The Hidden Systems Behind Building Wealth Through Real Estate | with Nina Henderson-Myers

If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the home-buying process, wondered how credit really impacts your financial future, or questioned whether homeownership is the right move for you, this episode is for you.

In this episode, I sit down with Nina Henderson-Myers, founder and CEO of Legacy Solutions Holdings and the woman many know as "Thee Legacy Lady."

With more than twenty years of experience in real estate, mortgages, and credit services, Nina recently expanded her business to include insurance services, bringing all aspects of the home-buying journey under one roof.

Together, we unpack the hidden systems behind buying a home and why so many people feel overwhelmed by the process. We discuss how credit, lending, insurance, and real estate all work together, the mistakes that can quietly cost people money, and why having the right guidance can make all the difference.

But this conversation goes beyond homeownership. We also explore the mindset side of money and why fear is often the biggest thing standing between where we are and where we want to be financially. Nina shares how she helps clients move through uncertainty, build confidence, and make decisions that create long-term wealth.

Key takeaways:

• Why homeownership can be one of the most powerful tools for building wealth
• How credit affects far more than just your mortgage approval
• The role insurance plays in protecting your financial future
• Common mistakes that can quietly cost homeowners money
• Why having the right team can completely change your home-buying experience
• The biggest mindset block keeping people from building wealth
• How to move through financial fear with confidence
• Why building a legacy starts long before you sign the closing documents

Whether you're preparing to buy your first home or simply want to build a stronger financial foundation, this conversation is full of practical insights and empowering reminders that wealth isn't built overnight, it's built through the decisions you make every step of the way.

Thanks for listening!!

Connect with Nina:
Website — LegacySolutionsHQ.com
Instagram — @theelegacylady
Instagram — @legacysolutionsres
Facebook — Thee Legacy Lady

Connect with Kate:
Instagram — @theinnercapitalpod & @katelynnicolee
TikTok — @theinnercapital

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Rate, review, follow the podcast, and share this episode to your Instagram stories.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to The Inner Capital, the podcast where money, mindset, and mastery meet. Because your greatest asset is within. I'm Kate, your host, and together we'll explore the stories and strategies of founders, visionaries, and leaders who are redefining wealth from the inside out. Thanks for tuning in. Welcome back to the Inner Capital. Today I'm joined by Nina Henderson Myers, founder and CEO of Legacy Solutions Holdings and the woman many know as the Legacy Lady. With more than 20 years of experience in real estate, mortgages, and credit services, Nina has dedicated her career to helping people create financial opportunities through homeownership and financial education. In this episode, we unpack the hidden systems behind buying a home and why so many people feel so overwhelmed by the process. Nina shares how credit, lending, insurance, and real estate all work together, the mistakes that can quietly cost people money, and why having the right guidance can make all the difference. We also explore the mindset side of money. Nina opens up about the fear that often holds people back from taking financial risks, how she helps clients navigate uncertainty, and why building a legacy starts long before you ever sign closing documents. Whether you're thinking about buying your first home or looking for practical ways to strengthen your financial foundation, this conversation offers valuable insights into the systems that can help create long-term wealth. Let's get into it. Nina, welcome to the Inner Capital. Thank you for having me. Today we're going to be talking about the hidden systems behind building wealth, and one of those systems being real estate. So, Nina, you've you've been coined the legacy lady. First off, I love that term. Um, before we get into systems and strategies today, can you just tell us a little bit about who you are and what got you here?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Okay. Um, well, first off, the whole legacy lady thing came from me digging down and deciding to do a relaunch of my business. And you know, they're always asking you who's your client, what's your why? Um, and I actually was ready to walk away from everything. So I realized that uh legacy was ultimately my main goal in life, what I want to be remembered for, um, and that's where that came from. Um, basically, I grew up in Detroit and I was a telemarketer at a mortgage company at the age of 18. And that's how I learned about credit and became a loan officer and learned about real estate and decided, hey, I want to help people that way.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Nice. I love that. So then when did you when did you um like officially form Legacy as it is today?

SPEAKER_01 3:01

So it just re- we just relaunched the beginning of the year. So essentially um Henderson Myers Home Services was the original name of my real estate brokerage. Um, and I began, it's been uh 20 plus years um since I originally started doing real estate and mortgages. Um essentially the journey there was I was 18, like I said. So when I learned how credit worked, I decided I wanted to buy my own home. Um but I had to build credit. So when I was 21, I purchased my home and I had a bad realtor, and then I had a good realtor, and that's when I realized, oh, that's what she was supposed to be doing. I want to help people that way. So over the 20 years or so, um, in 2020, I actually got my broker's license. Um, and of course, COVID hit. So even though it was still a good year for real estate at the time when it happened, we didn't know that was gonna be the case. Um, and then obviously, um, fast forward, like the rest of the world, had a lot of um unfortunately family pass away, things like that in the years following COVID. And that was that step back moment I told you about, and kind of said, okay, what do I want to do here? And me really searching and realizing, okay, I'm in it. This is probably gonna be until I die. So that's where the revamp of legacy came from.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

So you mentioned that you had a bad real estate agent and then you had a good one. Can you tell me what some of the characteristics were of the good real estate agent?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

The good real estate agent, she listened to me. Um, um, she wasn't dismissive because I realized with the first agent, I think it was more about my age. Um, she didn't really, I think, believe that I was a serious buyer, even though I had the credentials and pre-approval and everything. Um, but the good agent, she listened. Um, she guided me. So I'll give you an example. When we got ready to make my offer, um, I'm like, okay, it's in my price range. The amount they asked is fine. And she's like, nope, we're not doing that. She said, uh, we're gonna save you some money on this. We're gonna get you some money off. I'm gonna make the offer and take $5,000 off. And I was like, okay, because I was scared, you know, like I don't want to lose this house. And she was like, it'll be fine. Um, she also really, really worked for me. I remember at the time I was working actually um for Chrysler, it was at the time. Um, and she came to my job for me to sign uh the offer because I was like, I can't, I don't get off to this time. I don't know if we're gonna be able to turn it in. And she was like, Don't worry, I'll come up. So it's a turnstile, and she's there with the papers through it for me to sign for her to make my offer. So it was just the diligence, the listening, and really guiding me and not just trying to say, hey, it's a deal, and that's it. And she followed up with me afterwards when I was in my home to make sure if anything came up, I knew what to do or to give me resources, and I thought that was great.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

She really cared about you as a person and helping and working for you, not just getting the deal done. So that's awesome. Yeah. So you've built a company that brings real estate, mortgages, credit, and insurance all under one roof. Most people have never experienced something like that. What problem were you looking to solve when you created that model?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Okay, so the problem I found over the years was what hinders most people from actually taking the stuff from home ownership to actually wealth building. Um, a lot of times it's access, lack of knowledge, and then what you you don't know what you don't know. So essentially, if they would even be able to purchase a home and have a pre-approval, people don't understand how credit affects everything. So even if they got the pre-approval, if you have a worse interest rate, if you have higher insurance, all of those things can affect your debt to income when you're in the deal and make it unattainable for you. And it was only something, you know, different when if you would have had a better insurance agent or if you would have had a better credit score, that home could have been possible for you. So um over time, I just kept seeing people come to me and say, I want to buy, and I would refer people out for say credit repair. They would come back six months to a year, Miss Nina, I'm ready. And I would look at their score and I'm like, okay, your score is 680, but your DTI still doesn't qualify. So most of the credit repair agents that I know of, they're focused on your score essentially, or erasing and or deleting any bad marks that you have. Whereas they don't know the guidelines for a mortgage. Um, so because that's one of the things I do as well, I said, okay, we can keep going in this loop or we can try to help people so they don't get discouraged and just give up. And then the insurance piece came in where because I'm from Detroit, so essentially the insurance rates here in Michigan are higher than most of the country. Um, and so depending on where they would pick their home, I would see where there's still price gouging on top of it being inflated in Michigan. And that just came from not having the right brokers and being able to get the right price. So I just said for us to accomplish what we need, let's put it all under one roof and see if we can get it done as well as help people not to um get frustrated with the process because you're getting passed from let me send you to the loan officer, let me send you to the realtor. Oh, you have to get an insurance policy. And it's just a lot for people.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

I can understand that completely from personal experience because I feel like when we bought our house, there's a lot of different people that you have to connect with, and they all have to also connect with each other, too, to make sure, like, okay, everything's approved, and then they, you know, they have to coordinate with a lot of different people. So I can totally see and understand how having that all be connected is really beneficial for people.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, and for me, like I said, I and here's the thing: even when I had a good realtor, my first mortgage experience was horrible. I literally cried. I was crying at the table because I thought we weren't gonna close. We were there at the end of the day at the title company, and they were like, oh, well, the bank sent different papers, and we're gonna have to do a new package, and so we might not be able to close today. And I just broke down crying. So it's just these experiences where you never want people to go through that. So you say, let's make it easier for them if you can.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah, definitely. So that's that's the problem you were trying to solve. Some of the problems that you experienced with your first um, your first home. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Well, in addition to that, the other main problem are the systemic things that I see, right? Um, so basically in the community that I come from and surrounding and just traveling to be quite honest, I've seen all around the world when people don't have access, it's totally different. Their mindset is different about what they can achieve um and what they want to do. And primarily that's the problem that I want to block from people having that fear or doubt or just saying, Well, that's that's not for me.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Uh makes total sense. So if you can you can help connect the dots for people. Okay, so a lot of people think that buying a home is the ultimate wealth move, and it can be for some people. But um, what are they missing? When should somebody maybe be renting instead of buying?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Okay, now that's a tough one because to be quite honest to you, I am a very big proponent of home ownership, even with invest like to me, it has to be a very specific reason in the sense that you still have an end goal or plan. It's a difference if you say literally the area or country or city I live in, the price point for me, it's not accessible for me to buy at this point. Okay, that would make sense. Otherwise, if there's a way for you to own what you're paying the same amount or more for, to me, it's no reason not to build equity and take advantage of that because then you can leverage that equity to build wealth. So when I hear people say, huh, yeah, you know, homeownership, you don't need to do that anymore. I'm renting and I'm saving more money. I don't see that when you're not getting a return on that money. And in today's age, at least in America, there's nowhere where rent is cheap. So I can't say where you would say, Hey, I'm saving way more than if I would have bought this home. In general, when you look across the country, you're actually gonna save by owning the home. So I can't really, you know, think of another scenario besides that just being the case that at the time you're saving to buy, or you have multiple properties and have an exit strategy already where you're basically getting return on your money in another investment, which is a vehicle for that. So you can afford to just say, I want to splurge on this property and it's not for sale and I want to rent it.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Would you say um credit might be a reason too that people um don't buy? So, like I have a question around credit in general. Like, it's typically something that a lot of people ignore until it's a problem and they often feel shame around it. So, how do you reframe the conversation with your clients? Or when somebody comes to you and says, like, oh, I want to buy a home, but their credit score is not necessarily what um they're hoping it would be.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

And that's the thing, right? That's the first starting point. So if it's not where you want it to be, this is not the end of the world. Most people look at it if my credit is shot, if I had to file bankruptcy, if I have student loans, if I've never built credit. In their mind, if I have bad credit, they're just stuck. And I'm like, credit is a tool. So essentially, you can play with it and reverse it as much once you learn how to play the game, it's fine. So if they say, Well, that's why I'm not buying, I get right now this second, that's why you may not buy. Um, but we would want to work on that profile because even if you didn't buy, poor credit is costing you. It's costing you on your auto insurance, it's costing you possibly in getting a job, it's costing you across the board where you're paying more for things, even if you weren't buying a home. So that's definitely something that you want to work on. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Um, because most people that I see, it's actually more lack of credit than bad credit. They haven't built credit or their profile isn't optimized because they don't know what the key triggers are. So they'll they might have a 570 credit score and no derogatories, you know, but they've only had small charge cards or credit cards, no home loans, no auto loans, or I get a lot of people that have no credit score, literally, and you'll say, How do you not have a score? And but they've never started to build that credit, they just always use cash.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

What's next? So we get you get the credit to a place to a solid place to be able to buy. What does the rest of the journey look like?

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Um, well, when we do a consultation and we look over credit, it's everything is a road in my company. So it's like, are you gonna go right or are you gonna go left? Um, when you come in, if your credit is good enough right now and you want to purchase, then you're moving on to a pre-approval with a loan officer that's gonna get you the best product for what you have. Um, and the reason I want to mention that part specifically is very important. Um, because let's just say you get a veteran. A lot of veterans feel I get a VA benefit, so I already know I'm gonna get a VA loan. That's not always the best product at the time for them. And it's not like you can still use that benefit down the road whenever you would want. Um, so they'll say, Oh, well, because I don't have a down payment, they feel I have to be saving the most money. When actually there's still other fees associated with the VA loan, as well as other things like lender credits and programs that may be in play where you may get a better interest rate and save more money by going with another product. So you want to make sure the loan officer you're working with, you allow them to say, Let me look at the best product for what you're trying to do. Now, if their credit isn't there, then of course we go through a credit optimization to then come back in after that's the case and go down the mortgage journey. Once you get past mortgage pre-approval, we say this is the type of loan we have, this is the home we're looking for, this is the price point. Then let me get you with a realtor that's gonna assist you with that in the best way possible. Um, fast forward through that process, the realtor has all the assets for you from that point. So, of course, by law, you can have your own home inspector or someone you know look at a home if you get your offer accepted. Um, but but again, a lot of times people don't know what they don't know. So if you, for instance, have your brother that's a contractor do your home inspection to say 500 bucks. Well, if he does, if he missed something and you didn't hire him, once you're in that home, that's your responsibility. Versus I make sure that I work with licensed, bonded, and insured inspectors. And we have been through cases where they did an inspection, the person moved into the home and they'll call me, hey Nina, it's this spot that wasn't here before that's in the ceiling. You know, what's going on? And we'll go through the report. It wasn't there, they look there. If it's something they miss, their insurance will cover that. They came and made that repair. So you may think you're saving money on one end, but you want to use those resources. So the realtor will take you around, get your offer accepted, negotiate for you, refer home inspectors, movers, whatever resources you need. The loan officer will then close the deal for you. Um, and you're also gonna have title in there. We'll talk about them today and the whole process, but then ultimately you end up at closing. And then the differentiator for my company is we don't just say, Oh, you bought the house, goodbye. Now that you're in the home and you're in our ecosystem, then we're gonna talk about a wealth building plan. So you'll say, Hey, okay, we're gonna look at do you have student loans right now? Do you have kids graduating? Do you have something you're trying to do financially? And now, okay, if you're in the house this many years, we're estimating this much equity you're gonna get. How can we do a plan of how you can pay this mortgage down even quicker to get to your financial goals, as well as offer you some investments if you're interested in that? If you're not, you still will have the information and the tools free of charge.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

I love that that you offer um support after closing and to help people with the with wealth building journey. I think that's super important. Where does insurance fit into all of that?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

So the insurance is a big piece of it that most people do miss, right? So even in the process, you notice it doesn't come up just like with title with me. It's like, yeah, it has to happen, but most people don't talk about it. But it's in the mortgage approval process. So the lender is going to require that you have insurance on the property if you have a lender, and if you don't and you're buying a house cash, you definitely want an insurance policy, you know, to make sure, God forbid, something happens, you don't lose out on your investment. So the reason it's also such a huge piece is because people don't look at that as a wealth-building vehicle as well. Um, there's more than just auto and home insurance, and life insurance has so many layers that you may say, okay, I have this salary, I don't get these huge increases or bonuses yearly. We're none of us are keeping up with inflation, but there are insurance products that you can invest in that that can help you build wealth as well. And it will be in your budget and be something no different than you paying your Netflix bill every month. You can set it, this amount goes to that, you know, every month. And then when you look up and say, This was my goal to retire, or this is when I wanted to invest or start my own business, you can pull that money out and do something with it. It doesn't have to just be a death benefit.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

What like insurance is that called?

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Is that like life insurance or yeah? So life insurance, you have a lot of different. So a lot of people now are talking about, say, the IULs and things of that nature, but there also is products like mortgage insurance. So you can actually insure your mortgage, so even when people are getting laid off or you lose your job, you can think about that as well that you don't have to have the fear around because I've heard that as an objection to homeownership, right? Um, I don't have the money for the maintenance, or what if something happens and I don't want all that liability? You have other things in place to fall back on that are wraparound that if something happens to you or your employment potentially, that mortgage will still be taken care of. So you're covering you and your family.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

That makes sense. That's interesting. I didn't I insurance is definitely a piece that I haven't um like explored enough, especially when it comes to like real estate and insurance in general and and life insurance too. I I've heard a little bit about life insurance and building wealth with that and how you can kind of leverage that. But no, I think that's super interesting and and not an avenue most people understand about insurance. You you know, normally it's just like, oh, I have to pay like car insurance and it's so much, and home insurance and it's so much. But I think there's a lot behind insurance that can be explored in terms of actually leveraging it and and using it to build wealth.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yes, and just like when we were talking about with the credit, the more money you save, right, even on insurance, you can invest that somewhere else and do something with it. So we never just want to say, well, this is what they told me I had to have, and not pay attention to those coverages either. And that's where a good insurance agent comes in and the partners that I work with. Um, because I found out sometimes they'll have different libers or things that go along with the policy, and I wasn't even aware of it. And then something happened with that client in that house, and they'll say, I'm so happy they told me about that. They're gonna cover everything. I just had my deductible whereas normally this would have been tens of thousands of dollars. You know, things like your basement bagging up or flooding um outside of flood insurance, um, just the pipe that's under your house that goes out that most of the time isn't covered, things like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

So after twenty plus years in this space, what do you think the biggest mindset block that you see? That's stopping people from taking the first steps towards building wealth. So this could be in real estate or just in general, because I know you kind of work end to end and you see a lot of people. So, like mindset-wise, what do you think is the biggest block?

SPEAKER_01 22:16

I literally, to me, it's fear. It's literally just fear. Um, I deal with clients on all levels, spectrums as far as price points. Um, and at every level, even if they're not a first-time buyer, you face fear when you're looking at this big note, right, that you're attaching your name to and taking on this debt. Or you face the fear of, okay, no one in my family has done this before. So I haven't, if I do it, what happens if I mess up? What happens if I can't do it? And they look at it as do I want to take that big of a risk versus I can just stay comfortable where I am and keep doing what I'm doing. Um, so over time, I've just seen it as an overall fear of the unknown. Because even if you've purchased several homes, if right now I say I'm gonna go buy my dream house and it's $2.5 million, that's still gonna be different than the house I had now, right? So there's a whole different set of maintenance, taxes, everything that's a bigger bill than I ever had. So it's still gonna always be this fear of okay, the numbers look good, but what if? What if I get sick? What if the market crashes? What if things go upside down? And so it's fear on that level, and then it's fear of the unknown when people just haven't been exposed to doing it.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

I totally agree. Fear is like the biggest thing, fear of the unknown and fear of it just in general. Um people do have a lot of fear around money, I think. So what do you do that helps people push past that fear?

SPEAKER_01 23:57

It's literally me saying, I will hold your hand. So also just dissecting it. So everybody's gonna have fear from a different place, right? I've had people say, no, because my friend bought a house and this is what happened. Or, you know, we inherited my parents' house, we had it for years, and I don't feel like I need a property because just the maintenance alone, I can't keep up with that. So, whatever the specific fear is, we start from there. So, for instance, when I talk to someone who's a renter that says, I don't think I want to buy a house because I can't keep up with the maintenance. Okay, here are some resources that you may not know that are there to help you with that. They're home warranties that make that not such a headache because I've had people say they want to buy a condo, for instance, so they won't have to cut the grass and all the things. But sometimes the association fees are almost more or half of like what their mortgage is. And I'm like, you hiring someone to cut the grass or do the snow in the winter is not even a third of that. So you have to balance and say realistically, what is out there that can actually still let you accomplish what you want to accomplish and be within your budget and be manageable? So I just take it from there. Whatever that fear is, either there is a resource and you weren't aware of it, or it's literal fear, it's visceral, and that's when it's hey, so are you afraid that if you get into the house and you run into a problem, uh you won't know how to solve it? Okay, that's what I'm for. Call me. Right? And I still have clients that'll text me and say, Oh, this is going on with the taxes. Okay, it went up, but not that much. Let's call the assessor, let's put in an exemption. Um, okay, my insurance went up. Okay, let me look at that. If you have an insurance broker and you're not tied to one company, then their job is to look all over to get you the best rate. And sometimes it might be adjusting your coverages if it's totally outside of your budget. And sometimes it's just literally the carrier that has inflated. So they might have been the best for the last 10 years, but now they're not, and you have to go somewhere else.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

So it's really like this the support, and then also just offering, I mean, statistical facts and resources for people. Because I feel like, you know, for me too, whenever I get in a headspace of, you know, I'm doing something that's new or uncomfortable for me when it comes to wealth, I have to remind myself of the facts. So sometimes it's just restating, like, yeah, you know, if this happens, then we'll do this. So it's like giving people that like, you know, that confidence in the problem solving realm that I think uh combats a lot of the fear of the what if. Um, so I think that that's great that you support people in that way. Okay, where can people find you and work with you? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Um, well, I am the Legacy Lady, so T-H-E-E, Legacy Lady on Instagram. Other than that, um, I like people to go to my website just because they can actually then uh sign up for resources or get directly to me. So that's just legacy solutionshq.com. Um, and essentially our new because all our platforms are new because we just relaunched. So um, same thing with Legacy Solutions RES is the real estate page on um Instagram as well. Other than that, the like the Legacy Lady on Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Awesome. I'll put also all of the links to all of those in the podcast description as well for folks. Um, we always end an episode with a little ritual of three questions. Okay. So, Nina, the first one is one daily habit that you do to feel wealthy.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

I watch uh it's funny, I watch yacht and beach videos every morning.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

Wow, I actually really love that.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

So that's what I wake up to on YouTube. I'll go to it because I go to sleep to the ocean noise, but then I'll go to like a yacht video where they're just debuting one or something else, and it gets me into mindset.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Nice. I love that. A little morning manifestation. Yep. The second question is your go-to coffee order or morning drink.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

I'm a tea person. So generally, if I'm out, um I'll have a tea, but in general, I love orange juice, so I'm I like a lot of sugar and pep, so that's what I get in the morning. What uh kind of tea do you have? I'm really just like Earl Glip Gray. I'm very simple. Um, not a lot of extra to it. I don't do honey, I do straight sugar.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

So okay, and then last question your most used emoji lately?

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Um, all the time I'm I'm the wink with the little kiss heart. Okay, okay. I like that one. I always try to send love, you know, and say right on.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

So love that. Well, thank you so much for joining the podcast today. Really appreciate it, and thank you everybody for tuning into today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

Thank you for having me.