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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 to
Roland Daniels 0:40
Hello. 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, hey there. How are you? I am doing outstanding. Happy Sunday. Happy Sunday.
Heidi Griffith 1:10
You're always outstanding. Thanks for sitting next to me today. Of course, anytime I appreciate you. I'm Heidi Griffith. I'm also a mortgage advisor and your Director of Client Services. My animal s number is 2247754, so before we get started, let's talk about some classes we have coming up. Let's do it so we actually have a class coming up tomorrow. We do Monday, October 27 this class is for all of our real estate friends out there. This is going to be a CE class held alongside the Nevada housing division, kind of goes over all of the down payment assistance programs they have, gives you some great insight on how we can help more people towards their dream of home ownership and build some new business as well, right? That's the name of the game. It's three general hours. It's going to be from 10am until 1pm brunch is going to be included, and we actually have a surprise guest coming. So if you have any questions or you'd like to register for that class, you can reach out to us. We'll guide you to the link to register. Our telephone number is 702-210-2057 again, that number is 702-210-2057 so after that class, we've got our monthly class coming up. We do the path to home ownership. That's the path to home ownership workshop that is held alongside HUD counseling agency, CPLC, and that's the HUD pretty smart class. It is certified. It is a full day event, and it really is just it's one of those classes that gives you as much information as a class can towards home ownership. And not only you know just how to purchase a home, but everything that happens after you purchase a home. We talk about homeowners insurance and how that impacts you. We go over budgeting. They go over credit. In Depth, in detail, explain how you can improve your credit or keep your credit where it needs to be. We actually sat down last week with Eric PLC, Eric Chavez. He gave some great information. You know, one of the big ones, obviously, was the 30 daylights. A lot of people think that they can, you know, maybe miss a payment, oops, and I'll make it up next month. Not true. That could take you from, you know, great credit to not great
Roland Daniels 3:28
credit, probably anywhere between 60 to 140 points just by being late 30 days.
Heidi Griffith 3:34
Bam, bam. So that class is actually going to be on Saturday. That's November 1 November, the first November the Can you imagine, we're almost at November 1 craziness. It is crazy. So that's from 830 to 3pm Saturday, November 1 again. If you'd like to register for that one, you can give us a call or text us. Our number is 702-210-2057, you can also find the link to that event on our Facebook page, and you can find us at mortgage matters radio. So I'm really excited. We are sitting in studio with someone we haven't seen in a long time, right? It's been a while. We are super excited to welcome him back. He is an amazing human today in studio, we have Kevin Hickey. He's Nevada Rural housing's home ownership program manager. Good morning, Kevin. Good morning. Morning. Thank you for coming back. Thank you for having me. Glad to be back. We're so excited to have you, and I know there's a lot of stuff going on over at Nevada Rural before we get started. Can I read your bio? Sure I'm going to read his bio, because it really it's so much fun. So this comes directly from the Nevada Rural housing authority's website, and it reads, it's a bird, it's a plane. It's Kevin plucked from the sky after he retired from the airline industry after 25 years in the biz, and pulled into rural Nevada housing. Housing, Kevin joined the home ownership program crew to provide lender, real estate agent and home buyer support. Kevin is a people person, I can say that 100% first, who thrives on connection and relationships, which made him perfect fit for the role. He has since expanded his responsibilities, and he now manages Nevada Rural housing's home ownerships programs, helping the team dream up the next big thing that will help rural Nevadans realize their dreams of becoming homeowners. Kevin earned his master's degree from the the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, right where we sit today. UNLV in crisis and emergency management. And he's also, this is an interesting one. He's a fifth generation Nevadan, born and raised in Gardnerville. He's been here a long time. His family has been here almost unheard of with his feet on the ground. Home is one of his favorite places to take his shoes off, kick back and truly relax with the people he cherishes the most. I love that. Thanks for being here. Mr. Hickey, thank you so, so let's, let's talk. So for, for those that haven't heard you on air before, yep, aside from that fun bio, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Kevin Hickey 6:13
Oh, my goodness. Well, yeah, I live here in Las Vegas, as you know, married to a school counselor, have a son who's going to turn 12 next month, just finished his first cross country season in middle school. So yeah, we like to camp, spend a lot of time outdoors travel. We're big dis nerds, if you know the phrase, so Disney is one of our favorite things. So yeah, we take advantage of all the opportunities we have around here to be outside, especially when it's not 110
Heidi Griffith 6:47
plus degrees. Oh, it's that, you know, we're in that short window where we have the best weather in the world, don't we? Yeah, we're in that short window, as long as we don't let those no see, UMS get us. Yeah, we're in the best time possible. So all of those great things about you, you really are a tremendous human. We thank you for everything that you do, but you're also a champion in the housing space. I know Roland knows we understand that you understand the need for affordable housing in our state. When we sit down and we talk about, you know, we have someone from rural housing in the studio with us today. First and foremost, we're going to squash some myths around that term rural, because it doesn't always mean out way out up north Pahrump. It means those things, by the way, yeah, but there's actually pockets here in the valley that could be considered quote, unquote rural for these programs.
Kevin Hickey 7:38
Yes, yeah, that's right. It's because our areas of eligibility are determined by population, and any tax district with a population below 150,000 is considered rural. So right here in the Vegas valley, that includes Summerland South Winchester and Whitney, and there's some other little pockets here and there that are available on our map. So if anyone has any questions about what might be considered rule that's on our website at Hell map.org, that's H, A, L, M, a, p.org, and you can type in an address and see if it's eligible, or you can just look at a general area and see what might be eligible. So yeah, rule can mean Winchester, smack in the middle of
Heidi Griffith 8:20
Las Vegas. That's right, that's right, right, yeah. And that map is super easy to use. I use it all the time. You literally. You can go on, you can put in a zip code, and you can look around, you can put in a specific address, and it will tell you immediately, yes, this property is eligible, or no, this property isn't eligible, right? So that's a great tool. Give me that website again.
Kevin Hickey 8:39
It's H, A, L, M, a, p.org, halmap.org, l, map. So home at last, Home At Last is the H, a, l, yep. So Hal map.org, great.
Heidi Griffith 8:49
I wanted, I wanted to get that out of the way before we got started. Because a lot of people sometimes hear rural and they're like, Well, I'm not moving, you know? And a lot of people, we are talking to, a lot of people right now, just looking at the affordability aspect that are thinking, well, maybe we do go out a little bit. Maybe we do go into Pahrump or mesquite. I know that Rowland got some folks that work for the state, and maybe looking at like Indian Springs in those areas they are, yeah. So there's definitely opportunities, not only within our city, but surrounding our city, and then obviously, pretty much all of Northern Nevada, right?
Kevin Hickey 9:24
Yes, Northern Nevada, with the exception of the city limits of Reno. Okay, okay, that's wonderful. Sparks is eligible, but Reno is not Gotcha. And as you know, just because an address might say Reno or Las Vegas, you might think, well, it's not eligible, but that's just talking about the city limits. So there are plenty of places at Vegas is the perfect example. My address is in Las Vegas, but I don't live in Las Vegas. I live in paradise, right? So just because it says Las Vegas doesn't mean it's not eligible, right? Same thing up north. So that that's where that map really comes in handy.
Heidi Griffith 9:59
Yeah. Absolutely So let, let's talk about what programs Nevada Rural offers.
Kevin Hickey 10:06
So our probably our flagship, I should say our flagship program is home at last. It's the one that's been around. It'll be 20 years next year. Wow, that home at last has been around, which is pretty awesome, but the one that that we really push lately, because it's the best benefit for borrowers, is our launch pad programs. And as you know, those are bond funded programs, so they allow the interest rate to be lower and provide the down payment assistance to the borrower. So we have a few different or a couple different Launch Pad options, one for first time home buyers and one for repeat borrowers. So there's options and availability for a lot of folks, and they provide anywhere from 2% of the loan amount in down payment assistance on up to 5% you know. So what does that mean, if you had a $350,000 loan, 5% of that could be available in down payment assistance. And as you know, what's minimum down payment? Right? 3% for conventional, three and a half percent for FHA, and then, of course, no down payment with VA and USDA. So that that down payment assistance, there's options out there to cover the minimum required, which is, you know, a big hurdle for home buyers. It's one of their biggest when they're when they're ready to make the move. The hardest part is saving up the down payment.
Heidi Griffith 11:26
68% of people who don't own homes say the reason why they haven't purchased is because they can't save for the down payment. And these types of programs really make that, make it possible,
Kevin Hickey 11:37
absolutely. And then there's a big population too, that don't even know their home ownership ready? That's right, you know. So you know, for folks listening, I hope that that you're, you're thinking about it at the very least, you know, there are plenty of folks out there that might have it on their mind, be like, Oh, it's just, I can't do it. It's not for me, or I'm not there. And that may be, but you also may, they may also be home ownership ready. So reaching out, you know, finding out about programs like this, reaching out to lenders like you and Roland here, that's the it's a win. Win for information.
Heidi Griffith 12:10
We agree. We agree, because we do, and that's the whole thing. When we sit down and we talk to folks, we have an assessment. It's trying to figure out what your best goals are. Because, you know, there's people who are only going to be in the city for the next two years. Does purchasing a home necessarily make sense? Well, again, it's going to be based on the person, but yeah, absolutely. And a lot of people don't realize that they're ready. We sit along, you know, we actually had the conversation with Josie from Nevada housing where we talked about people making assumptions about their credit or what it was going to take to purchase a home. And after they sat down, had an assessment, just a conversation, just discovery, realized that, wow, I could do this, if this is something that I want to do. So yeah, great point. Great point. And I know that you mentioned first time homebuyer or not. First time homebuyer. Tell me what a first time homebuyer
Kevin Hickey 12:58
means. So first time homebuyer means you have not owned a home in the last three years. So it doesn't mean you've never owned a home, just not in the last three so, and I'm sure you've seen it too. We've had folks come into the program who purchased a home, you know, 1015, years ago and either moved out of the area, sold and have rented since, or whatnot, that, you know, want to get back into home ownership, and they're absolutely eligible as first time borrowers. Rule doesn't mean rule necessarily, and first time doesn't mean first time. How about that? How do you keep it confusing, right?
Roland Daniels 13:30
Kevin, for our listeners out there, you mentioned that the program can be used over and over
Kevin Hickey 13:36
so the home at last program can be used repeatedly. Correct. The Launch Pad program is a one time program for borrowers, but Home At Last can be used multiple times, and with Home At Last. And so good question talking about home at last. So we talked a little bit about launch pad, but the home at last program is our most flexible program. There is no first time buyer requirement. There is a higher income limit for that program. Incomes up to 165,000 are allowed. You can own other property, and it can be in the state. Out of the state, it can be more than one property, so there's no ownership restrictions with the Home At Last program. So that's where the flexibility comes in. For sure, Nevada, rural has options, and even the option to permanently reduce the rate through the home at last program. So you have not only the access to down payment assistance, but also permanent rate reductions. And we call them, we make the point to say permanent, because we hear a lot about how your rate might be one for this year, another rate next year, and then the third year goes to like a buy down, right, right. So this is a permanent rate reduction that will last the full life
Heidi Griffith 14:44
of the loan. So as long as you keep that home, as long as you don't refinance that the rate is the rate is the
Roland Daniels 14:49
rate, right? What about when it comes to refinance opportunities?
Kevin Hickey 14:53
Yeah. So again, the Home At Last program has that flexibility where you can use it to refinance your. Current mortgage into a lower rate. So
Heidi Griffith 15:02
you are telling us all the right things. So, so what if you know I'm a homeowner currently, and life is lifeing right now, right? We all are kind of feeling it in our pockets. We've talked weekly on this. We do, yeah, average car payment is $750 nationwide. Credit card debt is at all time highs. You know, a lot of people are sitting on anywhere from 24 to 30% interest on those cards, and they are looking at options, right? And so I just have my house it's in the correct area. Can I refi with Nevada, rural?
Kevin Hickey 15:43
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, you can refinance. The one thing to keep in mind with Home At Last is that it's an, it's not a cash out refi, right? So if you're taking out, if you want to take out portion of the equity from your home, you would want to look at a different option for refi. But otherwise, you can refinance with Home at last,
Heidi Griffith 16:01
right? So if I'm just trying to get out of maybe my higher interest rate, yes, I bought a year and a half ago, and you know, it was in the eighth or whatever that looks like, I could use Nevada Rural just for my
Roland Daniels 16:13
refund, yep, so basically just rate in term, right? Yep, just rate and term Exactly. If I wanted to pay off credit card debt, then that would be considered a cash out rebuy, right? Okay, great. And what about your MCC? How does that work? Can you give us a little bit information?
Heidi Griffith 16:30
Let's talk in depth about that. I love it.
Kevin Hickey 16:32
Yeah. So the MCC is probably one of my favorite things that we offer. It definitely is one of those things that sounds too good to be true, but I'm here to tell you that it is absolutely true that allows you to save on your federal taxes. So
Roland Daniels 16:47
what's the definition? So our listeners can understand what MCC means,
Kevin Hickey 16:53
right? So MCC stands for mortgage credit certificate, and what it allows a home buyer to do is to claim 20% of the interest they pay every year as $1 for dollar tax credit. Who does not want to save money on who does not want to save that right? So one of the examples we give, and it's actually on our website, if you looked for more information, there a $350,000 loan at, I believe it's at six and a half percent interest rate would be about $4,500 in savings that first year. Who doesn't want to save $4,500 right? I do. And so that's a credit that you get for the entire life of the loan. So if you just happen to carry that loan for the full 30 years, you're going to have that tax credit every single year, every single year, every single year, and it's based on, again, percentage of the interest you pay every year. So you know, as time goes on, you pay less and less interest, right? So your credit will go down over time, because you're just paying 20% of whatever you've paid. But over the life of a loan, that example, I gave $350,000 loan at six and a half percent, if you had it the full 30 years, you're looking at over $80,000 Holy smokes.
Heidi Griffith 18:07
Yeah, that so let's just say I owe $5,000 this year in my taxes. Yeah, with that example that you gave
Kevin Hickey 18:16
you, yep. So $4,500 would only credit for 500 you'd only have to pay 500 and so if you've been paying into your taxes all year through your payroll deductions whatnot, then that just all comes back to is, is a refund.
Heidi Griffith 18:31
Wow. So what if I'm if I owe less than that 4500
Kevin Hickey 18:37
so you'll get the credit for what you owed. So let's call it 3000 3000 so using that 4500 example, that 3000 would pay off, pay the taxes for that year, and that 1500 would carry over for the next three years, so that you could use it. You know, let's just say maybe you have a job change, your income goes up or whatnot. You more, pay more taxes in the future. That that credit, whatever is left over, you have
Heidi Griffith 19:02
three years to use, and so who can use this mortgage credit certificate?
Kevin Hickey 19:06
So it is a first time homebuyer program, okay? Again, meaning, haven't owned in the previous three years. And there's an exception to that. If the borrower is a veteran, they are excluded from that, that first time homebuyer requirement. And if the borrower is purchasing in a targeted area that is waived as well. And targeted areas are areas that are determined, determined to have low loan origination. So you know, government's trying to get more folks to purchase homes and plant roots in those areas, and they do that by incentivizing through these first time homebuyer programs, allowing them to not be first time home buyers and still get that advantage.
Roland Daniels 19:45
So what if I'm already receiving the mortgage credit certificate and I want to refinance? Do I lose that benefit when I do the refinance?
Kevin Hickey 19:53
No, we just reissue the MCC to pair it with your current mortgage. And that's a necessary step, because the IRS has to. Know what, what mortgage interest you're paying, and if you send them a statement for a mortgage that they don't know about, then they you don't get the credit right? So we reissue the MCC so that it's tied to the new mortgage and and you can do that as many times as you need to.
Roland Daniels 20:16
So does it start over again? I get the 20% on the interest that I'm paying on that loan,
Kevin Hickey 20:21
on that loan, and it'll never be more than the original benefit. Okay? So you know, the loan amount might change or will change in the refinance, right? It's still based on the original amount and and the original 30 years. So there will be no extra benefit through that process, but you won't lose anything,
Heidi Griffith 20:39
but you'll keep your benefit so you could continue to refi as life goes on and as rates go down and things move around.
Roland Daniels 20:47
Am I allowed to use the mortgage credit certificate as a way to qualify for a loan as well?
Kevin Hickey 20:53
Yeah, that's the secret sauce right there. But let's break
Heidi Griffith 20:57
it down so that it makes sense, because this is where it gets a little confusing. Yeah, let's tell us about it.
Kevin Hickey 21:03
So using that $4,500 example for tax credit for the first year, the your loan officer can take that $4,500 and divide it by 12 to get your additional monthly qualifying income, which, if I remember right, is about $367 so you can add that to their income every month, which can help the borrower, maybe one qualify two, maybe qualify for more by lowering their debt to income ratio. And for those who have student loan debt that can sometimes negatively impact the DTI, or debt to income ratio. The MCC Can, can help with that, take take care of that. So it there is, not only do you have the long term savings benefit, but you also have the opportunity to use that up front to help qualify for the loan.
Heidi Griffith 21:55
And we look at that angle as well, because we do it can help you. It can take you from, well, we're going to have to figure out how we can get you just bumped up a little bit, because when we're looking at debt to income ratio, sometimes that you know you're looking at, let's just say you want to buy a 350 or $400,000 house, but your debt to ratio is too high, so we're having to look at what we have to pay off, what we have to do. This could actually give you the boost that we don't have to deal with that you're able to qualify for what you're looking at qualifying
Kevin Hickey 22:23
for, which is pretty darn cool. Yeah. So the OCC is one of my favorite things, because it is, again, one of those things that sounds too good to be true, but is really that good? Not only the long term savings, and I think that the qualifying part to help up front, that's the message that gets out there a lot, which is great, because people need that help but, but even still, whether you need that up front or not, who, who doesn't want to save $4,500
Heidi Griffith 22:49
a year, especially, yeah, because we all love to, we all love taxes anyway, right?
Kevin Hickey 22:53
Exactly. So that's money that just comes, you know, right back to the borrowers, the home, the homeowners to use however they want. You know, it can be used toward vacations, renovations, you know, education, whatever it might be, it's money that you save.
Roland Daniels 23:07
Doesn't matter what kind of property, whether it's a single family, home, town home or condo, nope.
Kevin Hickey 23:13
As long as it is a 30 year fixed rate mortgage, then it's MCC eligible.
Heidi Griffith 23:19
So when we're looking at using the MCC, do we have to utilize down payment
Kevin Hickey 23:24
assistance? No, that's a great thing, too. Great thing. And one, you don't have to use down payment assistance. So you don't need to use that program in order to get the MCC right. But if you do want down payment assistance, you can still have the MCC provided. It's the launch pad or home at last program, right? It's not eligible with the launch pad for first time home buyers program, and that's because the first time home buyer part is a government qualifier of sorts, you know? And, and they say, Okay, we're going to help you with this, but you don't get to benefit twice, so you have to pick the lower interest rate of a first time homebuyer loan program or pick the MCC So, and we see folks now that we have Launchpad that allows folks who aren't first time homebuyers, they they choose that option instead and go with the MCC
Heidi Griffith 24:19
makes sense? Yeah. So there's really a lot of ways to take a look at it, and it's something that we do every day. So when we sit down and meet with someone, we always want to present options, right? Because that's the thing you want to be able to sit down and figure out what's the best plan forward for you, and you offer so many different options that we can kind of just put puzzle pieces together. Yeah? So if you are looking for some help, because 68% of people say the reason why they haven't purchased is the down payment, and we see it all the time, especially in a city like ours. You know, there's so many people that qualify and are able to make that monthly mortgage payment, it's that saving up for the down payment that sometimes is that hurdle. And. And even if we've got some money tucked away these types of the programs, especially with Nevada Rural Housing, now I can keep that money as a safety net. I can keep it because there is home ownership maintenance that we've got to always consider. Now I've got this little nest egg that's sitting back there. I'm able to utilize the Nevada rural housing programs and save some money on my taxes. Who doesn't want to do it? Time goes quick. There's so much information. I know that you have something kind of on the horizon that we're looking at. Some great news coming up. Will you come back and join us and tell us when that comes out? Absolutely, we're super excited about we may have a new program through Nevada Rural Housing comp, yep. How much do you think it might offer in assistance? It's going to be about $20,000 per part. Wow. And how, how did those funds come about
Kevin Hickey 25:53
through the last legislative session, right bill was passed called AB 540 right all around home ownership, statewide, a whole bunch of different initiatives there, but a big chunk of it is specific for single family home ownership, which is pretty darn cool.
Heidi Griffith 26:09
Yep, we talk about that bill a lot. There's a lot that encompasses it. There are still great things that are happening. And like we tell people all the time, there is help out there. There are programs available, there is money available, and you are the gem of the gym. Thank you so much for being with
Kevin Hickey 26:29
us. Appreciate you being here. No, I appreciate it always. I appreciate you guys
Heidi Griffith 26:32
come back and talk to us.
Roland Daniels 26:34
So before we wrap up, as we do every week, we want to talk about something that matters deeply to both of us, which is fair housing. Heidi and I both serve on the board of the Silver State Fair Housing Council, and Heidi is the vice president of the board. Fair Housing isn't just a privilege, it's a right. Every one of us has.
Heidi Griffith 26:56
It is, it is. And you know how important this one is to me, so one of the ways that Silver State Fair Housing Council protects that right is through their Tester program. So testers are everyday community members like you and myself. You get trained to pose as a renter or a buyer, and you help uncover housing discrimination, because the most common complaint in Nevada is disability. We're seeing people who are being refused housing because, you know, they won't install, I don't know, grab bars or ramps or lower level units. And this stuff is important. It really is, because here's the thing, fair housing is a right, and we are all protected under fair housing. So if you're interested in becoming a tester, if you want to learn some more, you can contact the Silver State Fair Housing Council. You can reach them directly there. Their toll free number is 1885858634, again, that number is 1-888-585-8634, again, fair housing protects all of us. Getting involved helps protect your community as well as yourself.
Roland Daniels 28:11
We hope today's conversation gave you both information and inspiration.
Heidi Griffith 28:17
Yeah, and thank you again, Kevin, we really do thank you. You are such an amazing human. Well, thank you.
Roland Daniels 28:24
If you have any questions about anything that we've talked about today, you can give us a call or text us. That number is 702-210-2057 once again, that's 702-210-2057 make sure you tune in next Sunday at 7:30am right here on KU NV. 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.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai