July 9, 2025 • 21 mins
Steve Reed, Co-owner of Benchmark Home Loans, shares the story behind his new venture Land2Homes, which provides affordable turnkey manufactured housing solutions for buyers priced out of the traditional market.
• Land2Homes developed after seeing first-time homebuyers priced out by high interest rates and rising home prices
• The company purchases land, handles permitting, orders homes directly from factories, and delivers complete turnkey properties
• Modern manufactured homes feature quality construction with 2x6 framing, energy efficiency, and durability
• Homes typically range from 1,500-1,800 square feet on approximately one-acre lots for $250,000-$270,000
• Properties include extras like landscaping, gutters, and blacktopped driveways not typically found with manufactured homes
• The "agent commission builder" program pays realtors 2.5% on referred clients who purchase complete packages
• Future plans include creating a small "village" setting with model homes for buyers to tour
• Credit rehabilitation services available to help buyers improve scores and qualify for better rates
If you have questions about mortgages or Land2Homes, call us at 423-491-5405 or visit our website at www.JonathanAndSteve.com.
To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by
Jonathan and Steve fromBenchmark Home Loans.
Northeast Tennessee, johnsonCity, kingsport, bristol, the
Tri-Cities One of the mostbeautiful places in the country
to live.
Tons of great things to do andawesome local businesses.
(00:21):
And on this show you'll findout why people are dying to move
to Northeast Tennessee and onthe way we'll have discussions
about mortgages and we'llinterview people in the real
estate industry.
It's what we do.
This is Benchmark Happenings,brought to you by Benchmark Home
Loans and now your host,christine Reed.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Now your host, Christine Reed.
Welcome back everybody toanother episode of Benchmark
Happenings, and today the starof our show is Steve Reed, with
Entrepreneur of Benchmark HomeLoans, and my husband.
So, Steve, thank you for beingon today.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Glad to be here.
I was starting to wonder if youwere ever going to invite me
back, so thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
You're always welcome .
You know what this is yourpodcast anyway.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well, yeah, jonathan and I, but you know he's even
harder to get on this podcastthan me.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
He is.
I mean, I would have thoughtJonathan would have really
enjoyed being on podcast, but hedoesn't want anything to do
with it, he loves it once hegets in here.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
You just getting in here is the tough part, yeah
yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So, steve, today's going to be a special podcast
and I'm really excited and I'mglad that you wanted to come on
because I wanted you to shareyour why on a new business
adventure.
Because I've known you for 25years and you are the epitome of
what an entrepreneur is anddoes and I have so much respect
(01:57):
for you and admiration andyou've been such a successful
businessman over the years indeveloping business and God has
truly blessed you and I'mblessed to be your wife.
So today we want to talk abouta new business that you've
started out of necessity, and weknow that all great ideas stem
from necessity.
(02:18):
That's the mother of invention,right?
That's what they say.
Yeah, so'll let you um talkabout your new business venture
with you and jonathan and andreally tell us about the why,
but give us the name okay, we'llstart with the name.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
The name is land, the number two homes, so land to
homes land to home and there's areason behind the name.
I'll kind of go into that.
But yeah, the why is probablythe most fun thing to talk about
with this business.
Because I've kind of beenre-energized here and if you've
(02:55):
known me over the years, I'venever been one to go a lot of
different directions.
I've kind of laser focused onwhatever I did and tried to do
that well, and you do.
Yeah, well, thank you, but it'sand I don't like to be the
Walmart of, you know, ofmortgages.
We like to focus in onedirection.
But I guess a couple of yearsago Jonathan and I started
(03:19):
seeing we had a lot of clientsthat got priced out of the
market and a big portion of ourbusiness used to be first-time
homebuyers.
We hope that eventually willcome back, yes, but while we
watch those first-timehomebuyers get priced out of the
market due to a rising rateenvironment and rising price
(03:42):
environment, which is stillgoing up even to this day, rates
have kind of stabilized butthey're still high sixes versus
2% and 3%.
So that's kind of stuck rightthere and it probably will be
for a while.
But we just watched a lot ofthose first-time homebuyers get
frustrated.
They couldn't afford the kindof house they wanted.
(04:06):
You know a lot of them look inthat two to $300,000 price range
Definitely couldn't getanything new construction for
that.
If they found existingconstruction, it needed a lot of
work, and so we were losing alot of these clients to mobile
home dealers and, you know, likeClayton Homes and some of those
(04:27):
guys, and so we just thoughtwe'd take a different approach
and it's really what I think ourwhy is a pretty noble, is a
pretty noble reason, and it'sreally to help inventory, help
first-time homebuyers or anytype of homebuyers you don't
have to be a first-time but wereally feel good about our why
(04:50):
behind this.
Now, don't get me wrong, Idon't want to sound all noble,
like we don't make money,because we do make money at this
, but this is a heck of a lot ofwork too and it's a lot of
investment as well.
So we do make money, but we'resticking our neck out a lot to
hand a turnkey package to abuyer.
(05:11):
So what we will do is we'll go,we get a lot of auctions and we
look for property a lot duringthe day, day and and night,
trying to find land, which isreally tough.
But we'll find that land andthen we'll go, uh, purchase the
land.
We try to keep as much as wecan in inventory and then we'll
(05:33):
order homes and put on that land.
We will go through thepermitting process for septics,
for, you know, just getting thewater tabs, for getting the
electrical, um, for just gettingthe water tabs, for getting the
electrical, just any kind ofpermits you've got to have.
We'll go through that and we'llline up all the subs, we'll
order the home direct from thefactory and we'll put that home
(05:59):
on that property and hand abuyer a turnkey product so they
don't have to go out try to findtheir land, try to find the
home, try to find subs All thatwould be impossible if you don't
do this every day.
You know.
Try to find their land, try tofind the home, try to find subs
you know all that would beimpossible if you just you know,
if you don't do this every day.
So we've learned a lot over thelast I don't know year, year
and a half, and it's just kindof taken off.
You know we're we're doing.
I think we have four or fivegoing right now.
(06:21):
Most of those are already soldbefore they hit the market and
it's delivering a product in the250 to 270 range that meets a
lot of needs, normally about1,500 to 1,800 square feet, and
so we feel like we're reallyhelping out the first-time
homebuyers and just homebuyersin general by being able to keep
(06:41):
the price point what it is.
If you did similar newconstruction on site built, you
would probably be about doublethat.
So we feel like we're providingreally adequate more than
adequate really great housing ata good price point.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It is and it is and I'm proud of that and I know
that you've always you've workedreally hard on this and it's
been a lot of learning thatyou've had to challenge yourself
.
But I've watched you over thelast two years in this process
and you've loved it.
You've loved it because youknow we should think that you
(07:21):
know if someone has $250,000,$300,000 to spend, they should
be able to afford a nice home,but that's not the case in
today's housing market.
And I don't think we'll go backeither.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
No, and the interest rates are not.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
we won't see 2% and 3% interest rates again, yeah
yeah, percent interest ratesagain, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
well, and another thing that played into it when
jonathan and I first formed thecompany was we were looking at
you know, if you go to atraditional mobile home
dealership and you get that typeof financing, you're going to
pay 10, 11, 12 percent for yourfinancing and people pay that
yeah, because we're mortgagebankers, we're able to do the
same sometimes with thatfinancing get them a way better
(08:06):
rate, give them a way betterexperience, and everything being
under one roof uh, just makesit so much more streamlined the
whole process, because there's alot of um I don't know oars in
the water there, water.
There's a lot of things going onwith that process If you think
about it.
if you're trying to finance ahome and you've got some credit
(08:28):
issues and then you're trying topick out a home and then you're
trying to find land and you'reyou know there's just a lot of
different inner workings thereand if you've got that all under
one roof it's so much easierfor the communication aspect and
we've learned a lot.
Like I say, we used to laugh atourselves a year ago and we
(08:49):
just said we're two moronstrying to be builders, and so we
realized what we didn't know.
So we kind of went to school ona lot of that stuff and studied
it and some of it was theschool of hard knocks.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
We've learned some hard lessons but I think the
product that we're putting outand really from the start the
product has been second to nonereally yeah it, and I've seen,
you know, and all the propertiesare so nice and it's so much
more than what you see in atypical double-wide mobile home.
(09:25):
And I mean you guys go theextra mile of landscaping.
You know you have gutters puton them.
You even blacktop the drivewaysand most of the driveways are
dirt or gravel, but it's just sonice and it's cleaned Turnkey.
We have someone that goes inand does the final cleaning
(09:47):
there and it's just there.
It's great and it provides awonderful new home for a family,
a single person, a small family, young, older, couple, and it
meets.
I think what you guys have doneis you've seen that need and
you're meeting that niche in themarket and providing that
(10:10):
turnkey solution with land tohomes.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, and we're pulling on all of our prior
experience because we've beenfinancing these type of homes
for years.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
And that's really helped us, just having that
background.
We kind of know what's requiredon a foundation inspection and
what kind of product you have tohave to get a loan on the
secondary market in the mortgageworld.
So having that knowledge hasjust been incredible.
As far as for our success to beable to do what we do, and what
(10:44):
a lot of people don't realizeis that these homes are built
now, you know, with two by sixes.
There's a lot of HUDrequirements on these homes.
And it's not your granddaddy oryour daddy's double wide.
These things are built reallywell and you know they stand up
(11:04):
to high winds if they're tieddown correctly, which we're
required to do, and so theconstruction of these is really
high quality.
I mean, it's not.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
It's not what they used to be right and they use
lasers when they build sothere's not a lot of waste.
You've been to the factories.
You see how these are built.
You've been to shows and Ithink it's exciting.
So the why I love the why it itexcites me and I know it meets
a need and it helps so manypeople.
What's your vision?
(11:35):
Where do you see land to homesfive years from now, steve?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
well, at this point, this point, we haven't even
advertised and so it's goingreally, really well even without
advertising.
So we're almost afraid toadvertise at this point because
there's only so many hours in aday, so I think the sky's the
limit for this.
(12:00):
We're right now.
We're not your stereotypicalmobile home dealer.
We do have the full license.
We could have a lot out therewith 20 homes on it, but we
choose not to have all thatoverhead.
So we can pass on some savingsto buyers where it's not so
expensive.
But we do see in the futureprobably having a small lot with
(12:26):
, say, four or five homes andkind of built like a little
village and you can kind of gotour those.
But 99% of the time buyersdon't buy the home you've got
sitting on your lot.
They want to pick out their own, which we can get these in in
six to eight weeks normally,unless it's a crazy, crazy
market.
So we would like to have a fewthat sitting there where people
(12:48):
can look at they.
Can we try to.
We tried, starting about sixmonths ago, to keep a lot of
pictures of the ones we've donepreviously so you can look at
that.
But no matter what you look aton a screen or on your phone or
whatever the case is, it's notthe same as being able to go
into something so we're tryingto do as much virtual as we can
(13:09):
right now, only out of necessity, but it's kind of the way of
the future too.
but I do see us growing into akind of a really cool little
village lot with picket fencesand astroturf, just like you'd
be in a little neighborhood withfour or five houses where you
can walk in and then still havethe virtual piece with that, and
(13:31):
I think that's where we'll bein five years and way sooner
than five years.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Most likely at the rate you two are going and as
hardworking as you are and Iknow there's been several of
your realtor partners that havebeen super excited about this
and have stepped in- I'm gladyou mentioned that, because that
was another part of the whythat I left out.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
I'm sorry I forgot that, but the realtor aspect was
in there too.
As far as the why.
The realtor aspect was in theretoo as far as the why.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Because if a typical customer came to us wanting to
buy a home and let's say theyhad a $250,000 price range and
they got disgruntled becausethey couldn't find anything for
that, well and if they do findone in that I didn't mean to
interrupt, but if they do findone, steve, it requires so much
work, exactly, the houses are insuch disarray, yeah, and then
you have to find people who cando that type of work and they
don't have the money to fix upthese homes no, so that that and
and it's really hard to get aloan that you know buy a house
(14:35):
and get extra money for homeimprovement.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
So that's a product that's out there, but it's.
It's a little bit moredifficult.
So we had a lot of theseclients that we would have
pre-approved and a great realtorwould have sent us this client.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
And next thing you know, they've defected over to
another mobile home dealer.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
And that mobile home dealer is going to capture them.
They're not going to pay arealtor commission.
In most cases they are going tohave a higher interest rate on
the loan.
And so with our program we callit the agent commission builder
and it helps agents buildcommissions because if they send
that client to us and they buya home, we pay them a 2.5%
(15:20):
referral fee.
That's great.
And they don't have to do thatmuch.
All they have to do is give ustheir name, we take it from
there.
They don't really have to beinvolved in the process from
start to finish.
We take it and then, when thathome closes, we pay them a
commission on the full price ofthe home, the improvements, the
land.
We pay them commission on thewhole package.
(15:41):
So it keeps realtors fromlosing clients, losing
commission, keeps us from losingloans and it gives a client a
really good package, really goodproduct.
So hey, it's a win-win-win.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It is a win and it doesn't put them in an
exorbitant amount of debt.
I can't imagine having 13%interest rate.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yeah, I mean in some cases that's on the high end,
but I've seen a lot that's 11and 12.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
But a lot of these people that with their credit
and stuff it has to be higherbecause of the risk.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Well, we've got a program, too, that we've got
people in what we call our salesfunnel that want to purchase
now that they've had some creditissues.
So we get them with our creditrehab guy.
He's in Texas, he's great, doesa great job.
We've worked with him for Idon't know, 10 or 12 years, I
guess, and so we get them to himso he can take their credit,
(16:38):
maybe from a 600 score to a 650,which sometimes will take three
months, sometimes it'll takesix, sometimes it'll take a year
.
But if they're willing to walkdown that path and's a cost to
the client to for him to do that.
He don't work for free, butit's not exorbitant or anything.
It's not bad, but that'sanother service we offer for
(16:59):
people that can delay a littlebit of gratification.
You know, if they're not quiteready to buy, we will put them
on the path to home ownershipand get to where they maybe in
six months can get their familyin a home.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Well, that's fantastic and I think we've
really addressed, you know,those looking for a home,
realtors, and so if we painted apicture of what this mobile
home looks like, this is whatyou can have within your price
range.
So you have a beautiful newhome, three-bedroom, two-bath,
open-floor plan.
(17:33):
You have an acre lot, maybejust a little bit smaller, so
you're not enclosed in so manyneighbors around you.
So you've got room to grow.
You've got some land, you havea nice driveway.
You've got room to grow, you'vegot some land, you have a nice
driveway.
I mean to me.
I think that will appeal to alot of individuals and families.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yes, and most of these are not right downtown, so
they're more out in a littlebit of a rural area and you know
.
But most people want that.
They don't want to be right inthe middle of town.
So they're out a lot of timeswhere they can shoot their guns,
(18:14):
raise their chickens, whateverthey want to do, because it is
unrestricted most of the time.
But we do try to buy our lots innice areas I mean, you know, if
it's a real depressed lookingarea and you know Billy Bob's
not taking care of his bubblehome next door, we're not going
to probably buy that lot.
So we're going to try to buythings that are in a desirable
location not on the side of acliff, correct where they will
(18:37):
have a nice three quarters toone acre of property.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
And we've even got one that's two acres we're
getting ready to start on, sowe're excited about it yeah well
, steve, thank you for umtalking about landa homes and
just sharing your why and thevision of where landa homes will
be five years from now.
I think it's exciting and, uh,I love the um.
(19:02):
What's the why behind it istruly helping families and
that's what you've always donehere at Benchmark as a lender.
You really look out for peopleand it's it's really.
You know how does that personfeel at the end of the day when
they've done business with you,and those are the people that we
(19:23):
know that's going to want theirfamilies, their children, their
grandchildren to continue usingSteve or Jonathan at Benchmark.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Yeah, it's a blessing and an honor, and I think what
we do every day it's just.
I've got the best job in theworld and God has entrusted us
to people's you know, withfamilies making decisions on
homes.
So that's a really bigresponsibility for us and it's
(19:54):
one we take very serious and welove it because we love looking
after people and making surethey, you know, get the home of
their dreams and also get agreat deal on their mortgage,
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
All right, steve, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to
you by Jonathan Tipton andSteve Reed from Benchmark Home
Loans.
Jonathan and Steve areresidential mortgage lenders.
They do home loans in NortheastTennessee and they're not only
licensed in Tennessee butFlorida, georgia, south Carolina
and Virginia.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
(20:38):
If you did make sure to likerate and review.
Our passion is NortheastTennessee, so if you have
questions about mortgages, callus at 423-491-5405.
And the website iswwwJonathanAndStevecom.
Thanks for being with us andwe'll see you next time on
(21:00):
Benchmark Happenings.
This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by
Jonathan and Steve fromBenchmark Home Loans.
Northeast Tennessee, johnsonCity, kingsport, bristol, the
Tri-Cities One of the mostbeautiful places in the country
to live.
Tons of great things to do andawesome local businesses.
(00:21):
And on this show you'll findout why people are dying to move
to Northeast Tennessee and onthe way we'll have discussions
about mortgages and we'llinterview people in the real
estate industry.
It's what we do.
This is Benchmark Happenings,brought to you by Benchmark Home
Loans and now your host,christine Reed.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Now your host, Christine Reed.
Welcome back everybody toanother episode of Benchmark
Happenings, and today the starof our show is Steve Reed, with
Entrepreneur of Benchmark HomeLoans, and my husband.
So, Steve, thank you for beingon today.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Glad to be here.
I was starting to wonder if youwere ever going to invite me
back, so thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
You're always welcome .
You know what this is yourpodcast anyway.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Well, yeah, jonathan and I, but you know he's even
harder to get on this podcastthan me.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
He is.
I mean, I would have thoughtJonathan would have really
enjoyed being on podcast, but hedoesn't want anything to do
with it, he loves it once hegets in here.
Speaker 4 (01:29):
You just getting in here is the tough part, yeah
yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So, steve, today's going to be a special podcast
and I'm really excited and I'mglad that you wanted to come on
because I wanted you to shareyour why on a new business
adventure.
Because I've known you for 25years and you are the epitome of
what an entrepreneur is anddoes and I have so much respect
(01:57):
for you and admiration andyou've been such a successful
businessman over the years indeveloping business and God has
truly blessed you and I'mblessed to be your wife.
So today we want to talk abouta new business that you've
started out of necessity, and weknow that all great ideas stem
from necessity.
(02:18):
That's the mother of invention,right?
That's what they say.
Yeah, so'll let you um talkabout your new business venture
with you and jonathan and andreally tell us about the why,
but give us the name okay, we'llstart with the name.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
The name is land, the number two homes, so land to
homes land to home and there's areason behind the name.
I'll kind of go into that.
But yeah, the why is probablythe most fun thing to talk about
with this business.
Because I've kind of beenre-energized here and if you've
(02:55):
known me over the years, I'venever been one to go a lot of
different directions.
I've kind of laser focused onwhatever I did and tried to do
that well, and you do.
Yeah, well, thank you, but it'sand I don't like to be the
Walmart of, you know, ofmortgages.
We like to focus in onedirection.
But I guess a couple of yearsago Jonathan and I started
(03:19):
seeing we had a lot of clientsthat got priced out of the
market and a big portion of ourbusiness used to be first-time
homebuyers.
We hope that eventually willcome back, yes, but while we
watch those first-timehomebuyers get priced out of the
market due to a rising rateenvironment and rising price
(03:42):
environment, which is stillgoing up even to this day, rates
have kind of stabilized butthey're still high sixes versus
2% and 3%.
So that's kind of stuck rightthere and it probably will be
for a while.
But we just watched a lot ofthose first-time homebuyers get
frustrated.
They couldn't afford the kindof house they wanted.
(04:06):
You know a lot of them look inthat two to $300,000 price range
Definitely couldn't getanything new construction for
that.
If they found existingconstruction, it needed a lot of
work, and so we were losing alot of these clients to mobile
home dealers and, you know, likeClayton Homes and some of those
(04:27):
guys, and so we just thoughtwe'd take a different approach
and it's really what I think ourwhy is a pretty noble, is a
pretty noble reason, and it'sreally to help inventory, help
first-time homebuyers or anytype of homebuyers you don't
have to be a first-time but wereally feel good about our why
(04:50):
behind this.
Now, don't get me wrong, Idon't want to sound all noble,
like we don't make money,because we do make money at this
, but this is a heck of a lot ofwork too and it's a lot of
investment as well.
So we do make money, but we'resticking our neck out a lot to
hand a turnkey package to abuyer.
(05:11):
So what we will do is we'll go,we get a lot of auctions and we
look for property a lot duringthe day, day and and night,
trying to find land, which isreally tough.
But we'll find that land andthen we'll go, uh, purchase the
land.
We try to keep as much as wecan in inventory and then we'll
(05:33):
order homes and put on that land.
We will go through thepermitting process for septics,
for, you know, just getting thewater tabs, for getting the
electrical, um, for just gettingthe water tabs, for getting the
electrical, just any kind ofpermits you've got to have.
We'll go through that and we'llline up all the subs, we'll
order the home direct from thefactory and we'll put that home
(05:59):
on that property and hand abuyer a turnkey product so they
don't have to go out try to findtheir land, try to find the
home, try to find subs All thatwould be impossible if you don't
do this every day.
You know.
Try to find their land, try tofind the home, try to find subs
you know all that would beimpossible if you just you know,
if you don't do this every day.
So we've learned a lot over thelast I don't know year, year
and a half, and it's just kindof taken off.
You know we're we're doing.
I think we have four or fivegoing right now.
(06:21):
Most of those are already soldbefore they hit the market and
it's delivering a product in the250 to 270 range that meets a
lot of needs, normally about1,500 to 1,800 square feet, and
so we feel like we're reallyhelping out the first-time
homebuyers and just homebuyersin general by being able to keep
(06:41):
the price point what it is.
If you did similar newconstruction on site built, you
would probably be about doublethat.
So we feel like we're providingreally adequate more than
adequate really great housing ata good price point.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
It is and it is and I'm proud of that and I know
that you've always you've workedreally hard on this and it's
been a lot of learning thatyou've had to challenge yourself
.
But I've watched you over thelast two years in this process
and you've loved it.
You've loved it because youknow we should think that you
(07:21):
know if someone has $250,000,$300,000 to spend, they should
be able to afford a nice home,but that's not the case in
today's housing market.
And I don't think we'll go backeither.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
No, and the interest rates are not.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
we won't see 2% and 3% interest rates again, yeah
yeah, percent interest ratesagain, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
well, and another thing that played into it when
jonathan and I first formed thecompany was we were looking at
you know, if you go to atraditional mobile home
dealership and you get that typeof financing, you're going to
pay 10, 11, 12 percent for yourfinancing and people pay that
yeah, because we're mortgagebankers, we're able to do the
same sometimes with thatfinancing get them a way better
(08:06):
rate, give them a way betterexperience, and everything being
under one roof uh, just makesit so much more streamlined the
whole process, because there's alot of um I don't know oars in
the water there, water.
There's a lot of things going onwith that process If you think
about it.
if you're trying to finance ahome and you've got some credit
(08:28):
issues and then you're trying topick out a home and then you're
trying to find land and you'reyou know there's just a lot of
different inner workings thereand if you've got that all under
one roof it's so much easierfor the communication aspect and
we've learned a lot.
Like I say, we used to laugh atourselves a year ago and we
(08:49):
just said we're two moronstrying to be builders, and so we
realized what we didn't know.
So we kind of went to school ona lot of that stuff and studied
it and some of it was theschool of hard knocks.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
We've learned some hard lessons but I think the
product that we're putting outand really from the start the
product has been second to nonereally yeah it, and I've seen,
you know, and all the propertiesare so nice and it's so much
more than what you see in atypical double-wide mobile home.
(09:25):
And I mean you guys go theextra mile of landscaping.
You know you have gutters puton them.
You even blacktop the drivewaysand most of the driveways are
dirt or gravel, but it's just sonice and it's cleaned Turnkey.
We have someone that goes inand does the final cleaning
(09:47):
there and it's just there.
It's great and it provides awonderful new home for a family,
a single person, a small family, young, older, couple, and it
meets.
I think what you guys have doneis you've seen that need and
you're meeting that niche in themarket and providing that
(10:10):
turnkey solution with land tohomes.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah, and we're pulling on all of our prior
experience because we've beenfinancing these type of homes
for years.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Right.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
And that's really helped us, just having that
background.
We kind of know what's requiredon a foundation inspection and
what kind of product you have tohave to get a loan on the
secondary market in the mortgageworld.
So having that knowledge hasjust been incredible.
As far as for our success to beable to do what we do, and what
(10:44):
a lot of people don't realizeis that these homes are built
now, you know, with two by sixes.
There's a lot of HUDrequirements on these homes.
And it's not your granddaddy oryour daddy's double wide.
These things are built reallywell and you know they stand up
(11:04):
to high winds if they're tieddown correctly, which we're
required to do, and so theconstruction of these is really
high quality.
I mean, it's not.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
It's not what they used to be right and they use
lasers when they build sothere's not a lot of waste.
You've been to the factories.
You see how these are built.
You've been to shows and Ithink it's exciting.
So the why I love the why it itexcites me and I know it meets
a need and it helps so manypeople.
What's your vision?
(11:35):
Where do you see land to homesfive years from now, steve?
Speaker 4 (11:40):
well, at this point, this point, we haven't even
advertised and so it's goingreally, really well even without
advertising.
So we're almost afraid toadvertise at this point because
there's only so many hours in aday, so I think the sky's the
limit for this.
(12:00):
We're right now.
We're not your stereotypicalmobile home dealer.
We do have the full license.
We could have a lot out therewith 20 homes on it, but we
choose not to have all thatoverhead.
So we can pass on some savingsto buyers where it's not so
expensive.
But we do see in the futureprobably having a small lot with
(12:26):
, say, four or five homes andkind of built like a little
village and you can kind of gotour those.
But 99% of the time buyersdon't buy the home you've got
sitting on your lot.
They want to pick out their own, which we can get these in in
six to eight weeks normally,unless it's a crazy, crazy
market.
So we would like to have a fewthat sitting there where people
(12:48):
can look at they.
Can we try to.
We tried, starting about sixmonths ago, to keep a lot of
pictures of the ones we've donepreviously so you can look at
that.
But no matter what you look aton a screen or on your phone or
whatever the case is, it's notthe same as being able to go
into something so we're tryingto do as much virtual as we can
(13:09):
right now, only out of necessity, but it's kind of the way of
the future too.
but I do see us growing into akind of a really cool little
village lot with picket fencesand astroturf, just like you'd
be in a little neighborhood withfour or five houses where you
can walk in and then still havethe virtual piece with that, and
(13:31):
I think that's where we'll bein five years and way sooner
than five years.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Most likely at the rate you two are going and as
hardworking as you are and Iknow there's been several of
your realtor partners that havebeen super excited about this
and have stepped in- I'm gladyou mentioned that, because that
was another part of the whythat I left out.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
I'm sorry I forgot that, but the realtor aspect was
in there too.
As far as the why.
The realtor aspect was in theretoo as far as the why.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Because if a typical customer came to us wanting to
buy a home and let's say theyhad a $250,000 price range and
they got disgruntled becausethey couldn't find anything for
that, well and if they do findone in that I didn't mean to
interrupt, but if they do findone, steve, it requires so much
work, exactly, the houses are insuch disarray, yeah, and then
you have to find people who cando that type of work and they
don't have the money to fix upthese homes no, so that that and
and it's really hard to get aloan that you know buy a house
(14:35):
and get extra money for homeimprovement.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
So that's a product that's out there, but it's.
It's a little bit moredifficult.
So we had a lot of theseclients that we would have
pre-approved and a great realtorwould have sent us this client.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Right.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
And next thing you know, they've defected over to
another mobile home dealer.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
And that mobile home dealer is going to capture them.
They're not going to pay arealtor commission.
In most cases they are going tohave a higher interest rate on
the loan.
And so with our program we callit the agent commission builder
and it helps agents buildcommissions because if they send
that client to us and they buya home, we pay them a 2.5%
(15:20):
referral fee.
That's great.
And they don't have to do thatmuch.
All they have to do is give ustheir name, we take it from
there.
They don't really have to beinvolved in the process from
start to finish.
We take it and then, when thathome closes, we pay them a
commission on the full price ofthe home, the improvements, the
land.
We pay them commission on thewhole package.
(15:41):
So it keeps realtors fromlosing clients, losing
commission, keeps us from losingloans and it gives a client a
really good package, really goodproduct.
So hey, it's a win-win-win.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
It is a win and it doesn't put them in an
exorbitant amount of debt.
I can't imagine having 13%interest rate.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yeah, I mean in some cases that's on the high end,
but I've seen a lot that's 11and 12.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
But a lot of these people that with their credit
and stuff it has to be higherbecause of the risk.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Well, we've got a program, too, that we've got
people in what we call our salesfunnel that want to purchase
now that they've had some creditissues.
So we get them with our creditrehab guy.
He's in Texas, he's great, doesa great job.
We've worked with him for Idon't know, 10 or 12 years, I
guess, and so we get them to himso he can take their credit,
(16:38):
maybe from a 600 score to a 650,which sometimes will take three
months, sometimes it'll takesix, sometimes it'll take a year
.
But if they're willing to walkdown that path and's a cost to
the client to for him to do that.
He don't work for free, butit's not exorbitant or anything.
It's not bad, but that'sanother service we offer for
(16:59):
people that can delay a littlebit of gratification.
You know, if they're not quiteready to buy, we will put them
on the path to home ownershipand get to where they maybe in
six months can get their familyin a home.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Well, that's fantastic and I think we've
really addressed, you know,those looking for a home,
realtors, and so if we painted apicture of what this mobile
home looks like, this is whatyou can have within your price
range.
So you have a beautiful newhome, three-bedroom, two-bath,
open-floor plan.
(17:33):
You have an acre lot, maybejust a little bit smaller, so
you're not enclosed in so manyneighbors around you.
So you've got room to grow.
You've got some land, you havea nice driveway.
You've got room to grow, you'vegot some land, you have a nice
driveway.
I mean to me.
I think that will appeal to alot of individuals and families.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yes, and most of these are not right downtown, so
they're more out in a littlebit of a rural area and you know
.
But most people want that.
They don't want to be right inthe middle of town.
So they're out a lot of timeswhere they can shoot their guns,
(18:14):
raise their chickens, whateverthey want to do, because it is
unrestricted most of the time.
But we do try to buy our lots innice areas I mean, you know, if
it's a real depressed lookingarea and you know Billy Bob's
not taking care of his bubblehome next door, we're not going
to probably buy that lot.
So we're going to try to buythings that are in a desirable
location not on the side of acliff, correct where they will
(18:37):
have a nice three quarters toone acre of property.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
And we've even got one that's two acres we're
getting ready to start on, sowe're excited about it yeah well
, steve, thank you for umtalking about landa homes and
just sharing your why and thevision of where landa homes will
be five years from now.
I think it's exciting and, uh,I love the um.
(19:02):
What's the why behind it istruly helping families and
that's what you've always donehere at Benchmark as a lender.
You really look out for peopleand it's it's really.
You know how does that personfeel at the end of the day when
they've done business with you,and those are the people that we
(19:23):
know that's going to want theirfamilies, their children, their
grandchildren to continue usingSteve or Jonathan at Benchmark.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Yeah, it's a blessing and an honor, and I think what
we do every day it's just.
I've got the best job in theworld and God has entrusted us
to people's you know, withfamilies making decisions on
homes.
So that's a really bigresponsibility for us and it's
(19:54):
one we take very serious and welove it because we love looking
after people and making surethey, you know, get the home of
their dreams and also get agreat deal on their mortgage,
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
All right, steve, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to
you by Jonathan Tipton andSteve Reed from Benchmark Home
Loans.
Jonathan and Steve areresidential mortgage lenders.
They do home loans in NortheastTennessee and they're not only
licensed in Tennessee butFlorida, georgia, south Carolina
and Virginia.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
(20:38):
If you did make sure to likerate and review.
Our passion is NortheastTennessee, so if you have
questions about mortgages, callus at 423-491-5405.
And the website iswwwJonathanAndStevecom.
Thanks for being with us andwe'll see you next time on
(21:00):
Benchmark Happenings.
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