May 30, 2025 • 8 mins
In this episode, Steve Rockefeller is joined by Holly Cross to tackle some of the most common myths and questions homebuyers face. From whether you should wait for rates to drop, to the truth about 20% down payments, renting vs. buying, and credit concerns—they cover it all. With real examples and honest advice, Steve and Holly break down what you actually need to know before starting your homeownership journey. Don’t miss Part 1 of this insightful series.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
podcastthe show that brings you timely
insightsessential tips and everything
youneed to know about mortgages it's
timeto get informed get inspired and
get moving with your host Steve
Rockefellerbecause here your favorite
mortgageguy has your back hey guys it's
your favorite mortgage guy Steve
Rockefellerhere with your favorite
mortgage guy podcast and
(00:23):
todayI have Holly Cross with us and
Hollyand I work together and you know
whatshe's been at CMG for three years
andwe worked together for a couple
yearsprior to that and you know what
we'regoing to do today we're going to
tryto give you a couple of hacks of
homeownership because we both deal with
clientsevery day and the best part
aboutthat is that we know what you feel
(00:46):
likewe know that you're scared we know
thatyou're anxious so Holly welcome
thankyou Steve so let's just jump right
intoit so we've got some questions here
thatcame to us from a variety of people
butlet's talk about some of the myths
thatcome with buying a house so the
numberone question we get I know you
get it
tooshould I wait till rates drop
(01:10):
theyshould no okay but that is one of
thequestions that we frequently hear um
whatdo you think should they wait no i
thinkthat that's something that we
cannotpredict that has been talked
aboutfor a long time now i think ever
since the rates were extremely
abnormallylow in the in 2020 I don't
knowif we're going to see that again
andI don't think that people should
(01:32):
plantheir lives around the possibility
ofrates coming down well to add on to
that I will tell you you
knowI say the same thing to my clients
andeverybody I mean have you ever met a
clientthat wants the highest interest
rateor the highest payment no exactly
soguys you know the one thing you need
to know is
(01:53):
thisyou're not that good i'm not that
goodshe's not that good you can't
predictit nobody wants the highest
paymentare you going to get a $700
payment$1,000 payment no because you're
notgoing to like the neighborhood that
you'regoing to move into and the house
isprobably missing everything and it
couldliterally be a dump so having said
(02:15):
thatdon't wait until the rates drop
becauseyou don't know when they're
goingto drop here's the best part i had
a client December of
202323 now so client goes in buys a
housefor some reason she got anxious
andjust decided it wasn't for her i
(02:37):
lookedaround talked to her realtor and
foundthat there are no other houses on
themarket so I told her "Hey look
you're going to have to go up
$50,000."Well here's the best part she
listenedto me and she qualified for
$50,000more $50,000 more but I told her
Isaid "You better make sure before you
getout of your contract that you found
anotherhouse because the seller is
(02:59):
goingto raise the sales price the
momentyou release from your contract."
Shedidn't listen to me she didn't
listento a realtor she exited that
contracthere's what happened she went
outthere and looked for houses didn't
findone decided she was going to go try
tobuy the same house that she bought
beforethe seller raised the sales price
$18,000and had three offers not even 30
(03:21):
dayshad gone by so you can't predict
whatinterest rates are going to do so
Holly what do you think about
this is renting cheaper
thanbuying a house no no why do you say
thati mean if you really think about it
rentingis 100% interest rate because
thatwhole payment is going towards your
landlordyour landlord's investment
(03:43):
you'renot paying into anything for
yourselfum so no renting is not cheaper
andyou know renting you don't get the
pride of home
ownershipyou can't make it your own if
youhave a dog or a cat you might end up
payingfor that and then you might have
damagesall right here's another big one
doI need a 20% down payment no you do
(04:06):
notneed a 20% down payment we're going
toleave it at that because you don't
needa 20% down payment you might not
evenneed a down payment right there are
programsout there that are grant
programsyou just don't need the 20%
thosewere the days that your parents or
yourgrandparents bought a house when
therewere your traditional banks that
wouldonly loan money if you had that
20%down payment what if I've got a few
(04:28):
dings and dents on my credit
ithink um I think sometimes what a
consumerthinks maybe dings and dents on
theircredit may not actually affect
themqualifying for a mortgage and vice
versaso I think that speaking with a
mortgageprofessional and having them
lookat your credit um is where to start
(04:49):
perfectso Holly here's another question
this is a big one
doI need a realtor absolutely yes why i
thinkthat you know obviously nowadays
withthe internet all the houses are
onlineso it's very easy to maybe find
yourselfa house online but when it
comes to
negotiating writing the contract
protectingyourself in your transaction
(05:11):
obviouslyyou're going to get a home
inspectionrepairs there's many reasons
whyyou need a a well-versed seasoned
localrealtor helping you um negotiate
yourway through the transaction so I
guesswhat you're saying is if you had a
toothacheyou wouldn't pull your own
toothyou'd go to an If you had a legal
(05:32):
issueyou'd go to a lawyer yes if you're
buyinga house you need an a real estate
agent ab (05:35):
Absolutely you need
representationand again you don't need
arealtor to necessarily help you find
thehouse but once you find the house um
youthen need help so we've talked about
allthe anxiety driven stuff let's talk
abouthow do I get preapproved what's
whatwhat steps like A to Z should a
(05:58):
consumerthink about doing i think it
obviouslystarts with a conversation
witha loan officer um and then from
there obviously giving all your
informationwe depending on who your
loanofficer is um we'll take some time
toreally look everything over give you
someoptions um and I mean really that's
(06:19):
allit takes to get pre-qualified and
thenfrom there you would go through
underwriting so under
pre-qualifiedare you seeing So there's
adifference between pre-qualifying and
pre-approvingyes when as a lender do
youhave to write a letter that says
they'repre-qualified or pre-approved
whichof the two is better um I think it
reallydepends on the situation most
(06:42):
mostof the time it's very easy and
quickto do a pre-qualification and that
usuallysuffices um but obviously going
the extra mile and going through
underwritingand being officially
preapprovedwill definitely help if
you'rein a competitive offer situation
aremost underwriters mean and want to
They'regreat they're great that's right
(07:04):
that'sright that's guys this is my
pointunderwriters want to approve the
loanyes they do not want to deny loans
there'sa couple technical reasons
numberone when they deny loans they got
extrawork to do because now they have
toexplain why they denied it and if the
fileis audited and so they want to
approveyour loan but you know what it's
(07:25):
likethis it's like being in a classroom
whenyou were in your fourth grade class
andthe teacher's apple fell on the
groundand bounced a couple times you
haveto clean it up and put it back on
thedesk to make it look nice it's the
samewith applying for a loan you know
it'slike that apple it's going to fall
downmaybe there's a ding or a dent on
thecredit maybe you don't have enough
moneyfor the transaction and as a
(07:46):
lenderwe're always willing to work with
you on that so guys I'm Steve
Rockefelleryour favorite mortgage guy
hollythank you thank you we're going to
haveepisode two in just a few minutes
aboutthe anxiety of buying a home see
younext time thanks for tuning in make
sureto follow your favorite mortgage
guyon Facebook LinkedIn and Instagram
(08:08):
havequestions or ready to take the next
step reach out at
steveloones.com or call
757301-9776we'll catch you next time
podcastthe show that brings you timely
insightsessential tips and everything
youneed to know about mortgages it's
timeto get informed get inspired and
get moving with your host Steve
Rockefellerbecause here your favorite
mortgageguy has your back hey guys it's
your favorite mortgage guy Steve
Rockefellerhere with your favorite
mortgage guy podcast and
(00:23):
todayI have Holly Cross with us and
Hollyand I work together and you know
whatshe's been at CMG for three years
andwe worked together for a couple
yearsprior to that and you know what
we'regoing to do today we're going to
tryto give you a couple of hacks of
homeownership because we both deal with
clientsevery day and the best part
aboutthat is that we know what you feel
(00:46):
likewe know that you're scared we know
thatyou're anxious so Holly welcome
thankyou Steve so let's just jump right
intoit so we've got some questions here
thatcame to us from a variety of people
butlet's talk about some of the myths
thatcome with buying a house so the
numberone question we get I know you
get it
tooshould I wait till rates drop
(01:10):
theyshould no okay but that is one of
thequestions that we frequently hear um
whatdo you think should they wait no i
thinkthat that's something that we
cannotpredict that has been talked
aboutfor a long time now i think ever
since the rates were extremely
abnormallylow in the in 2020 I don't
knowif we're going to see that again
andI don't think that people should
(01:32):
plantheir lives around the possibility
ofrates coming down well to add on to
that I will tell you you
knowI say the same thing to my clients
andeverybody I mean have you ever met a
clientthat wants the highest interest
rateor the highest payment no exactly
soguys you know the one thing you need
to know is
(01:53):
thisyou're not that good i'm not that
goodshe's not that good you can't
predictit nobody wants the highest
paymentare you going to get a $700
payment$1,000 payment no because you're
notgoing to like the neighborhood that
you'regoing to move into and the house
isprobably missing everything and it
couldliterally be a dump so having said
(02:15):
thatdon't wait until the rates drop
becauseyou don't know when they're
goingto drop here's the best part i had
a client December of
202323 now so client goes in buys a
housefor some reason she got anxious
andjust decided it wasn't for her i
(02:37):
lookedaround talked to her realtor and
foundthat there are no other houses on
themarket so I told her "Hey look
you're going to have to go up
$50,000."Well here's the best part she
listenedto me and she qualified for
$50,000more $50,000 more but I told her
Isaid "You better make sure before you
getout of your contract that you found
anotherhouse because the seller is
(02:59):
goingto raise the sales price the
momentyou release from your contract."
Shedidn't listen to me she didn't
listento a realtor she exited that
contracthere's what happened she went
outthere and looked for houses didn't
findone decided she was going to go try
tobuy the same house that she bought
beforethe seller raised the sales price
$18,000and had three offers not even 30
(03:21):
dayshad gone by so you can't predict
whatinterest rates are going to do so
Holly what do you think about
this is renting cheaper
thanbuying a house no no why do you say
thati mean if you really think about it
rentingis 100% interest rate because
thatwhole payment is going towards your
landlordyour landlord's investment
(03:43):
you'renot paying into anything for
yourselfum so no renting is not cheaper
andyou know renting you don't get the
pride of home
ownershipyou can't make it your own if
youhave a dog or a cat you might end up
payingfor that and then you might have
damagesall right here's another big one
doI need a 20% down payment no you do
(04:06):
notneed a 20% down payment we're going
toleave it at that because you don't
needa 20% down payment you might not
evenneed a down payment right there are
programsout there that are grant
programsyou just don't need the 20%
thosewere the days that your parents or
yourgrandparents bought a house when
therewere your traditional banks that
wouldonly loan money if you had that
20%down payment what if I've got a few
(04:28):
dings and dents on my credit
ithink um I think sometimes what a
consumerthinks maybe dings and dents on
theircredit may not actually affect
themqualifying for a mortgage and vice
versaso I think that speaking with a
mortgageprofessional and having them
lookat your credit um is where to start
(04:49):
perfectso Holly here's another question
this is a big one
doI need a realtor absolutely yes why i
thinkthat you know obviously nowadays
withthe internet all the houses are
onlineso it's very easy to maybe find
yourselfa house online but when it
comes to
negotiating writing the contract
protectingyourself in your transaction
(05:11):
obviouslyyou're going to get a home
inspectionrepairs there's many reasons
whyyou need a a well-versed seasoned
localrealtor helping you um negotiate
yourway through the transaction so I
guesswhat you're saying is if you had a
toothacheyou wouldn't pull your own
toothyou'd go to an If you had a legal
(05:32):
issueyou'd go to a lawyer yes if you're
buyinga house you need an a real estate
agent ab (05:35):
Absolutely you need
representationand again you don't need
arealtor to necessarily help you find
thehouse but once you find the house um
youthen need help so we've talked about
allthe anxiety driven stuff let's talk
abouthow do I get preapproved what's
whatwhat steps like A to Z should a
(05:58):
consumerthink about doing i think it
obviouslystarts with a conversation
witha loan officer um and then from
there obviously giving all your
informationwe depending on who your
loanofficer is um we'll take some time
toreally look everything over give you
someoptions um and I mean really that's
(06:19):
allit takes to get pre-qualified and
thenfrom there you would go through
underwriting so under
pre-qualifiedare you seeing So there's
adifference between pre-qualifying and
pre-approvingyes when as a lender do
youhave to write a letter that says
they'repre-qualified or pre-approved
whichof the two is better um I think it
reallydepends on the situation most
(06:42):
mostof the time it's very easy and
quickto do a pre-qualification and that
usuallysuffices um but obviously going
the extra mile and going through
underwritingand being officially
preapprovedwill definitely help if
you'rein a competitive offer situation
aremost underwriters mean and want to
They'regreat they're great that's right
(07:04):
that'sright that's guys this is my
pointunderwriters want to approve the
loanyes they do not want to deny loans
there'sa couple technical reasons
numberone when they deny loans they got
extrawork to do because now they have
toexplain why they denied it and if the
fileis audited and so they want to
approveyour loan but you know what it's
(07:25):
likethis it's like being in a classroom
whenyou were in your fourth grade class
andthe teacher's apple fell on the
groundand bounced a couple times you
haveto clean it up and put it back on
thedesk to make it look nice it's the
samewith applying for a loan you know
it'slike that apple it's going to fall
downmaybe there's a ding or a dent on
thecredit maybe you don't have enough
moneyfor the transaction and as a
(07:46):
lenderwe're always willing to work with
you on that so guys I'm Steve
Rockefelleryour favorite mortgage guy
hollythank you thank you we're going to
haveepisode two in just a few minutes
aboutthe anxiety of buying a home see
younext time thanks for tuning in make
sureto follow your favorite mortgage
guyon Facebook LinkedIn and Instagram
(08:08):
havequestions or ready to take the next
step reach out at
steveloones.com or call
757301-9776we'll catch you next time
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