The Carolina Contractor Show
The Carolina Contractor Show
Expert Strategies for Navigating Mortgages feat. Kyle May
Ever wondered if you really need a 20% down payment to buy a home? Join us on the Carolina Contractor Show as we unravel these common myths and explore the world of home buying with our special guest Kyle May from Movement Mortgage. Kyle brings his expertise to the table, shedding light on the current challenges faced by young buyers, such as high interest rates and inflation. You'll gain insight into securing a mortgage loan in today's tough market and discover alternative financing options that could make your homeownership dreams a reality.
In this episode, we break down the misconceptions surrounding home buying and introduce a variety of loan options that cater to different financial situations. From VA and USDA loans that offer low or no down payments to FHA loans that require just 3.5%, there's a pathway for everyone. We also dive into down payment assistance programs like those provided by the North Carolina Housing Assistance, and discuss special loan programs for self-employed individuals. Kyle shares invaluable advice on avoiding private mortgage insurance and making use of family gifts or 401k loans for down payments, opening doors for eager homebuyers.
Are you hesitant about buying a home due to market unpredictability? Get ready to rethink your strategy as we discuss the timing and affordability of purchasing property. With Kyle's guidance, we emphasize the long-term benefits of homeownership over renting and the importance of getting pre-approved, no matter your credit score. This episode is packed with practical advice and encouragement for anyone looking to step into the housing market with confidence. Whether you're a first-time buyer or just curious about current trends, tune in to gain the knowledge you need to make informed decisions and take proactive steps on your home buying journey.
Connect with Kyle at KyleJMay.com
Welcome to the Carolina Contractor Show with your host, general Contractor Donnie Blanchard. So, donnie, all our shows are on a podcast at the website, right, so it's kind of like a time machine. People can go back and listen to shows that we've done in the past.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I actually do that for entertainment sometimes to think about how much we've grown. And, man, I think I may have been smarter than I am now when we got started. I was just on fire back in the day, but sound quality, all that's a lot better these days.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I want people to go back to September, late September, you know why? Tell me. Because back then football season was getting ready to start and I asked you a question at the beginning of a show and said who's going to be in the Super Bowl? And I even wrote mine down before I showed the answer and you said who is going to be in the Super Bowl? Eagles Chiefs. And we both agreed the Eagles Chiefs would be in the Super Bowl and the Eagles Chiefs are going to be in the Super Bowl. And we disagreed on what I think you thought the Eagles were going to win.
Speaker 2:So the Chiefs had so many close games this year Not going to talk football today but they had so many close games that they won by missed field goals this year. They're not going to get past the Eagles like that man. I don't feel good about the Chiefs' chances next week.
Speaker 1:I think the Chiefs were just sandbagging the whole year. Kelsey was sandbagging it and they're just going to, and somehow Tyreek is going to show up in a Chiefs uniform.
Speaker 3:Listen, they've never went against a running back like Barkley. So if he could get over 150 yards on the ground. It's over.
Speaker 1:Well, it's why we play the games. Me and Donnie have a gentleman's bet. We're doing just bragging rights for it. We are not doing real money, so we'll see who wins that game. That's right. But you can go to the website, thecarolinacontractorcom, go to the podcast and go in the time machine and see that we really did predict this correctly and we'll find out who was the true predictor of the final score, or or at least the winner, if it's going to be Philly, or or if it's going to be my chiefs.
Speaker 1:Now, you probably heard that other voice in there. That's Kyle May. He's going to be our guest. We're going to chat in detail with him in a little bit. But, as I mentioned the website, go there not only for the podcast and to see how we're the Nostradamus of the world and prognosticators of football, but you can also go to our YouTube page. We've got links for it there. You can contact us. That's all of our social media is listed right there.
Speaker 1:You have a question about your house, the inside, the outside, maybe you have a question Can I get a mortgage? You can click on the Ask the Contractor button and those go to Donnie and he answers them, and we like to do questions on the show and sometimes we just do questions in general for an entire episode of the Carolina Contractor Show and if there's something you'd like to hear us talk about, or just ideas or anything, just start at the website thecarolinacontractorcom. Now last week, donnie, we talked about buying a house and a lot of people are thinking I can never buy a house, they're too expensive, there's no chance for me to get in there and we kind of gave our own opinions and we didn't really know a whole lot, but we decided maybe we should get a professional in and you had someone who is a professional, so we've invited him on the show. I mentioned his name, but I'll let you do the official introduction, donnie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, last week's show we had a lot of downloads, so that's obviously a topic that everybody wants to hear about, and it really hit home between my son, my fiance's daughter they're both in their early 20s and in the process of trying to find a house to buy and between interest rates, inflation and just everything going on in the world. Now. That seems to be a lot harder than it's been in our lifetime really, and so I thought I would be wise we, we. Last week, like you said, it was a show of a lot of opinions and, uh, we threw a lot of good stuff out there. But where the rubber meets the road is when you actually go in to get that mortgage loan.
Speaker 2:So, um, today we're bringing on Kyle May. He's a loan officer for movement mortgage, and when I say this guy's a whiz, everybody in town knows about him and and, uh, I guess after today you're not going to be my best kept secret, kyle, but I thought it would be wise for me to get you on and just give everybody listening to the show a lot of information straight from the horse's mouth. So thanks for your time, bud. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for having me guys. Hopefully I could throw out some information that's useful for everyone.
Speaker 1:Yep. So, first of all, how did you meet Donnie Kyle? How'd you two run into each other?
Speaker 3:Well, Donnie, long story short. Donnie is dating my best friend's cousin and been my best friend since second grade. So that's basically, I think, how we a few Christmas gatherings or birthdays, and that's kind of how we ran across each other.
Speaker 2:I had no idea what he did and I was like what a cool guy you know. And then you know this person or that person around town. Do you know about Kyle May? Or you know if you're going to get a loan, call that guy and you know he can. He can work wonders in it. You know, I guess, but with all the loan officers and all the options, all the banks in town, really it is who you know.
Speaker 2:Because if you walk into a bank and they're not geared towards young people or they're not geared towards your type of loan or your particular situation, then they just really can't help you. And Kyle is kind of one of these guys who's very diverse and no matter what your situation is, I've seen him help a lot of people. So, like I said, I thought we would be wise to actually get him on and give some knowledge out there and just give a lot of information to our listener base. And you know we just mentioned that last week's show was tailored around younger people, so kind of want to pick your brain on what young people need to do. As far as coming out of college, you've got an entry level job, you know, not a lot of work experience. You're not making the most money you're ever going to make, and you know what kind of challenges do you run into with young folks that come see you, kyle.
Speaker 3:You know, great question. Typically, the biggest issue I run into when somebody's fresh out of college, fresh out of high school, is what's called work history. Now, with that being said, you don't have to be at one place for five years and that's work history you could have. Let's say, you went to college and you were going to become a police officer. You graduated. Then you have an offer letter or a job. We verify, you work full time. Boom, we're good to go with your work verification, even though you've only been there for a week, a day, a month. The history is there that you went to school, you got a degree and now you have a job in that same type of job field. So that would cover the job history.
Speaker 3:Now let's say you're 18, fresh out of high school and you've never had a job before. That is going to be a little bit longer of a journey and a lot of it depends on what type of work and job you have. So let's say you're an hourly employee at the local Walmart right after high school and you work 25 hours a week, 30 hours a week, 35 hours a week. Well, in that situation it's going to be very difficult for you to get a mortgage by yourself, because your hours vary and you're not technically a full time employee. Full time according to lenders. They really want to see you working 40 hours per week, every week.
Speaker 3:When you start going a little underneath, that again it's variable pay and we can't really. Variable pay is very difficult to use if you don't have a job history. So that would be my number one thing is first, don't overthink it, don't overcomplicate. What do I need to do to get a mortgage and think you need all these things? The first thing is you just want to pick up a phone, call somebody like me, and then we're going to walk you through. Hey, you're not ready now, but if you do this and this and this, in six months you will be ready, or a year or two months. There's a lot of variables in mortgage and we could go through so many different scenarios.
Speaker 1:Well, kyle, I want to talk about the fact that so many people, younger people, are basically convinced that they can't get a house. Interest rates are too high, you need 20% down to be able to even get a house and to get the mortgage going, and there's no way they're going to be able to afford buying a house, so they're going to stay in their apartment and not even make the chance. And, as you said, you need to start somewhere by calling someone who knows a thing or two about the business. What is the, off the top of your head, maybe the biggest myth out there right now about trying to buy a home?
Speaker 3:That you need 20% down.
Speaker 1:Explain.
Speaker 3:So, depending on your qualifications, depending on which state you live in and depending on the program that you're using, for example, a VA loan if you're a veteran, that's no down payment. 100 percent financing USDA loan, let's just say outside of city limits. Basically, 100 percent financing FHA. Three and a half percent down is the minimum. Three and a half percent down of the sales price of the house. Conventional mortgages, three to five percent down and a lot of these down payment requirements. You could get a gift from a relative let's say mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin. Let's just say you don't have enough assets saved up, you're fresh out of school, have a few thousand bucks and you need help from family. They could help you financially via the asset portion to help you qualify. So there's again I'll keep saying this over and over during this podcast is there's going to be so many different scenarios that are slightly different, that require different solutions. So that's what I think I'm really good at is I just don't look at it in just one way and say, oh, we can't help you. Well, hey, can we add a co-borrower, can we get a gift? Can we do a 401k loan for the down payment because it's lower interest rate than if you get a personal loan. So there's so many ways to look at it. But that would be the answer to that.
Speaker 3:That 20% down is a myth. Now what they're saying 20% down is how you avoid PMI. In layman terms, what PMI is is private mortgage insurance. It is not something say it bluntly is helping you, the borrower, at all if you stop paying your mortgage. I could dive really deep on this so I won't try to go too deep. But with 20% down or not 20% down on a conventional mortgage, let's say you did 5% down that PMI. Whatever that PMI is per month, it could be $20 a month, it could be $300 a month. It just depends on your qualifications. Once your value of your house versus a loan reaches 20% equity, it goes away. On FHA, it doesn't go away. So that's where and again on this call I'm going to confuse more people than I inform, but basically this is the information I run through my mind to see which program is best for that person.
Speaker 2:Are there any other special programs? I know you just rattled off about three or four that are pretty common, but are there any other special programs that are worth putting out there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100% One. That's pretty big and growing right now and it's for people like you, Donnie, is your business bank statement loan, so a lot of self-employed borrowers. We know that there's a lot of write-offs, typically with self-employment. So hey, I make a million dollars a year, but after all the write-offs on my tax return, line 31 shows that I made $40,000.
Speaker 2:I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:That's not going to get you what you want to get right. So a business bank statement loan. Basically, we take 12 months of business bank statements, look at the deposits, verify the deposits are for work, divide it by a certain percentage. Usually, when we go that route, significantly more income can be used than what your tax returns are so we don't even look at the tax returns.
Speaker 3:We do verify your business has been open for two years and so on and that you credit qualify. But the business bank statement loan is growing. It is an increased interest rate. It is an increased down payment. But let me ask you a question. If I told you you have to pay another $150,000 in taxes to make your tax returns enough money to where you qualify, or take a percentage and a half interest rate higher, which one are you going to choose?
Speaker 2:Absolutely yeah, no.
Speaker 3:And again it's just variables. And then a big one in this Eric and whatnot down payment assistance programs. I'm certified through North Carolina Housing down payment assistance. Not all lenders do them anymore because, just to be bluntly, lenders lose money when they do them. But we still do them, but we still do them. What down payment assistance means with North Carolina housing?
Speaker 2:And again, if you're listening from other states.
Speaker 3:Your state probably has a version of this, but it's not going to be specific. This is just North Carolina. The most popular one that I use is it's a $15,000 down payment assistance. So basically, they give you $15,000, minus fees, to use towards down payment and closing costs. Well, if you're looking at buying a house $200,000 to $300,000, that's going to cover probably 90 plus percent of your down payment and closing costs. Now the caveat with down payment assistance and I don't think it's a negative If you sell or refinance your house within 15 years, you have to pay back the $15,000. Now, with that being said, they can't put you in a negative equity situation. So hey, kyle, I sold my house a year after I bought it. I'm not making a profit, they're not going to put you in a hole or anything like that, but my mindset here is you're going to have to come up with it now to buy a house or maybe you have to pay it back over 15 years, because after 15 years it's fully forgiven and it's a 0% interest.
Speaker 3:So you're not actually paying for that. So it's a phenomenal program, I mean. I think, my wife and I were top in the state in that program with doing those loans. They're not any more difficult than any other normal traditional mortgages. Again, we could have a whole nother podcast about NC Housing and Down Payment Assistance. But it is a phenomenal program for people young people, older people that just don't have the assets saved up right now but they have good job history, good credit and so on.
Speaker 1:You made me think of something else, and that's people go online. When you mentioned interest rates, people go online and type in mortgage rates and they see a percentage and go wow, it's come down to 4.93 or 5.1. And then they run to their lender and the lender goes no, no, no. Is that a problem that you're having to explain to people when they go online to find that great rate and they wonder why you're charging higher? Because I assume the website's not right.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I will not name any names because I don't want to get sued over here. But there's a lot of big box banks, online lenders that I go up against and we have very competitive rates here at Movement Mortgage. But what I see a lot is this is just numbers I'm throwing out there. They're not real. Let's say, the current market interest rate is a 6.99%. What I mean by current market means you're not paying for that rate. I'm not giving you any money for choosing that rate. That's just the fear rate that is given.
Speaker 3:Joe Schmo says hey, while I was on Google and I seen where so-and-so is offering a 5.99, why is your rate so much higher? And I always say, hey, that sounds like a really good deal. Let's get online together and look at what you're seeing. Hey, you see that I button next to the rate, click on that and then you're going to see for that interest rate. It's if you have an 800 credit score with 25% down in a small town in Texas for some reason it's Texas, I don't know why in Texas and they're charging you this is what's called points $10,000 for that rate.
Speaker 3:Hell, I could do the same thing. You want me to buy down your rate to that, sure, but a lot of times investing that much money into an interest rate, the payback period is going to take five, six, seven years. Well, if Donnie thinks rates are going to come down in the next year or two, it makes no sense for you to invest that much money in a lower rate. Now, if rates were 2%, then yeah, buy that thing down because you're dying in that rate. You're never refinancing it unless you have to right. So be careful when you guys go online, really research it, because 99% of the time if it's a massive difference that somebody like me is talking about or telling you you qualify for, you're missing something or they're charging you fees on the back end.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I like the one about the self-employed. I had no idea about the self-employed option on the loan and I'm assuming that you have to have several years under your belt and file taxes for so long for the self-employed Typically two.
Speaker 2:Really Okay. So I'm building a house for somebody self-employed now and it's kind of one of these situations where he's paid as he went. So if he needed a work truck, he saved up, bought the work truck. He hasn't really needed credit and we had a really good conversation this week. From a common sense standpoint, it doesn't make sense that if you've never needed credit for anything, that you have to have credit to buy anything big and I know that's just a big, not scam, but it sort of but it just doesn't make sense. If you've never had to borrow money before you, you would seem like a prime candidate to to borrow as much as you wanted and it just it works the opposite.
Speaker 3:Well, let's be honest, Donnie, and again, don't sue me anybody out there, but credit card companies don't make money when you pay off your credit card in full each month.
Speaker 3:The only reason you're in business and they make billions of dollars is because you're getting charged 20 to 30% interest, right? So, yes, unfortunately and fortunately, credit is required so the banks know that you can pay your bills. It is phenomenal that you guys could pay everything in cash. I wish I could be like that, but not everybody has three, four $500,000 to where they could go buy a house cash. So that's where credit's really important. And if it's somebody, this could be a 18 year old kid or an 80 year old man or woman or whoever.
Speaker 3:Credit is a need. You have to have credit. Now, with me saying you have to, there are, there's a, there's a program for everything out there, but usually there's a premium. There's things that you could technically not have a credit score and still get a mortgage. But then you have to build a non-traditional credit profile, which means, hey, we have to verify you're paying your gas bill, your electric bill. There's ways you could do it without having credit, but I wouldn't go that route, I can tell you that much. It's a higher interest rate typically, maybe even bigger down payment. But what I typically tell young whoever is the easiest way to start building credit is what is it called credit card? Everybody hears it. Some people love it because they get points. Some people hate it because they're paying it off over 10 years because they had a really fun weekend in Vegas. So if you're a younger kid and you're listening to this, let's just say you're around 16 to 18 years old.
Speaker 3:The best way to start building your credit up safely is being added as an authorized user to a trusted family member. It doesn't even have to be a family member, but a trusted person, and what I mean by that is let's say Donnie has a credit card and his limit's $10,000. It means he could spend $10,000 on it. That's how much he could spend. Let's say he spends $1,000 on it each month and when that bill comes due he pays it off in full. That is a proper credit user. He's not getting charged interest because he's paying it off each month and he's not maxing it out and then paying it off, so he's keeping the utilization that's what that's called low and then when the bill comes due, he pays it off to avoid interest. Those are the people you want to add as an authorized user, or you want to be an authorized user on their account. So I'm Donnie's child. It's possible. Kind of you're kind of old Donnie.
Speaker 2:I knew you were about to go with that Funny guy. Okay, but you know.
Speaker 3:I want to build my credit, but you don't really want me to get my own credit card because it's just a little risky at that age A lot risky. Add an authorized user to Donnie Donnie's paying his bills on time. Now your child, or whoever is the authorized user, is basically piggybacking on your good credit. So when you become 18, 19 and you're ready to buy a house, you already have established credit.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you a question related to that. Okay, so I have two daughters. They're 16 and 13. And, um, if I were going to take that approach um, I know we talked off the air about the minimum age and you said that it was 13 years old to be added as an authorized user. So what would that approach work? Twofold, Uh, could I take out two different credit cards and add Laura Grace to one and Ava to the other? And, and I mean, if I have enough time, wouldn't that build their credit significantly enough when they're 18, 20 to be up there?
Speaker 3:So I don't know the in and outs. I think each credit company's going to have their different rules and guidelines to it. I'm not sure I think you could have multiple authorized users on that one card.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:I'm not 100% sure, but that's something. Again, whoever's listening out there is, you know. Call your current credit card company and ask them what they allow. And that would be the best way, because as soon as I tell you it's 13, it's going to be 15, with a different number. But yeah, I think that's a good thing. But, guys, you got to be careful out there.
Speaker 3:If you have a parent and they're just not good with money don't become an authorized user on their account because they could do vice versa they could ruin your credit before it even started. So this is somebody that you know maybe is responsible financially that you would want to piggyback and do an authorized user.
Speaker 1:And we're talking with Kyle May. He's a loan officer with Movement Mortgage and last week on the Carolina Contractor Show, we were talking about how hard it is to buy a house and that it's harder for younger people. I mean, it's harder for anybody. But when you're just starting out and Kyle dispensed of a couple myths right off the bat, the number one thing being you don't need to put 20% down and there's plenty of programs to do that need to put 20% down and there's plenty of programs to do that we don't have to go too deep in the credit part, because I know there's some particular rules and each card can be different on what they allow with people. But what I want to know is somebody they've got pretty good credit. They've got a 40 hour a week job. They've had it for a couple of years. Um, they've got a 40 hour a week job. They've had it for a couple of years. They're interested in buying a house. Their first step isn't to find a house. So what are the first few steps they really need to take?
Speaker 3:Yeah, typically the first step that they think they need to take is they need to start looking on Zillow, which I do, that too. And then I end up at a house in California that's $30 million. And then I'm imagining the boat that I'll have when I'm fishing.
Speaker 3:And then you know it's two o'clock in the morning, but anyhow they usually talk to an agent a real estate agent first, and then that agent is going to say have you been pre-approved? I do the pre-approval, I'm the one that looks at your credit, verifies your income, verifies your assets and then gives you the green light on what you can afford. That's typically the first step is again talking to somebody like me. And here's just a kind of a FYI for people If your lender is not asking for pay stubs or W-2s or bank statements, be worried.
Speaker 3:Because if they're not verifying anything and they're just going off of sorry to say it, your word that you work 40 hours a week, I've seen that be a recipe for disaster a lot because people think they're full-time and they're not. They're working 38, 39, 37, 34. That's not 40. So now you're not a full-time, you're a variable income employee and we talked about that earlier. But that's something to look out at if they're not asking for any documents. Now, if you're a salary employee, I'm guaranteed $70,000 a year. I'm probably not going to ask for your pay stub right in the beginning because salary is salary. It's not changing unless you lose your job. But I can still verify your credit score and your debts and assets.
Speaker 2:Hey, we talk a lot about what's on the horizon with construction and a lot of times, interest rates comes into that conversation. But what are you? I know new administration took over this month and what are you seeing in terms of the whispers in your world about? Are there going to be new programs available to help out young people or just anybody? And what are you hearing about interest rates?
Speaker 3:Gosh, I could really go into this one. I love politics and hate it at the same time. But how can I say this? Nobody knows the answer. Since COVID, everything's screwed up. I'm not going to go into inverse yields in the 10-year treasury in the stock market, unless we need to, but basically in the past you could kind of see where things were headed days on end, weeks on end. Right now it could go up one day crazy and down one day crazy. So here's my crystal ball. I think we could all agree that. When do interest rates typically come down? When the economy is not doing well? When does the interest rates go up when the economy is doing well? Link economy to jobs and the stock market that's really kind of where your mind needs to go. What's weird is on paper, the economy is doing phenomenal, but does it feel that way With inflation, with so many different things? And hey, inflation is supposedly down under 3%.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that's potentially down to where it needs to be. So that's where it's. That's a tough answer. But what I'm worried about is, if the current administration does what they say they're going to do, I feel like it could be very painful until it gets better, and what I mean by that. Again, guys, I'm not an economist, this is just my personal opinion. If tariffs start becoming massive, that is typically an inflationary thing. Now, some tariffs are good if you're trying to bring jobs back over and it's a niche type business, right, but just massive tariffs from my understanding of course there's going to be somebody that completely disagrees with me.
Speaker 3:Typically, tariffs cause prices to go up While inflation goes up. Guess what else is going to start going up again Interest rates Also, you start factoring into mass deportations. Mass deportations could hurt the job market and the produce and construction, which then is going to cause inflation, aka rise interest rates. So that's where I say depending on how much they actually do, what they're going to say, they're going to do is really going to affect it. Right now, just to give the last 10 days or so, the market had a pretty bad week. The first few days the new administration took over. It's balanced out since then and the last few days have been in the green, aka better. But I don't think anybody really knows what's going to happen right now. The Federal Reserve, the Feds, they're completely separate. The president has no authority over them. He can't say lower their interest rates. No, he can put pressure on them and maybe that works, but he can't say this is what the federal funds rate is going to be. You know. So that's the tough part.
Speaker 1:He wanted. He said when he was running for president that he wanted to tell the head of the Fed to lower rates or to wait, and he doesn't have that power. But the other thing that I'm wondering is let's do some cosplay here. You are now president, okay, and I'm going to give you three wishes. Kyle May, you're a loan officer. You have three wishes you can make to change the economy, to benefit at least housing and mortgage and loans. But just in general, what quickly, three things would you do?
Speaker 3:Well, to back that question up slightly, the issue that we ran into is rates should have never dropped to two or 3%. That's where this started. The housing market was still strong, even though COVID and a lot of people lost their jobs. Overall, the economy was still pretty good.
Speaker 2:There was back orders and stuff and don't get me wrong, it had its own issues.
Speaker 3:But if you look at the stock market, and outside of certain professions the employment was good too. But again, the rate should have never dropped that low, because when something's really low for a while, what's the only route? It's going to go Up right. So in a perfect world, if I could just have one wish, I would say we need rates back into the high fives. A high five or somewhere in the five is a healthy interest rate for everybody. Twos and threes is not realistic guys, and I hate when people say historical, well, these are average interest rates. Oh yeah, Historically, if we look at the last 60 years, nobody cares about 50, 60 years ago. They see the last five or 10 years. So I feel like we all kind of got spoiled a little bit because we had such massive low interest rates. But at the same time, seven, eight is closer to the average historically. That's where I think we need to get closer to the average of the last 10 years, which is somewhere in the fives.
Speaker 3:A few months ago rates started trickling down a little bit and I started locking some in at 5.7, 5.8, 6.1 for about two or three weeks and the phone started ringing. People wanted to refund. I mean I was like, oh hell, get ready honey, here we go. My wife does the same job. I was like no more vacations, we're working every single day nonstop, and then the market just ate it and then gone. Within one week rates went back up over a percentage and then it was gone. So this is just why I think somewhere in the fives is kind of that happy space, because as soon as we started getting there it was nuts.
Speaker 3:It started getting really busy again, which let me add that into a different conversation. Everybody says what do people say during COVID Wait, don't buy right now, wait for the prices to what Drop. Well, guess what guys Did they drop? Donnie Nope.
Speaker 2:Especially where we are.
Speaker 3:And now you're paying three times as much an interest rate. So now what are people saying? Well, hey, wait for the interest rate to drop. Yeah, the price isn't going anywhere. And if it did, what's it going to do? Drop a point, 5%, yeah, Like that's nothing. We're talking about a few dollars a month in payment. So when people ask me when's the best time to buy a house, if you could afford the payment, it's always now, because your house is going to appreciate in value, go up in value every single year.
Speaker 1:I want to wrap up with. One thing is we said earlier in the show last week we talked about how younger people feel their chances of buying a house and they they feel pretty glum about it. So again we had Kyle May come in. He's a loan officer with Movement Mortgage. Kyle summarize for that person that may have just caught the tail end of this show why they don't need to fear that a house is out of reach for them, that they don't have $20,000 in the bank and they can't do all these things that they think they need to do. Put them at ease.
Speaker 3:Well, let me ask you a question what's the interest rate on renting? Put them at ease. Well, let me ask you a question what's?
Speaker 2:the interest rate on renting 100%. You're not getting any of that money back Now.
Speaker 3:I am a super transparent lender. If you're staying at home with mom and dad and you're not paying any rent and you're just trying to bankroll and save some money up, continue to do that. Maybe it's not time for you to buy a house right now. Maybe it's not. Maybe your living situation is just better where it is right this second. But buying a house again? It is more affordable now than it's ever been. But do you think it's going to get better? When do you guys see prices go up and then come back down in anything? So what I always tell people is don't really worry about the interest rates so much. Do you love the house, yes or no? Can you afford the monthly payment? Yes, let's roll, let's get this application going. Let's, let's get that house. Because you start looking at all these other negative situations. You're going to talk yourself out of buying a house and then you're going to be still renting or living at home.
Speaker 1:Kyle, if someone wanted to contact you to further this discussion, do you have a website or something they can check out?
Speaker 3:I'll just give them my cell phone number. You could call me and text me whenever, not really whenever I might not respond, but usually 7 am to 9 pm are my hours. I keep them pretty open, but my phone number is 336-686-8272. 6, 8, 6, 8, 2, 7, 2. And then my website is www. Kyle K Y L E J may M a Ycom.
Speaker 1:We'll. We'll put that on some social social media blast also, so people are interested in it. But, like I said, I have a niece and they just were convinced they couldn't get a house and she wanted one. Of course they both did and when they finally took that brave first step of asking a professional, it was literally months later, just a few months, and they got a house.
Speaker 3:I tell clients all the time.
Speaker 3:I said watch, you get pre-approved. You think you're not going to buy a house for six months and three weeks from now you're closing on it. It always happens like that. Oh, I was just looking and, oh, man, this is moving fast. Oh, wow, we're closing next week. So if you guys are ready, this isn't something that sometimes it just moves quickly.
Speaker 3:And one last point I want to say out there is if you have bad credit right now, that's okay, we can work with you. I know a lot of lenders. They quickly run your credit and then they probably never call you back when they see you don't qualify. That's not what we do here. If I pull your credit and I look at it and we need to do some help or we need to work on it, I'm going to tell you, down to the dollar, what you need to do and the timeframe in order to get your credit score up to where it qualifies. And then ultimately, it's up to you if you want to continue to move forward from there. And that's just something I can promise you. We're not just going to pull and never hear from you again. We're going to make hey, it's up to you. I'll hold your hand as long as you want me to, but we'll get you in the house if you're serious.
Speaker 2:I think big takeaway from today is is, instead of wasting a realtor's time, call Kyle and just get the process started. You'll know what you qualify for. You know that pre-qualification question that comes from a realtor, that's going to be the first thing they ask you. So, knowing where you stand, or if you have to game plan, like Kyle said, if you live at home right now and you're not ready for that first house, at least you can get the process started. You'll know where you need to be when the time comes. And we preached on this last week that that you know, giving yourself a little time to get your ducks in a row, that that right deal might come along. You know someone may be willing to owner finance. Or, or, do you know, just give you a better deal than than what you would do if you're forcing the issue. So get with the loan officer first, and I think that was a that was big deal and lots of good information.
Speaker 1:Kyle, thank you for that, absolutely, definitely. I want to thank you for coming on, kyle, cause it. It gives information that we just weren't in a position to tell people and it just puts them at ease and I think a lot of people out there who were thinking I can't get a house You're now probably feeling a little bit more optimistic when you have someone like Kyle in your corner, who's going to tell you upfront not only can you do this, I'm going to help you up front, not only can you do this, I'm going to help you improve your situation so you can get something maybe even better than you thought and you got to get away from that fear. Just take that step forward. Next thing you know, as he said, I can't afford a house. Three weeks later, they're getting ready to sign papers to start the process of moving into a house. So thank you again, kyle, for coming on.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Thanks for having me, guys.
Speaker 1:And Donnie. Well done, Excellent choice of a guest and I'm sorry you're still going with the Eagles in the Superbowl and we'll cry about that later. But do check out our website, thecarolinacontractorcom. We'll have the show up there in a podcast form. Also the YouTube site we link it there. Social media If you have a question for Kyle or about this show or maybe something you want to know more about, you can hit the ask the contractor button and we'll answer those questions, Maybe even put it on the show or make it a topic of an entire show. And, Kyle, I'd definitely like to have you back on again in the future because that was a lot of great information and I know you have a lot more you can give people.
Speaker 3:I could talk all day about it, guys. It's my job.
Speaker 2:You just scratched the surface, yep.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, we hope you all had a good experience with this and learned a lot about buying a house, and we hope you tune in next week to the Carolina Contractor Show. Thanks everybody, thanks. Thanks for listening to the Carolina Contractor Show. Visit thecarolinacontractorcom.