June 4, 2025 • 5 mins
Zac Ellerbroek, Lake Michigan Credit Union Loan Officer joins us to discuss why Spring is a popular time to buy a home and gives some advice for those looking to purchase a home in 2025.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's talk about spring home buying, talk about home buying
in general, and the parade and a warning from me coming.
This is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and Brett Mekita,
Lake Michigan Credit Union loan officer Zach eller Rock Ellerbrock
is on the liveline with us this morning. Zach, thanks
for doing this today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, good morning, Steve.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So why is spring such a popular time to buy
a house.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, you know that spring adage is leaving a little
bit just because of the likes of Zillow and modern
videos that are taking three hundred and sixty five days
a year. But that said, I think the spring market
has always been a little bit of a bigger market
here in West Michigan, just because people are caught up
in their homes throughout four or six months of wintertime
(00:47):
and they realized, you know, how compact their spaces. They
want to have a bigger space to live in. They
realize maybe some maintenance comes springtime. They're like, hey, I
want less maintenance. I want a condo, smaller place. So
I think that is why spring market tends to be
a bigger market here in West Michigan.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Zach, like a lot of things because of the technology
and AI or whatever the case might be you mentioned Zillo,
I feel like people when they want to make a
major persons, whether it's their home, car, whatever, are more
informed doing it themselves. So with that said, for the
modern home buyer, what's the first step in buying ome?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, first, I think it's always good to get a
local relator involved, because you know, you wouldn't go to
the dentist and then sit in the chair and do
the dentist work yourself. So I really think it's important
to find a realtor that maybe a family member has
used or a coworker has used, that they have trusted
and had a good experience with. But first and foremost
(01:46):
these days, I tell people immediately on my first call
to get their number telephone number on the national Do
Not Call Registry. So when lenders these days go to
pull your credit if your number is not registered on
the do not Call registry, other lenders from around the
nation can pay a service fee to the credit bureau
to gain a knowledge that you're looking to buy a
(02:06):
mortgage or get a mortgage, and you'll get fifty to
sixty unwanted calls within a few hours of having your
credit acquired, so add your number to the do not
Call registry number two. I always ask my customers three
important questions. What price range are you looking to buy?
What do you want your monthly payment to be? And
(02:26):
how much do you have saved up for your down payment?
Because some of those answers may not align. You know,
if you're looking for a five hundred thousand dollars house
but you want your monthly payment to be two thousand dollars,
I hope you have a big down payment. So those
are big three questions to ask yourself. And then yeah,
just just find a trusted local lender. Going online, you
(02:47):
might not always find the best lender, and you know,
you want somebody who you can meet with, shake a
hand with, and who's going to be local and that's
also trusted when you go to put in an offer
on a house as well.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Zach, any other advice if you're looking to buy a
home in twenty twenty five, what about pre approval just
for the convenience of it all, Like you find a
house and then you got to go through that process.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, absolutely, pre qualification is very important. You know, establish
a baseline, understand your landscape that you have to work
with because you don't want to go put in an
offer on a house or start looking at a house
and then get your hopes up and dreams up and
you're all excited and realize, oh my goodness, I did
not know I had that collection on my credit report,
or boy, I need to be looking at a home.
(03:32):
That's that's half the amount of the home that I
truly want. You know, I always tell customers that beyond
death and divorce, financial stress is right there. You don't
want to resent a home, so alleviate that financial stress
and enjoy life. You know, life is not about ram
and noodles. It's about having a place that you can
call home.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, and Zach, finally to get ideas. It's always fun
this time of year. I know you guys are partnering
with them like you do in the fall. But tell
us about the ground up at Spring Parade of Homes
and how people can get out there and if not
even look at what kind of home they want, maybe
get an idea for a renovation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, one hundred percent of the Spring of prey to homes.
You can buy tickets right at any one of the
Prey to Homes. It's truly a showcase for builders and
material suppliers to display their product. You know, it's kind
of like the Auto show in a winter time where
dealerships or automakers have you come downtown grind rapids and
see their cars or the new car for the year.
(04:31):
Prey to Homes is the same thing. You can go
through Prey to Homes. You can see what different products
look like, materials look like. It's a fantastic opportunity if
you're looking to do a renovation or potentially build a house,
and more importantly, also understand what a dollar amount gets
you these days when you're looking to do something because
(04:53):
you think you might want to build a five hundred
thousand dollars house but realize that it's seven hundred thousand,
or you know, you want to do a fifty thousand
dollars renovation and realize it's seventy five thousand dollars. So
it's really good to talk to builders and talk to
people whose boots are on the ground, if you will,
and get a true understanding. So again it's establishing that
baseline and understanding your landscape as you move forward, so
(05:14):
you don't disappoint yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
My only warning is be careful because we went through
a spring parade of homes home that was available right
and ended up buying. There you go. Zach Ellerbrock is
with Lake Michigan Credit Union as a loan officer and
so much more. Thanks for your time today.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for your time as well.
Let's talk about spring home buying, talk about home buying
in general, and the parade and a warning from me coming.
This is West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and Brett Mekita,
Lake Michigan Credit Union loan officer Zach eller Rock Ellerbrock
is on the liveline with us this morning. Zach, thanks
for doing this today.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, good morning, Steve.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
So why is spring such a popular time to buy
a house.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, you know that spring adage is leaving a little
bit just because of the likes of Zillow and modern
videos that are taking three hundred and sixty five days
a year. But that said, I think the spring market
has always been a little bit of a bigger market
here in West Michigan, just because people are caught up
in their homes throughout four or six months of wintertime
(00:47):
and they realized, you know, how compact their spaces. They
want to have a bigger space to live in. They
realize maybe some maintenance comes springtime. They're like, hey, I
want less maintenance. I want a condo, smaller place. So
I think that is why spring market tends to be
a bigger market here in West Michigan.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Zach, like a lot of things because of the technology
and AI or whatever the case might be you mentioned Zillo,
I feel like people when they want to make a
major persons, whether it's their home, car, whatever, are more
informed doing it themselves. So with that said, for the
modern home buyer, what's the first step in buying ome?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, first, I think it's always good to get a
local relator involved, because you know, you wouldn't go to
the dentist and then sit in the chair and do
the dentist work yourself. So I really think it's important
to find a realtor that maybe a family member has
used or a coworker has used, that they have trusted
and had a good experience with. But first and foremost
(01:46):
these days, I tell people immediately on my first call
to get their number telephone number on the national Do
Not Call Registry. So when lenders these days go to
pull your credit if your number is not registered on
the do not Call registry, other lenders from around the
nation can pay a service fee to the credit bureau
to gain a knowledge that you're looking to buy a
(02:06):
mortgage or get a mortgage, and you'll get fifty to
sixty unwanted calls within a few hours of having your
credit acquired, so add your number to the do not
Call registry number two. I always ask my customers three
important questions. What price range are you looking to buy?
What do you want your monthly payment to be? And
(02:26):
how much do you have saved up for your down payment?
Because some of those answers may not align. You know,
if you're looking for a five hundred thousand dollars house
but you want your monthly payment to be two thousand dollars,
I hope you have a big down payment. So those
are big three questions to ask yourself. And then yeah,
just just find a trusted local lender. Going online, you
(02:47):
might not always find the best lender, and you know,
you want somebody who you can meet with, shake a
hand with, and who's going to be local and that's
also trusted when you go to put in an offer
on a house as well.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Zach, any other advice if you're looking to buy a
home in twenty twenty five, what about pre approval just
for the convenience of it all, Like you find a
house and then you got to go through that process.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, absolutely, pre qualification is very important. You know, establish
a baseline, understand your landscape that you have to work
with because you don't want to go put in an
offer on a house or start looking at a house
and then get your hopes up and dreams up and
you're all excited and realize, oh my goodness, I did
not know I had that collection on my credit report,
or boy, I need to be looking at a home.
(03:32):
That's that's half the amount of the home that I
truly want. You know, I always tell customers that beyond
death and divorce, financial stress is right there. You don't
want to resent a home, so alleviate that financial stress
and enjoy life. You know, life is not about ram
and noodles. It's about having a place that you can
call home.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
That's great.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Well, and Zach, finally to get ideas. It's always fun
this time of year. I know you guys are partnering
with them like you do in the fall. But tell
us about the ground up at Spring Parade of Homes
and how people can get out there and if not
even look at what kind of home they want, maybe
get an idea for a renovation.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, one hundred percent of the Spring of prey to homes.
You can buy tickets right at any one of the
Prey to Homes. It's truly a showcase for builders and
material suppliers to display their product. You know, it's kind
of like the Auto show in a winter time where
dealerships or automakers have you come downtown grind rapids and
see their cars or the new car for the year.
(04:31):
Prey to Homes is the same thing. You can go
through Prey to Homes. You can see what different products
look like, materials look like. It's a fantastic opportunity if
you're looking to do a renovation or potentially build a house,
and more importantly, also understand what a dollar amount gets
you these days when you're looking to do something because
(04:53):
you think you might want to build a five hundred
thousand dollars house but realize that it's seven hundred thousand,
or you know, you want to do a fifty thousand
dollars renovation and realize it's seventy five thousand dollars. So
it's really good to talk to builders and talk to
people whose boots are on the ground, if you will,
and get a true understanding. So again it's establishing that
baseline and understanding your landscape as you move forward, so
(05:14):
you don't disappoint yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
My only warning is be careful because we went through
a spring parade of homes home that was available right
and ended up buying. There you go. Zach Ellerbrock is
with Lake Michigan Credit Union as a loan officer and
so much more. Thanks for your time today.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for your time as well.
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