May 23, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode of Your Favorite Mortgage Guy Podcast, host Steve Rockefeller sits down with real estate power couple Kathy and Phil Durban to shed light on the Homes for Heroes program—a nationwide initiative that helps military members, first responders, teachers, healthcare workers, and even pastors achieve homeownership. With over 35 years of combined experience in real estate, Kathy and Phil share how they’ve helped countless heroes save thousands on their home purchases and sales.
They discuss the perks of the program, how eligible buyers can access benefits, and why this initiative is so much more than just a discount—it’s a way to give back to those who serve our communities. You’ll also hear about Phil’s background in the Marine Corps and law enforcement, how Kathy got her start in real estate, and how they’re making a difference together, one hero at a time.
Whether you’re a hero yourself or know someone who is, this episode will leave you informed and inspired.
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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 another edition of
ourYour Favorite Mortgage Guy podcast
(00:24):
whereyou know what we are going to try
to
demystifythe ability to buy a house
todayso with me today I've got Kathy
andPhil Durban guys welcome thank you
forhaving us good to be here kathy and
Philhave a combined 35 years in the
mortgagebusiness phil I'm going to ask
(00:46):
youtell us a little bit about yourself
wellthere's not a lot not a lot to tell
Iguess i actually came came in the
MarineCorps 32 years you know I spent
32years in the Marine Corps and uh
afterthat retired out of that spent 15
yearsin law enforcement uh sing a
littlebit in a band just having a good
time but uh when I got into real
(01:08):
estateKathy was my wife had already
beenin real estate and she had been in
aprogram called Homes for Heroes and
onceI found out about that uh I kind of
jumpedon board too and we I I guess we
cantalk a little bit about what what
allthe benefits and things like the
perksare about that a little later but
uhthat that's about me i was born down
southLouisiana raised in southeast
(01:30):
Texasand and and the rest I just told
youwhat I've been doing perfect perfect
ohand hold on a second so I don't want
tomess this up is the Strands of Time
Soundsof Time sounds of time the band
okaycorrect and guys let me just tell
youI have never seen Phil in action but
butI have seen it on Facebook and he's
(01:52):
gota great voice a great voice so Kathy
talk a little bit about yourself
SchaeferReality 20 years in the I mean
inthe real estate business tell us a
littlebit about that well my daughter
actuallygot me started in real estate
tobegin with and then uh so I joined
herwe were motheraughter team and then
shemoved back to North Carolina and I
(02:13):
justkept on with the real estate
businessand uh been with Schaefer now
forabout 10 years and they're a small
familyownedbusiness kind of like a
boutiquecompany yeah yeah yeah so I I
like that and I like the smaller
companiesit's a good fit for me and
theylove what we do with Homes for
Heroesand they support that so perfect
soguys you know as you can tell the
(02:35):
themetoday is Homes for Heroes it's a
wonderfulprogram it's not just for
militarymembers so Kathy and Phil let's
talkfor a little bit for a few moments
aboutthe Homes for Heroes program it's
aprogram that benefits who our military
whichPhil was military that's kind of
whyI got involved because you know
(02:56):
passionateabout that program so that's
CoastGuard that's navy that's army
branchesallanches space force right
althoughit would be pretty cool to do
doa loan and sell a house to someone on
thespace right right and firefighters
lawenforcement teachers health care
professionalsand we've added the group
uhpastors perfect perfect so as far as
(03:19):
thebenefits go so Homes for Heroes is a
national company or a national
foundationI guess right so what we
foundis that um somebody I mean this is
probablya typical scenario somebody
wantsto buy a house and they're just
tryingto figure out what's my next step
whetherthey're whatever kind of hero
theyare the average person today is
(03:40):
goingto Google or whatever their search
engineis and looking for help for home
ownershipor something of that nature
andthen we're finding that they're
fillingout the one-page form then all
ofa sudden you're somebody reaches out
toyou from Homes for Heroes correct and
saysJohn Smith is looking to buy a
houseso now you have to call John Smith
(04:02):
andthen you have to figure out okay
whatare his needs or her needs and and
gofrom there and tell us what happens
sowe we talk to them and first off we
askthem if they're working with an
agentalready because if they are we
can'thelp them and if they're working
witha lender if you're already working
withan agent then you're not going to
getthe Homes for Heroes benefit right
(04:23):
wewon't cut off somebody else's bread
nowe don't do that that's right that's
rightand you have to work with a Homes
forHeroes affiliate in order to receive
thosebenefits and that that money right
andI am a Homes for Heroes affiliate as
a lender and you know of course
everythingthat we do as a lender has to
benefithas to be for the benefit of the
buyerit can't be for the benefit of
(04:45):
anotherthird party it can't be for my
benefitit has to benefit the buyer in
yourcase it's the same because you're
helpingthem and they're getting a
portionof what our commission okay
rightwe send 30% of our commission to
Homesfor Heroes 30% Wow of everything
wedo goes to the Homes for Heroes now
5%of that 30% goes to the Homes for
(05:07):
Heroesnonprofit foundation which helps
otherheroes in need and and hero
organizationsand then a little small
partof that is an admin fee and then
therest goes to the hero in the form of
acheck unless they need it at closing
ifthey need that money at closing then
wecan ask Homes for Heroes for an
exceptionand that way they get it at
closingversus being mailed a check so
(05:28):
letme ask you this i'm going to just
pickthis out of the air okay because
themath is easy let's just say the
rebate do we call it a rebate
a
perkso the perk is let's say it's
$2,000okay so the veteran can choose to
Imean we're in a competitive real
estatemarket where sellers aren't apt
topay closing costs they may they may
(05:50):
notbut if they don't somebody's got to
payit so they can take that $2,000 perk
andapply it towards closing costs
absolutelyokay and then the perk as a
lenderyou know we give a certain
percentageof the loan amount back which
youknow you got two perks now that will
allowthat that veteran to get into the
housewith you know literally zero down
ifat all possible definitely helps
(06:11):
that'sfor sure or if somehow you guys
havedone a great job and negotiated
thatthe seller pay the closing cost
theycan take that same perk after
closingand hey I want to buy a washer
dryerrefrigerator absolutely they can
dothat as well so that perk is real
moneyfor them real money absolutely
absolutelyso let's talk a little bit
moreabout the average veteran that
(06:32):
doesn'tunderstand so most people don't
understandhome ownership they kind of
knowthat it's hanging out there they
knowthat rents are creeping up they
knowthat gosh I mean the average rent
nowadaysI talked to a lot of people and
theyall say their rents are 18 plus oh
yeahyou know I know I have rental
propertiesand I'm not getting any less
thanlike $1,900 for my properties right
(06:54):
nowand so I know a lot of veterans out
thereworry about that because listen
veteran and I'm using veterans
specificallybecause their income is on
theFederal Register it's posted every
yearanybody can go out there and look
andsee what an E4 who's been in the
militaryfour years you know that's how
muchthey make and then they get their
costof living adjustments depending on
(07:15):
theirmarketplace and then they get a
foodallowance it's not much for what
theydo correct and we're thankful for
theirservice no question about that i I
knowthat uh my entire family was
militaryi'm the only one that couldn't
goin and um and that's because I back
thenthey said I had a curved spine i
don'tsee it curved but you know either
thator I just couldn't pass the test
(07:36):
theyjust told me it was a curse fine
butbut at any event you know we we we
findthat our veterans need a lot of
helpnow that's just one aspect of it so
let'sjust say we have a nurse who just
graduatednursing school has some
studentdebt you work with them as well
rightabsolutely and then for example
(07:57):
umyou mentioned the pastors right i
meanthat's a that's a thankless job oh
myboy goodness all the stuff that they
haveto go through and and that they
theyget the benefit as well teachers
teachersdeserve a gold medal i mean
theydeserve a gold medal for everything
theydo they take a lot of money out of
theirown pocket to buy supplies a lot
oftimes and yeah I mean I've actually
(08:19):
hadteachers tell me you know while
we'retalking about how much money they
putout of their pocket and I I can
honestlysay I've personally sent money
toto these teachers i mean like my
clientsI just sent a check for $25 and
said"Here buy your kids something."
Becausethey need the help there's no
questionand they shouldn't have to take
ajob and then pay for their own job so
(08:40):
thisis another perk for them um as far
asdo you work with buyers and sellers
oris it just buyers both buyers and
sellerssellers also receive that check
afterclosing okay so I will tell you
folksthis is the one thing I know about
Kathyand Phil if they meet somebody
let'sjust say they're Phil's singing in
(09:02):
oneof his concerts and somebody they
talkto somebody one of the things I
knowis that you will turn a person into
ahero if you can you meet them and oh
they'vebeen in the Navy you're retired
ormaybe you just served your four years
or whatever i know you just
automaticallyput them in that program
butyou don't have to do that you just
dothat out of the goodness of your
heartright yeah well we also recognize
(09:25):
thespouse of military like maybe they
wewe sold a home to one hero who lost
herhusband overseas he was active duty
militaryso we also gave that benefit to
thespouse as well so oh that's it's not
justfor the hero it's for that spouse
too the families make a lot of
sacrificesfor the for the military i
knowour children when Phil was in the
MarineCorps Phil missed a lot of
(09:46):
birthdaysa lot of special events at
schoolfunctions you know and holidays
andthings like that so there's a lot of
sacrificesand Phil not to pick on Phil
herebut Phil sacrificed for the mil
Marinesbut I mean I'm sure he missed
holidaysand things like that in his law
enforcementcareer because that's a
thanklessjob oh yeah although it seems
likeit's getting a little better
dependingon what city you're in or
(10:08):
whateveryou're one of my deployments
was13 months so that's you know without
familyand it gets but Steve I wanted to
jumpin real quick but you mentioned
somethingthat I wanted everyone to know
you'retalking about the heroes you know
militaryand law enforcement and all and
all of those five six categories
actuallythat we use they don't have to
beactive duty they can be retired they
(10:30):
onlyhave to have served a short period
oftime got out medically whatever the
casemay be they do not have to be
activeduty and and and they're still
heroesthey they were there they they do
dowhat they had to do to get things
doneand and and so we help them all
perfecti'm glad you brought that up
becausewe want people to know you don't
haveto currently be a firefighter or
(10:52):
lawenforcement you just have to have
servedin that capacity so Phil we
talkeda few minutes ago about how do
youbecome a hero how do you know if
you'rea hero we already know they're a
herobecause of their service what if
theywant to become a hero to be able to
buy a house what do they do
welljust like anyone out most people
outthere who who are buying homes or or
(11:14):
sellinghomes they're going to go to the
internetthese days and find and doubt
andthey're going to look up homes and
whateverbut what what I'm here to tell
youis if they can go to homes for
heroes homes for heroes or
heroesomestore.com
which is localh.com
uhthey can get they get in touch with
usuh we're the local affiliates for
(11:36):
Homesfor Heroes actually Kathy was the
uh I think one of the first IO
whenI first started working with you
youhad like five zip codes or six
exactly so it's it's grown a lot
wonderfuljob that the lady named Ruth
Johnsonis is has done uh since she
startedthis out after 911 uh but that
(11:57):
that'sthat's the way they find out who
weare and what we do not to be confused
alsowith they we won't build a house
foryou that's another program this is
strictlyhelping you buy or or sell a
homeand of course the next thing we'll
dois we'll get them hooked up with a uh
witha lender that will help them as you
knowas well so perfect so Kathy at one
(12:19):
pointyou had all these zip codes i'm
sureyou were busier in a one-armed
paperhanger and I know that uh these
heroescome in pretty hot and heavy at
timesi mean they don't come in every
daybut right you you might get a bucket
ofthree or four at one time and that
doesn'tsound like a lot three whoopee
rightbut no there's a lot of effort
thatgoes into helping these heroes so
(12:41):
itstarts with you making the phone call
saying"Hey here's who I am how can we
helpyou?" And then you identify the
needsof the hero and then you go
throughthe process of what then they
arethey are we refer them to the lender
becausewe want them to get preapproved
beforewe start looking at homes do you
(13:02):
findmany people We'll get to the lender
piecein a second do you find many
peoplethat that that that want this
buttheir budget mhm yes okay yeah they
have to be
realisticwhat they can afford and we
don'twant to show them houses that's a
otherreason we want them to find out
whatthey qualify for we don't want to
showthem a $300,000 house if they
(13:24):
qualifyfor 200 because they're going to
keepcomparing to that $300,000 house
andwe're not going to find a house that
youknow that looks like that they
actuallyqualify for right right so I
knowum I worked with um a couple um
this was probably August of last
yearthe affiliate in North Carolina
(13:47):
somehowconnected with me to say "Hey I
thinkmy people are going to buy in
Virginia."And and it was in Rocky Mount
soyou're right on the edge of the
Virginialine mhm and they didn't they
endedup buying in North Carolina and so
Iwas still able to help them but what
youjust said about them comparing
that'sexactly what happened they looked
(14:08):
ata house in North Carolina where they
gotlike 3 acres of land and the house
was maybe $225,000
folksthat's not realistic in this
marketplaceno no 225,000 on 3 acres of
landis rural be aware that it's rural
thatmeans 45 to an hour drive any place
toa Walmart anything like that so they
(14:30):
werecomparing that to Virginia which
thesales price about $125,000 higher
whichthey didn't qualify for that much
moreand so they ended up buying that
housethere and and it's all about
settingthe expectations it sounds like
rightexactly set the expectations on
under expectations what happens
whenpeople say "I saw this on pick your
(14:54):
favoritewebsite Zillow Red you know
whateverit is." Most of them are
lookingon Zillow and are we finding
thatthose houses actually are not
availableoh yeah they're under contract
mostmost times they're under contract
andthey'll they'll send us the address
andwe tell them up front hey if you see
somethingif you're driving by you see
somethingonline let us know just shoot
usa text give us a quick phone call
(15:15):
shootus an email and we'll look it up
foryou and most times it's under
contractand is the housing market still
ashot as it has always been and and
let'ssay under 350,000 oh yeah good
newspretty competitive okay right in
that price range yeah so
Phil40some years in law enforcement in
themilitary you you meet a lot of
peopledo people seek you out to find a
(15:38):
houseand if they do where do they start
theythey do steve thank you for asking
thatthey they do seek me out at times
andKathy out because we were involved
forso long uh immediately we'll we'll
tryto find out what they need or how we
canhelp them and and I guess probably
oneof the biggest things is what do
theyqualify for uh the housing market
(16:00):
uhyou had mentioned earlier today that
isis fluctuating so much but so we have
tofind out what they qualify for be as
wemove forward and how do you do that
wewe contact our lender and and Steve
you're you're
aso that brings up actually a good
pointto ask you what when we call you
(16:21):
andthen you then you call them how do
youhelp them what do you do to to help
themfind a home that's great that's a
greatquestion so guys listen you know
probablythe hardest part about what I
dois making someone making you feel
like it's okay to strip naked
(16:42):
financiallyin front of me and that's
thetruth i mean we're going to find out
ifyou got crap credit don't lie to us
we'regoing to find out if you got great
creditbe proud of it if it's anywhere
inbetween be proud of it so here's the
thingso when Phil and Kathy reach out
tome and say "Hey we've got a hero they
wantto talk to you." In most cases that
herois scared to death absolutely they
(17:05):
don'tknow what they're going to find
outespecially first time right and
here's the worst part about it
andI'm talking to you whoever you are
here'sthe problem do not go to a
websiteand try to calculate a payment
it'snot going to be accurate there's
thosewebsites are designed to generate
leadsand those leads are sold to people
likeme or to the real estate community
(17:27):
oreven to builders so when people call
mewhen you refer somebody John and Mary
Smithlet's say when they call me the
I'venever met a client that wants the
highestinterest rate or the highest
paymenthave you no no right right so
whatwe have to do is we have to find a
happymedium but finding that interest
rateis balanced based upon the property
(17:48):
typefor example is it a single family
home or is it a home that's in a
neighborhoodwe call it a plan unit
developmentbut is it a condominium
becausethere's certain layers of part
ofthat financing that impact the
interestrate absolutely then you go to
creditscore and those are the two
biggestlayers on that so guys I know
you'reasking what's the minimum credit
(18:09):
scorehere's the thing minimum credit
scoreon any loan is 620 can we do
somethingunder 620 there's only two
loansVA and FHA now VA is typically
yourveterans so by the time the client
callsme they don't know they're so
confusedthey've looked at they've
lookedat their their cell phone and
said"Oh my blahy blah score says it's 2
(18:32):
millionright?" Or whatever it is and
theproblem is folks we don't care we're
notlooking at your phone we're not
lookingat your bank statement we're not
lookingat your credit card statement
we'regoing to use a triple algorithm
creditreport and that is Equifax
Experianand TransUnion now the key part
aboutthat is we're using the medium
scorewhich is the middle of the scores
(18:53):
noweverybody's had a ding and a dent
youknow we find it doesn't matter how
oldyou are somebody has had a ding and
a dent and don't be afraid of a
bankruptcybecause a bankruptcy is fine
youjust have a certain amount of time
thatyou have to have between the date
ofthe bankruptcy and the date of the
releaseright so when you send us
something somebody what ends up
happeningis I go through this whole
(19:14):
thingbut you know what we haven't
talkedabout yet what's my payment oh
yeahthat's that's and the problem is
thiswe don't want to talk about that
upfrontwe want to make sure that these
peoplecan buy a house now when we get
tothe payment what most veterans or
mostheroes we'll just say heroes what
mostheroes don't understand is that the
(19:36):
onlyperson that's benefiting from the
rentis the landlord oh yeah he's
gettingthe tax deduction he's building
theequity and you know there's an old
sayingwhen was the best time to buy a
houseyesterday right when's the next
besttime today so what we when I talk
topeople what I have to help them
understandis for example let's just use
aveteran that gets um BAH Mhm the
(19:58):
housingallowance so that is a non-t
taxable
correctso if you know most people are
ina 30% tax bracket so let's say you're
at$1,500 a month you add 30% to that
that'sanother $450 now you're at $1,950
ifit were a gross taxable number you
canfind a house for $2,000 mhm oh yeah
(20:20):
you can find a house for $2,300
doyou want to make that payment because
itNo you don't because you're afraid of
itbut what most people don't understand
isthey they could end up with $6 or
$7,000back the following year when they
filetheir tax returns right yeah that
taxbreak and then we forgot about the
bigpiece the equity the equity in the
homewe have a hero right now who
(20:42):
purchaseda home uh it was in 2011 and
hewas renting at the time and they had
beenrenting for many years and they
finallymade the jump to buy they were
afraidfirst-time home buyers and they
boughta little house they didn't have
anychildren at the time now they have
twochildren and they've outgrown that
houseand they're buying another house
that'smuch bigger and instead of
(21:03):
gettinga deposit check back for about
$2,000they're now going to get $200,000
inequity that's the power of home
ownershipthat is the power you know wow
that'samazing it is so literally so
let'sjust think about this for a second
becauseyou know you got to keep up with
theJoneses right this is America you
gotto drive a brand new car every
(21:24):
coupleof years you got to have credit
carddebt your kids have to be in dance
baseballbasketball whatever they're in
got to keep up
$200,000that can put them a couple
steps above of above
thebuying a beautiful home for that
theynever thought they could afford
becauseof the equity in that home
that'sawesome that's awesome so what
(21:45):
elsedo we need to know well you just
mentioneda good point and Kathy you did
aswell i mean she said that you know
theyhad bought the home and they
outgrewit so they bought another home
justwanted to make it a point this is
nota one time and done thing right you
canuse this over and over and over
againthat's a great point yeah you get
yoursame perks and benefits back right
they'regetting benefits on selling
(22:07):
theircurrent home and they're also
gettinga check back on buying the other
homeso they're getting two checks from
homeyou've actually had a a client
that'sbought and sold four or five
timesyeah they've used it four times
withus and this is a nationwide program
sothey can reach out to you you can
referthem to an affiliate someplace
elsewhich we just did we have one moved
toKentucky they have an affiliate in
(22:29):
Kentuckynow helping them and you know
whatand we sold their home here i've
alwaysfound always have found that it's
betterto have a referred referral than
youcan because it feels more genuine
thanhaving just hey call Mary Sue in um
Kentuckyright i I don't know her but
(22:50):
butat least you can hand off a warm
leadright so anything else we need to
know about the homes for her
justjust the basics uh Steve like I
saidit started back after 9/11 has
grown nationwide as you said
uhwe're we're just we're just here as a
homesfor heroes affiliate to help our
heroesto get into a home something they
(23:12):
can afford uh and not not to go
overboardas you mentioned earlier uh
andjust keep on pushing it forward
that'swhat it's all about maybe mention
thefriends of heroes too program where
friendsof heroes are people who want to
alsogive back and they might be home
inspectorssettlement companies flooring
(23:33):
companiesyeah right wow okay right like
wehave you know carpet companies that
willgive them our rate the real estate
rateinstead of the rate as they walk in
thedoor oh I understand okay so it is a
trueaffiliate program it is and we call
themfriends if you and that's a perk
it's a definite right so it's
heroeshomestores.comright right or
(23:54):
homesforh heres.com right and then what
ifthey want to call you directly that's
easymy number is and I I don't mind
putting it out it's
75746425and Kathy's number is 75746731
perfectlyand guys I want you to know
somethingthese two are super busy and
(24:18):
ifyou get the voicemail you need to
leavea message because if you don't
theywon't know you called don't just
hangup and assume they're going to call
youback you've got to leave a voicemail
you can reach Kathy at
cathyheroeshomestore.com or
Philheroeshomestore.comso that's it for
ustoday okay thank you guys for coming
(24:40):
thankyou very much for having us
appreciateit really good thank you guys
listenwe just demystified Homes for
Heroes so listen go to homes
forheroes.com or
heroeshomestore.comor just reach out to
Philand Kathy directly have a great day
thanksfor tuning in make sure to follow
yourfavorite mortgage guy on Facebook
(25:02):
LinkedInand Instagram have questions or
readyto take the next step reach out at
steveloans.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 another edition of
ourYour Favorite Mortgage Guy podcast
(00:24):
whereyou know what we are going to try
to
demystifythe ability to buy a house
todayso with me today I've got Kathy
andPhil Durban guys welcome thank you
forhaving us good to be here kathy and
Philhave a combined 35 years in the
mortgagebusiness phil I'm going to ask
(00:46):
youtell us a little bit about yourself
wellthere's not a lot not a lot to tell
Iguess i actually came came in the
MarineCorps 32 years you know I spent
32years in the Marine Corps and uh
afterthat retired out of that spent 15
yearsin law enforcement uh sing a
littlebit in a band just having a good
time but uh when I got into real
(01:08):
estateKathy was my wife had already
beenin real estate and she had been in
aprogram called Homes for Heroes and
onceI found out about that uh I kind of
jumpedon board too and we I I guess we
cantalk a little bit about what what
allthe benefits and things like the
perksare about that a little later but
uhthat that's about me i was born down
southLouisiana raised in southeast
(01:30):
Texasand and and the rest I just told
youwhat I've been doing perfect perfect
ohand hold on a second so I don't want
tomess this up is the Strands of Time
Soundsof Time sounds of time the band
okaycorrect and guys let me just tell
youI have never seen Phil in action but
butI have seen it on Facebook and he's
(01:52):
gota great voice a great voice so Kathy
talk a little bit about yourself
SchaeferReality 20 years in the I mean
inthe real estate business tell us a
littlebit about that well my daughter
actuallygot me started in real estate
tobegin with and then uh so I joined
herwe were motheraughter team and then
shemoved back to North Carolina and I
(02:13):
justkept on with the real estate
businessand uh been with Schaefer now
forabout 10 years and they're a small
familyownedbusiness kind of like a
boutiquecompany yeah yeah yeah so I I
like that and I like the smaller
companiesit's a good fit for me and
theylove what we do with Homes for
Heroesand they support that so perfect
soguys you know as you can tell the
(02:35):
themetoday is Homes for Heroes it's a
wonderfulprogram it's not just for
militarymembers so Kathy and Phil let's
talkfor a little bit for a few moments
aboutthe Homes for Heroes program it's
aprogram that benefits who our military
whichPhil was military that's kind of
whyI got involved because you know
(02:56):
passionateabout that program so that's
CoastGuard that's navy that's army
branchesallanches space force right
althoughit would be pretty cool to do
doa loan and sell a house to someone on
thespace right right and firefighters
lawenforcement teachers health care
professionalsand we've added the group
uhpastors perfect perfect so as far as
(03:19):
thebenefits go so Homes for Heroes is a
national company or a national
foundationI guess right so what we
foundis that um somebody I mean this is
probablya typical scenario somebody
wantsto buy a house and they're just
tryingto figure out what's my next step
whetherthey're whatever kind of hero
theyare the average person today is
(03:40):
goingto Google or whatever their search
engineis and looking for help for home
ownershipor something of that nature
andthen we're finding that they're
fillingout the one-page form then all
ofa sudden you're somebody reaches out
toyou from Homes for Heroes correct and
saysJohn Smith is looking to buy a
houseso now you have to call John Smith
(04:02):
andthen you have to figure out okay
whatare his needs or her needs and and
gofrom there and tell us what happens
sowe we talk to them and first off we
askthem if they're working with an
agentalready because if they are we
can'thelp them and if they're working
witha lender if you're already working
withan agent then you're not going to
getthe Homes for Heroes benefit right
(04:23):
wewon't cut off somebody else's bread
nowe don't do that that's right that's
rightand you have to work with a Homes
forHeroes affiliate in order to receive
thosebenefits and that that money right
andI am a Homes for Heroes affiliate as
a lender and you know of course
everythingthat we do as a lender has to
benefithas to be for the benefit of the
buyerit can't be for the benefit of
(04:45):
anotherthird party it can't be for my
benefitit has to benefit the buyer in
yourcase it's the same because you're
helpingthem and they're getting a
portionof what our commission okay
rightwe send 30% of our commission to
Homesfor Heroes 30% Wow of everything
wedo goes to the Homes for Heroes now
5%of that 30% goes to the Homes for
(05:07):
Heroesnonprofit foundation which helps
otherheroes in need and and hero
organizationsand then a little small
partof that is an admin fee and then
therest goes to the hero in the form of
acheck unless they need it at closing
ifthey need that money at closing then
wecan ask Homes for Heroes for an
exceptionand that way they get it at
closingversus being mailed a check so
(05:28):
letme ask you this i'm going to just
pickthis out of the air okay because
themath is easy let's just say the
rebate do we call it a rebate
a
perkso the perk is let's say it's
$2,000okay so the veteran can choose to
Imean we're in a competitive real
estatemarket where sellers aren't apt
topay closing costs they may they may
(05:50):
notbut if they don't somebody's got to
payit so they can take that $2,000 perk
andapply it towards closing costs
absolutelyokay and then the perk as a
lenderyou know we give a certain
percentageof the loan amount back which
youknow you got two perks now that will
allowthat that veteran to get into the
housewith you know literally zero down
ifat all possible definitely helps
(06:11):
that'sfor sure or if somehow you guys
havedone a great job and negotiated
thatthe seller pay the closing cost
theycan take that same perk after
closingand hey I want to buy a washer
dryerrefrigerator absolutely they can
dothat as well so that perk is real
moneyfor them real money absolutely
absolutelyso let's talk a little bit
moreabout the average veteran that
(06:32):
doesn'tunderstand so most people don't
understandhome ownership they kind of
knowthat it's hanging out there they
knowthat rents are creeping up they
knowthat gosh I mean the average rent
nowadaysI talked to a lot of people and
theyall say their rents are 18 plus oh
yeahyou know I know I have rental
propertiesand I'm not getting any less
thanlike $1,900 for my properties right
(06:54):
nowand so I know a lot of veterans out
thereworry about that because listen
veteran and I'm using veterans
specificallybecause their income is on
theFederal Register it's posted every
yearanybody can go out there and look
andsee what an E4 who's been in the
militaryfour years you know that's how
muchthey make and then they get their
costof living adjustments depending on
(07:15):
theirmarketplace and then they get a
foodallowance it's not much for what
theydo correct and we're thankful for
theirservice no question about that i I
knowthat uh my entire family was
militaryi'm the only one that couldn't
goin and um and that's because I back
thenthey said I had a curved spine i
don'tsee it curved but you know either
thator I just couldn't pass the test
(07:36):
theyjust told me it was a curse fine
butbut at any event you know we we we
findthat our veterans need a lot of
helpnow that's just one aspect of it so
let'sjust say we have a nurse who just
graduatednursing school has some
studentdebt you work with them as well
rightabsolutely and then for example
(07:57):
umyou mentioned the pastors right i
meanthat's a that's a thankless job oh
myboy goodness all the stuff that they
haveto go through and and that they
theyget the benefit as well teachers
teachersdeserve a gold medal i mean
theydeserve a gold medal for everything
theydo they take a lot of money out of
theirown pocket to buy supplies a lot
oftimes and yeah I mean I've actually
(08:19):
hadteachers tell me you know while
we'retalking about how much money they
putout of their pocket and I I can
honestlysay I've personally sent money
toto these teachers i mean like my
clientsI just sent a check for $25 and
said"Here buy your kids something."
Becausethey need the help there's no
questionand they shouldn't have to take
ajob and then pay for their own job so
(08:40):
thisis another perk for them um as far
asdo you work with buyers and sellers
oris it just buyers both buyers and
sellerssellers also receive that check
afterclosing okay so I will tell you
folksthis is the one thing I know about
Kathyand Phil if they meet somebody
let'sjust say they're Phil's singing in
(09:02):
oneof his concerts and somebody they
talkto somebody one of the things I
knowis that you will turn a person into
ahero if you can you meet them and oh
they'vebeen in the Navy you're retired
ormaybe you just served your four years
or whatever i know you just
automaticallyput them in that program
butyou don't have to do that you just
dothat out of the goodness of your
heartright yeah well we also recognize
(09:25):
thespouse of military like maybe they
wewe sold a home to one hero who lost
herhusband overseas he was active duty
militaryso we also gave that benefit to
thespouse as well so oh that's it's not
justfor the hero it's for that spouse
too the families make a lot of
sacrificesfor the for the military i
knowour children when Phil was in the
MarineCorps Phil missed a lot of
(09:46):
birthdaysa lot of special events at
schoolfunctions you know and holidays
andthings like that so there's a lot of
sacrificesand Phil not to pick on Phil
herebut Phil sacrificed for the mil
Marinesbut I mean I'm sure he missed
holidaysand things like that in his law
enforcementcareer because that's a
thanklessjob oh yeah although it seems
likeit's getting a little better
dependingon what city you're in or
(10:08):
whateveryou're one of my deployments
was13 months so that's you know without
familyand it gets but Steve I wanted to
jumpin real quick but you mentioned
somethingthat I wanted everyone to know
you'retalking about the heroes you know
militaryand law enforcement and all and
all of those five six categories
actuallythat we use they don't have to
beactive duty they can be retired they
(10:30):
onlyhave to have served a short period
oftime got out medically whatever the
casemay be they do not have to be
activeduty and and and they're still
heroesthey they were there they they do
dowhat they had to do to get things
doneand and and so we help them all
perfecti'm glad you brought that up
becausewe want people to know you don't
haveto currently be a firefighter or
(10:52):
lawenforcement you just have to have
servedin that capacity so Phil we
talkeda few minutes ago about how do
youbecome a hero how do you know if
you'rea hero we already know they're a
herobecause of their service what if
theywant to become a hero to be able to
buy a house what do they do
welljust like anyone out most people
outthere who who are buying homes or or
(11:14):
sellinghomes they're going to go to the
internetthese days and find and doubt
andthey're going to look up homes and
whateverbut what what I'm here to tell
youis if they can go to homes for
heroes homes for heroes or
heroesomestore.com
which is localh.com
uhthey can get they get in touch with
usuh we're the local affiliates for
(11:36):
Homesfor Heroes actually Kathy was the
uh I think one of the first IO
whenI first started working with you
youhad like five zip codes or six
exactly so it's it's grown a lot
wonderfuljob that the lady named Ruth
Johnsonis is has done uh since she
startedthis out after 911 uh but that
(11:57):
that'sthat's the way they find out who
weare and what we do not to be confused
alsowith they we won't build a house
foryou that's another program this is
strictlyhelping you buy or or sell a
homeand of course the next thing we'll
dois we'll get them hooked up with a uh
witha lender that will help them as you
knowas well so perfect so Kathy at one
(12:19):
pointyou had all these zip codes i'm
sureyou were busier in a one-armed
paperhanger and I know that uh these
heroescome in pretty hot and heavy at
timesi mean they don't come in every
daybut right you you might get a bucket
ofthree or four at one time and that
doesn'tsound like a lot three whoopee
rightbut no there's a lot of effort
thatgoes into helping these heroes so
(12:41):
itstarts with you making the phone call
saying"Hey here's who I am how can we
helpyou?" And then you identify the
needsof the hero and then you go
throughthe process of what then they
arethey are we refer them to the lender
becausewe want them to get preapproved
beforewe start looking at homes do you
(13:02):
findmany people We'll get to the lender
piecein a second do you find many
peoplethat that that that want this
buttheir budget mhm yes okay yeah they
have to be
realisticwhat they can afford and we
don'twant to show them houses that's a
otherreason we want them to find out
whatthey qualify for we don't want to
showthem a $300,000 house if they
(13:24):
qualifyfor 200 because they're going to
keepcomparing to that $300,000 house
andwe're not going to find a house that
youknow that looks like that they
actuallyqualify for right right so I
knowum I worked with um a couple um
this was probably August of last
yearthe affiliate in North Carolina
(13:47):
somehowconnected with me to say "Hey I
thinkmy people are going to buy in
Virginia."And and it was in Rocky Mount
soyou're right on the edge of the
Virginialine mhm and they didn't they
endedup buying in North Carolina and so
Iwas still able to help them but what
youjust said about them comparing
that'sexactly what happened they looked
(14:08):
ata house in North Carolina where they
gotlike 3 acres of land and the house
was maybe $225,000
folksthat's not realistic in this
marketplaceno no 225,000 on 3 acres of
landis rural be aware that it's rural
thatmeans 45 to an hour drive any place
toa Walmart anything like that so they
(14:30):
werecomparing that to Virginia which
thesales price about $125,000 higher
whichthey didn't qualify for that much
moreand so they ended up buying that
housethere and and it's all about
settingthe expectations it sounds like
rightexactly set the expectations on
under expectations what happens
whenpeople say "I saw this on pick your
(14:54):
favoritewebsite Zillow Red you know
whateverit is." Most of them are
lookingon Zillow and are we finding
thatthose houses actually are not
availableoh yeah they're under contract
mostmost times they're under contract
andthey'll they'll send us the address
andwe tell them up front hey if you see
somethingif you're driving by you see
somethingonline let us know just shoot
usa text give us a quick phone call
(15:15):
shootus an email and we'll look it up
foryou and most times it's under
contractand is the housing market still
ashot as it has always been and and
let'ssay under 350,000 oh yeah good
newspretty competitive okay right in
that price range yeah so
Phil40some years in law enforcement in
themilitary you you meet a lot of
peopledo people seek you out to find a
(15:38):
houseand if they do where do they start
theythey do steve thank you for asking
thatthey they do seek me out at times
andKathy out because we were involved
forso long uh immediately we'll we'll
tryto find out what they need or how we
canhelp them and and I guess probably
oneof the biggest things is what do
theyqualify for uh the housing market
(16:00):
uhyou had mentioned earlier today that
isis fluctuating so much but so we have
tofind out what they qualify for be as
wemove forward and how do you do that
wewe contact our lender and and Steve
you're you're
aso that brings up actually a good
pointto ask you what when we call you
(16:21):
andthen you then you call them how do
youhelp them what do you do to to help
themfind a home that's great that's a
greatquestion so guys listen you know
probablythe hardest part about what I
dois making someone making you feel
like it's okay to strip naked
(16:42):
financiallyin front of me and that's
thetruth i mean we're going to find out
ifyou got crap credit don't lie to us
we'regoing to find out if you got great
creditbe proud of it if it's anywhere
inbetween be proud of it so here's the
thingso when Phil and Kathy reach out
tome and say "Hey we've got a hero they
wantto talk to you." In most cases that
herois scared to death absolutely they
(17:05):
don'tknow what they're going to find
outespecially first time right and
here's the worst part about it
andI'm talking to you whoever you are
here'sthe problem do not go to a
websiteand try to calculate a payment
it'snot going to be accurate there's
thosewebsites are designed to generate
leadsand those leads are sold to people
likeme or to the real estate community
(17:27):
oreven to builders so when people call
mewhen you refer somebody John and Mary
Smithlet's say when they call me the
I'venever met a client that wants the
highestinterest rate or the highest
paymenthave you no no right right so
whatwe have to do is we have to find a
happymedium but finding that interest
rateis balanced based upon the property
(17:48):
typefor example is it a single family
home or is it a home that's in a
neighborhoodwe call it a plan unit
developmentbut is it a condominium
becausethere's certain layers of part
ofthat financing that impact the
interestrate absolutely then you go to
creditscore and those are the two
biggestlayers on that so guys I know
you'reasking what's the minimum credit
(18:09):
scorehere's the thing minimum credit
scoreon any loan is 620 can we do
somethingunder 620 there's only two
loansVA and FHA now VA is typically
yourveterans so by the time the client
callsme they don't know they're so
confusedthey've looked at they've
lookedat their their cell phone and
said"Oh my blahy blah score says it's 2
(18:32):
millionright?" Or whatever it is and
theproblem is folks we don't care we're
notlooking at your phone we're not
lookingat your bank statement we're not
lookingat your credit card statement
we'regoing to use a triple algorithm
creditreport and that is Equifax
Experianand TransUnion now the key part
aboutthat is we're using the medium
scorewhich is the middle of the scores
(18:53):
noweverybody's had a ding and a dent
youknow we find it doesn't matter how
oldyou are somebody has had a ding and
a dent and don't be afraid of a
bankruptcybecause a bankruptcy is fine
youjust have a certain amount of time
thatyou have to have between the date
ofthe bankruptcy and the date of the
releaseright so when you send us
something somebody what ends up
happeningis I go through this whole
(19:14):
thingbut you know what we haven't
talkedabout yet what's my payment oh
yeahthat's that's and the problem is
thiswe don't want to talk about that
upfrontwe want to make sure that these
peoplecan buy a house now when we get
tothe payment what most veterans or
mostheroes we'll just say heroes what
mostheroes don't understand is that the
(19:36):
onlyperson that's benefiting from the
rentis the landlord oh yeah he's
gettingthe tax deduction he's building
theequity and you know there's an old
sayingwhen was the best time to buy a
houseyesterday right when's the next
besttime today so what we when I talk
topeople what I have to help them
understandis for example let's just use
aveteran that gets um BAH Mhm the
(19:58):
housingallowance so that is a non-t
taxable
correctso if you know most people are
ina 30% tax bracket so let's say you're
at$1,500 a month you add 30% to that
that'sanother $450 now you're at $1,950
ifit were a gross taxable number you
canfind a house for $2,000 mhm oh yeah
(20:20):
you can find a house for $2,300
doyou want to make that payment because
itNo you don't because you're afraid of
itbut what most people don't understand
isthey they could end up with $6 or
$7,000back the following year when they
filetheir tax returns right yeah that
taxbreak and then we forgot about the
bigpiece the equity the equity in the
homewe have a hero right now who
(20:42):
purchaseda home uh it was in 2011 and
hewas renting at the time and they had
beenrenting for many years and they
finallymade the jump to buy they were
afraidfirst-time home buyers and they
boughta little house they didn't have
anychildren at the time now they have
twochildren and they've outgrown that
houseand they're buying another house
that'smuch bigger and instead of
(21:03):
gettinga deposit check back for about
$2,000they're now going to get $200,000
inequity that's the power of home
ownershipthat is the power you know wow
that'samazing it is so literally so
let'sjust think about this for a second
becauseyou know you got to keep up with
theJoneses right this is America you
gotto drive a brand new car every
(21:24):
coupleof years you got to have credit
carddebt your kids have to be in dance
baseballbasketball whatever they're in
got to keep up
$200,000that can put them a couple
steps above of above
thebuying a beautiful home for that
theynever thought they could afford
becauseof the equity in that home
that'sawesome that's awesome so what
(21:45):
elsedo we need to know well you just
mentioneda good point and Kathy you did
aswell i mean she said that you know
theyhad bought the home and they
outgrewit so they bought another home
justwanted to make it a point this is
nota one time and done thing right you
canuse this over and over and over
againthat's a great point yeah you get
yoursame perks and benefits back right
they'regetting benefits on selling
(22:07):
theircurrent home and they're also
gettinga check back on buying the other
homeso they're getting two checks from
homeyou've actually had a a client
that'sbought and sold four or five
timesyeah they've used it four times
withus and this is a nationwide program
sothey can reach out to you you can
referthem to an affiliate someplace
elsewhich we just did we have one moved
toKentucky they have an affiliate in
(22:29):
Kentuckynow helping them and you know
whatand we sold their home here i've
alwaysfound always have found that it's
betterto have a referred referral than
youcan because it feels more genuine
thanhaving just hey call Mary Sue in um
Kentuckyright i I don't know her but
(22:50):
butat least you can hand off a warm
leadright so anything else we need to
know about the homes for her
justjust the basics uh Steve like I
saidit started back after 9/11 has
grown nationwide as you said
uhwe're we're just we're just here as a
homesfor heroes affiliate to help our
heroesto get into a home something they
(23:12):
can afford uh and not not to go
overboardas you mentioned earlier uh
andjust keep on pushing it forward
that'swhat it's all about maybe mention
thefriends of heroes too program where
friendsof heroes are people who want to
alsogive back and they might be home
inspectorssettlement companies flooring
(23:33):
companiesyeah right wow okay right like
wehave you know carpet companies that
willgive them our rate the real estate
rateinstead of the rate as they walk in
thedoor oh I understand okay so it is a
trueaffiliate program it is and we call
themfriends if you and that's a perk
it's a definite right so it's
heroeshomestores.comright right or
(23:54):
homesforh heres.com right and then what
ifthey want to call you directly that's
easymy number is and I I don't mind
putting it out it's
75746425and Kathy's number is 75746731
perfectlyand guys I want you to know
somethingthese two are super busy and
(24:18):
ifyou get the voicemail you need to
leavea message because if you don't
theywon't know you called don't just
hangup and assume they're going to call
youback you've got to leave a voicemail
you can reach Kathy at
cathyheroeshomestore.com or
Philheroeshomestore.comso that's it for
ustoday okay thank you guys for coming
(24:40):
thankyou very much for having us
appreciateit really good thank you guys
listenwe just demystified Homes for
Heroes so listen go to homes
forheroes.com or
heroeshomestore.comor just reach out to
Philand Kathy directly have a great day
thanksfor tuning in make sure to follow
yourfavorite mortgage guy on Facebook
(25:02):
LinkedInand Instagram have questions or
readyto take the next step reach out at
steveloans.com or call
757301-9776we'll catch you next time
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