Benchmark Happenings
Brought to you by, Jonathan Tipton & Steve Reed of Benchmark Home Loans, Benchmark Happenings is a podcast that is a biweekly discussion about living in and moving to Northeast Tennessee along with the local real estate market. Join your host Christine Reed as she interviews Jonathan & Steve, local business owners, sought-after industry experts, Veterans, Realtors, Benchmark clients, and more.
Benchmark Happenings focuses on discussing all things related to mortgages and Northeast Tennessee. Placing the spotlight on all the reasons you would want to live in and move to Northeast Tennessee, Benchmark Happenings highlights upcoming events, local businesses, things to do, and other aspects related to Northeast Tennessee. We will also be answering mortgage questions from buyers, sellers, and real estate agents as well as discussing everything going on in our local real estate market.
To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.tiptonreedteam.com.
Benchmark Home Loans | NMLS # 2143
4138 Bristol Highway
Johnson City, TN 37601
Jonathan Tipton
Senior Mortgage Planner
NMLS # 1188088
jonathan.tipton@benchmark.us
Steve Reed
Branch Manager
NMLS # 173024
steve.reed@benchmark.us
Benchmark Happenings
Affordable Housing Solutions in Northeast Tennessee
The affordable housing crisis looms large across America, but innovative solutions are emerging right here in Northeast Tennessee. Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed, mortgage professionals at Benchmark Home Loans, have launched Land to Homes—a groundbreaking venture transforming manufactured housing into a viable pathway to homeownership for first-time buyers.
Gone are the stigmas of yesterday's mobile homes. Today's manufactured housing is built to strict HUD standards in controlled environments, resulting in sturdy, high-quality homes that often exceed local building codes. For families struggling to find traditional homes under $250,000 that don't require extensive renovation, Land to Homes offers a compelling alternative: brand-new manufactured homes with warranties on spacious lots, typically ranging from 3/4 to 1 acre.
What sets Land to Homes apart is their turnkey approach. They handle everything—finding suitable land, navigating complex permitting processes, installing the home, and delivering a complete package ready for move-in. For qualified buyers using VA or USDA loans, this can mean zero down payment options for a brand-new home.
The podcast reveals a particularly moving success story of a family of six living in a camper who, through Land to Homes' creative financing, moved into a double-wide home on their own land instead of a single-wide in a trailer park—with nearly the same monthly payment they would have paid elsewhere.
Beyond affordability, Jonathan and Steve emphasize the profound benefits of homeownership: wealth building through equity, creating safe environments for families, and the statistical advantages for children raised in owner-occupied homes. They challenge the narrative that homeownership is unattainable for younger generations, offering practical advice about financial discipline and reminding listeners that while the first home purchase is always the most challenging, it remains achievable with proper planning.
Ready to explore affordable homeownership options? Visit land2homes.us or call 423-670-0470 to discover how Land to Homes might help make your homeownership dreams a reality.
To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.
This is Benchmark Happenings, Brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Home Loans. Northeast Tennessee, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, the Tri-Cities One of the most beautiful places in the country to live. Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans, and now your host, Christine Reed. And now your host, Christine.
Speaker 2:Reed. Welcome back everybody to another episode of Benchmark Happenings, and today we have a special occasion the superstar of our show today. I can't believe I actually got him to come on a podcast.
Speaker 3:You didn't.
Speaker 2:Steve did Is Jonathan Tipton and my husband Steve Reed, so welcome back.
Speaker 3:Awesome, we're glad to be here.
Speaker 4:Well, I'm glad to see JT joining us here.
Speaker 2:I know Me too. How long has it?
Speaker 3:been. It's been a while. Yeah, it's been a while. This is just not your thing, is it? No, I don't mind it, but you just got to catch me in the right mood. I guess Steve just caught me in the right mood today.
Speaker 2:Well, so today one of the things Steve and I have been talking and we've sort of been getting involved in the new business adventure that Jonathan, you and Steve have put together Land to Homes. So really today is going to be about affordable housing. So, jonathan, do you want to tell us a little bit about Land to Homes and sort of how you got started and what you all are providing now to the community?
Speaker 3:Sure, absolutely. So we started out looking at this saying you know, our clients from the mortgage side were not finding affordable housing. So we saw the need for affordable housing and out of that came the manufactured housing. We were looking at that kind of figuring out ways to do it. So we've now set up a dealership basically to where we can now sell manufactured housing. So we go out, look for land, find land and then set up affordable housing on that and then sell it once it's completed or sell them, you know, before they're completed and have people picking out their house and kind of getting to be a part of that as well. So just really saw that need and then trying to jump in and figure out a way to do that. And then it helps, obviously on the mortgage side, but then it also helps us provide affordable housing where others couldn't find it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. So how has it gone so far?
Speaker 4:since you guys have started this. Well, I think you talked about it being a business adventure.
Speaker 4:Well, I think you talked about it being a business adventure. We thought about it as a business venture, but it has been an adventure. We have really seen that you know they have a really tight budget. I mean it's, you know, a lot of people can't go over 250, 260. And you know so, which makes it a challenge for us. But we try to, you know, kind of tailor make something that will fit their budget. We can't always do it, but we sure, we sure try to do it. So we just saw the need, even more than we expected, and I think that's helped to grow the, the company and you know, and grow us. We've, we've learned a lot along the way and and still learning. But you know our goal is to, you know, to help help our clients get into homes, get into homes in an affordable manner.
Speaker 2:And so, basically, if we look at real estate today, a house can you even find a home in this market through real estate for $250 or even $300?
Speaker 3:You can, but it's going to be something that needs a lot of work. It's not something that your typical first-time home buyer is looking to purchase. It's going to be something that's going to require a lot more work or a lot more, you know, effort that they're going to have to put in or money they're going to have to put in that they don't have to put in.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's some things out there, but it's very, very challenging the other part of that is if they do find something and, as he said, it needs a lot of work, that creates an issue with the loan end of it, because if it needs a lot, a lot of work, then we can't get financing until that house meets a certain standard for appraisal guidelines. So those homes are hard to purchase without cash and most first-time homebuyers are not paying cash. So they're kind of in a catch-22 because, yeah, they can find a house for $250 or even $200, but if it won't pass appraisal you can't lend on that particular house. So that makes it tough and you kind of contrast that with being able to buy a brand new product that has a warranty and they can jump right in. So it just seems to be a much better fit.
Speaker 2:And manufactured housing today is so much different than, say, 20 years ago absolutely and and it's really and I think, just getting over that um, I don't know if I'm choosing the right words but stigma of manufactured housing. So, jonathan, can you talk a little bit about how those homes are actually made, to kind of put you know people listening at ease that you know these are truly quality homes.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. I mean, when we got our first couple in, I mean we were both very surprised, once they got set up, how firm they were, how sturdy they were. I mean you didn't feel movement. I mean it feels like a true house. I mean they're built now to standards that are probably stricter than most county standards because they're manufactured Any manufactured housing goes through HUD and is inspected by them and it's probably a lot stricter standards than what some of these counties actually have. So I mean, and they're built in a controlled environment. Weather's not an issue, it's not. You don't have lumber and things that are sitting out in the rain for days on end or any parts of that. So I mean, and it allows it to be done quicker and, you know, a little more efficient as well too.
Speaker 2:So when you guys finish your product, what are you providing for that client? Because is it turnkey from start to finish? What are some things that differentiate your manufactured homes that you're providing versus others?
Speaker 4:Well, it is turnkey and that's a huge part of it, because when you get a client that's out maybe looking to buy a piece of land and then they're trying to figure out how to get a permit and there's several permits required and how to navigate that process, that's a really. I mean clients have done that. It's not rocket science but most people have nine to five jobs and they have families and they just don't do it every day. So we're used to navigating the permit process. Be able to we look at land, we can evaluate it. Some is harder than others. We have to get our grader to kind of go out and give us an opinion.
Speaker 4:But we navigate that whole process, purchase the land and get the permits, put the home on the land and when we say turnkey, we hand them the keys at closing and that's it. They don't have to really do anything Now. Some will come back. We've got a lady now that's adding on a porch and a back screen porch and a garage so they can come back and do things later. But as far as living in the house, you can get your loan up to 100 percent in some cases. If you're a veteran or USDA loan, you can zero down, turnkey, move right in. So that's a whole lot different process than navigating everything else and trying to, you know, segment it to buy land, do permits and et cetera.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and and do most people want? Like, are you seeing people wanting more land with their home in these cases, versus what you know? A lot of us live in a postage stamp neighborhood where you have lots that are extremely small. You have a huge house on a small lot, so are people demanding more land with their manufactured homes?
Speaker 3:I would say in most cases, yes, we do have some that are not a lot of land, because you still have some people who don't want that as much to take care of, but most people, it seems like, at least want an acre. I mean, an acre is kind of the magic number for most people and most of our lots are around that you know three quarters an acre to an acre range. But most people do want to have about an acre or so of land or more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they can come in here and meet with the two of you in the process and pick out a floor plan, maybe pick out some colors and things like that, right.
Speaker 4:Pick out land, we keep an inventory of land and it seems like the land is the key. Once they find the land, it's a little bit easier to pick out the house sometimes, but the land, everybody has a location they want to be, so there's a challenge. And then they have, as Jonathan mentioned, they want an acre and sometimes more. That's a challenge because we get a lot of people or we get some people that want two acres or three. Well, that's a bigger challenge because then you start getting into that price point is going to get up there a little bit.
Speaker 4:You know, if you want over an acre, price point is going to get up there a little bit. You know, if you want over an acre, and I think some folks look at an acre of land and say, oh, that's bigger than I thought it was and that's probably enough, you know. But there are a few that want two or three acres and that really, you know that drives up the price for us and them and, um, so yeah, yeah, an acre is a nice place to start, but anything less it seems like, you know, people normally want an acre to. You know, three quarters to an acre.
Speaker 2:Yeah, having a little bit of that privacy, the American dream. So, jonathan, steve and I were talking this morning about, you know, a big buzz, you know, for younger people and you're part of that younger generation. But we're also looking at young adults coming out of college. How can they afford a home? And you're hearing that it seems like all the latest buzz is everything's too expensive. They're not going to be able to afford a home. It just seems like there's this negative cloud over our younger generation living in this country.
Speaker 2:And Steve and I were talking. Like you know, every generation's had it hard. We've all had difficult times. When Steve and I got married, we were in debt. Well, he was in debt, I wasn't. We lived on a boat for two months. I mean, you know we rented out my house and you know you did what you had to do. You cut back, you tightened your belt, you did without a lot. So in your case, you know what are some of the things that you would recommend to younger people of, instead of buying into this, just this negative talk about you know how hard things are of wisdom that you could provide for people to have. What are some things they could start doing to where they could actually afford, you know, purchasing a home one day.
Speaker 3:So one that I've seen a lot lately is student loans. So my advice there is is don't live off your student loans, because when you live off student loans you're going to pay for that when you go to try to buy a house. I mean, we've seen a lot of clients and maybe you have to and it is what it is at that point. But I mean we've seen a lot of clients come in who have an exorbitant amount of student loans, more so than what I would have felt like they've spent in college, on college, and have financed four to six years of them living there, and then it's a challenge on the back end. So I would say watch that, Get out there. I mean, try not to get too far into debt in the beginning. Watch the credit cards, Watch those things, but the biggest thing we see probably in those cases is student loans.
Speaker 4:Which is a mortgage in their self. Some of them are more than a mortgage. Yeah, I met with a couple yesterday and just her student loans were $200,000 is how much she owed, so she's already got a mortgage you know, and that's tough. And he's got student loans as well, and you?
Speaker 3:know you're not paying those in college so you don't notice it, but we have to count that payment. So that would be one area that I would really try to watch is don't go like you all just said. You got to cut back and may have to do different things, but don't live off the student loans and because that's going to cause some issues later on.
Speaker 4:Skip the six dollar lattes. You know, live like no one else. So later you live like no one else. I mean it's like, how bad do you want it? It's achievable. It is still achievable, right, and I know, you know politicians like to get on TV and you know tell you it's not achievable, that it's gotten tougher, I'll admit that. But it is still very achievable. I think it's going to get even more achievable as we see. You know, home prices, kind of level out rates, get a little bit better. So it's still very achievable. So don't believe everything you see on TV. But it's not like you can just take a pill for a quick fix. I mean you have to do the work, you have to skip the lattes. You might want to work in college. You know you're going to have to do the hard things. So, and the other thing, just to go back to what you were saying about living on a boat and being in debt Now, that's true, but I'd rather live on a boat and be in debt is have a million dollar house paid for.
Speaker 2:So that's just the way it goes, coming from a true boater a true boater, a lover of boats.
Speaker 4:And water. Thank God, it was only two months, it was only what?
Speaker 2:How big was that boat?
Speaker 4:It was about 26 feet. It was small, it was a regal cabin cruiser.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was very, very small Some people have larger fishing boats, so it wasn't big, but anyway.
Speaker 4:No, in all seriousness, no, I mean, the politicians need to be talking more about you know how? And encouraging people in you know, hey, do the hard things and instead of being like, well, you know our country's, you know going down the tubes, let's encourage people to work and do the hard things and skip a few lattes and, you know, save up a little money for the down payment. The barrier to entry is difficult, but once you own a home and you start building equity, it's easier to move up. Yes, the first one's the hardest.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. And I'll say this. I just thought of this. I mean I bought. I graduated college in 08, bought my first house in 2010. And we all know what market that was in, I mean, and I started in the banking world of all industries in 2009. So I mean it's achievable, but you've got to work at it. I mean I worked my way through school. I had no student debt and I paid for college as I went. So I mean it was different the experience than some, but I mean I got on the back end and was able to do that, so it's possible right definitely possible right.
Speaker 2:I mean, I remember when I went back to school to um to earn my degree, you know I had to work and I had very few student loans, but I wasn't um, I didn't live, you know, the college life dream of the big parties and the spring break trips. And I think we've become an entitled society and I think we've not done our children a good service of allowing them to think that they should have what we have because we worked hard for what we have and so everybody has to start somewhere and build up, and I think we've gotten away from that ethic of hard work and it's easy for people not to work hard if the politicians are all saying, yeah, it's difficult, it's you know.
Speaker 4:hey, how about encouraging young people? You?
Speaker 4:know hey and letting them know it's not going to be easy. I mean, we go to a lot of political events and it seems like everyone starts out with oh my grandfather, here's what he did and here's what. Well, these young people like we were talking, they don't care what your grandfather did. Tell me how I'm going to be able to afford a house or what I need to do to buy a house. I don't care what your grandfather did back in the forties, you know. And so they need to get more current with their audience. I know there's, you know their audience is older as well, but I mean they, if they want to recruit young people to the fray, they need to speak their language and tell them hey, you may need to skip a trip to the Caribbean or a latte once a week and save for this. So it's just not being talked about enough, it's not being encouraged.
Speaker 3:And even if you don't save up the down payment, there's solutions for that. But you've got to really watch the debt side to be able to qualify for those solutions. But there are solutions for not having a down payment. If you can't save a down payment but you can pay your way through college, I mean it could still work.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:You just can't have both of them. I mean, you can't have an exorbitant amount of student loans and not pay your way through college, don't have any down payment.
Speaker 1:I loans and you know not pay your way through college don't have any down payment.
Speaker 3:I mean you'd have you got to have one or the other Right, so you got to work at it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And and do you think, I think at any time, jonathan, I think you and Steve would be willing to sit and meet and talk with any young person that you know is like, hey, I, you know, I kind of listened to this podcast and you know how can, what are some things that I can do, you know, to help me be able to? You know, maybe pull it back a little bit. What about? I mean, like, would you encourage people to, to get a budget?
Speaker 4:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:I mean but you have to be coachable. You know most people just think they've got it all together. They know it all. They don't want to listen to any kind of coaching, and we've all been there, but they have. It has takes a certain amount of humility just to come in, and we see that rarely, I guess. And but you know, with some humility and you come in and say, hey, we know, you guys are the professionals, you've been doing this for years and it's not about us and not trying to pump ourselves up, but we can guide people, like Jonathan says, if they will let us. But you know a lot of people, they'll take your advice and go put it on a shelf somewhere and that's the last they think about it or go to the next person and stuff.
Speaker 2:So, jonathan, from your perspective, what do you think and like with your generation? What's really important for for you and your generation? As, at your age being, you're married. Now you have children in school, what are some of the things that you look out for in the future? What's really important to you?
Speaker 3:providing a safe place for my kids, a way that they can grow up and I won't say control the environment, but put them in a safe environment where they can hopefully learn and learn how to work hard and thrive in that. Um, that. I mean, that's a big thing for us. We've been talking about.
Speaker 3:We were talking about that last night actually okay with macy, we were talking about some things with that, and it's just like creating that environment to teach them so that whenever they become 18, 20, or however old, they're able to do that and make the right decisions and have the knowledge to do that.
Speaker 2:And what does that safe environment look like?
Speaker 3:I mean it starts at the house. I mean it starts where they've got a safe place to be and know that they can be there and you know they're safe, they're taken care of. And then school you know the school that they're in. But I mean it starts at home, at the house. So that's an important thing as you start having kids. I mean I didn't think about that in the beginning. I was like, okay, whatever, I'll buy a house because there's a tax credit. I mean whatever. I mean you know it's. I mean literally. I mean I bought it on the last day of the tax credit expiring and. But I mean now it's totally different. It's not just that, it's more of a place that I can raise my kids, that they're going to be safe, that they're, you know we're trying to create. We're in that age where we're creating an environment where their friends want to come over. You know we want their friends to want to come over, versus our kids want to leave the house all the time. So it's just it shifts and it is important.
Speaker 4:But you know statistics have shown that homeownership is so good for you know, keeping for families, but keeping down crime, you know there's there's let the crime rates less if you're raised in a home that you own, versus rent, I mean. So there's so many good things about owning the American dream. I mean so many positive things you could break down. We won't do that here but maybe that's for another show. But just like you say, a safe environment, I mean the positives are endless really for homeownership and we need more of it. In the US it's dropped off a little bit and what's scary is a lot of even married couples now their dream's not even to own a home, they just want to travel the world.
Speaker 4:Well they're not going to build that wealth. While they're doing that, you know they don't have a home appreciating, they're paying rent. So they're going to wake up maybe in 20 years and be like well gosh, where's my $300,000 worth of equity? I could have went, cashed out or whatever. You're not going to have it. So worth of equity I could have went and cashed out or whatever. You're not going to have it. So it's just. It's a balance. You need a little bit of a balance of both.
Speaker 2:So it's always a positive to be a homeowner, for we had a lady on that's overhead for this area and we talked about the median income here in Johnson City was $40,000 a year and also the fact that homeownership created more children graduate from high school that grow up in a home. Graduation rates are higher, graduation rates are higher, so there are a lot of positives to that. So, jonathan, so what's probably your venture into this land to homes? What's one of your favorite stories of helping a family that you can share?
Speaker 3:So and y'all might have talked about this one before, but one of my favorites is we had a family who came in. They didn't think they'd be able to afford anything.
Speaker 3:We put things together and so with the loan side we can give them a lower interest rate than they would otherwise get. So basically we take any money we'd make and kind of give it back to the client on the loan side. And this client comes in. Clayton was going to put they were living in a camper. Clayton was going to put them in a single wide in a trailer park on I don't think it was land that they were going to own, but maybe it was but in a trailer park A single wide, a single wide, four kids and two adults in this house.
Speaker 3:And then we sat down with them and with us being able to give them a drastically lower interest rate than they were getting through the competitor, we're able to put them in a double wide. We've now got land under contract for them in a neighborhood, not in a trailer park, and they're going to have double the square footage that they were going to have and they're going to have four bedrooms. So I mean, that was one of those stories. That was, it was really rewarding with about the same payment. They were. The payment was very, very close to the same, almost, if not exactly, the same, and the difference was, you know, the interest rate was a drastic difference, and that's the difference when you start doing a title loan versus a mortgage. But I mean it, it made a big difference. And then we were able to. You know, they were so excited.
Speaker 3:I mean I asked him one day about something. I forget what I asked him, but his response was I'll do anything you need. I mean, and it's like thank you for taking care of my family. I mean, if he said that once, I bet he said it 10 times, and so it's just to me. It's just, I mean the loan side. You don't get those stories, you don't get the rewarding side like that. It's a little different on the loan side because we're not. You know, everybody wants to be in a house, they don't care about the loan. So this side has opened up a lot more for me. It's a lot more rewarding because we're able to help people and you know it's enjoyable.
Speaker 4:So that's one of my favorites. We're going to have one big party when we hand them the keys. That's going to be a fun day.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I can't wait.
Speaker 4:So yeah, we've got it under contract.
Speaker 3:We've got their house ordered and so hopefully by middle part of November to end of the year they should be in the house. We hope.
Speaker 4:I think that could be Land to Home's first housewarming party. Yes, because I will be ready to celebrate that.
Speaker 2:Yes, we need to bring food and housewarming gifts. Yeah, that'll be a lot of fun, yeah.
Speaker 4:We don't care, I mean even about the publicity of it. I don't even care if it gets put on Facebook or anywhere I just want to celebrate with the family, with them, yeah.
Speaker 3:And here's a funny thing you know you've got to make money doing things, but we were in there meeting with them and I stepped out to try to figure out pricing. So I go back there. I had text Steve and he was, of course, meeting with him still, and so I mean he didn't answer and I made an executive decision. I said we're just not making anywhere near what we'd normally make on this house, I mean because we're going to get these people in this house. And about five minutes later, as I'm getting ready to head back in, he comes in and he says hey, I want to talk to you about something. I think we just need to not make as much on this one and make it work.
Speaker 3:And I had already made that decision to do it. But, we were both on the same page and hadn't even talked about it, because we just wanted to help that family, and so I mean, things like that are just really rewarding.
Speaker 2:That is, and you're doing a good work and you are providing affordable housing to people and it's a beautiful home. They're beautiful homes and so we do have Land to Homes website. You're on all social media.
Speaker 4:I know you've got, we are yeah.
Speaker 3:Okay, we are now yes I know Brittany. Steve's daughter, brittany, has made that happen for us.
Speaker 2:She is a benchmark.
Speaker 3:Brittany is posting those things and Christine and Dawn have been sharing, so I have noticed it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, we are sharing.
Speaker 4:Thank you.
Speaker 2:And so, anyway, we'll wrap it up, guys. Anything else you would like to? Any last words or anything before we?
Speaker 4:Well, I would just say if someone wants help navigating the process and wants to see how easily you can purchase one of these homes, to call us or go to land2homesus and we have a lot of our.
Speaker 4:This don't sound right, but a lot of our lot inventory, a lot of our land inventory on the website, some of our past projects. You can learn a lot about us on the website, but you can even learn more about us if you come in or call us and sit down and talk to us and just see how affordable it is and how creative we can be to make it work for you.
Speaker 2:Awesome, All right guys? Well, thank you for being on and talking about affordable housing and land to home.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I enjoyed it. Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1:This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee and they're not only licensed in Tennessee but Florida, georgia, south Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show. If you did make sure to like, rate and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee, so if you have questions about mortgages, call us at 423-491-5405. And the website is wwwjonathanandstevecom. Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings.
