- Angie Bellard, the Chief Appraiser of the Jefferson County Appraisal District talks about the recent tax reformed and their potential impact on property taxres. Arlette Saucedo with First Financial Bank discusses new programs for home buyers. Tish Cornell talks about an upcoming Beaumont Chamber event
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Hey, everybody, it's your board, Gary la Vox of Rascal Flats,
Beaumont. I made a lot offriends there on the road, and one
of my friends that you need tomeet, especially if you're selling your home,
is Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty. Her team is the real deal,
top shelf, next level, andshe makes it so easy, and
I like easy, and remember,sell your home now, don't hesitate.
(00:26):
Simmons Realistate. Well, hello everyone, hope you are enjoying this wonderful Saturday.
Been out there in the heat thismorning. I've been working on my
yard and my flowers and a lotof watering. I'm sure you have been
too, So if you want tokeep your plants alive, we're needing to
(00:46):
do that right now. So ifyou are listening, I hope you're listening
inside with some air conditioning because wehave had quite a bit of heat around
Southeast Texas. But it's pretty coolright here in the studio today, so
I hope you are too. We'regoing to talk today about a lot of
exciting things, some which are extremelyhot news, like the fact that the
(01:08):
state of Texas pass some legislation that'sgoing to reduce our property taxes. Man,
that is some great news for propertyowners here in our great state of
Texas. Also, we're going tobe talking about lots of different ways that
you can get into a home forzero down. There are many programs that
we're going to visit about that youmay qualify that can do that. Also
(01:32):
on our agenda for today is we'regoing to talk about Spice of the Season.
The Chamber of Commerce puts on anincredible party and we're going to talk
about the details of that and howyou can get involved. But first we
always want to say, how isthe market well. The real estate market
is doing well right now. Weare seeing in the price range under three
(01:53):
hundred thousand, we were seeing thosehouses selling very quickly and many times multiple
offers over asking price. So Ihave people asking me right now is now
a good time to buy? Well, there are a couple of things we
want to look at, and wewant to sit down and strategize with you
personally, because not everyone needs tofit in the same box. So if
(02:15):
you're looking to sell a home underthree hundred thousand, now is a great
time to sell. We are seeinglots of activity in that price point.
But I'll tell you. In ourupper end, we're seeing a little bit
of a slowdown, and we havean incredible inventory out there for you to
find. So if you want toupgrade your home, now's the time to
(02:38):
get top dollar for the lower endand then pay even a little less for
the larger home in a better pricepoint. One of the things that we're
seeing is some of the sellers inthat price range they're giving some incentives.
So I have a couple of buildersright now that are offering twenty thousand dollars
(02:59):
toward either paying towards your closing costsor that will buy you blinds, infrigerator,
whatever you want, put you anoutdoor kitchen back there, or the
twenty thousand dollars can also be appliedto buying down your interest rate. So
incentives are really good right now,and some of those properties that have been
(03:21):
there for just a little while.So if that's you and you're considering it,
let's sit down and visit about what'sgoing on and if now is right
for you. Our office is openeight to eight Monday through Saturday, one
to eight on Sunday, you're welcometo call our team. We always have
a live person to talk to youthat numbers four zero nine eight six six
Team four zero nine eight six sixeight three two six, or if you
(03:45):
go online to Dana Simmons real Estatedot com or DSRE dot com, one
of our agents can also chat withyou there. So we're going to get
started on today's show. I wantto introduce you to some of the amazing
people who are going to share allkinds of good stuff. So let Saucedo,
she's with First Financial Bank and ourlett tell us a little bit about
(04:06):
who you are. I'm so sorryabout that. There, I guess you
can hear me now. So Iam a mortgage land or reginator at First
Financial Bank. Um, I've beenmarried for eight years. My husband and
I first purchased our home whenever wewere twenty one. He's and we purchased
(04:26):
it in Neederland, So we've beenthere for a little bit now and for
a few years. And my kidsgo to Neederland School District and they really
do enjoy being there. And youknow, we're just part of the community
where wherever we can go or whereverwe can participate, we love and we
enjoy doing that. We love todo it, especially with our kids because
(04:47):
Lexie, my daughter, she's adiehard bulldog fan. We were talking about
that before the show. And manyof you may or may not know that
I graduated from Neederland High School.So yeah, I was a bulldog too,
so me and see, hey,I can connect with her. Maybe
I'll bring your buys that you canwear your bulldog shirts together. You know
that's been I might need to buya new one. Let's just say that.
(05:11):
I don't I don't know what thosefrom that day. I was a
little twig back then, so thosemay not fit anymore. Well, are
like, we're so excited to haveyou on the show. Excited that you're
going to get to share some ofthe programs that First Financial has available for
first time homebuyers, or even youdon't even have to be a first time
HomeBuyer to qualify for some of thesezero down conventional loan programs. And what
(05:32):
a great way for you to beable to talk to people when at twenty
one you bought your first home.Yeah, that's pretty amazing. I love
that you begin building your own equityearly instead of paying someone else's. Am
super thankful for that because thankfully,I guess you know, with that being
so young, we had so manyobstacles, I guess because we really weren't
(05:55):
sure where to go or what todo. But whenever we purchased our first
home, luckily my husband was inthe Marines in the Marine Corps, so
we were able to do a valo, so we got a little bit more
incentives. But then that doesn't necessarilymean I guess that there aren't products available
for everyone, because first Financial wereally do have a lot of programs and
(06:16):
we make home purchasing or home buyingreally affordable. Yeah, and it can
be challenging when people think, oh, I have to have twenty percent down,
I need all this money to buya house. So we're going to
talk about some of the ways thatyou don't need that you don't have to
have that. Now, do Ithink that's ideal, Yes, Ideally,
(06:36):
if you can put twenty percent down, that's a great way to purchase a
home. But if you want toget into a home and start building your
own equity instead of renting and payingsomeone else's sometimes getting into it for less
money down is the best option.So we're going to talk about ways that
we can do that here. Inone of our next segments, yeah,
(06:57):
because at the end of the day, it is a long term invest in
yourself. That's right. Excited.Also with us is Angela Ballard with Jefferson
County Appraisal District, and Angela,tell us a little bit about you as
well. Sure, I am thechief over at the appraisal District. I
have been there for thirty eight years. Wow. A lot of people come
and say, what did you startwhen you were fourteen? Yes? Yes,
(07:19):
but actually I started when I wasseventeen. I was a VOE student
at Port Author I went to atthe time, it was called TJ.
I went to Port Author High School. I was available to participate in a
vocational office education student went to workpart time and went to school part time.
(07:41):
And I thought, oh my gosh, this is fabulous. I get
to make money while I'm in school. So it was. It was an
excellent program. Of course, afterI graduated, applied for jobs. I've
moved throughout the office. I workedin every department there is, and i
applied for the chief and got it, and I've been the chief for eight
(08:01):
years and it's you know, beengreat. Well, I love that is
how you started. Um. Ithink for so many people, they think
going to college and only finding ajob that way is an option, and
going to college while you're doing thatand working there is great. But the
(08:22):
fact that many of the schools,even back then, we're doing that VOE.
I was a VOE student, Mysister was a VOE student. And
so getting that that opportunity to bein a business segment session, you know,
to be somewhere where you're watching howbusiness works and learn the responsibility.
I love that. In thirty eightyears, so you've seen it all.
Really, you've seen a lot.Yep, there's been a lot of changes
(08:45):
throughout the years, and um,some good, some bad, but you
know, it's it's a good placeto work. And and i've you know,
like I said, stayed there andyou know, built my future there.
Don't plan on changing, you know, to go to another field.
Yeah, you know, it's beengreat. Well, and we were talking
earlier. You your children are here, your grandchildren are here, and you're
(09:07):
a lifelong resident. So what Ithink those qualities and traits make for a
great chief at the appraisal District becauseyou're in our community. You understand the
needs, you understand the challenges,and so I look forward to visiting with
you here shortly about all of thenew tax reform that we have. Such
(09:28):
exciting news that we got this week. It is exciting, it's very exciting,
and you've worked to let us knowa little bit about So how is
that going to change our taxes?So in our next segment we're going to
actually visit about that and talk abouthow does that impact the homeowners in Southeast
Texas. So you guys want tostay tuned for the next segment. Also
with us is Tish Cornell. Sheis representing the Chamber of Commerce with the
(09:54):
Spice of the Season and that iscoming up. But before we talk about
that, Tish, tell us alittle bit about you. I am also
a lifelong Southeast Texas resident. Iwas born in Beaumont at Saint Elizabeth's Hospital,
where my grandmother was a labor anddelivery nurse. So my grandmother actually
helped deliver me. Right, Ican't imagine there are many people that have
(10:18):
the opportunity to say that. Right. I love Beaumont, you know,
I know that. Um. Youknow, sometimes people are really passionate about
where they live and then other peoplealready can't wait to get out, and
whenever it comes to our hometown.I graduated from Westbrook. I'm a Lamar
graduate as well, and I justall my you know, my families here
(10:39):
and I love our community. Ilove seeing all of the art that's growing,
all of the new restaurants, thedifferent types of food. There's just
so much that we have to offerhere. And I really love our area.
It's a good headcown spot. Andwhile I grew up in Neederland,
my husband moved me to Beaumont thirtyyears ago after we got married, and
(11:01):
I call Beaumont home now. AndI'm like you, I think we have
so much to offer. But thebenefit is that we have all the surrounding
areas. We have Orange and wehave changarlog gardens, we have the lecture
theater, we have port natures withthe wheelhouse we have we have so many
things that are so close that wehave great opportunity for growth, and we
(11:24):
have great opportunity for entertainment. Andlike you said, the arts you see
where we you know, mural feststhat the CVB put on. Just so
many things that we have here thatI think we often take for granted.
You know, Terrell Park, theNature Center, so many amazing things,
so if you don't know a placeto go to find all of that information
(11:48):
out, you can go to theCVB online Facebook page and that is Beaumont
Events and you can find all thethings that are going on in Beaumont that
you can get connected with. Sowhen we come back in our next segment,
we're going to get started with AngelaBillard and talk about how does that
tax reform that was announced this week, how does that affect you and your
(12:11):
taxes where you live. You're notgonna want to go away. This is
Dana Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show. Would you need to sell your home?
No one makes it easier than DanaSimmons of Danas Simmons, Really sell
your home. Don't hesitate Simmons realWelcome back. This is Dana Simmons and
(12:37):
I am joined today by Angela Billardiis the chief what Chief what Chief Appraisers
at the Jefferson County Appraisal District.I know you're chief. I just didn't
want to make sure I got theright chief. Yeah. And we've been
talking in the break and also inour last segment about the tax reform that
(12:58):
was passed by the Texas legislature andthat was just some really good news for
taxas property owners. So, Angie, you were saying that you were looking
at a few things to try tosee how is this going to impact a
typical homeowner and how this will affecttheir base tax amount. Okay, well,
(13:22):
let me give you a little informationof what was passed from the House
and the Senate. They just signedit yesterday and its Senate bill too.
So there's two things in there thatreally helps taxpayers. The first one is
called a compressed rate and it's dealingwith the school district rate. It is
a compression that's going to save aboutten cents on the tax rate and that's
(13:45):
going to be for all properties.The other thing that was signed on that
bill is going to be one hundredthousand dollars homestead exemption on the state level.
So if you're entity, if yourschool gives a local option exemption,
they're still going to get that andin addition they're going to get one hundred
thousand. So with those two itemsright there, it's going to save taxpayers
(14:11):
about a thousand dollars on their taxesthis year. Now, this will have
to go out to the voters.It needs a constitutional amendment, so it
has to go to the voters,and that's going to be on the ballot
in November. The other thing thatwas listed on this bill, it's called
a circuit breaker, and we kindof know that as a cap and what
(14:33):
that is. It's going to bea twenty percent cap up to five million
dollar value on non homestead properties,and that is something that's going to save
your non homestead properties. But thiswill not go into effect to twenty twenty
four. The other two will gointo effect in twenty twenty three, and
(14:56):
I'm sure everyone's going to get outand vote for it. It's gonna,
you know, vote no to sometype of tax reduction. But those are
the items that you're going to seeon the ballot. And it's my understanding
it's going to be under one proposition. That's what i've heard. Don't know
if that's how it's going to actuallyread on the ballot, but I heard
(15:16):
it's going to be one proposition thatvoters will have to vote for. Well,
what I love about this is thatyou were so willing to come on
the show so quickly after learning aboutwhat was going on, to be able
to tell us and inform all ofus on what it means. You know,
it's it's so good to hear.Okay, property tax reform, but
(15:37):
then what does that mean? Andwhat are the details? And I love
the way you went through all ofthat for us. But when you say
save people a thousand dollars, that'slike a thousand dollars. It's not like
taking a thousand dollars off your basetax amount. It's taking a thousand dollars
off what you actually pay. Thatis correct and what you're going to see
(16:00):
too, because it has to goout to the voters. That's not going
to take place until November. Taxbills will still go out and this is
of course not a function that myoffice deals with. That is the tax
office function is getting tax bills.Well, but it's my understanding there's going
to be language that's going to showwhat your taxes are going to be with
the new one hundred thousand homestead andthe compressed rate. Okay, yeah,
(16:25):
I was wondering when you say that'snot going to pass until or it's not
going to go for a vote untilNovember, and typically we get our tax
bill late October November, and soyou're we're going to what the state is
going to send or whoever sends thattax bill out is going to send it
out with the assumption that that's goingto pass. Is that what I understand.
I think they're going to actually havelanguage for both, for both,
(16:48):
okay, so that we'll know afterthe election which way we have to pay.
That is correct, okay, becausetaxes are paid interrears, and that's
something I have to explain to peoplea lot. You know, when someone
goes to sell their house and I'mlike, okay, well you're going to
owe until June through June for thetaxes, are like, no, I
(17:11):
paid my tax bill last year.No, you haven't paid twenty twenty three
taxes yet you paid twenty twenty twotaxes. And so having that paid in
arrears allows us not to have topay that bill until we already know what's
going to happen with that election.That is correct, And the bills don't
go out until the whole process hastaken place. So our notices go out
(17:33):
in April, which shows you whatwe've appraised it at. And then there
is a process that you can take, you know, by going to an
informal hearing. If you don't agreewith it going to before the Appraisal Review
Board, so all that takes placefirst before we send values over to the
tax and jurisdictions for them to applytheir rates. Gotcha. And you were
(17:55):
saying that process of being able totalk about wanting to adjust your value ends
on Monday, right, Well,you can come in any time and talk
to an appraiser. Okay, youcan look at you know, they'll go
over your account with you. Butto actually protest that deadline passed back in
May, gotcha. Okay, Well, and one of the things I know
(18:17):
that a lot of people have beentalking about is the fact that it seems
like across all of Southeast Texas,tax values went up a little bit and
a little bit more for some people. And that was a challenge. It
was a challenge for every appraisal district. I know that when I would go
on to the Orange County Appraisal Districtsite to pull tax information for a client,
(18:40):
they would have their little blurb onthere or Harden County Appraisal District that
talked about the fact that listen,we're all struggling with this and this is
a hard time for all of us. We're all working together to try to
make this happen. But the goodthing is this new tax reform is absolutely
going to help us in the longrun. And one of the things that
(19:00):
people may not realize as well isyes, your values may go up,
but if you are homesteaded in thatproperty, while the value can go up,
you're limited in what the taxable ratecan be on what the value is.
Correct, there is a cap,a cap, but you have to
be you have to own it fora whole year right before you would even
(19:21):
qualify, So you wouldn't qualify untilthe following year, the following year that
you've owned it for the full year. But there is a ten percent cap
on homestead, and then in twentytwenty four there will be a twenty percent
cap on non homestead. Now they'recalling it circuit breaker, right, they're
not calling it a cap, butwe know it as a cat, right,
which is helpful for property owners Forexample, like me, I own
(19:45):
my commercial building that our office islocated in. So for something like that,
that's going to help limit the totalamount that it can be raised in
value to twenty percent annually. Correct. Right, And what you'll see,
you'll see two numbers. You're alwaysgoing to see a market value number,
right, and then if you havea cap, there's going to be another
(20:06):
number that it is either going tobe referred to as an assess value,
a cap value. We may beseeing circuit breaker a cap. I'm not
sure how they're going to make usword that. Okay, you're always going
to see both, so the marketvalue can keep going up to whatever the
market is dictating. And that's whata lot of districts have had to do.
(20:27):
We you know, we're a nonsales disclosure state. It's hard for
us to get sales information. Wehave to rely on the previous year's sales
to be able to turn out noticesin April, and sometimes it's difficult.
It's challenging because of the limited salesinformation that we have access to. Yeah,
(20:47):
so when you're making those estimations,sometimes it's hard because you don't know
the condition of the interior of thatproperty until someone comes and says, hey,
you know, i'm this is whatmy house is like. And so
that's why the protest system and beingable to protest is so important for people
to be able to have their voiceheard, to give you an opportunity to
(21:07):
see what it is that's there absolutely, because when we send notices out,
we can't list everything, so wedo depend on property owners to come in
and tell us what's going on insidethat home. Yeah. Well, I
am so excited about this new informationjust coming out and for you to be
able to explain it, explain itto me in a way that can understand
exactly what it is that and howit applies to me and also to my
(21:33):
clients and my customers. So whenwe come back, we're going to visit
with let Saucedo and she's going totalk to us about how exciting things are
about the zero down conventional loan,and we also have Tishe Cornell. We're
going to talk about spice of theseason. So don't go away. Lots
of exciting news today. This isDana Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show.
(21:55):
Would you need to sell your home? No one makes it easier than Dana
Simmons of Dana's Simmons. Really don'thesitate. Simmons. Welcome back. This
is Dana Simmons and we have afull show today. We have just been
visiting with Angie Ballard, the chiefappraiser at the Jefferson County Appraisal district.
(22:19):
She's been talking to us a littlebit about how that new um, what
the legislation showed on the tax reformthat was voted on yesterday, and how
that impacts us in our area.It was such great information and talking about
the average person is going to seeabout a thousand dollars savings on their tax
(22:41):
bill, so that is super exciting. Also with us is Tish Cornell and
Tish is going to talk a littlebit about Spice of the Season. So
Tish for anyone who doesn't know whatis Spice of the Season. Spice of
the I'm sorry. Spice of theSeason is hosted every year by the Greater
Beaumont Chamber of Commerce. This isthe twenty third annual Spice of the Season.
(23:03):
It was actually born out of theLeadership Beaumont Program class of twenty twenty.
It is all the proceeds benefit theBeaumont Chamber Foundation, and the Chamber
Foundation is the foundation that is connectedwith the Chamber that provides the programs for
youth and adult leadership and developmental programs, things like Leadership Beaumont Lemonade Day.
(23:26):
Yeah, and I was going tosay, I think Leadership Beaumont's one that
my daughter's actually going to get toparticipate in this year. So I think
those are great programs that start withour younger people to grow them up into
understanding how to participate in Beaumont andhow to grow their leadership in our area.
So that's super exciting. Yes,it is. It's a tremendous program.
(23:48):
And you know, look at oneof the things that Leadership Beaumont has
done. I know for me,it's connected. When I went through,
connected me with so many different friendsthat I made in so many different fields
in our area. You learn somuch more about your community and you make
great connections and find ways. Youknow, whenever you're in the different fields
where you just want to help peopleand then you're connecting and finding ways that
(24:11):
you can help people with what youdo, it just you know, it
grows your community and it grows yourfriendships and in your business. Yeah.
Absolutely, And so Spice of theSeason is going to be held Win let's
talk a little bit about that.It's gonna be Friday, July twenty eighth,
six pm at the Downtown Event Center. It is a very high energy,
(24:33):
fun, let your hair down andget silly event. It's a it's
a great fundraiser. I will saylast year we had a Saturday Night Live
theme and the characters were just unreal. It was a lot of fun.
You know when you see Judge Brandittget up and seeing or Jimy Tailor sing
in Sweet Caroline. You know,everybody just letting loose and you know,
(24:56):
not having to be so professional.It's like, let's just have some good
fun and good good eats and raisemoney for a great cause. And so
talk about this year's theme. Sothis year's theme, I'm thrilled to be
the chair and be able to workso closely with the chamber to get everything
going for Spice. But it's rockand roll Hall of Fame. I feel
like music is a great way toconnect people because everybody likes to sing along
(25:21):
and you have your favorite band,So rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Anybody that was inducted in the Hallof Fame, dress up like that person
and transform into that person for thenight if you'd like to. It's like
everything is a go for Spice,and so part of the fun is just
seeing that, seeing all of thedifferent costumes and people and how they're dressed.
(25:41):
But let's say you don't really wantto do the full costume. What
are some options that you might coulddo if you are uncomfortable in a full
costume. We completely understand. Youcan wear just your regular clothes. You
can wear a rock t shirt ofyour favorite rock band, or just like
I said, just regular close.We just want everybody to come and have
fun and enjoy the night, enjoybeing waited on by celebrity rate waiters.
(26:06):
Each table will have their own setof waiters. It is a We provide
a full four course meal that isdelivered to your table by whichever rock star
you're going to get. And weare catered this year by local rock stars
Lisa Coon at the Texas Star Barand Grill at the Brentwood Complex. So
we have a great menu lined upand very excited to be able to have
(26:29):
them cater for spite of the season. If someone's interested, tell me how
much are the tickets and how dothey get registered for that tables. If
you want to purchase an entire table, they are seven fifty and then tickets
are one hundred dollars per person.You can call the Chamber office at four
O nine eight three eight six fiveeight one or you can register online at
(26:51):
BMTCOC dot org. That's some greatinformation and that sounds like so much fun.
So if you don't have any plansfor July twenty eighth, you should
register for that event and you cando that again on the Chamber of Commerce
website, or you can give thema call at the Chamber. They'll be
happy to help you. Also,if you have any questions for us today,
(27:15):
I haven't mentioned that this is alive show, so you can call
in at four zero nine eight ninesix five five eight four and we're happy
to answer any of those questions youmay have. When we come back,
we are going to talk to ArletteSaucedo about some of the things that First
Financial Bank has to offer. Forif you're thinking about buying a house,
(27:36):
what are some affordable ways for youto get into that home. We've already
talked to Angela Ballard about how taxesare going down, that's going to be
a little bit more affordable, andso how can we get you a more
affordable interest rate with maybe even lessmoney down for a down payment. So
don't go away, you're going towant to hear all about it. This
is Dana Simmons with the Dana SimmonsShow. Would you need to sell your
(27:59):
home? No one makes it easierthan Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Really Home
Go, Hesitate Simmons, Realles,Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and
we are enjoying a phenomenal show todaywith lots of great information. Joining us
(28:21):
now to talk about what First FinancialBank has to offer us. Arlette Salcedo
and Arlette super excited about the factthat you talked in the very first segment
that you bought your first home attwenty one, you and your husband,
and your husband was able to geta zero down payment because he was a
veteran, so he was able toget that. But now First Financial has
(28:41):
a program available that will allow peopleto buy a house was zero down and
it's a conventional loan. Talk alittle bit about that so with this program,
because it is, like you said, it is a conventional loan.
So I know that a lot ofthe times whenever people here that or they
hear zero percent down, or theyhear no down payment or anything like that,
(29:04):
they automatically think that it's like agovernment backed loan or anything like that,
and they'll think that the appraisal requirementsare going to be more challenging more
challenging, but this really it's aconventional loan product. We get a conventional
appraisal, and it's creative underwriting becausewe know that not every single person is
going to be able to check offevery single box on that list that you
(29:27):
know, everyone thinks that they haveto check off. The affordable program that
we have, We've had it fora while and ever since it came out,
I've been working on it. Mostrecently we have it to where we've
even made it with all of thechanges that have occurred and all of the
changes that have been happening, we'vemade it even an even better product by
(29:49):
being able to offer no down paymentfor certain properties that qualify for it,
as long as the borrower we're alsoqualifies for it. And you know they're
going to be areas that are underservedare going to be underserved, and we
want to be able to be inthe community and see where the differences are
and how we're being an impact andhow we're able to make those changes and
(30:10):
making home buying affordable, because thatreally is the plan and that's the overall
objective, and just because you hearunderserved doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad
area. It doesn't. It doesn'tmean that at all. You have properties
dying that are listed in Brayfield Laneand Claybourne Drive and Beaumont. You also
have properties and Lilly and Yasmin andBeaumont that qualified for it. But two
(30:33):
of the properties that I do wantto highlight because they qualify for zero percent
down because we do have a littlebit of requirements, a little bit of
requirements that go along with it.But one of the properties for sure that
I would like to go over isteno to Cooper Drive, an Orange right.
That is one I think you've justlisted recently, and that's great for
first time homebuyers. Imagine being ableto go into a home without a down
(30:59):
payment and knowing, Okay, yes, you may still have let's say a
bit of closing costs. I'm notgoing to say that you won't have that
too, but that's going to bea lot better to be able to cover
with maybe seller paid clothing or whateverit is that you can do, or
if maybe you do have a littlebit of a cushion saved up for that,
and that property on Cooper Drive andOrange is going to be one of
(31:22):
those that great for first time homebuyersbecause it's in the lower sales price.
It's ninety eight thousand, and yourmonthly payment is going to be lower for
that. And then what another thingis that's a long term investment that you're
making in yourself. So if you'rethinking about it, you know, consider
those properties because it's going to bebest to be able to make that long
(31:42):
term investment in yourself and be ableto get that property because like I remember
being whenever I first purchased, beforewe even first purchased our home, it's
not a big home. It wasprobably a home just like this one was.
And but before that, you know, I'm grateful because I had my
mother in law and we lived ina small studio apartment like in the bag
(32:05):
behind her home, and so wewere able to even though we had a
no down payment, we were ableto kind of save up for our closing
costs. But another property that Iwould like to highlight is the property that
you have on thirty eight eighty Hollanddriving Beaumont. Maybe you are still a
first time home buyer, but thisone's going to be a little bit bigger.
If you have kids, or ifyou want a bedroom for your kids,
three beds, do bath right,right, okay, And that also
(32:30):
qualifies for no down payment. Soif you're thinking that you might not have
the funds to be able to bringin for that home or whatever it is,
because a lot of the times wehear, oh, we're gonna need
a large down payment, we're gonnaneed this, we're gonna need that,
and that's not the case. Youjust have to know where to ask or
(32:50):
what's available to you. Yeah,and I think that's why I wanted to
have you on the show. AndFirst Financial does a great job of getting
creative. The the challenge is lettingpeople know about it because they're unaware,
and so educating everyone out there thatthere are ways to get into homes with
(33:10):
very little money down. And Iknow there are some people who say,
well, that's not a great idea. Well, it's not the ideal idea.
I said it earlier. You know, if you're able to put twenty
percent equity into a home, thatis ideal, that really is good.
But there are people who can't dothat. They're starting out that something has
happened in their world and instead ofrenting a home or renting an apartment.
(33:35):
Being able to begin to build equityin a home begins to build wealth.
Only a home is a great wayto start building wealth because not only are
you paying into a property to lowerwhat you owe, but you're also over
time because historically, especially in SoutheastTexas, we see prices going up.
(33:57):
Now, all real estatis cyclical.There are seasons and there are down seasons.
But overall, in the last almostthirty years that I've been in real
estate, we've gone up tremendously.Where we were when I started to where
we are today is incredible on thevalues of homes and what has changed.
So owning a home in that timeperiod not only builds equity through your payments,
(34:21):
but also builds equity through time andvalues increasing. So putting down a
little bit is better than not buildingthat equity. And so the question is
if someone doesn't know do I qualifyfor this or don't I qualify for that,
how would they get that information orlet how would they find out the
information that you have? Give usa call. If you ever wanted to
(34:44):
give me a call so that wecould go over all of that information,
you can call me at four Onine four seven four one five zero three
because it's so much easier. Thatis my cell phone number. You can
reach me if it's just hot,like just topics that you wanted to go
over key points highlight. Yeah,then I'm happy to go over that with
you. We have a lot ofadvertising on Facebook that you might be able
(35:07):
to follow us on Facebook for it'sFirst Financial Bank Mortgage and I just First
Financial Bank Southeast Texas Region. Ithink we share a little bit more just
for Southeast Texas there and then believeyou share a lot on social media as
well, where we have our contactnumber. You're also on where if someone
wanted to make an application online justto look into because there's not just this
(35:29):
program. What I love is thatthere are so many options and it's not
like one person fits into one box, you know, or everyone doesn't fit
into one box. You guys haveso many programs that you say, Okay,
let me look at your situation andlet's figure out which box you do
fit into for a mortgage and whichis going to benefit you the best.
(35:51):
So if someone wanted to apply online, how would they be able to do
that search so they can go toFirst Financial Bank Mortgage and they should be
able to find our page where theycan click on their loan officer that they
want to apply with, and thenfrom there they can go ahead and they
can either download the mobile app tosubmit their application, and our mobile app
has a really cool feature. Ifthere's any documents they want to upload,
(36:13):
they can go ahead and just scanit with their phone and it'll all upload
automatically, or they can just completethe process online. But then once you
have that application and you've submitted itand you've selected your loan officer, one
of the best things that I thinkwe were able to do just across the
board, whoever you get, we'reable to take a look at your full
(36:34):
financial picture. We're taking a lookat your application and in some cases you're
submitting your documents, some cases you'renot, but we're whatever you do submit,
we're taking a look at it.We're looking at your credit report,
and if there's something that doesn't necessarilyqualify you for the program or any program
at that moment, we set upa game plan. It's always best if
you're thinking about purchasing, even ifit's two three million months down the line,
(36:59):
it's always best to apply just sothat we can get you a correct
game plan, and we can makesure you're ready so that whenever you do
find that home, you're able tojust go ahead and say, okay,
I worked on this. Can wecheck on everything again? And as long
as you've followed everything that we've setyou up for, then you should.
You're going to be able to thenat that point to say, okay,
I'm ready to go look at thathome. Let me go make an offer
(37:20):
now, because now I know I'vebeen set for that, and now I've
been working on this and I knowI can go through with it. I
love that so many people think thatthey can't qualify when they can, but
so many people when they can't qualify. I love that the answer is often
it's not no, it's yes.When yes, you can do this,
(37:44):
when you've accomplished these things, andhere is the direction you need to take
in order to be able to accomplishthat, and you give them clear steps
to take to get them in aposition to be able to buy. I
love that about what you got todo. It's not just oh, no,
we decline you you're done. No. And one of the biggest things
(38:06):
is, you know, there's somuch there's so many situations, nobody knows
what anyone goes through. So youknow, whenever we do take a look
at that, we are taking alook at Okay, you know what,
maybe this came up on your credit. Maybe we get to personally know that
that applicant or that borrower and wemake a connection with them, and then
that's how we're able to give themthat knowledge so that they know in the
(38:28):
future. Because it's it's for everysingle person I guess that we've worked with
or that I've personally worked with.Home buying is just the next step for
every I guess, the next step, and it makes it's where everyone creates
home I guess. I'm sorry.And it's it's your heart to want to
(38:49):
help. I mean, it's notyou just taking an application and going through
the motions and sou And that's whatI know about you. It's your desire
to actually help every single one.And while sometimes you can't write at that
moment, you can say, okay, guys, here's what you need to
do. And the other thing thatI love, Arlette, is you talked
about it is you said making thatconnections when you apply to some bank,
(39:13):
who's in tumbuck two and they haveno connections with Southeast Texas, and you
can't go sit in their office andlook at them face to face and explain
your situation. Or let's say youflooded and you were putting a bad situation
for a little while. People inNew York have no idea what all we
went through. Yeah, but whenyou sit down and talk to someone local,
it's like, Okay, I knowwhat you're talking about. It I
(39:34):
understand. Yeah, that was challengingfor many people. How can we move
forward through that? And so Iappreciate you being on the show today sharing
some of those items. I justwant to thank all of you for being
on the show today. I wantedto first say, Arlette, if you
want to give that telephone number onemore time and talk to everyone about how
they can get in touch with you. Okay, you can give me a
call at four h nine four sevenfour one five zero three, and you
(39:58):
can also email me at a saucEdo at FI dot com or a sauce
Do at FI dot com. Ican't say your name or spell it without
thinking that. Whenever Arlette and Ifirst connected and she said her last name
was Saucedo, I'm like, oh, how do you spell that? And
she said it's sauce Do And I'mlike, okay, Now every time I
(40:21):
say her name, I think sauceDo, So I hope I don't say
it. Sometimes that's to be lying. Yeah, it'll just come out.
But the other thing I want youto know about, Arlette is that you
also speak Spanish. I do.So that's very helpful for those who need
that help in making sure that theyknow what they're getting because they're they communicate
in Spanish. So another little plugfor you on the fact that you can
(40:42):
do a great job working with theSpanish speaking customers and clients. Yes,
my parents that's all they speak isSpanish. My kids not so much,
but they try. You're learning,they're learning, huh, Yes, they
are well. Angela Billard, thechief appraiser with Jefferson County Appraisal, just
thank you so much for being onthe show today and sharing a little bit
(41:05):
about exactly what this tax reform isgoing to do for us in Southeast Texas.
If someone has a question about anyof that, how do they talk
to someone at the appraisal district?They can just call in and if the
girls who answer the phone cannot assistthem. They will find somebody that can
perfect. Thank you so much forjumping through hoops to get here today,
(41:28):
even after this was just passed yesterday. I really appreciate your willingness to do
that. And also, Tish Carnell, thank you so much for sharing with
us about Spice of the Season andall the excitement that's going to go on
July twenty eighth at six o'clock atthe event center. If someone wants to
purchase tickets, remind them again howthey can do that. You can purchase
tickets online by going to BEMTCOC dotorg, or you can call the Chamber
(41:52):
office at four O nine eight threeeight six five eight one. I will
say it is a perfect opportunity forteam building if you have a company and
you want to take your team outto get a table and just have a
good night out. So you knowthat's a great idea. Just how when
you say a table, how manyat a table? The table seats eight?
Eight? Okay? So in thetheme rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
(42:15):
where you're rock and roll t shirts, dress up, come enjoy the
evening. If you say Beaumont hasnothing to do, you're just missing out.
Because there's plenty to do here inBeaumont, and you know I sell
real estate every single day. Youneed to speak to us have questions about
real estate. Please don't hesitate tocall us at four O nine eighty six
six eight three two six or DanaSimmons real estate dot com. Have a
(42:37):
great Saturday,
Hey, everybody, it's your board, Gary la Vox of Rascal Flats,
Beaumont. I made a lot offriends there on the road, and one
of my friends that you need tomeet, especially if you're selling your home,
is Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Realty. Her team is the real deal,
top shelf, next level, andshe makes it so easy, and
I like easy, and remember,sell your home now, don't hesitate.
(00:26):
Simmons Realistate. Well, hello everyone, hope you are enjoying this wonderful Saturday.
Been out there in the heat thismorning. I've been working on my
yard and my flowers and a lotof watering. I'm sure you have been
too, So if you want tokeep your plants alive, we're needing to
(00:46):
do that right now. So ifyou are listening, I hope you're listening
inside with some air conditioning because wehave had quite a bit of heat around
Southeast Texas. But it's pretty coolright here in the studio today, so
I hope you are too. We'regoing to talk today about a lot of
exciting things, some which are extremelyhot news, like the fact that the
(01:08):
state of Texas pass some legislation that'sgoing to reduce our property taxes. Man,
that is some great news for propertyowners here in our great state of
Texas. Also, we're going tobe talking about lots of different ways that
you can get into a home forzero down. There are many programs that
we're going to visit about that youmay qualify that can do that. Also
(01:32):
on our agenda for today is we'regoing to talk about Spice of the Season.
The Chamber of Commerce puts on anincredible party and we're going to talk
about the details of that and howyou can get involved. But first we
always want to say, how isthe market well. The real estate market
is doing well right now. Weare seeing in the price range under three
(01:53):
hundred thousand, we were seeing thosehouses selling very quickly and many times multiple
offers over asking price. So Ihave people asking me right now is now
a good time to buy? Well, there are a couple of things we
want to look at, and wewant to sit down and strategize with you
personally, because not everyone needs tofit in the same box. So if
(02:15):
you're looking to sell a home underthree hundred thousand, now is a great
time to sell. We are seeinglots of activity in that price point.
But I'll tell you. In ourupper end, we're seeing a little bit
of a slowdown, and we havean incredible inventory out there for you to
find. So if you want toupgrade your home, now's the time to
(02:38):
get top dollar for the lower endand then pay even a little less for
the larger home in a better pricepoint. One of the things that we're
seeing is some of the sellers inthat price range they're giving some incentives.
So I have a couple of buildersright now that are offering twenty thousand dollars
(02:59):
toward either paying towards your closing costsor that will buy you blinds, infrigerator,
whatever you want, put you anoutdoor kitchen back there, or the
twenty thousand dollars can also be appliedto buying down your interest rate. So
incentives are really good right now,and some of those properties that have been
(03:21):
there for just a little while.So if that's you and you're considering it,
let's sit down and visit about what'sgoing on and if now is right
for you. Our office is openeight to eight Monday through Saturday, one
to eight on Sunday, you're welcometo call our team. We always have
a live person to talk to youthat numbers four zero nine eight six six
Team four zero nine eight six sixeight three two six, or if you
(03:45):
go online to Dana Simmons real Estatedot com or DSRE dot com, one
of our agents can also chat withyou there. So we're going to get
started on today's show. I wantto introduce you to some of the amazing
people who are going to share allkinds of good stuff. So let Saucedo,
she's with First Financial Bank and ourlett tell us a little bit about
(04:06):
who you are. I'm so sorryabout that. There, I guess you
can hear me now. So Iam a mortgage land or reginator at First
Financial Bank. Um, I've beenmarried for eight years. My husband and
I first purchased our home whenever wewere twenty one. He's and we purchased
(04:26):
it in Neederland, So we've beenthere for a little bit now and for
a few years. And my kidsgo to Neederland School District and they really
do enjoy being there. And youknow, we're just part of the community
where wherever we can go or whereverwe can participate, we love and we
enjoy doing that. We love todo it, especially with our kids because
(04:47):
Lexie, my daughter, she's adiehard bulldog fan. We were talking about
that before the show. And manyof you may or may not know that
I graduated from Neederland High School.So yeah, I was a bulldog too,
so me and see, hey,I can connect with her. Maybe
I'll bring your buys that you canwear your bulldog shirts together. You know
that's been I might need to buya new one. Let's just say that.
(05:11):
I don't I don't know what thosefrom that day. I was a
little twig back then, so thosemay not fit anymore. Well, are
like, we're so excited to haveyou on the show. Excited that you're
going to get to share some ofthe programs that First Financial has available for
first time homebuyers, or even youdon't even have to be a first time
HomeBuyer to qualify for some of thesezero down conventional loan programs. And what
(05:32):
a great way for you to beable to talk to people when at twenty
one you bought your first home.Yeah, that's pretty amazing. I love
that you begin building your own equityearly instead of paying someone else's. Am
super thankful for that because thankfully,I guess you know, with that being
so young, we had so manyobstacles, I guess because we really weren't
(05:55):
sure where to go or what todo. But whenever we purchased our first
home, luckily my husband was inthe Marines in the Marine Corps, so
we were able to do a valo, so we got a little bit more
incentives. But then that doesn't necessarilymean I guess that there aren't products available
for everyone, because first Financial wereally do have a lot of programs and
(06:16):
we make home purchasing or home buyingreally affordable. Yeah, and it can
be challenging when people think, oh, I have to have twenty percent down,
I need all this money to buya house. So we're going to
talk about some of the ways thatyou don't need that you don't have to
have that. Now, do Ithink that's ideal, Yes, Ideally,
(06:36):
if you can put twenty percent down, that's a great way to purchase a
home. But if you want toget into a home and start building your
own equity instead of renting and payingsomeone else's sometimes getting into it for less
money down is the best option.So we're going to talk about ways that
we can do that here. Inone of our next segments, yeah,
(06:57):
because at the end of the day, it is a long term invest in
yourself. That's right. Excited.Also with us is Angela Ballard with Jefferson
County Appraisal District, and Angela,tell us a little bit about you as
well. Sure, I am thechief over at the appraisal District. I
have been there for thirty eight years. Wow. A lot of people come
and say, what did you startwhen you were fourteen? Yes? Yes,
(07:19):
but actually I started when I wasseventeen. I was a VOE student
at Port Author I went to atthe time, it was called TJ.
I went to Port Author High School. I was available to participate in a
vocational office education student went to workpart time and went to school part time.
(07:41):
And I thought, oh my gosh, this is fabulous. I get
to make money while I'm in school. So it was. It was an
excellent program. Of course, afterI graduated, applied for jobs. I've
moved throughout the office. I workedin every department there is, and i
applied for the chief and got it, and I've been the chief for eight
(08:01):
years and it's you know, beengreat. Well, I love that is
how you started. Um. Ithink for so many people, they think
going to college and only finding ajob that way is an option, and
going to college while you're doing thatand working there is great. But the
(08:22):
fact that many of the schools,even back then, we're doing that VOE.
I was a VOE student, Mysister was a VOE student. And
so getting that that opportunity to bein a business segment session, you know,
to be somewhere where you're watching howbusiness works and learn the responsibility.
I love that. In thirty eightyears, so you've seen it all.
Really, you've seen a lot.Yep, there's been a lot of changes
(08:45):
throughout the years, and um,some good, some bad, but you
know, it's it's a good placeto work. And and i've you know,
like I said, stayed there andyou know, built my future there.
Don't plan on changing, you know, to go to another field.
Yeah, you know, it's beengreat. Well, and we were talking
earlier. You your children are here, your grandchildren are here, and you're
(09:07):
a lifelong resident. So what Ithink those qualities and traits make for a
great chief at the appraisal District becauseyou're in our community. You understand the
needs, you understand the challenges,and so I look forward to visiting with
you here shortly about all of thenew tax reform that we have. Such
(09:28):
exciting news that we got this week. It is exciting, it's very exciting,
and you've worked to let us knowa little bit about So how is
that going to change our taxes?So in our next segment we're going to
actually visit about that and talk abouthow does that impact the homeowners in Southeast
Texas. So you guys want tostay tuned for the next segment. Also
with us is Tish Cornell. Sheis representing the Chamber of Commerce with the
(09:54):
Spice of the Season and that iscoming up. But before we talk about
that, Tish, tell us alittle bit about you. I am also
a lifelong Southeast Texas resident. Iwas born in Beaumont at Saint Elizabeth's Hospital,
where my grandmother was a labor anddelivery nurse. So my grandmother actually
helped deliver me. Right, Ican't imagine there are many people that have
(10:18):
the opportunity to say that. Right. I love Beaumont, you know,
I know that. Um. Youknow, sometimes people are really passionate about
where they live and then other peoplealready can't wait to get out, and
whenever it comes to our hometown.I graduated from Westbrook. I'm a Lamar
graduate as well, and I justall my you know, my families here
(10:39):
and I love our community. Ilove seeing all of the art that's growing,
all of the new restaurants, thedifferent types of food. There's just
so much that we have to offerhere. And I really love our area.
It's a good headcown spot. Andwhile I grew up in Neederland,
my husband moved me to Beaumont thirtyyears ago after we got married, and
(11:01):
I call Beaumont home now. AndI'm like you, I think we have
so much to offer. But thebenefit is that we have all the surrounding
areas. We have Orange and wehave changarlog gardens, we have the lecture
theater, we have port natures withthe wheelhouse we have we have so many
things that are so close that wehave great opportunity for growth, and we
(11:24):
have great opportunity for entertainment. Andlike you said, the arts you see
where we you know, mural feststhat the CVB put on. Just so
many things that we have here thatI think we often take for granted.
You know, Terrell Park, theNature Center, so many amazing things,
so if you don't know a placeto go to find all of that information
(11:48):
out, you can go to theCVB online Facebook page and that is Beaumont
Events and you can find all thethings that are going on in Beaumont that
you can get connected with. Sowhen we come back in our next segment,
we're going to get started with AngelaBillard and talk about how does that
tax reform that was announced this week, how does that affect you and your
(12:11):
taxes where you live. You're notgonna want to go away. This is
Dana Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show. Would you need to sell your home?
No one makes it easier than DanaSimmons of Danas Simmons, Really sell
your home. Don't hesitate Simmons realWelcome back. This is Dana Simmons and
(12:37):
I am joined today by Angela Billardiis the chief what Chief what Chief Appraisers
at the Jefferson County Appraisal District.I know you're chief. I just didn't
want to make sure I got theright chief. Yeah. And we've been
talking in the break and also inour last segment about the tax reform that
(12:58):
was passed by the Texas legislature andthat was just some really good news for
taxas property owners. So, Angie, you were saying that you were looking
at a few things to try tosee how is this going to impact a
typical homeowner and how this will affecttheir base tax amount. Okay, well,
(13:22):
let me give you a little informationof what was passed from the House
and the Senate. They just signedit yesterday and its Senate bill too.
So there's two things in there thatreally helps taxpayers. The first one is
called a compressed rate and it's dealingwith the school district rate. It is
a compression that's going to save aboutten cents on the tax rate and that's
(13:45):
going to be for all properties.The other thing that was signed on that
bill is going to be one hundredthousand dollars homestead exemption on the state level.
So if you're entity, if yourschool gives a local option exemption,
they're still going to get that andin addition they're going to get one hundred
thousand. So with those two itemsright there, it's going to save taxpayers
(14:11):
about a thousand dollars on their taxesthis year. Now, this will have
to go out to the voters.It needs a constitutional amendment, so it
has to go to the voters,and that's going to be on the ballot
in November. The other thing thatwas listed on this bill, it's called
a circuit breaker, and we kindof know that as a cap and what
(14:33):
that is. It's going to bea twenty percent cap up to five million
dollar value on non homestead properties,and that is something that's going to save
your non homestead properties. But thiswill not go into effect to twenty twenty
four. The other two will gointo effect in twenty twenty three, and
(14:56):
I'm sure everyone's going to get outand vote for it. It's gonna,
you know, vote no to sometype of tax reduction. But those are
the items that you're going to seeon the ballot. And it's my understanding
it's going to be under one proposition. That's what i've heard. Don't know
if that's how it's going to actuallyread on the ballot, but I heard
(15:16):
it's going to be one proposition thatvoters will have to vote for. Well,
what I love about this is thatyou were so willing to come on
the show so quickly after learning aboutwhat was going on, to be able
to tell us and inform all ofus on what it means. You know,
it's it's so good to hear.Okay, property tax reform, but
(15:37):
then what does that mean? Andwhat are the details? And I love
the way you went through all ofthat for us. But when you say
save people a thousand dollars, that'slike a thousand dollars. It's not like
taking a thousand dollars off your basetax amount. It's taking a thousand dollars
off what you actually pay. Thatis correct and what you're going to see
(16:00):
too, because it has to goout to the voters. That's not going
to take place until November. Taxbills will still go out and this is
of course not a function that myoffice deals with. That is the tax
office function is getting tax bills.Well, but it's my understanding there's going
to be language that's going to showwhat your taxes are going to be with
the new one hundred thousand homestead andthe compressed rate. Okay, yeah,
(16:25):
I was wondering when you say that'snot going to pass until or it's not
going to go for a vote untilNovember, and typically we get our tax
bill late October November, and soyou're we're going to what the state is
going to send or whoever sends thattax bill out is going to send it
out with the assumption that that's goingto pass. Is that what I understand.
I think they're going to actually havelanguage for both, for both,
(16:48):
okay, so that we'll know afterthe election which way we have to pay.
That is correct, okay, becausetaxes are paid interrears, and that's
something I have to explain to peoplea lot. You know, when someone
goes to sell their house and I'mlike, okay, well you're going to
owe until June through June for thetaxes, are like, no, I
(17:11):
paid my tax bill last year.No, you haven't paid twenty twenty three
taxes yet you paid twenty twenty twotaxes. And so having that paid in
arrears allows us not to have topay that bill until we already know what's
going to happen with that election.That is correct, And the bills don't
go out until the whole process hastaken place. So our notices go out
(17:33):
in April, which shows you whatwe've appraised it at. And then there
is a process that you can take, you know, by going to an
informal hearing. If you don't agreewith it going to before the Appraisal Review
Board, so all that takes placefirst before we send values over to the
tax and jurisdictions for them to applytheir rates. Gotcha. And you were
(17:55):
saying that process of being able totalk about wanting to adjust your value ends
on Monday, right, Well,you can come in any time and talk
to an appraiser. Okay, youcan look at you know, they'll go
over your account with you. Butto actually protest that deadline passed back in
May, gotcha. Okay, Well, and one of the things I know
(18:17):
that a lot of people have beentalking about is the fact that it seems
like across all of Southeast Texas,tax values went up a little bit and
a little bit more for some people. And that was a challenge. It
was a challenge for every appraisal district. I know that when I would go
on to the Orange County Appraisal Districtsite to pull tax information for a client,
(18:40):
they would have their little blurb onthere or Harden County Appraisal District that
talked about the fact that listen,we're all struggling with this and this is
a hard time for all of us. We're all working together to try to
make this happen. But the goodthing is this new tax reform is absolutely
going to help us in the longrun. And one of the things that
(19:00):
people may not realize as well isyes, your values may go up,
but if you are homesteaded in thatproperty, while the value can go up,
you're limited in what the taxable ratecan be on what the value is.
Correct, there is a cap,a cap, but you have to
be you have to own it fora whole year right before you would even
(19:21):
qualify, So you wouldn't qualify untilthe following year, the following year that
you've owned it for the full year. But there is a ten percent cap
on homestead, and then in twentytwenty four there will be a twenty percent
cap on non homestead. Now they'recalling it circuit breaker, right, they're
not calling it a cap, butwe know it as a cat, right,
which is helpful for property owners Forexample, like me, I own
(19:45):
my commercial building that our office islocated in. So for something like that,
that's going to help limit the totalamount that it can be raised in
value to twenty percent annually. Correct. Right, And what you'll see,
you'll see two numbers. You're alwaysgoing to see a market value number,
right, and then if you havea cap, there's going to be another
(20:06):
number that it is either going tobe referred to as an assess value,
a cap value. We may beseeing circuit breaker a cap. I'm not
sure how they're going to make usword that. Okay, you're always going
to see both, so the marketvalue can keep going up to whatever the
market is dictating. And that's whata lot of districts have had to do.
(20:27):
We you know, we're a nonsales disclosure state. It's hard for
us to get sales information. Wehave to rely on the previous year's sales
to be able to turn out noticesin April, and sometimes it's difficult.
It's challenging because of the limited salesinformation that we have access to. Yeah,
(20:47):
so when you're making those estimations,sometimes it's hard because you don't know
the condition of the interior of thatproperty until someone comes and says, hey,
you know, i'm this is whatmy house is like. And so
that's why the protest system and beingable to protest is so important for people
to be able to have their voiceheard, to give you an opportunity to
(21:07):
see what it is that's there absolutely, because when we send notices out,
we can't list everything, so wedo depend on property owners to come in
and tell us what's going on insidethat home. Yeah. Well, I
am so excited about this new informationjust coming out and for you to be
able to explain it, explain itto me in a way that can understand
exactly what it is that and howit applies to me and also to my
(21:33):
clients and my customers. So whenwe come back, we're going to visit
with let Saucedo and she's going totalk to us about how exciting things are
about the zero down conventional loan,and we also have Tishe Cornell. We're
going to talk about spice of theseason. So don't go away. Lots
of exciting news today. This isDana Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show.
(21:55):
Would you need to sell your home? No one makes it easier than Dana
Simmons of Dana's Simmons. Really don'thesitate. Simmons. Welcome back. This
is Dana Simmons and we have afull show today. We have just been
visiting with Angie Ballard, the chiefappraiser at the Jefferson County Appraisal district.
(22:19):
She's been talking to us a littlebit about how that new um, what
the legislation showed on the tax reformthat was voted on yesterday, and how
that impacts us in our area.It was such great information and talking about
the average person is going to seeabout a thousand dollars savings on their tax
(22:41):
bill, so that is super exciting. Also with us is Tish Cornell and
Tish is going to talk a littlebit about Spice of the Season. So
Tish for anyone who doesn't know whatis Spice of the Season. Spice of
the I'm sorry. Spice of theSeason is hosted every year by the Greater
Beaumont Chamber of Commerce. This isthe twenty third annual Spice of the Season.
(23:03):
It was actually born out of theLeadership Beaumont Program class of twenty twenty.
It is all the proceeds benefit theBeaumont Chamber Foundation, and the Chamber
Foundation is the foundation that is connectedwith the Chamber that provides the programs for
youth and adult leadership and developmental programs, things like Leadership Beaumont Lemonade Day.
(23:26):
Yeah, and I was going tosay, I think Leadership Beaumont's one that
my daughter's actually going to get toparticipate in this year. So I think
those are great programs that start withour younger people to grow them up into
understanding how to participate in Beaumont andhow to grow their leadership in our area.
So that's super exciting. Yes,it is. It's a tremendous program.
(23:48):
And you know, look at oneof the things that Leadership Beaumont has
done. I know for me,it's connected. When I went through,
connected me with so many different friendsthat I made in so many different fields
in our area. You learn somuch more about your community and you make
great connections and find ways. Youknow, whenever you're in the different fields
where you just want to help peopleand then you're connecting and finding ways that
(24:11):
you can help people with what youdo, it just you know, it
grows your community and it grows yourfriendships and in your business. Yeah.
Absolutely, And so Spice of theSeason is going to be held Win let's
talk a little bit about that.It's gonna be Friday, July twenty eighth,
six pm at the Downtown Event Center. It is a very high energy,
(24:33):
fun, let your hair down andget silly event. It's a it's
a great fundraiser. I will saylast year we had a Saturday Night Live
theme and the characters were just unreal. It was a lot of fun.
You know when you see Judge Brandittget up and seeing or Jimy Tailor sing
in Sweet Caroline. You know,everybody just letting loose and you know,
(24:56):
not having to be so professional.It's like, let's just have some good
fun and good good eats and raisemoney for a great cause. And so
talk about this year's theme. Sothis year's theme, I'm thrilled to be
the chair and be able to workso closely with the chamber to get everything
going for Spice. But it's rockand roll Hall of Fame. I feel
like music is a great way toconnect people because everybody likes to sing along
(25:21):
and you have your favorite band,So rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Anybody that was inducted in the Hallof Fame, dress up like that person
and transform into that person for thenight if you'd like to. It's like
everything is a go for Spice,and so part of the fun is just
seeing that, seeing all of thedifferent costumes and people and how they're dressed.
(25:41):
But let's say you don't really wantto do the full costume. What
are some options that you might coulddo if you are uncomfortable in a full
costume. We completely understand. Youcan wear just your regular clothes. You
can wear a rock t shirt ofyour favorite rock band, or just like
I said, just regular close.We just want everybody to come and have
fun and enjoy the night, enjoybeing waited on by celebrity rate waiters.
(26:06):
Each table will have their own setof waiters. It is a We provide
a full four course meal that isdelivered to your table by whichever rock star
you're going to get. And weare catered this year by local rock stars
Lisa Coon at the Texas Star Barand Grill at the Brentwood Complex. So
we have a great menu lined upand very excited to be able to have
(26:29):
them cater for spite of the season. If someone's interested, tell me how
much are the tickets and how dothey get registered for that tables. If
you want to purchase an entire table, they are seven fifty and then tickets
are one hundred dollars per person.You can call the Chamber office at four
O nine eight three eight six fiveeight one or you can register online at
(26:51):
BMTCOC dot org. That's some greatinformation and that sounds like so much fun.
So if you don't have any plansfor July twenty eighth, you should
register for that event and you cando that again on the Chamber of Commerce
website, or you can give thema call at the Chamber. They'll be
happy to help you. Also,if you have any questions for us today,
(27:15):
I haven't mentioned that this is alive show, so you can call
in at four zero nine eight ninesix five five eight four and we're happy
to answer any of those questions youmay have. When we come back,
we are going to talk to ArletteSaucedo about some of the things that First
Financial Bank has to offer. Forif you're thinking about buying a house,
(27:36):
what are some affordable ways for youto get into that home. We've already
talked to Angela Ballard about how taxesare going down, that's going to be
a little bit more affordable, andso how can we get you a more
affordable interest rate with maybe even lessmoney down for a down payment. So
don't go away, you're going towant to hear all about it. This
is Dana Simmons with the Dana SimmonsShow. Would you need to sell your
(27:59):
home? No one makes it easierthan Dana Simmons of Dana Simmons Really Home
Go, Hesitate Simmons, Realles,Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and
we are enjoying a phenomenal show todaywith lots of great information. Joining us
(28:21):
now to talk about what First FinancialBank has to offer us. Arlette Salcedo
and Arlette super excited about the factthat you talked in the very first segment
that you bought your first home attwenty one, you and your husband,
and your husband was able to geta zero down payment because he was a
veteran, so he was able toget that. But now First Financial has
(28:41):
a program available that will allow peopleto buy a house was zero down and
it's a conventional loan. Talk alittle bit about that so with this program,
because it is, like you said, it is a conventional loan.
So I know that a lot ofthe times whenever people here that or they
hear zero percent down, or theyhear no down payment or anything like that,
(29:04):
they automatically think that it's like agovernment backed loan or anything like that,
and they'll think that the appraisal requirementsare going to be more challenging more
challenging, but this really it's aconventional loan product. We get a conventional
appraisal, and it's creative underwriting becausewe know that not every single person is
going to be able to check offevery single box on that list that you
(29:27):
know, everyone thinks that they haveto check off. The affordable program that
we have, We've had it fora while and ever since it came out,
I've been working on it. Mostrecently we have it to where we've
even made it with all of thechanges that have occurred and all of the
changes that have been happening, we'vemade it even an even better product by
(29:49):
being able to offer no down paymentfor certain properties that qualify for it,
as long as the borrower we're alsoqualifies for it. And you know they're
going to be areas that are underservedare going to be underserved, and we
want to be able to be inthe community and see where the differences are
and how we're being an impact andhow we're able to make those changes and
(30:10):
making home buying affordable, because thatreally is the plan and that's the overall
objective, and just because you hearunderserved doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad
area. It doesn't. It doesn'tmean that at all. You have properties
dying that are listed in Brayfield Laneand Claybourne Drive and Beaumont. You also
have properties and Lilly and Yasmin andBeaumont that qualified for it. But two
(30:33):
of the properties that I do wantto highlight because they qualify for zero percent
down because we do have a littlebit of requirements, a little bit of
requirements that go along with it.But one of the properties for sure that
I would like to go over isteno to Cooper Drive, an Orange right.
That is one I think you've justlisted recently, and that's great for
first time homebuyers. Imagine being ableto go into a home without a down
(30:59):
payment and knowing, Okay, yes, you may still have let's say a
bit of closing costs. I'm notgoing to say that you won't have that
too, but that's going to bea lot better to be able to cover
with maybe seller paid clothing or whateverit is that you can do, or
if maybe you do have a littlebit of a cushion saved up for that,
and that property on Cooper Drive andOrange is going to be one of
(31:22):
those that great for first time homebuyersbecause it's in the lower sales price.
It's ninety eight thousand, and yourmonthly payment is going to be lower for
that. And then what another thingis that's a long term investment that you're
making in yourself. So if you'rethinking about it, you know, consider
those properties because it's going to bebest to be able to make that long
(31:42):
term investment in yourself and be ableto get that property because like I remember
being whenever I first purchased, beforewe even first purchased our home, it's
not a big home. It wasprobably a home just like this one was.
And but before that, you know, I'm grateful because I had my
mother in law and we lived ina small studio apartment like in the bag
(32:05):
behind her home, and so wewere able to even though we had a
no down payment, we were ableto kind of save up for our closing
costs. But another property that Iwould like to highlight is the property that
you have on thirty eight eighty Hollanddriving Beaumont. Maybe you are still a
first time home buyer, but thisone's going to be a little bit bigger.
If you have kids, or ifyou want a bedroom for your kids,
three beds, do bath right,right, okay, And that also
(32:30):
qualifies for no down payment. Soif you're thinking that you might not have
the funds to be able to bringin for that home or whatever it is,
because a lot of the times wehear, oh, we're gonna need
a large down payment, we're gonnaneed this, we're gonna need that,
and that's not the case. Youjust have to know where to ask or
(32:50):
what's available to you. Yeah,and I think that's why I wanted to
have you on the show. AndFirst Financial does a great job of getting
creative. The the challenge is lettingpeople know about it because they're unaware,
and so educating everyone out there thatthere are ways to get into homes with
(33:10):
very little money down. And Iknow there are some people who say,
well, that's not a great idea. Well, it's not the ideal idea.
I said it earlier. You know, if you're able to put twenty
percent equity into a home, thatis ideal, that really is good.
But there are people who can't dothat. They're starting out that something has
happened in their world and instead ofrenting a home or renting an apartment.
(33:35):
Being able to begin to build equityin a home begins to build wealth.
Only a home is a great wayto start building wealth because not only are
you paying into a property to lowerwhat you owe, but you're also over
time because historically, especially in SoutheastTexas, we see prices going up.
(33:57):
Now, all real estatis cyclical.There are seasons and there are down seasons.
But overall, in the last almostthirty years that I've been in real
estate, we've gone up tremendously.Where we were when I started to where
we are today is incredible on thevalues of homes and what has changed.
So owning a home in that timeperiod not only builds equity through your payments,
(34:21):
but also builds equity through time andvalues increasing. So putting down a
little bit is better than not buildingthat equity. And so the question is
if someone doesn't know do I qualifyfor this or don't I qualify for that,
how would they get that information orlet how would they find out the
information that you have? Give usa call. If you ever wanted to
(34:44):
give me a call so that wecould go over all of that information,
you can call me at four Onine four seven four one five zero three
because it's so much easier. Thatis my cell phone number. You can
reach me if it's just hot,like just topics that you wanted to go
over key points highlight. Yeah,then I'm happy to go over that with
you. We have a lot ofadvertising on Facebook that you might be able
(35:07):
to follow us on Facebook for it'sFirst Financial Bank Mortgage and I just First
Financial Bank Southeast Texas Region. Ithink we share a little bit more just
for Southeast Texas there and then believeyou share a lot on social media as
well, where we have our contactnumber. You're also on where if someone
wanted to make an application online justto look into because there's not just this
(35:29):
program. What I love is thatthere are so many options and it's not
like one person fits into one box, you know, or everyone doesn't fit
into one box. You guys haveso many programs that you say, Okay,
let me look at your situation andlet's figure out which box you do
fit into for a mortgage and whichis going to benefit you the best.
(35:51):
So if someone wanted to apply online, how would they be able to do
that search so they can go toFirst Financial Bank Mortgage and they should be
able to find our page where theycan click on their loan officer that they
want to apply with, and thenfrom there they can go ahead and they
can either download the mobile app tosubmit their application, and our mobile app
has a really cool feature. Ifthere's any documents they want to upload,
(36:13):
they can go ahead and just scanit with their phone and it'll all upload
automatically, or they can just completethe process online. But then once you
have that application and you've submitted itand you've selected your loan officer, one
of the best things that I thinkwe were able to do just across the
board, whoever you get, we'reable to take a look at your full
(36:34):
financial picture. We're taking a lookat your application and in some cases you're
submitting your documents, some cases you'renot, but we're whatever you do submit,
we're taking a look at it.We're looking at your credit report,
and if there's something that doesn't necessarilyqualify you for the program or any program
at that moment, we set upa game plan. It's always best if
you're thinking about purchasing, even ifit's two three million months down the line,
(36:59):
it's always best to apply just sothat we can get you a correct
game plan, and we can makesure you're ready so that whenever you do
find that home, you're able tojust go ahead and say, okay,
I worked on this. Can wecheck on everything again? And as long
as you've followed everything that we've setyou up for, then you should.
You're going to be able to thenat that point to say, okay,
I'm ready to go look at thathome. Let me go make an offer
(37:20):
now, because now I know I'vebeen set for that, and now I've
been working on this and I knowI can go through with it. I
love that so many people think thatthey can't qualify when they can, but
so many people when they can't qualify. I love that the answer is often
it's not no, it's yes.When yes, you can do this,
(37:44):
when you've accomplished these things, andhere is the direction you need to take
in order to be able to accomplishthat, and you give them clear steps
to take to get them in aposition to be able to buy. I
love that about what you got todo. It's not just oh, no,
we decline you you're done. No. And one of the biggest things
(38:06):
is, you know, there's somuch there's so many situations, nobody knows
what anyone goes through. So youknow, whenever we do take a look
at that, we are taking alook at Okay, you know what,
maybe this came up on your credit. Maybe we get to personally know that
that applicant or that borrower and wemake a connection with them, and then
that's how we're able to give themthat knowledge so that they know in the
(38:28):
future. Because it's it's for everysingle person I guess that we've worked with
or that I've personally worked with.Home buying is just the next step for
every I guess, the next step, and it makes it's where everyone creates
home I guess. I'm sorry.And it's it's your heart to want to
(38:49):
help. I mean, it's notyou just taking an application and going through
the motions and sou And that's whatI know about you. It's your desire
to actually help every single one.And while sometimes you can't write at that
moment, you can say, okay, guys, here's what you need to
do. And the other thing thatI love, Arlette, is you talked
about it is you said making thatconnections when you apply to some bank,
(39:13):
who's in tumbuck two and they haveno connections with Southeast Texas, and you
can't go sit in their office andlook at them face to face and explain
your situation. Or let's say youflooded and you were putting a bad situation
for a little while. People inNew York have no idea what all we
went through. Yeah, but whenyou sit down and talk to someone local,
it's like, Okay, I knowwhat you're talking about. It I
(39:34):
understand. Yeah, that was challengingfor many people. How can we move
forward through that? And so Iappreciate you being on the show today sharing
some of those items. I justwant to thank all of you for being
on the show today. I wantedto first say, Arlette, if you
want to give that telephone number onemore time and talk to everyone about how
they can get in touch with you. Okay, you can give me a
call at four h nine four sevenfour one five zero three, and you
(39:58):
can also email me at a saucEdo at FI dot com or a sauce
Do at FI dot com. Ican't say your name or spell it without
thinking that. Whenever Arlette and Ifirst connected and she said her last name
was Saucedo, I'm like, oh, how do you spell that? And
she said it's sauce Do And I'mlike, okay, Now every time I
(40:21):
say her name, I think sauceDo, So I hope I don't say
it. Sometimes that's to be lying. Yeah, it'll just come out.
But the other thing I want youto know about, Arlette is that you
also speak Spanish. I do.So that's very helpful for those who need
that help in making sure that theyknow what they're getting because they're they communicate
in Spanish. So another little plugfor you on the fact that you can
(40:42):
do a great job working with theSpanish speaking customers and clients. Yes,
my parents that's all they speak isSpanish. My kids not so much,
but they try. You're learning,they're learning, huh, Yes, they
are well. Angela Billard, thechief appraiser with Jefferson County Appraisal, just
thank you so much for being onthe show today and sharing a little bit
(41:05):
about exactly what this tax reform isgoing to do for us in Southeast Texas.
If someone has a question about anyof that, how do they talk
to someone at the appraisal district?They can just call in and if the
girls who answer the phone cannot assistthem. They will find somebody that can
perfect. Thank you so much forjumping through hoops to get here today,
(41:28):
even after this was just passed yesterday. I really appreciate your willingness to do
that. And also, Tish Carnell, thank you so much for sharing with
us about Spice of the Season andall the excitement that's going to go on
July twenty eighth at six o'clock atthe event center. If someone wants to
purchase tickets, remind them again howthey can do that. You can purchase
tickets online by going to BEMTCOC dotorg, or you can call the Chamber
(41:52):
office at four O nine eight threeeight six five eight one. I will
say it is a perfect opportunity forteam building if you have a company and
you want to take your team outto get a table and just have a
good night out. So you knowthat's a great idea. Just how when
you say a table, how manyat a table? The table seats eight?
Eight? Okay? So in thetheme rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
(42:15):
where you're rock and roll t shirts, dress up, come enjoy the
evening. If you say Beaumont hasnothing to do, you're just missing out.
Because there's plenty to do here inBeaumont, and you know I sell
real estate every single day. Youneed to speak to us have questions about
real estate. Please don't hesitate tocall us at four O nine eighty six
six eight three two six or DanaSimmons real estate dot com. Have a
(42:37):
great Saturday,
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