March 16, 2026 • 46 mins
On this week's show, Lani White shares the latest updates on mortgages along with helpful tips for homebuyers. Gary Brice also joins Dayna to discuss the dos and don'ts of estate sales.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello Southeast Texas. I'm so glad that you're joining
us today on this amazing Saturday. Hope you're having a
great weekend. We have some fun guests here with us today.
I think you're gonna love hearing all about you guessed it,
real estate stuff. So we're gonna get started with Lonnie White,
who's going to visit with us a little bit about
(00:21):
what's going on in lending world and mortgage rates and
all of that. We're gonna talk a little bit about
what's happening there. And then Gary Brice with great expectations
a state seal. It's going to be talking about estate seals,
Why you might need one, How do you do one?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I love going to them? So how do you find
where they are? We're going to go through all of
that in today's show, but before we get started, i'd
like for you to just get a little information about
who they are. So Lonnie White with First Financial Bank,
you're a senior vice president.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Is that your official executive executive vice.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
President at First Financial Bank? And we've been friends for
a long time, started out in BSF in the evening class, probably.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
In the nineties twenty.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, long that's that's a lot. How many years that's
a lot, I don't know time. Yeah, thirty years ago.
And so we did BSF's Bible Study Fellowship. We're both
still in it, so we're both active in it. Right
now we're doing the Old Testament. But coming in September,
(01:32):
I've got a new study coming.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, Romans.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Super excited about studying Romans. So if you're interested in
some in depth Bible study, give me your shout.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
They have men scripts too, they have they have in
person classes, online person online classes. I actually get the
privilege of doing Bible study with women all over the world. Yeah, Africa,
the UK, people in China and Japan. I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
One thing that COVID really helped us with was to
expand the online presidence.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It really did.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, you don't have an excuse. You don't even have
to get out and drive. Yeah, just so on your computer.
I wanted to mention the student program as well.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yes, so what tell them a little bit about what
is the student program, so that whenever people say student program,
tell them what that means.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah. So in our evening women's class, we have a
student program where you can bring it doesn't have to
be your child, you do. You have to have a
BSF adult there, but you can bring any student between
the ages of six and eighteen and they'll be in
a grouped by age, but they're studying the exact same
(02:46):
material that the adults are studying. I loved that.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
My kids are now in their thirties and I did
the in person class, and I was in the children's
program as well as far as a leader. I was
a leader in the children's program, and my kids were
involved in BSF and it opened great opportunities for conversations.
And I can't tell you how many times something would
(03:10):
happen at school or in their life in that moment
and whatever we were studying right there, we were both
studying the same thing. So I could reference that and
it was real life application to what they were studying
in the Word of God.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, it's amazing how it is God works that out.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, And so I'll tell you today they say it's
one of the best things I ever did as a
parent was to train them and how to study the Bible.
And so it's an incredible program.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
But it's amazing too that I mean, you think in
the United States, I think George Barnet did a study
only four percent of the adults in the United States
have a biblical worldview. And it starts when you're young. Yeah,
I mean, you know, instilling those values in that information
in your kids' minds and hearts when they're young. It's
(04:02):
just so important.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And they even have a day class for people with toddlers.
And if you homeschool, so the day women's class. You
can go to Facebook and go to Bible Study Fellowship
or BSF, and you can find the Beaumont Evening Women's
or the Beaumont Day Women's Class. And both my daughters,
my daughter and my daughter in law attend the day class.
(04:26):
And they have programs for toddlers right as well as
they also have a home school program as well, So
if your children are homeschooled, then you need that for
them during the day. So BSF, it's a great program.
It's incredible. I was just listening to them talk this
(04:46):
morning on a piece about how it started. Whether al
Johnson was a missionary in.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
China, right, actually imprisoned in China for three years.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And was forced to come back to the United States
and just really had a heart for serving God. And
five women in her hometown in California wanted her to
study the Bible, and she's like.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What Lord, She did not want to do it. She
did not like these.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Women have access. I want to I want to develop
people who are unchurched in China. But she was obedient
to those small things. Yes, and God has grown that
program to where there are over half a million people
and guess where it's all already going to classes in
China and China. So he's developing what her heart desired
(05:35):
in a way that's very different than she thought.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
But I love it.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So we just kind of got off track a little bit.
We can talk all day about all day.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, but what we're here today to talk about is
also you and what you do. So while you are
we are both actively involved in that. We both have
full time jobs, yes we do. Yeah, And so talk
a little bit about you, Lannie.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Okay, I am not originally from Texas, but moved here
with my family seventy nine.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Okay, so let's talk about why you moved here. Your
dad he eventually worked at.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
He actually got recruited to come work for the Fair
Store for if anyone remembers the Fair Store, what I
love about that.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I mean, that's that is a long history. Yes, we
loved the fair growing up. That's where when it was
time to get ready for school shopping my mom, we
would go to Kmart, of course, and then we would
also go to the fair. You know, if we couldn't
find I had really narrow feet, and so she would
get upset. She'd spend more money on my new shoes. Yeah,
(06:39):
because that's the only thing that fit. So but so
you came here because your dad was recruited to run
kind of the fair store.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yes, he was recruited to be their CFO. And so
we moved here from Georgia and never left.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I finished graduated high school from Forest Park and then
ended up going to and ended up meeting a Texan
and getting married. So you know, after that, you're not
going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
That's right, nor should you norsh No, That's just the
way life goes. So I've been in lending for about
thirty years or so. I've been with First Financial Bank,
which is the best bank in Texas for about thirteen
years now, and just love what I do. I make
it just about any kind of loan you can think
(07:29):
of to consumers. Yeah, and we're going to get into
that in a little bit, because that's what I do
love about First Financial Bank. You don't put people in
a little box. And there's not only four programs that
you offer if you need alone, there are lots of
different things that you can get alone for. And so
we're going to share some of those things about what's
going on in the lending world, and so in our
(07:51):
next segment, So don't go away. You're going to want
to hear more about that also with me. Gary Bryce, Hello, Hi, Now,
Gary you are. You are very active in doing a
lot of different things. So tell everyone I first met
you because you actually taught my children junior high math.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Thank you. Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I know a lot twenty five twenty five years ago
you were their teacher, and I was so grateful, especially
because I had one child. I won't mention her name,
even though I only have one daughter who struggled with
math terribly and the year before we had had some
(08:36):
really hard times. But when she got to you, it's
like a little light bulb went off some way that
you communicated math to her, gave her inside and just
your patience, your your wisdom. It was just so good.
And so I've appreciated that so much. But you say
(08:57):
thank you, you've gone on and done more. So let's
talk about where you are now.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Well I came in nineteen ninety one and for fifteen
years was pastor of a small church here in Beaumont.
And while I was pastoring, I was also teaching at
Cathedral a part time. And I had the joy of
privilege of teaching Denay and meeting Kendall and then again,
(09:25):
you know mister Feenie in boy Me's world. Yes, I
got to teach her again in high school. And then
when I moved to Lamar and started teaching math there,
I got to teach some of my Cathedral kids that
I had in middle school and high school in college.
I was just like the mister Feenie of Southeast Texas.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And so you are now at Lamar.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I am been there for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, and you but you have a wonderful family as
well here locally.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I do. I've been married. By the way, this is
going to be a special year of all. You know.
It's the two hundred and fiftieth yes birthday of our country.
It's also the fiftieth anniversary of my marriage to Anita,
So we will celebrate in July of six our fiftieth anniversary. Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That is so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And I also become an official antique this year, turning
seventy five in April.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
So wow, is that is that the number for Anti?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That's that's the official number year. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So a lot of big things are happening this year.
Hopefully I get to see them all.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Huh, Well, what an incredible year it's going to be
for you? Then?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Now you also have the side gig, and we're going
to talk about that in a little while, but just
talk about the name of what that is.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I do. It's called Great Expectations of State Sales. About
five or six years ago, my daughter in law, Kayla,
and I used to go a state selling every Saturday
morning and it would be hit and miss, and after
one especially missed sell where things just were not done. Well,
(11:11):
Kayla just kind of said, you know what, we could
do this a lot better. Yeah, I said, yeah, we could,
but we're just two people. And well she kept at it,
and finally we established Great Expectations got our Facebook page
up and got our tables and our signs and put
our shingle out, so to speak, and started in the
(11:34):
COVID year. Jumped right in. That's not a great business
model to started in the middle of COVID, but we
started in the middle of COVID and have been going
ever since and love it. She and I are handling
it with a lot of help on the side.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Well, we're going to talk more about what that looks
like and who may need you and how you approach that.
And you've worked with several of my customers and clients
over the past years and it's been a great it
has been a great situation for them, and so we're
going to talk a little bit about what that looks like.
So when we come back, we are going to be
(12:10):
visiting with Lonnie White and she's going to talk about
what's going on in the lending world. So don't go away.
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is
Dana Simmons and I have Lonnie White with First Financial
Bank here with us also Gary Bright from Great Expectations
of State Sales. We are going to connect with Gary
(12:31):
in just a minute about a state sales. So if
you're thinking about number one, do you want to have one?
Do you want to go to one? We've got all
the answers, so don't go away. But first we're going
to visit with Lonnie a little bit about what's going on.
So Lonnie so grateful and thankful that rates have started
to come down and we are seeing things improve from
where they have been over the last two years. And
(12:54):
for us in real estate, we're happy about that because
it is beginning to set the tone for the real
estate market. But it's really not just real estate markets
that are impacted by rate reductions. Let's talk a little
bit about some of the things that you offer, some
of the things that you do at First Financial Bank.
I know in the previous segment we talked about you don't,
(13:15):
you know, try to put a square peg in a
round hole. You guys offer a huge plethora of options
on all different kinds of loans, So let's talk a
little bit about what are some of those right.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Right, So, mortgage interest rates and just interest rates in
general aren't one hundred percent tied together. Some different things
affect real estate rates, but in general, like you said,
rates have ticked down a little bit, and I think
finally people have gotten used to the rates being where
they are right now. They're really historically very average.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's what we've talked about here many many times. If
you take the last thirty years and you average the
interest rate, Garriott, she's heard me say this before, so
I'm going to ask you. I'm to put you on
the spot here. Okay, if we took the last thirty
years and we averaged the interest rate, what would you
guess would be that average what it is right now?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He's pretty smart.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I no, Actually we're well below that average. So most
people think that because five years ago we had historically low, ridiculous,
ridiculously low, ridiculously low interest rates at three percent. But
that can't sustain and it wasn't sustainable then and it's
(14:38):
not sustainable now. So the average interest rate over the
last thirty years is seven point seven percent. That's average.
And Gary, I'm sure you remember, just like when my
husband bought his first house, the interest rate was fourteen
percent and people were still buying houses. But now they're
under seven. They're sometimes fluctuating under six. I mean there's
(15:00):
some people getting in the five, So fives and six
are excellent rates. But because we have a generation that
saw three percent, they think we're still high, but we're not.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah, and the interest rate on your mortgage is not
all you need to look at and your financial profile.
If you've got a three percent mortgage and you've got
three credit cards that are at twenty eight percent, you're
really not doing yourself any favors.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So let's talk about let's say you do. What are
some ways now you have to cut up those credit cards,
but there are some ways to impact your bottom line
if you refinance right now and get some of your
equity out.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yes, obviously, real estate rates are probably the lowest of
any other financial product. That you can take some equity
out of your home and retire some of that more
expensive debt, you'll get a better monthly payment and you'll
also pay less interest over the life of the loan.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Right if you're averaging all of that together and you're
looking at it, one thing that I'd love is that
you don't live in Vermont and you have an office
here in Southeast Texas. Yes, So let's say there's someone
out there that says, man, this credit card debt's killing
me right now, they can just come and sit down
(16:25):
and visit with you, and you can say, okay, let's
look at our options.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Right, I can, and we can put some numbers together
and show you exactly I mean, you know, mentally, some
people get hung up on what the rate is, but
really what you need to look at is the interest
dollars that you're spending, because who cares if you have
a two percent rate on one thing, but you're over
spending in actual dollars on these credit card payments and
(16:52):
taking you know, thirty years to pay off of five
thousand dollars credit card balance. You're going to pay more
interest dollars over time. So we can put those numbers
together and show you what your actual dollar savings are
going to be.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Well, one of the things we know is that everything's
costing more right now. Yes, So if your monthly budget
is really cramping you and you're in a situation where
you're like, I've got to figure out how to get
rid of some of this debt, it's not a good
place to be. I know, Listen, when I was younger,
I was there.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's a very hard place to be. But there are
some solutions that may be able to help you. Get
out of that monthly crunches and so sitting down and
visiting with someone like you. And you guys have them
all over You have consumer lenders, that's what you do
all over Southeast Texas.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yes, we do. We've got eight branches just in this area.
Oh well, soon to be eight. Yeah, we're going to
be opening up our eighth in June.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Absolutely over on College Street. The new First Financial Bank
is going to be over on College Street. But that's
one of the things that people can utilize your service
as far as just counseling. Honestly, that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And it's free. Yeah, you know, you're not obligated to
do anything, but you know, obviously, if it's going to
save you a good amount of money, it's probably something
that you should take seriously.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
And it doesn't hurt to just look at the big
picture and say, is this something that's going to help
me or not?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Right? And if it's not, you don't do it right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But if it's something that can benefit you long term.
You guys are community activists. Your your goal is to
do what's better for people in our area.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yeah, not not just to make a loan or sell
you a product. Yeah, but to actually put you in
a better financial situation.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Right, because long term people are going to remember that, right,
and that's what you're looking for as long term relationships.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
And you don't always know if you don't deal with finances,
I mean other than your own personal finances every day.
It's just like you know, you're a realtor, we look
to you for advice when buying or selling a home
because you do that every day, right. You know, if
that's not something that you do every day, you do
need to consult an expert and just see what's out there,
what are your options. Yeah, so that's one of the
(19:08):
ways you can help people. Talk a little bit about
some of the other loans that you can assist people
with on the real estate spectrum or anywhere. Yeah, well,
obviously we do all kinds of personal loans. We finance automobiles,
we finance mobile homes.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Now that's something that's challenging because a lot of people
do not finance mobile homes.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
No, they don't, and if they do, the rates are
just ridiculous on what they do. Then, well, mobile homes
can be considered personal property. So when you just buy
a mobile home off a lot, it's got a title
like a vehicle, and it can be moved, and existing
(19:51):
mobile homes could have been moved multiple times, and so
some lenders just don't want to take the risk of
kind of like trying to think of a good example.
I don't want to say modular homes, but prefab homes.
They're just not as well built as a regular wonder
(20:11):
four family construction, yeah, brick home or whatever, so they
don't hold their value as well.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It makes sense.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yeah, so, but we can work out the deal where
we actually tie it to with the real estate for
the land, have it permanently affixed so it does become
what's called real property, which it's not supposed to be
moved again after that, So it gives a bank a
little bit more security.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
And you do land loans as well, so if someone's thinking, Okay,
I may eventually want to build a house, but that's
another place that people struggle finding a lender.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
To do that. Yeah, yeah, we do land loans. We
also do new construction. We can do a land in
new construction together, wrap together, right. We do home equity loans,
which I think we're going to talk a little bit
about later how that can help you if you are downsizing.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, and you just happened to need an estate sale person.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
You just happened to need one.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Wait a minute, Yeah, that's my interest.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
That's you.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You are going to connect those together. Well, Lonnie, you
have so many different products that you can offer to people,
and I think that's part of the benefit. I mean,
it's why. It's really why, Ken and a long time ago,
when we struggled with a big bank here in town
that changed faces every eighteen months and we never were
(21:32):
able to develop a relationship with someone. It's why we
got connected with you guys. And it's been an incredible
experience because I have a person I can call and
say this is what I need, this is something I
can do, and how can you help me? And they
look at the big picture and they say, yeah, this
(21:52):
is something that works.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
It makes a big difference when you have someone that
you can trust to, not, like you said, just sell
you a product, but to look at your whole financial
picture and tell you, you know, Dana, I know you
think you need this, but I think this might be
a better option for you.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Or have you considered doing X Y Z instead?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You know, someone looking out for my best interests. I
looked into refinancing a property and my banker looked at
it and said, it doesn't really make sense for you
if you look at the long term.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
They didn't take a loan because they looked at my
best interest. That's what First Financial has done for me,
and I so appreciate that. So when we come back,
we're going to talk about, Okay, you have a property
you need to sell. You are, just like Lonnie said,
maybe downsizing. You know, you can't take all your stuff
(22:48):
because it's not going to fit in the new place.
So we're going to talk about what are some of
the options if that's something you need to do. So
don't go away. This is Danas Emmons with the Dana
Semens Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and I
am joined today by Lonnie White, First Financial Bank, and
we've been talking about all kinds of different loans that
First Financial Bank can assist you. With Lonnie mentioned there
(23:12):
will be eight locations here in Southeast Texas here coming soon.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
In June, we had the location in.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
College on College Street will be our most recent.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yes, College in eighth right over by Baptist Hospital. YEP.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Super excited for that to open, Lonnie, talk about where
the other locations. I know.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
We have another location here in Beaumont on Dowlin. What
is the hospital called now, Christas. We have a location
in Port Arthur over by Central Mall. We have our
regional headquarters which is in Orange. We have a branch
in Mauriceville, Newton and Bider Yes, Lumberton, Lumberton wows. Yeah,
(24:01):
I'm counting on my fingers.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I'm like, did I get it all? Know? Well.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
One of the things that we didn't mention in the
last segment is that all decisions for First Financial Bank
are made here locally.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes, So it's people who know you, people who can
relate to you, people who understand what's going on here
in Southeast Texas. This is not a loan package that's
shipped up to New York City anywhere.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Like that or just fed into the AI computer and
that's right, yeah, fitting out a result.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
A yes or no.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's your neighbors and your co workers and the people
who know you that help to make those loan decisions.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
And relationship matters. If you need something, if you need
a particular type a loan and you have your banking
relationship with us, and you have your mortgage with us.
I mean, we take all of that into consideration.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Right, And so those local decisions I think are one
of the biggest reasons that a local bank, which first
financial is it is a local bank. Although they have
big backing, it's local decisions made here in Southeast Texas. Yes,
So one of the things we are going to talk
(25:18):
about is how if you are moving from a larger
home and you're needing to downsize, we are going to
talk about what do you do and how do you
do that? And Gary Bryce, with great expectations a state
sell has done that for clients of mine, and so Gary,
(25:39):
let's talk a little bit about what it is that
you do as an estate sell company.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Well, as you mentioned, when a time comes to move
from one house to another or just to move permanently,
you got a lot of stuff. I don't think I
have to tell you that some of us are kind
of two categories. One or hoarders and the other is
those that loose everything from the house. And you'd be
(26:07):
surprised if you go into somebody's house, which I have
on many occasions, and open a closet. It's from the
bottom to the top filled with stuff and they don't
know what to do with it. It's been precious to them.
They've said to their kids, if you want to come
get something, come get it. And they've left all this behind.
So what do you do with all this stuff? And
(26:30):
that's where estate sells, specifically in Great Expectations provides a service,
I think for these people.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
And there are lots of people who could utilize that. So,
you know, it may be that you know, Wannie had
a situation her parents moved into a assisted living Yes,
and so they didn't need everything.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
No, they didn't need hardly anything compared to what they
had in a twenty eight hundred square foot.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Home, I mean, and so things needed to go. Yes,
And so that's one situation that can take place. But
you and I have been visiting about another situation where
it is an older couple that is downsizing to something
much smaller because they have a four thousand square foot house.
(27:20):
Now here is the challenge when that happens. The challenge
is they have.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
So much stuff and.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
The house it's hard for the house to show which
with so many things. So one option is, and what
we have been talking about, is for them to go
ahead and move out and move to a new home
and then allow you come to come in and sell
(27:53):
everything that's remaining. So a lot of people say, well,
how do I do that? Well, one of the ways
that that can be done, Lonnie, is that you can
do a loan.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yes, we have a couple of real estate products that
fit that situation. A lot of times, if it's an
older couple, they have their home paid for so and
they're intending to or theoretically going to pay cash for
the new home, but they want to go ahead and
move before they've sold their old home. So we've got
(28:28):
a loan called a bridge loan that allows them to
allows us to do one hundred percent financing on the
new house. They can purchase it, move whatever they want
to from their old house to their new house. They're
only going to be required to pay interest payments on
that loan for eleven months, and then, of course, once
they've had their estate sale and they get their departure
(28:50):
home sold, then they just pay the bridge loan off.
It's not permanent financing, it's called interim financing.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And we just did that you and I on a
recent home. She's not ready to have an estate Selle
yet but she will be. But right now she is
relocating and so she didn't even know about this product
until and it was such a relief to her that
she didn't have to get her house already and cleaned
(29:18):
out because she has so much stuff in there.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, and that's very stressful if you've never had to
do it, if you've lived in a house for thirty years,
you don't know where to start. And you saved all
that stuff for a reason because you thought it was valuable.
That might have been twenty years ago. Today it's not valuable.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
We don't need forty bags, paper bags, give bags, we
don't need those anymore.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, i'll tell you.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
The other side to that is the challenge is that
a lot of sellers don't want to accept a contingency anyway.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
That is true, Yes, the Bruce so the.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Bridge loan allows you to do it without a contingency,
move out, get settled in your house, and then we
invite Gary in to do the estates self, because Gary,
it's almost impossible to do with them still living there
with their stuff. Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, we tried that. In fact, we had a couple
of instances in which somebody said, we'll just be in
the back room and we won't bother you. Why you
try to set up but it didn't work, never does.
A couple of reasons. Number One, we like to come
in when it's convenient for us. Sometimes it's six in
(30:33):
the morning. But I won't come in in six in
the morning if somebody's living in the house and I
have to give them a gentle knock on the door
to make sure they're dressed and they've had their coffee.
And I might want to stay until ten at night
when it's you know, when I'm not teaching at Lamar.
I can work in the evenings, but I'm not going
to stay that late if somebody's living in the house.
(30:54):
And then again another reason is when you start displaying
stuff and pricing stuff. This is stuff that has been very,
very precious and has all sorts of sentimental value. I mean,
it literally is priceless stuff, and I'm putting a price
(31:14):
on it, which is an insult just to start with.
And so it's very difficult to try to navigate around
feelings and emotions and sentimentality when you're trying to free
a house from its stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
So because people will bring up I paid four thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
For that, and I hate to have to tell them
that it's not based on what you pay for it.
It's based on what we can get for it. In
a two day estate sale with three hundred four hundred
people coming through, you might not find the right person
to pay half of what you paid, right.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And that's the challenge, is that, yes, we think our
things are Oh listen. I work with sellers all the
time and it can be challenging sometimes. I went yesterday
on a listing appointment and the gentleman was shocked at
what I could sell it for. He was like, wow,
I can get that much money for it, and I'm like, yes,
(32:19):
here's the data. Here are the numbers of what's going
on in your neighborhood. This is what you can sell
it for. And he was so pleasantly surprised and excited
about that. But that's not the norm.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I'm not like the state.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
The norm is you just think what you have is
worth more, even it doesn't matter what the data says
or what the experts say. And it's hard. I can
only imagine if the people are in the back room
and people are walking through the house and wanting to
negotiate on some of their stuff that I can see
(32:55):
people coming in do you know what I yeah, literally
in the.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Middle of a cell. So yeah, we made it an
ironclad no longer will we do estate sales when somebody's
still living in the house. Well doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Their stuff is still there too. Yeah, So trying to
make sure there is a separation that people do not
go where they shouldn't go and grab things that they
should not grab. I can see that that would be
an issue. Well, when we come back, we're going to
talk about some additional tips on a state sales. And
if you're thinking about an estate sell, what is it
(33:33):
you need to know and how do you get in
contact with Gary to find out how he can help you.
And if you're like me and you really don't need
any more stuff but you love estate cells, he's going
to give us a tip on where we can go
to find out where the next estate sales will be located.
So don't go away. This is Dana Simmons. We'll be
right back. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and I
(33:58):
have Gary Bryce with great expectations of state sell here
with me today. And Gary has helped many of my
clients who for lots of different reasons have needed to
sell some of their property and get rid of some
of their stuff. One of them, Gary was one that
we had that they were moving to the lake and
(34:20):
the place that they were buying already had furniture. It
was already completely furnished. So they had a whole house
of stuff that you were able to come into. So
what they did was they did what Lonnie said. They
purchased the house in Rayburn at Raburn in that area
(34:43):
and moved in, moved all the stuff they wanted out,
then gave you a key and said have at it.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
That's what we like. We like an empty house with
the access and the freedom to move about and organize
and get things ready for the sell. All we ask
of people, well, first of all, we say, don't worry
about organizing the stuff. You know, that's our job.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
We will go through the closets, we will go through
the cabinets, we will even go through your sock drawer
if you leave it full of socks. We'll go through
everything and organize. One reason we don't like folks to
actually be there is we're going to be throwing some
stuff away. Yeah, and they're gonna go, you'rn't you're throwing
that away. I said, we're throwing it away not because
(35:33):
it's invaluable, but because nobody's gonna buy it. Yeah, it
might have been very precious to you, but it will
not sell. It'll take up space. I can go ahead
and tell you, if you've got a book shelf full
of readers, Digest condensed volumes, just go ahead and toss
it because that won't sell.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
But that's helpful to have you making those decisions. I mean,
how easy is it just to take what you need
and then wow, I'm telling you that's overwhelming trying to
figure out what you're going to do with all that stuff.
So the fact that we can say, okay, Gary, have
at it. I've taken what I want out and you
(36:14):
can have the rest. So that is not only beneficial
to you, but it's beneficial to the client that they
don't have to throw those things away that maybe they
were precious to Maybe they love those readers Digest and
they just can't throw them away. But that's something that
you can go it's not happening.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Right, And we've you know, we've been doing this for
six years now, and we've learned over those years what
will sell and what will just take up space, what
will be left over when it's finished. I mean, how
many people do you know that have the Southern Living
yearly recipe cookbooks?
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah, the ones that I buy for my daughters every year,
the Christmas ones.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Uh huh huh. Well, I tell you what. They will
be there at the beginning of the cell and they
will be there at the end. Oh man, ye I know.
But they got good recipes in them. But everybody's got.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Them, and they're so pretty.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
You just get them on your phone now.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
I know that younger generation thanks a lot, Lonnie.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
There's lots of things you can do other ways that
you don't have to do with hard copies these.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So what are some things that people can expect when
they call you out to their house to take a look.
Say they are thinking, yeah, this is what I want
to do.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Okay, we'll arrange for a time, we'll come out there.
Usually kayl and I will come out there and Okayla's
my daughter in law, and we'll meet them and they
will walk us through the house and tell us their
plans and show us what they got. And there's been occasions,
maybe rare occasions, when we will say, you know what,
(37:53):
there's really not enough here for an estates sell. What
I would recommend, since you've taken almost everything, is have
a good a good garage cell and in a weekend
you can get rid of all this and you can
keep one hundred percent of what you make. But there's
medications in which the house has been full. It's been
not two stories but three stories full of stuff, with
(38:14):
closets and cabinets and attics. And we say, well, give
us three weeks. We will put our tables up, we'll
display the stuff, we'll clean it, we'll price it, we'll advertise,
we'll have the sell, we'll clean out the house when
it's finished, and you will have an empty house and
(38:34):
sixty percent of what we make is yours and forty
percent will be ours for the for the work.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Oh wow, well, let me tell you that is such
a huge benefit to so many. Lani. I think about
you and when you had to handle that for your.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Parents, and I didn't know the part about you'll go
through the closets. I actually did that, you know, before
I knew how the service worked.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
So one of the things that I do love is
that after the fact, you have a vacant house that
I can list, which I did, and it allowed the
house to sell and not have to worry about Okay,
I have thirty days now to get all the stuff
out and I have to do the you know, it
(39:25):
takes the timeline down to where it takes so much
stress and pressure off of you.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Yeah, and it's you know, some people can imagine a
house with other people's stuff in it. They can imagine,
but most people can't.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, especially when it's older stuff or antiques. Oh and Gary,
I just learned what an antique is today.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Seventy five years old.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I had no idea. So if you're a seventy
five or older, you're an antique. Very valuable, yes, yeah,
very valuable. Worth so much so. So Gary, let's talk
a little bit about if someone is in twisted in
first having an estate sale, how would they connect with
you guys?
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Well, the best way is to go to Facebook find
our Great Expectations Estate Sales page and all our contact
information is there, the description and the pictures of our
last sales or there, so you can see how we
will publicize, and that's basically what we do. We'll take
(40:28):
pictures of the stuff that's at your house, we'll describe it,
will send it out to a six hundred plus mailing list,
we'll put it on Facebook, we'll put on other estate
selles sites in Southeast Texas, so that literally tens of
thousands of people, maybe even hundreds of thousands will see it.
(40:48):
And if there's one item that somebody is really interested in,
believe me, they'll come from Houston or further to find it. Good.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Now, the other thing that I really love is that
for those of us who love estate sales, how can
people find where will your next estate cell be located?
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah? Again, on the Facebook page. We will have it
in there early, several days early. Also, if you come
to one of our sales, or if you just send
us a message, we can put your email address on
our mailing list and you will get a personal email
from us describing when, where, in all the details about
(41:27):
our upcoming sales.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
So helpful.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
I love that. Really, if you're a professional estates heale.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yes, A junkie, Yeah, listen, I can't help it, you know,
I like older things.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
We try not to use the word need we want.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Yes, that's exactly right. Well, we were talking during the
break about the fact that I have a lot of
things passed down from my grandparents in our house, and
it's one of those things that when my husband and
I pass away, someone will do in a state sell
of all that stuff because my kids do not have
(42:07):
a desire to have most of it, you know, it's
just old to them. For me, it's precious and it's
a memory of my grandparents. Now maybe my grandkids will
look at it and decide that they like a few things.
But I can see where estate sales are a wonderful
thing for people because they may not have room, you know,
(42:30):
their kids and grandkids may be in a smaller place
and they just don't have room for all of that,
and so being able to do that is critical.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
That's one thing we always preface our contract with is listen,
everything you want, get it out, take it with you,
and then alert your family, Tell all your kids, tell
your cousins, to anybody that's going to want something, tell
them now so they can come get it and they'll
be happy and they won't be disappointed when they hear
(43:01):
that there's an estate sale at Uncle Edgar's and I
didn't get to go and get his rocking chair or
something like that. That's happened before. I say, just tell
them and get it out. We'll be very happy to
deal with what's left.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Yeah, And so to get in contact with you again,
they can go to the social media sites and go
to Great Expectations of State Sales. But is there a
telephone number that they can reach out.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yes, it's a four oh nine seven eight one six
eight three. They can call if they'd like us just
to talk about what an estate sale is, what we
can do, or if they'd like is to come and
actually physically look at their house, and we'd be happy
to do that, right.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
And if you're thinking about that's something you know you
want to do, but you know you need to get
out of the house first, and you didn't know you
could get equity out of your house to use for
the new purchase. An eleven month interest only payment is
one of the things that you offer. Yes, And also
I will mention you know you may not your departure
(44:04):
home may not be enough to cover the full price
of your new home. But home equity ons typically have
lower closing costs if they're under like a two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars mark. So to keep from having
two sets of closing costs, you can take the equity
out of your departure home and put it down on
a conventional loan for the new house. You'll still have
(44:26):
a little bit of equity left once it sells, but
you can go ahead and get your permanent financing for
the house that you want to buy. So it's what
we talked about in the earlier segment that you've got
to sit down with someone who can look at all
the options and say for you, here are the options,
and then allows you to choose.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Yeah. I just had a lady too that she needed
to close really quick on a home, and she but
she didn't want to take the money out of her
retirement account. But I told her, you know, you can
take that out for or at least this is what
I've heard, you can take out for sixty days. As
long as you put it back within sixty days, you're
not penalized. And then you can turn around and come
(45:05):
back to me after you've bought the house and we
can do a home equity loan to pay your investment back.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Yeah, so many different options. So I think that's the key,
sit down with someone knowledgeable who can go through what
are your options? What are my options? In all different
phases of life. So, Lonnie, if someone wants to visit
with you, how would they reach out?
Speaker 3 (45:24):
Yeah, they can call my cell phone and that's four
oh nine three three zero seven five four nine, or
come see me in person in Orange, Texas at the
branch or email at l White at FFI dot com.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
And if someone doesn't want to drive to Orange they
live in Beaumont, You'll even come to the Beaumont branch
and sit down and visit with them there.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Yes, I will.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yeah, So wherever you are in Southeast Texas, Lanni can
connect with you there. So what a pleasure has been
to have the two of you on my show today.
Thank you so much. Hope you have a wonderful Saturday,
and you as well, thanks for joining us on the
Dana Simmons Show. Hope you're having a great Saturday as well.
Have a great day.
Well, hello Southeast Texas. I'm so glad that you're joining
us today on this amazing Saturday. Hope you're having a
great weekend. We have some fun guests here with us today.
I think you're gonna love hearing all about you guessed it,
real estate stuff. So we're gonna get started with Lonnie White,
who's going to visit with us a little bit about
(00:21):
what's going on in lending world and mortgage rates and
all of that. We're gonna talk a little bit about
what's happening there. And then Gary Brice with great expectations
a state seal. It's going to be talking about estate seals,
Why you might need one, How do you do one?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I love going to them? So how do you find
where they are? We're going to go through all of
that in today's show, but before we get started, i'd
like for you to just get a little information about
who they are. So Lonnie White with First Financial Bank,
you're a senior vice president.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Is that your official executive executive vice.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
President at First Financial Bank? And we've been friends for
a long time, started out in BSF in the evening class, probably.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
In the nineties twenty.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, long that's that's a lot. How many years that's
a lot, I don't know time. Yeah, thirty years ago.
And so we did BSF's Bible Study Fellowship. We're both
still in it, so we're both active in it. Right
now we're doing the Old Testament. But coming in September,
(01:32):
I've got a new study coming.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, Romans.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Super excited about studying Romans. So if you're interested in
some in depth Bible study, give me your shout.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
They have men scripts too, they have they have in
person classes, online person online classes. I actually get the
privilege of doing Bible study with women all over the world. Yeah, Africa,
the UK, people in China and Japan. I'm telling you.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
One thing that COVID really helped us with was to
expand the online presidence.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
It really did.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, you don't have an excuse. You don't even have
to get out and drive. Yeah, just so on your computer.
I wanted to mention the student program as well.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yes, so what tell them a little bit about what
is the student program, so that whenever people say student program,
tell them what that means.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah. So in our evening women's class, we have a
student program where you can bring it doesn't have to
be your child, you do. You have to have a
BSF adult there, but you can bring any student between
the ages of six and eighteen and they'll be in
a grouped by age, but they're studying the exact same
(02:46):
material that the adults are studying. I loved that.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
My kids are now in their thirties and I did
the in person class, and I was in the children's
program as well as far as a leader. I was
a leader in the children's program, and my kids were
involved in BSF and it opened great opportunities for conversations.
And I can't tell you how many times something would
(03:10):
happen at school or in their life in that moment
and whatever we were studying right there, we were both
studying the same thing. So I could reference that and
it was real life application to what they were studying
in the Word of God.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, it's amazing how it is God works that out.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, And so I'll tell you today they say it's
one of the best things I ever did as a
parent was to train them and how to study the Bible.
And so it's an incredible program.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
But it's amazing too that I mean, you think in
the United States, I think George Barnet did a study
only four percent of the adults in the United States
have a biblical worldview. And it starts when you're young. Yeah,
I mean, you know, instilling those values in that information
in your kids' minds and hearts when they're young. It's
(04:02):
just so important.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
And they even have a day class for people with toddlers.
And if you homeschool, so the day women's class. You
can go to Facebook and go to Bible Study Fellowship
or BSF, and you can find the Beaumont Evening Women's
or the Beaumont Day Women's Class. And both my daughters,
my daughter and my daughter in law attend the day class.
(04:26):
And they have programs for toddlers right as well as
they also have a home school program as well, So
if your children are homeschooled, then you need that for
them during the day. So BSF, it's a great program.
It's incredible. I was just listening to them talk this
(04:46):
morning on a piece about how it started. Whether al
Johnson was a missionary in.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
China, right, actually imprisoned in China for three years.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
And was forced to come back to the United States
and just really had a heart for serving God. And
five women in her hometown in California wanted her to
study the Bible, and she's like.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What Lord, She did not want to do it. She
did not like these.
Speaker 1 (05:11):
Women have access. I want to I want to develop
people who are unchurched in China. But she was obedient
to those small things. Yes, and God has grown that
program to where there are over half a million people
and guess where it's all already going to classes in
China and China. So he's developing what her heart desired
(05:35):
in a way that's very different than she thought.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
But I love it.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So we just kind of got off track a little bit.
We can talk all day about all day.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
We love it.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, but what we're here today to talk about is
also you and what you do. So while you are
we are both actively involved in that. We both have
full time jobs, yes we do. Yeah, And so talk
a little bit about you, Lannie.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Okay, I am not originally from Texas, but moved here
with my family seventy nine.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Okay, so let's talk about why you moved here. Your
dad he eventually worked at.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
He actually got recruited to come work for the Fair
Store for if anyone remembers the Fair Store, what I
love about that.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I mean, that's that is a long history. Yes, we
loved the fair growing up. That's where when it was
time to get ready for school shopping my mom, we
would go to Kmart, of course, and then we would
also go to the fair. You know, if we couldn't
find I had really narrow feet, and so she would
get upset. She'd spend more money on my new shoes. Yeah,
(06:39):
because that's the only thing that fit. So but so
you came here because your dad was recruited to run
kind of the fair store.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yes, he was recruited to be their CFO. And so
we moved here from Georgia and never left.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
I finished graduated high school from Forest Park and then
ended up going to and ended up meeting a Texan
and getting married. So you know, after that, you're not
going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
That's right, nor should you norsh No, That's just the
way life goes. So I've been in lending for about
thirty years or so. I've been with First Financial Bank,
which is the best bank in Texas for about thirteen
years now, and just love what I do. I make
it just about any kind of loan you can think
(07:29):
of to consumers. Yeah, and we're going to get into
that in a little bit, because that's what I do
love about First Financial Bank. You don't put people in
a little box. And there's not only four programs that
you offer if you need alone, there are lots of
different things that you can get alone for. And so
we're going to share some of those things about what's
going on in the lending world, and so in our
(07:51):
next segment, So don't go away. You're going to want
to hear more about that also with me. Gary Bryce, Hello, Hi, Now,
Gary you are. You are very active in doing a
lot of different things. So tell everyone I first met
you because you actually taught my children junior high math.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Thank you. Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
I know a lot twenty five twenty five years ago
you were their teacher, and I was so grateful, especially
because I had one child. I won't mention her name,
even though I only have one daughter who struggled with
math terribly and the year before we had had some
(08:36):
really hard times. But when she got to you, it's
like a little light bulb went off some way that
you communicated math to her, gave her inside and just
your patience, your your wisdom. It was just so good.
And so I've appreciated that so much. But you say
(08:57):
thank you, you've gone on and done more. So let's
talk about where you are now.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Well I came in nineteen ninety one and for fifteen
years was pastor of a small church here in Beaumont.
And while I was pastoring, I was also teaching at
Cathedral a part time. And I had the joy of
privilege of teaching Denay and meeting Kendall and then again,
(09:25):
you know mister Feenie in boy Me's world. Yes, I
got to teach her again in high school. And then
when I moved to Lamar and started teaching math there,
I got to teach some of my Cathedral kids that
I had in middle school and high school in college.
I was just like the mister Feenie of Southeast Texas.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And so you are now at Lamar.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I am been there for twenty years.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, and you but you have a wonderful family as
well here locally.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
I do. I've been married. By the way, this is
going to be a special year of all. You know.
It's the two hundred and fiftieth yes birthday of our country.
It's also the fiftieth anniversary of my marriage to Anita,
So we will celebrate in July of six our fiftieth anniversary. Congratulations.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
That is so wonderful.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
And I also become an official antique this year, turning
seventy five in April.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
So wow, is that is that the number for Anti?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
That's that's the official number year. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So a lot of big things are happening this year.
Hopefully I get to see them all.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Huh, Well, what an incredible year it's going to be
for you? Then?
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yes, absolutely so.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Now you also have the side gig, and we're going
to talk about that in a little while, but just
talk about the name of what that is.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
I do. It's called Great Expectations of State Sales. About
five or six years ago, my daughter in law, Kayla,
and I used to go a state selling every Saturday
morning and it would be hit and miss, and after
one especially missed sell where things just were not done. Well,
(11:11):
Kayla just kind of said, you know what, we could
do this a lot better. Yeah, I said, yeah, we could,
but we're just two people. And well she kept at it,
and finally we established Great Expectations got our Facebook page
up and got our tables and our signs and put
our shingle out, so to speak, and started in the
(11:34):
COVID year. Jumped right in. That's not a great business
model to started in the middle of COVID, but we
started in the middle of COVID and have been going
ever since and love it. She and I are handling
it with a lot of help on the side.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Well, we're going to talk more about what that looks
like and who may need you and how you approach that.
And you've worked with several of my customers and clients
over the past years and it's been a great it
has been a great situation for them, and so we're
going to talk a little bit about what that looks like.
So when we come back, we are going to be
(12:10):
visiting with Lonnie White and she's going to talk about
what's going on in the lending world. So don't go away.
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is
Dana Simmons and I have Lonnie White with First Financial
Bank here with us also Gary Bright from Great Expectations
of State Sales. We are going to connect with Gary
(12:31):
in just a minute about a state sales. So if
you're thinking about number one, do you want to have one?
Do you want to go to one? We've got all
the answers, so don't go away. But first we're going
to visit with Lonnie a little bit about what's going on.
So Lonnie so grateful and thankful that rates have started
to come down and we are seeing things improve from
where they have been over the last two years. And
(12:54):
for us in real estate, we're happy about that because
it is beginning to set the tone for the real
estate market. But it's really not just real estate markets
that are impacted by rate reductions. Let's talk a little
bit about some of the things that you offer, some
of the things that you do at First Financial Bank.
I know in the previous segment we talked about you don't,
(13:15):
you know, try to put a square peg in a
round hole. You guys offer a huge plethora of options
on all different kinds of loans, So let's talk a
little bit about what are some of those right.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Right, So, mortgage interest rates and just interest rates in
general aren't one hundred percent tied together. Some different things
affect real estate rates, but in general, like you said,
rates have ticked down a little bit, and I think
finally people have gotten used to the rates being where
they are right now. They're really historically very average.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
That's what we've talked about here many many times. If
you take the last thirty years and you average the
interest rate, Garriott, she's heard me say this before, so
I'm going to ask you. I'm to put you on
the spot here. Okay, if we took the last thirty
years and we averaged the interest rate, what would you
guess would be that average what it is right now?
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He's pretty smart.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
I no, Actually we're well below that average. So most
people think that because five years ago we had historically low, ridiculous,
ridiculously low, ridiculously low interest rates at three percent. But
that can't sustain and it wasn't sustainable then and it's
(14:38):
not sustainable now. So the average interest rate over the
last thirty years is seven point seven percent. That's average.
And Gary, I'm sure you remember, just like when my
husband bought his first house, the interest rate was fourteen
percent and people were still buying houses. But now they're
under seven. They're sometimes fluctuating under six. I mean there's
(15:00):
some people getting in the five, So fives and six
are excellent rates. But because we have a generation that
saw three percent, they think we're still high, but we're not.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Yeah, and the interest rate on your mortgage is not
all you need to look at and your financial profile.
If you've got a three percent mortgage and you've got
three credit cards that are at twenty eight percent, you're
really not doing yourself any favors.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
So let's talk about let's say you do. What are
some ways now you have to cut up those credit cards,
but there are some ways to impact your bottom line
if you refinance right now and get some of your
equity out.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
Yes, obviously, real estate rates are probably the lowest of
any other financial product. That you can take some equity
out of your home and retire some of that more
expensive debt, you'll get a better monthly payment and you'll
also pay less interest over the life of the loan.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Right if you're averaging all of that together and you're
looking at it, one thing that I'd love is that
you don't live in Vermont and you have an office
here in Southeast Texas. Yes, So let's say there's someone
out there that says, man, this credit card debt's killing
me right now, they can just come and sit down
(16:25):
and visit with you, and you can say, okay, let's
look at our options.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Right, I can, and we can put some numbers together
and show you exactly I mean, you know, mentally, some
people get hung up on what the rate is, but
really what you need to look at is the interest
dollars that you're spending, because who cares if you have
a two percent rate on one thing, but you're over
spending in actual dollars on these credit card payments and
(16:52):
taking you know, thirty years to pay off of five
thousand dollars credit card balance. You're going to pay more
interest dollars over time. So we can put those numbers
together and show you what your actual dollar savings are
going to be.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Well, one of the things we know is that everything's
costing more right now. Yes, So if your monthly budget
is really cramping you and you're in a situation where
you're like, I've got to figure out how to get
rid of some of this debt, it's not a good
place to be. I know, Listen, when I was younger,
I was there.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
It's hard.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
It's a very hard place to be. But there are
some solutions that may be able to help you. Get
out of that monthly crunches and so sitting down and
visiting with someone like you. And you guys have them
all over You have consumer lenders, that's what you do
all over Southeast Texas.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Yes, we do. We've got eight branches just in this area.
Oh well, soon to be eight. Yeah, we're going to
be opening up our eighth in June.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Absolutely over on College Street. The new First Financial Bank
is going to be over on College Street. But that's
one of the things that people can utilize your service
as far as just counseling. Honestly, that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
And it's free. Yeah, you know, you're not obligated to
do anything, but you know, obviously, if it's going to
save you a good amount of money, it's probably something
that you should take seriously.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
And it doesn't hurt to just look at the big
picture and say, is this something that's going to help
me or not?
Speaker 3 (18:18):
Right? And if it's not, you don't do it right.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But if it's something that can benefit you long term.
You guys are community activists. Your your goal is to
do what's better for people in our area.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Yeah, not not just to make a loan or sell
you a product. Yeah, but to actually put you in
a better financial situation.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Right, because long term people are going to remember that, right,
and that's what you're looking for as long term relationships.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
And you don't always know if you don't deal with finances,
I mean other than your own personal finances every day.
It's just like you know, you're a realtor, we look
to you for advice when buying or selling a home
because you do that every day, right. You know, if
that's not something that you do every day, you do
need to consult an expert and just see what's out there,
what are your options. Yeah, so that's one of the
(19:08):
ways you can help people. Talk a little bit about
some of the other loans that you can assist people
with on the real estate spectrum or anywhere. Yeah, well,
obviously we do all kinds of personal loans. We finance automobiles,
we finance mobile homes.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Now that's something that's challenging because a lot of people
do not finance mobile homes.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
No, they don't, and if they do, the rates are
just ridiculous on what they do. Then, well, mobile homes
can be considered personal property. So when you just buy
a mobile home off a lot, it's got a title
like a vehicle, and it can be moved, and existing
(19:51):
mobile homes could have been moved multiple times, and so
some lenders just don't want to take the risk of
kind of like trying to think of a good example.
I don't want to say modular homes, but prefab homes.
They're just not as well built as a regular wonder
(20:11):
four family construction, yeah, brick home or whatever, so they
don't hold their value as well.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It makes sense.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yeah, so, but we can work out the deal where
we actually tie it to with the real estate for
the land, have it permanently affixed so it does become
what's called real property, which it's not supposed to be
moved again after that, So it gives a bank a
little bit more security.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
And you do land loans as well, so if someone's thinking, Okay,
I may eventually want to build a house, but that's
another place that people struggle finding a lender.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
To do that. Yeah, yeah, we do land loans. We
also do new construction. We can do a land in
new construction together, wrap together, right. We do home equity loans,
which I think we're going to talk a little bit
about later how that can help you if you are downsizing.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Yeah, and you just happened to need an estate sale person.
Speaker 3 (21:06):
You just happened to need one.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Wait a minute, Yeah, that's my interest.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
That's you.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
You are going to connect those together. Well, Lonnie, you
have so many different products that you can offer to people,
and I think that's part of the benefit. I mean,
it's why. It's really why, Ken and a long time ago,
when we struggled with a big bank here in town
that changed faces every eighteen months and we never were
(21:32):
able to develop a relationship with someone. It's why we
got connected with you guys. And it's been an incredible
experience because I have a person I can call and
say this is what I need, this is something I
can do, and how can you help me? And they
look at the big picture and they say, yeah, this
(21:52):
is something that works.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
It makes a big difference when you have someone that
you can trust to, not, like you said, just sell
you a product, but to look at your whole financial
picture and tell you, you know, Dana, I know you
think you need this, but I think this might be
a better option for you.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Or have you considered doing X Y Z instead?
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Right?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You know, someone looking out for my best interests. I
looked into refinancing a property and my banker looked at
it and said, it doesn't really make sense for you
if you look at the long term.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Right.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
They didn't take a loan because they looked at my
best interest. That's what First Financial has done for me,
and I so appreciate that. So when we come back,
we're going to talk about, Okay, you have a property
you need to sell. You are, just like Lonnie said,
maybe downsizing. You know, you can't take all your stuff
(22:48):
because it's not going to fit in the new place.
So we're going to talk about what are some of
the options if that's something you need to do. So
don't go away. This is Danas Emmons with the Dana
Semens Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and I
am joined today by Lonnie White, First Financial Bank, and
we've been talking about all kinds of different loans that
First Financial Bank can assist you. With Lonnie mentioned there
(23:12):
will be eight locations here in Southeast Texas here coming soon.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
In June, we had the location in.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
College on College Street will be our most recent.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yes, College in eighth right over by Baptist Hospital. YEP.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Super excited for that to open, Lonnie, talk about where
the other locations. I know.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
We have another location here in Beaumont on Dowlin. What
is the hospital called now, Christas. We have a location
in Port Arthur over by Central Mall. We have our
regional headquarters which is in Orange. We have a branch
in Mauriceville, Newton and Bider Yes, Lumberton, Lumberton wows. Yeah,
(24:01):
I'm counting on my fingers.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
I'm like, did I get it all? Know? Well.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
One of the things that we didn't mention in the
last segment is that all decisions for First Financial Bank
are made here locally.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yes, So it's people who know you, people who can
relate to you, people who understand what's going on here
in Southeast Texas. This is not a loan package that's
shipped up to New York City anywhere.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Like that or just fed into the AI computer and
that's right, yeah, fitting out a result.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
A yes or no.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's your neighbors and your co workers and the people
who know you that help to make those loan decisions.
Speaker 3 (24:44):
And relationship matters. If you need something, if you need
a particular type a loan and you have your banking
relationship with us, and you have your mortgage with us.
I mean, we take all of that into consideration.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Right, And so those local decisions I think are one
of the biggest reasons that a local bank, which first
financial is it is a local bank. Although they have
big backing, it's local decisions made here in Southeast Texas. Yes,
So one of the things we are going to talk
(25:18):
about is how if you are moving from a larger
home and you're needing to downsize, we are going to
talk about what do you do and how do you
do that? And Gary Bryce, with great expectations a state
sell has done that for clients of mine, and so Gary,
(25:39):
let's talk a little bit about what it is that
you do as an estate sell company.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Well, as you mentioned, when a time comes to move
from one house to another or just to move permanently,
you got a lot of stuff. I don't think I
have to tell you that some of us are kind
of two categories. One or hoarders and the other is
those that loose everything from the house. And you'd be
(26:07):
surprised if you go into somebody's house, which I have
on many occasions, and open a closet. It's from the
bottom to the top filled with stuff and they don't
know what to do with it. It's been precious to them.
They've said to their kids, if you want to come
get something, come get it. And they've left all this behind.
So what do you do with all this stuff? And
(26:30):
that's where estate sells, specifically in Great Expectations provides a service,
I think for these people.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
And there are lots of people who could utilize that. So,
you know, it may be that you know, Wannie had
a situation her parents moved into a assisted living Yes,
and so they didn't need everything.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
No, they didn't need hardly anything compared to what they
had in a twenty eight hundred square foot.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Home, I mean, and so things needed to go. Yes,
And so that's one situation that can take place. But
you and I have been visiting about another situation where
it is an older couple that is downsizing to something
much smaller because they have a four thousand square foot house.
(27:20):
Now here is the challenge when that happens. The challenge
is they have.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
So much stuff and.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
The house it's hard for the house to show which
with so many things. So one option is, and what
we have been talking about, is for them to go
ahead and move out and move to a new home
and then allow you come to come in and sell
(27:53):
everything that's remaining. So a lot of people say, well,
how do I do that? Well, one of the ways
that that can be done, Lonnie, is that you can
do a loan.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yes, we have a couple of real estate products that
fit that situation. A lot of times, if it's an
older couple, they have their home paid for so and
they're intending to or theoretically going to pay cash for
the new home, but they want to go ahead and
move before they've sold their old home. So we've got
(28:28):
a loan called a bridge loan that allows them to
allows us to do one hundred percent financing on the
new house. They can purchase it, move whatever they want
to from their old house to their new house. They're
only going to be required to pay interest payments on
that loan for eleven months, and then, of course, once
they've had their estate sale and they get their departure
(28:50):
home sold, then they just pay the bridge loan off.
It's not permanent financing, it's called interim financing.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
And we just did that you and I on a
recent home. She's not ready to have an estate Selle
yet but she will be. But right now she is
relocating and so she didn't even know about this product
until and it was such a relief to her that
she didn't have to get her house already and cleaned
(29:18):
out because she has so much stuff in there.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, and that's very stressful if you've never had to
do it, if you've lived in a house for thirty years,
you don't know where to start. And you saved all
that stuff for a reason because you thought it was valuable.
That might have been twenty years ago. Today it's not valuable.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
We don't need forty bags, paper bags, give bags, we
don't need those anymore.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, i'll tell you.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
The other side to that is the challenge is that
a lot of sellers don't want to accept a contingency anyway.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
That is true, Yes, the Bruce so the.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Bridge loan allows you to do it without a contingency,
move out, get settled in your house, and then we
invite Gary in to do the estates self, because Gary,
it's almost impossible to do with them still living there
with their stuff. Talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah, we tried that. In fact, we had a couple
of instances in which somebody said, we'll just be in
the back room and we won't bother you. Why you
try to set up but it didn't work, never does.
A couple of reasons. Number One, we like to come
in when it's convenient for us. Sometimes it's six in
(30:33):
the morning. But I won't come in in six in
the morning if somebody's living in the house and I
have to give them a gentle knock on the door
to make sure they're dressed and they've had their coffee.
And I might want to stay until ten at night
when it's you know, when I'm not teaching at Lamar.
I can work in the evenings, but I'm not going
to stay that late if somebody's living in the house.
(30:54):
And then again another reason is when you start displaying
stuff and pricing stuff. This is stuff that has been very,
very precious and has all sorts of sentimental value. I mean,
it literally is priceless stuff, and I'm putting a price
(31:14):
on it, which is an insult just to start with.
And so it's very difficult to try to navigate around
feelings and emotions and sentimentality when you're trying to free
a house from its stuff.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
So because people will bring up I paid four thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
For that, and I hate to have to tell them
that it's not based on what you pay for it.
It's based on what we can get for it. In
a two day estate sale with three hundred four hundred
people coming through, you might not find the right person
to pay half of what you paid, right.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
And that's the challenge, is that, yes, we think our
things are Oh listen. I work with sellers all the
time and it can be challenging sometimes. I went yesterday
on a listing appointment and the gentleman was shocked at
what I could sell it for. He was like, wow,
I can get that much money for it, and I'm like, yes,
(32:19):
here's the data. Here are the numbers of what's going
on in your neighborhood. This is what you can sell
it for. And he was so pleasantly surprised and excited
about that. But that's not the norm.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I'm not like the state.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
The norm is you just think what you have is
worth more, even it doesn't matter what the data says
or what the experts say. And it's hard. I can
only imagine if the people are in the back room
and people are walking through the house and wanting to
negotiate on some of their stuff that I can see
(32:55):
people coming in do you know what I yeah, literally
in the.
Speaker 2 (33:00):
Middle of a cell. So yeah, we made it an
ironclad no longer will we do estate sales when somebody's
still living in the house. Well doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Their stuff is still there too. Yeah, So trying to
make sure there is a separation that people do not
go where they shouldn't go and grab things that they
should not grab. I can see that that would be
an issue. Well, when we come back, we're going to
talk about some additional tips on a state sales. And
if you're thinking about an estate sell, what is it
(33:33):
you need to know and how do you get in
contact with Gary to find out how he can help you.
And if you're like me and you really don't need
any more stuff but you love estate cells, he's going
to give us a tip on where we can go
to find out where the next estate sales will be located.
So don't go away. This is Dana Simmons. We'll be
right back. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and I
(33:58):
have Gary Bryce with great expectations of state sell here
with me today. And Gary has helped many of my
clients who for lots of different reasons have needed to
sell some of their property and get rid of some
of their stuff. One of them, Gary was one that
we had that they were moving to the lake and
(34:20):
the place that they were buying already had furniture. It
was already completely furnished. So they had a whole house
of stuff that you were able to come into. So
what they did was they did what Lonnie said. They
purchased the house in Rayburn at Raburn in that area
(34:43):
and moved in, moved all the stuff they wanted out,
then gave you a key and said have at it.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
That's what we like. We like an empty house with
the access and the freedom to move about and organize
and get things ready for the sell. All we ask
of people, well, first of all, we say, don't worry
about organizing the stuff. You know, that's our job.
Speaker 3 (35:12):
You know.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
We will go through the closets, we will go through
the cabinets, we will even go through your sock drawer
if you leave it full of socks. We'll go through
everything and organize. One reason we don't like folks to
actually be there is we're going to be throwing some
stuff away. Yeah, and they're gonna go, you'rn't you're throwing
that away. I said, we're throwing it away not because
(35:33):
it's invaluable, but because nobody's gonna buy it. Yeah, it
might have been very precious to you, but it will
not sell. It'll take up space. I can go ahead
and tell you, if you've got a book shelf full
of readers, Digest condensed volumes, just go ahead and toss
it because that won't sell.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
But that's helpful to have you making those decisions. I mean,
how easy is it just to take what you need
and then wow, I'm telling you that's overwhelming trying to
figure out what you're going to do with all that stuff.
So the fact that we can say, okay, Gary, have
at it. I've taken what I want out and you
(36:14):
can have the rest. So that is not only beneficial
to you, but it's beneficial to the client that they
don't have to throw those things away that maybe they
were precious to Maybe they love those readers Digest and
they just can't throw them away. But that's something that
you can go it's not happening.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Right, And we've you know, we've been doing this for
six years now, and we've learned over those years what
will sell and what will just take up space, what
will be left over when it's finished. I mean, how
many people do you know that have the Southern Living
yearly recipe cookbooks?
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Yeah, the ones that I buy for my daughters every year,
the Christmas ones.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Uh huh huh. Well, I tell you what. They will
be there at the beginning of the cell and they
will be there at the end. Oh man, ye I know.
But they got good recipes in them. But everybody's got.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Them, and they're so pretty.
Speaker 3 (37:09):
You just get them on your phone now.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
I know that younger generation thanks a lot, Lonnie.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
There's lots of things you can do other ways that
you don't have to do with hard copies these.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
So what are some things that people can expect when
they call you out to their house to take a look.
Say they are thinking, yeah, this is what I want
to do.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
What does that look like?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
Okay, we'll arrange for a time, we'll come out there.
Usually kayl and I will come out there and Okayla's
my daughter in law, and we'll meet them and they
will walk us through the house and tell us their
plans and show us what they got. And there's been occasions,
maybe rare occasions, when we will say, you know what,
(37:53):
there's really not enough here for an estates sell. What
I would recommend, since you've taken almost everything, is have
a good a good garage cell and in a weekend
you can get rid of all this and you can
keep one hundred percent of what you make. But there's
medications in which the house has been full. It's been
not two stories but three stories full of stuff, with
(38:14):
closets and cabinets and attics. And we say, well, give
us three weeks. We will put our tables up, we'll
display the stuff, we'll clean it, we'll price it, we'll advertise,
we'll have the sell, we'll clean out the house when
it's finished, and you will have an empty house and
(38:34):
sixty percent of what we make is yours and forty
percent will be ours for the for the work.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Oh wow, well, let me tell you that is such
a huge benefit to so many. Lani. I think about
you and when you had to handle that for your.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Parents, and I didn't know the part about you'll go
through the closets. I actually did that, you know, before
I knew how the service worked.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
So one of the things that I do love is
that after the fact, you have a vacant house that
I can list, which I did, and it allowed the
house to sell and not have to worry about Okay,
I have thirty days now to get all the stuff
out and I have to do the you know, it
(39:25):
takes the timeline down to where it takes so much
stress and pressure off of you.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Yeah, and it's you know, some people can imagine a
house with other people's stuff in it. They can imagine,
but most people can't.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, especially when it's older stuff or antiques. Oh and Gary,
I just learned what an antique is today.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Seventy five years old.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, I had no idea. So if you're a seventy
five or older, you're an antique. Very valuable, yes, yeah,
very valuable. Worth so much so. So Gary, let's talk
a little bit about if someone is in twisted in
first having an estate sale, how would they connect with
you guys?
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Well, the best way is to go to Facebook find
our Great Expectations Estate Sales page and all our contact
information is there, the description and the pictures of our
last sales or there, so you can see how we
will publicize, and that's basically what we do. We'll take
(40:28):
pictures of the stuff that's at your house, we'll describe it,
will send it out to a six hundred plus mailing list,
we'll put it on Facebook, we'll put on other estate
selles sites in Southeast Texas, so that literally tens of
thousands of people, maybe even hundreds of thousands will see it.
(40:48):
And if there's one item that somebody is really interested in,
believe me, they'll come from Houston or further to find it. Good.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Now, the other thing that I really love is that
for those of us who love estate sales, how can
people find where will your next estate cell be located?
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah? Again, on the Facebook page. We will have it
in there early, several days early. Also, if you come
to one of our sales, or if you just send
us a message, we can put your email address on
our mailing list and you will get a personal email
from us describing when, where, in all the details about
(41:27):
our upcoming sales.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
So helpful.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
I love that. Really, if you're a professional estates heale.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yes, A junkie, Yeah, listen, I can't help it, you know,
I like older things.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
We try not to use the word need we want.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
Yes, that's exactly right. Well, we were talking during the
break about the fact that I have a lot of
things passed down from my grandparents in our house, and
it's one of those things that when my husband and
I pass away, someone will do in a state sell
of all that stuff because my kids do not have
(42:07):
a desire to have most of it, you know, it's
just old to them. For me, it's precious and it's
a memory of my grandparents. Now maybe my grandkids will
look at it and decide that they like a few things.
But I can see where estate sales are a wonderful
thing for people because they may not have room, you know,
(42:30):
their kids and grandkids may be in a smaller place
and they just don't have room for all of that,
and so being able to do that is critical.
Speaker 2 (42:39):
That's one thing we always preface our contract with is listen,
everything you want, get it out, take it with you,
and then alert your family, Tell all your kids, tell
your cousins, to anybody that's going to want something, tell
them now so they can come get it and they'll
be happy and they won't be disappointed when they hear
(43:01):
that there's an estate sale at Uncle Edgar's and I
didn't get to go and get his rocking chair or
something like that. That's happened before. I say, just tell
them and get it out. We'll be very happy to
deal with what's left.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
Yeah, And so to get in contact with you again,
they can go to the social media sites and go
to Great Expectations of State Sales. But is there a
telephone number that they can reach out.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Yes, it's a four oh nine seven eight one six
eight three. They can call if they'd like us just
to talk about what an estate sale is, what we
can do, or if they'd like is to come and
actually physically look at their house, and we'd be happy
to do that, right.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
And if you're thinking about that's something you know you
want to do, but you know you need to get
out of the house first, and you didn't know you
could get equity out of your house to use for
the new purchase. An eleven month interest only payment is
one of the things that you offer. Yes, And also
I will mention you know you may not your departure
(44:04):
home may not be enough to cover the full price
of your new home. But home equity ons typically have
lower closing costs if they're under like a two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars mark. So to keep from having
two sets of closing costs, you can take the equity
out of your departure home and put it down on
a conventional loan for the new house. You'll still have
(44:26):
a little bit of equity left once it sells, but
you can go ahead and get your permanent financing for
the house that you want to buy. So it's what
we talked about in the earlier segment that you've got
to sit down with someone who can look at all
the options and say for you, here are the options,
and then allows you to choose.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Yeah. I just had a lady too that she needed
to close really quick on a home, and she but
she didn't want to take the money out of her
retirement account. But I told her, you know, you can
take that out for or at least this is what
I've heard, you can take out for sixty days. As
long as you put it back within sixty days, you're
not penalized. And then you can turn around and come
(45:05):
back to me after you've bought the house and we
can do a home equity loan to pay your investment back.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
Yeah, so many different options. So I think that's the key,
sit down with someone knowledgeable who can go through what
are your options? What are my options? In all different
phases of life. So, Lonnie, if someone wants to visit
with you, how would they reach out?
Speaker 3 (45:24):
Yeah, they can call my cell phone and that's four
oh nine three three zero seven five four nine, or
come see me in person in Orange, Texas at the
branch or email at l White at FFI dot com.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
And if someone doesn't want to drive to Orange they
live in Beaumont, You'll even come to the Beaumont branch
and sit down and visit with them there.
Speaker 3 (45:49):
Yes, I will.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
Yeah, So wherever you are in Southeast Texas, Lanni can
connect with you there. So what a pleasure has been
to have the two of you on my show today.
Thank you so much. Hope you have a wonderful Saturday,
and you as well, thanks for joining us on the
Dana Simmons Show. Hope you're having a great Saturday as well.
Have a great day.
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