EP #229: Maryam Ovsepyan and Sergey Pokolodin with Viva Mortgage
Apr 02, 2024
Jeremy Wolf
Embark on a journey through the complex world of mortgage brokerage with Viva Mortgage's own power pair, Maryam and Sergey. Experience firsthand how their chance foray into the industry and a leap of faith amid the global pandemic gave birth to a thriving family business. As a couple in work and life, they share the balancing act of their partnership and the tailored financial solutions they provide for those who break the traditional mold of borrowing.
This episode is a treasure trove of insider knowledge, from busting widespread mortgage myths to understanding the nuances of loan pre-approvals and final approvals. Dive into the unique challenges of property eligibility, using the Florida condo market as a case study, and learn how a personal touch from a mortgage broker can make all the difference. Whether you're a newbie homebuyer or a seasoned investor, Maryam and Sergey's insights into special programs and comprehensive services, including commercial loans, will guide you towards making educated financial decisions in the ever-evolving landscape of real estate.
Embark on a journey through the complex world of mortgage brokerage with Viva Mortgage's own power pair, Maryam and Sergey. Experience firsthand how their chance foray into the industry and a leap of faith amid the global pandemic gave birth to a thriving family business. As a couple in work and life, they share the balancing act of their partnership and the tailored financial solutions they provide for those who break the traditional mold of borrowing.
This episode is a treasure trove of insider knowledge, from busting widespread mortgage myths to understanding the nuances of loan pre-approvals and final approvals. Dive into the unique challenges of property eligibility, using the Florida condo market as a case study, and learn how a personal touch from a mortgage broker can make all the difference. Whether you're a newbie homebuyer or a seasoned investor, Maryam and Sergey's insights into special programs and comprehensive services, including commercial loans, will guide you towards making educated financial decisions in the ever-evolving landscape of real estate.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:
Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, jeremy Wolf, and today I am joined by I believe guys forgive me if I'm wrong here your husband and wife team. Is that right?
Speaker 3:
Yes, yeah, right, yes, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2:
And now allow me to please butcher the pronunciation of both your names. I am here today with Miriam of Sepien, am I kind of right? Perfect, yeah. And Sergey Pokaladin.
Speaker 3:
Okay, yeah, that'll work Pokaladin, Pokaladin, okay.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that'll work. Feel free to clear the record at any time you like if I got that too wrong. And Sergey and Miriam are with us today from Viva Mortgage, so I'm happy to have you guys on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you.
Speaker 3:
Thank you for inviting us, Jeremy.
Speaker 2:
Of course it's our pleasure and thanks as always to our listeners for tuning in to learn more about our great community and the businesses that serve us. So, with that said, guys everybody's sitting out there has probably heard of a mortgage before. Tell us a little bit about what you do specifically at Viva Mortgage.
Speaker 3:
I can take that. What you do specifically at Viva Mortgage I can take that. So Viva Mortgage is a mortgage brokerage where, like you said, everybody heard of a mortgage. We help consumers first-time home buyers as well as experienced investors to find financing actually the best financing for their real estate needs. And what makes us stand out from the crowd is that we don't just offer standard solutions like conventional FHA loan that everybody has heard of, obviously, but we also offer alternative solutions, which means if you don't qualify for a conventional or FHA loan, it's not the end of the world.
Speaker 3:
We always can get you into like another tier of programs. We call them non-QM or non-traditional or non-prime there's many names for that but it actually saves lives. It's a solution that helps a lot of people. The economic times have changed and so some people may not be qualified for a regular loan, and this is where this market comes in to help a lot of clients. And this is what we do, and, in fact, we have been doing that for the past seven years. I actually started my career like that, growing up in that non-QM market, so we're very, very experienced and very knowledgeable in it.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so you started Viva Mortgage seven years ago.
Speaker 3:
No, seven years ago was when I joined the mortgage industry and it was kind of a little bit of by an accident. I got a finance degree from FIU, from the Florida International University, and I was looking for a banking job. But all of those jobs the interviews that I went to were in New York, north Carolina and other states and I did not want to leave my state because we just had a first daughter and the family needed me there. So I was looking for a job somewhere here in South Florida and I found this place, a mortgage lender. I took a chance, I went to the interview and honestly, I did not want to be in the mortgage industry. I wanted to be my job.
Speaker 3:
My dream job was like an investment bank and just in banking sector. But it turned out that way and I like the CEO, I like the vibe, I like how the company was about to grow and I stayed. And I stayed there for five years and then, once I learned everything and I decided that I have enough knowledge to start my own company, pursue, start my own business.
Speaker 2:
So that would have been right around COVID, right, if I'm doing the math right.
Speaker 3:
Right, yes, right after COVID, actually in the worst time that you can actually start a business in this industry.
Speaker 4:
Right, but I would like to add to that that, yes, it was the worst time. Add to that that, um, yes, it was the worst time, but, um, I started mortgage business a little bit earlier I mean not earlier than seven years ago, like sergey but um, being self-employed, let's put it this way. So it's actually interesting how we ended up having a family business because, as Sergey already said, he was working in a lending company and me I was in the property management business. At that moment, I graduated my hospitality real estate master program and I was working in the property management company and I felt like I wanted to switch the industries because I didn't feel like it was my thing and accidentally, I found a job as a processor at the brokerage shop For real. It was an accident.
Speaker 3:
A happy accident right.
Speaker 4:
Yes, so I started working as a processor and in about a year I got my license and then, little by little, while being a processor, I started building my network of clients and then I switched to sales completely and then when Sergey decided to join me, so he got the mortgage broker license and that's how we started working together in our own company. So you know, we got into one point from different directions, um, and since then it's been what, uh how many like couple years, right since we started our own business. And he has knowledge. He has a lot of knowledge in building the company and I have a lot of knowledge in processing the loans. And for me it was a very smooth transition because I knew the whole process and I just had to start talking to the clients. But it wasn't like, you know, you get the license and you don't know where to start. So for me I already knew everything when I had my loan officer license.
Speaker 2:
Very cool, so I always like to ask this specific question of a husband and wife team. What are some of the biggest challenges working together as a married couple and, on the other end of that, some of the biggest rewards working together?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, well, normally you would assume that and I agree, like, probably like 99% of the time, husband and wife usually kind of end up in a fight or something. They always divide something, right. But somehow we were blessed to have each other and this is not the first time we end up in the same work environment together Actually, like three times already, right, we have started. We back in the days we had our own coffee shop together. So did you really? And it worked out pretty well.
Speaker 3:
But then, you know, once we graduated and went where we're supposed to go, where we were planning to go in terms of our education, we split up a little bit and then we actually ended up together in the same business, same line of work, and we never really have challenges, we never have fights about how things should work out, how things should be managed. Somehow we have our own strengths and weaknesses and we complement each other, so that always works out for us. People do ask us this question a lot like how do you even manage it? But it just works out somehow magically.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, no.
Speaker 4:
I think it's because we are different, like we have different strengths, you know. So, like I'm very you complement each other. Yes, yes. So whatever I know best, then Sergey lets me figure it out and lets me deal with this right and whatever he's better at, then I let him just lead that assignment right. That assignment right, For example, let's say whatever is connected to the systems and technology. So that's all on, Sergey. But me, I'm very good with documents, I'm a very focused person, I'm very attentive, so I deal with a lot of documentation.
Speaker 2:
And we just support and trust each other. I love that. It really does say a lot about you guys and your business that you're able to have that stronger relationship together Because, like you said, sergey, most people out there when they probably think that they couldn't work with their spouse which is unfortunate really because that's supposed to be your life partner, right You're supposed to have the ultimate trust and confidence in them. You should be able to work together. But I think most people would have that issue. So I think a lot of people now they have, I guess, a preconceived notion of what's going on in the mortgage industry. Everybody believes the rates are very high and it's allowing people to maybe not get a mortgage right now because they think the rates are going to go down. What are some common myths or misconceptions that you guys hear out there right now? What's going on, what's the state of the market right now and what are we looking at moving forward in the future?
Speaker 3:
I can just start quickly about the state of the market and Miriam is going to continue. She has some kind of misconceptions and myths to talk about as well.
Speaker 3:
So as far as the market and rates, the rates are not as bad anymore because we're closing loans right now with the rates of fives and sixes. Sometimes, if it's something non-traditional, it could go up to seven. But the problem may be, yes, with the inflation. That's kind of out of our control and even the rates will not help there. So the inflation has caused the property values to go up right. That prices some people, some buyers, out of the market unfortunately, because their salaries have not caught up.
Speaker 3:
But luckily in South Florida, this is the state that has pretty much the most business if compared to any other state in the United States, you know. So we get a lot of income in. We've got a lot of kind of migration from New York, from California, from other states into South Florida, so we can't really complain that much being in South Florida, being in South Florida, additionally, besides even United States residents and migrants within the States, we have a lot of business that comes from foreign buyers from Europe, from South America. We do a lot of business like that, like condos. They like to buy condos, and that's kind of one of the misconceptions as well, that foreign buyers cannot buy cannot get a mortgage in the United States.
Speaker 3:
But actually, if you have a visa, you come here. Let's say you come from Europe, like we just posed this guy a few weeks ago from France. He came from Europe on a visa and within the first week we got him a mortgage, got him to a contract. He was planning to do that, but we told him you can get a mortgage and we got him a mortgage with 70% value. I mean 70% of the purchase price, which we call LTV loan to value, meaning he has to put 30% down and that's significant. That's like a resident type of term. He got a good rate and he didn't even have to show any income. So you know that was a really good outcome for him and that's how we get business. That's for nationals, or a lot of people actually qualify without income.
Speaker 3:
That's another alternative program that could be used. If you don't have income but you want to buy this property as an investment property, let's say, then you don't even have to show income. Sometimes you don't have income but you want to buy this property as an investment property, let's say, then you don't even have to show income. Sometimes you don't even have to show your where your money from down for down payment comes from for closing costs. So there are multitude of programs that are official, legitimate programs. It's just people don't not know that know about them and our job as a mortgage broker to show to the world what's possible. So businesses actually happening in Florida, things are more or less okay. I don't know how about other states, but we're positioned pretty well.
Speaker 3:
And then on the last thing I wanted to say on the rate. If you look back 30 years ago, starting with probably the 70s if you don't account for 70s, for that massive inflation and the rates of 18 ever since then, the rates on average were around like eight, nine percent. If you look at 80s, 90s, 2000s, everything was pretty much higher than now. So it's not really the rates that are a problem, somewhat of an inflation and somewhat of it getting used to the fact that you're not going to have the 2% 3% rate. What we had Like that was paradoxical. You know this is not going to happen unless another COVID or another like big trauma to the economy happens. So you can't expect that to happen. But the rates are more or less affordable. You just have to make sure you make more money these days.
Speaker 2:
Simple equation. Really, it's easy math. Yeah, I feel like it's a long lost memory, right, the 2% rate that it was so cheap to borrow money. But, yeah, put things into perspective. Yeah, it is lower now than it has been on average, as you said, over the last 30 years or so, which is counterintuitive to most people, right, because most people are stuck in the moment. They really don't look at the bird's eye view of everything.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, actively trying to buy but couldn't buy at 2%, they were out beat or something. They have this. They still kind of cling into that fact that you know I want that rate. You know it feels they feel really bad. You know about it that they couldn't get it right and they feel a little depressed or something. But there's another wave of people who don't care about it. They might have not even been in the market, they didn't even want the of people who don't care about it. They might. They might have not even been in the market. They didn't want the two percent, they didn't care about it. Now they're entering this market the the new generation and they're like it is what it is. You know, if I can afford it, I buy it pretty much. So that's what we're seeing. The mentality is already shifting little by little yeah absolutely want
Speaker 3:
to add something to that yes.
Speaker 4:
So first of all, I would like to add that you don't need to wait for the rates going down or the prices going down. You just need to buy whenever you're qualified, because by the time the rates are down, you may not be able to buy it because you lost your job or something happened or you don't have any more your down payment money saved right. So I always tell to my clients that if you can buy today, just do it and then over time, you can always refinance it if you need it or you can sell it. But if you are qualified today, then that's the time to buy, the best time. Um and um.
Speaker 4:
Being a very experienced processor, I would like to add a couple more myths and misconceptions. The first one is that people think if you get a pre-approval, that means that you're going to get the loan. But first of all, if you go to the bank to a big bank like Bank of America, for example they will give you a pre-approval just based on your words. They are not going to verify almost nothing, and everything is going to be verified after you sign the contract, after you sign the contract. So that's the time when all the issues and all the problems have to be solved and many people they don't know that if you, let's say, applied for a new credit card or you got a new car lease, or you switched the jobs or I don't know, or you just did cash deposits or something, that may be a reason why your loan is going to be denied. So that's why the most important time is from getting into contract until you close, and the time for getting the final approval. It usually takes from 15 to 30 days. So that's why I always recommend to work with a broker, because the broker is going to guide you. The broker is going to tell you that please don't do this, please wait for that. And if you want to do any changes, if you want to do any actions, just please consult with me first, because it may affect your eligibility or your qualification. And then another problem is that, besides you being qualified, all the banks are going to look at the collateral at the property itself, and in Florida we have a lot of problems with condos. So that's another reason why your loan can be denied. That the property is actually not eligible or doesn't qualify is actually not eligible or doesn't qualify. So that's why just wait until you get to the closing. Don't think that, okay, I just got the pre-approval and that's it. That's 100%, I'm going to close.
Speaker 4:
And then, another thing which I would like to mention is regarding going to the mortgage broker or to the bank yourself the mortgage broker or to the bank yourself. So, if you work with a mortgage broker, it's like you're going to be as a child and I'm going to be an adult who's going to hold your hand and walk you through from the very beginning to the very end and I'm going to help you along the process. I'm guide you, I'm gonna do everything for you. Basically, right, you just need to trust, to listen to me and we'll get to the closing stage.
Speaker 4:
But if you go to the bank yourself, then, like, there is a department who is taking an application, right, and then it's going to be transferred from department to department and they're just going to tell you okay, provide this documentation.
Speaker 4:
But there will never be one person who can answer any question you have or any issue you have, because there will be multiple people and there is no one assigned person who is going to guide you and if you've never got a mortgage before, it will be very difficult for you to provide the correct documentation in the correct form and, just in general, to understand what they really want.
Speaker 4:
So that's why I always recommend to go to the broker, because the broker is going to find you the best deal based on your scenario. We have an option to price out right to get you the best rate, because we work with multiple lenders and if you go to the bank directly, they're going to offer just what they have and it's going to be one or two programs only when we have options. Even if you don't qualify for, let's say, conventional loan, we still have options to offer you something else, to offer you a non-QM program, and that's why I think it's just much better for especially a new client who has never been in this process, to go to an experienced broker.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, to have a more hands-on, personalized approach that you kind of lose with the larger institutions, yeah, that makes perfect sense. So, guys, for anyone out there that's listening, that is currently in the market looking for a mortgage maybe they have one and they're looking to refinance, or they're just looking for their first home and they're out there searching for a good mortgage broker to work with. How can we learn more? Maybe share your website and your contact information.
Speaker 3:
We can share. So our website is easy it's vivamortgage instead of com vivamortgage, and this is where you can find our contact information, our cell phone or an email. You can easily reach out to us and we'll be happy to help you. We have, like I said, a lot of solutions even for people without down payment. We have options for first-time home buyers. We have, as a matter of fact, right before our call, I was just talking to a client who has has a little bit less down payment than needed and we have a program. Actually, $10,000 is given to you as a grant, not even a second loan, not even a repayable loan. It's a grant, it's free money, pretty much. Sign me up $10,000.
Speaker 2:
I said sign me up. Yeah, I like free money there are options, you know.
Speaker 3:
just not everybody wants to offer them. Not every broker, not every bank wants to deal with that stuff. This is how we can help any consumer to get into their dream home, or any investor foreign investor, domestic investor. We help fix some flippers. We have construction loans, we have, we have construction loans and we we really. And then we can even do a commercial loan if it's a small commercial property, up to a few million dollars alright, well, very cool.
Speaker 2:
We will, of course, link in the description to all of your contact information. Sergey Miriam, thanks for joining us today. Thank you, jeremy, thank you very much that's what we do, and thanks, as always, to our listeners for tuning in, and we will catch everyone next time. Take care and have a blessed day bye-bye.
Speaker 1:
thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast cooper city. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to to GNPCoopercitycom. That's GNPCoopercitycom, or call 954-231-3170.