April 8, 2025 • 51 mins
Ask the Expert with Priscilla Reed of United Housing and Seth Harkins, with the Alcy Ball CDC on The Bev Johnson Show on WDIA Radio.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Don't Memphis probably presents The Bev Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me say, Bath.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I've got.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
First Let men you say she's gone campist gain.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
No matter of the problem she can have.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
So just all the phone and a normal thing your mind.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
She was there Jimmy heading in the hair by challing
you to just keep the thing when arid pigging up,
Ben Johnson joke.
Speaker 6 (00:52):
Because I've got here talking there.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You can hear every day you d I ain't well.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Be got me a missed up? Good morning, good morning,
(01:49):
good morning, and welcome in to w d I A
The Bev Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm Bev.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
It is indeed a pleasure to have you with us
once again, and on this Tuesday, April eighth, twenty twenty five.
Enjoy this fabulous day to day. Get ready to put
your ears on as we share the good news. We'll
be talking with our friends from United Housing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
First hour.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Second hour, we'll check in with mister Willie Jacobs of
the Jacobs Final Expense Agency to help us with our
final expenses.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
When it's your turn to talk, you know you can.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
All you need to do is dial these numbers nine zero,
one five three five nine three four two nine zero one, five, three, five,
nine three four two eight hundred five zero three nine
three four two eight hundred five zero three nine three
(02:55):
four two eight three three five three five nine two
eight three three five three five nine three.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Four two will get you in to me.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
And if this day, this day, Tuesday, April eighth, twenty
twenty five, is your birthday like my nephew, Come on, Malik.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Dorcy what I can't believe it? I can't believe it.
Can y'all believe it? Comeal is thirty three? Today?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Thirty three?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
What again? Old?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Come on? Happy birthday?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Come on and all of you all out there who
may be celebrating a birthday, and happy birthday, come on.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
This from your mom and your.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Sisters, your nieces, your niphe's, your cousins, all the folks
who love. Yeah, yeah, I want to say that happy birthday.
Come on, Malik Dorsey and all of you all out
there who may be celebrating a birthday on this day,
we say God, y'all go out and celebrate your life.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Y'all better, you better.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
When we come back, we'll talk with our friends from
United Housing. Next with me Bev Johnson on the Bev
Johnson show only on.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
W d I.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
A good morning and welcome back to w d I
(05:03):
a The Bev Johnson Show. It is a deed a
pleasure to have you with us once again on this Tuesday,
April eighth, twenty twenty five, enjoyed this fabulous day to day,
beautiful day in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well as always, we get started.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
My sister friend is back in the house from United
Housing with me once again, the Home Buyer Education Director
and certified hood Counselor, Miss Priscilla Reid.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Good morning, Priscilla, morning bel I want you today. Good.
Speaker 7 (05:44):
I think I can't hear you through my earphone. I
don't know if okay, Oh yeah, that's better.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
You hear me now, I hear you had to turn
yourself up, Yes.
Speaker 8 (05:56):
Yes I did.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Good morning, Bell.
Speaker 8 (05:58):
Thanks for having us again.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Thank you, thank you, You are welcome. Priscilla, you are welcome.
Good to have you here.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
As always, we like United Housing because you all shared
the good news with us. And for our listeners who
may be listening the first time, Priscilla tell them about
United Housing.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
My pleasure. Thank you, bab.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
You're not in Housing been established now twenty it's twenty
six years no, no, no, no, no, thirty thirty yeah,
thirty thirty thirty year yeah yeah, lay behind. Yeah, but
you're not in housing is what we'd like to call it.
One stop shop, right, yeah, right. If you're interested in
becoming a home owner, you want to start with you
not in housing and get educated.
Speaker 8 (06:40):
So we have our home bore education courses there. Uh huh.
We do it three times a month. We do two
Saturday class.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
One Saturday class is live, one Satday class is virtual,
and we also do a evening class's broken up into
two nights, and so we do that and our next
class is going to be uh well, we just we
just had it's going to be in the next two weeks.
So go to our website. We have the list of
our courses and dates and times there. But the costs
(07:08):
for classes for is twenty five dollars per person and
forty five dollars per couple.
Speaker 8 (07:14):
Okay, so yeah, I'll be sure you go and do that.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
We also have a lending department where we do small
long lending and you know, the max loan amount I
want to say and don't quote because we're trying to
get an increased because of the costs of homes these days.
But our interest rate is at five percent and it's
a thirty year mortgage and it's one hundred percent finance
(07:38):
in which means that you won't have a down payment.
Speaker 8 (07:40):
Now you will have closing costs.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
But we are working with a lender, a local lender,
a bank that actual will give you up to ten
thousand dollars towards closing. So it's really a good loan
product for someone who's just want to become a homeowner,
don't want to spend that much on my house, and
want a an affordable note, you know. So yeah, if
you interested in something like that, then you want to
give us a call at nine O one two seven
(08:02):
two one one two two and ask for Trudy. She
runs that department there. And we also we uh, we
work with different community organizations. And as a matter of fact,
I have a guest here today who is one of
those community organizations that we work with, and his organization
built houses in their community and his name is Seth,
(08:23):
and Seth is with our sea ball. I said that, right,
ball a sea ball, I say, off, I'm trying to be.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
No, it's alsie, it's all see, you're gonna be all right, pursuit.
She's gonna be all right.
Speaker 9 (08:40):
Yeah, we're gonna be all right.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Ol Sea Ball and we got a big event coming
up with them on Made at third that's the first
Saturday Made.
Speaker 8 (08:48):
I'm gonna let him talk all about that.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Silla's say his name again.
Speaker 7 (08:51):
You're trying to say, okay, you that that was the
last name Harkins seth Hawkins?
Speaker 9 (08:58):
Did that say with with with an R instead of
a W. Harkins.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'm gonna let him say ye say Percilla messing up stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Ms Bev, It's good to see you again. Thanks for
letting me come back, come back with Priscilla. It's good
good to be here. So we this is our third
year doing this event with United Housing and some sponsors.
You know, First Horizon has been a big sponsor. Patriot
Bank has been a big sponsor for that event. So
what we're trying to do is make it a little
(09:30):
easier for people to meet the people that they need
on their team when they go to buy a house.
So so we're one of those partners. United Housing is
one of those partners. But if you know, for anybody
out there that doesn't know personally, who do I talk
to if I want to buy a house, well, you
need a couple of people.
Speaker 9 (09:48):
To work with you on that.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You need a good realtor, you need a good banker alender.
And then a lot of us, you know myself included,
are working through things on our credit score, or may
have a banker or a collection or missed a few
payments or owe some child support or something like that.
So we have another team of folks that work with
the Memphis Financial Empowerment Center with Forward Memphis, and there
(10:12):
are a few other organizations that provide some really detailed,
in depth counseling for free to help people make the
next step that they need. And what we see a
lot of times is sometimes people feel really overwhelmed or
they don't know where to start. And so this is
an event coming up May third, from nine to twelve.
We'll have some breakfast and we'll feed you lunch, and
(10:33):
we'll get you in at nine and get you out
by twelve.
Speaker 9 (10:35):
Going about your Saturday.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
It's going to be at the old Corey Junior High School,
which is Believe Memphis Academy at twenty two point thirty
Corey Road right there off the Norris exit off the
Interstate in South Memphis, and then we'll have a bunch
of different partners that will each share a little bit
of the piece that they provide in this journey towards homeownership.
(10:57):
So somebody can walk in not even knowing their credit score,
and they'll walk out with a plan. They'll have a
good understanding what they need to do for themselves to
be able to buy a house. In United Housing has
been a big help walking us through this process for me,
for us, in our neighborhood I live, I can see
the school there from my front porch. So I've been
been living in the neighborhood there about six years and
(11:18):
have worked for Alsea Ball for almost nine years. And
what we're seeing is a lot of interest in people
wanting to own their own home, especially as they get
tired of paying rent and as rent goes up. You know,
my mortgage, My mortgage hasn't changed much over the last
six seven years, right, So I watched a lot of
my friends and neighbors continue to have to pay higher
(11:39):
and higher rent. And my taxes might go up a
little bit, my insurance might get a little hike from
one year to the next, but it's not going from
six hundred to eight hundred to twelve hundred, like we've
seen rent do over the last ten years. So we're
trying to help more people get in that position where
they own their own house and they don't have to
worry about those changes taking place from year to year
(11:59):
that can cause an have to stretch their dollar further
and further until they really just can't stretch it any farther.
We want to help more and more people get into
that position of home ownership, trying to build up our
neighborhood by helping people own their own place and kind
of compete with the rental investment world where we have
people from all over the world that see Memphis as
(12:19):
a place where they can earn a few extra dollars
through some passive income. What that means is it's harder
and harder for people to own their own home in Memphis.
Speaker 9 (12:27):
And so we've been looking.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
At vacant lots and building some homes and then some
of those homes have been purchased by people who used
the mortgage program that Priscilla was just talking about, the
Cherry mortgage program, and so they're able to save about
one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars a month
just by getting a lower interest rate through United Housing.
So instead of getting interest rate from their bank or
(12:49):
their credit union at maybe seven or eight percent, they're
able to get an interest rate through United Housing. It's
set at five percent at the max, so I saving
them a lot of money. And then usually we see
when somebody goes from renting a home to becoming a homeowner,
even if it's a new home, they're usually able to
save somewhere between two and three hundred dollars a month.
And instead of owing their rent, they're they're paying their
(13:14):
own mortgage, so they're paying their bank directly, something that's
not going to change from year to year. But that's
what we have coming up May third, and we have
space for about one hundred people to come to that event,
and have already had a lot of RSVP activity, and
so we just encourage you to show up there twenty
two to thirty Corey Road, the old Corey Junior highs
(13:36):
Now Believe Memphis Academy come at nine o'clock on that Saturday,
May third.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So Seth, I want to ask you that with this,
are you telling our listeners that you have homes in
the Alsea Ball area. So is this where they'll be
able to get the homes or they're going to get
information if they want to buy a home somewhere else.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
So that's a that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So our goal alongside United Housing, we we operate just
in our one neighborhood. If we're going to buy a
vacant lot and build a house, that's the only place
that we're going to be able to build and then
bring that price down using some of the gifts and
subsidies and programs with the city and county that we
work with to help bring the price down.
Speaker 9 (14:20):
So we're only doing that in that one neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
But let's say you want to buy a house in
Germantown or Cordova, or you need to you know, move
back close to Mom in North Memphis, or you want
to move to South Haven, like, we will teach you
how to do that process. So we'll we'll teach that
to anybody that wants to come. And then the program
that Miss Priscilla runs we're modeled in a very similar
fashion where we can help somebody go from not knowing
(14:42):
what their credit score is to walking out the door
having a very specific plan this is what you need
to do to purchase a home. There's so so if
you want to come to that program on Saturday, May third,
then then we will teach you the process and get
a team around you that can walk you through shopping
for a home, making sure that you get the right
home inspector to come and do that work for you,
(15:05):
making sure the house appraises for what it needs to praise.
Speaker 9 (15:07):
So we'll teach you more about that process.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
But then you can go and purchase a home anywhere
that you want. For folks that are pre approved and
they think that the Alsea Ball neighborhood is where they
would like to call home. Maybe they're already renting there
and would like to be a homeowner there, then we are.
We are working with some pre approved buyers that are
are getting ready to purchase the next few homes that
(15:30):
we will build there through some partnerships with the City
of Memphis to help make those homes.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
As affordable as possible.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So we're looking to build a home there that'll be
a new owner occupied home and in a a three bed,
two bath is usually in and up costing somebody about
eleven to twelve hundred dollars a month, including their taxes
and insurance for a new home right there on Alsea Road,
close to where the just rebuilt Alsea Elementary School. Some
(15:58):
other good things that are happening in that part or
the neighborhood there.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Okay all are you all said, have you built some
new homes in that area?
Speaker 7 (16:06):
Well?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Are you? You have?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So last year we built our first two new construction
homes and so they're both you know, owner occupied. We
did that through a program with the City of Memphis.
So we were able to hire a builder, a contractor
to come in and build a three bed, two bath
home that we sold for less than the cost to build.
And then we were able to use some subsidy dollars
from the city to make that happen. And we went
(16:32):
about a mile down the street, also on Alsia Road,
build a four bed, two bath home and there was
there was We got a lot of offers on those
homes because the price was really low compared to you know,
what it cost to build and compared to what it
would cost, you know, if it was just on the market,
maybe in another neighborhood or where there wasn't this this
partnership that we have with with the city to help
us bring the price down. So our third house, we
(16:55):
just had a load of dirt dropped off last night
that they're putting in around the form boards and they
should be bringing concrete later this evening or tomorrow morning
and then putting up walls. So we have an open
house event this Saturday right there on Alseea Road to
kind of show that off, along with another renovation that
we're doing that'll be for sale. But that's that's why
(17:16):
we exist as an organization, is to help increase the
home ownership rate. We really believe home ownership rate has
a lot of other impacts that you see in a
neighborhood that you think is a nice neighborhood. If you
look up the home ownership percentage for that neighborhood, when
you and you're in a neighborhood that you feel is nice,
it's typically there's a higher percentage of owner occupied homes
there versus rental houses. And so we're trying to raise
(17:38):
that owner occupied number in our community by helping make
homes available at a lower price.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Okay, So and so the only time that you all
can build a house set is that you the Alsea
Ball CDC acquires that land or gets that land.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
There are some other partnership opportunities that we're looking at.
So far, we have been working through you know, the
County Land Bank or the tax auction program and things
like that where it's pretty clear somebody's walked away from
a piece of property and they're they're not able to
care for it, or they're not interested in you know,
sometimes it'll be in an air property and it's been
inherited two or three generations and we lost track of,
(18:23):
you know, Uncle so and so that was paying the
taxes and so we're so we're trying to pick up
some of those pieces and be able to maybe maybe
pay the back taxes to be able to own that
property through the auction process or something like that. We
are talking about partnership with some other builders that own
property in the neighborhood, Churches the own property in the
neighborhood to try to make more housing available, and we'll
(18:44):
see how those things go over the next few years.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Sounds good. You guys been working since the last time
I've seen.
Speaker 9 (18:50):
You got a little less hair than I did last
time I was here. That's okay, contreating hairline all.
Speaker 8 (18:58):
Right, He's still young.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
He's still he's still young.
Speaker 8 (19:03):
He got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
He's got a lot of work.
Speaker 8 (19:05):
Yes, he does, he does.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, let me pause, pause, good. Good. We have Priscilla
Reed is in the house with us. Seth Harkins.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
We are talking with our friends from United Housing and
Elsie Balls c PC. If you have a question or
two for my guests this day, we invite you to
call five three five nine three four two eight hundred
five zero three nine three four two eight three three
five three five nine three four two will get you
(19:38):
in to us.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You're listening to double d i A. The Bethtes sayshow.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
Don't go away? The Bev Johnson children, hearns after these messages.
Speaker 8 (20:24):
Ever you did a thing?
Speaker 4 (20:34):
I'm telling him everyone, I think talking everyone.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Welcome back to w d i A. I'm bed.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
We are talking with miss Priscilla Reid, home by Education
Director certified hud i'n slur with United Housing, and Seth
Harkins is here with else Ball C d C. And
before we get started, y'all, let me get this. I
have an email. Okay, get the email, okay, okay from
Miss Tate and she wanted to know is there an
(21:17):
age limit on these programs for future home buyers. I'm
a senior citizen and always a renter. I appreciate you
and always you all helping the community. Thank you, miss Tate.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I would love to talk about this a little bit,
Miss Tate. Miss Tate, I hope you got well. You
just send an email, so I hope you type down
this this date May third and this address twenty two
to thirty Corey Road, and we want to see you
there and we can we can do a little bit
of crunching the numbers. What you might be paying in
rent now and then what you know if you were
to purchase a comparable home to where you are renting, like,
(21:56):
what that would cost you. What would I like to
ask people with a question like that is, when when
you leave this earth and you are paying rent, what
what do your people get when when you are gone?
If you have paid rent faithfully for fifty years, what
(22:20):
do you think, Priscilla, right, what does that do for
for your family?
Speaker 8 (22:26):
Absolutely nothing? It has nothing to do with There we go.
Speaker 7 (22:30):
All you did pay rent for X amount of years
and purchase a home for somebody else.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That's right, You paid somebody else's mortgage through your rent payments,
and even if you were to buy a house and
go on to be with the lord the very next day,
that would still provide an inheritance for whoever's coming behind you.
So we always encourage people. Now we met with We
(22:57):
get a lot of referrals where somebody will say, hey,
oh I heard of the the ousea ball, folks are
getting some houses ready over there, or oh, that's a
nice neighborhood. That's that's like the boogie part of South Memphis.
What people say sometimes, yeah, you should you should go
talk to them. You should go talk up down Alsiea Road,
Kingsview Fair Mead, Perry Road, Sparks, all these, you know,
different parts of the neighborhood. There a lot of folks
(23:17):
that were educators, a lot of folks that went to
Hamilton High School or worked for Hamilton or something like that.
And so we got a referral of a lady and
her husband that came to talk to us about potentially
purchasing a home and they just had, you know, kind
of got an inkling. Yeah, this rent is going up again,
and we thought our landlord was going to sell this
(23:39):
house to us. Turns out they're going to sell it
to another landlord, and our rent is probably going to
go up a lot, So can you help us get
ready to buy a house. So we sat down and
started looking at credit Score and these are these are
both seniors that are near retirement age, if not the
husband's already retired wife is getting getting ready to retire.
And what what we found out in talking to them
(24:01):
was it's very likely that they could have bought a
home ten years ago and and been you know, been
halfway through paying it off by now, and had something
they could leave behind, you know, just free and clear
to their errors. So we really think of it as
as a process of beginning this generational wealth building through
(24:22):
purchasing a home, and wanting to purchase a home that's
in an area that's gonna appreciate, you know, where values
are not going to go down. We're not trying to
drive up home prices, but we do want to. If
we're gonna purchase an asset like a home, we want it.
We want the value to go up over time. We
don't want to buy something and then have it end
up being worth less than what we paid for it.
(24:43):
So that's now pill. I think you said, you're gonna
you're gonna ask some questions, but I think, you know,
for Miss Tate, I would say, no, there's no age
limit on the program, and we would absolutely encourage just
think about think about those that are coming behind you
and being able to leave them something. They may still
owe something on the house, but there's value there in
that home. If you own it for two years or
ten years or twenty years, the value of that home
(25:06):
is definitely worth something that you want to be able
to leave to your kids. So we you know, we
talk about that. We talk about the estate planning process
a lot. So come come see us on May third
at Accord Junior High Believe Memphis Academy from nine to twelve.
And then Miss Bev said she was gonna she's probably
gonna be at the rocking chair when we get done.
That's right, yeah, yeah, So we'll see you. We'll see
(25:26):
you over there at the rocking chair after we feed
you lunch. We'll meet up there for Margarita's.
Speaker 9 (25:30):
After the event.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
That's hey, I like, I like how you work, brother, Yes, ma'am,
that's good.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
I'll let me piggyback back. In that email, she mentioned
age and said is correct. There is no age them
to buy a house. I don't care where you buy
it at. I mean, yea, his programs, the special programs.
You're not in the house and have special programs and
things of that nature. But age should never be a
factor when time comes down to purchasing a home. You
could be nine nine years old if you're if you
(25:58):
have there is acceptable, and you have a steady source
of income and your debt rad show and house and
radiows are good, you can buy a home. So as
anybody hear the sound of my voice, don't let age
be a factor. You know they cannot do. You cannot
be discriminated because of your age and becoming a homeowner.
(26:18):
So I just want to stress that, okay, because there's
some people probably thinking that, and that's not the case.
You cannot discriminate because of age. But I would like
to ask Seth a couple questions. Sure about this event
that's coming up on Saturday. Made it thirty is a right?
Speaker 9 (26:32):
That's right?
Speaker 8 (26:33):
So let's say said that I have not been.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
A pre approved or anything. I'm just thinking about becoming
a homeowner. Is there anyone that's going to be there
that's going to be able to counsel me and counsel
me into the home buying process.
Speaker 8 (26:47):
Number one.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Number two, let's say that I know that I do
have some credit challenges. Would there be anyone there to
address those challenges and give me some action steps to
take that I that I can kind of start working
towards my goal become home ownership. And number three, there
are so many different known programs. I know you guys
saying that you know you're specifically speaking about al Saball,
(27:11):
But is there going to be any lenders there, any
banks there that's going to have other programs that that
I may qualify SURE or SURE and may say I
don't want to move to ALSA Battle, I want to
move somewhere else. Is there going to be that I
can talk to about that down paying assistant closing calls
that might be able to walk away to that information
(27:31):
or gain that information why I'm there?
Speaker 9 (27:33):
That's right? Okay, great? So that yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So here here's kind of what to expect on that
day and these these this will touch on I believe,
all the questions. So you keep track down, misterascilla. If
I miss something that you asked me, you know, come
back to it all right, So these what we're gonna
do is introduce all of the sponsors and the presenters
at the beginning of the event. So we'll start out there,
We'll hire some refreshments. I don't go anywhere without a
good cup coffee, so we'll definitely have a good good
(27:57):
cup of coffee there that Saturday morning.
Speaker 9 (27:59):
And no thanks, that's not real coffee. The uh.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And then we'll go we'll go into four breakout sessions,
and so we'll rotate through these four sessions and there'll
be presenters on each of the topics that you just
that you just asked about. So one of those topics
is just budgeting if I don't know where my money
is going, and what we what we say a lot
is if you don't take control of your money, then
(28:26):
your money is going to take control over you. And
so if you got a little more month left at
the end of the money, then we can help with that.
We can help you get a better plan in place
for where your money is going. And I think there's
a I think there's a young lady named Priscilla Reed
who's going to be sharing about that.
Speaker 7 (28:43):
Is that right, Yes, I'll be talking about money management, yes,
and budgeting and that type of thing, how to get
out of debt, how to save, and how to reach
the goal of home ownership. And the reason money management
is so important because you have to have money period,
money for up upfront costs things like an appraisal, home inspection.
(29:06):
So we're gonna talk about those type of things as well.
And also when I do this, when I discuss money,
I also like to discuss not just now, but also
in the future after you become a homeowner. You know,
buying a home is one thing, then sustainability is another.
So you're gonna have to be able to save, and
we're going to discuss those kind of things as well.
(29:28):
So yes, I will be the one actually conducting that
that section of the program.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
That's great, and Seth and done to cut you off.
And Miss Tate, she answers you, she said, I will
be there.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Excellent, all right, Miss Takes bring someone with him.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
And misstate when you come you let Seth know you
were the one who emailed excellent.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, looking forward to it. Miss Tate, thanks for your email. Well,
so so budgeting, you know, how do I manage the
income I have? Where's my money going? Making sure, I'm
putting my money to work doing the thing that I
value in my life and not just frittering in a way.
So we you know, we have a lot of people
that aren't just not really aware. They never had anybody
really challenge them or walk them through the process of
(30:10):
adding up how much am I really spending eating out
or on you know, cigarettes or candy bars, or the
vending machine at work or Jumbo Bucks at the corner
store or whatever. How much money? How much of my
income is actually going to that? And we you know,
we've had the experience of walking people through you know,
just you know, this trip to the casino that I take,
you know, every once in a while when I get paid, well,
(30:31):
I could have paid for a house three or four
times over just off of those those trips to the casino.
So we're trying to encourage people to not to not
to quit having fun, but to budget for their fund,
to make a plan for their fund. How much fun
can I really afford if I want this, this goal
of home ownership is really what I want. So that's
that's a big piece of it, is putting my money
to work the way I want.
Speaker 9 (30:51):
Now. The second one is.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Credit We've got to have credit in order to be
able to borrow money towards a car or a home,
or you know, getting a good credit card with some
benefits or whatever.
Speaker 9 (31:03):
So what what is credit? We're going to talk a
lot about that.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
We're going to talk about what your credit score means,
how your credit score can go up or down, what
are the big drivers of moving that number. And then
we're gonna talk about what what even is a credit score? Anyway,
Your your credit score is really a measure of your
likelihood to pay back alone. And so you may you know,
you may borrow from your uncle or something like that,
(31:25):
but he's not reporting to these credit bureaus the way
that we need. So we need for these credit bureaus
to see that you have a history of borrowing money
paying it back and and that leads to a higher
credit score. So a lot of you know, the older
couple that I just mentioned, have a good credit score,
but it's not nearly what it would be if they
were actually participating in just having a credit card to
(31:48):
buy a tank of gas once a month and then
paying it off. So it's not a big financial commitment.
We're not asking you to do anything you're not already doing,
but you have to. You have to have some skin
in the game and show these these credits that you
are trustworthy. So we can help people establish a credit
score just doing what they're already doing and just using
some of these credit tools to build a healthy credit
(32:09):
score so that you can get the best interest rate possible.
So then I've got my money together, I know where
it's going. I've established a good credit score, maybe identified
some debts I need to pay off. Well, then what
then I need to go borrow some money towards buying
a house. So who do I go to there? Well,
there are a lot of banks, there are a lot
of credit unions. United Housing is a Community development financial institution, right,
(32:31):
so there's some CDFIs that can help us borrow money
to buy a house. Well, how do I know what
they'll let me borrow? And so what you're looking for
there is either a pre qualification or a pre approval,
and we usually are encouraging people to get a pre
approval that'll tell them you are approved to borrow up
to a certain amount of money towards a house, and
(32:52):
they'll give you an interest rate. We want that rate
to be as low as possible, and then they'll give
you a pre approval amount, so they'll say, we will
approve you to go and purchase a home up to
one hundred and seventy five or up to four hundred
thousand dollars or whatever that number is, and that's what
we're looking for. So we'll have people there that can
talk you through that pre approval process and then Miss
(33:13):
Priscilla tell us what else about that?
Speaker 7 (33:15):
Well, now I was gonna ask a question, So you
mentioned that I can get a pre approved. Would I
be able to get pre approved there? Or I just
be able to speak to a lender? I mean I
just need to know should walk away with a pre approval?
Speaker 9 (33:26):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, So we we should have a few folks there
who can do a pre approval. They can do the
credit poll right there on the spot. So well we
should be able to produce that pre approval there on
that day. So Saturday, May third, if you think you
are ready, you know your credit score and you see
that you know you're meeting some of the qualifications that
a lot of banks and financial institutions will just put
(33:47):
out online, then please come. And so we'll have several
different banks and credit unions that'll be there on May
third to talk to you about the pre approval process.
Speaker 7 (33:56):
So in saying all that, do I need to bring
my ID? They need to bring my ID? Do when
you bring my pace suffs? Anything do I need to bring?
I'll just I'm just asking sure.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So bringing some of the of your financial documents can
can be helpful. We can we can either make an
introduction for you on on Saturday, May third, for you
to carry on that process with somebody after that day,
So if you want to meet with them, you know
during the weekday or after your work hours or.
Speaker 9 (34:24):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But if you if you are ready, if you're committed
to this process and you want to go ahead and
bring your your financial information, if you want to bring
your last this is not required, but if you're ready
to go through that process, then bring your bring your
last two paste ubs, bring your last two months of
your your bank statements, so that you have some proof
to go with. You know the income that you're earning,
(34:45):
and you can show that you would be a credit
worthy that you'd be a trustworthy home buyer. And then
the after the the home approval, the loan approval process,
then we need somebody that that can help you go through,
uh putting an offer on a home, finding homes that
are on the market to go and look at, helping
you set up a search criteria so you.
Speaker 9 (35:06):
Don't know how many bedrooms and bathrooms?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Do we want? What part of town do I want
to be in or do I want to stay away from?
Do I want a new construction home, Do I want
a home that's less than twenty years old?
Speaker 9 (35:16):
Do I want? What am I looking for?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Where where am I trying to go and live? And
so you know, we have the next couple of homes
we're going to build, and we.
Speaker 9 (35:24):
Have those addresses. We can talk about that more on
May third.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
But what that position, I mean, what you're looking for
in all that information is you're looking for a good realtor.
And so we'll have several realtors there that we have vetted,
that we've worked with, and we know that they're trustworthy,
we know that they have your best interests at heart,
because we know that's how they're going to continue to
grow their business over the years is by doing the
next right thing for their client, not by trying to
get you know, one big whale to buy one house
(35:49):
a year. We're looking for We're looking for consistent good
service with the realtors that we invite. So we'll have
people there on May third that have that have that history,
that have been vetted and we have built up a
trustworthy relationship with Yeah.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
So one last question, what is the cost.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
This is a free event, and so we'll be providing
some refreshments and we'll have lunch there. So thanks to
some sponsors like Patriot Bank is one of the banks
that has helped us provide some down payment assistance and
some grant dollars to some of the home buyers that
we've worked with in recent history. And then United Housing
is partnering with us to provide some of the training
(36:29):
and education and staffing the event. And then First Horizon
Bank has also provided some grant funds to help cover
the cost of this event.
Speaker 9 (36:36):
So we will be there.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
We're very grateful to these partners into the school to
believe memphys Academy, to Matt count and his team for
helping us host the event there. So we'll be setting
up furniture ahead of time and all that stuff. But
their team at the school has been a really great
neighborhood partner. For us to continue to work with, so
we really appreciate all the support and help make that
event happen.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
We are talking with Priscilla Reid and self heark is here.
We are talking about housing and what the ELSA Ball
will be doing on May third.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
If you have a question for our guest.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Nine zero one five three five nine three four two
eight hundred five zero three nine three four two eight
three three five three five nine, the three four.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Two will get you in to us. You're listening to
dou w d i A the bevjssio.
Speaker 10 (37:42):
Got something to say? Say it next with Tennessee Radio
Hall of Famer Bev Johnson on w d IA.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Understand, I'm telling you to just keep.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Around.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Bet enough fohing show.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And this day we are talking housing with Priscilla Reed.
Seth Harkens going to our phone lines to talk with Frank. Hi, Frank, Hey, Frank,
I'm doing fine, Frank, and.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
You I'm doing wonderful, doing wonderful good.
Speaker 9 (39:00):
I was.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
God, I didn't hear all the I didn't hear all
the what what the topics about?
Speaker 5 (39:06):
Today?
Speaker 6 (39:07):
I called in kind of lady.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
He was he was talking at the end.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Okay, well, let me tell you we're talking housing.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
If you're interested, or you know, Frank, somebody who wants
to be a home owner. They're having a big event
on May third, so you can learn about owning your
own home and getting you a home.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Okay, now, now I can I can relate to that.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Now I see, i'm a i'm a i'ma. Let me
let me ask him some questions, so people out there
that's listening can hear what they need to do. Okay.
It is the most of the people that want home
the create the credit is shot to to to the
to the level four hundreds.
Speaker 9 (39:51):
We see him all over the map.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
Right, so they are let's just say four hundred. Now,
can you make something happen and explain to them what
they have to do. So you want to waste your
time and they want to waste their time coming to you,
tell them what they yes, sir, to get to the
(40:14):
level that you can help them.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Excellent, alright, all right, Frank, all right, thank you Frank
for calling. Go on, sap, tell them what they got.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
Bad, Chris, sure, sure. So there's a couple different ways
to take a question like that. It was a really
good question, Frank. So well we'll take just a second.
So one thing is to say, oh, sure, well, you
can get online and you can find somebody who will
promise you that they're going to fix your credit in
three months for seven dollars or whatever. And we always
(40:47):
tell people anybody that's trying to charge you money to
fix your credit, you should run away.
Speaker 9 (40:51):
Anybody that is paying a monthly.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Note to get their credit repaired or to boost their
credit or whatever, please don't do that. You're paying money
for a service that might improve your credit by a
few points. It is very rarely, if ever, actually going
to move your credit up for any long period of time.
What a lot of those organizations will do is they
will challenge, or they'll protest, or they'll send in a
(41:16):
letter to a creditor to try to contest something that's
on your credit. Well, well, there might be something on
your credit that doesn't belong there. But what we see
over and over again is that people know good and
well that they did not pay that direct TV bill,
or they did not pay for that phone that they
got an AT and T, or they do owe that
apartment complex or that landlord, they do owe that money,
(41:39):
and so that is showing up on their credit. So
the approach that we take is we call it an
organic approach. But what we're looking for is we want
people to know for themselves, not to pay a service,
but we want them to know and understand and we
will take the time to teach them. This is how
you build positive credit. So we talked a little bit
earlier about getting a secure credit card where you're having
(42:01):
to save up a little bit of money, maybe two
or three hundred dollars, and you're opening up a credit
card with that balance, right, So you can't go and
blow thousands of dollars on your new Macy's card or
whatever you're You're only able to spend up to that
dollar amount that you put up, So using a secured
credit card is a good way to do that. We
have a good partnership with Hope Credit Union, and so
(42:24):
Hope Credit Union will put people on an installment loan
that's a low balance loan. It's a five hundred dollars
loan that you pay off over six months. And Hope
Credit Union they don't make money off of this loan.
They're trying to pay their employee that's there to help
you set up the loan, and then they are reporting
that loan to the credit bureaus so that you will
(42:45):
have some positive form of history on your account, so
then that will help you go from you know, a
four hundred up to a five or six hundred, like
you need to be able to purchase a home. There
are a lot of ways that folks can get in
trouble having a low credit score. And what we see
over and over again is that we just need people
to have the courage to come and talk to somebody
(43:05):
about it and not to feel any shame or judgment
about what somebody might say because they see that you
have a low credit score. Well, if it's your credit score,
why don't you be the one to take charge of it.
Why don't you be the one to take take some
responsibility and step forward and say this is what happened
to me, and now I'm ready to do something about it.
Speaker 9 (43:22):
So we can help.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It's just having an attitude of curiosity and asking questions
and get in the ball rolling. So we somethime I've
heard over and over again is we often we overestimate
what we can do in a year. So for some
people it's a three month process, it might be a
twelve month process, and then we underestimate what we can
do in ten years. So if my credit score is
(43:44):
a four to eighty today and I need to get
to a six hundred to get a good interest rate
on a mortgage, well that might be more than a
twelve month problem for you to solve. We may have
some debt to pay down, we meaning to establish some
healthy credit. But in two years or three years, you
can be debt free, you can own your own home,
and you can have that asset established that's going to
build wealth for your family for the next several generations.
(44:07):
So just because you can't meet this goal in twelve
months doesn't mean you can't come. Come see us on
May third, and we'll start the process. Let May third
over at Cord Junior High believe mephys acategy. Let May
third be the beginning of that journey for you. It
might be three months, it might be three years, but
let's go ahead and start. Let's get that process started
where you can you can figure out, Okay, what are
these things that are showing up on my credit report?
Speaker 9 (44:29):
What do they mean? Who do I call?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
How do I negotiate a settlement? We can teach you
all those things, so those are some of the steps
that we would take with somebody like mister Frank asked, well,
this is how to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 9 (44:39):
This is what we can teach you.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
We don't want you to go and pay a monthly
fee to a credit fixing service or whatever. We want
you to learn how to do it yourself, and we'll
teach you and we'll hold your hand and walk you
through the process.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Very good, Very good.
Speaker 8 (44:52):
And Priscilla, oh, I'm not still not hearing myself.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
You hear yourself now?
Speaker 8 (44:58):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (45:01):
Greater Memphis Financial Empowerment Center are they going to be there.
Speaker 9 (45:04):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
So we do have a really strong partnership with one
of their counselors, Lakita or who is a total magician,
just like really explaining well and walking people through the process.
This is what's on your credit, this is what you
can do, and this is how you're going to start
to move forward. But missle Keid has been a huge asset,
great partner for us.
Speaker 7 (45:23):
Okay, And the reason I'm asking you that because that's
what they specialize in is credit, you know, rebuilding and
things of that nature. So if you do have credit issues,
do not hesitate to come out on May third and
meet with Greater Memphis Financial Empower Center. There is no
cost to utilize their service. They're really good and they
(45:44):
have several different agents that does this and I'm sure
they'll love to talk with you again. There be any
no costs for you, and they want to actually sit
with you, go over your credit and give you some
action steps to take so you can't get your credit
in a position to where you may be able to buy.
How long would that take for you as an individual?
This depends on what's on your credit, you know, maybe
(46:05):
some things that should be off already that's still there,
you know, And so an important thing is letting them
to pull it and look at it and know it
will not affect your score because they are actually evaluating
your credit. You're not purchasing anything important when you work
with them. You're not purchasing anything. You're just actually getting evaluated.
And it's and there again, you know, But you have
to be the one to stick with it. If they
(46:28):
tell you what to do, then you're gonna have to
be the one to do it right. They say you
need to go do this, they'll give you the action step,
but you have to take the action and don't give
up on your dream become a homeowner, because being a
homeowner has numerous of benefits, and one thing is generational wealth,
which Seth keep talking about. It's generational wealth passing that
home down to the next generation and the next. But
(46:49):
don't let credit be a hindran factor for you in
obtaining an American dream, which is owning your own home.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Sounds good.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
As we get ready to wrap up, I'll get to
Seth Hawkins last words you would like to say to
our listeners.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Come see us on May third, nine o'clock twenty two
thirty Corey Road, and we would love to have a
spot for you there and walk you through this journey
to become a homeowner. And we'll have plenty of good
food and partners there to walk you through whatever your
questions are and whatever your next step is. Wherever you
are when you walk in the building that day, we'll
make sure you know exactly what you need to do
(47:25):
to get ready to purchase a home. Yeah, so we'll
see you May third, nine am, and we'll get you
out of there about twelve and then see you over
at the rockin chair.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
That's right, well, we rock, we rock over there.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
I love that forseller, read the home by Education Director,
certified counselor your last words this day.
Speaker 7 (47:43):
Well, I just want to thank everybody for listening to
us on WDA. Bib I do get calls from our
radio broadcasting people say I heard you on WDA.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Good.
Speaker 7 (47:53):
But I just want to say that if you're looking
to become a home owner, dudes, join us on May third.
There's going to be a lot of lenders there, Relatives
going to be There is going to be conversation about credit,
conversation about budgeting and that type of thing. Also too,
if you just want to attend one of my home
by Education classes, which we offer three times a month,
please go to our website that's UHI n C dot
(48:14):
org UHI n C dot org. Our classes are listed
on there so you can choose a class, pay for
the classes twenty five dollars per person, forty five dollars
per couple. We also have a lending department. Truth is
the one you need to talk to with our lending
A number is nine oh one two seven two one
one two two.
Speaker 8 (48:34):
And you're not in housing.
Speaker 7 (48:35):
Also is building some homes, and so we're building homes
in different areas of Memphis. We want to find out
more about that. Please call us at nine oh one
to seven two one one two two and last, but
not least, if you're out there and you having a
hard time pay your mortgage, do not lose your house
to foreclosure because you won't get anything out of it.
Please call us. We are certify Hood Housing Counselors. We
(48:58):
can be a mediator between you and your more always
coming to see what options you may have to maintain
your home and if and but the ultimate decision is
a lender, of course, But we but we can hold
the conversation. We know what to ask and things of
that nature, and see how we can help you to
maintain your shelter.
Speaker 8 (49:16):
But we do not we do. We're gonna stress.
Speaker 7 (49:18):
Do not let your home be lost to foreclosure because
you know you're gonna lose everything, and that's including the
available equity you may have in your home.
Speaker 8 (49:27):
So but don't.
Speaker 7 (49:28):
We don't like for you to bury your head in
the sand. If you know you're being late, you see
that this is happening to you. The uther thing is
that they will take the house, and we don't want
you to lose your home.
Speaker 8 (49:38):
If all possible, we.
Speaker 7 (49:39):
Cannot guarantee, however, we can try to help you to
try to save your home in some form of fashion.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Sounds good.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Thank you all for being here, great information. Good seeing
you again. Seth You're You're welcome any time.
Speaker 8 (49:52):
Brother.
Speaker 9 (49:53):
You are a true Memphis legend. It is a privilege
to be with you today.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
Well, thank you, thank and Priscilla. I hope see you
next month.
Speaker 7 (50:00):
And my family in Mississippi and that can't give me
a shout out. Yes, Greenwood, Mississippi, my family in Greenwood.
Hello you guys, and thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Thank you Priscilla red S Harkins. Thank you all for
being here. Stay tuned as we go to the other
side of the Bev Johnson Show. Right here on w
d i A The Bev Johnson Show.
Speaker 10 (50:30):
Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram, thank you for listening to The Bev Johnson
Show on dou w d I A Memphis.
Speaker 9 (51:00):
I was sing of Belam, deposit of bet
Don't Memphis probably presents The Bev Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Let me say, Bath.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
I've got.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
First Let men you say she's gone campist gain.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
No matter of the problem she can have.
Speaker 5 (00:32):
So just all the phone and a normal thing your mind.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
She was there Jimmy heading in the hair by challing
you to just keep the thing when arid pigging up,
Ben Johnson joke.
Speaker 6 (00:52):
Because I've got here talking there.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You can hear every day you d I ain't well.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Be got me a missed up? Good morning, good morning,
(01:49):
good morning, and welcome in to w d I A
The Bev Johnson Show.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
I'm Bev.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
It is indeed a pleasure to have you with us
once again, and on this Tuesday, April eighth, twenty twenty five.
Enjoy this fabulous day to day. Get ready to put
your ears on as we share the good news. We'll
be talking with our friends from United Housing.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
First hour.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Second hour, we'll check in with mister Willie Jacobs of
the Jacobs Final Expense Agency to help us with our
final expenses.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
When it's your turn to talk, you know you can.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
All you need to do is dial these numbers nine zero,
one five three five nine three four two nine zero one, five, three, five,
nine three four two eight hundred five zero three nine
three four two eight hundred five zero three nine three
(02:55):
four two eight three three five three five nine two
eight three three five three five nine three.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Four two will get you in to me.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
And if this day, this day, Tuesday, April eighth, twenty
twenty five, is your birthday like my nephew, Come on, Malik.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Dorcy what I can't believe it? I can't believe it.
Can y'all believe it? Comeal is thirty three? Today?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Thirty three?
Speaker 3 (03:40):
What again? Old?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Come on? Happy birthday?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Come on and all of you all out there who
may be celebrating a birthday, and happy birthday, come on.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
This from your mom and your.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Sisters, your nieces, your niphe's, your cousins, all the folks
who love. Yeah, yeah, I want to say that happy birthday.
Come on, Malik Dorsey and all of you all out
there who may be celebrating a birthday on this day,
we say God, y'all go out and celebrate your life.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Y'all better, you better.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
When we come back, we'll talk with our friends from
United Housing. Next with me Bev Johnson on the Bev
Johnson show only on.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
W d I.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
A good morning and welcome back to w d I
(05:03):
a The Bev Johnson Show. It is a deed a
pleasure to have you with us once again on this Tuesday,
April eighth, twenty twenty five, enjoyed this fabulous day to day,
beautiful day in Memphis, Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Well as always, we get started.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
My sister friend is back in the house from United
Housing with me once again, the Home Buyer Education Director
and certified hood Counselor, Miss Priscilla Reid.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Good morning, Priscilla, morning bel I want you today. Good.
Speaker 7 (05:44):
I think I can't hear you through my earphone. I
don't know if okay, Oh yeah, that's better.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
You hear me now, I hear you had to turn
yourself up, Yes.
Speaker 8 (05:56):
Yes I did.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Good morning, Bell.
Speaker 8 (05:58):
Thanks for having us again.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Thank you, thank you, You are welcome. Priscilla, you are welcome.
Good to have you here.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
As always, we like United Housing because you all shared
the good news with us. And for our listeners who
may be listening the first time, Priscilla tell them about
United Housing.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
My pleasure. Thank you, bab.
Speaker 7 (06:20):
You're not in Housing been established now twenty it's twenty
six years no, no, no, no, no, thirty thirty yeah,
thirty thirty thirty year yeah yeah, lay behind. Yeah, but
you're not in housing is what we'd like to call it.
One stop shop, right, yeah, right. If you're interested in
becoming a home owner, you want to start with you
not in housing and get educated.
Speaker 8 (06:40):
So we have our home bore education courses there. Uh huh.
We do it three times a month. We do two
Saturday class.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
One Saturday class is live, one Satday class is virtual,
and we also do a evening class's broken up into
two nights, and so we do that and our next
class is going to be uh well, we just we
just had it's going to be in the next two weeks.
So go to our website. We have the list of
our courses and dates and times there. But the costs
(07:08):
for classes for is twenty five dollars per person and
forty five dollars per couple.
Speaker 8 (07:14):
Okay, so yeah, I'll be sure you go and do that.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
We also have a lending department where we do small
long lending and you know, the max loan amount I
want to say and don't quote because we're trying to
get an increased because of the costs of homes these days.
But our interest rate is at five percent and it's
a thirty year mortgage and it's one hundred percent finance
(07:38):
in which means that you won't have a down payment.
Speaker 8 (07:40):
Now you will have closing costs.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
But we are working with a lender, a local lender,
a bank that actual will give you up to ten
thousand dollars towards closing. So it's really a good loan
product for someone who's just want to become a homeowner,
don't want to spend that much on my house, and
want a an affordable note, you know. So yeah, if
you interested in something like that, then you want to
give us a call at nine O one two seven
(08:02):
two one one two two and ask for Trudy. She
runs that department there. And we also we uh, we
work with different community organizations. And as a matter of fact,
I have a guest here today who is one of
those community organizations that we work with, and his organization
built houses in their community and his name is Seth,
(08:23):
and Seth is with our sea ball. I said that, right,
ball a sea ball, I say, off, I'm trying to be.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
No, it's alsie, it's all see, you're gonna be all right, pursuit.
She's gonna be all right.
Speaker 9 (08:40):
Yeah, we're gonna be all right.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
Ol Sea Ball and we got a big event coming
up with them on Made at third that's the first
Saturday Made.
Speaker 8 (08:48):
I'm gonna let him talk all about that.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Silla's say his name again.
Speaker 7 (08:51):
You're trying to say, okay, you that that was the
last name Harkins seth Hawkins?
Speaker 9 (08:58):
Did that say with with with an R instead of
a W. Harkins.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I'm gonna let him say ye say Percilla messing up stuff.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Ms Bev, It's good to see you again. Thanks for
letting me come back, come back with Priscilla. It's good
good to be here. So we this is our third
year doing this event with United Housing and some sponsors.
You know, First Horizon has been a big sponsor. Patriot
Bank has been a big sponsor for that event. So
what we're trying to do is make it a little
(09:30):
easier for people to meet the people that they need
on their team when they go to buy a house.
So so we're one of those partners. United Housing is
one of those partners. But if you know, for anybody
out there that doesn't know personally, who do I talk
to if I want to buy a house, well, you
need a couple of people.
Speaker 9 (09:48):
To work with you on that.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You need a good realtor, you need a good banker alender.
And then a lot of us, you know myself included,
are working through things on our credit score, or may
have a banker or a collection or missed a few
payments or owe some child support or something like that.
So we have another team of folks that work with
the Memphis Financial Empowerment Center with Forward Memphis, and there
(10:12):
are a few other organizations that provide some really detailed,
in depth counseling for free to help people make the
next step that they need. And what we see a
lot of times is sometimes people feel really overwhelmed or
they don't know where to start. And so this is
an event coming up May third, from nine to twelve.
We'll have some breakfast and we'll feed you lunch, and
(10:33):
we'll get you in at nine and get you out
by twelve.
Speaker 9 (10:35):
Going about your Saturday.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
It's going to be at the old Corey Junior High School,
which is Believe Memphis Academy at twenty two point thirty
Corey Road right there off the Norris exit off the
Interstate in South Memphis, and then we'll have a bunch
of different partners that will each share a little bit
of the piece that they provide in this journey towards homeownership.
(10:57):
So somebody can walk in not even knowing their credit score,
and they'll walk out with a plan. They'll have a
good understanding what they need to do for themselves to
be able to buy a house. In United Housing has
been a big help walking us through this process for me,
for us, in our neighborhood I live, I can see
the school there from my front porch. So I've been
been living in the neighborhood there about six years and
(11:18):
have worked for Alsea Ball for almost nine years. And
what we're seeing is a lot of interest in people
wanting to own their own home, especially as they get
tired of paying rent and as rent goes up. You know,
my mortgage, My mortgage hasn't changed much over the last
six seven years, right, So I watched a lot of
my friends and neighbors continue to have to pay higher
(11:39):
and higher rent. And my taxes might go up a
little bit, my insurance might get a little hike from
one year to the next, but it's not going from
six hundred to eight hundred to twelve hundred, like we've
seen rent do over the last ten years. So we're
trying to help more people get in that position where
they own their own house and they don't have to
worry about those changes taking place from year to year
(11:59):
that can cause an have to stretch their dollar further
and further until they really just can't stretch it any farther.
We want to help more and more people get into
that position of home ownership, trying to build up our
neighborhood by helping people own their own place and kind
of compete with the rental investment world where we have
people from all over the world that see Memphis as
(12:19):
a place where they can earn a few extra dollars
through some passive income. What that means is it's harder
and harder for people to own their own home in Memphis.
Speaker 9 (12:27):
And so we've been looking.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
At vacant lots and building some homes and then some
of those homes have been purchased by people who used
the mortgage program that Priscilla was just talking about, the
Cherry mortgage program, and so they're able to save about
one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars a month
just by getting a lower interest rate through United Housing.
So instead of getting interest rate from their bank or
(12:49):
their credit union at maybe seven or eight percent, they're
able to get an interest rate through United Housing. It's
set at five percent at the max, so I saving
them a lot of money. And then usually we see
when somebody goes from renting a home to becoming a homeowner,
even if it's a new home, they're usually able to
save somewhere between two and three hundred dollars a month.
And instead of owing their rent, they're they're paying their
(13:14):
own mortgage, so they're paying their bank directly, something that's
not going to change from year to year. But that's
what we have coming up May third, and we have
space for about one hundred people to come to that event,
and have already had a lot of RSVP activity, and
so we just encourage you to show up there twenty
two to thirty Corey Road, the old Corey Junior highs
(13:36):
Now Believe Memphis Academy come at nine o'clock on that Saturday,
May third.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
So Seth, I want to ask you that with this,
are you telling our listeners that you have homes in
the Alsea Ball area. So is this where they'll be
able to get the homes or they're going to get
information if they want to buy a home somewhere else.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
So that's a that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So our goal alongside United Housing, we we operate just
in our one neighborhood. If we're going to buy a
vacant lot and build a house, that's the only place
that we're going to be able to build and then
bring that price down using some of the gifts and
subsidies and programs with the city and county that we
work with to help bring the price down.
Speaker 9 (14:20):
So we're only doing that in that one neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
But let's say you want to buy a house in
Germantown or Cordova, or you need to you know, move
back close to Mom in North Memphis, or you want
to move to South Haven, like, we will teach you
how to do that process. So we'll we'll teach that
to anybody that wants to come. And then the program
that Miss Priscilla runs we're modeled in a very similar
fashion where we can help somebody go from not knowing
(14:42):
what their credit score is to walking out the door
having a very specific plan this is what you need
to do to purchase a home. There's so so if
you want to come to that program on Saturday, May third,
then then we will teach you the process and get
a team around you that can walk you through shopping
for a home, making sure that you get the right
home inspector to come and do that work for you,
(15:05):
making sure the house appraises for what it needs to praise.
Speaker 9 (15:07):
So we'll teach you more about that process.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
But then you can go and purchase a home anywhere
that you want. For folks that are pre approved and
they think that the Alsea Ball neighborhood is where they
would like to call home. Maybe they're already renting there
and would like to be a homeowner there, then we are.
We are working with some pre approved buyers that are
are getting ready to purchase the next few homes that
(15:30):
we will build there through some partnerships with the City
of Memphis to help make those homes.
Speaker 9 (15:35):
As affordable as possible.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So we're looking to build a home there that'll be
a new owner occupied home and in a a three bed,
two bath is usually in and up costing somebody about
eleven to twelve hundred dollars a month, including their taxes
and insurance for a new home right there on Alsea Road,
close to where the just rebuilt Alsea Elementary School. Some
(15:58):
other good things that are happening in that part or
the neighborhood there.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Okay all are you all said, have you built some
new homes in that area?
Speaker 7 (16:06):
Well?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Are you? You have?
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So last year we built our first two new construction
homes and so they're both you know, owner occupied. We
did that through a program with the City of Memphis.
So we were able to hire a builder, a contractor
to come in and build a three bed, two bath
home that we sold for less than the cost to build.
And then we were able to use some subsidy dollars
from the city to make that happen. And we went
(16:32):
about a mile down the street, also on Alsia Road,
build a four bed, two bath home and there was
there was We got a lot of offers on those
homes because the price was really low compared to you know,
what it cost to build and compared to what it
would cost, you know, if it was just on the market,
maybe in another neighborhood or where there wasn't this this
partnership that we have with with the city to help
us bring the price down. So our third house, we
(16:55):
just had a load of dirt dropped off last night
that they're putting in around the form boards and they
should be bringing concrete later this evening or tomorrow morning
and then putting up walls. So we have an open
house event this Saturday right there on Alseea Road to
kind of show that off, along with another renovation that
we're doing that'll be for sale. But that's that's why
(17:16):
we exist as an organization, is to help increase the
home ownership rate. We really believe home ownership rate has
a lot of other impacts that you see in a
neighborhood that you think is a nice neighborhood. If you
look up the home ownership percentage for that neighborhood, when
you and you're in a neighborhood that you feel is nice,
it's typically there's a higher percentage of owner occupied homes
there versus rental houses. And so we're trying to raise
(17:38):
that owner occupied number in our community by helping make
homes available at a lower price.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Okay, So and so the only time that you all
can build a house set is that you the Alsea
Ball CDC acquires that land or gets that land.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
There are some other partnership opportunities that we're looking at.
So far, we have been working through you know, the
County Land Bank or the tax auction program and things
like that where it's pretty clear somebody's walked away from
a piece of property and they're they're not able to
care for it, or they're not interested in you know,
sometimes it'll be in an air property and it's been
inherited two or three generations and we lost track of,
(18:23):
you know, Uncle so and so that was paying the
taxes and so we're so we're trying to pick up
some of those pieces and be able to maybe maybe
pay the back taxes to be able to own that
property through the auction process or something like that. We
are talking about partnership with some other builders that own
property in the neighborhood, Churches the own property in the
neighborhood to try to make more housing available, and we'll
(18:44):
see how those things go over the next few years.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Sounds good. You guys been working since the last time
I've seen.
Speaker 9 (18:50):
You got a little less hair than I did last
time I was here. That's okay, contreating hairline all.
Speaker 8 (18:58):
Right, He's still young.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
He's still he's still young.
Speaker 8 (19:03):
He got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
He's got a lot of work.
Speaker 8 (19:05):
Yes, he does, he does.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, let me pause, pause, good. Good. We have Priscilla
Reed is in the house with us. Seth Harkins.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
We are talking with our friends from United Housing and
Elsie Balls c PC. If you have a question or
two for my guests this day, we invite you to
call five three five nine three four two eight hundred
five zero three nine three four two eight three three
five three five nine three four two will get you
(19:38):
in to us.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
You're listening to double d i A. The Bethtes sayshow.
Speaker 10 (19:57):
Don't go away? The Bev Johnson children, hearns after these messages.
Speaker 8 (20:24):
Ever you did a thing?
Speaker 4 (20:34):
I'm telling him everyone, I think talking everyone.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Welcome back to w d i A. I'm bed.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
We are talking with miss Priscilla Reid, home by Education
Director certified hud i'n slur with United Housing, and Seth
Harkins is here with else Ball C d C. And
before we get started, y'all, let me get this. I
have an email. Okay, get the email, okay, okay from
Miss Tate and she wanted to know is there an
(21:17):
age limit on these programs for future home buyers. I'm
a senior citizen and always a renter. I appreciate you
and always you all helping the community. Thank you, miss Tate.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
I would love to talk about this a little bit,
Miss Tate. Miss Tate, I hope you got well. You
just send an email, so I hope you type down
this this date May third and this address twenty two
to thirty Corey Road, and we want to see you
there and we can we can do a little bit
of crunching the numbers. What you might be paying in
rent now and then what you know if you were
to purchase a comparable home to where you are renting, like,
(21:56):
what that would cost you. What would I like to
ask people with a question like that is, when when
you leave this earth and you are paying rent, what
what do your people get when when you are gone?
If you have paid rent faithfully for fifty years, what
(22:20):
do you think, Priscilla, right, what does that do for
for your family?
Speaker 8 (22:26):
Absolutely nothing? It has nothing to do with There we go.
Speaker 7 (22:30):
All you did pay rent for X amount of years
and purchase a home for somebody else.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
That's right, You paid somebody else's mortgage through your rent payments,
and even if you were to buy a house and
go on to be with the lord the very next day,
that would still provide an inheritance for whoever's coming behind you.
So we always encourage people. Now we met with We
(22:57):
get a lot of referrals where somebody will say, hey,
oh I heard of the the ousea ball, folks are
getting some houses ready over there, or oh, that's a
nice neighborhood. That's that's like the boogie part of South Memphis.
What people say sometimes, yeah, you should you should go
talk to them. You should go talk up down Alsiea Road,
Kingsview Fair Mead, Perry Road, Sparks, all these, you know,
different parts of the neighborhood. There a lot of folks
(23:17):
that were educators, a lot of folks that went to
Hamilton High School or worked for Hamilton or something like that.
And so we got a referral of a lady and
her husband that came to talk to us about potentially
purchasing a home and they just had, you know, kind
of got an inkling. Yeah, this rent is going up again,
and we thought our landlord was going to sell this
(23:39):
house to us. Turns out they're going to sell it
to another landlord, and our rent is probably going to
go up a lot, So can you help us get
ready to buy a house. So we sat down and
started looking at credit Score and these are these are
both seniors that are near retirement age, if not the
husband's already retired wife is getting getting ready to retire.
And what what we found out in talking to them
(24:01):
was it's very likely that they could have bought a
home ten years ago and and been you know, been
halfway through paying it off by now, and had something
they could leave behind, you know, just free and clear
to their errors. So we really think of it as
as a process of beginning this generational wealth building through
(24:22):
purchasing a home, and wanting to purchase a home that's
in an area that's gonna appreciate, you know, where values
are not going to go down. We're not trying to
drive up home prices, but we do want to. If
we're gonna purchase an asset like a home, we want it.
We want the value to go up over time. We
don't want to buy something and then have it end
up being worth less than what we paid for it.
(24:43):
So that's now pill. I think you said, you're gonna
you're gonna ask some questions, but I think, you know,
for Miss Tate, I would say, no, there's no age
limit on the program, and we would absolutely encourage just
think about think about those that are coming behind you
and being able to leave them something. They may still
owe something on the house, but there's value there in
that home. If you own it for two years or
ten years or twenty years, the value of that home
(25:06):
is definitely worth something that you want to be able
to leave to your kids. So we you know, we
talk about that. We talk about the estate planning process
a lot. So come come see us on May third
at Accord Junior High Believe Memphis Academy from nine to twelve.
And then Miss Bev said she was gonna she's probably
gonna be at the rocking chair when we get done.
That's right, yeah, yeah, So we'll see you. We'll see
(25:26):
you over there at the rocking chair after we feed
you lunch. We'll meet up there for Margarita's.
Speaker 9 (25:30):
After the event.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
That's hey, I like, I like how you work, brother, Yes, ma'am,
that's good.
Speaker 7 (25:36):
I'll let me piggyback back. In that email, she mentioned
age and said is correct. There is no age them
to buy a house. I don't care where you buy
it at. I mean, yea, his programs, the special programs.
You're not in the house and have special programs and
things of that nature. But age should never be a
factor when time comes down to purchasing a home. You
could be nine nine years old if you're if you
(25:58):
have there is acceptable, and you have a steady source
of income and your debt rad show and house and
radiows are good, you can buy a home. So as
anybody hear the sound of my voice, don't let age
be a factor. You know they cannot do. You cannot
be discriminated because of your age and becoming a homeowner.
(26:18):
So I just want to stress that, okay, because there's
some people probably thinking that, and that's not the case.
You cannot discriminate because of age. But I would like
to ask Seth a couple questions. Sure about this event
that's coming up on Saturday. Made it thirty is a right?
Speaker 9 (26:32):
That's right?
Speaker 8 (26:33):
So let's say said that I have not been.
Speaker 7 (26:36):
A pre approved or anything. I'm just thinking about becoming
a homeowner. Is there anyone that's going to be there
that's going to be able to counsel me and counsel
me into the home buying process.
Speaker 8 (26:47):
Number one.
Speaker 7 (26:48):
Number two, let's say that I know that I do
have some credit challenges. Would there be anyone there to
address those challenges and give me some action steps to
take that I that I can kind of start working
towards my goal become home ownership. And number three, there
are so many different known programs. I know you guys
saying that you know you're specifically speaking about al Saball,
(27:11):
But is there going to be any lenders there, any
banks there that's going to have other programs that that
I may qualify SURE or SURE and may say I
don't want to move to ALSA Battle, I want to
move somewhere else. Is there going to be that I
can talk to about that down paying assistant closing calls
that might be able to walk away to that information
(27:31):
or gain that information why I'm there?
Speaker 9 (27:33):
That's right? Okay, great? So that yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
So here here's kind of what to expect on that
day and these these this will touch on I believe,
all the questions. So you keep track down, misterascilla. If
I miss something that you asked me, you know, come
back to it all right, So these what we're gonna
do is introduce all of the sponsors and the presenters
at the beginning of the event. So we'll start out there,
We'll hire some refreshments. I don't go anywhere without a
good cup coffee, so we'll definitely have a good good
(27:57):
cup of coffee there that Saturday morning.
Speaker 9 (27:59):
And no thanks, that's not real coffee. The uh.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
And then we'll go we'll go into four breakout sessions,
and so we'll rotate through these four sessions and there'll
be presenters on each of the topics that you just
that you just asked about. So one of those topics
is just budgeting if I don't know where my money
is going, and what we what we say a lot
is if you don't take control of your money, then
(28:26):
your money is going to take control over you. And
so if you got a little more month left at
the end of the money, then we can help with that.
We can help you get a better plan in place
for where your money is going. And I think there's
a I think there's a young lady named Priscilla Reed
who's going to be sharing about that.
Speaker 7 (28:43):
Is that right, Yes, I'll be talking about money management, yes,
and budgeting and that type of thing, how to get
out of debt, how to save, and how to reach
the goal of home ownership. And the reason money management
is so important because you have to have money period,
money for up upfront costs things like an appraisal, home inspection.
(29:06):
So we're gonna talk about those type of things as well.
And also when I do this, when I discuss money,
I also like to discuss not just now, but also
in the future after you become a homeowner. You know,
buying a home is one thing, then sustainability is another.
So you're gonna have to be able to save, and
we're going to discuss those kind of things as well.
(29:28):
So yes, I will be the one actually conducting that
that section of the program.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
That's great, and Seth and done to cut you off.
And Miss Tate, she answers you, she said, I will
be there.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Excellent, all right, Miss Takes bring someone with him.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
And misstate when you come you let Seth know you
were the one who emailed excellent.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Yeah, looking forward to it. Miss Tate, thanks for your email. Well,
so so budgeting, you know, how do I manage the
income I have? Where's my money going? Making sure, I'm
putting my money to work doing the thing that I
value in my life and not just frittering in a way.
So we you know, we have a lot of people
that aren't just not really aware. They never had anybody
really challenge them or walk them through the process of
(30:10):
adding up how much am I really spending eating out
or on you know, cigarettes or candy bars, or the
vending machine at work or Jumbo Bucks at the corner
store or whatever. How much money? How much of my
income is actually going to that? And we you know,
we've had the experience of walking people through you know,
just you know, this trip to the casino that I take,
you know, every once in a while when I get paid, well,
(30:31):
I could have paid for a house three or four
times over just off of those those trips to the casino.
So we're trying to encourage people to not to not
to quit having fun, but to budget for their fund,
to make a plan for their fund. How much fun
can I really afford if I want this, this goal
of home ownership is really what I want. So that's
that's a big piece of it, is putting my money
to work the way I want.
Speaker 9 (30:51):
Now. The second one is.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Credit We've got to have credit in order to be
able to borrow money towards a car or a home,
or you know, getting a good credit card with some
benefits or whatever.
Speaker 9 (31:03):
So what what is credit? We're going to talk a
lot about that.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
We're going to talk about what your credit score means,
how your credit score can go up or down, what
are the big drivers of moving that number. And then
we're gonna talk about what what even is a credit score? Anyway,
Your your credit score is really a measure of your
likelihood to pay back alone. And so you may you know,
you may borrow from your uncle or something like that,
(31:25):
but he's not reporting to these credit bureaus the way
that we need. So we need for these credit bureaus
to see that you have a history of borrowing money
paying it back and and that leads to a higher
credit score. So a lot of you know, the older
couple that I just mentioned, have a good credit score,
but it's not nearly what it would be if they
were actually participating in just having a credit card to
(31:48):
buy a tank of gas once a month and then
paying it off. So it's not a big financial commitment.
We're not asking you to do anything you're not already doing,
but you have to. You have to have some skin
in the game and show these these credits that you
are trustworthy. So we can help people establish a credit
score just doing what they're already doing and just using
some of these credit tools to build a healthy credit
(32:09):
score so that you can get the best interest rate possible.
So then I've got my money together, I know where
it's going. I've established a good credit score, maybe identified
some debts I need to pay off. Well, then what
then I need to go borrow some money towards buying
a house. So who do I go to there? Well,
there are a lot of banks, there are a lot
of credit unions. United Housing is a Community development financial institution, right,
(32:31):
so there's some CDFIs that can help us borrow money
to buy a house. Well, how do I know what
they'll let me borrow? And so what you're looking for
there is either a pre qualification or a pre approval,
and we usually are encouraging people to get a pre
approval that'll tell them you are approved to borrow up
to a certain amount of money towards a house, and
(32:52):
they'll give you an interest rate. We want that rate
to be as low as possible, and then they'll give
you a pre approval amount, so they'll say, we will
approve you to go and purchase a home up to
one hundred and seventy five or up to four hundred
thousand dollars or whatever that number is, and that's what
we're looking for. So we'll have people there that can
talk you through that pre approval process and then Miss
(33:13):
Priscilla tell us what else about that?
Speaker 7 (33:15):
Well, now I was gonna ask a question, So you
mentioned that I can get a pre approved. Would I
be able to get pre approved there? Or I just
be able to speak to a lender? I mean I
just need to know should walk away with a pre approval?
Speaker 9 (33:26):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Yeah, So we we should have a few folks there
who can do a pre approval. They can do the
credit poll right there on the spot. So well we
should be able to produce that pre approval there on
that day. So Saturday, May third, if you think you
are ready, you know your credit score and you see
that you know you're meeting some of the qualifications that
a lot of banks and financial institutions will just put
(33:47):
out online, then please come. And so we'll have several
different banks and credit unions that'll be there on May
third to talk to you about the pre approval process.
Speaker 7 (33:56):
So in saying all that, do I need to bring
my ID? They need to bring my ID? Do when
you bring my pace suffs? Anything do I need to bring?
I'll just I'm just asking sure.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So bringing some of the of your financial documents can
can be helpful. We can we can either make an
introduction for you on on Saturday, May third, for you
to carry on that process with somebody after that day,
So if you want to meet with them, you know
during the weekday or after your work hours or.
Speaker 9 (34:24):
Something like that.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But if you if you are ready, if you're committed
to this process and you want to go ahead and
bring your your financial information, if you want to bring
your last this is not required, but if you're ready
to go through that process, then bring your bring your
last two paste ubs, bring your last two months of
your your bank statements, so that you have some proof
to go with. You know the income that you're earning,
(34:45):
and you can show that you would be a credit
worthy that you'd be a trustworthy home buyer. And then
the after the the home approval, the loan approval process,
then we need somebody that that can help you go through,
uh putting an offer on a home, finding homes that
are on the market to go and look at, helping
you set up a search criteria so you.
Speaker 9 (35:06):
Don't know how many bedrooms and bathrooms?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Do we want? What part of town do I want
to be in or do I want to stay away from?
Do I want a new construction home, Do I want
a home that's less than twenty years old?
Speaker 9 (35:16):
Do I want? What am I looking for?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Where where am I trying to go and live? And
so you know, we have the next couple of homes
we're going to build, and we.
Speaker 9 (35:24):
Have those addresses. We can talk about that more on
May third.
Speaker 1 (35:27):
But what that position, I mean, what you're looking for
in all that information is you're looking for a good realtor.
And so we'll have several realtors there that we have vetted,
that we've worked with, and we know that they're trustworthy,
we know that they have your best interests at heart,
because we know that's how they're going to continue to
grow their business over the years is by doing the
next right thing for their client, not by trying to
get you know, one big whale to buy one house
(35:49):
a year. We're looking for We're looking for consistent good
service with the realtors that we invite. So we'll have
people there on May third that have that have that history,
that have been vetted and we have built up a
trustworthy relationship with Yeah.
Speaker 8 (36:05):
So one last question, what is the cost.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
This is a free event, and so we'll be providing
some refreshments and we'll have lunch there. So thanks to
some sponsors like Patriot Bank is one of the banks
that has helped us provide some down payment assistance and
some grant dollars to some of the home buyers that
we've worked with in recent history. And then United Housing
is partnering with us to provide some of the training
(36:29):
and education and staffing the event. And then First Horizon
Bank has also provided some grant funds to help cover
the cost of this event.
Speaker 9 (36:36):
So we will be there.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
We're very grateful to these partners into the school to
believe memphys Academy, to Matt count and his team for
helping us host the event there. So we'll be setting
up furniture ahead of time and all that stuff. But
their team at the school has been a really great
neighborhood partner. For us to continue to work with, so
we really appreciate all the support and help make that
event happen.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
We are talking with Priscilla Reid and self heark is here.
We are talking about housing and what the ELSA Ball
will be doing on May third.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
If you have a question for our guest.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Nine zero one five three five nine three four two
eight hundred five zero three nine three four two eight
three three five three five nine, the three four.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Two will get you in to us. You're listening to
dou w d i A the bevjssio.
Speaker 10 (37:42):
Got something to say? Say it next with Tennessee Radio
Hall of Famer Bev Johnson on w d IA.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
Understand, I'm telling you to just keep.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Around.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
Bet enough fohing show.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And this day we are talking housing with Priscilla Reed.
Seth Harkens going to our phone lines to talk with Frank. Hi, Frank, Hey, Frank,
I'm doing fine, Frank, and.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
You I'm doing wonderful, doing wonderful good.
Speaker 9 (39:00):
I was.
Speaker 6 (39:02):
God, I didn't hear all the I didn't hear all
the what what the topics about?
Speaker 5 (39:06):
Today?
Speaker 6 (39:07):
I called in kind of lady.
Speaker 5 (39:09):
He was he was talking at the end.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Okay, well, let me tell you we're talking housing.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
If you're interested, or you know, Frank, somebody who wants
to be a home owner. They're having a big event
on May third, so you can learn about owning your
own home and getting you a home.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Okay, now, now I can I can relate to that.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Now I see, i'm a i'm a i'ma. Let me
let me ask him some questions, so people out there
that's listening can hear what they need to do. Okay.
It is the most of the people that want home
the create the credit is shot to to to the
to the level four hundreds.
Speaker 9 (39:51):
We see him all over the map.
Speaker 6 (39:54):
Right, so they are let's just say four hundred. Now,
can you make something happen and explain to them what
they have to do. So you want to waste your
time and they want to waste their time coming to you,
tell them what they yes, sir, to get to the
(40:14):
level that you can help them.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Excellent, alright, all right, Frank, all right, thank you Frank
for calling. Go on, sap, tell them what they got.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
Bad, Chris, sure, sure. So there's a couple different ways
to take a question like that. It was a really
good question, Frank. So well we'll take just a second.
So one thing is to say, oh, sure, well, you
can get online and you can find somebody who will
promise you that they're going to fix your credit in
three months for seven dollars or whatever. And we always
(40:47):
tell people anybody that's trying to charge you money to
fix your credit, you should run away.
Speaker 9 (40:51):
Anybody that is paying a monthly.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Note to get their credit repaired or to boost their
credit or whatever, please don't do that. You're paying money
for a service that might improve your credit by a
few points. It is very rarely, if ever, actually going
to move your credit up for any long period of time.
What a lot of those organizations will do is they
will challenge, or they'll protest, or they'll send in a
(41:16):
letter to a creditor to try to contest something that's
on your credit. Well, well, there might be something on
your credit that doesn't belong there. But what we see
over and over again is that people know good and
well that they did not pay that direct TV bill,
or they did not pay for that phone that they
got an AT and T, or they do owe that
apartment complex or that landlord, they do owe that money,
(41:39):
and so that is showing up on their credit. So
the approach that we take is we call it an
organic approach. But what we're looking for is we want
people to know for themselves, not to pay a service,
but we want them to know and understand and we
will take the time to teach them. This is how
you build positive credit. So we talked a little bit
earlier about getting a secure credit card where you're having
(42:01):
to save up a little bit of money, maybe two
or three hundred dollars, and you're opening up a credit
card with that balance, right, So you can't go and
blow thousands of dollars on your new Macy's card or
whatever you're You're only able to spend up to that
dollar amount that you put up, So using a secured
credit card is a good way to do that. We
have a good partnership with Hope Credit Union, and so
(42:24):
Hope Credit Union will put people on an installment loan
that's a low balance loan. It's a five hundred dollars
loan that you pay off over six months. And Hope
Credit Union they don't make money off of this loan.
They're trying to pay their employee that's there to help
you set up the loan, and then they are reporting
that loan to the credit bureaus so that you will
(42:45):
have some positive form of history on your account, so
then that will help you go from you know, a
four hundred up to a five or six hundred, like
you need to be able to purchase a home. There
are a lot of ways that folks can get in
trouble having a low credit score. And what we see
over and over again is that we just need people
to have the courage to come and talk to somebody
(43:05):
about it and not to feel any shame or judgment
about what somebody might say because they see that you
have a low credit score. Well, if it's your credit score,
why don't you be the one to take charge of it.
Why don't you be the one to take take some
responsibility and step forward and say this is what happened
to me, and now I'm ready to do something about it.
Speaker 9 (43:22):
So we can help.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It's just having an attitude of curiosity and asking questions
and get in the ball rolling. So we somethime I've
heard over and over again is we often we overestimate
what we can do in a year. So for some
people it's a three month process, it might be a
twelve month process, and then we underestimate what we can
do in ten years. So if my credit score is
(43:44):
a four to eighty today and I need to get
to a six hundred to get a good interest rate
on a mortgage, well that might be more than a
twelve month problem for you to solve. We may have
some debt to pay down, we meaning to establish some
healthy credit. But in two years or three years, you
can be debt free, you can own your own home,
and you can have that asset established that's going to
build wealth for your family for the next several generations.
(44:07):
So just because you can't meet this goal in twelve
months doesn't mean you can't come. Come see us on
May third, and we'll start the process. Let May third
over at Cord Junior High believe mephys acategy. Let May
third be the beginning of that journey for you. It
might be three months, it might be three years, but
let's go ahead and start. Let's get that process started
where you can you can figure out, Okay, what are
these things that are showing up on my credit report?
Speaker 9 (44:29):
What do they mean? Who do I call?
Speaker 1 (44:30):
How do I negotiate a settlement? We can teach you
all those things, so those are some of the steps
that we would take with somebody like mister Frank asked, well,
this is how to get the ball rolling.
Speaker 9 (44:39):
This is what we can teach you.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
We don't want you to go and pay a monthly
fee to a credit fixing service or whatever. We want
you to learn how to do it yourself, and we'll
teach you and we'll hold your hand and walk you
through the process.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
Very good, Very good.
Speaker 8 (44:52):
And Priscilla, oh, I'm not still not hearing myself.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
You hear yourself now?
Speaker 8 (44:58):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (44:59):
Okay.
Speaker 8 (45:01):
Greater Memphis Financial Empowerment Center are they going to be there.
Speaker 9 (45:04):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (45:04):
So we do have a really strong partnership with one
of their counselors, Lakita or who is a total magician,
just like really explaining well and walking people through the process.
This is what's on your credit, this is what you
can do, and this is how you're going to start
to move forward. But missle Keid has been a huge asset,
great partner for us.
Speaker 7 (45:23):
Okay, And the reason I'm asking you that because that's
what they specialize in is credit, you know, rebuilding and
things of that nature. So if you do have credit issues,
do not hesitate to come out on May third and
meet with Greater Memphis Financial Empower Center. There is no
cost to utilize their service. They're really good and they
(45:44):
have several different agents that does this and I'm sure
they'll love to talk with you again. There be any
no costs for you, and they want to actually sit
with you, go over your credit and give you some
action steps to take so you can't get your credit
in a position to where you may be able to buy.
How long would that take for you as an individual?
This depends on what's on your credit, you know, maybe
(46:05):
some things that should be off already that's still there,
you know, And so an important thing is letting them
to pull it and look at it and know it
will not affect your score because they are actually evaluating
your credit. You're not purchasing anything important when you work
with them. You're not purchasing anything. You're just actually getting evaluated.
And it's and there again, you know, But you have
to be the one to stick with it. If they
(46:28):
tell you what to do, then you're gonna have to
be the one to do it right. They say you
need to go do this, they'll give you the action step,
but you have to take the action and don't give
up on your dream become a homeowner, because being a
homeowner has numerous of benefits, and one thing is generational wealth,
which Seth keep talking about. It's generational wealth passing that
home down to the next generation and the next. But
(46:49):
don't let credit be a hindran factor for you in
obtaining an American dream, which is owning your own home.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Sounds good.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
As we get ready to wrap up, I'll get to
Seth Hawkins last words you would like to say to
our listeners.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Come see us on May third, nine o'clock twenty two
thirty Corey Road, and we would love to have a
spot for you there and walk you through this journey
to become a homeowner. And we'll have plenty of good
food and partners there to walk you through whatever your
questions are and whatever your next step is. Wherever you
are when you walk in the building that day, we'll
make sure you know exactly what you need to do
(47:25):
to get ready to purchase a home. Yeah, so we'll
see you May third, nine am, and we'll get you
out of there about twelve and then see you over
at the rockin chair.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
That's right, well, we rock, we rock over there.
Speaker 3 (47:36):
I love that forseller, read the home by Education Director,
certified counselor your last words this day.
Speaker 7 (47:43):
Well, I just want to thank everybody for listening to
us on WDA. Bib I do get calls from our
radio broadcasting people say I heard you on WDA.
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Good.
Speaker 7 (47:53):
But I just want to say that if you're looking
to become a home owner, dudes, join us on May third.
There's going to be a lot of lenders there, Relatives
going to be There is going to be conversation about credit,
conversation about budgeting and that type of thing. Also too,
if you just want to attend one of my home
by Education classes, which we offer three times a month,
please go to our website that's UHI n C dot
(48:14):
org UHI n C dot org. Our classes are listed
on there so you can choose a class, pay for
the classes twenty five dollars per person, forty five dollars
per couple. We also have a lending department. Truth is
the one you need to talk to with our lending
A number is nine oh one two seven two one
one two two.
Speaker 8 (48:34):
And you're not in housing.
Speaker 7 (48:35):
Also is building some homes, and so we're building homes
in different areas of Memphis. We want to find out
more about that. Please call us at nine oh one
to seven two one one two two and last, but
not least, if you're out there and you having a
hard time pay your mortgage, do not lose your house
to foreclosure because you won't get anything out of it.
Please call us. We are certify Hood Housing Counselors. We
(48:58):
can be a mediator between you and your more always
coming to see what options you may have to maintain
your home and if and but the ultimate decision is
a lender, of course, But we but we can hold
the conversation. We know what to ask and things of
that nature, and see how we can help you to
maintain your shelter.
Speaker 8 (49:16):
But we do not we do. We're gonna stress.
Speaker 7 (49:18):
Do not let your home be lost to foreclosure because
you know you're gonna lose everything, and that's including the
available equity you may have in your home.
Speaker 8 (49:27):
So but don't.
Speaker 7 (49:28):
We don't like for you to bury your head in
the sand. If you know you're being late, you see
that this is happening to you. The uther thing is
that they will take the house, and we don't want
you to lose your home.
Speaker 8 (49:38):
If all possible, we.
Speaker 7 (49:39):
Cannot guarantee, however, we can try to help you to
try to save your home in some form of fashion.
Speaker 2 (49:45):
Sounds good.
Speaker 3 (49:46):
Thank you all for being here, great information. Good seeing
you again. Seth You're You're welcome any time.
Speaker 8 (49:52):
Brother.
Speaker 9 (49:53):
You are a true Memphis legend. It is a privilege
to be with you today.
Speaker 2 (49:56):
Well, thank you, thank and Priscilla. I hope see you
next month.
Speaker 7 (50:00):
And my family in Mississippi and that can't give me
a shout out. Yes, Greenwood, Mississippi, my family in Greenwood.
Hello you guys, and thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 2 (50:09):
Thank you Priscilla red S Harkins. Thank you all for
being here. Stay tuned as we go to the other
side of the Bev Johnson Show. Right here on w
d i A The Bev Johnson Show.
Speaker 10 (50:30):
Whether you're in Arkansas, Tennessee, or Mississippi on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram, thank you for listening to The Bev Johnson
Show on dou w d I A Memphis.
Speaker 9 (51:00):
I was sing of Belam, deposit of bet
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