April 25, 2025 • 37 mins
When financial news feels overwhelming, Brendon Bland of Neighborhood Loans joins us to make sense of it all. With his remarkable ability to translate complex economic concepts into practical advice, Brendon tackles today's most pressing financial concerns for homeowners and homebuyers alike.
The episode begins with a deep dive into the federal student loan situation affecting millions of Americans. We learn about the government's renewed efforts to collect on defaulted loans—from credit score impacts to tax refund garnishment—and Brendon provides clear steps for borrowers to take immediate action rather than avoiding the issue. His guidance offers a practical path forward for anyone struggling with student loan payments.
Moving to the housing market, Brendon unpacks how recent tariff discussions have created unusual mortgage rate volatility. Rather than getting caught up in daily rate fluctuations, he suggests focusing on payment comfort ranges and looking at the bigger picture of finding the right home. This perspective shift alone can make the homebuying process significantly less stressful in today's uncertain environment.
The conversation then explores the current spring housing market, revealing fascinating insights for both buyers and sellers. While national inventory has improved and prices continue their 21-month climb, local market conditions vary dramatically. Brendon shares creative strategies for finding opportunities even in competitive markets—from targeting homes in new construction communities to watching for local economic developments that might create buying advantages.
Throughout the episode, Brendon and I emphasize working with knowledgeable professionals who understand local conditions and can help navigate today's unique challenges. For anyone feeling overwhelmed by financial headlines or uncertain about their next move in the housing market, this conversation provides both the clarity and practical advice needed to move forward with confidence.
To connect with Brendon:
Brendon Bland
614-747-3530
bbland@neighborhoodloans.com
https://www.instagram.com/mortgagemademodern/
https://www.facebook.com/brendon.bland
Sarah Thress
614-893-5885
First Time Home Buyer course: https://sarahthress.graphy.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarah_thress_realtor/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SarahThressRealtor/
https://www.youtube.com/@LIFEINCOLUMBUS
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah Thress (00:02):
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we have Brendon Blandof Neighborhood Loans and
obviously, if you have been alongtime listener, or even if
you've just listened to a few,you might have heard his voice a
time or two.
I continue to ask him and he isso gracious to continue to come
(00:23):
back on you to ask him, and heis so gracious to continue to
come back on.
But I ask him because he isreally really good at taking
what's going on in the outsideworld and making it to where we
can all kind of understand.
So I'm sure that you know,unless you live under a rock or,
you know, have zero access toany type of social media or news
(00:44):
or anything.
I'm quite certain you've heard,you know all the stories that
are going on out there and Iswear, every day it's something
different.
And you know it's tariffs andit's school loans and it's
interest rates and it'sinflation, it's all the things.
So I reached out to Brendonbecause, like I said, he's such
a great resource of takingcomplex things and making it to
(01:06):
where people can understand it,so even I can understand it.
So, brendan, thank you so somuch for coming on and for
continuing to just give us suchgreat information.
Oh, I can't hear you.
Breandon Bland (01:30):
Can you hear me?
Sarah Thress (01:31):
Now I can.
Okay, good, all right, soundsgood, you think after five years
with Zoom, we'd have it allfigured out by now.
But here we are.
Breandon Bland (01:43):
Yeah, you would think, but it's okay, all right,
good, well, glad to be here.
Sarah Thress (01:46):
Yeah, well, thank you so much.
Yeah, like I said, I would justlove for you to kind of walk us
through.
You know just all the things,like you know.
I know you put out an amazingvideo the other day.
So, again, if you're notfollowing his socials, you need
to, and I'll have it in the shownotes.
But I digress.
Um, but you did like a reallygreat video where you were
(02:08):
talking about like hey, um, ifyou have student loans and you
know they're through thegovernment, you need to.
You know, here's some heads up,so, um, maybe we'll just start
there if you want to talk aboutthat, and then we'll roll into
like tariffs and and all thingsthat we're hearing on the news.
Breandon Bland (02:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's all fun stuff.
You know that we're talkingabout today.
So, yeah, so sometimes peopleask me like about you know, hey,
Brendon, on your mortgageInstagram, you know why are you
talking about student loans?
Well, I think because, yeah, Ihelp people get mortgages, but
ultimately, everyone's financialwell-being is important, not
(02:49):
just to them but, you know, toour economy, right?
So for us, you know, for me todo my job, you know we need
people to be informed aboutwhat's happening with their
personal finances, because thatreally plays into it, and then,
ultimately, what happens, youknow, with one person's personal
finances, like you know,individually on a macro level,
(03:09):
can have a big impact oneverybody.
So so, yeah, we talked aboutstudent loans because that
impacts a ton of people,including me, and so yeah.
Sarah, right.
So I mean student loans, it'slike kind of.
It's kind of like the weather,it's like the one thing we all
have in common.
Sarah Thress (03:25):
So but yeah, covid happened, if you remember COVID
.
Breandon Bland (03:32):
And during that time the administration that was
in the White House at thatpoint basically pressed pause on
student loans for a long time.
So a lot of folks haven't beenmaking their student loan
payments for a while and it madesense at the time, certainly
right, like I mean, during a bigportion of, like, economic
(03:53):
uncertainty coupled with aglobal pandemic.
Yeah, so there was a big pausefor a long, long time.
Administrations change, we comeout of COVID, all that stuff
happens and what's kind of comeabout since then is, I mean, for
most Americans, since studentloan payments did restart, they
(04:13):
restarted at some point withinthe last year and for most
Americans who have student loanpayments, they've in some form
or fashion restarted makingthose payments.
But there's about 5.3 or 5.4million folks, which is a big
number, who are currently indefault of their student loans
and I would bet that most ofthose people are going to be
(04:35):
folks who were not making theirstudent loan payments
post-pandemic and haven'trestarted.
And there's a lot of reasonswhy that could be.
It could be like, hey, my loanservice are changed and I don't
know where to make my payment to.
Or hey, life creep happens, andlife creep when I talk about
that it's like hey, I haven'thad to make this payment in five
(04:57):
years and my finances havechanged, maybe for the good or
for bad or somewhere in between.
But that $100, $400, $1,000payment does not fit into my
current life.
Now I cannot make that paymentright.
So that's a possibility too andthere's reasons in between.
But at any rate, or any level,the federal government has said,
(05:19):
hey, we're going to startcoming back for these folks who
are in default.
So what's happened and what'sbeing reported is a couple of
things.
One and I've actually seen thiswith a few folks personally who
I've been trying to work withwhere those late payments were
not being reported to the creditbureaus, and now they are.
(05:41):
So overnight people's creditscores are dropping like a
hundred points, which obviouslynot great If you're, you know,
if you're trying to buy a house,trying to get a car, trying to
get a credit card, you're tryingto get any kind of financing,
get an apartment right, like thecredit score matters.
So overnight we saw a bunch ofpeople saw their credit scores
(06:02):
drop because all of a sudden,those late payments, those
default payments, are now beingreported to the credit bureaus.
So that's a big piece.
The other big piece, probablythe more pressing or concerning
thing for folks who arecurrently in the fall and pursue
loans is that the federalgovernment has said, hey, we're
going to come back and get thismoney one way or another.
(06:22):
We're going to come back andget this money one way or
another.
So they're talking about doingthings like normally.
Let's say, you get a fewthousand bucks back during tax
refund time, you might not begetting anything back, they
might just pull your tax refund.
They're talking even aboutdipping into garnishing wages,
which that's not confirmed.
It's not confirmed who thatwould be or how they exactly
(06:45):
would do that, but that has beenfloated out there.
So this is serious.
I think if you're someone whohas federal student loans, first
thing I would say is if you'remaking your payments, right, if
you're in some kind of repaymentplan, you're making the
payments, you're okay, right.
So don't freak out.
If you're like, oh my, my god,what?
Like, I still owe money onstudent loans.
But if you do owe money instudent loans federal student
(07:10):
loans and you know you haven'tbeen making payments for
whatever reason, like nojudgment here, but the worst
thing you can do is nothing.
You need to take some kind ofaction here, whether you agree
with this action or not.
Like this is what's happening.
So so the first thing I would dois figure out who your loan
servicer is.
If you don't know, go tostudentaidgov.
(07:30):
You'll kind of have to navigatethrough that website.
Plug in your credentials andthey'll eventually navigate you
to where your loan servicer is,and that's the first place to
start.
From there, you can look atthings like income-based payment
plans, if that's somethingthat's important to you, or just
ways to get caught up, or justhow to make your payments in
general.
But I can tell you, the worstthing you could do if you're
(07:52):
listening to this and you'rethinking to yourself crap, I
haven't made my student paymentsthe worst thing you could do is
put your head in the sand anddo nothing, because there are
changes coming, so you need totake action.
I don't want to scare anyone,but that's what's being reported
, and so we just need to kind oftake action based off of that.
Sarah Thress (08:10):
So yeah, really starting off on a good note, yes
, Well, and if it makes anyoneout there listening feel any
better.
I felt as if Brendon wastalking to me directly, because
I am one of those people thathasn't been making payments on
their student loans because myprocessor has changed I don't
(08:32):
know 17 times.
And, um, you know, and I waslike, and I kept getting stuff
that said, oh, don't worry, Likewe're just going to put your,
your loans, over here in youknow, like forbearance or
whatever, and I was like cool,like keep doing that.
That's great, you know, I knowhow to make the payment.
But, um, you are correct, I'vebeen burying my head in the sand
.
So, um, not that you wanted meto admit that, but I just want
(08:54):
everyone to know that we're allhuman.
There's no judgment.
Breandon Bland (08:57):
It don't happen.
Listen, like I said, I meanit's.
There's a lot of reasons whyfolks aren't making their
student loan payments, none ofwhich I'm judging at all.
It's just listen, this is thereality of kind of the world
we're walking into right now andyou know, if you're listening
to this, you still have time tofigure something out so that you
know, hopefully your creditscore doesn't take a hit,
(09:19):
hopefully you know, hey, you'renot getting your tax refund
pulled back or any of the numberof other things that they're
saying could potentially happen.
Also, I will say thisnon-political here, but a lot of
things that have been announcedby the federal government in
the last handful of months havebeen on again, off again.
Sarah Thress (09:39):
So this is all subject to change right.
Breandon Bland (09:43):
This is the latest news today, but if I was
in this situation, I would workas if this is what's going to
happen and that's not somethingto do.
Sarah Thress (09:53):
Yeah, I love that.
I think that's such greatadvice.
And you know and that's what Imean by you know, you putting
out information that you know,cause if I would have just read
that headline, I would have beenlike wait what?
Like, what's going on, you know?
And then, um, the way that youtook it, you know, took the
information and broke it downinto ways to be like hey, here
(10:15):
it is.
Like, you know, take away allthe judgment, take away all the
shame, here's the facts, here'swhat to do, and you know, and
then it's all good.
Like you know, it's notanything to like.
Be like, oh my gosh, the sky isfalling over it.
Just, it is what it is.
Breandon Bland (10:28):
Yeah, so, cool.
Sarah Thress (10:32):
Well, you know, our next like super feel good
subject would be tariffs.
You know, I know previously wetalked about tariffs and how,
you know, we didn't foresee themaffecting the housing market
quite as much because, you know,as you had mentioned previously
, inflation is actually thedriver of, you know, interest
(10:53):
rates and things like that.
But I know, you know, just inhaving a conversation with you
and as you just mentioned,things keep changing every day.
You know it's hard to keep up,so I'd love for you to just kind
of fill us in on, as of today.
You know it's hard to keep up,so I'd love for you to just kind
of fill us in on, as of today,you know, are tariffs affecting
us?
How is it affecting us?
You know all the things.
Breandon Bland (11:11):
Yeah.
Well, if you listen to thepodcast at all, you know we
always make the joke that wedon't have a crystal ball.
So yeah, so so certainly listeninflation continues to be one of
the biggest drivers of what'sgoing on with with any kind of
interest rate, but specificallymortgage rates.
But tariffs have become anothervariable With what's happened
(11:35):
over the last month and a halfor so.
Once again, there's been a lotof on-again, off-again talk
we're doing tariffs, we're notdoing tariffs.
We're doing 145% of China,we're doing 20%.
So you don't need to know muchabout tariffs to really
(11:56):
understand this, which is that,listen, it's hard to operate in
a space where we don't know whatto expect day to day, right,
Whether that's with your family,whether that's with your
personal finances at work.
I mean, imagine going into workevery day and your boss tells
you hey, this is the number oneproject, nothing else matters.
Sarah Thress (12:15):
And then the next day that project doesn't matter
at all anymore and we've got todo this other thing.
Breandon Bland (12:19):
So that's kind of the environment that tariffs
are creating in the mortgagemarket, in the sense that there
are people who invest inmortgage bonds and in the stock
market and the tariff situationhas created an environment where
they don't really know what todo, they don't know what's going
(12:39):
on and because of that, becauseof that uncertainty, we're
seeing rates kind of bing bongaround, sometimes high,
sometimes low, and so it's madeit a little bit challenging for
folks who are out trying to buyright now to know, like hey,
today the interest rate is 6.75,but next week it might be a
(13:01):
seven and a quarter, like it'sjust that's kind of what's been
happening because of that levelof uncertainty.
Now, as of today, which isThursday, april 24th, there's
been some, I think, maybe somecooler heads prevailing a little
bit on the tariff side, whichyou know, hopefully will settle
things down and give us a littlebit more consistency with rates
(13:23):
.
But yeah, we've just seen,we've just seen some kind of
more volatile fluctuation withrates.
The last month or so I did, Ipulled kind of the 30 year
average, you know, which is ameasure of like kind of all
these situations kind ofcombined into one, like hey for
tracking rates over time kind ofwhat's one like hey for
tracking rates or for time, kindof what's happened and you can
look at it day to day.
(13:44):
So over the last 30 days thehighest we've been was around
and this is nationally, not menecessarily, but about a 7.2%,
and the lowest we were in thelast 30 days was a 6.6%.
So that's a pretty big range,right.
Like I mean, if you came to meon Monday and I said, hey, you
know, today is 6.6.
And then two weeks later I saidit's over seven, they're going
(14:04):
to look at me like kind ofsideways and then I'll try to
explain to you what I justexplained.
And that may stick, it may not,but this is, you know, from a
buyer's perspective, this iskind of they're confused about
why things are changing.
But this is what's going on.
You know, right now we'resitting at about a 6.9
nationally on the average andthere's some other things
that'll happen that'll impactmortgage rates, but the hope is
(14:28):
that tariffs will.
You know, there's going to bean element of this as long as
this current administration's inoffice, it would seem at least.
So.
What we want to see, at leastfrom that perspective, is just a
little bit more consistency,maybe a little bit more follow
through, but ultimately whatthey're saying, whether good or
bad, or whether you agree ordon't agree not here to talk
(14:50):
about that but we just need tokind of know where what we're
operating within, because youknow, once again, getting back
to inflation, that can have animpact on inflation, right, like
if the cost of things cominginto the country is higher,
right, and then that higher costgets passed along to consumers.
That is inflation, inflation,bad for mortgage rates.
(15:14):
So that still exists out theretoo.
All of this once again soundsbad.
Listen, I don't try to deal inbad and good, I just try to deal
in what's going on.
Ultimately, I think the biggestthing as a buyer, what you can
do right now with the currentenvironment we're in, don't try
(15:34):
and look at rates every day.
Just hey, get pre-approved whenyou're talking to your mortgage
lender, maybe have them giveyou a range of options.
You know a good mortgage lendershould do that for you anyway.
But ask like, hey, today's rate, is this?
What happens if rates go upthree-eighths of a percent?
You know, let's say that's myworst case scenario.
(15:57):
Does that payment still workfor me?
If not, then okay, maybe weneed to pay a little bit closer
attention.
If it still does work for you,even if we don't love it, then I
don't know, I just wouldn'tlook at it every day because
it's going to drive me nuts.
So just kind of get a range ofoptions that you feel
comfortable with in and operatein that space, and I think
(16:20):
that's probably the best way youcan kind of go about your home
search and, yeah, just keepfocusing on what's important,
which is finding the right homefor you, staying within your
budget.
You know rates will do kind ofwhat they're going to do, but
that's, that's kind of what'sgoing on with tariffs, if that
makes sense.
Sarah Thress (16:36):
Yeah, no, I think it does, and I think it's just.
It is interesting,no-transcript, cool.
(17:05):
I was approved for $500,000,but what does that actually mean
monthly payment-wise?
And then, are you comfortablewith that?
If you're not, tell them whatyou're comfortable with and then
you figure out what youactually, you know, could afford
, and so that number may bedrastically different than what
you were pre-approved for basedon your gross income.
And so I think it's kind of thesame with this.
(17:27):
You know, instead of sittingthere and going, oh well,
yesterday it was 6.6.
I can't look for houses now,because now it's over seven,
like, no, you can, you know,like it's going to be a little
bit of a difference, but it'snot going to be astronomically
difference unless for somereason, we go from six to over
10.
Then, yes, we are going to seelike an astronomical difference.
But you know, I think again,like you said, asking for that
(17:51):
range, $350,000 house, becausethat's the payment that I'm most
comfortable with, if it was at6% or 6.2% or whatever, what
would that look like versus 7.2%?
What does that look like?
You know?
And then just make sure you'recomfortable in that range,
because we don't have a crystalball.
We can't tell you that today'sthe day to lock it in because
(18:13):
it's never going to change, like, and you know, and there's
always so many differentvariables.
So you know, I think to yourpoint, it's just, instead of
sitting there and freaking outabout what the interest rate is,
find the perfect house for you.
Find, you know, like, thelocation that you want, find all
the things that you want, andthen we'll make it work.
(18:34):
And you know, if, for whateverreason, that interest rate makes
it too high for it to work foryou, great, then we'll find you
something else Like no one wantsyou to buy a house that you
can't afford, that you're goingto, you know, end up defaulting
on, like I know you and I don'tever want that for people.
Breandon Bland (18:49):
So yeah, a hundred percent, I think yeah.
One of the things I talk to myclients about, you know, is like
, once again, like we're tryingto simplify things that make
them more difficult.
So, you know, I really try tounderstand like the monthly
payment range they're trying tostay within.
And when they're out looking athomes and they tell me hey,
brendan, I'm going to look atyou know one, two three main
street.
(19:09):
Um, you know we'll just run thescenarios and you know I'll say
hey, listen guys, this is rightwithin the range that we talked
about.
We got you pre-approved.
Enjoy looking at it.
Have fun looking at it.
Just know that if we win thishouse, the monthly payment is
going to be in that range andwe'll figure out how to set it
up once you get in contract.
But that's really what we try todo, and if it's outside of that
(19:32):
range, we have thatconversation too.
So I really think that's what.
If I was a buyer right now,that's what I would focus on
figuring out what that month ofpayment range is, communicating
that to your lender, to yourrealtor, and then, when you're-
out looking at a home.
Hey, are we in that range?
Great, then, enjoy your timelooking at the house.
(19:52):
That's what I would say.
Sarah Thress (19:55):
Yeah, I love that, I love that.
And since we are deep in springmarket right now, you know I
would just love again no crystalballs here, so you know, but I
would just love to hear kind ofwhat you're, what you're seeing
so far in spring market andmaybe any advice you have and
what you kind of think mayhappen over, you know, the rest
(20:18):
of spring market, yeah.
Breandon Bland (20:20):
Yeah.
So you know from where I sit.
I mean it's definitely pickingup right.
I mean we're seeing a lot moreactivity.
People are out there gettingpre-approved you know mortgage
loan applications forpre-approval are up.
People are out looking at homes.
So it's definitely picked up,which is what we would expect
this time of year, regardless ofkind of what other factors are
impacting the market.
(20:40):
So that's good.
I mean we're in a healthy time.
That's what we would expect.
I was actually just looking atthe stats, because NAR just
released their most recent stat,or National Association of
Realtors just released theirmost recent stats from March,
kind of talking about what'sgoing on there.
So I think there's good newsfor both buyers and sellers,
based on what I saw.
So from a buyer's perspective,I think the really good news is
(21:01):
that inventory of unsoldexisting homes jumped from month
to month.
So that's good.
I mean there's more homesavailable for you to look at and
try and go buy and ultimatelyget the contract on buy and
ultimately getting the contracton.
Right now we're sitting atabout this is nationally right,
real estate is hyper-local butnationally about four months
(21:24):
worth of supply, which is, youknow, that's good, that's better
than you know, certainly, acouple of years ago we were well
under a year's supply or,excuse me, well under two months
supply.
Right now we're over four.
So right now nationally they'reshowing 1.3 million homes in
(21:45):
the market.
So once again, for the longesttime, especially during COVID,
we were well under a millionhomes.
So from a buyer's perspective,I think that's good news.
Now, obviously, depending onwhat market you're in, things
can look a little bit different,right.
You know, in some areas aroundcentral Ohio where Sarah and I
are located, we're seeing hyper,hyper activity.
(22:06):
You know homes going, you knowmultiple offers going to the
mask, appraisal gaps, that wholething, and then some areas, you
know, at some price pointswe're seeing homes sit a little
bit longer.
And so it kind of depends,right, I think there's a lot of
competition right now for folkswho are trying to buy maybe that
second home.
Right, hey, we had that firsttime home buyer home, we have
(22:28):
that home.
Now we're trying to buy thatnext home.
That's kind of like, hey, we'regoing to live here for 10 years
.
Right, we're going to try andraise our kids here, maybe get
them through grade middle school.
I'm seeing competition in thatarea a lot right now, whatever
that looks like in your market.
So I think that's something tothink about.
If that's you, what can you doto put yourself in a position to
be competitive in that space?
If you have a home to sell, canyou do it non-contingent?
(22:51):
If you do need to be contingent, what are some of the other
things you can do to putyourself in a in a competitive
situation?
Um, work with a great realtor?
Certainly.
Work with a good lender?
Um, you know, kind of know yournumbers.
I think that's really important.
Um, and then what else?
Um, yeah, I mean, I thinkthat's the big thing.
(23:12):
I'm just trying to take a lookand see if my notes, if there's
anything else I thought kind ofstood out.
Yeah, I mean, as we kind of geta little bit deeper into spring
and early summer, I think, yeah, it's still going to be, it's
going to pick back up a littlebit more.
So, yeah, I mean, just continueto put your investment forward
as a buyer.
Oh, as a seller here's, I thinkthis is good news if you're a
(23:33):
seller, because I know it'stalking about buyers primarily.
For the 21st month in a row,home prices have gone up month
over month.
So the median existing homesales price climbed 2.7% from
March of 2024.
So right now, across the wholecountry not just here in Central
(23:54):
Ohio, but across the wholecountry median sales price is
just under $404,000.
So that's the 21st month in arow that sales price has gone up
.
So if you're a seller andyou're thinking, oh okay, well,
brendan just said homes, there'smore inventory Maybe now is not
a good time to sell Definitelynot the case.
Homes are still selling at apremium.
(24:15):
They're still selling forhigher than they ever have
before.
So if you're thinking aboutselling for any number of
reasons, it's still a great timeto do it.
Obviously, springtime is one ofthe best times to put your house
on the market.
Sarah can tell you why that is.
But yeah, that's what I'mseeing.
Does that kind of line up withwhat you're seeing, sarah?
Um, yeah, that's what I'mseeing.
Does that kind of line up withwhat you're seeing, sarah, and
what you're what you think?
Sarah Thress (24:35):
Yeah, absolutely, because, um, it's interesting, I
have, um, I have a buyer thatwas able to get um into contract
on a house, um, you know, in a,in an area that's not.
So I'm trying to think of, like, how to like say this so there
are certain areas within centralOhio that are, you know, very
(24:56):
competitive.
Everybody wants there,everybody, you know, wants in
that school district with thethose taxes, things like that.
And I have a buyer now that waslike looking at areas that were
not in those areas and and hewas able to get into contract
for 20,000 under asking andstill is able to ask for
(25:18):
remedies of things that you knowwe found wrong, but it had been
on, it had been on the marketfor a while and you know we were
able to do that.
So, but previously we had beenlooking at houses that were in
highly competitive areas and andyou know he kept like, he kept
losing out, and so it was niceto be able to show him like, hey
(25:39):
, if we look at homes, becausehe had a very, very short window
of budget, and so I was like,if we look at homes that have
been on the market for a littlebit, you know, which is not
every area here in central Ohio,but if we look at those and we
find those and they fit whatyou're looking for, especially
in that like first time homebuyer price point, then you know
we can get things like this.
(26:00):
But on the flip side, I have,you know, a seller who, um, you
know, we listed one day uh had40 showings in two days, um had
multiple offers and were incontract 42,000 over asking, you
know, and he was like flooredbut you know, because he didn't
expect to even get his askingprice.
(26:22):
But again, this is where talkingwith your realtor, figuring out
, you know, like, what is thebest plan for you, is going to
be the best.
And so you know any of my otherpeople that are looking to you
know list of my other peoplethat are looking to you know
list, in the spring.
I'm having that sameconversation with them, just
like I would, no matter whetherit was spring market or not.
I'm always going to have thatconversation of like, hey,
(26:43):
here's what things are lookinglike in your neighborhood,
here's all the comparableproperties, here's all the
things.
And here's where I recommend welist to let things you know
like, let the market tell uswhat your house is worth, let
the market drive up the price.
And you know, sometimes I havesellers that take me up on that
and they're like, yeah, and Ihave others that are like, nope,
we have to list at the very toppoint that we want to get and
(27:06):
that's it, and occasionally thatworks.
Most of the time it's justgoing to sit there and you're
going to end up doing a pricereduction.
But it's interesting to me,though, in spring market there
are so many buyers that arecoming out because everyone
wants to get into their newhouse before the end of the
(27:27):
school year so that they canstart If they have kids.
They're trying to get their kidsacclimated.
They have the summer to makenew friends.
They have, you know, time toget used to this neighborhood,
and if that means they'reswitching schools, it gives them
a chance to, you know, get usedto it before they start their
school year, instead of justlike bam, bam, bam.
You know, we got to move in themiddle of the year or, hey,
(27:48):
we're moving in the fall, whichmeans we started a new school or
we started our old school andnow we have to switch and we
have to be the new kid, you know, like two months into the, into
the school year.
So a lot of times that's what Isee is driving people, you know
.
It's just that you know makingsure that they're especially in
spring market, making surethey're getting in before the
(28:09):
end of the school year so thatthey can make these transitions
easier.
Breandon Bland (28:13):
Yeah, that was interesting what you said about
pricing strategy.
I heard someone maybe was usedto telling me this.
A lot of times, when you'resetting the price at a certain
level it's high as a selleryou're looking for that one
offer, just that one offer, andsometimes that can involve a lot
of waiting, but you're waitingfor that one offer.
And if you get it great andsometimes you know that can
(28:34):
involve a lot of waiting, butyou're waiting for that one
offer.
And if you get it great, andthen if you maybe price it a
little bit lower, what you'relooking for is, you know,
multiple offers to kind of driveit up and maybe it gets up to
that one offer level you couldhave been at, or maybe it
doesn't.
But I guess a lot of times Ithink, from a pricing strategy
standpoint, part of it's likewhat your goal is right, because
(28:55):
I'm sure you have some sellers,sarah, who are like, yeah,
we'll sell if it makes sense.
They're not super, supermotivated to do it, but if the
right person comes along, rightprice, they'll do it right and
they can kind of set the termswhere they want to do the thing.
And then as a buyer you walkinto that situation.
You're like, okay, these peoplearen't super motivated.
So it's like what do I got todo to get over the hump with
these guys or get to where theyare willing to be?
(29:22):
And then you have some folks theopposite situation hey, what
you just said.
We have kids that are going tobe in the school district.
We have to sell right, so we'regoing to price the sell and so
then as a buyer, once again youhave to be ready to walk in that
situation Like okay, hey, we'regoing to be coming up against a
bunch of other people.
So I think it's yeah, it'sinteresting from a seller's
perspective, kind of how youprice things, and from a buyer's
perspective, when you work withyour realtor, they should be
able to tell you like hey guys,yeah, this house is priced
(29:44):
pretty high and I think this iswhy these people aren't super
motivated.
So we're going to be competitive.
We got to get ready to kind ofput our best foot forward here,
kind of thing.
But yeah, that's interesting.
A couple of things I wasthinking about too.
Well, if you give me another 90seconds here, just from a
(30:09):
buyer's perspective too, I thinksome things you can think about
when you're out trying to findopportunities.
I think if you pay attention towhat's going on in your local
market, maybe, like listen tothe news even you might be able
to pick up some opportunities.
So, for example, like if youhear like hey, new employers
coming to this area and it'sreally exciting opportunity and
a lot of investment like thatthat could be great right If
(30:30):
you're moving, if you live inthat area, but that could also
draw a lot more people to thatarea too and create a lot more
competition.
And if you're competitive andadverse meaning you don't really
want to have a lot ofcompetition then maybe that's
not an area you're going tofocus on as much or vice versa.
Maybe you want to be in thatarea because you see a lot of
growth.
So I think if you kind of payattention, you might be able to
(30:51):
pick up on some things like thatand communicate that to your
realtor.
Similarly, there's an area herein central Ohio I'm not going
to get into which schooldistrict it is right now but
they're kind of fighting to geta levy up right now and it had a
little bit of a challengegetting that done.
Just from some of the folksI've worked with in that area
that you know they've talkedabout like hey, homes are
(31:11):
sitting a little bit longer.
And you know they've talkedabout like hey, homes are
sitting a little bit longer.
And you know, anecdotally, theythink it's because people are
kind of waiting to see whathappens with that levy.
Now, maybe you don't have kidsand that's not a big concern for
you right now, and if you knowthat people are kind of sitting
on the fence waiting to see whathappens, there might be a time
period where you kind of sneakin and say, hey, these homes are
sitting a little bit longerbecause other people are waiting
(31:31):
, because they have kids.
I don't have kids, I'm notworried about it.
Now, sidebar, you should careabout the school district where
you are, because that has aneffect on the property value of
the home over time.
But if we're just looking at it, hey, I'm trying to get the
contract in a home that's goingto fit my lifestyle.
That's something you can knowif we just pay attention.
(31:52):
And then another tip I've kindof given to some folks is, if
you're having a little bit of adifficult time getting your
offer accepted, maybe look intosome of the areas where new
builds are happening and lookfor homes that are in the
community that are not a newbuild, that are being sold again
, because a lot of times whathappens is other buyers who want
(32:13):
to do a new build.
They're only focused on the newbuilds.
But if you don't necessarilycare that the home isn't brand
new literally the day you walkin, but it's still relatively
new, it's nice, got a lot offeatures by the way, it's going
to be priced under what the newbuilds are going for you might
find that you're going to have alittle bit less competition in
that neighborhood, because mostpeople are in that neighborhood
to buy that new build not to buythat existing home that was
(32:34):
built two years ago and you cantypically negotiate with those
sellers because they're sellingfor a reason right.
They might need a move.
Something might've happened, soI think that's another good tip
, too, for a buyer right now ismaybe look in some of those new
build communities where anexisting newer home is on the
market.
Maybe you can get a deal thatway.
Sarah Thress (32:54):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I totally agree, cause I'vehad situations like that where,
you know I had, I had a sellerlast year that had purchased a
brand new home and within thefirst year their situation
changed and you know they wererelocated for work to, you know,
to California, so not even likeclose commute.
They were like we got to sell,you know, and so it's.
(33:19):
You know they're competing withthe new builds which have like
the lower interest rates and theyou know all the things.
So it is, you know, a littlebit difficult for the seller,
but that's a really good thingfor the buyer because they can
come in and they can get a house.
I mean, with that one it waslike, oh, it's only a year old,
it still has all its warranties,okay, cool, and I don't have to
(33:41):
wait for it to be built.
Done, correct.
Breandon Bland (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, I think there's really good
opportunities there.
If you've been looking forexisting homes and exactly what
you just said, it's like, hey,there are opportunities out
there like that, right now, youdon't have to wait for it to be
built.
The sellers are motivated,right, um, which there's not
many sellers that you're goingto find any more, more more
motivated Someone who's sellinga relatively new home.
Sarah Thress (34:05):
So so yeah, I think that's a good opportunity
if you're out trying to figureout you know how do I get in
contract right now?
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Hopefully this is helpful.
No, it's always helpful and Ilove it.
Uh, and I didn't think it waslong-winded at all because I
think that you brought so muchvalue that, uh, it doesn't
matter.
Um, you know how long it tookyou to to say that you brought
(34:27):
such good value that, um, I,hopefully everyone that's
listening thinks the same thing.
And uh knows that you know theyjust got a really good lesson
on their car ride.
Breandon Bland (34:37):
Sweet.
Well, I'm always happy to,always happy to be on and thank
you again for the opportunityand hopefully, everyone's having
a.
It's I don't, once again,depending where you are.
You know, here in central Ohiowe've had some pretty had a
pretty brutal spring weatherwise and we finally catch some
good weather.
So I hope everyone had a niceEaster and is enjoying some nice
weather, wherever you are.
Sarah Thress (34:56):
Yeah, I love it, me too, me too.
Well, thank you so much.
It's always a pleasure to haveyou on and you know I love that
whenever I reach out and ask youif you'll you'll come share
your knowledge, you're always upfor it.
So, thank you, I appreciatethat.
Yeah, yeah, and anyone that'slistening just wanted to let you
know also.
Brendan and I collaborated on afirst time home buyer course and
(35:21):
it's a master class, so it isvery much.
It's intended to be a way foryou to take the class that we've
been teaching for years, buttake it on your own time, it's
completely free.
We literally just wanted to getas much information out to
(35:42):
people because we know that,being a first time home buyer,
you're kind of an underdog inthe real estate world and we all
you know he and I both lovesupporting underdogs and wanting
to sure that you feel lessoverwhelmed and find it easier.
So in the show notes I willhave a link to that course.
So if that's something thatresonates with you or resonates
(36:02):
with anyone that you think,please feel free to share that.
Again, it's a free resourcethat we just want to make sure
gets in the hands of anyone thatis thinking about purchasing a
house.
So thank you so much.
I really appreciate you guystuning in.
If you enjoyed what you heard,please make sure that you are
leaving a review.
(36:23):
I'm trying to get as manyfive-star reviews as possible,
because that helps to boosteverything and so that more
people get to hear this.
But also feedback is a gift.
Also, make sure that you'resharing this with others,
because that is the greatestcompliment that you can give
Brendan and myself.
Also, make sure you arefollowing along.
(36:43):
So hit that subscribe button sothat you never miss another
episode.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next time on Come to Find
Out.
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we have Brendon Blandof Neighborhood Loans and
obviously, if you have been alongtime listener, or even if
you've just listened to a few,you might have heard his voice a
time or two.
I continue to ask him and he isso gracious to continue to come
(00:23):
back on you to ask him, and heis so gracious to continue to
come back on.
But I ask him because he isreally really good at taking
what's going on in the outsideworld and making it to where we
can all kind of understand.
So I'm sure that you know,unless you live under a rock or,
you know, have zero access toany type of social media or news
(00:44):
or anything.
I'm quite certain you've heard,you know all the stories that
are going on out there and Iswear, every day it's something
different.
And you know it's tariffs andit's school loans and it's
interest rates and it'sinflation, it's all the things.
So I reached out to Brendonbecause, like I said, he's such
a great resource of takingcomplex things and making it to
(01:06):
where people can understand it,so even I can understand it.
So, brendan, thank you so somuch for coming on and for
continuing to just give us suchgreat information.
Oh, I can't hear you.
Breandon Bland (01:30):
Can you hear me?
Sarah Thress (01:31):
Now I can.
Okay, good, all right, soundsgood, you think after five years
with Zoom, we'd have it allfigured out by now.
But here we are.
Breandon Bland (01:43):
Yeah, you would think, but it's okay, all right,
good, well, glad to be here.
Sarah Thress (01:46):
Yeah, well, thank you so much.
Yeah, like I said, I would justlove for you to kind of walk us
through.
You know just all the things,like you know.
I know you put out an amazingvideo the other day.
So, again, if you're notfollowing his socials, you need
to, and I'll have it in the shownotes.
But I digress.
Um, but you did like a reallygreat video where you were
(02:08):
talking about like hey, um, ifyou have student loans and you
know they're through thegovernment, you need to.
You know, here's some heads up,so, um, maybe we'll just start
there if you want to talk aboutthat, and then we'll roll into
like tariffs and and all thingsthat we're hearing on the news.
Breandon Bland (02:24):
Oh yeah, yeah, it's all fun stuff.
You know that we're talkingabout today.
So, yeah, so sometimes peopleask me like about you know, hey,
Brendon, on your mortgageInstagram, you know why are you
talking about student loans?
Well, I think because, yeah, Ihelp people get mortgages, but
ultimately, everyone's financialwell-being is important, not
(02:49):
just to them but, you know, toour economy, right?
So for us, you know, for me todo my job, you know we need
people to be informed aboutwhat's happening with their
personal finances, because thatreally plays into it, and then,
ultimately, what happens, youknow, with one person's personal
finances, like you know,individually on a macro level,
(03:09):
can have a big impact oneverybody.
So so, yeah, we talked aboutstudent loans because that
impacts a ton of people,including me, and so yeah.
Sarah, right.
So I mean student loans, it'slike kind of.
It's kind of like the weather,it's like the one thing we all
have in common.
Sarah Thress (03:25):
So but yeah, covid happened, if you remember COVID
.
Breandon Bland (03:32):
And during that time the administration that was
in the White House at thatpoint basically pressed pause on
student loans for a long time.
So a lot of folks haven't beenmaking their student loan
payments for a while and it madesense at the time, certainly
right, like I mean, during a bigportion of, like, economic
(03:53):
uncertainty coupled with aglobal pandemic.
Yeah, so there was a big pausefor a long, long time.
Administrations change, we comeout of COVID, all that stuff
happens and what's kind of comeabout since then is, I mean, for
most Americans, since studentloan payments did restart, they
(04:13):
restarted at some point withinthe last year and for most
Americans who have student loanpayments, they've in some form
or fashion restarted makingthose payments.
But there's about 5.3 or 5.4million folks, which is a big
number, who are currently indefault of their student loans
and I would bet that most ofthose people are going to be
(04:35):
folks who were not making theirstudent loan payments
post-pandemic and haven'trestarted.
And there's a lot of reasonswhy that could be.
It could be like, hey, my loanservice are changed and I don't
know where to make my payment to.
Or hey, life creep happens, andlife creep when I talk about
that it's like hey, I haven'thad to make this payment in five
(04:57):
years and my finances havechanged, maybe for the good or
for bad or somewhere in between.
But that $100, $400, $1,000payment does not fit into my
current life.
Now I cannot make that paymentright.
So that's a possibility too andthere's reasons in between.
But at any rate, or any level,the federal government has said,
(05:19):
hey, we're going to startcoming back for these folks who
are in default.
So what's happened and what'sbeing reported is a couple of
things.
One and I've actually seen thiswith a few folks personally who
I've been trying to work withwhere those late payments were
not being reported to the creditbureaus, and now they are.
(05:41):
So overnight people's creditscores are dropping like a
hundred points, which obviouslynot great If you're, you know,
if you're trying to buy a house,trying to get a car, trying to
get a credit card, you're tryingto get any kind of financing,
get an apartment right, like thecredit score matters.
So overnight we saw a bunch ofpeople saw their credit scores
(06:02):
drop because all of a sudden,those late payments, those
default payments, are now beingreported to the credit bureaus.
So that's a big piece.
The other big piece, probablythe more pressing or concerning
thing for folks who arecurrently in the fall and pursue
loans is that the federalgovernment has said, hey, we're
going to come back and get thismoney one way or another.
(06:22):
We're going to come back andget this money one way or
another.
So they're talking about doingthings like normally.
Let's say, you get a fewthousand bucks back during tax
refund time, you might not begetting anything back, they
might just pull your tax refund.
They're talking even aboutdipping into garnishing wages,
which that's not confirmed.
It's not confirmed who thatwould be or how they exactly
(06:45):
would do that, but that has beenfloated out there.
So this is serious.
I think if you're someone whohas federal student loans, first
thing I would say is if you'remaking your payments, right, if
you're in some kind of repaymentplan, you're making the
payments, you're okay, right.
So don't freak out.
If you're like, oh my, my god,what?
Like, I still owe money onstudent loans.
But if you do owe money instudent loans federal student
(07:10):
loans and you know you haven'tbeen making payments for
whatever reason, like nojudgment here, but the worst
thing you can do is nothing.
You need to take some kind ofaction here, whether you agree
with this action or not.
Like this is what's happening.
So so the first thing I would dois figure out who your loan
servicer is.
If you don't know, go tostudentaidgov.
(07:30):
You'll kind of have to navigatethrough that website.
Plug in your credentials andthey'll eventually navigate you
to where your loan servicer is,and that's the first place to
start.
From there, you can look atthings like income-based payment
plans, if that's somethingthat's important to you, or just
ways to get caught up, or justhow to make your payments in
general.
But I can tell you, the worstthing you could do if you're
(07:52):
listening to this and you'rethinking to yourself crap, I
haven't made my student paymentsthe worst thing you could do is
put your head in the sand anddo nothing, because there are
changes coming, so you need totake action.
I don't want to scare anyone,but that's what's being reported
, and so we just need to kind oftake action based off of that.
Sarah Thress (08:10):
So yeah, really starting off on a good note, yes
, Well, and if it makes anyoneout there listening feel any
better.
I felt as if Brendon wastalking to me directly, because
I am one of those people thathasn't been making payments on
their student loans because myprocessor has changed I don't
(08:32):
know 17 times.
And, um, you know, and I waslike, and I kept getting stuff
that said, oh, don't worry, Likewe're just going to put your,
your loans, over here in youknow, like forbearance or
whatever, and I was like cool,like keep doing that.
That's great, you know, I knowhow to make the payment.
But, um, you are correct, I'vebeen burying my head in the sand
.
So, um, not that you wanted meto admit that, but I just want
(08:54):
everyone to know that we're allhuman.
There's no judgment.
Breandon Bland (08:57):
It don't happen.
Listen, like I said, I meanit's.
There's a lot of reasons whyfolks aren't making their
student loan payments, none ofwhich I'm judging at all.
It's just listen, this is thereality of kind of the world
we're walking into right now andyou know, if you're listening
to this, you still have time tofigure something out so that you
know, hopefully your creditscore doesn't take a hit,
(09:19):
hopefully you know, hey, you'renot getting your tax refund
pulled back or any of the numberof other things that they're
saying could potentially happen.
Also, I will say thisnon-political here, but a lot of
things that have been announcedby the federal government in
the last handful of months havebeen on again, off again.
Sarah Thress (09:39):
So this is all subject to change right.
Breandon Bland (09:43):
This is the latest news today, but if I was
in this situation, I would workas if this is what's going to
happen and that's not somethingto do.
Sarah Thress (09:53):
Yeah, I love that.
I think that's such greatadvice.
And you know and that's what Imean by you know, you putting
out information that you know,cause if I would have just read
that headline, I would have beenlike wait what?
Like, what's going on, you know?
And then, um, the way that youtook it, you know, took the
information and broke it downinto ways to be like hey, here
(10:15):
it is.
Like, you know, take away allthe judgment, take away all the
shame, here's the facts, here'swhat to do, and you know, and
then it's all good.
Like you know, it's notanything to like.
Be like, oh my gosh, the sky isfalling over it.
Just, it is what it is.
Breandon Bland (10:28):
Yeah, so, cool.
Sarah Thress (10:32):
Well, you know, our next like super feel good
subject would be tariffs.
You know, I know previously wetalked about tariffs and how,
you know, we didn't foresee themaffecting the housing market
quite as much because, you know,as you had mentioned previously
, inflation is actually thedriver of, you know, interest
(10:53):
rates and things like that.
But I know, you know, just inhaving a conversation with you
and as you just mentioned,things keep changing every day.
You know it's hard to keep up,so I'd love for you to just kind
of fill us in on, as of today.
You know it's hard to keep up,so I'd love for you to just kind
of fill us in on, as of today,you know, are tariffs affecting
us?
How is it affecting us?
You know all the things.
Breandon Bland (11:11):
Yeah.
Well, if you listen to thepodcast at all, you know we
always make the joke that wedon't have a crystal ball.
So yeah, so so certainly listeninflation continues to be one of
the biggest drivers of what'sgoing on with with any kind of
interest rate, but specificallymortgage rates.
But tariffs have become anothervariable With what's happened
(11:35):
over the last month and a halfor so.
Once again, there's been a lotof on-again, off-again talk
we're doing tariffs, we're notdoing tariffs.
We're doing 145% of China,we're doing 20%.
So you don't need to know muchabout tariffs to really
(11:56):
understand this, which is that,listen, it's hard to operate in
a space where we don't know whatto expect day to day, right,
Whether that's with your family,whether that's with your
personal finances at work.
I mean, imagine going into workevery day and your boss tells
you hey, this is the number oneproject, nothing else matters.
Sarah Thress (12:15):
And then the next day that project doesn't matter
at all anymore and we've got todo this other thing.
Breandon Bland (12:19):
So that's kind of the environment that tariffs
are creating in the mortgagemarket, in the sense that there
are people who invest inmortgage bonds and in the stock
market and the tariff situationhas created an environment where
they don't really know what todo, they don't know what's going
(12:39):
on and because of that, becauseof that uncertainty, we're
seeing rates kind of bing bongaround, sometimes high,
sometimes low, and so it's madeit a little bit challenging for
folks who are out trying to buyright now to know, like hey,
today the interest rate is 6.75,but next week it might be a
(13:01):
seven and a quarter, like it'sjust that's kind of what's been
happening because of that levelof uncertainty.
Now, as of today, which isThursday, april 24th, there's
been some, I think, maybe somecooler heads prevailing a little
bit on the tariff side, whichyou know, hopefully will settle
things down and give us a littlebit more consistency with rates
(13:23):
.
But yeah, we've just seen,we've just seen some kind of
more volatile fluctuation withrates.
The last month or so I did, Ipulled kind of the 30 year
average, you know, which is ameasure of like kind of all
these situations kind ofcombined into one, like hey for
tracking rates over time kind ofwhat's one like hey for
tracking rates or for time, kindof what's happened and you can
look at it day to day.
(13:44):
So over the last 30 days thehighest we've been was around
and this is nationally, not menecessarily, but about a 7.2%,
and the lowest we were in thelast 30 days was a 6.6%.
So that's a pretty big range,right.
Like I mean, if you came to meon Monday and I said, hey, you
know, today is 6.6.
And then two weeks later I saidit's over seven, they're going
(14:04):
to look at me like kind ofsideways and then I'll try to
explain to you what I justexplained.
And that may stick, it may not,but this is, you know, from a
buyer's perspective, this iskind of they're confused about
why things are changing.
But this is what's going on.
You know, right now we'resitting at about a 6.9
nationally on the average andthere's some other things
that'll happen that'll impactmortgage rates, but the hope is
(14:28):
that tariffs will.
You know, there's going to bean element of this as long as
this current administration's inoffice, it would seem at least.
So.
What we want to see, at leastfrom that perspective, is just a
little bit more consistency,maybe a little bit more follow
through, but ultimately whatthey're saying, whether good or
bad, or whether you agree ordon't agree not here to talk
(14:50):
about that but we just need tokind of know where what we're
operating within, because youknow, once again, getting back
to inflation, that can have animpact on inflation, right, like
if the cost of things cominginto the country is higher,
right, and then that higher costgets passed along to consumers.
That is inflation, inflation,bad for mortgage rates.
(15:14):
So that still exists out theretoo.
All of this once again soundsbad.
Listen, I don't try to deal inbad and good, I just try to deal
in what's going on.
Ultimately, I think the biggestthing as a buyer, what you can
do right now with the currentenvironment we're in, don't try
(15:34):
and look at rates every day.
Just hey, get pre-approved whenyou're talking to your mortgage
lender, maybe have them giveyou a range of options.
You know a good mortgage lendershould do that for you anyway.
But ask like, hey, today's rate, is this?
What happens if rates go upthree-eighths of a percent?
You know, let's say that's myworst case scenario.
(15:57):
Does that payment still workfor me?
If not, then okay, maybe weneed to pay a little bit closer
attention.
If it still does work for you,even if we don't love it, then I
don't know, I just wouldn'tlook at it every day because
it's going to drive me nuts.
So just kind of get a range ofoptions that you feel
comfortable with in and operatein that space, and I think
(16:20):
that's probably the best way youcan kind of go about your home
search and, yeah, just keepfocusing on what's important,
which is finding the right homefor you, staying within your
budget.
You know rates will do kind ofwhat they're going to do, but
that's, that's kind of what'sgoing on with tariffs, if that
makes sense.
Sarah Thress (16:36):
Yeah, no, I think it does, and I think it's just.
It is interesting,no-transcript, cool.
(17:05):
I was approved for $500,000,but what does that actually mean
monthly payment-wise?
And then, are you comfortablewith that?
If you're not, tell them whatyou're comfortable with and then
you figure out what youactually, you know, could afford
, and so that number may bedrastically different than what
you were pre-approved for basedon your gross income.
And so I think it's kind of thesame with this.
(17:27):
You know, instead of sittingthere and going, oh well,
yesterday it was 6.6.
I can't look for houses now,because now it's over seven,
like, no, you can, you know,like it's going to be a little
bit of a difference, but it'snot going to be astronomically
difference unless for somereason, we go from six to over
10.
Then, yes, we are going to seelike an astronomical difference.
But you know, I think again,like you said, asking for that
(17:51):
range, $350,000 house, becausethat's the payment that I'm most
comfortable with, if it was at6% or 6.2% or whatever, what
would that look like versus 7.2%?
What does that look like?
You know?
And then just make sure you'recomfortable in that range,
because we don't have a crystalball.
We can't tell you that today'sthe day to lock it in because
(18:13):
it's never going to change, like, and you know, and there's
always so many differentvariables.
So you know, I think to yourpoint, it's just, instead of
sitting there and freaking outabout what the interest rate is,
find the perfect house for you.
Find, you know, like, thelocation that you want, find all
the things that you want, andthen we'll make it work.
(18:34):
And you know, if, for whateverreason, that interest rate makes
it too high for it to work foryou, great, then we'll find you
something else Like no one wantsyou to buy a house that you
can't afford, that you're goingto, you know, end up defaulting
on, like I know you and I don'tever want that for people.
Breandon Bland (18:49):
So yeah, a hundred percent, I think yeah.
One of the things I talk to myclients about, you know, is like
, once again, like we're tryingto simplify things that make
them more difficult.
So, you know, I really try tounderstand like the monthly
payment range they're trying tostay within.
And when they're out looking athomes and they tell me hey,
brendan, I'm going to look atyou know one, two three main
street.
(19:09):
Um, you know we'll just run thescenarios and you know I'll say
hey, listen guys, this is rightwithin the range that we talked
about.
We got you pre-approved.
Enjoy looking at it.
Have fun looking at it.
Just know that if we win thishouse, the monthly payment is
going to be in that range andwe'll figure out how to set it
up once you get in contract.
But that's really what we try todo, and if it's outside of that
(19:32):
range, we have thatconversation too.
So I really think that's what.
If I was a buyer right now,that's what I would focus on
figuring out what that month ofpayment range is, communicating
that to your lender, to yourrealtor, and then, when you're-
out looking at a home.
Hey, are we in that range?
Great, then, enjoy your timelooking at the house.
(19:52):
That's what I would say.
Sarah Thress (19:55):
Yeah, I love that, I love that.
And since we are deep in springmarket right now, you know I
would just love again no crystalballs here, so you know, but I
would just love to hear kind ofwhat you're, what you're seeing
so far in spring market andmaybe any advice you have and
what you kind of think mayhappen over, you know, the rest
(20:18):
of spring market, yeah.
Breandon Bland (20:20):
Yeah.
So you know from where I sit.
I mean it's definitely pickingup right.
I mean we're seeing a lot moreactivity.
People are out there gettingpre-approved you know mortgage
loan applications forpre-approval are up.
People are out looking at homes.
So it's definitely picked up,which is what we would expect
this time of year, regardless ofkind of what other factors are
impacting the market.
(20:40):
So that's good.
I mean we're in a healthy time.
That's what we would expect.
I was actually just looking atthe stats, because NAR just
released their most recent stat,or National Association of
Realtors just released theirmost recent stats from March,
kind of talking about what'sgoing on there.
So I think there's good newsfor both buyers and sellers,
based on what I saw.
So from a buyer's perspective,I think the really good news is
(21:01):
that inventory of unsoldexisting homes jumped from month
to month.
So that's good.
I mean there's more homesavailable for you to look at and
try and go buy and ultimatelyget the contract on buy and
ultimately getting the contracton.
Right now we're sitting atabout this is nationally right,
real estate is hyper-local butnationally about four months
(21:24):
worth of supply, which is, youknow, that's good, that's better
than you know, certainly, acouple of years ago we were well
under a year's supply or,excuse me, well under two months
supply.
Right now we're over four.
So right now nationally they'reshowing 1.3 million homes in
(21:45):
the market.
So once again, for the longesttime, especially during COVID,
we were well under a millionhomes.
So from a buyer's perspective,I think that's good news.
Now, obviously, depending onwhat market you're in, things
can look a little bit different,right.
You know, in some areas aroundcentral Ohio where Sarah and I
are located, we're seeing hyper,hyper activity.
(22:06):
You know homes going, you knowmultiple offers going to the
mask, appraisal gaps, that wholething, and then some areas, you
know, at some price pointswe're seeing homes sit a little
bit longer.
And so it kind of depends,right, I think there's a lot of
competition right now for folkswho are trying to buy maybe that
second home.
Right, hey, we had that firsttime home buyer home, we have
(22:28):
that home.
Now we're trying to buy thatnext home.
That's kind of like, hey, we'regoing to live here for 10 years
.
Right, we're going to try andraise our kids here, maybe get
them through grade middle school.
I'm seeing competition in thatarea a lot right now, whatever
that looks like in your market.
So I think that's something tothink about.
If that's you, what can you doto put yourself in a position to
be competitive in that space?
If you have a home to sell, canyou do it non-contingent?
(22:51):
If you do need to be contingent, what are some of the other
things you can do to putyourself in a in a competitive
situation?
Um, work with a great realtor?
Certainly.
Work with a good lender?
Um, you know, kind of know yournumbers.
I think that's really important.
Um, and then what else?
Um, yeah, I mean, I thinkthat's the big thing.
(23:12):
I'm just trying to take a lookand see if my notes, if there's
anything else I thought kind ofstood out.
Yeah, I mean, as we kind of geta little bit deeper into spring
and early summer, I think, yeah, it's still going to be, it's
going to pick back up a littlebit more.
So, yeah, I mean, just continueto put your investment forward
as a buyer.
Oh, as a seller here's, I thinkthis is good news if you're a
(23:33):
seller, because I know it'stalking about buyers primarily.
For the 21st month in a row,home prices have gone up month
over month.
So the median existing homesales price climbed 2.7% from
March of 2024.
So right now, across the wholecountry not just here in Central
(23:54):
Ohio, but across the wholecountry median sales price is
just under $404,000.
So that's the 21st month in arow that sales price has gone up
.
So if you're a seller andyou're thinking, oh okay, well,
brendan just said homes, there'smore inventory Maybe now is not
a good time to sell Definitelynot the case.
Homes are still selling at apremium.
(24:15):
They're still selling forhigher than they ever have
before.
So if you're thinking aboutselling for any number of
reasons, it's still a great timeto do it.
Obviously, springtime is one ofthe best times to put your house
on the market.
Sarah can tell you why that is.
But yeah, that's what I'mseeing.
Does that kind of line up withwhat you're seeing, sarah?
Um, yeah, that's what I'mseeing.
Does that kind of line up withwhat you're seeing, sarah, and
what you're what you think?
Sarah Thress (24:35):
Yeah, absolutely, because, um, it's interesting, I
have, um, I have a buyer thatwas able to get um into contract
on a house, um, you know, in a,in an area that's not.
So I'm trying to think of, like, how to like say this so there
are certain areas within centralOhio that are, you know, very
(24:56):
competitive.
Everybody wants there,everybody, you know, wants in
that school district with thethose taxes, things like that.
And I have a buyer now that waslike looking at areas that were
not in those areas and and hewas able to get into contract
for 20,000 under asking andstill is able to ask for
(25:18):
remedies of things that you knowwe found wrong, but it had been
on, it had been on the marketfor a while and you know we were
able to do that.
So, but previously we had beenlooking at houses that were in
highly competitive areas and andyou know he kept like, he kept
losing out, and so it was niceto be able to show him like, hey
(25:39):
, if we look at homes, becausehe had a very, very short window
of budget, and so I was like,if we look at homes that have
been on the market for a littlebit, you know, which is not
every area here in central Ohio,but if we look at those and we
find those and they fit whatyou're looking for, especially
in that like first time homebuyer price point, then you know
we can get things like this.
(26:00):
But on the flip side, I have,you know, a seller who, um, you
know, we listed one day uh had40 showings in two days, um had
multiple offers and were incontract 42,000 over asking, you
know, and he was like flooredbut you know, because he didn't
expect to even get his askingprice.
(26:22):
But again, this is where talkingwith your realtor, figuring out
, you know, like, what is thebest plan for you, is going to
be the best.
And so you know any of my otherpeople that are looking to you
know list of my other peoplethat are looking to you know
list, in the spring.
I'm having that sameconversation with them, just
like I would, no matter whetherit was spring market or not.
I'm always going to have thatconversation of like, hey,
(26:43):
here's what things are lookinglike in your neighborhood,
here's all the comparableproperties, here's all the
things.
And here's where I recommend welist to let things you know
like, let the market tell uswhat your house is worth, let
the market drive up the price.
And you know, sometimes I havesellers that take me up on that
and they're like, yeah, and Ihave others that are like, nope,
we have to list at the very toppoint that we want to get and
(27:06):
that's it, and occasionally thatworks.
Most of the time it's justgoing to sit there and you're
going to end up doing a pricereduction.
But it's interesting to me,though, in spring market there
are so many buyers that arecoming out because everyone
wants to get into their newhouse before the end of the
(27:27):
school year so that they canstart If they have kids.
They're trying to get their kidsacclimated.
They have the summer to makenew friends.
They have, you know, time toget used to this neighborhood,
and if that means they'reswitching schools, it gives them
a chance to, you know, get usedto it before they start their
school year, instead of justlike bam, bam, bam.
You know, we got to move in themiddle of the year or, hey,
(27:48):
we're moving in the fall, whichmeans we started a new school or
we started our old school andnow we have to switch and we
have to be the new kid, you know, like two months into the, into
the school year.
So a lot of times that's what Isee is driving people, you know
.
It's just that you know makingsure that they're especially in
spring market, making surethey're getting in before the
(28:09):
end of the school year so thatthey can make these transitions
easier.
Breandon Bland (28:13):
Yeah, that was interesting what you said about
pricing strategy.
I heard someone maybe was usedto telling me this.
A lot of times, when you'resetting the price at a certain
level it's high as a selleryou're looking for that one
offer, just that one offer, andsometimes that can involve a lot
of waiting, but you're waitingfor that one offer.
And if you get it great andsometimes you know that can
(28:34):
involve a lot of waiting, butyou're waiting for that one
offer.
And if you get it great, andthen if you maybe price it a
little bit lower, what you'relooking for is, you know,
multiple offers to kind of driveit up and maybe it gets up to
that one offer level you couldhave been at, or maybe it
doesn't.
But I guess a lot of times Ithink, from a pricing strategy
standpoint, part of it's likewhat your goal is right, because
(28:55):
I'm sure you have some sellers,sarah, who are like, yeah,
we'll sell if it makes sense.
They're not super, supermotivated to do it, but if the
right person comes along, rightprice, they'll do it right and
they can kind of set the termswhere they want to do the thing.
And then as a buyer you walkinto that situation.
You're like, okay, these peoplearen't super motivated.
So it's like what do I got todo to get over the hump with
these guys or get to where theyare willing to be?
(29:22):
And then you have some folks theopposite situation hey, what
you just said.
We have kids that are going tobe in the school district.
We have to sell right, so we'regoing to price the sell and so
then as a buyer, once again youhave to be ready to walk in that
situation Like okay, hey, we'regoing to be coming up against a
bunch of other people.
So I think it's yeah, it'sinteresting from a seller's
perspective, kind of how youprice things, and from a buyer's
perspective, when you work withyour realtor, they should be
able to tell you like hey guys,yeah, this house is priced
(29:44):
pretty high and I think this iswhy these people aren't super
motivated.
So we're going to be competitive.
We got to get ready to kind ofput our best foot forward here,
kind of thing.
But yeah, that's interesting.
A couple of things I wasthinking about too.
Well, if you give me another 90seconds here, just from a
(30:09):
buyer's perspective too, I thinksome things you can think about
when you're out trying to findopportunities.
I think if you pay attention towhat's going on in your local
market, maybe, like listen tothe news even you might be able
to pick up some opportunities.
So, for example, like if youhear like hey, new employers
coming to this area and it'sreally exciting opportunity and
a lot of investment like thatthat could be great right If
(30:30):
you're moving, if you live inthat area, but that could also
draw a lot more people to thatarea too and create a lot more
competition.
And if you're competitive andadverse meaning you don't really
want to have a lot ofcompetition then maybe that's
not an area you're going tofocus on as much or vice versa.
Maybe you want to be in thatarea because you see a lot of
growth.
So I think if you kind of payattention, you might be able to
(30:51):
pick up on some things like thatand communicate that to your
realtor.
Similarly, there's an area herein central Ohio I'm not going
to get into which schooldistrict it is right now but
they're kind of fighting to geta levy up right now and it had a
little bit of a challengegetting that done.
Just from some of the folksI've worked with in that area
that you know they've talkedabout like hey, homes are
(31:11):
sitting a little bit longer.
And you know they've talkedabout like hey, homes are
sitting a little bit longer.
And you know, anecdotally, theythink it's because people are
kind of waiting to see whathappens with that levy.
Now, maybe you don't have kidsand that's not a big concern for
you right now, and if you knowthat people are kind of sitting
on the fence waiting to see whathappens, there might be a time
period where you kind of sneakin and say, hey, these homes are
sitting a little bit longerbecause other people are waiting
(31:31):
, because they have kids.
I don't have kids, I'm notworried about it.
Now, sidebar, you should careabout the school district where
you are, because that has aneffect on the property value of
the home over time.
But if we're just looking at it, hey, I'm trying to get the
contract in a home that's goingto fit my lifestyle.
That's something you can knowif we just pay attention.
(31:52):
And then another tip I've kindof given to some folks is, if
you're having a little bit of adifficult time getting your
offer accepted, maybe look intosome of the areas where new
builds are happening and lookfor homes that are in the
community that are not a newbuild, that are being sold again
, because a lot of times whathappens is other buyers who want
(32:13):
to do a new build.
They're only focused on the newbuilds.
But if you don't necessarilycare that the home isn't brand
new literally the day you walkin, but it's still relatively
new, it's nice, got a lot offeatures by the way, it's going
to be priced under what the newbuilds are going for you might
find that you're going to have alittle bit less competition in
that neighborhood, because mostpeople are in that neighborhood
to buy that new build not to buythat existing home that was
(32:34):
built two years ago and you cantypically negotiate with those
sellers because they're sellingfor a reason right.
They might need a move.
Something might've happened, soI think that's another good tip
, too, for a buyer right now ismaybe look in some of those new
build communities where anexisting newer home is on the
market.
Maybe you can get a deal thatway.
Sarah Thress (32:54):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I totally agree, cause I'vehad situations like that where,
you know I had, I had a sellerlast year that had purchased a
brand new home and within thefirst year their situation
changed and you know they wererelocated for work to, you know,
to California, so not even likeclose commute.
They were like we got to sell,you know, and so it's.
(33:19):
You know they're competing withthe new builds which have like
the lower interest rates and theyou know all the things.
So it is, you know, a littlebit difficult for the seller,
but that's a really good thingfor the buyer because they can
come in and they can get a house.
I mean, with that one it waslike, oh, it's only a year old,
it still has all its warranties,okay, cool, and I don't have to
(33:41):
wait for it to be built.
Done, correct.
Breandon Bland (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, I think there's really good
opportunities there.
If you've been looking forexisting homes and exactly what
you just said, it's like, hey,there are opportunities out
there like that, right now, youdon't have to wait for it to be
built.
The sellers are motivated,right, um, which there's not
many sellers that you're goingto find any more, more more
motivated Someone who's sellinga relatively new home.
Sarah Thress (34:05):
So so yeah, I think that's a good opportunity
if you're out trying to figureout you know how do I get in
contract right now?
Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Hopefully this is helpful.
No, it's always helpful and Ilove it.
Uh, and I didn't think it waslong-winded at all because I
think that you brought so muchvalue that, uh, it doesn't
matter.
Um, you know how long it tookyou to to say that you brought
(34:27):
such good value that, um, I,hopefully everyone that's
listening thinks the same thing.
And uh knows that you know theyjust got a really good lesson
on their car ride.
Breandon Bland (34:37):
Sweet.
Well, I'm always happy to,always happy to be on and thank
you again for the opportunityand hopefully, everyone's having
a.
It's I don't, once again,depending where you are.
You know, here in central Ohiowe've had some pretty had a
pretty brutal spring weatherwise and we finally catch some
good weather.
So I hope everyone had a niceEaster and is enjoying some nice
weather, wherever you are.
Sarah Thress (34:56):
Yeah, I love it, me too, me too.
Well, thank you so much.
It's always a pleasure to haveyou on and you know I love that
whenever I reach out and ask youif you'll you'll come share
your knowledge, you're always upfor it.
So, thank you, I appreciatethat.
Yeah, yeah, and anyone that'slistening just wanted to let you
know also.
Brendan and I collaborated on afirst time home buyer course and
(35:21):
it's a master class, so it isvery much.
It's intended to be a way foryou to take the class that we've
been teaching for years, buttake it on your own time, it's
completely free.
We literally just wanted to getas much information out to
(35:42):
people because we know that,being a first time home buyer,
you're kind of an underdog inthe real estate world and we all
you know he and I both lovesupporting underdogs and wanting
to sure that you feel lessoverwhelmed and find it easier.
So in the show notes I willhave a link to that course.
So if that's something thatresonates with you or resonates
(36:02):
with anyone that you think,please feel free to share that.
Again, it's a free resourcethat we just want to make sure
gets in the hands of anyone thatis thinking about purchasing a
house.
So thank you so much.
I really appreciate you guystuning in.
If you enjoyed what you heard,please make sure that you are
leaving a review.
(36:23):
I'm trying to get as manyfive-star reviews as possible,
because that helps to boosteverything and so that more
people get to hear this.
But also feedback is a gift.
Also, make sure that you'resharing this with others,
because that is the greatestcompliment that you can give
Brendan and myself.
Also, make sure you arefollowing along.
(36:43):
So hit that subscribe button sothat you never miss another
episode.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next time on Come to Find
Out.
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