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Mortgage Matters is your go-to show for all things home financing. Join Roland and Heidi as they break down the ins and outs of the mortgage world. From first-time homebuyers to seasoned investors, we’re here to guide you with expert insights, real talk, and the latest market trends. Whether you're looking to buy smart or refinance right, Mortgage Matters is your trusted source for smarter decisions and financial freedom. Tune in and take control of your home financing journey.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Dave
Roland Daniels 0:40
Dave, good morning Las Vegas. Welcome to mortgage matters. I'm Roland Daniels, a certified mortgage advisor with Geneva financial. My NMLS number is 355859, our company, NMLS number is 42056, and I'm here this morning, as always, with my fantastic co host, Heidi Griffith, good morning. Heidi, well, good
Heidi Griffith 1:07
morning. Roland, how are you? I am doing awesome. Yes, you are happy October.
Roland Daniels 1:12
It is, can you believe it? I can't believe
Heidi Griffith 1:14
it. The weather's starting to get a little bit nicer. It is. It's already October, though, except for monsoon. Well, no, the rain's been fantastic, if you ask me, I love it. What about you? I do well, I'm glad to hear that. Good morning everyone. I'm Heidi Griffith. I'm also a mortgage advisor in your Director of Client Services. My NMLS number is 2247754, we've got a really good show today. Before we get started, I want to give a huge shout out to our audio production manager. Wes, he always makes us sound good, doesn't he? He does the best he can, right? Yep. So before we get started talking about it, we do have some education opportunities coming up. We just had our path to home ownership workshop that was with CPLC, our next workshop, and that's with HUD certified. CPLC will be
Roland Daniels 2:09
on November. No, I think it's the first.
Heidi Griffith 2:13
I believe it's the first as well. So it's the first Saturday of every month it is. And that's an all day workshop that's from 830 until three. We usually try and get you out of there a little bit early, but it covers the entire home buying process, along with the 18 plus, actually we're closer to 20 now. Down payment programs that we offer, plus wish funds. We have a class coming up with the Nevada housing division. We actually spoke with Josie last week on air. Did we? Did it was fantastic. She's just a wealth of information, isn't she? She is. And so we've got another online class coming up with her that's going to be on Monday, October 13. That's from 330 to five. The class is usually about an hour. We take that last half hour to go over any questions, and we cover all of the down payment assistance programs that the state of Nevada offers. We do. They've got first time programs. They've got folks who own homes in different states, programs for them. We've got programs for veterans, and they've got a new program coming online. We hope to get some more information on that that's supposed to roll out before
Roland Daniels 3:21
Thanksgiving, right? So maybe a couple of weeks, maybe about a month or so before the announcement.
Heidi Griffith 3:25
And everything about that, Josie kind of gave us a sneak peek on air last week, but everything about that program is going to be a reduced interest rate, depending on how much in down payment assistance you're looking at. That rate will fluctuate the more you get, the little higher the rate, the lower. So I'm excited to see that. So again, the next class is going to be on October 13. That's an online class, so you don't have to take too much time out of your day. You can pop on from your phone or your laptop or your PC, Whatever's easiest for you, and learn all about those programs, all of the classes that we do, both with CPLC, with Nevada housing as well as Nevada Rural Housing, you actually get a home buyer education certificate, and that's going to make you eligible for those programs. We also have a real estate continuing education class coming up with the Nevada housing division. So if you are a real estate professional, this is a way to pick up three extra ces their general CE credits. And we go over how these programs work and how you can better help your buyers with these programs. So if you're interested in any of these classes, if you'd like to register, you can give us call or you can text us. We're at 702-210-2057 again, that number is 702-210-2057, you can also find the information on our Facebook page. That's mortgage matters, radio links there to register all that good stuff. Last week, we had Josie on the show the week before was directly following the the Fed rate cut. Cut the Fed rate cut, and it
Roland Daniels 5:02
very anticipated for 2025 Yeah, and we
Heidi Griffith 5:05
talked about that in great detail. We talked about the way, you know, a lot of people we we're still getting calls to this day. It's probably the everyday, it's the most popular question we're getting right now is, did rates go down? And we
Roland Daniels 5:17
talked about that, and is it time to do a refinance, right, right?
Heidi Griffith 5:22
And, you know, is it time to get back into the market? Because we talked to many people who have said they were waiting. I'm doing my air quotes right now until rates go down. And, you know, and we're still waiting. And the information that we were talking about was that when the Fed talks about cutting rates or raising rates, it's the short term rate, right? It is the short term rate. So that rate is for things like your
Roland Daniels 5:49
auto loans, credit cards, he locks that definite equity line of credit, right? Yes, or even a second loan. Anything that is short term, not long term, like a 30 year fixed rate
Heidi Griffith 6:01
mortgage. The mortgage rates really had nothing to do with that. They have nothing to do with short term you know, prior to Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, giving his speech that day, right? We had anticipated him reducing the short term rate by quarter point. Yes, we had all anticipated that. We thought maybe he might even cut it a little bit more, maybe go to half a point. He didn't. He did not. And in the mortgage world, with that anticipation, we had to take it down, right? Because we we already had that price baked into
Roland Daniels 6:38
our rates. They do. They bake it in prior to Jerome getting any announcements, right?
Heidi Griffith 6:45
So that was baked in. But then, interestingly enough, directly following that, what happened? Rates actually went up. Rates went up, didn't they? They did mortgage rates went up. So everyone that was sitting and waiting, I mean, we had calls. I've been working with family members who are looking at refinancing on their homes, and they were literally telling me that, you know, rates are just gonna they're not that, you know, the short term rates and long term rates typically work against each other, don't
Roland Daniels 7:14
they do they typically, we follow the mortgage backed securities the bond market more than short term interest
Heidi Griffith 7:21
rates, yeah, and and since that conversation, since he reduced by a quarter point,
Roland Daniels 7:27
rates have probably actually went up by a quarter of a point.
Heidi Griffith 7:31
Mortgage rates, yes, more opposite direction. And I mean, they're bouncing around just a little, but no major movement, but they have gone up.
Roland Daniels 7:40
So there was three rate cuts in 2024 and all three times they were anticipating long term interest rates to go down, but they went up as well. They've yet to do that, right? That is
Heidi Griffith 7:53
correct, so that kind of brings up the conversation. So as we record, today is Wednesday. It's October 1, the day that we're recording this episode, right? We are yesterday. The government shut down at midnight.
Roland Daniels 8:08
They did which was effective, I guess, I guess it would be 12pm on the 30th, but you figure 12:01am,
Heidi Griffith 8:19
on the first, right? So today was the first day of the government shutdown,
Roland Daniels 8:23
right? It is.
Heidi Griffith 8:27
It's disruptive for lending. When we talk about FHA VA USDA
Roland Daniels 8:33
and conventional
Heidi Griffith 8:35
and conventional, but especially those government backed programs, right? And we don't know when the shutdown is going to be
Roland Daniels 8:46
resolved. We do not know it could be soon. So that creates right, and that creates uncertainty in the market, right? And the market doesn't like uncertainty. So even though the market is shut down or not, the market, the federal government, interest rates right now are about the same, trying to improve little by little, tilted up.
Heidi Griffith 9:10
Today we're seeing just a blip of a reduction. Nothing that would change your life forever, but a blip. And you know, this is the kind of stuff that we like to explain to folks. So a great question is, I would love everybody. You know, if you have any thoughts on this, please feel free. How do you feel the economy is overall?
Roland Daniels 9:35
Well, just kind of like we explained before, even today, the S and P, the Dow, all time highs.
Heidi Griffith 9:45
Is that supposed to happen?
Roland Daniels 9:47
No, not when the government has shut down, right? So the stock market is still roaring. The stock market is strong, and that's today. It just. Broke all time high, and we didn't anticipate that. We did not, and I think that's one of the reasons why we say we don't have a crystal ball because of things like this, we don't, but some people call it a silver lining when it comes to long term rates, there were a loss of 32,000 jobs that was reported today, and that's a big one, right? It is. And those are private sector jobs. Private sector jobs, yep. So they're now the market is anticipating rate cuts, because the Fed will meet again this month, right? So right now, they're expecting another quarter of a percent reduction in the Fed rate, which is the short term, right? And then a possibility in December, another quarter. So right now, they're starting to bake in all of this information, which means their rates will start to trickle down.
Heidi Griffith 10:56
Well, yeah, you know, and that's the thing that I know, that even before I got into the real estate world, and it's been some time now, but you know, in my previous life, I didn't realize this, but when the economy isn't on fire, and in a good way, when the economy isn't roaring right, mortgage rates tend to do better.
Roland Daniels 11:23
Yes, so when the market is down, when there's uncertainty in the market, usually rates get better.
Heidi Griffith 11:30
So we could potentially crystal ball is broken, but we could potentially see some improvement when we're talking about mortgage interest rates,
Roland Daniels 11:41
right? Because we don't know how long that the federal government will be shut down, right? So, and this is the first time that it's happened in seven years, right?
Heidi Griffith 11:52
I remember the last one. I actually was traveling at the time, and all of the poor TSA people were working for, literally, for free, right? So my heart goes out to everyone who has to show up today and isn't getting paid. Hopefully we get this resolved sooner rather than later, but we do a good job at resolving it, and hopefully there is a silver lining. Hopefully we do see some more improvement with interest rates,
Roland Daniels 12:25
but keep in mind, so they are anticipating, there's a 99% chance that they will cut rates again. So like I said, usually it's baked in prior to the Fed announcement. So like we were saying, rates are starting to trickle down. Today, for December, there's about an 87% chance for rates, for the short term, rates to be affected again, right?
Heidi Griffith 12:54
So it's food for thought again, with as different as everything has been for the past several years, right? It is hard to time it. It is very difficult all of the stuff that all of the indicators that we usually follow, they're not necessarily playing well, are they?
Roland Daniels 13:14
They're gonna have to basically rewrite some of the history books when it comes to economics,
Heidi Griffith 13:20
yeah, yeah. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. I'd love to know if you have any thoughts or questions about this, especially any thoughts you know, how do you think the economy is doing? What do you think is going to happen with interest rates? If you'd like to call or reach out, 702-210-2057, let's do this. We talked about short term rates and how they affect mortgage rates, and how they aren't mortgage rates, and all that kind of stuff. I will say, still, it's been two weeks now. I know that I am. I know you are because I've overheard those conversations. We're still getting calls talking about, you know, how low is the rate? I you know, what's the rate today? I looked online and, you know, I saw that rates were five and a half, or whatever that looks like, right? Let's talk about that really quickly, because I know that. You know, when you see quote, unquote, average mortgage rates quoted, whether it be on an online site or maybe someone spoke with someone and they gave them a quoted rate. It's not the entire story, is
Roland Daniels 14:26
it? It is not. It's there are many factors that are involved in getting a rate. So we think it's a disservice to you call me up on the phone and say, What is your rate today? And we say, oh, it's five and a half. But it's almost impossible to know without looking at your credit, without looking at your debt to income ratio, how much you're going to put down for your down payment, what kind of loan to value you're going to have. So there's many factors in getting a rate.
Heidi Griffith 14:59
Yeah, absolutely. Because, quite honestly, you know, every single person, their financial makeup is going to look different. Yeah, we're all different. So, you know, we could say, and I could say this with ease, you know, rates are somewhere in the sixes right now. Rates are somewhere in the sixes unless you want to buy down the rate, or, unless you're looking at a portfolio loan and maybe rates are higher, or, you know, there's a whole slew of things. But even if you're just looking at doing it, you know, a traditional purchase, whatever that looks like, whether you're putting minimum down or you're putting 20% down. But how much is the actual house, you know, how much are you buying? Very true. What is your debt to income ratio? What is your credit score? Because those are all going to take, you know, that, all into consideration when we start talking about rates. So we can give you a general but another big one is the rate isn't the rate until you lock it. That is true, and in most instances, you know, even if I told you, hey, Roland, today, rates are five and a half percent, and then you had to go find a house and you went under contract, and now it's two weeks or two months
Roland Daniels 16:18
later, it will not be the same.
Heidi Griffith 16:20
Now you're ready to lock your interest rate. Chances are it's not going to change. It's not going to be the same. So it's not like we're hiding rates. It's that we want to give you accurate information. So we'll give you a range, yes, and we'll also tell you something that a lot of these online sites and maybe some people aren't telling you. In many instances, the rate that you want comes with a cost associated it does. The cost of the rate is what we call it, right?
Roland Daniels 16:50
So, and a lot of times, that cost of the rate is in that fine print that's smaller than when you see that advertising. Well, we
Heidi Griffith 16:59
tend to forget that, because we're like, Hey, I just saw the rates are, whatever that number is,
Roland Daniels 17:03
right? And usually they put it on the left side. So when your eyes are, when you're reading from left to right, you're not paying attention to the small print at the very bottom, or to the
Heidi Griffith 17:12
far right, right, or the, you know, the asterisk at the very Yeah. So I mean there, there could be a cost associated with that rate, and that's what we call a point, right? So a point is 1% of the loan amount, yep, so, and that's a fee that you pay up front to get a lower interest rate, right? Yeah, it is. So the only way to get your real rate, really, truly, it's through a pre approval, sitting down, talking with your lender, going over your entire financial profile to see where you're at, right?
Roland Daniels 17:46
And a full pre approval means that you've actually given me your documentation. Yeah, so we we've seen your W twos. We have your paycheck steps. We're looking at your bank statements for your assets. We actually pull credit so we know exactly where you are when it comes to your credit score. Has a huge factor 100%
Heidi Griffith 18:08
it does with the rate. It has a huge factor with the rate. So I know that I've spoke with clients in the past that said, you know, oh, hey, I spoke to Bob, and Bob told me that he could get me X, Y and Z, and so then we ask for a loan estimate, reflecting that, and why we ask for a loan estimate, right? Is because we need to take a look at the big picture. Most people are rate sensitive, aren't they? What's the interest rate? What we've been what's that's what we've been taught. We don't know what to ask, so that's what we ask. What's the interest rate? And certainly we want a low interest rate. We want the lowest interest rate we can get right. We do as long as it makes dollars and cents, because in so many instances, folks have provided us with paperwork from you know, XYZ lender, and there were a bunch of fees on that that they might not have even realized weren't normal. There was a cost for the rate in many instances, and they didn't realize they were paying 10, 1215, I've seen as high as $40,000
Roland Daniels 19:11
right to pay for that. Maybe that rate was 5.75 but the APR, which now includes the cost of the rate, that could be like, I don't know, 6.75 or even 7%
Heidi Griffith 19:23
yep, yep. So we see it all the time. So just things to look out for. So you know, if you're thinking about buying house and you in, the question comes up, hey, what's the rate? Again, very valid question. What's the rate? Understand that whatever you read, make sure you read the fine print. Whoever you talk to make sure understand that that's at this moment in times rate, if you're getting all of the facts and figures,
Roland Daniels 19:49
and you can always ask the lender, just like what you said, ask for a loan estimate that would give you the details of the cost and the fees associated with getting that particular loan.
Heidi Griffith 19:58
Yeah, yeah. And this is. Work. It kind of gets even more interesting, right? So we all thought about this. You know, what's the rate? And you're going to get the best rate if you put 20% down, that's changed, hasn't it? It has. It has in 2023 it is. It changed, right? The old golden rule of 20% down has become kind of a myth, hasn't it?
Roland Daniels 20:22
It has so in 2023 they also added, we're talking about llpa
Heidi Griffith 20:29
Correct, yes, we're talking about loan level price
Roland Daniels 20:33
adjustments, yes, and that is risk, risk based pricing, fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on conventional conforming loans,
Heidi Griffith 20:44
right? So this doesn't impact FHA VA USDA. This is for conventional loans. So let's talk about loan level pricing adjustments. Llpas is what we call them in the industry, and how they affect you. Because, you know, the old rule of thumb was, and I think that's where the whole myth of you have to put 20% down to buy a house, right? We know that that's not true. The minimum for conventional is 3% in some instances, 5% depending on your you know where you've been in your home ownership journey, if you've owned before, all of that kind of stuff. Home buyers with FHA three and a half percent down its minimum. But the you know, that old golden standard was 20% down, and for many people, they actually previous to 2023 got better pricing. They did, got better rates with putting that 20% down in 2023 I really believe in this is the stuff. You know, every time we try and make stuff good, there's always stuff that's not great, that comes with it, right, right?
Roland Daniels 21:52
They improve some areas, right? And then some areas are have a little bit of disadvantage.
Heidi Griffith 21:57
And so what we were looking at prior to that was if your credit wasn't exceptional, if you know you were putting less down, you were actually paying more. And we were finding, just based on economic profiles, that folks who were struggling to get into a house who had saved a long time, they were being penalized,
Roland Daniels 22:20
right, right? Because the minimum FICO score needed for a conventional loan is 626 20. If you're at a at least, back in the day, it was 740 or higher. You got the best pricing, pricing, well, that kind of change now. Now you need about a 760 or 780 depending on the program, yeah.
Heidi Griffith 22:40
Yeah. But when they changed it, right? So when Fannie and Freddie changed their fee structure for conventional loans, the move is really here to help make housing more accessible, but it did kind of create an upside down effect. It did. It did. And so like we said, you know, previous a borrower with a great credit profile could put, you know, 20% down and pay less they could for the loan, right? But then, once it changed, introduced, once it changed, that 20% actually now costs us a little bit more
Roland Daniels 23:15
in some instances, depending on your own individual credit profile or lending
Heidi Griffith 23:23
profile, right? So with llpa is we're always looking, when we're working with conventional loans, as to what we're getting dinged for with the rate, right? Yes, and our automated underwriting will actually call it out for us. It will, and that could be the sales price,
Roland Daniels 23:39
it could be the sales price. It could be your down payment, down payment credit score, right? Because credit scores are now looked at in 20 point increments. Yeah, right. So from a 620, to a 659, you got a certain price. 660, to 699, there's different pricing adjustments, right? So those 20 points makes a huge difference, along with the LTB loan to value,
Heidi Griffith 24:04
right, right? So that means how much you're putting down on the property, yeah. So, I mean, so this is, I guess, where these government backed loans, right? FHA, VA, USDA. They actually have an advantage on that. The thing about conventional is, once you've got 20% equity in the property or an 80% loan to value, there is no mortgage insurance,
Roland Daniels 24:31
right? You just have to request it from your lender. Well, if you put 20%
Heidi Griffith 24:35
down, there's no mortgage insurance. But yes, if you're gonna, you know, try and get rid of it, then you've got to reach out to your lender,
Roland Daniels 24:43
and with the llpa, it can make a huge difference in the cost associated with rent. It's not the interest rate, it's just part of the cost associated with the conventional loan. So if you have any thoughts or questions or would like to register. For any of our upcoming education opportunities, please feel free to reach out. You can give us a call or text. That number is 702-210-2057 once again, that's 702-210-2057
Heidi Griffith 25:18
yeah. Absolutely gosh, we're running short on time. We are. We're running short on time before we get out of here, I always want to make sure that we highlight Silver State Fair Housing Council. They're actually a nonprofit agency that's been working to ensure equal housing opportunities for all of us in Nevada since 1989 you know they combat housing discrimination by helping people who feel like they've been wronged answering any questions, and they work with housing providers and local governments. So while Silver State Fair Housing Council helps individuals prepare, submit, do all that kind of stuff, they do not file or take complaints. I just want everyone to understand that they help us, don't
Roland Daniels 26:04
they? They do. They really do. And, you know, a
Heidi Griffith 26:07
vital part of what they do is working with what we call a tester program, and this helps to combat housing discrimination. We, you know, the Silver State Fair Housing Council brings in testers. They're everyday people. They are. Anyone is able to volunteer for this position, and they help identify where, you know, things could potentially have gotten missed if they weren't there. So normally, what it is is you've got two people. They have the same housing needs. Maybe they look different, maybe one is disabled, maybe one is a senior. It just depended on what that's that specific scenario is like, and they both go in and whether they, you know, make a phone call and ask about a specific rental or a property for sale, or they go in and do basically the same thing, and we're able to see where there's cracks. And this really is such an important program, because what a lot of people don't understand is that every single one of us is protected under fair housing laws, and we need to make sure that everyone is treated fairly in the in the housing you know area, right, right. So if you're interested in becoming a tester, feel free Silver State Fair Housing Council, 702-749-3288, you can also visit them online. Their website is S, S, F, H, c.org, so that's Silver State Fair Housing council.org, and again, if you feel like you've been a victim, reach out to them as
Roland Daniels 27:59
well. Heidi, can you give them the phone number one more time?
Heidi Griffith 28:02
Sure their telephone number is 702-749-3288
Roland Daniels 28:08
so if you have any thoughts or questions about what we've covered today and you'd like to register like we said, for any of our upcoming classes, feel free to reach out. Our number again is 702-210-2057 that's 702-210-2057 You can also visit us at our Facebook page, mortgage matters radio for more information and links to any of our upcoming classes or workshops, and we'll be back next Sunday morning at 7:30am right here on KU NB 91.5 until then, believe in what's possible, even if you've been told that it's out of reach. And remember, stay true to yourself and your mind. Bye. You.
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