Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello Southeast Texas. We're so glad that you've joined
this on this wonderful Saturday. We have some exciting guests
for us today, Jessica Welborn, who is a buyer's agent
with Dana Simmons real Estate, and Delilah Benson, who is
with First Financial Bank, and we're going to be covering
topics from the Five Seas about lone requests and also
(00:23):
what is going on in the market right now. You know,
everywhere I go, Jessica, people ask me. Do they ask
you to how's the market? How's the market? That's what
we get everywhere we go. Well, I can tell you
the market is doing pretty well. We're going to go
through some past stats and what we've seen and also
what are we seeing right now here live in where
(00:45):
Southeast Texas is. You know, when you talk about the market,
people often listen to the national news, and the national
news does not always apply to what's going on here
in Southeast Texas. One of the things I've experienced over
my almost thirty years being in real estate is that
often we're about six months behind the national curve. So
(01:06):
when you see people in the nation saying, oh, things
are harder we're slower. We typically aren't, but we also
don't see the vast changes that other markets see. There
have been many times that I've seen people who they're
in on either coast and they're seeing a ten percent
(01:26):
twenty percent annual return on their investment and their real estate. Well,
I can tell you here in Southeast Texas that is
not common. But what also isn't common is those deep
dives that they see as well when they see a
horrible decline in their market. So here in Southeast Texas,
what you can expect annually as an average, now I'm
(01:49):
talking to average over years is about a three to
six percent increase over the value of your home. So
if someone is saying, hey, Dana, I want to move
into this house and sell it in two years, you
may have a little bit of a challenge recouping all
of your costs because there are fees right when you
(02:10):
go to sell. But if you tell me I'm going
to be there over three years to five years to
ten years, then you've got a pretty good chance of
that market increase. Being in a place where you're going
to come out with some equity back in your pocket.
Real estate is always a good investment, but you've got
(02:31):
to look at how much time are you going to
be spending in that home?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Is it going to be.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Short term just for two years? Well, the expectation needs
to be here are the challenges with just being there
two years. So if you are curious, you know, what
is your situation? What are you thinking? We would love
for you to contact our office and we can talk
through that with you. It's very specific according to price point,
according to location. There are so many factors that go
(03:00):
into how quickly is that property going to increase in value?
So if we can help you, we'd love to do that.
You can call our office at four o nine eight
six six eight three two six and that is four
nine eighty six six team.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
If that's helpful for you to remember it.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
You can always go to our website at Danasimmons real
estate dot com and there is a button there that
you can push and we'll put you in contact with
one of our agents who will be following up.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
We are available.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Monday through Saturday eight am to eight pm, Sunday from
one o'clock to eight pm, so if you ever need
to speak to an agent, you can absolutely catch us
in that time period and we are available. Now I'm
going to get a little bit into what does the
market doing this summer. Well, we saw in the last
(03:53):
several years that the market has just changed a little bit.
You know, five years ago, the market was so hot,
things were selling quickly over asking price, multiple offers, cash offers,
we were seeing when the interest rate was super low.
We had a ton of people into the market, so
(04:14):
that our inventory was fairly small compared to the number
of buyers. Well, that has shifted tremendously. The good thing
right now is we're in a pretty even market. So
whether you're a buyer or a seller, that even market
is at about six months.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Five to six months is.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
A really good month of inventory for an even market.
So if you've got less than five months of inventory,
meaning you have less time less property on the market,
that is really a seller's market. And that's what we
had about five years ago. When you get over six
months of inventory, when your inventory is like in nine
(04:54):
to ten months of inventory, that is absolutely a buyer's market. Well,
we're at about six months of inventory right now, and
so what we are seeing we're between five and six
months of inventory, depending on your location and your price point.
We are seeing a pretty even market, which is really
really good. So in twenty twenty four, about this time,
(05:17):
the total cells closed was just over three hundred. Then
in twenty twenty five it was almost four hundred, and
then in twenty twenty six we're again seeing the mid
three hundred range. But I'll tell you the difference between
twenty four, twenty five and twenty six right now is.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The pending volume.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Right now we have a pretty significant pending volume, which
means we have quite a few buyers that have jumped
into the game and said, now it's the right time
for me. Interest rates are reasonable, you know, they're in
the sixes for the most part, and so that's not
a bad interest rate. And I think people are finally
coming to the realization and we're not going back to
(06:01):
three flu. Yeah, it's not happening. And then I've tried
to educate you and said this many many times on
this show. I don't know if you've ever heard me, Delilah.
So I'm gonna ask you this question. Do you have
any idea what the average interest rate is over the
last thirty years? What would you think the average would be.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Average in the last thirty years is probably around six.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Percent set a little over seven seven and a half
seven point seven is where the average interest rate is.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
What thanks, we're doing good and we are. I mean
think in the nineties it was like thirteen percent.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
My husband's first house was fourteen percent and so and
that was in the eighties, So you know it is
I think where people are going, Okay, six and a
half percent in the sixes, that's not a bad interest rate.
I think we're going to go ahead and jump into
the market and find a house because we have an
(06:59):
excellent inventory right now on the market. Right now, we
have almost sixteen hundred houses on the market right now.
That is a really good inventory. Do you know that
in Abilene right now things are going haywire Abilene, Texas,
their total inventory is around one hundred what.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So the challenge there is it's hard to buy a house.
But for us, we're in a great space right now.
All over Southeast Texas. We have a multitude of homes
for you to choose from. And so if you're thinking
should I do that, I'm going to tell you now
is a great time to buy a house. Jessica and
(07:42):
I in one of our next segments, so We're going
to talk a little bit about what are we seeing
though in this market this summer. What are we seeing
sellers do? What are we seeing buyers do? What are
some expectations that you can have as you are considering
getting into the market, whether you are a buyer or
a seller. We want to help guide you through that
process so that you can know what is it that
(08:04):
I can expect. That's the most important thing, Setting realistic expectations.
That's important for you to know. So that's one of
the things we want to do here for you today,
and it's what we want to do every single day
when you connect with Dana Simmons real Estate is we
want to set realistic expectations. Also coming up, we are
going to talk to Delilah Benson about the Five Seas
(08:28):
when reviewing alone request. Can you guess what they are? Well,
we're going to tell you when we come back. This
is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana
Simmons and I am joined by Delilah Benson and she
is with First Financial Bank and Delilah before we get
to talking about the Five Seas, tell everyone just a
(08:50):
little bit about you.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, thanks for having me, by the way, But my
name is Delilah Benson. I am born and raised in Beaumont.
I actually am married with three children, live out in China.
I am a LU alumni. I have graduated later in life,
but I graduate with a degree in communications, and I
have been with First Financial for almost a year and
(09:14):
a half at this point, but I've been in lending
for well over ten years at this point. It's been
a while. So other than that, I mean, we're just
hanging out and doing the things.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
So for those who are maybe new to Southeast Texas,
there is a China in Texas.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yes, I get that all the time.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, so when I have people go China and I'm like, yes,
there is a China Texas and out Highway ninety. And
I love, Delilah, that you have been a part of
Southeast Texas for a very long time. I love that
you're raising your family here. I love that you're an
LU graduate. You know. I just think we have so
(09:57):
many wonderful things here in Southeast is that we take
for granted, and I love that people are utilizing those things.
And I love the fact that you you said you
got your degree later in life. It's never too late,
and with Lamar being right here, what a great opportunity.
So if any of you are out there thinking, I
don't know, I think you should be like Delilah, go
(10:18):
for it. Do it.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Get back into school. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Oh and I went into the Setzer Center for Lamar
not too long ago, several months ago for an event
that was there.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Wow, so nice right, oh.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
My, it was not like when I was in college.
I'm just going to tell you that.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Uh. They even have a Chick fil A in the
Setser Center. So I was so impressed.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I mean, the campus is just amazing and has just
grown so much. So uh and I digress. So uh, Deliah,
we before the break talked about the five seas when
reviewing alone request. So can you give us what are
your five ce's whenever it comes to considering a loan request?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Okay, so hopefully y'all guess this prior to us talking.
But the five sees our credit, capacity, capital, collateral, and character.
And so I don't know if you want to go
ahead and get that broken down. But one of the
main things that we look at, of course is credit.
We look at your credit score, your payment history, your
(11:26):
credit utilization, length of credit history, and we do look
at your recent inquiries. Of course, we look at your score,
but we kind of look at the history of it too.
You know, a lot of people will go through life
and you know, things happen, job laws, bankruptcy, or you know,
just a lot of credit card debt, and we try
to understand the history of what has happened, especially if
(11:49):
someone had, you know, gone through something traumatic in their life.
You know, we want to understand why and what we
can do to help them to fix that.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So let me stop you right there, because I'm going
to tell you that's one of the things I love
about First Financial Bank is that you're a local bank.
Decisions are made here locally, and you sit and talk
with the clients, and just like you said, things happen
in life to all of us. And so considering that
(12:17):
being able to sit down talk across the desk, face
to face with someone, not someone who's up in New
York City making those decisions, who can assist you in
walking through what happened and help you to get there.
So I love that, Delilah. And one of the other
things that I want to talk about with credit is
(12:39):
it's never too early to start that. So sometimes if
you have a high school student or a college student
getting set up on a loan with them with the parent,
maybe giving them a credit card with a limit up
to five hundred dollars that they can manage and that
you can be a part of that to help build credit.
(13:00):
Talk a little bit about that as well.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Of course, it's never too early to start, of course,
a bank account. First of all, always try to put
your children as priority, even if it's something small like
a little savings account that does start to grow credit wise.
A lot of our customers do put their child on
a credit card to kind of start. Of course, they
won't be on it by themselves. You do have to
(13:23):
be on there with them, but it helps establish that credit.
We do offer secure loans and credit cards where you're
basically putting them on a budget. You can start with
the five hundred dollars specifically for a credit card, you
can do the five hundred dollars. After a year of
making on time payments, knowing that they can manage that,
we actually give them them money back and it turns
(13:44):
into a normal credit card, and that's something that helps
establish credit. It helps establish responsibility. For them and kind
of understand how to pay bills, because I mean, I'm
fell victim of the fact of like fresh out of
high school, getting all these credit cards and really didn't
know how to manage it. And so we tried to
help coach parents and students and young adults on how
(14:06):
to just establish that credit because of course, ultimately you
want to be able to have nice things in life,
a new car, a new home, and so that's where
you're going to have to start, is to build that credit.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah, for most of us, we're not in a position
that we can in the beginning pay cash for anything.
So establishing credit early on to ensure that you can
build to that point where potentially you do get to
the place that you get to pay cash for things
because you've built equity and whatever you're purchasing. So see credit.
(14:39):
Anything else we need to know about the C the
first C.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Credit.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
The other thing that some people don't realize is that
credit utilization. There is that kind of rule of credit
card expenses. Try to say, under that thirty percent threshold,
you don't want to be maxing them out. If for
some reason something does happen and you max out that
credit card please pay it down because of course when
we look at your credit we don't want you to
see over the balance over you know, at the very
(15:07):
top of the limit. That does hurt your score, and
you just want to be mindful of that. Also, just
make sure that once you do get credit established, don't
hurry up and open fifteen different credit cards and loans
and things like that. We do look at your history
as far as how many credit cards you've opened in
the last six months to a year, and so we
(15:29):
just want to make sure that someone's not being reckless
and thinking just because they can be approved for a
credit card, you don't have to open up fifteen credit cards.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And really it's a helpful tool. Yeah, I mean, it's
you're not trying to put people in a bad position.
You're trying to encourage them to make sure that they're
in a good position.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Exactly, yeah, exactly. So just be mindful of those little
store credit cards whenever they try to offer you that
ten percent discount, you know, just be weary of that.
But as far as credit, I would think that that's
the main you know, key points on that, So give
us our second c capacity. So it's basically what you're
(16:11):
comfortable in paying. A lot of people will call in
and they say, Okay, I'm looking for a new home,
but I don't know how much I can afford. So
that's your capacity. It looks at your income, your employment history,
your stability, make sure that you've been employed, you know,
and you're not job jumping from job to job, and
(16:32):
your monthly debt to income. So we do look at
how much your debt is like your credit cards, anything
that's showing up on your credit report is a debt
to you versus how much you're bringing in. You know,
there is a percentage on each customer that we look at.
We don't want you to be over extended in any situation,
and we don't want you to be house poor either, So,
(16:55):
and that is a real thing. You don't want to
be house poor because you know that times can be
crazy and something unexpected can happen, and we just don't
want you to be in a bad situation.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, I will tell you one thing to consider whenever
you're thinking about that with the capacity on a mortgage,
one of the things I tell our buyers is speak
with a local lender here because there are things that
come up here that a national lender may not know
for example, our tax base. Yes, you know a lot
(17:28):
of other areas. Other states have state income tax, so
their property tax isn't the same as our property tax.
The other side is our insurance, so our insurance costs
and the difference between a house in Jefferson County versus
a house in Hardin County or Orange County, and what
are the cost differences with insurance when it comes to
(17:50):
that flood insurance. So having someone who is local, who
has been here, who understands all of that is so critical.
So there are times when Jessica can tell you, we
get buyers who don't heed our advice, they get an
outside lender, and then all of a sudden, weeks into it,
(18:12):
when they've spent money, they figure out, oh, our lender
didn't estimate our taxes or insurance accurately, even if we've
tried to guide them that way, right, and it blows
it at the very week's in.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Your insurance is going to be six hundred dollars a
year estimated, Like, no.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
That's exactly right, it's not happening, it's not so you're
right when you're considering capacity. That's just one thing I
wanted to bring up because that can change your capacity
taxes and insurance as a part of your monthly mortgage payment.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yes, and just like you said, flood, flood is a
big thing around this area, especially you know, being in
the summer, it's gonna that's a huge thing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, and so anything else on capacity before we move
to our next.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
One thing I did kind of want to touch base
on with capacity is just kind of increasing your buying
power with that too. A lot of people whenever they
look at their debt to income, you know, of course
you have your autos, your credit card debts. I always
kind of recommend a year out from wanting to purchase
a home that you really look at your debt see
(19:22):
where you can save your money, whether it be refinancing
your auto, to see if you can save on your
interest rate, maybe doing a debt consolidation, which those can
be a little tricky, but just kind of freeing up
some of that revolving debt will help boost your score
and that would help increase your capacity to purchase maybe
(19:42):
a larger home.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Right, Well, we have two seeds down. We have three
more to go out of our five seas. When we
come back. Delilah's going to share those other three seeds.
Don't go away. This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back.
This is Dana Simmons and Delilah Benson with First Financial
Bank has been sharing with us the five ce's on
(20:04):
reviewing loan requests and so Delila, we've already talked about credit,
and we've talked about capacity.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
What is the third sea, We're going to talk about capital.
And capital is what you're saving and your assets. This
kind of helps bring down like your down payment, your
funds that are available whenever you actually close. It looks
at your emergency reserve retirements, any investments that you have,
and we do look if you are consistently saving. We
(20:34):
do want to make sure that you're not necessarily like
living paycheck to paycheck. You know that you can afford
the mortgage that you're wanting to acquire. And then we
do look at assets. If you have any other property
that is in your name that you plan to invest
in the future, or you know, any land, things like that.
Any retirements for one K stuff like that is really
(20:57):
what we look for.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
So that could include equity in your home, equity and
that in an investment property. You own anything that is
a positive asset toward your net income.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yes, even autos, autos, boats. We just look at all
of that to see you know, if you have a
paid off auto, well, that's an asset. That's something that
if you've ever gotten a buind you can.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Sell, you could, right, Okay, Next C.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Next C is the collateral. We look at the home itself.
We want to make sure that you're buying something that
is worth your money. We want to make sure that
that purchase price is not going to put you one
in a buind but also put us in a weird
situation where if something happened that you're going to actually
be in a.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Like a dead down. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
So we do look at your collateral and what that
home is valued at.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And the way that you do that is with an appraisal. Yes,
and so a lot of times when people have they
purchase a house, they do an inspection, and an inspection
just goes through the property may have as deficiencies and
we'll talk about that in a bit where you can
negotiate anything like that, but an appraisal is when that
(22:11):
appraiser is looking out for really the lender while they
are looking out for the buyer. The main purpose of
that appraisal is to confirm that the value is there
in order for the lender to lend, and that collateral
is good collateral.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Right exactly. And a lot of people crack me up
because they always wonder, like, are they looking at my
clothes in there? Are they looking at my light fixtures?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I haven't done this, I haven't painted this room. They
don't look at any of that, by the way, They.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Do look at the roof, they look at the foundation,
they look at the finishes, and appraisers can call I
had someone call me yesterday about a family member who
purchased a house and they're at the end and the
appraiser called all of these things. If this property, they
don't live the niece or nephew doesn't live here, they
(23:03):
live out of town. And so he was just asking
me questions because he's a client of mine about that.
I'm like, absolutely, So that's part of the collateral for
the bank that they're looking at.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
If there is a.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Foundation issue or a roof issue, number one that should
have been caught in the inspection, that you did not
get that far and if you knew about it and
you didn't address it, It's gonna come up most of
the time on an appraisal. So addressing it in the
beginning before you get too far in it is critical.
(23:35):
And having an agent who can help you with that
is also critical. So if your agent is saying, oh,
don't worry about that, we don't have to worry about that. That
won't get called on the appraisal, beware yes, because I
can't say what an appraiser will or will not call.
But if you have a foundation issue and your ruth
(23:57):
is twenty years old, I can tell you it's I
can't say for certain, but it's probable that that is
going to be called on an appraisal, because that's the
job of the appraiser, right They are going to look
at that collateral to see if when things go wrong,
because they can, and they're going to be responsible. That's
(24:18):
the other side that people don't realize that appraiser can
be called back.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
If anything happens.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
They can, and that loan goes bad and they gave
a wrong value or they didn't find things that should
have been found, and so there is a lot of
pressure on that appraiser to make sure they're doing a
good job, and so they're looking out for the lender
to make sure that that collateral is good collateral.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Right, And keep in mind, just like you mentioned the roof,
a lot of insurance agents are going to be looking
at your roof. Yes, So whenever you get quotes on that,
you have to be mindful. If you're trying to buy
a home that has a roof that is almost you know,
due for an upgrade, and you decide to go ahead
and buy it, that insurance can eye rocket or they
(25:00):
can you know, decline it climate.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
And I've had that happen to people that I've known
who decided to move forward anyway, and thirty days later,
the insurance cancels because the insurance inspector doesn't go out
until after you close, and they said, oh, it needs
a new roof. We had an insurance agent in our
(25:25):
office this week, right, Jessica, And tell everyone what was
she saying is really the kind of the cutoff?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
She said about fifteen years. Yeah, when it's fifteen years,
they're going to start really looking at it.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So, and there are some that look at it at
ten years.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
She was saying.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Her company is at about fifteen years as the cutoff.
If that roof is more than fifteen years old, they're
probably not gonna ride it, or if they can get
someone to write it, it's at a reduced coverage and
for a lot of cost.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Right, we haven't had a big windstorm here since two five,
that's twenty one years, and a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Of our roofs are replaced in Rita, and so we've
got twenty one years and the challenges sellers are going.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
But it's not Lencoln, right, But it's fine, it's working fine,
that's right.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
But an insurance company is rarely I'm going to say never,
is rarely going to cover a twenty year old roof rarely.
So we've covered credit capacity, capital collateral. What's our final
c Character?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Character is going to be looking at your stability and
your employments, your previous residents. It looks at your history
of your repaying debts and your overall financial responsibility. So
when I say character, it's it really is truly looking
at your style of how you handle your money. Of course,
(26:52):
we like I said, look at how you handle your employment.
If you are bouncing from job to job, you know
that's not stable to us. That's a little bit of
a red flag if you're constantly changing jobs, and not
just as like a contractor, because that does happen, but
if you're switching from let's say, banking, and then you're
gonna go work in the restaurant industry, and then you're
(27:13):
gonna go into home health, and then you're you know,
every few months, well, that's a little bit of a
red flag. Then you haven't figured out what you're wanting
to do yet. And then, like I said, the history
of repaying debts, We want to make sure that you
are consistent. A lot of people want to hurry up
and close credit cards off. That's not good. Leave those
on there, even if there's no balance on there, cut
(27:34):
them up, but we do want to make sure that
you've paid them and there's that depth history on there
that you could have used the card and you chose
not to. To me, that seems like you were a responsible adult,
you know. And then just having that financial responsibility of
how you've managed your debt through the years. Of course,
like I said, it really just looks at the last
(27:56):
I would say, about five years of credit history for us.
But that's something that to us, that's your character, that's
how you handle it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
The other thing I love about character is that First
Financial Bank has a local board that makes decisions. And
on that local board it's people from all different industry
and people who've been as healthy sex is a very
long time and know the people here, know the industry here.
So oftentimes when the margins are thin, character comes into play.
(28:29):
If someone on that board says, I know these people,
these are good people. We see the history of all
they've done and how they've paid their debt, that makes
a huge difference often in that board's decision to move
forward or not. So that's why I love First Financial.
It's a local company where they make local decisions based
(28:51):
on our local industry and our local people. It makes
a huge difference. And with that, First Financial has currently
locations around southeast Texas, and there's some exciting news happening.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yes, we have a new branch opening in Beaumont, so
uh you know, of course, we have one on Dallen,
which is where I'm located, and then our new one's
going to be on College, so all of Baumont's really
going to be covered now it's going to be really
close to the hospital. I know that there's another VA
hospital being built right across the street, so it's going
to be a great location, easy to get to. So
(29:25):
we're super excited. We have a great team that's going
to be over that branch, and I'm really excited for you.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Super excited about that.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
So, Delilah, if anyone wants to get a hold of you,
give us how they would contact you directly.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Well, I am located again at our Dallen branch is
thirty five fifteen Dollon Road. You can always call, text
or email me. My direct line is the four oh
nine three one three seven nine seven five. But yeah,
you can always walk in. You can always call her tags.
One great thing about our non negotiable is that we
(30:02):
are available all the time. You know, if you even
have to call or text me outside of our normal
banking hours, that's completely okay. We do our best to
respond as soon as we see it.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So I love that.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Well, we really appreciate you coming and sharing the five
Seeds with us today and educating me us a little
bit on what are some of those things that are
necessary when reviewing alone request. And when we come back,
we are going to be visiting with Jessica Welborn. She
is a buyer's Agent with Dana Simmons real Estate, and
we're going to talk about what is going on in
(30:36):
the market. So don't go away. This is the Dana
Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and we
have just been visiting with Delilah Benson and she is
with First Financial Bank sharing the five SE's of a
loan request. And if you missed it, well, guess what.
You can find us on Spotify in the next week
(30:57):
or so. This and all the rest of our shows.
Several of our shows are already on Spotify, but this
will also be on Spotify, so you can go locate
us at Dana Simmons real Estate on Spotify and all
of our real estate shows are there. So excited about that,
Jessica Cu, It's like, wow, growing up, did I ever
think I'd be on Spotify? No, it wasn't a goal
(31:20):
of mine. But look what the Lord has done and
we is good. So today, Jessica, you and I are
going to share a little bit about we talked about
in the initial opening segment how's the market, And we've
been discussing. People come to us all the time and say,
how is the market? So as a buyer's agent for
Dana Simmons Real Estate. Let's talk a little bit first
(31:43):
about what does that process look like, and then tell
us what you're experiencing in the market today.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Well, what it looks like first of all is you
can call into the office or call an agent in
our office and get connected to do a buyer's consultan.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
That's our first.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Step is just sitting down and getting past the three bedroom,
two bath or whatever it is that you know the
facts are, and really getting to.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
The heart of what you're looking for.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
You how are you going to live in your house,
what's important to you, what's going on in your life,
why are you moving altogether? You know, just getting to
know each other and just kind of building that familiarity
and getting to know how it can help.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Really, And I think I hear all the time from
Jessica's clients, because I call every client after we close
just to say, you know, tell me about your experience,
how did it go? And every time I hear how
just kind and compassionate and caring that Jessica is. And
I'll be honest, she is so nurturing. Now I love
(32:50):
that Jessica's initial job, she graduated as a registered nurse
and was a nurse, so that nurturing us already in there.
And now she's in real estate and she's just carried
that on, that compassion and caring and so when she's
talking to our clients, it really is just getting to
know them, and that brings such good results because then
(33:15):
you're able to really look for outside of those facts
you talked about, what it is that they're trying to find,
and go outside of that that they may not have
found because you look past that three two two.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Yeah, and sometimes they may not even realize what they're
looking for. Yeah, but they may say it in conversation.
You know, they may think they want something that's turnkey.
They think they want something that they can just walk
into and move in, but they don't like they really
may be open to painting things and things like that,
but they've never really thought through until we're talking about it. Like,
(33:48):
if you buy any house that you're the kind of
person that you want to make it yours, then the
paint colors don't matter. Things like that, You know, things
so things, but they don't think. People don't think like that.
They think, I don't want a pride, But that's not
really a project. That's just personalizing and we have people
who can help them do that absolutely, and we can
talk to the list of people, how can we help
you to accomplish this even before you move in, So
(34:11):
they've sat down, they've had a conversation with you, and
now we are actually out there looking right now as
a buyer, what can you expect right now in the
market we have this summer. Well, at the beginning of
the show, you were talking about inventory. We have lots
of options. Yeah, and depending on where you're looking, we
have great options from new construction to something that may
(34:34):
need some you know projects, DIY type projects and things
like that. We have houses that are brand new on
the market and are getting multiple offers, and then we
have houses that have been there a little bit that
you can get some negotiation, you know, you have some
negotiation room on. So there's there are really a lot
of options out there.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, And I think the thing we've talked about before
about setting realistic expectations, so when you have that initial consultation,
that is the time that you can say, Okay, what
you're looking for is one of the price points, and
that we are seeing things move pretty quickly so setting
the expectation that you need to be ready, and we
(35:15):
may need to move quickly because these homes are moving quickly,
or it may be you know, we have several houses
that I think are a good fit for you that
have been sitting a little while, and in that situation,
you may be able to get some negotiations done.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
I often we'll make our list and we're looking at
quite a few houses, and I start to realize and
bring to attention my buyers are comparing every house we
look at to one house.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, but they haven't.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
They haven't come to the realization that that very well
may be the house. And it's just bringing it top
of mind, like, hey, you realize every house we walk into,
you're comparing to this other house that we looked at. Yeah,
have you thought about really making an offer on that house?
Speaker 2 (35:59):
That's exactly right?
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Helping people to get to that point. Sometimes, you know,
it's hard to say, Okay, I'm going to jump in
and this is the one.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Sometimes yeah, and sometimes people just get it in their
mind like have I seen everything? But what if I
haven't seen everything that's out there? But really there is
no seeing everything because you can make an offer on
a house today and another one be on the market tomorrow.
You have to find a house that you can see
your family living in that works for you, checks most
of your boxes. Truth is, we're not normally gonna check
(36:31):
every box, but checks most of your boxes and that works,
you know, and if it fits.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
You just got to go for it.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Yeah, you know, and you have options at that point too,
so you go for it. Most homes allow what's called
an option period, right, and talk a little bit about
what happens in that option period.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
So the option period is more than just an inspection period.
A lot of people think in their minds they have
it that it's just a ten day inspection period, but
it is the unrestricted right to terminate. That means if
you wake up tomorrow and you go, oh, I don't
know what we did, and I really wish we hadn't
done that, you can you can terminate, you know, and
(37:14):
you you do pay a fee for that, and you
have the right to terminate based on inspections, based on
changing your mind, based on finding the perfect house that
popped up. But the main thing is inspections, getting an
insurance quote during that time, negotiating repairs of the seller.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yeah, and you're right, it's not just inspections you mentioned it. Insurance. Yeah,
getting that insurance quote is critical because you never know
what the situation may be with that house until Some
people want to get that insurance quote before they go
under contract, which is fine, but the challenge is, if
it's a house, it's going to go quickly. You may
(37:56):
get the quote and then lose it because someone else
jumped on that. So understanding how much time do I have,
what do I have that's part of it. So in
that option period, being able to do that.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
So let's say.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
We've made it through the option period, everything's going well,
what are the next steps after that?
Speaker 4 (38:15):
I always say this is the hurry up and wait
phase of buying a house. You're so busy when it
first starts, getting your inspections in, your quote on insurance
and all of that.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
But once you get to that ten day, you follow
up with.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
Your lender, you know, whatever they're requiring, paperwork, anything that
they need from you. And then also you wait for
your appraisal. That appraiser is going to come out and
do the appraisal inspection. Then sometimes that opens up another
little window of negotiation if the appraisal is low or
if there are lender required repairs. But it's usually pretty
(38:48):
smooth sailing after we've gotten to that option period.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Option period is really typically the most challenging time because
that is the time that we're doing the majority of
the investigation that we have to do to en sure
that it's there. And then after that it's really the
bank ensuring that they're collateral is good with the appraisal.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
So that is a little bit about the.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Whole process really, because then you go to closing and
you're in your new house. But if anyone wants to
get a hold of you directly Jessica and kind of
talk through here's what we're thinking, there's no cost to
do that and you are happy to sit and educate them.
So how would they get a hold of.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
You, Well, you can call me directly mysel is for
nine three five one five two six zero, our call
our office for a nine eight six six eight three
two six, or go on Dana Simmons real estate dot com. Yeah,
click the button.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, you can always ask for Jessica and our ISAs
who are inside service agents who answer our phone. Uh,
we'll be glad to connect you with her or any
one of our team members. Well, I hope you are
having a wonderful weekend. Thank you so much for spending
a little bit of your Saturday with us. We appreciate
you doing that. And if ever you have any questions
(40:00):
about real estate, we are always happy to just be
able to be a resource to educate you and to
give you any kind of insight that you may need
into the real estate experience. And just like my friend
or my past client who called me this week to say, Hey,
my niece and nephew is having a challenge, can you
(40:20):
answer some questions for me about the process, I'm always
happy to do that because, you know, having done this
for a while, I've seen a few things, so I
might have a little bit of input that I can
help you with. But we really appreciate it. Thank you
for joining us on this show today. We're here every
Saturday at noon, so join us on five sixty am
(40:40):
every Saturday at noon. This is the Dana Simmons Show.
Well, hello Southeast Texas. We're so glad that you've joined
this on this wonderful Saturday. We have some exciting guests
for us today, Jessica Welborn, who is a buyer's agent
with Dana Simmons real Estate, and Delilah Benson, who is
with First Financial Bank, and we're going to be covering
topics from the Five Seas about lone requests and also
(00:23):
what is going on in the market right now. You know,
everywhere I go, Jessica, people ask me. Do they ask
you to how's the market? How's the market? That's what
we get everywhere we go. Well, I can tell you
the market is doing pretty well. We're going to go
through some past stats and what we've seen and also
what are we seeing right now here live in where
(00:45):
Southeast Texas is. You know, when you talk about the market,
people often listen to the national news, and the national
news does not always apply to what's going on here
in Southeast Texas. One of the things I've experienced over
my almost thirty years being in real estate is that
often we're about six months behind the national curve. So
(01:06):
when you see people in the nation saying, oh, things
are harder we're slower. We typically aren't, but we also
don't see the vast changes that other markets see. There
have been many times that I've seen people who they're
in on either coast and they're seeing a ten percent
(01:26):
twenty percent annual return on their investment and their real estate. Well,
I can tell you here in Southeast Texas that is
not common. But what also isn't common is those deep
dives that they see as well when they see a
horrible decline in their market. So here in Southeast Texas,
what you can expect annually as an average, now I'm
(01:49):
talking to average over years is about a three to
six percent increase over the value of your home. So
if someone is saying, hey, Dana, I want to move
into this house and sell it in two years, you
may have a little bit of a challenge recouping all
of your costs because there are fees right when you
(02:10):
go to sell. But if you tell me I'm going
to be there over three years to five years to
ten years, then you've got a pretty good chance of
that market increase. Being in a place where you're going
to come out with some equity back in your pocket.
Real estate is always a good investment, but you've got
(02:31):
to look at how much time are you going to
be spending in that home?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Is it going to be.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Short term just for two years? Well, the expectation needs
to be here are the challenges with just being there
two years. So if you are curious, you know, what
is your situation? What are you thinking? We would love
for you to contact our office and we can talk
through that with you. It's very specific according to price point,
according to location. There are so many factors that go
(03:00):
into how quickly is that property going to increase in value?
So if we can help you, we'd love to do that.
You can call our office at four o nine eight
six six eight three two six and that is four
nine eighty six six team.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
If that's helpful for you to remember it.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
You can always go to our website at Danasimmons real
estate dot com and there is a button there that
you can push and we'll put you in contact with
one of our agents who will be following up.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
We are available.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Monday through Saturday eight am to eight pm, Sunday from
one o'clock to eight pm, so if you ever need
to speak to an agent, you can absolutely catch us
in that time period and we are available. Now I'm
going to get a little bit into what does the
market doing this summer. Well, we saw in the last
(03:53):
several years that the market has just changed a little bit.
You know, five years ago, the market was so hot,
things were selling quickly over asking price, multiple offers, cash offers,
we were seeing when the interest rate was super low.
We had a ton of people into the market, so
(04:14):
that our inventory was fairly small compared to the number
of buyers. Well, that has shifted tremendously. The good thing
right now is we're in a pretty even market. So
whether you're a buyer or a seller, that even market
is at about six months.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Five to six months is.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
A really good month of inventory for an even market.
So if you've got less than five months of inventory,
meaning you have less time less property on the market,
that is really a seller's market. And that's what we
had about five years ago. When you get over six
months of inventory, when your inventory is like in nine
(04:54):
to ten months of inventory, that is absolutely a buyer's market. Well,
we're at about six months of inventory right now, and
so what we are seeing we're between five and six
months of inventory, depending on your location and your price point.
We are seeing a pretty even market, which is really
really good. So in twenty twenty four, about this time,
(05:17):
the total cells closed was just over three hundred. Then
in twenty twenty five it was almost four hundred, and
then in twenty twenty six we're again seeing the mid
three hundred range. But I'll tell you the difference between
twenty four, twenty five and twenty six right now is.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
The pending volume.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Right now we have a pretty significant pending volume, which
means we have quite a few buyers that have jumped
into the game and said, now it's the right time
for me. Interest rates are reasonable, you know, they're in
the sixes for the most part, and so that's not
a bad interest rate. And I think people are finally
coming to the realization and we're not going back to
(06:01):
three flu. Yeah, it's not happening. And then I've tried
to educate you and said this many many times on
this show. I don't know if you've ever heard me, Delilah.
So I'm gonna ask you this question. Do you have
any idea what the average interest rate is over the
last thirty years? What would you think the average would be.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Average in the last thirty years is probably around six.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Percent set a little over seven seven and a half
seven point seven is where the average interest rate is.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
What thanks, we're doing good and we are. I mean
think in the nineties it was like thirteen percent.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
My husband's first house was fourteen percent and so and
that was in the eighties, So you know it is
I think where people are going, Okay, six and a
half percent in the sixes, that's not a bad interest rate.
I think we're going to go ahead and jump into
the market and find a house because we have an
(06:59):
excellent inventory right now on the market. Right now, we
have almost sixteen hundred houses on the market right now.
That is a really good inventory. Do you know that
in Abilene right now things are going haywire Abilene, Texas,
their total inventory is around one hundred what.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
So the challenge there is it's hard to buy a house.
But for us, we're in a great space right now.
All over Southeast Texas. We have a multitude of homes
for you to choose from. And so if you're thinking
should I do that, I'm going to tell you now
is a great time to buy a house. Jessica and
(07:42):
I in one of our next segments, so We're going
to talk a little bit about what are we seeing
though in this market this summer. What are we seeing
sellers do? What are we seeing buyers do? What are
some expectations that you can have as you are considering
getting into the market, whether you are a buyer or
a seller. We want to help guide you through that
process so that you can know what is it that
(08:04):
I can expect. That's the most important thing, Setting realistic expectations.
That's important for you to know. So that's one of
the things we want to do here for you today,
and it's what we want to do every single day
when you connect with Dana Simmons real Estate is we
want to set realistic expectations. Also coming up, we are
going to talk to Delilah Benson about the Five Seas
(08:28):
when reviewing alone request. Can you guess what they are? Well,
we're going to tell you when we come back. This
is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana
Simmons and I am joined by Delilah Benson and she
is with First Financial Bank and Delilah before we get
to talking about the Five Seas, tell everyone just a
(08:50):
little bit about you.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yeah, thanks for having me, by the way, But my
name is Delilah Benson. I am born and raised in Beaumont.
I actually am married with three children, live out in China.
I am a LU alumni. I have graduated later in life,
but I graduate with a degree in communications, and I
have been with First Financial for almost a year and
(09:14):
a half at this point, but I've been in lending
for well over ten years at this point. It's been
a while. So other than that, I mean, we're just
hanging out and doing the things.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
So for those who are maybe new to Southeast Texas,
there is a China in Texas.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yes, I get that all the time.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Yeah, so when I have people go China and I'm like, yes,
there is a China Texas and out Highway ninety. And
I love, Delilah, that you have been a part of
Southeast Texas for a very long time. I love that
you're raising your family here. I love that you're an
LU graduate. You know. I just think we have so
(09:57):
many wonderful things here in Southeast is that we take
for granted, and I love that people are utilizing those things.
And I love the fact that you you said you
got your degree later in life. It's never too late,
and with Lamar being right here, what a great opportunity.
So if any of you are out there thinking, I
don't know, I think you should be like Delilah, go
(10:18):
for it. Do it.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Get back into school. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Oh and I went into the Setzer Center for Lamar
not too long ago, several months ago for an event
that was there.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Wow, so nice right, oh.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
My, it was not like when I was in college.
I'm just going to tell you that.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Uh. They even have a Chick fil A in the
Setser Center. So I was so impressed.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
And it's beautiful.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
I mean, the campus is just amazing and has just
grown so much. So uh and I digress. So uh, Deliah,
we before the break talked about the five seas when
reviewing alone request. So can you give us what are
your five ce's whenever it comes to considering a loan request?
Speaker 3 (11:04):
Okay, so hopefully y'all guess this prior to us talking.
But the five sees our credit, capacity, capital, collateral, and character.
And so I don't know if you want to go
ahead and get that broken down. But one of the
main things that we look at, of course is credit.
We look at your credit score, your payment history, your
(11:26):
credit utilization, length of credit history, and we do look
at your recent inquiries. Of course, we look at your score,
but we kind of look at the history of it too.
You know, a lot of people will go through life
and you know, things happen, job laws, bankruptcy, or you know,
just a lot of credit card debt, and we try
to understand the history of what has happened, especially if
(11:49):
someone had, you know, gone through something traumatic in their life.
You know, we want to understand why and what we
can do to help them to fix that.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
So let me stop you right there, because I'm going
to tell you that's one of the things I love
about First Financial Bank is that you're a local bank.
Decisions are made here locally, and you sit and talk
with the clients, and just like you said, things happen
in life to all of us. And so considering that
(12:17):
being able to sit down talk across the desk, face
to face with someone, not someone who's up in New
York City making those decisions, who can assist you in
walking through what happened and help you to get there.
So I love that, Delilah. And one of the other
things that I want to talk about with credit is
(12:39):
it's never too early to start that. So sometimes if
you have a high school student or a college student
getting set up on a loan with them with the parent,
maybe giving them a credit card with a limit up
to five hundred dollars that they can manage and that
you can be a part of that to help build credit.
(13:00):
Talk a little bit about that as well.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Of course, it's never too early to start, of course,
a bank account. First of all, always try to put
your children as priority, even if it's something small like
a little savings account that does start to grow credit wise.
A lot of our customers do put their child on
a credit card to kind of start. Of course, they
won't be on it by themselves. You do have to
(13:23):
be on there with them, but it helps establish that credit.
We do offer secure loans and credit cards where you're
basically putting them on a budget. You can start with
the five hundred dollars specifically for a credit card, you
can do the five hundred dollars. After a year of
making on time payments, knowing that they can manage that,
we actually give them them money back and it turns
(13:44):
into a normal credit card, and that's something that helps
establish credit. It helps establish responsibility. For them and kind
of understand how to pay bills, because I mean, I'm
fell victim of the fact of like fresh out of
high school, getting all these credit cards and really didn't
know how to manage it. And so we tried to
help coach parents and students and young adults on how
(14:06):
to just establish that credit because of course, ultimately you
want to be able to have nice things in life,
a new car, a new home, and so that's where
you're going to have to start, is to build that credit.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah, for most of us, we're not in a position
that we can in the beginning pay cash for anything.
So establishing credit early on to ensure that you can
build to that point where potentially you do get to
the place that you get to pay cash for things
because you've built equity and whatever you're purchasing. So see credit.
(14:39):
Anything else we need to know about the C the
first C.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Credit.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
The other thing that some people don't realize is that
credit utilization. There is that kind of rule of credit
card expenses. Try to say, under that thirty percent threshold,
you don't want to be maxing them out. If for
some reason something does happen and you max out that
credit card please pay it down because of course when
we look at your credit we don't want you to
see over the balance over you know, at the very
(15:07):
top of the limit. That does hurt your score, and
you just want to be mindful of that. Also, just
make sure that once you do get credit established, don't
hurry up and open fifteen different credit cards and loans
and things like that. We do look at your history
as far as how many credit cards you've opened in
the last six months to a year, and so we
(15:29):
just want to make sure that someone's not being reckless
and thinking just because they can be approved for a
credit card, you don't have to open up fifteen credit cards.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
And really it's a helpful tool. Yeah, I mean, it's
you're not trying to put people in a bad position.
You're trying to encourage them to make sure that they're
in a good position.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Exactly, yeah, exactly. So just be mindful of those little
store credit cards whenever they try to offer you that
ten percent discount, you know, just be weary of that.
But as far as credit, I would think that that's
the main you know, key points on that, So give
us our second c capacity. So it's basically what you're
(16:11):
comfortable in paying. A lot of people will call in
and they say, Okay, I'm looking for a new home,
but I don't know how much I can afford. So
that's your capacity. It looks at your income, your employment history,
your stability, make sure that you've been employed, you know,
and you're not job jumping from job to job, and
(16:32):
your monthly debt to income. So we do look at
how much your debt is like your credit cards, anything
that's showing up on your credit report is a debt
to you versus how much you're bringing in. You know,
there is a percentage on each customer that we look at.
We don't want you to be over extended in any situation,
and we don't want you to be house poor either, So,
(16:55):
and that is a real thing. You don't want to
be house poor because you know that times can be
crazy and something unexpected can happen, and we just don't
want you to be in a bad situation.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, I will tell you one thing to consider whenever
you're thinking about that with the capacity on a mortgage,
one of the things I tell our buyers is speak
with a local lender here because there are things that
come up here that a national lender may not know
for example, our tax base. Yes, you know a lot
(17:28):
of other areas. Other states have state income tax, so
their property tax isn't the same as our property tax.
The other side is our insurance, so our insurance costs
and the difference between a house in Jefferson County versus
a house in Hardin County or Orange County, and what
are the cost differences with insurance when it comes to
(17:50):
that flood insurance. So having someone who is local, who
has been here, who understands all of that is so critical.
So there are times when Jessica can tell you, we
get buyers who don't heed our advice, they get an
outside lender, and then all of a sudden, weeks into it,
(18:12):
when they've spent money, they figure out, oh, our lender
didn't estimate our taxes or insurance accurately, even if we've
tried to guide them that way, right, and it blows
it at the very week's in.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
Your insurance is going to be six hundred dollars a
year estimated, Like, no.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
That's exactly right, it's not happening, it's not so you're
right when you're considering capacity. That's just one thing I
wanted to bring up because that can change your capacity
taxes and insurance as a part of your monthly mortgage payment.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Yes, and just like you said, flood, flood is a
big thing around this area, especially you know, being in
the summer, it's gonna that's a huge thing.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Yeah, and so anything else on capacity before we move
to our next.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
One thing I did kind of want to touch base
on with capacity is just kind of increasing your buying
power with that too. A lot of people whenever they
look at their debt to income, you know, of course
you have your autos, your credit card debts. I always
kind of recommend a year out from wanting to purchase
a home that you really look at your debt see
(19:22):
where you can save your money, whether it be refinancing
your auto, to see if you can save on your
interest rate, maybe doing a debt consolidation, which those can
be a little tricky, but just kind of freeing up
some of that revolving debt will help boost your score
and that would help increase your capacity to purchase maybe
(19:42):
a larger home.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Right, Well, we have two seeds down. We have three
more to go out of our five seas. When we
come back. Delilah's going to share those other three seeds.
Don't go away. This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back.
This is Dana Simmons and Delilah Benson with First Financial
Bank has been sharing with us the five ce's on
(20:04):
reviewing loan requests and so Delila, we've already talked about credit,
and we've talked about capacity.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
What is the third sea, We're going to talk about capital.
And capital is what you're saving and your assets. This
kind of helps bring down like your down payment, your
funds that are available whenever you actually close. It looks
at your emergency reserve retirements, any investments that you have,
and we do look if you are consistently saving. We
(20:34):
do want to make sure that you're not necessarily like
living paycheck to paycheck. You know that you can afford
the mortgage that you're wanting to acquire. And then we
do look at assets. If you have any other property
that is in your name that you plan to invest
in the future, or you know, any land, things like that.
Any retirements for one K stuff like that is really
(20:57):
what we look for.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
So that could include equity in your home, equity and
that in an investment property. You own anything that is
a positive asset toward your net income.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yes, even autos, autos, boats. We just look at all
of that to see you know, if you have a
paid off auto, well, that's an asset. That's something that
if you've ever gotten a buind you can.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Sell, you could, right, Okay, Next C.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Next C is the collateral. We look at the home itself.
We want to make sure that you're buying something that
is worth your money. We want to make sure that
that purchase price is not going to put you one
in a buind but also put us in a weird
situation where if something happened that you're going to actually
be in a.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Like a dead down. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
So we do look at your collateral and what that
home is valued at.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
And the way that you do that is with an appraisal. Yes,
and so a lot of times when people have they
purchase a house, they do an inspection, and an inspection
just goes through the property may have as deficiencies and
we'll talk about that in a bit where you can
negotiate anything like that, but an appraisal is when that
(22:11):
appraiser is looking out for really the lender while they
are looking out for the buyer. The main purpose of
that appraisal is to confirm that the value is there
in order for the lender to lend, and that collateral
is good collateral.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Right exactly. And a lot of people crack me up
because they always wonder, like, are they looking at my
clothes in there? Are they looking at my light fixtures?
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
I haven't done this, I haven't painted this room. They
don't look at any of that, by the way, They.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Do look at the roof, they look at the foundation,
they look at the finishes, and appraisers can call I
had someone call me yesterday about a family member who
purchased a house and they're at the end and the
appraiser called all of these things. If this property, they
don't live the niece or nephew doesn't live here, they
(23:03):
live out of town. And so he was just asking
me questions because he's a client of mine about that.
I'm like, absolutely, So that's part of the collateral for
the bank that they're looking at.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
If there is a.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Foundation issue or a roof issue, number one that should
have been caught in the inspection, that you did not
get that far and if you knew about it and
you didn't address it, It's gonna come up most of
the time on an appraisal. So addressing it in the
beginning before you get too far in it is critical.
(23:35):
And having an agent who can help you with that
is also critical. So if your agent is saying, oh,
don't worry about that, we don't have to worry about that. That
won't get called on the appraisal, beware yes, because I
can't say what an appraiser will or will not call.
But if you have a foundation issue and your ruth
(23:57):
is twenty years old, I can tell you it's I
can't say for certain, but it's probable that that is
going to be called on an appraisal, because that's the
job of the appraiser, right They are going to look
at that collateral to see if when things go wrong,
because they can, and they're going to be responsible. That's
(24:18):
the other side that people don't realize that appraiser can
be called back.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
If anything happens.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
They can, and that loan goes bad and they gave
a wrong value or they didn't find things that should
have been found, and so there is a lot of
pressure on that appraiser to make sure they're doing a
good job, and so they're looking out for the lender
to make sure that that collateral is good collateral.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
Right, And keep in mind, just like you mentioned the roof,
a lot of insurance agents are going to be looking
at your roof. Yes, So whenever you get quotes on that,
you have to be mindful. If you're trying to buy
a home that has a roof that is almost you know,
due for an upgrade, and you decide to go ahead
and buy it, that insurance can eye rocket or they
(25:00):
can you know, decline it climate.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
And I've had that happen to people that I've known
who decided to move forward anyway, and thirty days later,
the insurance cancels because the insurance inspector doesn't go out
until after you close, and they said, oh, it needs
a new roof. We had an insurance agent in our
(25:25):
office this week, right, Jessica, And tell everyone what was
she saying is really the kind of the cutoff?
Speaker 4 (25:30):
She said about fifteen years. Yeah, when it's fifteen years,
they're going to start really looking at it.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
So, and there are some that look at it at
ten years.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
She was saying.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Her company is at about fifteen years as the cutoff.
If that roof is more than fifteen years old, they're
probably not gonna ride it, or if they can get
someone to write it, it's at a reduced coverage and
for a lot of cost.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Right, we haven't had a big windstorm here since two five,
that's twenty one years, and a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Of our roofs are replaced in Rita, and so we've
got twenty one years and the challenges sellers are going.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
But it's not Lencoln, right, But it's fine, it's working fine,
that's right.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
But an insurance company is rarely I'm going to say never,
is rarely going to cover a twenty year old roof rarely.
So we've covered credit capacity, capital collateral. What's our final
c Character?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Character is going to be looking at your stability and
your employments, your previous residents. It looks at your history
of your repaying debts and your overall financial responsibility. So
when I say character, it's it really is truly looking
at your style of how you handle your money. Of course,
(26:52):
we like I said, look at how you handle your employment.
If you are bouncing from job to job, you know
that's not stable to us. That's a little bit of
a red flag if you're constantly changing jobs, and not
just as like a contractor, because that does happen, but
if you're switching from let's say, banking, and then you're
gonna go work in the restaurant industry, and then you're
(27:13):
gonna go into home health, and then you're you know,
every few months, well, that's a little bit of a
red flag. Then you haven't figured out what you're wanting
to do yet. And then, like I said, the history
of repaying debts, We want to make sure that you
are consistent. A lot of people want to hurry up
and close credit cards off. That's not good. Leave those
on there, even if there's no balance on there, cut
(27:34):
them up, but we do want to make sure that
you've paid them and there's that depth history on there
that you could have used the card and you chose
not to. To me, that seems like you were a responsible adult,
you know. And then just having that financial responsibility of
how you've managed your debt through the years. Of course,
like I said, it really just looks at the last
(27:56):
I would say, about five years of credit history for us.
But that's something that to us, that's your character, that's
how you handle it.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
The other thing I love about character is that First
Financial Bank has a local board that makes decisions. And
on that local board it's people from all different industry
and people who've been as healthy sex is a very
long time and know the people here, know the industry here.
So oftentimes when the margins are thin, character comes into play.
(28:29):
If someone on that board says, I know these people,
these are good people. We see the history of all
they've done and how they've paid their debt, that makes
a huge difference often in that board's decision to move
forward or not. So that's why I love First Financial.
It's a local company where they make local decisions based
(28:51):
on our local industry and our local people. It makes
a huge difference. And with that, First Financial has currently
locations around southeast Texas, and there's some exciting news happening.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yes, we have a new branch opening in Beaumont, so
uh you know, of course, we have one on Dallen,
which is where I'm located, and then our new one's
going to be on College, so all of Baumont's really
going to be covered now it's going to be really
close to the hospital. I know that there's another VA
hospital being built right across the street, so it's going
to be a great location, easy to get to. So
(29:25):
we're super excited. We have a great team that's going
to be over that branch, and I'm really excited for you.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Super excited about that.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
So, Delilah, if anyone wants to get a hold of you,
give us how they would contact you directly.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Well, I am located again at our Dallen branch is
thirty five fifteen Dollon Road. You can always call, text
or email me. My direct line is the four oh
nine three one three seven nine seven five. But yeah,
you can always walk in. You can always call her tags.
One great thing about our non negotiable is that we
(30:02):
are available all the time. You know, if you even
have to call or text me outside of our normal
banking hours, that's completely okay. We do our best to
respond as soon as we see it.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
So I love that.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Well, we really appreciate you coming and sharing the five
Seeds with us today and educating me us a little
bit on what are some of those things that are
necessary when reviewing alone request. And when we come back,
we are going to be visiting with Jessica Welborn. She
is a buyer's Agent with Dana Simmons real Estate, and
we're going to talk about what is going on in
(30:36):
the market. So don't go away. This is the Dana
Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and we
have just been visiting with Delilah Benson and she is
with First Financial Bank sharing the five SE's of a
loan request. And if you missed it, well, guess what.
You can find us on Spotify in the next week
(30:57):
or so. This and all the rest of our shows.
Several of our shows are already on Spotify, but this
will also be on Spotify, so you can go locate
us at Dana Simmons real Estate on Spotify and all
of our real estate shows are there. So excited about that,
Jessica Cu, It's like, wow, growing up, did I ever
think I'd be on Spotify? No, it wasn't a goal
(31:20):
of mine. But look what the Lord has done and
we is good. So today, Jessica, you and I are
going to share a little bit about we talked about
in the initial opening segment how's the market, And we've
been discussing. People come to us all the time and say,
how is the market? So as a buyer's agent for
Dana Simmons Real Estate. Let's talk a little bit first
(31:43):
about what does that process look like, and then tell
us what you're experiencing in the market today.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Well, what it looks like first of all is you
can call into the office or call an agent in
our office and get connected to do a buyer's consultan.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
That's our first.
Speaker 4 (32:01):
Step is just sitting down and getting past the three bedroom,
two bath or whatever it is that you know the
facts are, and really getting to.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
The heart of what you're looking for.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
You how are you going to live in your house,
what's important to you, what's going on in your life,
why are you moving altogether? You know, just getting to
know each other and just kind of building that familiarity
and getting to know how it can help.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Really, And I think I hear all the time from
Jessica's clients, because I call every client after we close
just to say, you know, tell me about your experience,
how did it go? And every time I hear how
just kind and compassionate and caring that Jessica is. And
I'll be honest, she is so nurturing. Now I love
(32:50):
that Jessica's initial job, she graduated as a registered nurse
and was a nurse, so that nurturing us already in there.
And now she's in real estate and she's just carried
that on, that compassion and caring and so when she's
talking to our clients, it really is just getting to
know them, and that brings such good results because then
(33:15):
you're able to really look for outside of those facts
you talked about, what it is that they're trying to find,
and go outside of that that they may not have
found because you look past that three two two.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
Yeah, and sometimes they may not even realize what they're
looking for. Yeah, but they may say it in conversation.
You know, they may think they want something that's turnkey.
They think they want something that they can just walk
into and move in, but they don't like they really
may be open to painting things and things like that,
but they've never really thought through until we're talking about it. Like,
(33:48):
if you buy any house that you're the kind of
person that you want to make it yours, then the
paint colors don't matter. Things like that, You know, things
so things, but they don't think. People don't think like that.
They think, I don't want a pride, But that's not
really a project. That's just personalizing and we have people
who can help them do that absolutely, and we can
talk to the list of people, how can we help
you to accomplish this even before you move in, So
(34:11):
they've sat down, they've had a conversation with you, and
now we are actually out there looking right now as
a buyer, what can you expect right now in the
market we have this summer. Well, at the beginning of
the show, you were talking about inventory. We have lots
of options. Yeah, and depending on where you're looking, we
have great options from new construction to something that may
(34:34):
need some you know projects, DIY type projects and things
like that. We have houses that are brand new on
the market and are getting multiple offers, and then we
have houses that have been there a little bit that
you can get some negotiation, you know, you have some
negotiation room on. So there's there are really a lot
of options out there.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Yeah, And I think the thing we've talked about before
about setting realistic expectations, so when you have that initial consultation,
that is the time that you can say, Okay, what
you're looking for is one of the price points, and
that we are seeing things move pretty quickly so setting
the expectation that you need to be ready, and we
(35:15):
may need to move quickly because these homes are moving quickly,
or it may be you know, we have several houses
that I think are a good fit for you that
have been sitting a little while, and in that situation,
you may be able to get some negotiations done.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:32):
I often we'll make our list and we're looking at
quite a few houses, and I start to realize and
bring to attention my buyers are comparing every house we
look at to one house.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
Yeah, but they haven't.
Speaker 4 (35:45):
They haven't come to the realization that that very well
may be the house. And it's just bringing it top
of mind, like, hey, you realize every house we walk into,
you're comparing to this other house that we looked at. Yeah,
have you thought about really making an offer on that house?
Speaker 2 (35:59):
That's exactly right?
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Helping people to get to that point. Sometimes, you know,
it's hard to say, Okay, I'm going to jump in
and this is the one.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Sometimes yeah, and sometimes people just get it in their
mind like have I seen everything? But what if I
haven't seen everything that's out there? But really there is
no seeing everything because you can make an offer on
a house today and another one be on the market tomorrow.
You have to find a house that you can see
your family living in that works for you, checks most
of your boxes. Truth is, we're not normally gonna check
(36:31):
every box, but checks most of your boxes and that works,
you know, and if it fits.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
You just got to go for it.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
Yeah, you know, and you have options at that point too,
so you go for it. Most homes allow what's called
an option period, right, and talk a little bit about
what happens in that option period.
Speaker 4 (36:51):
So the option period is more than just an inspection period.
A lot of people think in their minds they have
it that it's just a ten day inspection period, but
it is the unrestricted right to terminate. That means if
you wake up tomorrow and you go, oh, I don't
know what we did, and I really wish we hadn't
done that, you can you can terminate, you know, and
(37:14):
you you do pay a fee for that, and you
have the right to terminate based on inspections, based on
changing your mind, based on finding the perfect house that
popped up. But the main thing is inspections, getting an
insurance quote during that time, negotiating repairs of the seller.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Those kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
Yeah, and you're right, it's not just inspections you mentioned it. Insurance. Yeah,
getting that insurance quote is critical because you never know
what the situation may be with that house until Some
people want to get that insurance quote before they go
under contract, which is fine, but the challenge is, if
it's a house, it's going to go quickly. You may
(37:56):
get the quote and then lose it because someone else
jumped on that. So understanding how much time do I have,
what do I have that's part of it. So in
that option period, being able to do that.
Speaker 2 (38:08):
So let's say.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
We've made it through the option period, everything's going well,
what are the next steps after that?
Speaker 4 (38:15):
I always say this is the hurry up and wait
phase of buying a house. You're so busy when it
first starts, getting your inspections in, your quote on insurance
and all of that.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
But once you get to that ten day, you follow
up with.
Speaker 4 (38:27):
Your lender, you know, whatever they're requiring, paperwork, anything that
they need from you. And then also you wait for
your appraisal. That appraiser is going to come out and
do the appraisal inspection. Then sometimes that opens up another
little window of negotiation if the appraisal is low or
if there are lender required repairs. But it's usually pretty
(38:48):
smooth sailing after we've gotten to that option period.
Speaker 2 (38:51):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
Option period is really typically the most challenging time because
that is the time that we're doing the majority of
the investigation that we have to do to en sure
that it's there. And then after that it's really the
bank ensuring that they're collateral is good with the appraisal.
Speaker 3 (39:05):
So that is a little bit about the.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Whole process really, because then you go to closing and
you're in your new house. But if anyone wants to
get a hold of you directly Jessica and kind of
talk through here's what we're thinking, there's no cost to
do that and you are happy to sit and educate them.
So how would they get a hold of.
Speaker 4 (39:26):
You, Well, you can call me directly mysel is for
nine three five one five two six zero, our call
our office for a nine eight six six eight three
two six, or go on Dana Simmons real estate dot com. Yeah,
click the button.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Yeah, you can always ask for Jessica and our ISAs
who are inside service agents who answer our phone. Uh,
we'll be glad to connect you with her or any
one of our team members. Well, I hope you are
having a wonderful weekend. Thank you so much for spending
a little bit of your Saturday with us. We appreciate
you doing that. And if ever you have any questions
(40:00):
about real estate, we are always happy to just be
able to be a resource to educate you and to
give you any kind of insight that you may need
into the real estate experience. And just like my friend
or my past client who called me this week to say, Hey,
my niece and nephew is having a challenge, can you
(40:20):
answer some questions for me about the process, I'm always
happy to do that because, you know, having done this
for a while, I've seen a few things, so I
might have a little bit of input that I can
help you with. But we really appreciate it. Thank you
for joining us on this show today. We're here every
Saturday at noon, so join us on five sixty am
(40:40):
every Saturday at noon. This is the Dana Simmons Show.
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