May 21, 2025 • 48 mins
In this episode of Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back – A Real Estate Podcast, Mike Litzner sits down with Vinnie DiOrio, Branch Manager at Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, to shed light on the modern mortgage process. From his early career with the New York Islanders to building a client-first approach in lending, Vinnie shares his insights on:
- How the mortgage industry has evolved
- Appraisal waivers and competitive offer strategies
- The importance of face-to-face consultations
- Common pitfalls buyers face—and how to avoid them
- Why service, education, and relationships matter more than rates
Plus, hear about his passion for family time, his famous dog Coco, and the causes close to his heart, including support for children with special needs and the Heart of American Homes Foundation.
Stay tuned to the end for the Drop the Mic question: a wild closing story you don’t want to miss.
Thank you for listening
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Visit our website:
Interested in a career in real estate?
- Join our team: careers.cbamhomes.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi and welcome to the newest episode of the Work Hard
, play Hard and Give Back a realestate podcast.
I'm Mike Litzner, broker ownerof CoWall Banker American Homes,
and I'm here at the studio atAmerican Homes in Smithtown.
Today we have our guest, vinnyDiIorio, who's branch manager at
Fairway Mortgage FairwayMortgage.
(00:28):
All right, there we go, vinny.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you, mike.
Thanks for having me.
Awesome, awesome.
I just want to remind ouraudience that if you like what
we're doing here, please likeand subscribe to our channel.
We've got some great interviewscoming up in the future and
(00:49):
don't forget to stay for thedrop the mic question.
So, vinny, this is our firstinterview with a mortgage broker
and, I think, a mortgage bankerI probably should say better
right and I think there's a lotof value that your industry can
lend to our audience herebecause it works so
symbiotically right With thereal estate industry, sure?
So, vinny, you've been in themortgage industry for a long
time now and you've even ownedyour own company.
What first drew you to thebusiness?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So true story is, the person that I got my first
mortgage from, I believe, put mein something I couldn't really
afford at an adjustable rate atthe time, and I couldn't believe
that someone that wasresponsible for something as
important as your biggestpurchase of your life, your roof
(01:31):
over your head, your family,your investment.
I was kind of surprised at that, and I had an accounting
background and I knew a lot ofpeople.
So I was like this can't beright.
So I tried to.
I got in the business part timeand then took over full time.
Yeah, so I tried to.
I got in the business part-timeand then took over full-time.
Yeah, so what business did youmigrate from?
So at the time, I was directorof ticket operations for the New
(01:53):
York Islanders hockey club.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's interesting.
Yeah, it was good, it was fun.
I was 24 to 30 at that time.
It was very exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, I had a lot of contacts.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
It was definitely good you got to see behind the
scenes.
It's not as glitz and glory aseveryone thinks.
Not so sexy, right?
No, not at all.
It's more like a circus.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's not sexy like mortgages are.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
No, not at all.
It's more hours though.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yes, yeah.
What were some of the biggestlessons you learned from running
your own mortgage company?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Running Academy Mortgage.
The most challenging aspect ofit was on the secondary side,
dealing with larger banks thatwe would sell loans to.
Okay, you know, what I reallyenjoyed the most was helping
people Okay, servicing people.
It was very rewarding, but themost challenging was dealing
(02:48):
with other banks.
They're more like sharks, so itreally wasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So it's the back end of that mortgage lending where
the money comes from.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Correct the regulations, the audits.
That was the most challenging.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, so now that you're in Fairway, you're in a
different seat at Fairway andthat is all off your plate now,
right, that?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
all liability, all the regulatory side to certain
aspects are off my plate.
I did that to devote myself toservicing clients.
Okay, because that's reallywhat I enjoy the most is helping
people.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
You know you're still a top producer.
What do you think sets youapart in such a competitive
space in the mortgage industry?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What's worked for me is I tell my salespeople all the
time don't go after the moneyRight, go after the relationship
and the people and the moneywill come.
A lot of my competition seemsto be more transactional than
relationship driven, so it'sabout getting the deal where I'd
(03:58):
rather think outside the box,give people their options,
explain to them it's a bigpurchase and now, with the way
prices are here on Long Island,this is serious.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
How have you seen, over the last five years, the
average mortgage amount?
How has it changed for you?
What would you say?
Your average loan closed todayis Average loan amount is about
$550,000.
Okay, how different is thatfrom five years ago?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
woof five.
Five years ago is probablyabout 380, four hundred thousand
, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's so.
It's up anywhere.
Thirty to forty percent, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And I'm thinking it's gonna increase from there
because house prices seem to beincreasing as we speak?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, very much so.
Yeah, how have you seen themortgage industry evolve over
the years and, really, how haveyou adapted to stay ahead of it?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It was easy for me to adapt because the business
model of putting clients firstworks in every market, every
changing market right people arepeople right.
So rates can change, prices canchange, mortgage products can
change, but people's familiesand affordability right doesn't
(05:18):
change, right.
So the goal is always to makethat customer as happy as
possible and the rest kind oftakes care of itself.
And then, in the slow times,that's where the referrals come
from.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Right.
We've both seen over the yearsthe advent of technology which
has made information availableto the consumer, the end user
right, so they can Googleanything.
At the same time.
How educated do you see as theaverage borrower come in?
How informed are they really?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Not as educated as they should be, and I think they
know that because you could.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Google.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
The internet is always great because people are
quick to put it on the internetbut not take it off.
So certain things are dated,don't exist anymore.
And then there's always the artof structuring the deal.
It's not just what's your ratedown payment?
(06:23):
Here you go, have a nice dayRight loan to value.
Yeah, it's looking at theiroverall debt.
What's their other monthlyobligations?
Does the house need upgrading?
Does it need work?
So there's always the avenue ofwhat makes the most financial
sense overall, right, where Ithink most people kind of get
(06:47):
sucked into.
The lowest rate is the bestmortgage, right.
Not always the case.
It's the lowest payments arethe best mortgage, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
There's a difference.
So what advice would you giveto a new home buyer that's
competing in today's marketplace?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Be as strong as possible financially, whether
it's down payment.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
All right, there you go.
I was going to elaborate onthat.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yep, A lot of people now.
To get their offer accepted,they need to do what's called
waive the appraised value.
Okay.
What that means is if theappraisal comes in shorter than
the.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
What that means is if the appraisal comes in shorter
than the offer price thatthey'll still go ahead with the
transaction.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
What's the risk with that, though it depends on down
payment.
If you're even 10% down or more, there's really no risk.
Obviously, if you're spending$100,000 more than it's
appraised for, that's bad, but Ihaven't seen that Right.
If an appraisal isn't coming init's usually between 2% or 3%
(07:55):
it doesn't really impactanything, but a 5% down could
kill the deal, correct?
So if you're a buyer with 5%down, it's very important to
meet with a mortgage advisor toreally structure yourself, to be
as strong financially aspossible, to be considered
seriously.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
All right, just for our audience again, because some
of them are.
You know we have a big agentfollowing, so they're going to
know the industry jargon, but Ithink the average consumer hears
things about appraisal.
They understand the idea ofappraising the value of
something, but I don't thinkthey understand why.
So correct me if I'm wrong.
But for our audience, who'sagain maybe a novice at this we
(08:36):
incorrectly say we're going tothe bank for a mortgage and
essentially what we're doing isgoing to the bank for a loan.
We give the bank a mortgageback or a lien against our
property.
That property becomescollateral correct, correct, all
right.
And typically the bank wants toappraise the collateral to make
sure it has sufficient value tosecure the monies.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Correct Banks are lending the money for the loan
based on the value of theproperty Right and the
consumer's ability to pay backas well, of course, of course.
Yes, so the appraised valueit's done by a licensed
appraiser not controlled by thebank or anything like that.
It's a third party, comes in,evaluates.
(09:16):
Typically it's similar houses,square footage and condition.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Comparables yes, a sweet term right.
Our real estate people knowthat as comparables right or
comps right.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That have closed within a half a mile radius
within the last six months.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
How much does zip code slash school district play
into the half mile?
So like?
Because you know, especially onLong Island, here we have
numerous districts and what haveyou could be in the corner of a
school district, slash zip codeand you crisscross and so
you're half mile.
What does that impact?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
so the comparables an appraiser is going to use is
typically the same schooldistrict, okay.
So, even if it's a half a mile,if it's a superior school
district in that half mile,they'll use comps for a similar
school district.
Okay, but they can makeadjustments for that, okay.
So, in simpler terms, one househas a two-car garage, another
(10:14):
house has a one-car garageCorrect, they'll adjust down for
the one-car garage, right.
They'll take away some valuethere, right?
Same thing with schooldistricts, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Property size Right or just up, where maybe there's
additional square footage oradditional bathrooms per se or
other features.
Value-added features Correct.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Like the biggest battle I have with consumers
more than realtors is.
Zillow is not accurate.
Oh yeah, this is a really goodpoint to touch on here.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It's just an algorithm, right?
That's all it is.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
It doesn't understand condition of the property,
doesn't understand what's insidethe house, doesn't understand
if there's a family transaction.
Yeah, right arm's length yes,yeah, if that house sold for
$100,000 less than market value,that's because that's a family
member.
Yeah From the mother.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Right or father, and that throws off the algorithms.
Yes, so coming back to theappraisal, if someone waives the
appraisal, it takes out therisk factor for the sellers what
you're saying and it helps thembetter position their offer as
more competitive in acompetitive market.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Correct.
It also means that the buyer ismore serious.
So, in other words, I'm makingan offer on a $900,000 house
that's valued at $799,000.
We've seen this recently, right, $799,99,.
It's price low.
All of a sudden, there's 20offers on the house Bidding war
(11:50):
yes.
I'm offering $900 on a $799asking price.
Everyone's worried.
Well, what happens if the housedoesn't appraise for $900?
Right?
Well, the truth of the matteris, even if you have a 20% down
Right, all banks could do 5%down financing.
(12:11):
So not to bore you withcalculations, right?
But that means you have 15%wiggle room that if it didn't
appraise Now obviously it's notgoing to appraise 15% less, but
the bigger the down payment, theless risk of it affecting
finance.
5% down or 3.5% down you reallydon't have any wiggle room.
(12:36):
You can't do that as a buyer.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, because the bank's not going to lend over
certain LTVs.
So if you have 3.5% down andthe appraisal comes in 5%,
they're not going to lend morethan 100% of the value of the
house, correct?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Unless the buyer has the money to make up the
shortfall.
Yes, okay, but if they did,odds are they're not doing the
5% or 3.5% down anyway, correct,correct, and again, just for
clarity, from the real estateside.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So it's the real estate brain talking to the
mortgage brain and it shows howthese things interlock and what
have you.
But the reason sellers careabout this so much is the
standard contract of sale istypically contingent upon a
buyer's ability to get financing.
So if there's obviously a cashdeal, they're waiving that
contingency.
So the deal is typically notcontingent upon appraisal.
(13:25):
But if that appraisal comes inso short that it prevents that
buyer from attaining themortgage, now it's the mortgage
contingency comes into play.
So essentially, what peoplefail to recognize is that when
you're negotiating to purchase ahouse is that you're not just
negotiating price, it's theterms.
(13:45):
If you can't get to the finishline or there's high risk
whether you're going to executeon that contract, the seller
takes that into considerationand it hurts your position in
negotiations.
So this comes circles back tothe appraisal as being one of
the wild cards that come intoplay, especially in a market
that we've seen for the lastseveral years nothing but
(14:06):
bidding wars Right.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So in the same scenario of someone offering
$900,000 on the $799 house, oneoffer doesn't waive the
appraisal value, the other offerdoes.
The one that does is going toappear stronger even though the
terms are exactly the same.
(14:28):
But one's waiving the appraisedvalue.
It takes away the fear from aseller of what happens if it
appraises for $880.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Right.
Well, in this case it doesn'tmatter.
Now there's rumors or notrumors.
I've seen scenarios where banksactually, or mortgage lenders
are actually waiving appraisals.
Can you share with us, becauseit seems to be an inconsistent
process so we don't know whereor when or how that's being
(14:57):
leveraged?
But that could help alleviatethe fear of a purchaser knowing
I got an appraisal waiver anyway, so I can offer that waiver.
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So we don't know either.
Okay, and they're not going totell us, because then we would
figure out how to manipulate youknow, whether it was down
payment or credit score orsomething like that.
Basically, my understanding isdata that Fannie Mae or Freddie
Mac has.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Okay, my understanding is data that
Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac has inthat particular area has
nothing to do with LTV, nothingto do with credit score or
borrow.
I would think it would be LTV,meaning loan to value for our
audience, because if someone'sputting 50% down, they're still
getting 50% financing, butwhat's the likelihood this
thing's going to come inappraised 30% under?
I've never seen it.
(15:45):
I've never even seen anythingclose to that.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
No, but for them to actually waive the appraisal.
They don't know it's really 50%down, right?
Because if it appraised forless, then now it's not 50% down
of the value, right?
50%?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
of the contract price .
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So we had a scenario with the Mesbica Park office.
Dan Murphy had a client buyinga house in Huntington for
$900,000.
There you go.
Now you're thinking, well, okay, I'm not going to get an
appraisal waiver on a $900,000house, right, we did Okay, and
that was just based on theinformation we upload
electronically to Fannie Mae orFreddie Mac.
(16:23):
Okay, and that was just basedon the information we upload
electronically to Fannie Mae orFreddie Mac.
Okay, and they'll tell uswhether an appraisal is needed
or not.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
How early in that process can you upload that
information?
As soon as they get a like?
If Dan comes to you when he'smaking the offer and he says you
know here's the address we'rebidding on, how fast can you
find that out?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Basically as soon as they have an accepted offer.
We can do that.
Can we do that before we can?
It just gets complicated doingit on every offer because once
you have enough informationyou're triggering RESPA.
So you have to discloseapplication.
So you don't want to put thebuyer through an application
every time they want to make anoffer.
So the don't want to put thebuyer through an application
every time they want to make anoffer.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
So the disclosures is really.
What Respa gets back to is allthe disclosures.
It's heavily regulated industryas it pertains to finance.
Is that correct for ouraudience out here that is not in
the finance business ornecessary real estate?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Correct.
So that same situationHuntington $900,000, no
appraisal needed, right Doing aloan now with someone with 30%
down, right Getting a actuallywhat I think is a good priced
home.
It's Larry's sale, larryTheodore, yeah, and I would have
(17:40):
bet we would have gotten anappraisal waiver and nothing and
we didn't get the appraisalwaiver.
So it's really my experience,case-by-case basis If they have
enough data in that Fannie Maeor Freddie Mac, if they have
enough data in that zip code,square footage which over time
they are compiling, becauseevery appraisal now has to do an
(18:03):
HTML upload of information moreimportant about the house.
So as they compile more data,technology gets better and maybe
someday we won't needappraisals at all.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Forty years doing this and appraisals have been a
staple of this industry.
So let's hope, because anythingthat can simplify the process
would be great.
How would you best deal withpotential buyers who are trying
to overcome the challenge of aminimal cash investment?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It depends on the individual.
You know a lot of time.
Most of the time I don'tmandate it, but I tell people
it's better to have a sit-down,face-to-face meeting yeah, so I
can show them different optionsand what goes on.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, so maybe describe I don't want to say
dumb it down because again, wehave a lot of realtors, so this
might seem simpler to them.
Again, we have a lot ofrealtors, so this might seem
simpler to them.
But if there was a prospectivenew first-time home buyer out
there, I want to make sure weconvey information in a way they
can digest.
So what would you consider theminimum down payments for some
(19:17):
of the purchase of home?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
today In this market to get an accepted offer in our
area.
10% down is kind of the minimumthat I see.
I do have people making 5% downand 3.5% down offers.
They are getting offersaccepted, but then I'll give the
client the information on whatmakes them strong and then it's
(19:44):
up to them if they want to relaypart of that information, or
all of that information, to theagent presenting the offer, in
other words to a real estateagent or a listing agent.
Sometimes speed is a factorHouse is empty.
Maybe it's an estate Someonepassed.
They want to get rid of thehouse fast.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Right Time is money for the seller yes, paying taxes
.
Vacant place Utilities Correct.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So closing quickly sometimes is an advantage in
some situations Right.
Some people's credit scoresRight.
You know, if they have an 800credit score, I'm not going to
tell the agent what the score is, but the client could divulge
whatever they want.
Correct Debt to income ratiosRight.
Some agents understand whatthat is and some don't.
(20:34):
If someone's got a very lowdebt to income, yeah, the buyer
might want to convey that.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So let's lean into debt-to-income ratios.
Obviously, someone knows whattheir income is, but what is
qualified debt for our audienceout there?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Officially there's two ratios a front ratio and a
back ratio.
Correct, the front ratio is themortgage payment or, as we call
it, pity in the business,principal interest taxes,
insurance.
Correct, the front ratio is themortgage payment or, as we call
it, pity in the business,principal interest taxes,
insurance.
Correct, divided by their grossmonthly income Right, that
gives us a housing ratio.
(21:11):
Correct, the total debt ratiois the back end Pity plus car
payments, credit cards, studentloans, anything that appears on
their credit report.
Okay, that, combined with thefront pity, is their debt ratio.
You take that, divide that bytheir gross income Right and we
(21:32):
get a percentage.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Let me just put this out to our audience who's in the
home buying market.
If you haven't sat with amortgage professional first
before going to see houses,you're wasting your time because
you might find that you'regoing to find, you know, be able
to qualify for a loan a hundredthousand less than you think,
or you might find out I've seenwhat people can qualify for a
hundred or two hundred thousandmore because they there's just
(21:56):
nuances in there.
They just didn't anticipate tobe an over-conservative and they
were missing out on propertiesthat really would have fit their
price range.
I often like to say this Vinnyis, people incorrectly go shop
price when they're reallyshopping.
Monthly payment Correct.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
A good example of that is real estate taxes.
Yes, of that is real estatetaxes.
Yes, you might have a price inmind.
That price could be a milliondollars, right, based on 18,000
annual real estate tax, correct.
But now you find a house with24.
Yeah, 28,000 in real estate tax.
Now, your purchase ability isless, yeah, so it could go back
(22:38):
and forth.
Sometimes, depending on theproperty, you might be able to
go higher than you think.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And for our audience, that's not in New York.
Yes, he did say $28,000 a year.
I talk to people around thecountry and they go do you
really have $28,000?
Yeah, I'm sorry, I don'tunderstand how New York has
normalized $28,000 a year.
I think that's a differenttopic for a different podcast
right now.
But we'll leave it at thatright now.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I don't think there's anything normal about.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
New York.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
We're unique.
Yes, we are.
We are.
I believe and correct me if I'mwrong that the typical
purchaser, especially the newerthey are like a first-time buyer
as opposed to someone who'sdone multiple transactions tends
to shop rate first and thenlater on they realize there's a
lot more nuance.
(23:31):
So what's the slippery slope onthis?
Because obviously we can getinto things like anyone can say
any rate, because if it's notlocked in, you get prevailing
rate.
Okay, so there's a game that'splayed.
Am I correct on that?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
there is.
There is a we call it bait andswitch right.
Um, there are.
There are competitors out therethat will blatantly lie about
an interest rate that's notavailable.
When people tell me that, Iwould say most of the time, 99%
of the time.
If you just educate the buyerand inform them, they kind of
(24:17):
detect that it might not be trueor it might be aggressive
marketing.
We'll call it.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Right.
I mean most of you are going tothe same secondary market, so
it shouldn't be a wide rangeunless there's a different
product.
Obviously, an adjustable ratewould be lower today, but you're
going to run the risk of whenit adjusts and what the market
and economy is doing as opposedto a fixed rate.
It adjusts and what the marketand economy is doing as opposed
to a fixed rate.
(24:43):
But if it's product to product,I mean is, should there be that
much more variable in the rate?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
as much as now, it shouldn't be.
It should relatively be quarterto most a half percent.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Okay, that's what I've seen.
So it's interesting when peopleare rate shopping and then it's
like, but relax, because unlessthey're locking in to that rate
then they're not delivering it,and so what's the problem with
locking in?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
For our audience that needs to know well why don't
you just lock in from thebeginning?
Because you have no idea whenthey're closing.
Correct so the contract,especially in New York, being
unique, we have on or aboutdates Correct, which means it's
a target date.
If you have an on or about July1, closing means they can close
as late as August 1.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Right and not be in violation of the contract.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Right.
So when someone locks in, theyneed to lock to cover August 1.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, not just July 1 .
Correct what's the traditionallock-in time frame that doesn't
cost you an arm and a leg?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
I think 60 days is long.
That's as long as the typicalcontract date, unless the seller
wants longer.
I have some people that aren'tlocking because the seller
didn't find a house yet.
Okay, so they applied, haven'tlocked because they might not be
closing until September orOctober.
They're floating out there.
They're floating, taking alittle bit of risk.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Applied, haven't locked because they might not be
closing until like September orOctober.
Yeah, so they're floating outthere.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
They're floating, taking a little bit of risk.
What we've seen is I don'tthink it's as risky as it was a
few years ago.
We went from three to seven insix months.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, in 40 years that's the only time I've seen
not only a rate double butalmost triple, because we did
top out around eight and weprobably hit bottom out around
two and a half or two and threequarters, so it actually almost
tripled in a six-month period oftime.
It was chaos, you know?
Tell me.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yes, in my industry it was like shutting a valve off
.
It just stopped.
Now people have gottenacclimated, they've understood
now.
And the other thing aboutinterest rate the biggest
surprise to most buyers is it'snot as big of a deal as they
(27:12):
think.
Like 6.375 and 6.25 is marginal.
It's probably depending on thesize loan $10 or $15 a month.
But people think it's kind oflike that old marketing strategy
5.9 isn't 6.
So it's not.
Again, educating the buyer isthe best thing for any mortgage
(27:36):
guy.
I hate to tell my competitionthings but educating them and
educating them is the best thingfor the real estate agent
Because it makes their job somuch easier the more educated
the buyer is.
Sometimes I'm brought into asituation where they were
pre-approved the realtor, theagent, didn't know the company
(28:01):
they were pre-approved by andsaid why don't I get a second
opinion from my guy Vinny?
They were pre-approved with 20%down.
They didn't have the 20% Okay,which means they also didn't
have money for closing costs.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
That might be a problem.
Huh, a little bit, yeah.
So now when the customer seesand unfortunately there are some
customers that don't understandwhat 20% down is I'm like, why
would you do 20% down?
Well, that's because I was toldthat would be stronger.
Yeah, but $700,000 house,that's $140,000.
Correct.
And because we are unique, inNew York, closing costs on that
(28:41):
could range between $30,000 and$45,000, depending on what they
want to do.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
What's the difference between a conventional loan and
a jumbo loan for our audience?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
The exact numbers I don't know off the top of my
head, but a jumbo loan now isover $1.2 million.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Okay, I know they raise the loan amount right.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, there's actually three types.
There's conforming Okay, thenthere's what's called high
balance, and then there's jumboOkay.
But a lot of people will saythe high balance is jumbo Okay,
so you could actually borrow amillion dollars 1.1.
It's a high balance loan, right, but it's not a jumbo Okay.
(29:24):
Are there advantages?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
a jumbo.
Okay.
Are there advantages to jumboor disadvantages, or both?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's going to depend on credit score and loan to
value.
So when you're in the jumboarea, there are times you can
get a better interest rate thanif you were borrowing 700 000
it's interesting yeah, becauseit's more geared towards high
(29:50):
net worth people.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, and, and they want, they want those loans yeah
, so less likely to default ifyou're putting 40 or 50 percent
down and yeah, and it's adifferent not to yeah get too
technical, but it's a differentmortgage pool.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
So when you're high balance or less, you're pretty
much in the pool of Fannie Mae,freddie Mac, ginnie Mae if
you're FHA or VA.
So those mortgages are pooledtogether and sold on Wall Street
, where the jumbo is a differentpool.
How many?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
states can you write loans in?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I can write loans in 15 states.
States can you write loans in.
I can write loans in 15 of thedates, but we could do all 50
but I personally can't writethose states.
I can refer it to someone inthe company.
Okay, but the reason why I didthe 15 that I did is because I
have clientele over 26 yearsselling in New York, yeah, now
(30:43):
buying in other states, rightright, obviously Florida was
always New.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
York part two.
Yeah, I assume it's theCarolinas, the big part, south
Carolina is big right nowFlorida is big Over the years
not recently, but Pennsylvaniahas always been big.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
But I'm starting to see some bleeding over into New
Jersey because we're having aninventory problem here on the
island.
Yeah, so they're just going tothe other side.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Right With more land.
Yes, they can go inland.
Yes, exactly.
So can you share with us aninteresting or uncomfortable
challenge you had to overcomewhile closing a deal?
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Challenges that I've run into basically are maybe
title, because title in New Yorkwill take two to three weeks to
get.
Yeah, just the CO search.
So we've been approved, waitingfor title, and then you get
title and there might be a chainof title issue.
For those of you who don't knowwhat that is, it just means the
(31:47):
history of who owns theproperty and was it conveyed
properly.
The most common challenge Ithink we run into is prior
mortgages on the property notbeing recorded.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Okay, so someone has to dig out a satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yes, or the title company has to research from who
the other title company was toomit that.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
So that's the biggest challenges I see Again, it's
all those little nuances thatthe typical buyer or sell
doesn't even see.
That happens behind the scenesbefore you can clear the clothes
right.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, but lending wise, you really shouldn't run
into challenges if you did allyour due diligence up front.
The more thorough you are upfront, the less chance you're
going to have an issue.
An issue you would have onlending is I call it, the
grenade goes off where theborrower didn't specify
something yeah, and it wasn't onthe credit report, right or
(32:47):
they intentionally didn't tellus because they knew it might be
an issue then it comes up oh,they bought a car between
contract and closing.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Does that happen to you several times?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
furniture to the house.
Full of furniture and a car,yeah you know it happens, but
that's where knowing thecustomer and building the
relationship you can pivot.
Yeah, because now-.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Hopefully you coach them ahead of time not to do
that we do we give themsomething in writing warning
them?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
and oh, I didn't know it would be a problem, but the
stronger your relationship withthe borrower, the more you can
get around stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Now, well, we run into challenges where, if
someone's self-employed andobviously they're not reporting
that much to the IRS, yeah, butyou could.
If you did a thorough job.
You've structured the loaneither with a cosigner or
something to make it happen.
So that's why the face-to-faceReally important?
Yeah, it is to make it happen.
So that's why the face-to-faceis really important it is, and
(33:46):
most of my competition, evensome of my own co-workers,
they'd rather not do theface-to-face.
It's so much better it is andyou get more referrals.
I mean honestly, I getreferrals from people that I
haven't done a loan for.
I purely pre-approve them andthey're already referring me
(34:08):
people because I did somethingthat no one else did.
I sat down with them, took anhour.
Yeah, the personal touch, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
There's a lot of nuance to it.
People think again, it's easy,I'm just going to go out.
I have this new app, thehottest new app for financing.
It's like there's so muchlayers and nuance to this that
gets overlooked, okay.
So, Vinny, we're going to pivota little bit.
We like to interact with you alittle bit more on a personal
level, so what's?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
something you're passionate about outside of
mortgages that people might notknow about you.
I think one of the things thatthe people that know me and are
close to me that's also a faultis that I care.
I put myself out there too much.
You know that expression nogood deed goes unpunished.
Yeah yeah, as dedicated I am towork is as dedicated as I am to
(35:02):
personal life.
So of course, that comes backto get you, as we all have
experienced.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But what does downtime look for?
Vinny Di Iorio.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Downtime is time with my kids barbecuing in the
backyard.
It's more of a simple life.
One of my most favorite thingsis going out to dinner with my
wife to a place where hopefullynobody knows me and it's just
quiet.
Doesn't ask any mortgagequestions.
(35:34):
You're talking all day.
That's what we do for a livingSeven days a week texting,
emailing, talking.
So when I'm out to dinner Ilike to be out to dinner and
just yeah, unwinding, justletting go.
The most satisfying time isbeing in my backyard, my dog
Coco, running around andbarbecuing and just having the
(35:57):
Yankee game on TV.
Sorry for all.
You Met fans out there.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Including me, it's all right.
So, vinny, do you have anydaily habits or rituals that
help you stay focused or keepyou energized?
Speaker 2 (36:11):
I know a lot of people say they go to the gym,
get up early, do all that stuffyeah, um, that's not really what
drives me.
I don't like I get bored yeah,again, it's.
It's a gift and a curse, butwhat drives me is fear.
You know, it's interesting.
(36:32):
I don't want to fail or lose.
It's competitive.
It's not about.
It's not about the money, it'snot the number Right, it's the
transactions and it's winningthat keeps me going.
I think the biggest thing thatdoes it for me is and from what
(36:56):
I've seen from every topproducer is self-accountability.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
If.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I didn't get a deal or something went wrong.
I don't blame anybody else.
I say to myself what could Ihave done better?
What did I do wrong?
Yeah, so I wear it, breathe it,sleep it.
Yeah, so I'd love to say thatthere's some sort of ritual or
tradition that I do yeah but uh,it's just more of it's out of
(37:28):
fear, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
So just how competitive is vinnie d orio?
You know, are you the one, ifyou're playing a board game
against your kids, that you'regonna?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
you gotta win I don't let them win no, there you go,
there you go.
Uh, no, I I'm not thatcompetitive to regard.
But, in business.
You know I've been called apsycho, but that's a compliment,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
So I would say as competitive as you want to just
keep going, you just want to win.
You know that's the rewardingsatisfaction of what I do.
You get people in homes.
If you're refinancing them,you're saving money.
That's rewarding.
It's not the money.
I don't look at how much I'mmaking on a deal.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Well, I guess when you win, your client wins, so
you have to win together whenyou're doing the business
correctly.
That's the takeaway.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
You have to win together, which is the when
you're doing the businesscorrectly.
That's the takeaway.
It's actually the opposite whenthe client wins, I win.
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Okay, I'll take it either way.
You're aligned so to speak.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
So it's the bottom line.
When that buyer gets anaccepted offer in a competitive
market with 10 other offers onthe house, it feels good.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Yeah, you know you've prepped them the right way.
Yeah, house that's, it feelsgood.
Yeah, you know you've preppedthem the right way.
Yeah, because negotiating in acompetitive marketplace is an
art form.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
So right so, and it's 24 7.
That's the part I don't like.
It's, yeah, technology and cellphones.
I never used to give out mycell phone now it's.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
You live on it.
Yeah, I hear you.
All right, well, let's touch on, else the rumor has it you're a
dog lover.
Is that true?
That is true, coco?
Is that the dog?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Coco.
She's a little 15-pound BichonPoodle mix.
Yeah, and she's really the starof the show.
Okay, we get testimonials, youknow.
Thanks, vinny and Michelle andyour team, and especially Coco.
I've had even clients close ona house and bring Coco gifts.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Really yeah.
So, vin, I want to pivot totalk a little bit about giving
back, but before I do, I justwant to remind our audience that
if you like what we're doinghere, please like and subscribe
to our channel.
We've got some great interviewscoming up in the future and
don't forget to stay for thedrop the mic question, giving
back.
I don't know if all yourclients and members of your
community know how generous youhave been to the Heart of
(39:48):
American Homes Foundation.
It's our company-wide nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
You know, but before Heart of American Homes
Foundation, my son has severespecial needs, okay, and he went
to school in Mass Peaker,hagedorn, little Village, okay,
and that was my main cause.
Okay, because what they did wasfantastic.
And he went to school in Espeakor Hagedorn Little Village,
okay, and that was my main cause.
Okay, because what they did wasfantastic.
Yeah, good, he's aged out ofthere, he's at Carmen's Road now
(40:13):
.
Okay, I kind of took on thecause.
When I've met you Tom Gallagher, marie Asher, tyra Murtaugh it
(40:37):
it really is amazing that youpeople care, care, right, and
one of the things I try tosurround myself with over the
years is I'm a good person in abad business, okay, so when you
meet other good people right ina bad business, you want to
(40:59):
surround yourself with them,right, and what I've learned
that you guys have what you doin the cases.
It's really amazing Because Idon't really know other people
in our industries that give backas much and put so much work
into it.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
The work that you all do is you see the fundraisers
right, but they're a lot of funaren't they?
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah, they're great and it's just amazing that you
give right, but they're a lot offun, aren't they?
Yeah, they're great and it'sjust amazing that you give back,
but it is a lot of fun.
It's good not to talk aboutmortgages and real estate and
have a fundraiser and laugh,pick on each other.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
It's all a good cause .
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
So that's kind of been my go-to now.
So that's kind of been my go-tonow.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
In your experience, what's one thing the mortgage
industry could do better toserve people, especially in the
underserved communities?
Speaker 2 (41:52):
It really all comes down to the same thing Put
people first.
Service.
One of the things I try toexplain to everybody is when you
go for the money, you're notgoing to make it Right, you've
got to go for the relationship.
If you go for people, the moneywill come.
(42:14):
Yes, whether it's high-end,underserved, middle-income,
low-income, I treat everybodythe same right.
You know you educate them, youinform them and you try to help
them as best you can, right?
You know the market dictateswhat the market dictates.
(42:35):
Unfortunately, sometimes peopleget outbid or can't compete.
Of course, but what's rewardingto me is you sit down with
someone that you know you'regoing to have a hard time
finding a house on Long Island,but they're so appreciative that
you took the time.
Yeah, and I tell everybody youmight not be ready today, but
(42:56):
we'll sit down, we'll have aplan and I'll inform you on what
you need to do to get in placeRight, what you need to do to
get in place Right.
And they're so heartfelt andappreciative that you just took
the time, because everybody else, if they couldn't get a loan or
there was a small loan, peoplewould like hang up on them.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
So really underserved , it doesn't really matter, it's
care.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Good, I like that.
I like that.
Are there any communityprograms, especially around
financial education orfirst-time homebuyers, that you
support or would like to seemore of?
Speaker 2 (43:32):
There are.
It's challenging because, again, we're unique, being in New
York.
Yeah, so the government doeshave programs, whether it's FHA,
whether it's Sony May State ofNew York, there are programs out
there to help people downpayment assistance.
The problem that I see in ourarea, and probably everywhere,
(43:56):
is the government is alwaysgreat at saying what they offer
people, right.
But then when you find out whoqualifies, it's nobody or next
to nobody here in New York,right.
So in order to get that grant,that down payment assistance,
(44:19):
you have to make under a certainamount of money Right Now.
If you make under a certainamount of money, you can't
afford to buy a house on longisland right, so to catch 22 I I
guess that a lot, a lot, of alot of what I would like to see
locally.
Yeah, might not necessarily bemortgage products or down
payment products.
I would like to see moredeveloping residential housing.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, yeah supply and demand commands the pride of
every product and they don't letyou develop.
Yeah, not my backyard.
And when there's not enoughinventory, the prices go up.
And then they complain that theprices are high.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Zoning needs to be done faster, more efficiently.
Yes, you know as a local LongIslander.
You drive around.
We all see empty strip malls.
We see empty office buildings.
The senior housing would helpthe housing crisis on Long
Island Right, because there'snowhere for anyone to downsize
(45:17):
to Right.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
So they stay in their house.
Yeah, right so.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
I go to other places.
I was in South Carolina not toolong ago, right, so I go to
other places.
I was in South Carolina not toolong ago.
They've got like communitieswhere they have shops,
restaurants, townhouses withthree bedroom with attached
garages and it's just phenomenal.
We don't have anything likethat here.
It would be great.
(45:40):
So that's what I'd like to seemore of.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, more opportunities for people like
that.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
Yeah, because the more exotic mortgage programs we
get, I think that's just goingto compound and make the problem
worse.
Right, because now house pricesgo up, because now more people
can buy.
So I think if they could figureout a way to get us more
inventory, that makes sense.
That is what I'd like to see.
Fair enough, well.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Vin is what I'd like to see Fair enough.
Well, Vinny, I appreciate yourinsights.
You've been very helpful,certainly to our audience here
today.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
It's time for the drop the mic question.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
So we always like to have a little bit of fun with
the drop the mic question.
So what's the most wildest ormemorable closing experience you
ever had?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
The wildest closing experience wasn't actually that
long ago.
I think it was about a year ortwo ago.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
But I went to the closing.
I'm at the closing and I guessthe seller was a divorce
situation, yeah, and one of themfreaked out, ran out of the
closing.
Them freaked out, yeah, ran outof the closing.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Yeah, got in her car and took off like screeching
tires out of the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Okay, before signing any yes, of course okay so that
was probably the mostentertaining closing I've I've
ever seen.
Yeah, and we're all justlooking at each other not
knowing what to do.
Uh, the listing agent of courseran out and chased, screeching
tires coming out of the parkinglot right but uh, needless to
(47:16):
say, it did close.
Ah, there you go.
She came to her senses andsigned it's.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
It's a channel, so there's a lot goes into
you-changing moves, which manytimes is a big part of it.
So well, vinny, I think again,we appreciate you being on the
show.
If anyone's interested infinding out a little bit more
information about some of thetopics in mortgages, finance and
the nuances there, how do theyreach Vinny DiIorio at Fairway?
Mortgage finance and thenuances there.
(47:43):
How?
Speaker 2 (47:43):
do they reach Vinny DiIorio at Fairway Mortgage?
So you can call me on my cell516-457-1991.
And you can email me at vinV-I-N at homecom.
Vin at homecom.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
At homecom.
All right, good, I like thatand it's appreciate you.
You're a real professional,gave us a lot of information, so
thank you so much for beingpart of our episode here today.
Thank you for having me Glad tobe here Great.
Hi and welcome to the newest episode of the Work Hard
, play Hard and Give Back a realestate podcast.
I'm Mike Litzner, broker ownerof CoWall Banker American Homes,
and I'm here at the studio atAmerican Homes in Smithtown.
Today we have our guest, vinnyDiIorio, who's branch manager at
Fairway Mortgage FairwayMortgage.
(00:28):
All right, there we go, vinny.
Welcome to the show.
Thank you, mike.
Thanks for having me.
Awesome, awesome.
I just want to remind ouraudience that if you like what
we're doing here, please likeand subscribe to our channel.
We've got some great interviewscoming up in the future and
(00:49):
don't forget to stay for thedrop the mic question.
So, vinny, this is our firstinterview with a mortgage broker
and, I think, a mortgage bankerI probably should say better
right and I think there's a lotof value that your industry can
lend to our audience herebecause it works so
symbiotically right With thereal estate industry, sure?
So, vinny, you've been in themortgage industry for a long
time now and you've even ownedyour own company.
What first drew you to thebusiness?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So true story is, the person that I got my first
mortgage from, I believe, put mein something I couldn't really
afford at an adjustable rate atthe time, and I couldn't believe
that someone that wasresponsible for something as
important as your biggestpurchase of your life, your roof
(01:31):
over your head, your family,your investment.
I was kind of surprised at that, and I had an accounting
background and I knew a lot ofpeople.
So I was like this can't beright.
So I tried to.
I got in the business part timeand then took over full time.
Yeah, so I tried to.
I got in the business part-timeand then took over full-time.
Yeah, so what business did youmigrate from?
So at the time, I was directorof ticket operations for the New
(01:53):
York Islanders hockey club.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's interesting.
Yeah, it was good, it was fun.
I was 24 to 30 at that time.
It was very exciting.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, I had a lot of contacts.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
It was definitely good you got to see behind the
scenes.
It's not as glitz and glory aseveryone thinks.
Not so sexy, right?
No, not at all.
It's more like a circus.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
It's not sexy like mortgages are.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
No, not at all.
It's more hours though.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yes, yeah.
What were some of the biggestlessons you learned from running
your own mortgage company?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Running Academy Mortgage.
The most challenging aspect ofit was on the secondary side,
dealing with larger banks thatwe would sell loans to.
Okay, you know, what I reallyenjoyed the most was helping
people Okay, servicing people.
It was very rewarding, but themost challenging was dealing
(02:48):
with other banks.
They're more like sharks, so itreally wasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
So it's the back end of that mortgage lending where
the money comes from.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Correct the regulations, the audits.
That was the most challenging.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, so now that you're in Fairway, you're in a
different seat at Fairway andthat is all off your plate now,
right, that?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
all liability, all the regulatory side to certain
aspects are off my plate.
I did that to devote myself toservicing clients.
Okay, because that's reallywhat I enjoy the most is helping
people.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
You know you're still a top producer.
What do you think sets youapart in such a competitive
space in the mortgage industry?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
What's worked for me is I tell my salespeople all the
time don't go after the moneyRight, go after the relationship
and the people and the moneywill come.
A lot of my competition seemsto be more transactional than
relationship driven, so it'sabout getting the deal where I'd
(03:58):
rather think outside the box,give people their options,
explain to them it's a bigpurchase and now, with the way
prices are here on Long Island,this is serious.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
How have you seen, over the last five years, the
average mortgage amount?
How has it changed for you?
What would you say?
Your average loan closed todayis Average loan amount is about
$550,000.
Okay, how different is thatfrom five years ago?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
woof five.
Five years ago is probablyabout 380, four hundred thousand
, okay.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It's so.
It's up anywhere.
Thirty to forty percent, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
And I'm thinking it's gonna increase from there
because house prices seem to beincreasing as we speak?
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah, very much so.
Yeah, how have you seen themortgage industry evolve over
the years and, really, how haveyou adapted to stay ahead of it?
Speaker 2 (04:54):
It was easy for me to adapt because the business
model of putting clients firstworks in every market, every
changing market right people arepeople right.
So rates can change, prices canchange, mortgage products can
change, but people's familiesand affordability right doesn't
(05:18):
change, right.
So the goal is always to makethat customer as happy as
possible and the rest kind oftakes care of itself.
And then, in the slow times,that's where the referrals come
from.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Right.
We've both seen over the yearsthe advent of technology which
has made information availableto the consumer, the end user
right, so they can Googleanything.
At the same time.
How educated do you see as theaverage borrower come in?
How informed are they really?
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Not as educated as they should be, and I think they
know that because you could.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Google.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
The internet is always great because people are
quick to put it on the internetbut not take it off.
So certain things are dated,don't exist anymore.
And then there's always the artof structuring the deal.
It's not just what's your ratedown payment?
(06:23):
Here you go, have a nice dayRight loan to value.
Yeah, it's looking at theiroverall debt.
What's their other monthlyobligations?
Does the house need upgrading?
Does it need work?
So there's always the avenue ofwhat makes the most financial
sense overall, right, where Ithink most people kind of get
(06:47):
sucked into.
The lowest rate is the bestmortgage, right.
Not always the case.
It's the lowest payments arethe best mortgage, okay.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
There's a difference.
So what advice would you giveto a new home buyer that's
competing in today's marketplace?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Be as strong as possible financially, whether
it's down payment.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
All right, there you go.
I was going to elaborate onthat.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yep, A lot of people now.
To get their offer accepted,they need to do what's called
waive the appraised value.
Okay.
What that means is if theappraisal comes in shorter than
the.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
What that means is if the appraisal comes in shorter
than the offer price thatthey'll still go ahead with the
transaction.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
What's the risk with that, though it depends on down
payment.
If you're even 10% down or more, there's really no risk.
Obviously, if you're spending$100,000 more than it's
appraised for, that's bad, but Ihaven't seen that Right.
If an appraisal isn't coming init's usually between 2% or 3%
(07:55):
it doesn't really impactanything, but a 5% down could
kill the deal, correct?
So if you're a buyer with 5%down, it's very important to
meet with a mortgage advisor toreally structure yourself, to be
as strong financially aspossible, to be considered
seriously.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
All right, just for our audience again, because some
of them are.
You know we have a big agentfollowing, so they're going to
know the industry jargon, but Ithink the average consumer hears
things about appraisal.
They understand the idea ofappraising the value of
something, but I don't thinkthey understand why.
So correct me if I'm wrong.
But for our audience, who'sagain maybe a novice at this we
(08:36):
incorrectly say we're going tothe bank for a mortgage and
essentially what we're doing isgoing to the bank for a loan.
We give the bank a mortgageback or a lien against our
property.
That property becomescollateral correct, correct, all
right.
And typically the bank wants toappraise the collateral to make
sure it has sufficient value tosecure the monies.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Correct Banks are lending the money for the loan
based on the value of theproperty Right and the
consumer's ability to pay backas well, of course, of course.
Yes, so the appraised valueit's done by a licensed
appraiser not controlled by thebank or anything like that.
It's a third party, comes in,evaluates.
(09:16):
Typically it's similar houses,square footage and condition.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Comparables yes, a sweet term right.
Our real estate people knowthat as comparables right or
comps right.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That have closed within a half a mile radius
within the last six months.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
How much does zip code slash school district play
into the half mile?
So like?
Because you know, especially onLong Island, here we have
numerous districts and what haveyou could be in the corner of a
school district, slash zip codeand you crisscross and so
you're half mile.
What does that impact?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
so the comparables an appraiser is going to use is
typically the same schooldistrict, okay.
So, even if it's a half a mile,if it's a superior school
district in that half mile,they'll use comps for a similar
school district.
Okay, but they can makeadjustments for that, okay.
So, in simpler terms, one househas a two-car garage, another
(10:14):
house has a one-car garageCorrect, they'll adjust down for
the one-car garage, right.
They'll take away some valuethere, right?
Same thing with schooldistricts, okay.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Property size Right or just up, where maybe there's
additional square footage oradditional bathrooms per se or
other features.
Value-added features Correct.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Like the biggest battle I have with consumers
more than realtors is.
Zillow is not accurate.
Oh yeah, this is a really goodpoint to touch on here.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It's just an algorithm, right?
That's all it is.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
It doesn't understand condition of the property,
doesn't understand what's insidethe house, doesn't understand
if there's a family transaction.
Yeah, right arm's length yes,yeah, if that house sold for
$100,000 less than market value,that's because that's a family
member.
Yeah From the mother.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
Right or father, and that throws off the algorithms.
Yes, so coming back to theappraisal, if someone waives the
appraisal, it takes out therisk factor for the sellers what
you're saying and it helps thembetter position their offer as
more competitive in acompetitive market.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Correct.
It also means that the buyer ismore serious.
So, in other words, I'm makingan offer on a $900,000 house
that's valued at $799,000.
We've seen this recently, right, $799,99,.
It's price low.
All of a sudden, there's 20offers on the house Bidding war
(11:50):
yes.
I'm offering $900 on a $799asking price.
Everyone's worried.
Well, what happens if the housedoesn't appraise for $900?
Right?
Well, the truth of the matteris, even if you have a 20% down
Right, all banks could do 5%down financing.
(12:11):
So not to bore you withcalculations, right?
But that means you have 15%wiggle room that if it didn't
appraise Now obviously it's notgoing to appraise 15% less, but
the bigger the down payment, theless risk of it affecting
finance.
5% down or 3.5% down you reallydon't have any wiggle room.
(12:36):
You can't do that as a buyer.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, because the bank's not going to lend over
certain LTVs.
So if you have 3.5% down andthe appraisal comes in 5%,
they're not going to lend morethan 100% of the value of the
house, correct?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Unless the buyer has the money to make up the
shortfall.
Yes, okay, but if they did,odds are they're not doing the
5% or 3.5% down anyway, correct,correct, and again, just for
clarity, from the real estateside.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
So it's the real estate brain talking to the
mortgage brain and it shows howthese things interlock and what
have you.
But the reason sellers careabout this so much is the
standard contract of sale istypically contingent upon a
buyer's ability to get financing.
So if there's obviously a cashdeal, they're waiving that
contingency.
So the deal is typically notcontingent upon appraisal.
(13:25):
But if that appraisal comes inso short that it prevents that
buyer from attaining themortgage, now it's the mortgage
contingency comes into play.
So essentially, what peoplefail to recognize is that when
you're negotiating to purchase ahouse is that you're not just
negotiating price, it's theterms.
(13:45):
If you can't get to the finishline or there's high risk
whether you're going to executeon that contract, the seller
takes that into considerationand it hurts your position in
negotiations.
So this comes circles back tothe appraisal as being one of
the wild cards that come intoplay, especially in a market
that we've seen for the lastseveral years nothing but
(14:06):
bidding wars Right.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
So in the same scenario of someone offering
$900,000 on the $799 house, oneoffer doesn't waive the
appraisal value, the other offerdoes.
The one that does is going toappear stronger even though the
terms are exactly the same.
(14:28):
But one's waiving the appraisedvalue.
It takes away the fear from aseller of what happens if it
appraises for $880.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Right.
Well, in this case it doesn'tmatter.
Now there's rumors or notrumors.
I've seen scenarios where banksactually, or mortgage lenders
are actually waiving appraisals.
Can you share with us, becauseit seems to be an inconsistent
process so we don't know whereor when or how that's being
(14:57):
leveraged?
But that could help alleviatethe fear of a purchaser knowing
I got an appraisal waiver anyway, so I can offer that waiver.
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So we don't know either.
Okay, and they're not going totell us, because then we would
figure out how to manipulate youknow, whether it was down
payment or credit score orsomething like that.
Basically, my understanding isdata that Fannie Mae or Freddie
Mac has.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Okay, my understanding is data that
Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac has inthat particular area has
nothing to do with LTV, nothingto do with credit score or
borrow.
I would think it would be LTV,meaning loan to value for our
audience, because if someone'sputting 50% down, they're still
getting 50% financing, butwhat's the likelihood this
thing's going to come inappraised 30% under?
I've never seen it.
(15:45):
I've never even seen anythingclose to that.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
No, but for them to actually waive the appraisal.
They don't know it's really 50%down, right?
Because if it appraised forless, then now it's not 50% down
of the value, right?
50%?
Speaker 1 (16:01):
of the contract price .
Speaker 2 (16:03):
So we had a scenario with the Mesbica Park office.
Dan Murphy had a client buyinga house in Huntington for
$900,000.
There you go.
Now you're thinking, well, okay, I'm not going to get an
appraisal waiver on a $900,000house, right, we did Okay, and
that was just based on theinformation we upload
electronically to Fannie Mae orFreddie Mac.
(16:23):
Okay, and that was just basedon the information we upload
electronically to Fannie Mae orFreddie Mac.
Okay, and they'll tell uswhether an appraisal is needed
or not.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
How early in that process can you upload that
information?
As soon as they get a like?
If Dan comes to you when he'smaking the offer and he says you
know here's the address we'rebidding on, how fast can you
find that out?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Basically as soon as they have an accepted offer.
We can do that.
Can we do that before we can?
It just gets complicated doingit on every offer because once
you have enough informationyou're triggering RESPA.
So you have to discloseapplication.
So you don't want to put thebuyer through an application
every time they want to make anoffer.
So the don't want to put thebuyer through an application
every time they want to make anoffer.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
So the disclosures is really.
What Respa gets back to is allthe disclosures.
It's heavily regulated industryas it pertains to finance.
Is that correct for ouraudience out here that is not in
the finance business ornecessary real estate?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Correct.
So that same situationHuntington $900,000, no
appraisal needed, right Doing aloan now with someone with 30%
down, right Getting a actuallywhat I think is a good priced
home.
It's Larry's sale, larryTheodore, yeah, and I would have
(17:40):
bet we would have gotten anappraisal waiver and nothing and
we didn't get the appraisalwaiver.
So it's really my experience,case-by-case basis If they have
enough data in that Fannie Maeor Freddie Mac, if they have
enough data in that zip code,square footage which over time
they are compiling, becauseevery appraisal now has to do an
(18:03):
HTML upload of information moreimportant about the house.
So as they compile more data,technology gets better and maybe
someday we won't needappraisals at all.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Forty years doing this and appraisals have been a
staple of this industry.
So let's hope, because anythingthat can simplify the process
would be great.
How would you best deal withpotential buyers who are trying
to overcome the challenge of aminimal cash investment?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It depends on the individual.
You know a lot of time.
Most of the time I don'tmandate it, but I tell people
it's better to have a sit-down,face-to-face meeting yeah, so I
can show them different optionsand what goes on.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, so maybe describe I don't want to say
dumb it down because again, wehave a lot of realtors, so this
might seem simpler to them.
Again, we have a lot ofrealtors, so this might seem
simpler to them.
But if there was a prospectivenew first-time home buyer out
there, I want to make sure weconvey information in a way they
can digest.
So what would you consider theminimum down payments for some
(19:17):
of the purchase of home?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
today In this market to get an accepted offer in our
area.
10% down is kind of the minimumthat I see.
I do have people making 5% downand 3.5% down offers.
They are getting offersaccepted, but then I'll give the
client the information on whatmakes them strong and then it's
(19:44):
up to them if they want to relaypart of that information, or
all of that information, to theagent presenting the offer, in
other words to a real estateagent or a listing agent.
Sometimes speed is a factorHouse is empty.
Maybe it's an estate Someonepassed.
They want to get rid of thehouse fast.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Right Time is money for the seller yes, paying taxes
.
Vacant place Utilities Correct.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
So closing quickly sometimes is an advantage in
some situations Right.
Some people's credit scoresRight.
You know, if they have an 800credit score, I'm not going to
tell the agent what the score is, but the client could divulge
whatever they want.
Correct Debt to income ratiosRight.
Some agents understand whatthat is and some don't.
(20:34):
If someone's got a very lowdebt to income, yeah, the buyer
might want to convey that.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So let's lean into debt-to-income ratios.
Obviously, someone knows whattheir income is, but what is
qualified debt for our audienceout there?
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Officially there's two ratios a front ratio and a
back ratio.
Correct, the front ratio is themortgage payment or, as we call
it, pity in the business,principal interest taxes,
insurance.
Correct, the front ratio is themortgage payment or, as we call
it, pity in the business,principal interest taxes,
insurance.
Correct, divided by their grossmonthly income Right, that
gives us a housing ratio.
(21:11):
Correct, the total debt ratiois the back end Pity plus car
payments, credit cards, studentloans, anything that appears on
their credit report.
Okay, that, combined with thefront pity, is their debt ratio.
You take that, divide that bytheir gross income Right and we
(21:32):
get a percentage.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Let me just put this out to our audience who's in the
home buying market.
If you haven't sat with amortgage professional first
before going to see houses,you're wasting your time because
you might find that you'regoing to find, you know, be able
to qualify for a loan a hundredthousand less than you think,
or you might find out I've seenwhat people can qualify for a
hundred or two hundred thousandmore because they there's just
(21:56):
nuances in there.
They just didn't anticipate tobe an over-conservative and they
were missing out on propertiesthat really would have fit their
price range.
I often like to say this Vinnyis, people incorrectly go shop
price when they're reallyshopping.
Monthly payment Correct.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
A good example of that is real estate taxes.
Yes, of that is real estatetaxes.
Yes, you might have a price inmind.
That price could be a milliondollars, right, based on 18,000
annual real estate tax, correct.
But now you find a house with24.
Yeah, 28,000 in real estate tax.
Now, your purchase ability isless, yeah, so it could go back
(22:38):
and forth.
Sometimes, depending on theproperty, you might be able to
go higher than you think.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And for our audience, that's not in New York.
Yes, he did say $28,000 a year.
I talk to people around thecountry and they go do you
really have $28,000?
Yeah, I'm sorry, I don'tunderstand how New York has
normalized $28,000 a year.
I think that's a differenttopic for a different podcast
right now.
But we'll leave it at thatright now.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
I don't think there's anything normal about.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
New York.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
We're unique.
Yes, we are.
We are.
I believe and correct me if I'mwrong that the typical
purchaser, especially the newerthey are like a first-time buyer
as opposed to someone who'sdone multiple transactions tends
to shop rate first and thenlater on they realize there's a
lot more nuance.
(23:31):
So what's the slippery slope onthis?
Because obviously we can getinto things like anyone can say
any rate, because if it's notlocked in, you get prevailing
rate.
Okay, so there's a game that'splayed.
Am I correct on that?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
there is.
There is a we call it bait andswitch right.
Um, there are.
There are competitors out therethat will blatantly lie about
an interest rate that's notavailable.
When people tell me that, Iwould say most of the time, 99%
of the time.
If you just educate the buyerand inform them, they kind of
(24:17):
detect that it might not be trueor it might be aggressive
marketing.
We'll call it.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Right.
I mean most of you are going tothe same secondary market, so
it shouldn't be a wide rangeunless there's a different
product.
Obviously, an adjustable ratewould be lower today, but you're
going to run the risk of whenit adjusts and what the market
and economy is doing as opposedto a fixed rate.
It adjusts and what the marketand economy is doing as opposed
to a fixed rate.
(24:43):
But if it's product to product,I mean is, should there be that
much more variable in the rate?
Speaker 2 (24:45):
as much as now, it shouldn't be.
It should relatively be quarterto most a half percent.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Okay, that's what I've seen.
So it's interesting when peopleare rate shopping and then it's
like, but relax, because unlessthey're locking in to that rate
then they're not delivering it,and so what's the problem with
locking in?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
For our audience that needs to know well why don't
you just lock in from thebeginning?
Because you have no idea whenthey're closing.
Correct so the contract,especially in New York, being
unique, we have on or aboutdates Correct, which means it's
a target date.
If you have an on or about July1, closing means they can close
as late as August 1.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
Right and not be in violation of the contract.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Right.
So when someone locks in, theyneed to lock to cover August 1.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, not just July 1 .
Correct what's the traditionallock-in time frame that doesn't
cost you an arm and a leg?
Speaker 2 (26:00):
I think 60 days is long.
That's as long as the typicalcontract date, unless the seller
wants longer.
I have some people that aren'tlocking because the seller
didn't find a house yet.
Okay, so they applied, haven'tlocked because they might not be
closing until September orOctober.
They're floating out there.
They're floating, taking alittle bit of risk.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Applied, haven't locked because they might not be
closing until like September orOctober.
Yeah, so they're floating outthere.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
They're floating, taking a little bit of risk.
What we've seen is I don'tthink it's as risky as it was a
few years ago.
We went from three to seven insix months.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, in 40 years that's the only time I've seen
not only a rate double butalmost triple, because we did
top out around eight and weprobably hit bottom out around
two and a half or two and threequarters, so it actually almost
tripled in a six-month period oftime.
It was chaos, you know?
Tell me.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yes, in my industry it was like shutting a valve off
.
It just stopped.
Now people have gottenacclimated, they've understood
now.
And the other thing aboutinterest rate the biggest
surprise to most buyers is it'snot as big of a deal as they
(27:12):
think.
Like 6.375 and 6.25 is marginal.
It's probably depending on thesize loan $10 or $15 a month.
But people think it's kind oflike that old marketing strategy
5.9 isn't 6.
So it's not.
Again, educating the buyer isthe best thing for any mortgage
(27:36):
guy.
I hate to tell my competitionthings but educating them and
educating them is the best thingfor the real estate agent
Because it makes their job somuch easier the more educated
the buyer is.
Sometimes I'm brought into asituation where they were
pre-approved the realtor, theagent, didn't know the company
(28:01):
they were pre-approved by andsaid why don't I get a second
opinion from my guy Vinny?
They were pre-approved with 20%down.
They didn't have the 20% Okay,which means they also didn't
have money for closing costs.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
That might be a problem.
Huh, a little bit, yeah.
So now when the customer seesand unfortunately there are some
customers that don't understandwhat 20% down is I'm like, why
would you do 20% down?
Well, that's because I was toldthat would be stronger.
Yeah, but $700,000 house,that's $140,000.
Correct.
And because we are unique, inNew York, closing costs on that
(28:41):
could range between $30,000 and$45,000, depending on what they
want to do.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
What's the difference between a conventional loan and
a jumbo loan for our audience?
Speaker 2 (28:51):
The exact numbers I don't know off the top of my
head, but a jumbo loan now isover $1.2 million.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Okay, I know they raise the loan amount right.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, there's actually three types.
There's conforming Okay, thenthere's what's called high
balance, and then there's jumboOkay.
But a lot of people will saythe high balance is jumbo Okay,
so you could actually borrow amillion dollars 1.1.
It's a high balance loan, right, but it's not a jumbo Okay.
(29:24):
Are there advantages?
Speaker 1 (29:25):
a jumbo.
Okay.
Are there advantages to jumboor disadvantages, or both?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's going to depend on credit score and loan to
value.
So when you're in the jumboarea, there are times you can
get a better interest rate thanif you were borrowing 700 000
it's interesting yeah, becauseit's more geared towards high
(29:50):
net worth people.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, and, and they want, they want those loans yeah
, so less likely to default ifyou're putting 40 or 50 percent
down and yeah, and it's adifferent not to yeah get too
technical, but it's a differentmortgage pool.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
So when you're high balance or less, you're pretty
much in the pool of Fannie Mae,freddie Mac, ginnie Mae if
you're FHA or VA.
So those mortgages are pooledtogether and sold on Wall Street
, where the jumbo is a differentpool.
How many?
Speaker 1 (30:20):
states can you write loans in?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I can write loans in 15 states.
States can you write loans in.
I can write loans in 15 of thedates, but we could do all 50
but I personally can't writethose states.
I can refer it to someone inthe company.
Okay, but the reason why I didthe 15 that I did is because I
have clientele over 26 yearsselling in New York, yeah, now
(30:43):
buying in other states, rightright, obviously Florida was
always New.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
York part two.
Yeah, I assume it's theCarolinas, the big part, south
Carolina is big right nowFlorida is big Over the years
not recently, but Pennsylvaniahas always been big.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
But I'm starting to see some bleeding over into New
Jersey because we're having aninventory problem here on the
island.
Yeah, so they're just going tothe other side.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Right With more land.
Yes, they can go inland.
Yes, exactly.
So can you share with us aninteresting or uncomfortable
challenge you had to overcomewhile closing a deal?
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Challenges that I've run into basically are maybe
title, because title in New Yorkwill take two to three weeks to
get.
Yeah, just the CO search.
So we've been approved, waitingfor title, and then you get
title and there might be a chainof title issue.
For those of you who don't knowwhat that is, it just means the
(31:47):
history of who owns theproperty and was it conveyed
properly.
The most common challenge Ithink we run into is prior
mortgages on the property notbeing recorded.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
Okay, so someone has to dig out a satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yes, or the title company has to research from who
the other title company was toomit that.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
So that's the biggest challenges I see Again, it's
all those little nuances thatthe typical buyer or sell
doesn't even see.
That happens behind the scenesbefore you can clear the clothes
right.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Yeah, but lending wise, you really shouldn't run
into challenges if you did allyour due diligence up front.
The more thorough you are upfront, the less chance you're
going to have an issue.
An issue you would have onlending is I call it, the
grenade goes off where theborrower didn't specify
something yeah, and it wasn't onthe credit report, right or
(32:47):
they intentionally didn't tellus because they knew it might be
an issue then it comes up oh,they bought a car between
contract and closing.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Does that happen to you several times?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
furniture to the house.
Full of furniture and a car,yeah you know it happens, but
that's where knowing thecustomer and building the
relationship you can pivot.
Yeah, because now-.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Hopefully you coach them ahead of time not to do
that we do we give themsomething in writing warning
them?
Speaker 2 (33:16):
and oh, I didn't know it would be a problem, but the
stronger your relationship withthe borrower, the more you can
get around stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
Now, well, we run into challenges where, if
someone's self-employed andobviously they're not reporting
that much to the IRS, yeah, butyou could.
If you did a thorough job.
You've structured the loaneither with a cosigner or
something to make it happen.
So that's why the face-to-faceReally important?
Yeah, it is to make it happen.
So that's why the face-to-faceis really important it is, and
(33:46):
most of my competition, evensome of my own co-workers,
they'd rather not do theface-to-face.
It's so much better it is andyou get more referrals.
I mean honestly, I getreferrals from people that I
haven't done a loan for.
I purely pre-approve them andthey're already referring me
(34:08):
people because I did somethingthat no one else did.
I sat down with them, took anhour.
Yeah, the personal touch, yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
There's a lot of nuance to it.
People think again, it's easy,I'm just going to go out.
I have this new app, thehottest new app for financing.
It's like there's so muchlayers and nuance to this that
gets overlooked, okay.
So, Vinny, we're going to pivota little bit.
We like to interact with you alittle bit more on a personal
level, so what's?
Speaker 2 (34:38):
something you're passionate about outside of
mortgages that people might notknow about you.
I think one of the things thatthe people that know me and are
close to me that's also a faultis that I care.
I put myself out there too much.
You know that expression nogood deed goes unpunished.
Yeah yeah, as dedicated I am towork is as dedicated as I am to
(35:02):
personal life.
So of course, that comes backto get you, as we all have
experienced.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But what does downtime look for?
Vinny Di Iorio.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
Downtime is time with my kids barbecuing in the
backyard.
It's more of a simple life.
One of my most favorite thingsis going out to dinner with my
wife to a place where hopefullynobody knows me and it's just
quiet.
Doesn't ask any mortgagequestions.
(35:34):
You're talking all day.
That's what we do for a livingSeven days a week texting,
emailing, talking.
So when I'm out to dinner Ilike to be out to dinner and
just yeah, unwinding, justletting go.
The most satisfying time isbeing in my backyard, my dog
Coco, running around andbarbecuing and just having the
(35:57):
Yankee game on TV.
Sorry for all.
You Met fans out there.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Including me, it's all right.
So, vinny, do you have anydaily habits or rituals that
help you stay focused or keepyou energized?
Speaker 2 (36:11):
I know a lot of people say they go to the gym,
get up early, do all that stuffyeah, um, that's not really what
drives me.
I don't like I get bored yeah,again, it's.
It's a gift and a curse, butwhat drives me is fear.
You know, it's interesting.
(36:32):
I don't want to fail or lose.
It's competitive.
It's not about.
It's not about the money, it'snot the number Right, it's the
transactions and it's winningthat keeps me going.
I think the biggest thing thatdoes it for me is and from what
(36:56):
I've seen from every topproducer is self-accountability.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
If.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
I didn't get a deal or something went wrong.
I don't blame anybody else.
I say to myself what could Ihave done better?
What did I do wrong?
Yeah, so I wear it, breathe it,sleep it.
Yeah, so I'd love to say thatthere's some sort of ritual or
tradition that I do yeah but uh,it's just more of it's out of
(37:28):
fear, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
So just how competitive is vinnie d orio?
You know, are you the one, ifyou're playing a board game
against your kids, that you'regonna?
Speaker 2 (37:36):
you gotta win I don't let them win no, there you go,
there you go.
Uh, no, I I'm not thatcompetitive to regard.
But, in business.
You know I've been called apsycho, but that's a compliment,
yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
So I would say as competitive as you want to just
keep going, you just want to win.
You know that's the rewardingsatisfaction of what I do.
You get people in homes.
If you're refinancing them,you're saving money.
That's rewarding.
It's not the money.
I don't look at how much I'mmaking on a deal.
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Well, I guess when you win, your client wins, so
you have to win together whenyou're doing the business
correctly.
That's the takeaway.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
You have to win together, which is the when
you're doing the businesscorrectly.
That's the takeaway.
It's actually the opposite whenthe client wins, I win.
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Okay, I'll take it either way.
You're aligned so to speak.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
So it's the bottom line.
When that buyer gets anaccepted offer in a competitive
market with 10 other offers onthe house, it feels good.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
Yeah, you know you've prepped them the right way.
Yeah, house that's, it feelsgood.
Yeah, you know you've preppedthem the right way.
Yeah, because negotiating in acompetitive marketplace is an
art form.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
So right so, and it's 24 7.
That's the part I don't like.
It's, yeah, technology and cellphones.
I never used to give out mycell phone now it's.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
You live on it.
Yeah, I hear you.
All right, well, let's touch on, else the rumor has it you're a
dog lover.
Is that true?
That is true, coco?
Is that the dog?
Speaker 2 (39:08):
Coco.
She's a little 15-pound BichonPoodle mix.
Yeah, and she's really the starof the show.
Okay, we get testimonials, youknow.
Thanks, vinny and Michelle andyour team, and especially Coco.
I've had even clients close ona house and bring Coco gifts.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Really yeah.
So, vin, I want to pivot totalk a little bit about giving
back, but before I do, I justwant to remind our audience that
if you like what we're doinghere, please like and subscribe
to our channel.
We've got some great interviewscoming up in the future and
don't forget to stay for thedrop the mic question, giving
back.
I don't know if all yourclients and members of your
community know how generous youhave been to the Heart of
(39:48):
American Homes Foundation.
It's our company-wide nonprofit.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
You know, but before Heart of American Homes
Foundation, my son has severespecial needs, okay, and he went
to school in Mass Peaker,hagedorn, little Village, okay,
and that was my main cause.
Okay, because what they did wasfantastic.
And he went to school in Espeakor Hagedorn Little Village,
okay, and that was my main cause.
Okay, because what they did wasfantastic.
Yeah, good, he's aged out ofthere, he's at Carmen's Road now
(40:13):
.
Okay, I kind of took on thecause.
When I've met you Tom Gallagher, marie Asher, tyra Murtaugh it
(40:37):
it really is amazing that youpeople care, care, right, and
one of the things I try tosurround myself with over the
years is I'm a good person in abad business, okay, so when you
meet other good people right ina bad business, you want to
(40:59):
surround yourself with them,right, and what I've learned
that you guys have what you doin the cases.
It's really amazing Because Idon't really know other people
in our industries that give backas much and put so much work
into it.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
The work that you all do is you see the fundraisers
right, but they're a lot of funaren't they?
Speaker 2 (41:22):
Yeah, they're great and it's just amazing that you
give right, but they're a lot offun, aren't they?
Yeah, they're great and it'sjust amazing that you give back,
but it is a lot of fun.
It's good not to talk aboutmortgages and real estate and
have a fundraiser and laugh,pick on each other.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
It's all a good cause .
Speaker 1 (41:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:40):
So that's kind of been my go-to now.
So that's kind of been my go-tonow.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
In your experience, what's one thing the mortgage
industry could do better toserve people, especially in the
underserved communities?
Speaker 2 (41:52):
It really all comes down to the same thing Put
people first.
Service.
One of the things I try toexplain to everybody is when you
go for the money, you're notgoing to make it Right, you've
got to go for the relationship.
If you go for people, the moneywill come.
(42:14):
Yes, whether it's high-end,underserved, middle-income,
low-income, I treat everybodythe same right.
You know you educate them, youinform them and you try to help
them as best you can, right?
You know the market dictateswhat the market dictates.
(42:35):
Unfortunately, sometimes peopleget outbid or can't compete.
Of course, but what's rewardingto me is you sit down with
someone that you know you'regoing to have a hard time
finding a house on Long Island,but they're so appreciative that
you took the time.
Yeah, and I tell everybody youmight not be ready today, but
(42:56):
we'll sit down, we'll have aplan and I'll inform you on what
you need to do to get in placeRight, what you need to do to
get in place Right.
And they're so heartfelt andappreciative that you just took
the time, because everybody else, if they couldn't get a loan or
there was a small loan, peoplewould like hang up on them.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
So really underserved , it doesn't really matter, it's
care.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
Good, I like that.
I like that.
Are there any communityprograms, especially around
financial education orfirst-time homebuyers, that you
support or would like to seemore of?
Speaker 2 (43:32):
There are.
It's challenging because, again, we're unique, being in New
York.
Yeah, so the government doeshave programs, whether it's FHA,
whether it's Sony May State ofNew York, there are programs out
there to help people downpayment assistance.
The problem that I see in ourarea, and probably everywhere,
(43:56):
is the government is alwaysgreat at saying what they offer
people, right.
But then when you find out whoqualifies, it's nobody or next
to nobody here in New York,right.
So in order to get that grant,that down payment assistance,
(44:19):
you have to make under a certainamount of money Right Now.
If you make under a certainamount of money, you can't
afford to buy a house on longisland right, so to catch 22 I I
guess that a lot, a lot, of alot of what I would like to see
locally.
Yeah, might not necessarily bemortgage products or down
payment products.
I would like to see moredeveloping residential housing.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
Yeah, yeah supply and demand commands the pride of
every product and they don't letyou develop.
Yeah, not my backyard.
And when there's not enoughinventory, the prices go up.
And then they complain that theprices are high.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Zoning needs to be done faster, more efficiently.
Yes, you know as a local LongIslander.
You drive around.
We all see empty strip malls.
We see empty office buildings.
The senior housing would helpthe housing crisis on Long
Island Right, because there'snowhere for anyone to downsize
(45:17):
to Right.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
So they stay in their house.
Yeah, right so.
Speaker 2 (45:19):
I go to other places.
I was in South Carolina not toolong ago, right, so I go to
other places.
I was in South Carolina not toolong ago.
They've got like communitieswhere they have shops,
restaurants, townhouses withthree bedroom with attached
garages and it's just phenomenal.
We don't have anything likethat here.
It would be great.
(45:40):
So that's what I'd like to seemore of.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
Yeah, more opportunities for people like
that.
Speaker 2 (45:45):
Yeah, because the more exotic mortgage programs we
get, I think that's just goingto compound and make the problem
worse.
Right, because now house pricesgo up, because now more people
can buy.
So I think if they could figureout a way to get us more
inventory, that makes sense.
That is what I'd like to see.
Fair enough, well.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Vin is what I'd like to see Fair enough.
Well, Vinny, I appreciate yourinsights.
You've been very helpful,certainly to our audience here
today.
Speaker 2 (46:10):
It's time for the drop the mic question.
Speaker 1 (46:14):
So we always like to have a little bit of fun with
the drop the mic question.
So what's the most wildest ormemorable closing experience you
ever had?
Speaker 2 (46:23):
The wildest closing experience wasn't actually that
long ago.
I think it was about a year ortwo ago.
Speaker 1 (46:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
But I went to the closing.
I'm at the closing and I guessthe seller was a divorce
situation, yeah, and one of themfreaked out, ran out of the
closing.
Them freaked out, yeah, ran outof the closing.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Yeah, got in her car and took off like screeching
tires out of the parking lot.
Speaker 2 (46:52):
Okay, before signing any yes, of course okay so that
was probably the mostentertaining closing I've I've
ever seen.
Yeah, and we're all justlooking at each other not
knowing what to do.
Uh, the listing agent of courseran out and chased, screeching
tires coming out of the parkinglot right but uh, needless to
(47:16):
say, it did close.
Ah, there you go.
She came to her senses andsigned it's.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
It's a channel, so there's a lot goes into
you-changing moves, which manytimes is a big part of it.
So well, vinny, I think again,we appreciate you being on the
show.
If anyone's interested infinding out a little bit more
information about some of thetopics in mortgages, finance and
the nuances there, how do theyreach Vinny DiIorio at Fairway?
Mortgage finance and thenuances there.
(47:43):
How?
Speaker 2 (47:43):
do they reach Vinny DiIorio at Fairway Mortgage?
So you can call me on my cell516-457-1991.
And you can email me at vinV-I-N at homecom.
Vin at homecom.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
At homecom.
All right, good, I like thatand it's appreciate you.
You're a real professional,gave us a lot of information, so
thank you so much for beingpart of our episode here today.
Thank you for having me Glad tobe here Great.
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