Headwinds And Unsustainable Trends

• October 23, 2023
• realestate
• Podcast

The interest rates have gone up. That’s one of the biggest things we see in the market today. In this episode, Michael Harris talks about your situation during the headwinds and unsustainable trends in today’s market. Looking at the market’s headwinds, Michael sees that utilizing the principles of money advances your agenda faster. He also shares the floor with Marisha Charbonnet to share more about the items on your real estate plan. So, join Michael Harris as we sail with the headwinds and unsustainable trends today.

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Listen to the podcast here

Headwinds And Unsustainable Trends

Welcome. We’re here to talk about your real estate life. I’m happy to be here. We’re talking about lending, debt, and saving money. Interest rates have gone up. You haven’t noticed. I did have a client email me and say, “It has been a year. Can I lower my interest rate?” No. Rates are up. We went from lows of 2.6% and 2.5%, and now we’re approaching 8%. We’re still closing loans in the lower 7%. We’re still able to get that done. I mentioned it before. We are offering still $400 for every $100,000 on $1 million and $4,000 on a Fannie, Freddie, or a jumbo loan. We’re able to offer you those credits going back toward your closing costs. We’re going to be doing a lender credit.

If you would like to find out more about that or anything about lending, low down payment, loans, or AMI or Area Median Income loans, we are here to talk about your particular situation, whether you’re going forward or in reverse or whether you’re looking for an FHA or VA loan or you’re looking for USDA, we are here to answer those questions and provide solutions.

Construction and commercial, we’re there for you as well at (888) 543-3980. We’re here to turn up your frequency by churning down your interest volume. When you have an amortized loan, you pay a lot of interest in the beginning years. Have you noticed? Have you grabbed your mortgage statement lately? Maybe you’ve not grabbed it. Maybe you’re looking at it online but if you look at the percentage of interest that you’re paying on that overall payment, it’s not 3%, 4%, 5%, or 7%. It’s neighboring to 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80% going toward interest.

We want to make sure we’re tackling that money earlier to project you further down the course of the process to eliminate principal. When you bought a home, your goal wasn’t to pay for the home twice. In most cases, that’s what you’re doing, and then some. We want you to buy the home and pay a reasonable sum of interest for borrowing money but do it in a process that makes sense for both parties, not just one. You don’t need to be on the bank’s plan. You could be on a debt elimination plan and then a create wealth plan as well. Find out more about this at (888) 543-3980. It’s a simple phone call but it’s going to save you thousands of dollars.

We have a webinar. You can go this way, Webinar@AHeadForMoney.com. I’m going to give you a link to join us. If that’s not convenient, still email me at Webinar@AHeadForMoney.com and then we can set a time that’s right for you. I have multiple appointments that I will have going into the day and the afternoon. That’s when people are available. I’m available for you. Let’s get on my calendar and get those meetings set up. I like to have you on my calendar so I can explore where you are with your debt and structure, finding out what we can do to eliminate debt and create an earlier debt-free date.

If you’re looking to purchase or refinance, I can help as well. I want to talk to you before you take a step that damages credit. I want to talk to you about your equity position in your property. I want to talk to you about possibly doing a blended rate or a consolidation loan that will save you money. We need to take one step before we take the second step and go forward. Let’s start.

Your lender loves you, and you do not need that love in your life. You need to make it stop. If you’re renting, I can help you as well. We can create a debt-free date much sooner and create the ability for you to be able to purchase. You are now making a mortgage payment. It’s just not your own. It’s your landlord’s. We will have a lot more. We’re going to have a lot of treats but not tricks for you and your real estate life.

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We’re lending in five states, California, Colorado, Montana, Texas, and the state of Washington, but I can lend in 35 states for DSCR loans or debt-service coverage ratio loans. These are loans for even first-time investors where you’re able to qualify based on the rent and the income coming in for the property to offset the new debt. If you want more information, give us a call at (888) 543-3980. We have seen home loan rates touch near-century highs. We have seen the 10-year Treasury go up as well. We have seen it go up to 5.924%, slightly touching 5%.

There are a lot of headwinds that we’re looking at. We got the Fed back in 2020 to stabilize the US bond markets. The Federal Reserve began a process called quantitative easing. This involved the Federal Reserve purchasing treasuries and mortgage-backed securities and adding them to the assets on their balance sheet. The process helps stabilize the bond market during the pandemic. It lowered rates below 3%. We were very happy for different reasons but now, to fight inflation and slow demand, the Federal Reserve is doing the opposite in a process called quantitative tightening or balance sheet reduction.

This is where the Fed allows mature treasuries and refinance mortgage bonds to roll off their balance sheet. This process has put upward pressure on long-term rates. We have seen that 30-year fixed rate hitting close to 8% from 3%. In the absence of the Federal Reserve stopping or slowing the quantitative tightening process, we should expect this trend for higher rates to continue.

I don’t see that quite occurring and going on and on. We’re nearing the end of a process or a process that’s going to say, “Stop.” That’s one headwind. The other one is debt. The US has amassed a record $33 trillion in debt with no signs of deficit spending coming to an end. This means our government will have to issue more treasuries to collect more money needed to run the country.

Every couple of weeks, the treasury sells these bonds. However, the appetite is weak. The treasury department has to pay more of a yield to attract buyers. Part of that headwind is we have China and Japan, as our sellers. They’re usually the biggest buyers but they’re worried about their inflation. They’re trying to prop up their currency. They’re selling. We’re the buyers with higher yields.

We are looking at various items. When you plug one hole, you have another hole that sprouts and comes out. We need to see what we can do to try to make that better. We got short sellers. They’re betting on higher rates. Eventually, those short sellers will be in trouble, and they have to cover their bet, and that’s going to cause it to come back down. Some still feel we can see a 5% or even a 4% handle within the year based on these results and items that may occur in the economy. Do we have a soft landing going into the election year? Do we not? Do we? I don’t know. All I know is there is business to be had.

I was looking at some statistics. We had 395,000 sales. Twenty-nine percent of these were cash, 280,000 were financed, and 110,000 were refinanced. That’s 390,000 transactions other than cash sales. Of those on the refinance side, we saw many doing consolidation, 20% to 30% credit cards, and other loans that are in double digits. By utilizing the mortgage even though it’s heavier loaded interest upfront, it gives you payment relief and additional discretionary for us to utilize our perfect financial GPS to reduce your obligations faster. It’s a two-step process.

I want to talk to you about creating additional monthly discretionary money to allow yourself to get out of debt and have an earlier debt-free date sooner. People say, “I’m not going to give up my 3% rate.” I’m going to show you that rate does not matter when you have the right blueprint and tracking for results and solutions here. It can happen. I took my 26-plus-year loan down to 7.9 years. We have individuals doing that with 3%, 4%, 5%, 6%, and 7% interest rates. We’re utilizing credit cards, checking, and savings. Sometimes we’re using equity lines. Sometimes they’re not available for them.

We’re taking people who have lower than 500 credit scores and reducing their debt and obligation much sooner. This is not some fancy way of getting your score lowered. It’s not forgiveness. It’s utilizing the principles of money to advance your agenda faster. Let’s find out how at (888) 543-3980. If you sent it to Webinar@AHeadForMoney.com, I’m looking for you to join us. I would like to join you earlier on my calendar and have a one-on-one meeting. I like to understand where you are, where your goals are, what you’re looking to accomplish, and what you’re looking to change or do better.

We’re going to assess, go over, and understand with no commitment. We’re then going to regroup and come back, and I want to talk to you about your monthly obligations and your annual, semi-annual, quarterly, and monthly items. I want to know your ins and outs. What’s left over at the end of every single month? What is your discretionary money left over?

I want to show you how they can be utilized with a perfect financial GPS program to lower your debt-free date and relieve the stress that you may have. You may have a credit issue. You may not. We’re utilizing this for many individuals who have great discretionary but they can even do better. They can also create additional wealth. They have the ability to create extra by possibly acquiring more properties to create additional rental income. We’re doing that for many. I want to talk to you about your real estate life and your finances and create a better path.

A simple interest rate is different from amortized interest. We want to talk about reducing your interest volume. We want to make a difference in your obligations. You signed on for certain obligations. You need to pay those but you didn’t necessarily sign on for the duration, the length of that interest, and the setup of how that interest should be paid. You could do something about it. I want to show you what you can do to save your hard-earned money.

What’s going on also is we got student loans. You had your student loan payment. Some of you are looking at loans that are based on income-related. Some of you have payments now that are still higher than you want but they’re even going to go higher in 2024. We have some people who have had refinanced their debt on the student loans. The problem is now, they’re not eligible for certain other relief that perhaps could have been there.

You need to understand what you can and what you should be doing when it comes to those student loans and the affordability factor of what you should be doing going forward. I can help guide you a little bit in that process. I’m a mortgage guy. I’m not a student loan guy but we look at student loans throughout our process and what we can do to help people qualify to relieve and eliminate that debt.

I can send you some information for you to review and make some decisions that are best for you and your finances going forward. I can’t change the past but we can tackle the present and make a better future. I want you to stop fighting that wind. I want you to change the direction of your sail. Let’s make a decision that you have had enough.

I was looking at the calendar. There’s nothing coming out. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing going on. There’s a lot going on overseas and various other items. We have the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index for twenty cities for August. We also have the S&P US Services PMI number. We also have manufacturing for PMI. We have new home sales coming out. We have GDP, initial jobless claims, and durable goods orders minus transportation. We have the US trade balance for goods, advanced retail sales inventories, wholesale inventories, and pending home sales.

We have personal income, personal spending, the core PCE, year-over-year, and then consumer sentiment. We have a lot of things coming out statistically, and we will keep an eye on those but we saw the ten-year note at 4.924%. We saw the 5 years at 4.88% and the 2 years at 5.08%. Short-term rates are still higher than long-term interest rates when it comes to those securities. The 30-year is at 5.09%.

Normally, what we’re seeing is we’re taking these yields and adding about 2.5% to 3% to them when we’re getting where mortgage rates are. We’re closing loans still at about 7.25% and 7.5% but the average is about 7.75% to 8%. Your numbers will vary depending on what you have, what you’re doing, where your setup is for down payment and credit score, and what you’re looking to do.

We can walk you through that. We have individuals calling us regarding ITIN loans. We have reverse mortgages that are going on. We have debt consolidation loans. We have low down payment loans. We have lender credit that we’re doing toward closing costs. We’re finding that sellers are willing to do lender credit or credit to the buyer for their closing costs or even buy down their interest rate for a year or two years at a time. We could talk about that with your realtor and you and structure your transaction so you have affordability at (888) 543-3980.

Another unique loan that we’re talking about now doesn’t sound unique on the surface but I’ll go into it here. It’s an equity line, a second mortgage. Where does that come in on a purchase? There are a lot of individuals who are selling and have an assumable or FHA loan, or even a VA loan. It can be assumed. It’s a much lower interest rate but sometimes there’s a gap between what they owe and what the value of the property is for the sale. You may have to go in and get a second mortgage.

An equity line is a line of credit. It’s simple interest. You pay interest. You can always pay a portion toward the principal if you choose to. That truly is the better loan to have. Plus, with a lower assumable first, it may make a lot of sense. That might be the question you have to ask when you look for property. You want to find out the financing that the seller has in place because that might be your ticket to affordability. As a lender, I can help you with that equity line or a second position loan but it’s preserving or getting you more qualified on that more affordable first. That’s our ticket.

As interest rates perhaps come back a little bit in the 6% or even the 5% in the future, we can look at consolidating if it makes sense. Talk to me at (888) 543-3980. I’m Michael Harris, President and CEO of United Mortgage Corporation of America. I’ve been doing this now for 37 years in the mortgage industry. I’ve seen a lot of things occur in the ups and the downs. When I got started in the business in the ‘80s, I was told I missed the refinance boom. I got started when rates were 13%. I missed from 18% to 13%.

I’ve seen very high interest rates but we are slightly in a different arena now. We’re talking about home values that are maintaining even up 3%. We are seeing the market hold. We have high demand. There might be external forces that push us to different decisions that we can’t control but we are looking at people hanging on and staying in their properties and low inventory. We have still a high demand for people wanting to qualify but we have a give-and-take.

I want to help you get the best decision if today is the day you’re moving forward, whether it’s investor loans with DSCR and moving forward that way, whether it’s low down payment loans and showing affordability, or whether it’s getting a lender credit or even a seller credit, those sellers who are listing and not seeing as much activity to your property. Before you lower your sales price, talk about taking those funds, doing that, offering a buyer loan credit, and buying down the interest rate for a year or even two at a time to allow them to afford the monthly payment to allow your home to be more marketable.

We could talk more about that. If you are listing your property, and you want to talk to me about some advice about that to take back to your representation, that’s fine. Call (888) 543-3980. Some of you who are looking to get in a position to be a better buyer in the future and are looking at credit tips to get started have to pay the bills on time, whether it’s the minimum payments or whatnot.

Let’s get the bills paid on time. You want to take advantage of monitoring some of your credit reports. Some of your credit card lenders will send out a consumer credit score that at least tells you an idea of what range you’re in but you can go to AnnualCreditReport.com and get your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. You can do that and make sure there are no errors, identity theft issues, or anything else.

You want to maintain a low credit utilization as well, and just because you have a $5,000 limit doesn’t mean you go up to $5,000. Think in your mind that it’s $3,000. Try to work within the parameters to not max out that position, especially if you’re trying to preserve that credit score. You want to show that you’re a responsible credit user by making payments on time, monitoring your report, and then lowering utilization. You want to diversify your credit mix as well and have multiple different things, whether it’s credit cards, installment loans, or mortgages. Multiple directions help the diversity and the score relationship.

Maybe you don’t have a mortgage yet. That’s fine but maybe have these cards and utilize them in the correct position. If you have 5 credit cards, I would rather have $1,000 on each than $5,000 on 1 and $0 on the other 4. You want to utilize it correctly. We can talk more about that under our financial GPS program and also ways to set up a better financial future.

We don’t want you closing accounts. Naturally, if it’s an installment loan, and the installment loan finishes, it’s closing but if you have a credit card and you pay it down to $0, I don’t want you closing cards because it eliminates your utilization of ability of borrowing. It shows that you have less, which means what you owe is more of a percentage of what you have. I want to make sure you’re careful about that. Don’t pay it off, “I closed it.” Don’t close it. Don’t do that. Let’s talk about that as well.

There are a lot of things that we can do when it comes to your credit and making sure you’re in a better position to go forward. Give us a call at (888) 543-3980. We have been very busy with virtual appointments on the computer meeting and talking to individuals about where they are in their real estate lives. It has to do with people going forward and looking to buy or people looking to move up, move down, or even out of state.

We have been helping individuals with turning their current property into a rental. We have been referring people to realtors in the local market. We don’t list or sell. We refer. We will do that with you as well. We want to make sure you have what you need to make better decisions. In our next segment, we’re going to have Marisha Charbonnet joining us. She’s going to be talking to us more about items when it comes to your estate plan. She has terrific segments.

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Welcome to our program. If you just joined us, you missed some stuff. What we have been talking about is saving money. You’re going, “How are we saving money? Interest rates are high. You have mortgage rates that are close to 8%. What are you talking about, saving money? I’m at 2%, 3%, 4%, or 5%. What are you doing?” Many individuals have credit card debt. They have minimum payments but they have interest rates that are now not 14% or 20% but 24% and even up to 30% in some cases. We have a lot of people who are getting heavily weighted toward that higher amount.

The blended rate on perhaps refinancing is better but it’s not stopping there. We’re talking about utilizing a perfect financial GPS. Instead of taking a 30-year loan, I’m going to take it down to a single digit. We have been doing that for many of our audiences. We’re saving them $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, and $400,000 in interest. The more stuff you have, the more I’ll save. Test me on it. Let’s see what we can do at (888) 543-3980. As promised, we have Marisha Charbonnet joining us. Marisha, what do you have for us?

Mike, thank you for having me on the show. I want to warn audiences about a deceptively cheap and easy tactic to avoid probate that can turn into a very expensive mistake. I’m talking about the old add-a-kid-to-the-deed trick. It is not uncommon for a parent, particularly after their spouse has died, to name a child as a joint tenant in the parent’s home. The logic is that when the parent dies, the house will pass 100% to the child as the surviving joint tenant and bypass probate. While it’s true that the house will avoid probate and pass straight to the kid, assuming the kid survives the parent, this seemingly simple fix can come with some unanticipated consequences.

For one thing, when you add a child as a joint tenant, you are giving the child an equal ownership interest in your house. If you later have a falling out with your kid or change your mind, you can’t unring the bell and take your child off the deed. The only way to get back full ownership is to either buy back your child’s interest or hope that they will gift it back to you. The latter can result in your child having to report the gift to the IRS and can have tax consequences for your child.

Additionally, adding a child to a deed could trigger property tax reassessment. For many parents who enjoy low property taxes because of Prop 13, adding a kid to the title could be a disaster if it results in the home getting reassessed and a substantial increase in property taxes. Parents should be aware that adding a child to the deed results in a loss of control by the parent. Any action that you want to take in the future regarding your home, whether it’s refinancing or selling the property, will require your child’s participation since they are now a co-owner of the property.

In my mind, one of the most dangerous side effects of naming a child as a joint tenant is that it exposes the parent to the child’s creditors. For example, what if your child got sued, and there was a judgment against your child? Your child’s creditors could seek to collect that judgment by forcing the sale of your home to access your child’s interest in the property.

Similarly, if your child was married and got divorced, the home could potentially be considered an asset that is subject to division in the divorce, and you might end up owning it with your now ex-son or daughter-in-law. Even if you’re not worried about your child refusing to cooperate with you or having issues with creditors or divorce, naming your child as a joint tenant could result in your child having to pay higher capital gains taxes if they later sell the home.

In contrast, if you don’t transfer the property during your lifetime and do so after your death through a will or trust, it can often minimize the capital gains tax that will be paid when the property is sold. Unfortunately, what many people think of as an inexpensive way to avoid probate ends up costing exponentially more than what they would have spent to plan with a trust. If a solution seems too good to be true, odds are it isn’t. Before making changes to a deed, it can be a good idea to consult with your financial professionals and an estate planning attorney. For anyone interested in learning more about estate planning, I can be reached at (805) 496-4681 or FamilySecurityLawGroup.com.

Thank you so much, Marisha, for such wise words. Everyone, call (805) 496-4681 and FamilySecurityLawGroup.com for Marisha Charbonnet. Decisions have consequences, and you need to know what those consequences are before you make those decisions. You have to put it in the right order. We have individuals making decisions all the time. You think you did well until you find out you didn’t. Let’s investigate. Understand and have a vision of the future of what your decisions mean. We have individuals all the time when it comes to buying real estate making decisions on items and valuing different things at different times.

All these things matter, and it’s having financial professionals, legal, and others available on your team to help you think of the things that you are not thinking of. You do what you do best. This is what we do best, and we want to help show you so you can make the wise decision. It’s not, “Should I have done that?” You want to know if you should do that before you do it. Give us a call at (888) 543-3980. I want to give you that future vision when it comes to your finances. I want you to eliminate your debt, be in a better financial position, and do that in the best way possible.

You’re driving in your car. Whether you remember it or whether you remember your parents, you used to have maps in your glove compartment. You used to pull them out when you needed to go somewhere or you went to the local place, picked up some maps at home, spread them out, and figured out your plot and where you were going. That’s what you did in family vacations but when was the last time you used that map? Maybe you’re doing it when hiking, but if you’re going now through your phone or going through other means, you’re not even using MapQuest anymore.

It got you the path, and now you got your personal map but it didn’t tell you what’s going behind the line that’s telling you how to get there. How do you know that when you’re going on a plan, you’re going 50 miles down a two-lane highway, and all of a sudden the bridge is out? You have to go back, make a U-turn, and go 48 miles the other way to go around and take an alternative route because there was no way, you don’t have the forerunner, and you’re not going through the mountains and going through the rugged terrain.

We want to have better vision when we travel. We now have that in many different methods but how about for your finances? Are you still throwing darts and hoping for the best result? Are you making an extra payment on your own and hoping it’s the right dollar to the right penny to the right time to the right date for the right reason? Are you in the game? That’s great but are you playing to win? I want you on top when it comes to those decisions. I want you to have the benefits.

If I stuck six debts in front of you and asked you which one to pay, you say, “I pay the lowest one.” Maybe you do, “I’ll pay the one with the highest interest rate.” Maybe that’s a good decision, better than doing nothing at all, but if there are 720 possible decisions, orders, and items that you could be doing each and every single month, wouldn’t you want to be near the top of those decisions?

How about being on top and making the best decision that’s right for you and your family based on your circumstances that day, that time, and for that reason? I want to give you that. Email me or write down the web address Webinar@AHeadForMoney.com. I want you to join us. If you can’t, we will have a separate meeting for you, or call us at (888) 543-3980. We will have more after the break.

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It’s time to pick up the phone, (888) 543-3980. You ask, “Why?” It’s because we’re here to save you money. I don’t care if you’re looking to finance a home. I don’t care if you’re not looking to refinance. You have a mortgage payment, a car, credit cards, and monthly expenses, “I don’t. I rent.” What are you paying for your rent? What are you paying otherwise? Credit card debt and other financial obligations. If I could tell you that I can save you one-third to one-half the amount of time it would take you to pay off all your debt and I could reduce it by that sum, would you want to know more? I would hope so.

That’s what I’m offering you. This is not a trick. This is a treat for you. I want to show you how I can help save you money. I’ve had clients throughout the United States sending me their well wishes here and giving me emails and testimonials because they are saving money. They’re looking at their monthly results and going, “Why couldn’t I have done this myself?” My response is they could have attempted. You could have had a start but you may not have had as successful of a result.

I live in the money world. This is what I do. I was taking my debts and obligations down to about 12.3 years. That’s pretty good but I can do better because the opportunity took me down to 7.9 years. Those additional four-some-odd years are six figures. Why would I give up six figures? I’m a nice guy but I’m not that nice. That’s my money. If I could save you $50,000, you would be happy. With $20,000, you would still be excited. Let me show you with no obligation the results that can be had so then you can make the decision that’s right for you and your family.

You have a plan. It’s the bank’s plan. You signed up for it. It’s a question if you want to pay the extra $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, or $200,000 extra that you signed up for or if you want to do something about it. I’m banking on you wanting to do something about it. Let’s do that together. Let’s look at a better path. You need to get involved, implement, and get started. There’s not a lot of paperwork involved. It’s not debt ratios and qualifying. It’s utilizing what you have now and embedding a better action into place. It’s an investment in your financial future.

Let’s go forward and see what we can do to create that path. Create more usable money monthly to eliminate your debt and look at a closer debt-free date. It is possible. There are many individuals who have been able to accomplish this. It’s not been shared with you. I’m sharing that now with you. I went over the busy holiday calendar. We’ve got a lot of stuff going on still and S&P Case-Shiller. We have US PMI, and S&P Manufacturing as well. We have new home sales, GDP, initial jobless claims, and durable goods. There’s a lot of stuff going on.

I look at pending home sales, personal income, spending, core PCE, and consumer sentiment. There’s a lot of stuff that we watch on a daily but we’re keeping an eye on what’s going on overseas. We’re watching what’s going on with tensions across the waters. We’re watching what’s going on with our currency and oil prices, as well as what’s going on in inflationary worries. Otherwise, we have earnings that have been coming out. We have been watching out for what’s foreseeable and how that’s affecting things. We’re looking at commercial real estate.

An item I didn’t drop on was your homeowner’s insurance. Have you looked at that lately? Have you looked at your renewal coming out? My renewal was coming out here, and my policy went up 39%. I consider myself lucky. Many people went up 100% or even not renewed because of some filing they did 23 years ago, and I understand that. I approached my insurer. Let’s say I have a deductible that is close to 1%. I asked, “Is there a possibility of increasing that deductible to 2%, 3%, or 5%?”

Mind you, it’s catastrophic at that point, whether it’s fire, flood, or whatever the case may be but if I raise it to 5% deductible, it made my premium go down 50%. Instead of an over $3,000 premium, I had a $1,500 premium. I know some of you have $5,000 premiums and $15,000 premiums, and those numbers go up from there but on the twelve-month renewal that you’re doing now, talk about that one. Go to 2%, 3%, or 5%, and make the decision that’s right for your family. I’m not recommending a decision. I’m not your insurance agent. You need to talk to your professional about that and understand your risk, your levels of what you want to do, and where that money makes a difference.

That might be the decision that you want to make for affordability but what I’m looking to do for you is I want to have a free consultation to understand the ins and the outs of your expenses, everything from gas, water, electricity, and groceries. I want to know the ins and outs. I want to hear and understand your discretionary or what’s left over. I want to run your numbers and find and show you what we can do to show you a better path and a better debt-free date, eliminating interest that you’re paying and utilizing your checking and savings, open-end credit, and possibly other vehicles that could be utilized as well but it’s not required. I want to see and show you how I can lower your obligations and increase and improve your debt-free date by as much as a third or half. That’s all I’m asking. This is for your benefit.

Appointments are filling up. That’s why we have a webinar to collect many. Email me at Webinar@AHeadForMoney.com. With that email, if you cannot make it that night, let me know the best time for you, and we can talk and gain the best calendar for you only. If you want to go to that webinar, say, “Give me access.” I’m then going to email you back the access codes but I’m also going to send you a few different links that I want you to review prior to getting you more familiar. If you want to get familiar, that’s great. Email me at the same place. I will send you that information. Once you review it, I want to know what you think, and then you let me know if it’s the best time to talk with you. Go over your particulars and find out what it means for you.

We have had individuals who rent fifteen years’ worth of debt. They have taken it down to 3.2 years. We have had individuals who had plans where they were up at 28 years before they were debt-free. I got them down to 8 years, with some 12 and some 13. It depends upon what your discretion is. We had individuals who had only $50 of discretionary monies monthly, and it made a huge difference and knocked years off their date. We have individuals who are paid every two weeks. You get one extra paycheck a year because of that based on 52 weeks or whatever it is and all that. Based on that additional discretionary that comes in, whether it’s monthly or under that, it allowed that plan to work. They weren’t negative on their discretionary or monthly overage every single month.

We will talk, understand, and create a path. I’ve had some that needed a lot more help than others. With that, we will stay on course, talk more often, stay disciplined, and make sure we hit that bottom so we can move up to the top again. We have individuals who need a little bit more focus and mindset, and we will look at that also. I’m taking that opportunity to help individuals who are in need. We have various items that I can do perhaps additionally to assist being from the money side of the business. I want to make sure your financial path is a secure and good one. Give us a call at (888) 543-3980.

We have talked about lending. We have talked about interest rates going above 7% and approaching 8%. We have seen some creativity with lower down payments. We have had some breaks going on where we have had some lender-paid closing costs but also now some seller-paid closing costs and buying down of the interest rates. We’re looking at slower economic growth. It may be needed still to cool off some of this inflation. We’re going to watch those numbers carefully.

We’re looking at housing. That’s still looking very strong. US home prices were up 2.2% compared to 2022, selling at a median price of $412,000 or $508,000. The Fed fund’s rate is at 5.5% up from 0%. In the next Fed meeting, we’re going to have whether a trick or treat there. I do not feel that we will have a Fed move. We’re still looking at holding steady. We’re holding steady for longer. We’re not necessarily going up additionally. We will see how that goes. That’s where the markets are building that in.

We saw the 30-year average come out. That was at 7.49%. We will probably see one a little bit higher based on what happened. We’re going to see what goes on going forward. The bottom line is the need for housing will always remain steady. For those on the hunt, there’s always a place to call home, whether it’s a condominium townhome or single-family. You have to be confident about your employment. If you have your employment in place, and your income is there, you have the necessary down payment for the program you’re looking for, whether it’s 0% down, 1% down, 3% down, or whatever it is. It’s always a decent time to pop in.

The old cliche is to marry the home, date the rate, and divorce the debt. The idea is if you get the home and we get the rate, and the rates you move down eventually, we’re able to get in a better position. If rates go up, you did well. You got a lower rate but the idea is to utilize some of the monies that are out there from the sellers and the lenders who are able to subsidize your rate a little lower for a time. As we get into the election cycle, we will see if we get back in the 6%. Equilibrium is 5.5% but we will see how fast we can get to that position.

We will see what goes on in the economy that dictates that but that’s my take on it. We will see what happens as we look at these inflationary numbers. We look at how confident people are in spending but some of the lending side has been doing some other items. We’re going to see a program that’s going to come out where it’s going to allow 1 to 4-unit properties. The key there are 2, 3, and 4-unit properties where you could put down as little as 5% down.

It’s 75% on 3 to 4 units. They’re looking at 95% for a principal residence. What that means is you move into one unit, rent out the other three, and have great income but we’re looking at these items and seeing how that’s going to change things with 5% down for units. If you have not spoken to your realtor, you need to be now on the lookout for buying units that will subsidize your monthly obligations and perhaps have your monthly payment covered. That can be as little as 5% down. If you want more information about that program, give me a call at (888) 543-3980.

There are a lot of items that are out there. Most people are putting their heads in the sand and crawling up in a fetal position. They want no part of it but if you can do something different from what everyone else is doing so you’re not getting in line and not knowing what the line is for, you’re getting out of line, finding out, and going to make decisions that are right for you and your family.

I want to be that resource for you. If I don’t have the answer, I’m going to get it for you or let you know who has it and give you their information. As we add Marisha Charbonnet to the program talking about the ills of adding someone to the title and the potential ills that could occur as a result, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of a transaction. You want to know what could and potentially will happen by making certain decisions that maybe you had the wrong information. The people who perhaps should have been informing you say, “I’m sorry.” That doesn’t help you.

I want to make sure you have the best information. We understand what it is you’re looking to achieve, and we will give you those pathways to success. Call us at (888) 543-3980. I’ve been talking to some individuals about their credit and some of the items that have been occurring about pulling credit and the effects of that but also, it’s about identity theft and making sure you monitor your credit.

We talked about that earlier in the program. I do have potentially a limited offer that I’m looking to do, and I’m trying to see if it makes sense to do that. The potential is for you to pull your scores without hurting your credit and be able to have some ID theft protection and some other monitoring. I want to know your thoughts about that. I can provide some service to that, and I’m trying to decide if it’s something that we should be doing through our program. Give me a call at (888) 543-3980.

It’s allowing you to make sure everything is going okay in this day and time. You don’t know until it’s too late. I want to understand what you want to do and what you would look to do to protect your financial future but I do want to talk with you. I want to show you how to be debt-free much sooner by not changing your lifestyle, not putting you on pork and beans and not giving up things that you do, just doing them better.

Call (888) 543-3980. Go to YourRealEstateLife.com or United4Loans.com. United Mortgage Corporation of America is approved in five states, California, Colorado, Montana, Texas, and the state of Washington. In 35 other states, we can do DSCR loans. We go forward. We go in reverse. We do construction and commercial. We can do many. I want to talk to you. Until next time, what kind of loan do you have?

Important Links

• Webinar@AHeadForMoney.com
• AnnualCreditReport.com
• FamilySecurityLawGroup.com
• United4Loans.com