move here from out of state, right? So even though inventory is up, the need for housing is still huge.

Roland Daniels 18:48
It is huge right here in the valley, yeah, and you know, that's why we've been closely watching the national conversation about opening up land for housing, especially federal land, right? Yeah, we are. And on paper, it sounds like a perfect solution, especially here in Nevada, where about 80% of the state is federally owned. But in our opinion, it might not be the quick fix people want it to be. Yeah,

Heidi Griffith 19:16
absolutely. So we're a big state. We are we're not very populated, so a lot of that is federally owned land, right

Roland Daniels 19:22
from the Bureau of Land Management, right, right? But

Heidi Griffith 19:26
a lot of the land, even when we talk about the Las Vegas Valley, a lot of that land is nowhere near the jobs, near the schools, near grocery stores, even transit that people might rely on every day, right? And if we've got to spend millions of dollars extending roads, adding water lines, adding sewer, adding emergency services, which needs to happen before we build house, before you even break ground on the first home, those costs, they get passed back to the consumer, right? They do so they get passed to the buyer. They get passed to the renter. And by. The time it's all done with those homes actually being you know, are they going to be as affordable as the headlines say they're going to be?

Roland Daniels 20:09
We will have to wait and see. Yep, and that's just one of the reasons why we're both big believers in infield development building in areas where the infrastructure services and jobs already exist, and we've already seen examples of this work we have right so take for an example, Symphony park right here in downtown Las Vegas, 61 acres of a former railroad land. It was transformed into a mixed culture business and housing, or the Water Street district in Henderson, where the watermark project is adding over 150 apartments and 30,000 square feet of commercial space right into an existing community.

Heidi Griffith 20:58
Yeah. I mean, I think it really is a smart idea, it is. We, we still have the land available. A lot of it is privately owned, right? But if you look outside of our state, Phoenix, really, they've got a project called Encanto at Belle Park, I believe, and that's being, you know, they're going to be building single family homes right in the middle of an established neighborhood. So there's a neighborhood that's already there. There was land available. They're building homes that are going to be priced to fit the surrounding area. They're going to be starting the 400,000 I know that sounds high, but that's that's below the median. It is below the average sales price, and that could be the kind of smart growth that makes sense, because you're using what's already there, instead of stretching the city further out,

Roland Daniels 21:47
right with all the utilities. Well,

Heidi Griffith 21:49
not only that. I mean, we're a sprawling city as it is. It just kind of makes it makes sense, it makes dollars and sense. And my goal would be to watch the city really address the affordability issue, right, right? And here's the thing, because when we say affordable, we're not just talking about how much the house costs are we We're not no because whether you're buying, whether you're renting, affordability is the total monthly picture, your mortgage, your property taxes, your insurance, your homeowners association dues, if you've got an HOA utilities, and yes, the cost of getting to and from work every day. Because although gas is coming down a little bit, gas still isn't cheap. That is right, yeah. And if you're renting, same thing, we're seeing rising rents. We are over and over and over again. You've mentioned it many times. We do not have rent control in the state of Nevada, nothing for seniors, nothing that looks like that. So how do we address that affordability? And once you start putting a house on the far edge of federal land, you might have a lower price tag, but if your commute is close to an hour each when your utility bills are higher, is it really affordable? That's

Roland Daniels 22:59
a great question. There's also a huge factor that doesn't always get talked about, who owns the home. Say that again, who owns the home. Thank you. In Las Vegas, large investors and private equity firms have been buying up significant portions of our housing

Heidi Griffith 23:19
stock. That's an understatement.

Roland Daniels 23:22
We've seen single deals where hundreds of single family homes have changed hands between corporate landlords in just one

Heidi Griffith 23:30
day. I think it was like, I think they purchased like, 360 or something like that in one

Roland Daniels 23:36
day, right? And then you have build to rent neighborhoods, entire communities designed as permanent rentals. And they are definitely starting or continuing to expand right here in the Las Vegas Valley.

Heidi Griffith 23:50
They are, and a lot of people like the way they look. They do, you know who, when we're renting, we want to, you know, drive up to a nice driveway with nice landscaping and all. Here's the thing, when a big share of our housing is owned by a handful of corporate entities, it limits options for locals. It limits options for local families, and even if we add more homes, and these companies come in, they buy us up in bulk, right? They hold those properties as corporate rentals. They do. We haven't really solved the supply problem for people who want to buy, and that's why just opening up a little bit more land without addressing ownership concerns and keeping homes in the hands of actual residents, I don't think it gets us to where we need to

Roland Daniels 24:39
be. So for us, we think the smartest path forward is probably a good mix thoughtful use of the right federal land parcels where services can be added, cost effectively, paired with aggressive in field in areas that already have the infrastructure and then policy. That makes sure that those homes are attainable for the people who live and work here, not just for investors chasing the returns.

Heidi Griffith 25:09
I couldn't agree more. I couldn't agree more. I am a firm believer of capitalism. I would believe myself to be a capitalist, but I am certainly not one who would ever earn money based on any other human right. Don't you agree? I agree. Yeah. So before we get out of here, I want to touch base on Silver State Fair Housing really quickly, because we talk about it every week, and I'm going to continue to talk about it. Fair Housing isn't optional. It's the law. It's worth fighting for so important. Yeah, right. Here in Nevada, the Silver State Fair Housing Council has been standing up for fair housing and equal housing rights for decades. They help people understand their rights, file complaints and make voices heard. I want to get this clear, we are all protected under fair housing laws. It doesn't matter your background, it doesn't matter your circumstances or what neighborhoods you live in if something felt off and didn't sit right when you were looking for housing, you deserve to know your rights, and you deserve to be heard. Silver State has a tester program, and it's vital for making sure we all have an equal shot at housing. Volunteers are trained, and yes, they actually receive a small spike stipend for their time. But more than that, they help shine a light on discrimination that might others. Why stay hidden? They really do. Yeah, they're they're trained to pose as renters or home buyers, and they document their experience when they interact with landlords leasing agents or even sellers or sellers agents. And each tester has a similar profile, but with one key difference, like they've got two people with the same profile, maybe they're a different race, maybe they have a different family status, or maybe one has a disability. One doesn't so investigators can actually sit down and compare whether everyone is being treated equally and fairly. I just want to stress the goal isn't to catch people right. It's about to make sure the housing process is fair and legal for every single person, and sadly, even today, in 2025 that's not always the case, right? So unfortunately, absolutely so if you believe in fairness and want to be part of protecting equal access to housing. So if you'd like to learn more, www,

Roland Daniels 27:20
s, s, s, f, h, c.org, or you can call their toll free number. That number is 1-888-585-8634

Roland Daniels 27:35
one more time that's 1-888-585-8634

Roland Daniels 27:42
so four, because access to fair housing is access to opportunity, and everyone deserves it, whether you're trying to manage rising debt, wondering if tapping into your equity makes sense, or maybe you just want to explore your options, we are here to help. You can give us a call or send us a text. That number is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 thanks for tuning in this morning. We'll be back next Sunday at 7:30am right here on K, U, n, b, 91.5, until then, believe in what's possible, even if you've been told it's out of reach. And remember, stay true to yourself and your mind. Bye. You.

Music 28:34
You.

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