Mortgage Matters

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

Roland Daniels 0:43
Good morning, Las Vegas. Welcome to mortgage matters. I'm Roland Daniels, a certified mortgage advisor with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 355859, company. NMLS number is 42056, and as always, I'm joined by my partner, Heidi Griffith, good morning. Heidi,

Heidi Griffith 1:04
good morning. I am. Heidi Griffith, I am also a mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, so we've got a great show lined up today. Let's, you know, let's talk about really quickly. Before we get started, I want to kind of go back and talk about our upcoming classes. So we've got two coming up. So the first one is going to be on Monday, October 14. We're hosting an online class that day from six to 7:30pm and that's called all you need to know about down payment assistance. It's actually perfect for anyone that's curious about how Down Payment Assistance works. And we cover the 16 programs we offer, how they work, and Roland, we bust Miss, don't we? We sure

Roland Daniels 1:50
do, whether it's regarding credit or down payment assistance. And most importantly, money is available. It's

Heidi Griffith 1:57
always available, isn't it? It is, it is. Money's always available. You don't have to be a first time homebuyer. You don't have to have perfect credit. And there's programs available,

Roland Daniels 2:05
yes, and this is definitely a class that you'll want to attend, especially if you're saving up for a down payment and it's holding you back from your dream of homeownership,

Heidi Griffith 2:16
that's right. And then we have a class on Friday, October 18, so the end of that week, we've got an in person class, and that's going to be with the Nevada housing division. That's from 11 to noon, and we bring in lunch, so there's lunch included. So why not come out and have lunch with us? A representative from the Nevada housing division actually will go over all of the awesome down payment assistance programs they have. Roland will cover the mortgage process, and there's actually also going to be a real estate professional there to talk about the good stuff. What happens when you're pre approved? You get in the car and you go find a home. When you attend this class, you get your home buyer certificate, and that qualifies you for all of the Nevada housing down payment assistance programs. And I'm going to give you a bonus tip. This showed today, you can actually use that certificate for something else. That's pretty amazing. So let's get started.

Roland Daniels 3:07
So if you want more information or want to register for these upcoming classes, all you need to do is text or give us a call, and that number is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057, so let's do this, and we're excited to have Kevin Hickey from Nevada Rural Housing with us in the studio today. Good morning Kevin. Good

Kevin Hickey 3:33
morning Roland, thank you for having me. Morning. Good Morning Heidi.

Roland Daniels 3:36
So Kevin manages the Nevada Rural Housing Homeownership Program and helps rural Nevadans achieve their dream of homeownership. We've seen firsthand how their programs make a huge difference for our buyers.

Heidi Griffith 3:49
We have, we have, and before we get started, I actually want to take a quick second to read Kevin's bio directly from the Nevada Rural Housing website, because it really is pretty awesome. You really do first of all, you have a good story. Whoever put this together is pretty funny. The bio reads, it's a bird, it's a plane. It's Kevin plucked from the sky because he retired from the airline industry after 25 years in the business, and pulled into rural Nevada housing. Kevin joined the home ownerships program crew to provide lender real estate and home buyer support. Kevin is a people person, first, who thrives on connection and relationships, which made him a perfect fit for this role. He has since expanded his responsibilities and now manages Nevada Rural housing's home ownership programs, helping the team dream up the next big thing that will help rural Nevadans realize their dream of becoming homeowners. Kevin earned his master's degree. Are you ready for this right here at UNLV last year in crisis and emergency management, and he's also this is really the most interesting thing to me, Kevin. He's a fifth generation Nevadan that's pretty unheard of, born and raised right here. Excuse me, born and raised in Gardnerville. Nevada with his feet on the ground. Home is just one of his favorite places to take his shoes off, kick back and truly relax with the people he cherishes the most. I love this. Thank you. Five Five generations. Fifth

Kevin Hickey 5:13
generation, yep, wow. So

Heidi Griffith 5:15
Roland and I are both natives, and that's uncommon, right? Five generations, that's like the 1800s right?

Roland Daniels 5:21
We're working on our second generation, third generation,

Heidi Griffith 5:24
and people are amazed just the fact that we were born here. Wow, that's pretty awesome. I love it. So we're excited to hear more. Let's just start with the basics. Why don't you tell our listeners what Nevada Rural Housing is and what programs you offer?

Kevin Hickey 5:38
Sure, so Nevada Rural Housing is one of the state's three housing authorities, and we handle different areas of eligibility depending on the program, because we are Nevada Rural Housing, but I know we'll get into it later, but there are things places here in Vegas considered rural so yeah, so that's where we have that little, that little window in here. But Nevada Rural Housing, in addition to the home ownership programs, they also build and maintain multi family housing for those who may be low to moderate income, veterans and seniors. We have a property in Northern Nevada and Carson City specifically for homeless vets. So we have that whole aspect there of community development, which is fantastic. We just opened a new property in Mesquite with 96 units. We're building a new unit and new property in poach, oh, you know, up in Lincoln County. So that'll open early next year. In addition to that, we operate the section eight, or housing choice voucher program in the 15 rural counties of Nevada. And then we also provide weatherization services throughout Nevada, different counties, but even locally here, the city of North Las Vegas and northern Clark County. So what does that look like? So our energy auditors will go into your home and determine what needs to be replaced to help lower your energy bills. So it could be simple as replacing fixtures and light bulbs, or it can be as major as replacing windows or heating air conditioning appliances. Wow.

Heidi Griffith 7:11
So so that that's a first for me. Actually, I was not aware of that. What do folks have to do if that's something that you know might work for them,

Kevin Hickey 7:21
right? So they would want to reach out to our weatherization team. And they can do that by going to our website at nvrule, r, u, r, a, l, dot, O, R, G, and under Programs, they'll find the weatherization tab.

Roland Daniels 7:33
That's wonderful. That really is a great program. And is this available to residents of Clark County?

Kevin Hickey 7:38
Available to residents of North Las Vegas and northern Clark County. Okay, so HELP of Southern Nevada is the ones that manage it in the southern part of the county. Okay, that's information, yeah,

Roland Daniels 7:50
that is awesome.

Heidi Griffith 7:51
Absolutely no. Let's start. Let's talk about the stuff that matters the most in our end of things, right? Let's talk about down payment assistance. Perfect. Yeah, yeah. So you've got some great programs. Let me just start. I mean, you've got one that's a workhorse, right? That's been around for a long time. And we'll talk about that. Yeah, let's, let's talk about this. So the last time you and Roland were on the radio together, Launchpad 1.0 had just made its way in. You were just getting ready to release it. What was that was that May, May, 23 so that was May, where, you know, we're just in the beginning of October, a lot of that money is gone, right, correct.

Kevin Hickey 8:28
So it had $25 million in Mortgage Funding, and it's down to a little more than 7 million, yeah,

Heidi Griffith 8:35
in the moment when you were on the radio with him, and that was just taking off. And this really is, we had been told by several people in the community that were in the housing space that this program, Launchpad 1.0 is potentially one of the best programs in the entire nation. Yeah,

Kevin Hickey 8:54
we're super proud. Can

Heidi Griffith 8:55
we talk about that one

Kevin Hickey 8:56
first absolutely, that is definitely the best thing going right now. So as you know, Launchpad provides that 4% down payment assistance. And so what does that mean, right? We're talking loan amount. So for an example, if it's a $350,000 loan, 4% of that would be provided in down payment assistance. And one of the best things about that is that it comes with what's called a five year silent second. That means, as long as you live in the home for five years, at that for that assistance is forgiven at the end of that five years, that that is the

Heidi Griffith 9:29
most awesome. I mean, we'll know that's actually there's some better things that come along with and

Roland Daniels 9:33
what have I lived in the property for three years? What happens? So if

Kevin Hickey 9:37
you sold or refinanced in less than five years, you would repay the down payment assistance the entire amount, or, okay, it's not prorated, so

Heidi Griffith 9:48
you want to stay in your house for five years. This is somebody who has roots, right,

Kevin Hickey 9:51
exactly, and then you know, and just knowing if, if, if you do repay the down payment assistance, it goes back into the program so that we continue to help us. Families down the road. And so we're hopeful that, you know, if you're in that situation where you potentially have to move, you know, hopefully there's equity in the home, and it gets that, that down payment assistance would get paid out of the proceeds of the sale, right? Or, let's just say, rates dropped big time, and you refinanced, it would be rolled into the new loan amount. So, you know, depending on your circumstance, you might have to write a check for it, but it's highly unlikely, right?

Heidi Griffith 10:27
And that's that's not uncommon in the DPA space, with with that silent second that Roland and I talk about all the time. But this one is special, because if you stay in your home five years, and a lot of people we have the intentions of doing that when we purchase but if you plan to be in your home five years, I mean this one, this is amazing, so you've got the five year forgiven, right? Yep. What else

Kevin Hickey 10:49
does this? Yeah. So not only do you get that 4% assistance, and we call it down payment assistance, but it can also be used to our closing costs, which is super helpful too, but it comes with a 6.17% interest rate, which is awesome and

Heidi Griffith 11:05
crazy. Yeah. No, it really is. Yeah.

Kevin Hickey 11:08
When we look at our other when we look at other programs that provide 4% assistance that aren't funded, the same way, this one is, it's, it's a point, point and a half higher. Easy, easy. So you know, with with that 4% assistance in the 6.17 interest rate, it's phenomenal. And then on top of that, you get the access to the affordable credit. So, right? You're not going to have an increase in the interest rate if your credit is lower, or if you're purchasing a manufactured home, you two know, that is, you know, loan level pricing, right? And it just doesn't exist in these programs, because it's a fixed rate, right? 6.17 is what it is.

Heidi Griffith 11:45
It's that's killer. I mean, really, if you're listening to this, and you thought about utilizing down payment assistance, and you're able to look, and we'll talk in a few minutes about location and that whole rural thing. I know that I mentioned it last week, and we visualize rural as you know, farmland and cowboy on a horse riding off into the sunset. That's not necessarily the case, right? It's not,

Kevin Hickey 12:07
no, it's smack in the middle of Las Vegas, because

Roland Daniels 12:11
a lot of times we'll bring up is actually in Summerlin south, which is

Kevin Hickey 12:15
south, yep. And so our definition of rule is set by the state legislature. Okay, and that is any any area with a population below 150,000 is considered rural, and that population area is determined by tax district, so not census tracts or zip codes, which would be a lot easier tax districts. So, so any tax district with the population below 150 is eligible. So here in Las Vegas, that means Summerland, south as Roland mentioned. It also includes Whitney, which is out, you know, on the east side right, and then Winchester, which is smack in the middle of the valley. Absolutely, it's kind of crazy that you can be in the middle of Las Vegas and still be considered rural,

Heidi Griffith 13:01
that's pretty awesome. I think that that's one of those things that kind of gets overlooked by a lot of people. So don't bypass this. If you're looking in those areas. This could be potentially, you know, a real game changer. Yeah,

Kevin Hickey 13:13
and we see activity in those areas, so we know that folks are finding it, finding their way to it, which is great, so they can take advantage of of our programs. And then, of course, anything outside of the Vegas valley would be eligible. So Boulder City, Param Mesquite, Laughlin, anything like that is so just the the city limits, you know, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, and then some of the bigger townships, like enterprise, Paradise, Sunrise Manor, Spring Valley, those are not eligible because they're too large, because they're too large. Some of them have been eligible in the past, like enterprise, but they over the last census, they went over 150 so they had to get dropped, which was sadness for all of us. But the area is growing. It

Roland Daniels 13:59
is so there's a possibility that Summerland south will also lose that ability as well as it grows, right,

Kevin Hickey 14:06
potentially, depending on how big the area is. So like the city of sparks, for example, up in Northern Nevada, right? They're confident they'll never go over the income cap or the population cap, because of the way the city lines are drawn. So we'll see, right? But so depending on how large that area is, but we don't have to worry about until 2030 when the next census comes. Oh, okay, that's awesome. Okay, didn't know that. Yeah, so enterprise barely, barely held on in 2010 had a population of 135 there at the time, and now I think it's close to 300 but so we got that benefit back then, and we benefit from the 10 year census. So we have six more years, six more years, and then we'll have to revisit what's available. But for now, it's good,

Heidi Griffith 14:53
very good. And so on. And so with this program, going back to launch pad, with this program, there's a. Limited amount of funds. On this one right, right, there

Kevin Hickey 15:01
is a limited amount of funds. Like said, the bond launched with a $25 million funding available. We're down to about 7 million. And so when that goes when it's fully allocated, we say, then the program will close, we hope temporarily, because we hope to have a another issue down the road, which will make more funding available. We don't have a timeline on that or when that would become available, so we can't say for sure. For certain, we hope it'll happen. It's our intention to to continue it down the road. But for now, we've got a little over 7 million to use, right?

Heidi Griffith 15:39
And that's what Roland and I talk about this a lot with people, because there are a lot of misconceptions, especially when it's surrounding down payment assistance, that there's always programs available. Some programs, the funds run out, and that program either ends or it's on hold until there's funds available again. So keep that in mind. This doesn't mean not you know, this doesn't mean just because, let's say funds do run out, that they're not going to come back, but we want to make sure, because this is such an awesome program that people get in, the funds have gone quickly. This is one of those that Roland watches it like a hawk. He's like, can you believe this? There's only 7000 or seven, you know, million dollars left. Yeah, crazy.

Roland Daniels 16:19
And earlier, you mentioned the income limits. What are the income limits for the launch pad? So

Kevin Hickey 16:23
it depends on household size in the county that you're purchasing in. I wish I knew off the top of my head, I want to say, for a household of one to two in Clark County, it's around 92,000 okay? And then if you're three or more, it goes up higher than that. It is on our website so that that information is readily available all of our homeownership so our website, nvrule.org, you can access everything about Nevada rule, but if you want to just dial in right on the homeownership programs, it's by rule. Nv.org

Heidi Griffith 16:56
Okay, perfect. So b, u, y, r, u, r, a, l, N, V, yep. Okay.org.org. Sounds good. Okay. So tell us, what else you got.

Kevin Hickey 17:07
So the other program we have is called Home at last, that's the one that's been around since 2006 we've helped nearly 11,000 Nevada families with that program in that time with over $60 million in down payment assistance and over $2 billion in mortgages. So it's been a very helpful, successful program since its inception, and that's one of those programs. Heidi, going back to your point about some programs have limited funding. Some don't. This one does not. It's what's called a self funded program, so Home At Last will always be available, and that provides a lot more flexibility than something like Launchpad. One important thing we didn't mention there is that Launchpad is a first time homebuyer program, which means you haven't owned in the last three years. So I laugh that you know rule isn't necessarily rule, and first time homebuyer doesn't mean you've never owned a home right in the last three and on a deed. So So Launchpad has that restriction, but Home At Last does not. You can be a repeat homebuyer. You can actually own another property and still purchase within the program.

Heidi Griffith 18:16
Does that property? Can that property be in Nevada, or just have to be in another state? It can be anywhere,

Kevin Hickey 18:20
okay, so in or out of the state, the only rule there is that the property you purchase using the program must be your primary residence sick within 60 days

Roland Daniels 18:30
of closing, okay. And you mentioned you can use the program over and over. Yep, Home At Last.

Kevin Hickey 18:34
There's no restriction. You can continue to use it multiple times. It has a generous income limit of $165,000 yeah. So lots of flexibility there. And, and then it allows for all the loan types, so government, FHA, VA, USDA, and then conventional to Fannie and Freddie. So a lot of flexibility with those options. And, and then the same affordable credit like Launchpad, you know, minimum 640 credit score, generous debt to income ratios manufactured homes are allowed. So super flexible program with Home at last, it also provides anywhere from an unassisted option, so no assistance. Let's just say you have some money saved, but you might need access to that affordable credit based on your credit score or the type of property you're purchasing. The unassisted options there. It's also great for refi, if anybody is looking at

Roland Daniels 19:31
that. So with your program, you can actually do refinances. You can, yeah,

Kevin Hickey 19:36
so the home at last program, you know, the rates dipped early this week. It was exciting. We thought they'd stay they they popped back up, right? But the lowest rate we had was 5.75 on the unassisted Wow, yeah. So if you think about, you know, someone with a with a lower credit score, purchasing manufactured homes, getting a 575, rate. Crazy. What? Happen, no without a program like this, so, but it also offers flexibility in the amount of assistance you can get, anywhere from one to 4% so you get just what you need and nothing more. And the interest rate in that program is variable. It's market based, and changes every day. And the more assistance you get, the higher the interest rate is. So that's how it's self funded, because that assistance is what we call baked into the interest rate,

Heidi Griffith 20:27
right, right? And so when you sell your home, when you refinance your home, or if you pay off your home, you live in your home for 30 years, that money then comes back to Nevada, rural,

Kevin Hickey 20:37
right? So if, let's just say you were there the full 30 years, it would be forgiven, okay, but if you sold a refi before then, you would repay the full down payment assistance. And it's truly the Pay It Forward model there, because that that money goes back into the program to help us to continue to offer those funds down the road, and something that came up with when interest rates started to go high because this program is market based. We were starting to run out of options for down payment assistance. We just couldn't price it in in an affordable way where it made sense and where it made sense. So we started subsidizing the down payment assistance by 50% oh so Nevada Rural Housing has put money into it. So anybody who gets a home at last loan now with assistance, 50% of that is provided directly by Nevada Rural Housing. So this kind of pay it forward model that we talk about where you'll repay that down payment assistance down the road goes that funding goes back into the pot so that we can continue to offer that to home buyers down the road,

Heidi Griffith 21:38
absolutely. And I think that that's a great way to work it. I mean, I think that right. You know, that helps everyone, and everyone deserves to be a homeowner if they work hard, right, right? And if that fund is available, we do want to make sure that other folks have the same opportunities exactly.

Roland Daniels 21:54
I have a question, yes, so I own a property and I use Nevada Rural Housing for down payment assistance and say I got 2% right? Okay, yep, I sold my home, and I want to buy another home, and I'm in one of the areas that qualify. Can I use down payment or get the down payment assistance a second time?

Kevin Hickey 22:12
You can do that's crazy, yeah, because I know you two know there are restrictions in other programs that allow you to use it one time, unheard of, and and home at last, is not, it's not like that. Actually, this

Roland Daniels 22:24
is the only program,

Kevin Hickey 22:27
only one, yeah. So yeah, there we we want it to be flexible. We know, you know, circumstances change, and we want folks to be able to to purchase a home. And we want to help them, if we can. I like saying yes. I don't like saying clearly,

Heidi Griffith 22:42
clearly, you're doing a great job. Thank

Kevin Hickey 22:45
you. I always say yes is easier than explaining No, right?

Now, of course, we all know there are specific rules, or it's a highly regulated business. You know, you two know that more than I do. So there are no's. But where we can we say yes, and

Heidi Griffith 23:02
what we try to do is we try to never say no. Sometimes we just say, not

Roland Daniels 23:07
right now, not right now, exactly. That's like, maybe next month, six months from now, or may never know right and like,

Heidi Griffith 23:13
we talk about this a lot on the show. We talk about credit and credit requirements with down payment assistance, because the programs that we feel work best for most people that set them up to be a successful homeowner are programs like Nevada rurals, where there is a silent second and they're not paying 2% higher on a second that they're still going to you know. So when we do that and we set people up, we talk about that 640 credit score, because there are obviously down payment assistance programs that will go a lot less than 640 I will tell you, though, if you have a 606 10, 620, or 630 do not let that discourage you, because Roland and I have both helped folks get into homes by raising their credit scores, you know, in anywhere from 30 days to several years, depending on where your credit score is at and what your credit profile looks like. So don't get discouraged if you're like, oh, that sounds great, but I don't have a 640 you know, I'm at a 620 let's work on it and get you there. Because these programs. I mean, really, you know, we could say they're really amazing. They're really amazing. Yeah,

Roland Daniels 24:24
they're awesome.

Kevin Hickey 24:26
I'm glad you brought that up, too, because I when I talk to home buyers who have questions about the credit part of it, you know, I encourage them all the time to reach out to a loan officer, because I say that, you know, they they are uniquely familiar with how to give advice on on lowering your debt and increasing your credit score. And you mentioned there 30 days to could be a few years, but it can happen a lot quicker than I think folks realize. Oh, absolutely. So even when you're even when you think you're not ready, you should still talk. To a loan officer if you're interested, because you may be more ready than you know absolutely.

Heidi Griffith 25:04
And a lot of times, we create scenarios in our head, and we actually have an AI program that we can plug in all of the numbers the entire credit scenario, and it will tell us what we need to do to get to a specific credit score in a specific amount of time, whether that's 3060, 90, 120 days. So we've got that capability, and if we we can't work with that. Let's say we've got a few blips that we do need work on. We actually work with a nonprofit that will sit down go over your entire credit report with you free of charge. The only thing that they would charge for is a soft credit report, and that's your report that they need to pay for. And they'll get you where you need to be and give you the guidance that you need. So there are, there are tools available to utilize programs like this. It is not ever, no, if it's not today, yeah, they'll get you there, yeah, yeah. Okay, so we've got. So we've got the two programs. What else we got?

Kevin Hickey 26:02
There's another one there that can help with that credit too, that you talk about. Because one of the components, you know, with with the loan process, is determining a buyer's borrower's debt to income ratio, right? So how much? How much debt to you, how much money to have coming in? So we have a program called the mortgage credit certificate, which is a federal tax program that allows folks to claim 20% of their interest they pay every year as $1 for dollar tax credit. So the example we give on our website again using a $350,000 ish loan amount with, I think it's a six and a half or seven and a half interest rate. I can't remember which one it was, but that would net you about $4,500 in tax savings that first year, and that goes for the life of the loan. So let's just say you had it for that whole 30 years. You're going to benefit from that tax credit the entire 30 years. Wow. The upside on the front end is that you, too, as the loan officers can take that estimated tax savings of $4,500 divided by 12, and that increases your borrowers monthly qualifying income by that much, which ultimately lowers their debt to income ratio. So it may it may make a loan that's not viable viable, or it may allow a borrower to purchase more home or in a different area, it opens up a lot of flexibility.

Heidi Griffith 27:25
So tell me on that, on that mortgage credit, can you use that if you're not utilizing down payment assistance? Yes,

Kevin Hickey 27:33
it can be paired with even your own in house loans. Incredible.

Roland Daniels 27:36
Wow. So you can use it with Home at last, and by itself and

Kevin Hickey 27:41
by itself, correct? It has to be at closing. It has to be done by the time the loan closes for the home. It can't be done for refi, and it's, it's a first time homebuyer program to okay, just like Launchpad, and that's an important note there, because they're funded through the same mechanism, which is tax exempt bonds, they cannot be paired. So the MCC can be paired with Home at last, but cannot be paired with Launchpad. Okay, that's

Heidi Griffith 28:08
great to know. Yeah, that's great to know. Very good man. What's what great information this has been? We're running out of time, but I really want to thank you again for joining us, Kevin, you've given us so much information, all about Nevada, rural housing and all the programs. We really appreciate it. And for everybody listening, if you've got more questions or you want to see if these programs are a good fit for you, don't hesitate to reach out. You can call or text us. We're at 702-210-2057, again, that number is 7022101. 702-210-2057, and Kevin, why don't you give us that website again so that folks can take a look there? Sure. So

Kevin Hickey 28:49
envy rule.org or by rule, envy.org

Heidi Griffith 28:53
Okay, perfect. Thank you again, Kevin, thank you both. Thank

Roland Daniels 28:57
you for coming on. Appreciate

Kevin Hickey 28:58
you having me Absolutely.

Heidi Griffith 28:59
Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll be back next Sunday at 7:30am right here on kunv 91.5 for more mortgage matters. Have a great Sunday. See

Roland Daniels 29:10
you next week. Bye, bye.