Real Estate Explained

Navigating Loans, Lending Options, & First-Time Buyer Tips with Marcus Fields

• Nick Bush

Share episode

Send us a text

In this episode of Real Estate Explained, host Nick Bush sits with Marcus Fields, seasoned mortgage broker and founder of Fields Mortgage Group, to break down the money side of buying real estate.

From understanding the difference between mortgage brokers and lenders to navigating credit scores, interest rates, and refinance options, this conversation is packed with real talk and expert advice. Marcus shares his personal journey into the mortgage industry, explains how brokers can customize loans to fit buyers' unique needs, and clears up common myths about the loan approval process.

Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, a move-up buyer, or a real estate professional looking to better serve your clients, this episode delivers insight on:

🏡 Mortgage broker vs. lender: What’s the real difference?
🏡 When to refinance vs. when to use a HELOC
🏡 How interest rates affect buying power in today’s market
🏡 Credit score tips and what lenders really look for
🏡 The truth about pre-approvals and underwriting
🏡 Predictions for the 2025 real estate market
🏡 Why financing is the foundation of any successful home purchase

If you’ve ever asked, “Can I afford to buy right now?” or “How do I choose the best loan option?” — this episode is your roadmap. Tune in to get clear, confident, and mortgage-ready.

Podcast Intro 

Follow us

Leave a review 

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Real Estate Explained, the podcast that gives you a backstage pass to the ever-evolving world of real estate. I'm your host, nick Bush, a realtor with over a decade of experience helping clients buy, sell and invest with confidence. Whether you're a first-time home buyer, a seasoned investor or just curious about the market, this show is for you. Each week, we'll dive into trending topics, break down the latest real estate news and bring you expert interviews with the pros so you're prepared for every step of the journey, ready to turn your real estate goals into reality.

Speaker 2:

Keep watching, evolving into the man that I am today is, uh, when, about 17 years old, like the the excitement of getting ready to be a man, having a vision of what a man looks like, but yet still not having the responsibilities of a man yeah, so you could kind of almost flip-flop because you got to be working. I don't know about you, but for me I was like I wanted to work and my mom was like, and my dad was like if you want a car, you got to work. You want to play ball, you better figure out how to play ball. You want this car, you better work, pay your car payment, pay your insurance. You want a ball. We'll support you with that. But like he they were, they were ushering me into manhood.

Speaker 2:

But yet some of the most fun times were like when I didn't have to take on the responsibilities of a seven, of a 17 year old thinking and operating like a man, but I could just go play.

Speaker 2:

At that time it was it might have been playstation, but it's probably like second genesis, something like that but play video games, play basketball, be gone, you know, pretty much all day long and not have the responsibilities. But those are where some of my tightest relationships are formed, yeah, like with those guys that because in those situations you're learning how to navigate through adversity. You're learning how to get your heart broken, recover from you know you try to. You know you have a girlfriend or whatever, trying to have some money, not trying to look like you broke, trying to have the right shoes and style all the things. And yet some of your boys they going through the same thing, right yeah, and y'all laughing at each other, picking at each other. It's just some of the most fun times of my life, like when I was about that age. And again it always reminds me of some of my tightest relationships from that time of life and even now when I connect with you, connect with Dan, any other guys, if we can't laugh and pick at each other, you got it.

Speaker 1:

yeah, I just can't roll with you. Also, you know that person's kind of a square, oh yeah, oh you a square, bro, low key like Dan was grilling.

Speaker 2:

The other day he recorded and I wanted, I wanted to jump. So bad I was like you know, john I didn't say that and I was like boy. You, you try to test, you, you want to challenge me on the wings and you and you video that I was like man I'm gonna do it to you all right we in the pod man, I got my man, uh, I got my man.

Speaker 1:

Marcus fields in here.

Speaker 2:

What's up, man?

Speaker 1:

So today I'm trying to get a little format to the podcast. This is the first day.

Speaker 2:

I'm the guinea pig for the new format. You know I'm a professional bro, I get it done.

Speaker 1:

So today we're just going to talk about your mortgage broker versus a mortgage lender, and we want to talk about that because obviously, uh, the financing part of buying real estate is the most important part, because say that part again.

Speaker 2:

Look, the money is the most the money is the most important part.

Speaker 1:

If you do not get a loan to buy your house, you cannot buy unless you have hundreds of thousands of dollars cash. So, um, marcus is here to talk about that. Um, and we're going to talk about you. You know the role of of still hold. Let me start over, brian. We're starting over. Don't get any of this, all right. All of that, just cut it out, all right. So today we got Marcus Fields in the episode we're going to. We're going to talk about understanding the role of mortgage brokers in a real estate transaction. I said mortgage brokers and not mortgage lender for a reason, because mortgages are brokers a little bit different. So you're going to break down the nuance of that, because the reality is is without the money, you cannot buy your house, right? So the financing aspect is the most important aspect of the real estate transaction, and I can be biased and say realtors are the most important, but I know that we can't make any moves without you. So, um, welcome to the pod bro thanks for coming down.

Speaker 1:

I know you're coming down from uh falkier county. Say it, yes, man 540 man 540. Yeah, every time I uh, you know I'm down in fredericksburg now, so every time I see somebody with a 540, I'm like man, they've been in the country for a long time, bro, and I have a 703 cell phone number, but oh yeah, and my wife has 202.

Speaker 2:

202. Yeah, but I mean, but it's glad, I'm glad to be here, man, really excited to see what you're doing now. I'm proud of you and watching the journey man, and I got some questions for you about the journey, so I'm really excited to have this conversation, cool man.

Speaker 1:

So tell us about your journey into the mortgage industry. What made you get into mortgage lending and being like I want to help people get these home loans?

Speaker 2:

Man I flunked out of college in 96., 96., 96, bro. Damn you, that old bro.

Speaker 1:

I was six in 96. Bronson wasn't even born in 96.

Speaker 2:

I'll be 48 in 96. Bronson wasn't even born in 96. I'll be 48 in October. Okay, okay, that's not that bad. Yeah, when you were joining on the gray hair, I was like man y'all stressing me out.

Speaker 1:

But I mean 50 years on this way 1996. Shouts to the seniors.

Speaker 2:

I'm not a boomer bro, but yeah, flunked out of college in 96. I started working at Navy Federal. I was working in the warehouse and then I set my mind to getting out the warehouse and I got a job in mortgage collections. I was there for a couple of years and then I had opportunity to go help build XM Series Radio, and that was 2001. And then they wanted to move that office back into DC and I was living in Manassas. I already bought a condo and whatnot, but I was like I'm only making like thirty five thousand and I just didn't see how driving to DC every day for 30 grand was making sense. So I was trying to go back to Navy Federal but I was a knucklehead when I left, so I was on like some probation or whatever and they said, no, you can't come back, so I'm, I'd already quit XM. They said, no, you can't come back, so I'm, I'd already quit xm. Navy federal said you can't come back, so I'm unemployed.

Speaker 2:

But there was a friend of mine who used to work with me in navy federal who had uh, she was already processing and she'd become a mortgage processing manager and at that time there was no respa, no, uh, no trid rules it was. It was kind of wild wild west of mortgages, right, and she was like originating loans and making like 30 grand a month. It was just making money hand over fist. And she's like come, come, do this. I was like, ah, what is it? What is a mortgage? Didn't know how to pronounce it Right, didn't know how to spell it. So she's like you can I believe you can do this. She's like I won't let you fail. I never forgot that, right. And I get in there and I start seeing the action around, those people walking around and they had the dogs in the office and some people were like in pajamas and sweat pants. I'm like what, what's going on in here, yeah, and she's like we're giving people money to buy houses or refinance the house.

Speaker 2:

At the head. I was like, well, how do you it? And she's walking me through the process of the application and I'm like that's it. You talk to people on the phone and ask them what their rate is and what they're trying to do, all the things. And she's like that's it. She's like, yeah, you put in the processing and they underwrite it and they make sure that everything is good. Look at your credit. Oh, okay and it just felt like a natural fit to me because, like my personality, I can connect with people. I'm smart, so I can understand. I know the college flunk out part doesn't doesn't really equate to me being smart, but, like I am, I am intelligent. So it just made sense and um, and then the other side of it was that there were some people in that were around me that that didn't believe that I could do it. Yeah, and I'm a self-starter, but don't give me that gas right, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Because if you start doing that then— Then it's a wrap, man, I start getting even more competitive. So you've been in the game really like 20 years, 20-plus years, 22 years, April 15th.

Speaker 1:

Dang bro, that's good man, so Marcus knows what he's talking about. Basically, I like it, thank you. So now you're a mortgage broker versus a mortgage lender. When I met you, you were a lender, though, and that was three years ago, I think. Yeah, so have you been a lender the entire time and then made the pivot?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so funny. So part of that the ending is kind of like the silver lining is that I was able to go back to Navy Federal and work for them in 2011. So I worked for the credit union as a mortgage lender and, no matter how you do it or what the structure is, you're still a mortgage lender. You're still lending money. Yeah, but I was working for the credit union and then I left and got into retail lending and that's what I met you, okay. So, uh, retail lenders, it's like the local lender, yeah, you have and I mean I can throw names out there if you want, but like you got your movement mortgage, your atlantic first home first savings, all of them right.

Speaker 2:

And they have like their pnl model, right. So profit loss, loss model. The branch makes a certain amount of money. They set their margins. But you as a loan officer, you have an agreement, that number one you're only offering your clients what they have in house. But you also have an agreement with that company that says, when I bring a loan in, you're going to pay me X amount of dollars per loan, and that number is usually 1%, somewhere in that 1% range. A lot of loan officers are making lower than that. But they're making that money, that low amount, because they have to pay for the branch expenses, they have to pay for the company expenses, they have to pay for the branch manager, the CFO, the CEO.

Speaker 2:

You really don't know where all the money is going, but there's a ton of money involved in these mortgages. But they can only. The big thing is that they can only offer what's in house and the end consumer, your buyer, ends up paying a higher interest rate on that loan. Why? Because they have to pay for everybody else that's stacked on top of them. So when I'm comparing rates in the market, fha is 6.3 right now. Well, to get that 6.3 to cover the margin. Your buyer might have to pay some points or don't pay the points, but you get a higher rate. For me, I'm coming in the door as a mortgage broker with 6.3 or lower and not even have having to pay any of those points because I don't have the margins. Yeah, it's just, it's me, the consumer, and I'm taking that one application and shopping it around and finding the best mortgage.

Speaker 1:

You know process, mortgage deal, all of that so is the benefit to the consumer that, since your overhead is lower, you actually can get them to better deal rate-wise and cost-wise. 100%, 100%.

Speaker 2:

Most people don't think of the mortgage broker as a really important piece. So people understand let me go find some car insurance. But you're not going to go straight to State Farm. You'll call a local insurance broker and he'll shop you around and find you the best policy. Right, the mortgage is the same thing and it's an even more important product than your car insurance. So why would you not go do that with the mortgage and do it with the car insurance?

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we really have three different avenues, right, and I want you to talk about this. Yeah, for sure. One is what is the difference between the uh? Now what's the difference, or I mean, yeah, what's the difference between a big bank, credit union uh and a mortgage lender, and then compare and then add the mortgage broker to that, yeah, so what's the? What's the difference between big bank slash credit union mortgage lender, mortgage broker, and what's the difference between big bank slash credit union mortgage lender, mortgage broker, and what are the different benefits to the consumer?

Speaker 2:

since you've done all three now. Yep. So your credit union and big banks number one. They care about their logo, they care about their board of directors, maybe even their stock prices, right, their stock prices, right. What they offer is inside this little box, because this is I'm not even gonna use that example but they care about what's in this box that they offer, right, so they can only offer what's in that box. If they can't do it, you know, go find somebody else, go fix your credit, whatever it may be. They also are depository institutions, so you can deposit your checking savings. They offer insurance, they offer financial advisory, things like that, but they are very limited. The next category is and it's good for who it's good for?

Speaker 1:

I find in the jumbo space. Yes, it can be that.

Speaker 2:

They can really be aggressive in the jumbo space, and sometimes better than any other category. Um, your non-depository lending institutions, which we call the retail space, right, your pnl uh companies, your movement mortgage the atlantic coast. These type of companies they're good for what they're good for. They have a little bit bigger box but they also and they can offer what's in that box. But they also can get into, like the state bond programs, like VHDA, what we call the Virginia Housing. You can get into the Maryland Mortgage Program. They have some sort of creative things here and there. They also have a secondary outlet where they can get into what we call the non-QM space. Yeah, and non-QM is, you know, bank statement programs for self-employed borrowers, dscr is that non-qm yeah?

Speaker 2:

but they only probably have 10, maybe 15, 20, those companies that they can go to when it doesn't fit the regular box. Um, and it's. They're good for who, they're good for me. Having done both, I've looked at it to say and again, they also care about their logo, their brand. Right, the broker side says do you know the business? Yeah, can you talk to people? Yeah, can you stay compliant? Yes, can you stay profitable? Yes, do you want to do it for your brand, your logo, fields Mortgage Group, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2:

So create that, make sure that that is sound. Get LLC, make sure you get your EIA and all of that. But then you can partner, you can take that and you can have your buyer give one application, just like he does with the rest, one credit report, just like he does with the rest. One set of documents, just like it does with the rest. One set of documents, just like it does with the rest. And now I can go out and I have access to over 260 wholesale lenders that might have an appetite for this client's loan scenario. And because you're coming straight to me, it's basically a direct-to-consumer model. Yeah, and there's no add-ons to it. I mean I shouldn't say no, there's a very slim margin Because everybody has to get paid, you have to have compliance, you have to have marketing and things like that. It's a very skinny margin, okay, so I pass those savings directly onto your client.

Speaker 1:

I like that. That's the line we need. I pass those savings directly onto your client.

Speaker 2:

He's figured out his rap already you know what I mean, so I figured out his rap already.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean. So all right, rates are obviously. I mean actually. I saw an article where rates have gone down, I think for 12 weeks straight, is that correct? Or four weeks straight?

Speaker 2:

It's four or five.

Speaker 1:

Four or five weeks straight. And so you know we keep seeing the news is applications are up, applications are down. Applications are up, they're back down again, but now rates are sliding right, and so are you seeing applications go up, applications going down. What's happening?

Speaker 2:

in the market right now. It's so funny, man, because especially in the dmv where we are, uh, applications, when the rates were coming down, applications were going up, but with all these government layoffs, you know things, that we just don't know what's happening, people having to go back into the office sometimes. There's been a little bit of a hesitation with our, with our consumers, because they just don't know what's going to happen. And I don't blame them, you know, but there are a lot of applications. I think the number is like 47 to 50% of anybody's pipeline is full of refinances right now because if you've purchased a home in the last two years, three years, your interest rate undoubtedly is 7%. It's somewhere in that range. It might even be pushing 8%.

Speaker 2:

I've got a veteran right now. He had 770 credit scores. He did a cash out refinance but he had to have an interest rate of 7.75. I'm able to get his rate almost at 6% right now. Wow, because of just where the market is. He hasn't done an interest rate of 7.75. I'm able to get his rate almost at 6% right now Wow, because of just where the market is. He hasn't done anything and that's a streamline, right. So your average consumer can save average about a half of a point on their mortgage right now, sometimes more than a point, just depending on their scenario.

Speaker 1:

You know, since you brought up the cash out refi actually that was I connect you with my guy John. That was actually his question. He called me. He said what's the difference between a refinance, a cash out?

Speaker 2:

refinance and a HELOC. So I'm going to let the lender explain that on the pod for the people. I got something to add on about that. So a cash out refinance you're taking your existing loan and you're restructuring the whole thing. So if you had a 3% interest rate, you're doing a brand new application, brand new set of documents. Whatever the market rate is now is the rate that you're going to get. So you're going to lose that 3% rate.

Speaker 2:

But what's the advantage? Well, I have 25% interest on my credit cards, 15% interest on my car payment, so I'm grabbing all that debt and bringing it into this new loan. So the $100,000 loan that I had at 3% might now be a $200,000 loan at 6%, but I'm saving money overall because I'm eliminating those liabilities. If you will, now I'm going to lend it out. It doesn't matter what you're going to do. I'm not going to do it if it doesn't make sense. Right, I'm not just going to put my name on it for know, set you up for the fall. I just want to do it. But I'll educate. When you do a HELOC, you're not touching this hundred thousand dollar loan at three percent. You're now doing a new application for a secondary mortgage. So this three percent hundred thousand at three percent now gets another hundred thousand dollar loan as an equity line, right. And the equity line has flexibility to use it. You can, you know, charge it up and pay it down. Charge it up, pay it down over time. You got about a five-year timeframe which you can use it.

Speaker 2:

Now what does that sound like? It's like a credit card, right. It operates the exact same way. You only make a payment based upon the balance that you incur, not the limit that they've given you. So it's very smart for me. That's how we bought the land we bought have given you. Okay, so it's very smart for me. That's how we bought the land. Yeah, we bought the land, got an equity line right and we made a payment based upon the balance, sold some of the land, paid it off. Now I got 170 000 equity line sitting there with I can. So you know what I'm doing now, right, you know. You know what my eyes are looking at now.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's why you're looking at those flips, there you go. Yeah, okay, that makes sense right.

Speaker 2:

Right, so it's good to use in a responsible way for home improvement. College debt you got some boys that you know you can do debt consolidation. It's a really good tool and you don't touch the 3% interest rate that you have. That you got maybe during the COVID time.

Speaker 1:

But if I have a house, can I just get a HELOC just because Can I just do it, or do I have to still qualify for that amount of?

Speaker 2:

money, there's still a qualification involved in it. You might say I want $100,000. But when we look at your income and your debt, then you may only qualify for $50,000. However, there are equity lines that allow you to pay off and move this debt into this equity line. So there are equity lines that allow you to pay off and move this debt into this equity line. So therefore, you can qualify for more because it's making your overall expenses go down. So you can do this. There's so many ways to do this. That's one of the things about about being a mortgage broker. Now, is it kind of an add on to what your original question was? Is that you're a sneakerhead right? I'm glad to see you don't have Nike socks with new balance on today.

Speaker 1:

Not today. Not today Actually, no, actually.

Speaker 2:

Oh, my God.

Speaker 1:

I do have the Nike and new balances on. That's hilarious. They got to clip that out, bro.

Speaker 2:

So so there's a funny clip on the old podcast.

Speaker 1:

No, you know it's crazy. Yo yo, these New Balance socks are very comfortable, bro. So last time I had the shorts on, those was a little aggressive. No, we got to do that clip because. So Bronson, quick story I uh, I had a pod you know the podcast where I used to shoot. I was wearing shorts, right, and I had these Jordans on, nikes on and I had the New Balance socks. Because I put the New Balance socks on first because I was gonna throw some New Balance sneakers on. So I'm'm just rocking these On the pod. He goes yo, bro, what's up with the Nikes and the New Balance socks? Yeah, and so now I'm doing it again.

Speaker 2:

You know what I mean. Yeah, but that's your brand, though. I mean it's stamped now. But here's the thing, what a coincidence, bro. I was going to say, like, as a sneakerhead, you've probably customized shoes before, maybe your son has done. How detailed you can get, from the shoestrings to the outsole, to the upper, to the midsole, all the things. I can customize your mortgage just like customizing a sneaker. There's so many things that I can do as a mortgage broker that you can't do in the retail space and you certainly can't do in a big bank. That's one of the greatest parts about that, because there's no two borrowers that are alike right. So me being able to have that flexibility, it works every time.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so right now in my database I have a lot of move-up buyers. I don't have as many first-time homebuyers as I used to have. Are you still working with a ton of first-time homebuyers? Sure, yeah. So what is what is the? You know? Rates are up. When I was, you know, buying my first home, I have a 3.6 interest rate. Nice, um, what are. What are you talking to your first time homebuyers about now? How are you getting through that interest rate conversation? How are you preparing them, um, to purchase?

Speaker 2:

Well, number one, I helped them maintain the excitement, yet also acknowledge the nervousness about this monumental step. But keep the excitement high, because people that bought two or three years ago their rates were seven and eight If they didn't have the money for the down payment, then they need assistance, grant money and things like that. So the rate was always going to be higher because the risk is higher, things like that. So the rate was always going to be higher because the risk is higher. Well, now you can get a very strong mortgage loan in that 6% range, right, even if you need assistance or not, or whether you need assistance or not. So I encourage them. Number one don't do anything that you think might help you get prepared right. Don't try to beat us to the punch. Let me tell you what you need to do to get prepared. Don't believe what you see written or spoken by these talking heads, because they will tell you a lot of things. And you haven't asked me. I have the money and the guidelines.

Speaker 1:

So once you go, Almost verbatim what I tell people. Right, people are like yo, I want to buy a house, but I have this debt. I'm going to pay off my credit card balance. Is this I'm going to? I'm going to lower it. I think I'm going to pay my car off. I say hold on. I say well.

Speaker 1:

They say what do you think? I say well, we can have a hypothetical conversation about what you need to pay off and what you need to do and what your income needs to be and what your credit score should be. I said we can have a, or we could just go ask the person that's going to give you the money and they'll tell you exactly what you need to do. Don't guess what you need to do to qualify for your home Connect with the lender, do a pre-approval application, eat the credit pool. It's a hard inquiry. You have to eat the credit pool. It's beneficial to you. They'll be able to see your credit report income, debt to income ratio and they'll tell you hey, this $8,000 balance on the $10,000 limit, you got to get that down because that's going to increase your score. But the $2,000 balance on the $10,000 limit that you think is really harming you is not that crazy People really do need to trust the experts.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and one of the things as lenders we've we've always hesitated to actually say and say the real right and just say what it is shout out to. To damn right. Because I was always asking them like why do realtors, why are you always talking about guidelines, why are you giving the lending suggestions? And he flat out said because y'all don't do it. Yep, I was like, wait a what? So I've been more and more like, standing on my 22 years of experience, like I know what I know right. And so when I say like don't try to outsmart us yeah like as realtors, like stop talking about the rates.

Speaker 1:

You haven't taken the lending test, no, but that's, that's the real deal, bro, because I've asked every single lender and maybe I'm gonna ask you right now. I say you know, real estate agents, we build our businesses in our sphere, right. The first person, the first people we reach out to are friends, family. We're doing social media, talking about the three steps to buying a home or how you, what you need to do to sell or prepare, and I I say we do our business in our sphere, right. But like we said at the beginning of the podcast, if somebody wants to buy a home, the next thing I have to do is connect them with a lender so that we can actually get moving.

Speaker 1:

Lenders or brokers do realtor business, right. They say they become a lender, you become a broker. You call some realtors hey, can I get coffee? And then you're going to sit down at coffee with me and majority of the lenders are going to say I have VHDA and 100% financing and I'll call the agent when we submit an offer and there's no unique value proposition, right, but they don't then go reach out to their sphere to try to get business there. And so why do you think lenders don't build? Why do lenders do real estate agent business and they don't do sphere business. Because if I became a lender tomorrow, I'm not going to reach out to 30 realtors and try to have coffee. I'm going to go hit up my sphere the people that actually need to buy and sell homes, and then I'll be referring business out to realtors. So why do you think that happens? And also, I just want to say I don't want the paradigm shift because it benefits me, right, but you know why?

Speaker 2:

y'all been dropping the ball. You know, one thing I think is because of the training right, that's what I was taught to go and, like, find the realtors and invite them to coffee and talk about your products. That's what 99% of rookie loan officers are told by the managers.

Speaker 1:

So stop doing that right, I used to do home buying seminars. So I used to do home buying seminars all the time. Right, that's, the foundation of my career is built on home buying seminars. And before the seminar would start, I would look at the, I would look at the lender I was doing it with and I was like this is your time to shine, my guy Cause nobody is here to talk to me right now. And they'd be like what are you talking about? And I'm like do you think anybody cares about the home inspection contingency in the room today or the appraisal contingency? No, they're all here to figure out how to get the money.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's such a value Like home buying. You're right, that's why I cut my teeth. Navy Federal had me. I was like one of the ones that if they needed me on tour, doing doing these home by seminars, and they would have them, have them in their branches and then we could invite a realtor or whatever.

Speaker 2:

Um, or I and I could, I invited some, some realtors actually uh, pretty prominent realtors down in woodbridge, you probably know, uh, alan johnson aj yeah, I know johnson, yeah, yeah, so so I have, I mean, I have a picture of him when he actually had hair and, um, you know, had him in the branch with us talking late night at like 6, 30 one time. Yeah, and um so one time.

Speaker 1:

This is probably not something I should share in a podcast, but I will anyway right, I don't know I don't know him. I never before. Yeah, I know he does a ton of business and he's an amazing agent, yeah, and I had never done a deal with him, right. But one day I was writing an offer on a house for some clients that actually they ended up buying a $500,000 house. I just sold that in October for $720,000. And then they bought a $1. Million dollar house in february. So you know so.

Speaker 1:

So these clients right, you know just a little every now and then you gotta do it, and so he had this listing right, and so I called hey, what's the lay of the land? Blah, blah, blah, blah. And so I offer came in. Then another offer came in and he called me back and he gave me the whole. Hey, bro, um, thanks for the offer. You know I want your clients. You know your clients look great. This is kind of what you're competing against. You know, do you want to talk to your clients? See if you want to increase on price or contingencies, I forget whatever it is. And then he gave me the whole. Like you know, we black, we gotta look out for each other. The whole, like you know we black.

Speaker 1:

We got to look out for each other the whole black speech and then he went with the other offer and ever since then I was like man, that's weak sauce bro Listen.

Speaker 2:

it was black at first, but then, when it came down to it, you got to go with the green.

Speaker 1:

You got to go with the numbers. You know what I mean. I was like man, don't give me this speech, bro, but shout, you know. But shout out to him, bro, shout out to him, you know. Yeah, all right. So what do you think you mentioned a little bit about? You know what's going on in the government and how it's affecting NOVA, but what do you think is actually going to happen overall? When you say overall meaning like how is the current administration going to affect the real estate market, the mortgage lending market, you know, is Jerome Powell going to figure it out? State market, the mortgage lending market, you know?

Speaker 2:

is Jerome Powell going to figure it out? I'm going to stick to this same gun. I've been on for a minute. Donald Trump is a businessman. That's the only way he thinks. He thinks about his business. Now, whether you like him or not, whether you like his business accomplishments or not bankruptcies he's filed all the things, the mistakes, deposited whatever. He runs things like a business.

Speaker 2:

And my heart has said and my mind has said that when the rates were in the sevens, pushing eights, we were asking questions what do we think the market will get to when the new administration comes in? And my statement is I think that our conventional loans will sit in the low 6% range to the high 5% range. Our government loans will be in the mid to low 5% range. I think that the inventory you don't have a way of really creating inventory unless you're building houses rapidly. So they got to do something about the supply chains and you can see some of that happening.

Speaker 2:

But interest rate over the last 40 years have averaged about 7 percent. But when rates are in the 6 percent range, builders will build, buyers will buy and sellers will sell Right. So I think we're going to be in that that low six to high five range. Um, I was thinking that we're going to be in that range by the end of the first quarter of this year. I don't know if it's going to happen, probably by the second quarter. We don't have, they're not going to cut the rates any longer, but if the market continues to do what it's doing, then I think we'll get, we'll start to hit that. But maybe by second quarter we'll be in that high 5% to 6% range. And spring is already here. You can see the movement, you can feel the energy, you can feel it building. It's happening.

Speaker 2:

So, I think we'll be fine.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm out in the market right now and it's so specific to where you are in the market because I live in Fredericksburg now, and last year, when we first got out here, we weren't ready to buy and things were sitting on the market. Everything was sitting, yeah, nothing. You know. I was like, oh, the market's going to be sweet out here and we go window shop all the time just to get an idea of, like what we want to buy and where. And now we're seeing multiple offers everywhere. Three, four offers home selling 10, 20 000 over, which I'm very surprised about. And I know I have buyers in mclean and vienna. That's happening there too, yeah, but it's not happening everywhere, no, um, so what? What are you experiencing right now? Are your buyers in multiple offer situations? Are people getting closing costs? Like what's what's happening in the contracts? It's deal by deal man.

Speaker 2:

Um, you know, in in the lower price points, let's say in the 400 000 price point, uh, I am seeing those that might need some help, some down payment assistance, grant money, whatever. But I am seeing competitive offers. There are multiple offers like and people are losing because of you know, they just lose out on the 400 000,000 and somebody paid $425,000. But the comps are there. So it's not like you're seeing this appraisal gap in large amounts and you get into the higher price points. I think the average price point in my area is like $700,000, something in that range. I saw it on a realtor's Out of Farquhar $700,000?.

Speaker 1:

You're living I saw it on a Realtors Out of Falkir 700,000?. You living like that out of Falkir yeah, how much land you got out there, bro.

Speaker 2:

You come on to the neighborhood man. Yeah, I'll let you in.

Speaker 1:

It's supposed to be 350 in Falkir, bro. No, yeah, really yeah. Is that where you live? Again, I, I always forget you graduated from.

Speaker 2:

Faulkner or Liberty.

Speaker 1:

I live in Brookside there you go, gainesville is Faulkner County.

Speaker 2:

No.

Speaker 1:

Gainesville is Prince William, it's right up on the border. Is Faulkner like Western Prince William? Is that how you get to Faulkner County? You go through Western Prince William.

Speaker 2:

Yeah 66.

Speaker 1:

Kettle Run high school. It sounds like the woods, you know. Hey, how many acres do you have left in West Virginia that you own 40. Oh, you have 40 acres. Do you have a mule also? No, and how many acres did you have before? You sold 140. 140.

Speaker 2:

So you sold 100 acres in one parcel, or you sold them in two parcels, two parcels. One parcel was 54, the other one was uh uh 45.

Speaker 1:

Okay, and what are you doing with your 40 acres? What are we doing now? Yeah, we're just right now not doing anything, so have you ever thought about developing your 40 acres, can you?

Speaker 2:

yeah, we, we've thought about it. I mean you could. So it's in grant county west virginia. You can build whatever you want out there. We could do a tiny home community, we could do whatever we want to do. Um, it is off the beaten beaten path. So originally my mind was like I just want to get off the grid and go out and shoot my guns, hunt, ride my four-wheeler and just let my cell phone doesn't even really work too well out there. Yeah, that's how far the beaten path it is. Yeah, that's what I wanted.

Speaker 2:

But slow, slowly, like we started thinking about, okay, well, maybe we can do this and maybe we could do that, and, um, it just became a half a million dollar project, you know. And then the stress of the planning and I was like so then we think, okay, let's just grow, let's just, let's just bale hay on it, make some money off. Yeah, fine, local farmers, we can do that. But then we're thinking about, like the health and wellness, so planting trees, planting elderberry and things like that, so, like you know, basically having crops. But then we have to be out there to to run the farm, if you will. So right now we're just just kind of chilling. And, after the, the events from 2020 of my father passing to building the business, to just life in general. Everything is going so fast and I was like you know what let's just down for right now. So we've taken the proceeds from the sale, we're just sitting on it and we got 40 acres. If something crazy happens in this world, I could be gone.

Speaker 1:

So it's off the beaten path as in, there's no development around. There's a few houses around there, but there's no retail.

Speaker 2:

No, no, no. The only retail is this gas station. That's about five miles from from where our property is. Ok, it's probably further than that.

Speaker 1:

The reason I ask is because I want to be a builder. I want to, you know, be a developer. I want to be a developer, yeah, and I want to build, and I want to build the passion project. What I want to build is mid-century moderns. I want to find some land, maybe 10, 20 communities. I don't want to be big as Ryan. I want 10, 20 homes, mid-century moderns. Get an architect in there, make them dope. The brand is called Kobe now, so call them Kobe communities. I think that it would be cool to build $2 million mid-century moderns. That's cool, but I would actually prefer to build middle-of-the-market mid-centuries like $500,000 to $800,000, so people can actually live in them. And then it becomes a Ryan Holmes-type business, but they're mid-century monitor-specific, because that's the style of house that I like the most, and then my wife also likes that style the most, and so I'm trying to figure out what the process is for that, and maybe I'll buy some of your land if Grant County, west Virginia, ever gets popping.

Speaker 2:

Hey, listen, I'd sell it to you for the right price.

Speaker 1:

What are you selling? Are you still like $5,000 an acre?

Speaker 2:

It was about that, but I'd have to look ahead and see what it was, I might just get 10 acres just to have it.

Speaker 1:

My wife is going to be like we're not buying land.

Speaker 2:

Small plug acres just to have it. You know my wife is going to be like we're not buying land. It was small plug land development and acquisition. I can do that as a broker.

Speaker 1:

You can't do that at you know, okay, so we need to have another conversation about it but like, I would say like, like, not even west virginia.

Speaker 2:

I would say like on the outskirts of um areas that are already, there's already some sort of thing happening, right, yeah, like, even if you go 10-15 miles outside of wherever there's a college town or uh, like, uh, richmond, for instance, richmond is saturated, you can't really do much there. But you can be in ashland, you can do in the outskirts of petersburg, right, you've got virginia state there, you got some other places and there's a there's some sort of thriving community there. Now some people say, well, those areas are not really thriving. Well, you just got to think about it from an investor standpoint.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's mid-century modern, so it's so specific that you have to find those buyers too. Yeah, all right. So let's do some quick little rapid-fire questions. Bro, let's go, you need to. All right, so we're going to break down some myths. I told you my guinea pig episode, right? So this is a two part question. Do you need a perfect credit score to get a good mortgage rate? And no, that's the one part question. Cool, well, no two part, sorry, edit. Do you need a perfect credit score to get a good mortgage rate, and what is a good credit score?

Speaker 2:

no, you don't need a good credit score to get a good mortgage interest rate. Good credit score is anything um good. I would say 680, fair, 640 and above. At the hit that 640 window, ton of doors open up for you.

Speaker 1:

I'm glad you answered that question, bro, because lenders always try to swerve that question. You know any creditors just do the application. I tell people, man, stop telling these people they can qualify at 580, man In the extreme circumstance. Maybe if you have 25, 30, 40% you can make it happen. But let people know we need to get you to a 640 so we can walk through the door and do anything you want so I'm gonna give you, I'm gonna give you a little add-on to that.

Speaker 2:

I know it's quick fire but like I could do loans at 500, I've done refinances at a 500 credit score with fha. But yes, there needs to be about 30 equity in the property, so 70 ltv. But your minimum credit score in the to get you in the door is 580. They are extremely difficult to get done right. Your debt ratio has to stay below, like 43. In most situations you got to have reserves. Sometimes it's not the juice ain't worth the squeeze. Yeah, get them over 600 and a little bit better opportunity 620. Okay, now you're cooking a little bit. 640, the system usually will take it and then you can, no matter what, okay.

Speaker 1:

is the lowest interest rate for your loan always the best option? No, why not?

Speaker 2:

Because the interest rate does not equate to savings in your pocket. You got to look at the dollars. How much money am I spending every month? Because I can have a 3.625 interest rate but have 30% interest on my credit cards right Well, and I'm still drowning every month in revolving debt. Credit cards right well, and I'm still drowning every month in revolving debt. I could refinance that and end up with a six, six point two, five percent interest rate. Eliminate that debt and now I'm saving fifteen hundred dollars a month. Yeah, do you care about having lost the, the three percent? Yeah, no, because I'm saving fifteen hundred a month yeah and that's a real scenario.

Speaker 2:

I, as a guy right now I'm dealing with he, doesn't want to lose his four percent.

Speaker 1:

I'm like you're gonna lose the house you cannot afford to pay your mortgage, sir and this.

Speaker 2:

Listen, it was a crazy scenario, but he had a heelock he didn't pay on and 14 years later bank of america came back and get it and they filed the uh, all the paperwork for the foreclosure. He owed 125 $125,000 as the principal balance. He had $125,000 in interest and penalties, so $250,000. I'm like you've got to refinance this. Forget that 4% rate. You're going to lose the house in the next 60 days.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and your credit score is going to drop. You're not going to be able to buy something else. And he has a 700 credit score. Yeah. Because, and he has a 700 credit score? Yeah, Because they're not even reporting it. So I'm like you're in good shape, man.

Speaker 2:

Let's just do this. Once you're pre-approved, are you guaranteed the loan? No, why not? Because until you have an approval with, until the loan is submitted to underwriting, an approval with conditions, and then you've met those conditions and you have a clear to close. That's when you know you've got the loan. But there's still sometimes some post, some conditions that we call them post-closing or funding conditions. Anything can happen until you sign at the table. That's when you know you've got it Right. But you can rest easy. Once you get through the process of underwriting and you have an approval with conditions, you can rest really a little bit easier.

Speaker 1:

What are some of the conditions that come?

Speaker 2:

up Explain this deposit on your bank statement. What is this allotment on your pay stub? Right? You had a bounce check at the beginning of the month two months ago. What is this? Why was this?

Speaker 1:

Yes, stuff like that, like that, yeah, okay, uh, this question is from chat gpt, so I don't really understand it, but hopefully you do. Is it better to rent or buy a home in a fluctuating market?

Speaker 2:

it's better to do what you can afford and what you're most comfortable with when the time is right for you okay, solid I had.

Speaker 1:

I have one more question. It's controversial why can we not talk to the underwriter?

Speaker 2:

y'all can't, I can. I can talk to him all day long and I'll just say it like this no shade. As a realtor, you have no idea what you're talking about, right, like you don't. You haven't been, you haven't been tested. You have, you don't have a license. You don't. You don't know the formula as much as many loans as you might do. You really don't know. Right, you don't have the back end. It's almost like the letter of the law versus the spirit of law. You don't know what it's really saying. You don't even know how to tap into the guidelines.

Speaker 2:

Um, and let me also say this most people, at the end of the day, they just want their house, they just want the keys and I do too uh, they just want the deal to be done. But the way you go about asking for things to get done, you can get a lot further by just having a gentle conversation and getting an understanding of what that underwriter is thinking about and how they're thinking of it, and then you can get back with your team and be like oh, let me slow it down. Okay, this is what she's really asking for. All right, got it. I go back to my client. This is what they're asking for. How can we accomplish that? Y'all will blow the whole thing up. Why is this? Why is it?

Speaker 1:

it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom right, so you don't want to talk to underwriting. I think what happens is that we're being very logical and the underwriter is not being logical and uh, we, we can't understand it. I tell people all the time when this happens. I said don't worry, the underwriter's job is to hate on the deal because they don't want the market to crash the underwriter, because that's a fact. The underwriter will be like oh, I see ten thousand dollars a month coming in for three years. They need to go back seven years and and and source that ten thousand dollars. Oh, and one time it was 98, it was 98, 80, so really it's not a ten thousand dollar low. This is what they do and it's like what's going on.

Speaker 1:

And the craziest thing is I've never seen a job posting on Indeed for underwriter position. So I don't even know the people that are applying for these positions. I hate these people. You know what I mean. If you're underwriting my deal, nick Bush, I love you, I appreciate you, let's get it done. But I'm just like who is an underwriter? Why do they hide these people?

Speaker 2:

You hide these people because you know we would, man no it's way they're going to protect the financial interests of the company. They really had the end of the day and they're going to. They're just looking at guidelines all the time and you'll hear every underwriter or any lender say it's up to under underwrite discretion. So you could be an underwriter sitting next to that underwriter, looking at the same guideline on the same deal and look at it two totally different ways. And then when you as, and then when you as a, or me as a loan officer, I'm like I understand where you are, but will you accept this? Right? Can we think about it this way? And that's where you got. You can pick up the phone, have common sense conversations, because sometimes you're working with companies that just care about their stuff. You don't really see the client, yeah, but then when you, when you humanize the, the transaction and be like look man, my guy is just trying to get the house help me, help you, so we can help them.

Speaker 1:

and okay, I'm gonna get you out of here with this question um what do home buyers and home sellers need to know about the real estate market right now?

Speaker 2:

Comparison is the enemy of success. Don't think about what your mom and dad did, what you did 10 years ago, what your neighbor did, what they got Like. Think about what you need today. What is the best situation for you and your family? Can you do it in a very wise way? Can you do it in an economically sound way? And can you align with people that share your heart, your vision, your dream? Do you have the right realtor? Do you have the right lender? Right and do it when it's the right time? Do it when it's the right time. Do it when the right do.

Speaker 1:

Do what's on the right one do it when it's the right time.

Speaker 2:

Sound advice from a 48 year old gray hair man no, I don't hey, but you gotta you do have to ask me what my realist what's?

Speaker 1:

no, we're gonna do that. You're gonna get your take. You're gonna get a question for you yeah, what's the?

Speaker 2:

what's kobe? The kobe company, because I like it yeah I love it as a matter of fact.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, bro. So Kobe is actually a family company now. So let me tell you when I was thinking of names, so I'm going to give you the long-winded answer. So I was always Nick Bush, the realtor, right, and one of the hindrances of me starting a team is I didn't want it to be my name, and so that's. When we had the address for that year, um, I thought about that name. I thought it was dope, couldn't take it with me, and so I was trying to figure out what the what the name was going to be. And so you know what kobe actually means. Is is, uh, the b is for bush, and then my son's first names, and then the B is for Bush, kobe, orion and Isaac. Isaac's the baby, yeah, christian is. So Christian is the middle, orion is the oldest one, and then Isaac is the baby and the rough rider I remember him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so Kobe's the family company. So now it's actually really cool because I got my Charles Schwab accountbe's the uh, yeah, kobe's the family company. And so now it's actually really cool because, um, you know, I got my charles schwab account, it's the, the uh, you know, you gotta invest right. The login is like kobe something.

Speaker 2:

Um, when I uh, yeah, yeah, that's why I didn't even say the whole username, right when I uh, when I start to trust it'll be.

Speaker 1:

you know, everything's gonna be kobe now, because now I look at it as like that's why I said Kobe Communities with the build. I look at it as like that's the family company. So the Bush brand now is Kobe, so yeah man.

Speaker 2:

I love to see what you're doing, man, it's really great to see. Thanks, bro, I appreciate you Cut the hair. You had to level up, man. Yeah, the was. Where can people find you? Follow. You reach out to you to get a loan, a home loan, at Fields Mortgage Group. On social media at Mortgage Coach Marcus Fieldsmgcom is my website. I could throw my number out there but I'm easily found.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, follow Marcus man, because he's always his big mug, is always in the in the camera um talking about finance. He got the graphics he's dming you to post um, so he's out here hustling. Made the real deal. Appreciate you, bro. Thank you man.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Nick Bush

Host