How to Find the Perfect Home Loan – For You.

There’s no such thing as, “the best home loan”. There’s only the best home loan for you. John Stevens from SRE.com explains.

Danielle Alvari
Welcome back into Main Street Living Quincy buying a house – huge undertaking. Not only are you choosing the place where you will live, but a house is usually the largest financial investment most people ever make.

Quincy Carr
Yeah, you got that right Danielle. In fact, it can be also like this very confusing with different mortgage options, rates, and terms. And with so many choices, it’s very hard to know what to do, of course, and our next guest is a mortgage expert here to help all of this make sense. Please welcome the past president of the National Association of mortgage brokers, John Stevens. Welcome to the show, John.

John Stevens
Oh, thank you, Quincy. Thank you, Danielle. So excited to be here today.

Quincy Carr
Yeah, well, you know what, I’m little parts. Can I get a Coca-Cola from behind?

John Stevens
You know what, I think you could from almost any era from the looks of it. So?

Quincy Carr
Well, you know, I can tell you the real estate market, John, is red hot right now. And it really seems like everyone is trying to get in while the rates are low. But what are some of the things potential homebuyers should keep in mind as they’re looking for the best deal out there?

John Stevens
You know, really what they need to be looking at is not just the rate, it’s not just, you know, being able to go out and say, oh, I have this rate, this, this number, it’s what’s best for you? What loan is best suited for your financial freedom? Really, you know, people want a lower rate. And oftentimes those come with, say, a 15 year fixed loan, well, is a 15 year a 10 year best for you? Or does your long term do you need to be looking at a 30 year, so it opened up some more avenues for you to do other things. And so working with an expert working with someone who actually understands the big picture, is the best thing any homeowner can do.

Danielle Alvari
So it kind of seems like what you’re saying. I mean, there’s so many options with mortgages, there’s not one single best one is there, it really varies.

John Stevens
No, it really does vary, you know, depending on what you’re trying to do with your finances. And that’s the beauty of working with an expert is they can go through and talk with them and find out exactly what is it that you’re trying to accomplish. And so, I mean, you can do everything from a five-year, right, that then changes over after five years, you can do a 30 year, there’s even 40-year loans out there if you need to stretch the financing like that. And so with every option, it’s kind of like go to Baskin Robbins, right. Nice little plug there. And as you choose all the different ice cream, sometimes you just want to know, what’s your favorite? What do you think I should get based on today? And then that expert, they’ll give you their advice and counsel, and then you’ll still choose what you feel is best for you.

Quincy Carr
Ah, okay, so John, you are the president of SRE.com. Okay. First, like what does the SRE mean? And how does SRE help customers with their home button experience?

John Stevens
No, thank you. Yeah, SRE.com, it really is just that SRE.com. And we’re a tech company. So people come into there, and I’d recommend everybody watching go in there and look at it. And we have compiled a list of what we call SRE professional experts. These are loan originators, who are licensed, they’re educated, and from many different lenders across the nation. And so what happens is, you’ll go in, and you’ll put in your information, and then you’ll have an SPE, that is best suited to you assigned to you. And they’ll reach out to you. And they’ll talk exactly like we just talked about, they’ll ask you, okay, Quincy, what is it that you’re looking at doing? What kind of a home are you looking for? Because even the home type will determine the kind of financing you can get, you know, Danielle are wanting that really nice one by the beach? Well, we’re going to have to make sure that we get flood insurance if you want to be up in the mountains. Okay, we might have to look at some earthquake, right? Little things like that. And so by coming to SRE.com, you’ll notice that we have those experts, but even cooler, that’s what I want to share with you. Every single person who goes through and does that loan with one of our SPEs actually received a 20% rebate on the Commission’s paid. So now you’re not house poor, right? You want to go out and do some stuff. A lot of people can’t do that after they close a loan, because all their money’s been taken up. But with that rebate. Oh my gosh, right. You’re like, Yeah, I’d love to have everybody over. Why don’t you bring food? You bring a couch, right? Yeah.

Danielle Alvari
Well, so I want to make sure we ask you as well. So can you kind of explain what a mortgage broker does for people who might not know?

John Stevens
Absolutely. So mortgage broker, they go out there and they work with all different types of lenders, warehouse lenders, options that they can get, as opposed to an individual loan officer who just offers the one rate that is available through their company. And so when I was president of the National Association of mortgage brokers that’s something I was constantly sharing with everybody. Make sure you go to that avenue that gives you the most options available, and that’s what a mortgage broker does. And then by coming to SRE.com, you’re able to find not just one, but multiple lenders, multiple brokers, individuals who are licensed and educated and able to go through and find what really like we say they’re best suited to you.

Quincy Carr
Gotcha. What do you find is the biggest pitfall for current and future homeowners? Like if they think they have it, and then they miss lay, there’s usually something that both ends of the spectrum, they miss something, what is it?

John Stevens
So at the end of the day, when you’re buying that home, it’s really exciting, right? And you look at that rate, and oftentimes, it’s called APR annual percentage rate. I remember the first time I signed on my home as holy cow, after paying all this interest and the APR. That’s not the rate I agree to. That’s not the interest I agree to. And so realizing that that interest does add up over time if you’re wrapping your closing costs into your loan, then your APR does go up. So when you look at SRE.com, we have one of the rates, we have rates as low as 1.55% APR, that means your rate doesn’t go up due to closing costs. That is the actual rate when you sign 1.55%. And so be looking at that, because a lot of people can offer you a better rate. But are you buying it down, so the APR goes up, which means you’re paying more money over time.

Danielle Alvari
Wow. Obviously a lot of great resources on SRE.com. So where are SRE services available? And how can viewers get more tips from you or find more info about SRE?

John Stevens
So the beauty is you can go to SRE.com. I love that. Obviously, they need to be continuing to watch your show because I’m so excited. We’ll be back multiple times. So that would be what your viewers need to do. Right now. We are in California and Utah, specifically doing our marketing and advertising. But we have SPEs nationwide. Our marketing will actually launch next year, nationwide as well. So anything we can do, we can recommend you to a great SPE.

Quincy Carr
Awesome. Thank you so much.

Danielle Alvari
We look forward to having you back on too.

John Stevens
Yeah, you guys are awesome.

Quincy Carr
A lot of fun. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for the information again, John.

John Stevens
Anytime.

Quincy Carr
Alright Daniel, how’s that for helpful info? All right. Nice. Nice. Well, up next, we’re getting some more info because we’re previewing Black History Month programming on your view. So we’ll be right back with more.

It’s Always a Great Time to Buy a Home

Quincy Carr
Hey guys, welcome back to Mainstreet living. Danielle, buying a house is a huge decision and a huge financial investment. But believe we’ve all heard that owning real estate is one of the best ways to grow wealth. So there are a few good reasons to get into the market, don’t you think?

Danielle Alvari
Yeah. But like you said, buying property can also be very confusing with different mortgage options, interest rates, terms, all things that I don’t know a lot about. And with so many choices, how do you know what to do? Our next guest is our go to expert for mortgage advice. Please welcome the past president of the National Association of mortgage brokers, John Stevens. John, welcome back to Main Street living.

John Stevens
Oh, thank you so much for having me back. I didn’t know your last time if you guys oh, you embarrassed us too much, John. Right. So

Danielle Alvari
Well, John, the real estate market, as we know is on fire right now. But the idea of getting in could be scary. What’s your advice? Is it a good time to buy or sell a home?

John Stevens
You know, it’s always a great time to buy a home. Everybody says I remember last year buddy talking about oh, home prices are going up so fast. We’re gonna wait to buy in every single one of those homes, everybody. Oh, I wish I would have bought then. You know, what’s that old saying that the first best time to plant a tree 12 years ago, right, the next best time to plant a tree today. And so if you’re looking at it as a short-term solution, buying a home, that’s a very narrow-minded view, you have to look at it long term. If you’re renting right now you’re making somebody else rich. If you buy a home, it’s a forced savings account that you have that you’re putting in the equity you’re building towards your own retirement. So it’s always a great time to buy.

Quincy Carr
Yeah, it sounds like as soon as you made that last point, it was like it let us know that you like you hit a right on the number. So one thing that we know is that the interest rates are going up, they’re going up again this year, how much impact does that really make on the cost of a house or loan.

John Stevens
So it has a tremendous impact. And I’m glad you guys asked that. So to go back into the 80s, when their interest rates were 18%, the average home in San Francisco couldn’t be a million, the average home in San Diego couldn’t be the 700,000 Plus, because people would not be able to afford an 18% interest rate. One of the main reasons that you’re able to afford a higher amount is because the interest is lower. And so as interest rates go up, your buying power goes down, meaning you can’t afford as much home do you want the pool the hot tub? Do you want the the nice new house versus a fixer-upper? All of those things 100% are affected by the increase in interest rates. And so inflation is real. When interest rates go up, your buying power goes dramatically down and can cost you 10s of 1000s of dollars more over the life of your loan.

Danielle Alvari
Yeah, yeah. So then, you know what I’m going to ask what are some ways to make sure that you’re getting the best possible interest rate?

John Stevens
You know, shop, right at the end of the day, it always making the right people will drive miles to find the best price on gasoline. But when it comes to a mortgage, they often just, you know, I trust so and so they don’t shop around, they don’t look into the places that actually have the professional experts. And obviously, that’s something that we’re very passionate about over here at SRE.com, is we bring our SRE professional experts to you, and they find the best-suited rate for you. So that that keyword, right, that we all have shopped, it’s critical, you need to make sure that in one of the largest investments of the vast majority of people out there, myself included, that you actually get opinions from more than just one person that you trust or is your friend, you can they can still be friends. But you know, you need to make sure you’re getting the best thing possible for your family.

Quincy Carr
And, you know, true words spoken from the president of SRE.co m. Now you got to tell us, what are some of the services that you guys provide or whatever.

John Stevens
So right now, when you come in, you go to SRA comm. You can go through and see down below that we were actually a social marketplace. We’re bringing on many different tenants within right now we’re focused on mortgages. And so when you come in and click be matched, you’ll be matched with an SRE professional expert, that as I mentioned before, will help you talk with you give you the the advice and counsel. These are these are SRE professional experts that are from all across the nation. And so to be very clear, these these aren’t SRE employees. These are not individuals that work for us. These are licensed and educated individuals out there, who this is what they do for a living. They want to make sure and they’ll give you the advice and the counsel. They’ll get in there and say hey, you know what, Quincy based on what you have, here’s what I would do, but it’s still your choice. And that’s what I love about it. That’s what the difference is between working with a professional and working with someone who’s you They’re because it’s their job. Right?

Danielle Alvari
Right. Well, it’s interesting because like a lot of things today, it’s possible for homebuyers go through most of this process online and on their own. So what’s kind of the advantage of working with an actual live person a mortgage professional?

John Stevens
Oh, I love that, Danielle, that, that that’s actually part of our logo, you know, perfect segue. So with that you talk about this human-assisted e-commerce, right? You want to do everything you possibly can, until you don’t want to. And then you want to pick up the phone, or be able to email or talk to a live person. People out there, all of us on here, we’re more educated than we’ve ever been about housing, about the process, because everything the entire world is at our fingertips, we’re able to look it up find out about the crime rates, the schools, okay, when what’s their taxes in the past? What is it sold for. But at the end of the day, if you get to a point where you just want to have a little bit extra knowledge or reassurance, you need that human piece, think about when you go shopping, if it was so easy just to pick out shopping again, right? If it was so easy to pick out the shoes or clothes you want, you’d continue to only shop online, but sometimes you really just want that individual who can help you give you their opinion, you’re still going to choose what you want. But that human-assisted piece of e-commerce is critical and at SRA. com we believe that it is necessary in order to stay and continue to be relevant to the entire world to have that human-assisted piece in the e-commerce.

Quincy Carr
Okay. Alright, so I have a I have a question. I’m just going to throw in there. Like I own rental property as well. But I’m always getting people trying to buy from me as a, as a homeowner of that property, should I continue to hold on to it? Or just let it go? And when you after you answer that? How can viewers get more information about SRE?

John Stevens
So great, two great questions there. Let me grab my crystal ball and see right, based based on that, and based on the amount of supply out there, I would say it’s still a great time to retain your properties. Remember property value go up and down, up and down. And we’ve seen tremendous growth right now with everything. If you’re looking to cash out and buy other properties, do a 1031 exchange and then expand the amount of properties you own, then yes, sell when it’s high. Right. Now, for myself, I can tell you what I’m doing, I am looking at selling some of our properties in order to do exactly that and go out and buy more properties because then those as each you can either keep your money increasing at this percentage, or spread that same percentage out over multiples, and you’ve doubled the percentage tripled the percentage and you’re building your long term wealth that way. The second question SRA. com. That’s what I love about are the name of our company. It’s so easy to go to sre.com click on that. Look at that you can see the over 32,000 professionals that that are SRE professional experts that are there you can see that when you do something when you use one of our our SRE professional experts, he received that 20% rebate and their rates as low as 1.55% APR on a 15 year fixed. So in today’s world where everything’s inflation, everything’s going up rates are rising. You know, what was what they mentioned the other day five times this year, they’re expecting? Yeah, we still have rates as low through our SRE professional experts, as low as 1.55% APR on a 15 year fixed. So very exciting.

Quincy Carr
There you have it. Thank you.

Danielle Alvari
that’s why this is why we need the professionals to explain it to us. So thank you so much to John Stevens for joining us again,

John Stevens
Anytime. Thanks again for having me.

Don’t Let Yourself Get into the Emotional Trap

Quincy Carr
Hey guys, welcome back to Main Street living. Danielle, buying a house is a huge decision and usually the largest financial investment most people ever meet. But But what we do know is that owning real estate is one of the best ways to grow wealth. So there are some good reasons to get into the market, I think.

Danielle Alvari
Yes, but buying property can also be very confusing with different mortgage options, interest rates and terms. And with so many choices, how do you know what to do or go to expert for mortgage advice is back to help us sort this all out. Please welcome the past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, John Stevens. John, thanks so much for joining us back here on Main Street living.

John Stevens
Oh, thank you so much for having me back. I appreciate it. Good to see you both. Again.

Danielle Alvari
we had to bring you back. Because there’s a lot going on in the real estate market these days. And it seems like every day, we’re hearing news about interest rates rising what’s going on with those.

John Stevens
So for the first time in the last couple of years rates are actually doing what we expected them to do, you may have heard there’s something going on in the world right now. And obviously, our thoughts and our prayers go out to all those being affected by it. But what it’s doing is it is making it possible for rates that have been climbing to go down a little bit again, so you’re seeing a little bit of relief when it comes to those rates. The Fed has announced that they are going to raise rates this year, multiple times. But in the most recent meeting, they announced a smaller rise at the first time this year than was previously expected. And so you know, it’s always a great time to buy it really is. But there is going to be a little bit of time before the massive rate increase that we’ve already seen happening and, and heaven forbid yet a 4% interest rate, right? We talked about this last time that these are still so low and so amazing. You know, and you really should take advantage of it because we need to raise those interest rates in order to shore up our economy in order to make sure that we can are able to continue to exist as an economy. Right.

Quincy Carr
Right. Right. So John, if rates are going all the way up, again, is still a good time to buy property?

John Stevens
Oh, absolutely. I would recommend even when rates for 18% buy property when rates dropped, you know, to under 3%. Buy property, because that’s the one thing my dad taught me when I was little he goes, you know, always find a job that people need no matter what the economy does. And so as I looked at them, I thought of everything, I realized that land is something you can’t create more of, you can take land and expand an island, you can increase you know and dig down areas. But at the end of the day, you’re still taking something that exists and you can’t create more of and so you look right now there was a report last week, that it’s an eight-year wait in some areas of the world to get an apartment, eight years they have to wait. So always a great time to buy always a great time for long-term investing. For those of you out there listening and watching who are looking at flipping homes, you know, you may have to rethink that through but long-term real estate investing, it’s always a great time to buy.

Danielle Alvari
Well now explain why sorry, Quincy,

Quincy Carr
what I was gonna say your dad gave me great advice. My dad just said, Get outside and play.

John Stevens
Oh, I like that.

Danielle Alvari
What I’m trying to say is, since it’s such a great time to buy, obviously, it’s very competitive in the market. We’re hearing about bidding wars on homes. I actually just had a friend tweet yesterday that she was on a work trip. And she found out she got the home that she was bidding for and she was crying. So obviously a lot of emotion that gets into this, what’s the best way to handle that.

John Stevens
So I love that story. It’s such a energy and emotionally fueled item that we’re doing when we purchase a home, right? We’re so invested in emotionally, we we see our furniture we see our families, we see generations maybe right. And that’s one of the things that buyers need to make sure they don’t get too overwhelmed and too involved with, you need to take emotions out of the home purchase, and look at what is best for you long term. Because if we get too emotionally attached or involved in buying, then you’re going to see what exists right now instances where every home is going for 100,000 more than asking price. Because people are so eager. They’re saying listen, there just isn’t enough inventory. Cars are doing the same thing. Homes are doing the same things. Look at people taking advantage right now with just everyday grocery items. I remember, there was a funny meme on Facebook with wood, you know and said there’s a trailer of an old old barn that’s been torn down and put into a into a trailer and says you know, million dollars don’t try to lowball me I know my value of what I’m selling. Right? Because Wood was going crazy. And so what that is is is you get so emotionally involved with the purchase that you’re willing to pay whatever it takes to win. And so patients pulling back understanding the amount that you can put into a home without putting yourself at risk. You know, they talked about many times don’t become house poor. Nobody who wants to get into a home and then not be able to ever take a vacation or go? I remember one couple came in to talk with me years ago. And they were in tears. And the wife says, we wish we just had enough money to buy our grandkids hamburgers once a month. That’s how tight their finances were. And so I implore everybody watching Don’t let yourself get into the emotional over buying trap that exists in today’s market, because more homes will become available. If you’re patient, there’s always a good deal. If you’re patient, if you have to get something now that’s when the overbuying and the competition gets too heavy, and then you will overpay for an item?

Quincy Carr
Wow. Well, that’s what makes you an expert, John. Okay. That’s what makes you the expert. So so why is it? Why is it valuable to have someone like you on our team, if we’re navigating through the market to buy or sell a property?

John Stevens
It’s critical, you know, I’m not gonna say just, you know, as me, but anybody out there you know, at SRE.com, we call them an SRE professional expert. These are individuals who aren’t just there, you know, making making their money, right? These are individuals who are ethically trained, they’re often members of associations, like myself being past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. If you go there to namb.org, you can see individuals who are upheld to a higher level of ethics in the lending industry, people who are licensed and educated, and at the end of the day, by using someone who is an SRE professional expert, they’re going to listen to, okay, what is it you’re wanting to do? What is it you’re trying to achieve? What are your long term goals? And then they give you all of the options and say, okay, great, here’s what I would recommend. But once again, it’s what you need. I’ll give you the best advice. I know, I’ll give you all the options and lay them out for you. But you’re still going to decide what’s best for you. It’s kind of like we talked about this the other day, go to Baskin Robbins. And they say, Yeah, I’m sorry, you want pralines and cream. I mean, that’s good ice cream. I like it. I really love cookie dough. Right? No, I don’t want people telling me what I have to do. Right? I want to be able to work with that human assisted ecommerce. Let me do as much as I want. But if I need help, let’s work with an SRE professional expert. That will give me the advice and then I’ll go back to choosing my own and getting done what I need done, because for all the people out there, and how well educated they are about the process and how much they know. When you go to professional, they’re going to give you the insight to the stuff you don’t know. Henry Ford talk about that. Right? You know I paraphrase. I don’t need to know everything. Because I work with so and so who knows about that, and that and that and that they know what they know, and they’ll help me become better.

Danielle Alvari
Absolutely. And John, what services does SRE.com provide? And where can viewers find more information?

John Stevens
So I love it. Once again, the name of our company, SRE.com is exactly where you go, SRE.com. And when you go there, you can see right now we’re starting out with mortgages. So you go in, you click on that be matched. And you’ll be matched with an SRE professional expert, or as we call them, an SPE. And they will reach out to you and find the best loan, utilizing the latest technology, and the best options that are out there, they’ll be able to find for you the best mortgage that’s best suited for you. And as we continue to expand as we grow, if you scroll down on our website, you’ll see we’re a multi-solution platform. What does that mean? It just means there’s going to be a whole ton of services that we’re going to provide, whether it be real estate, title, appraisal, contractors, anything that affects your home. Today, it’s mortgages, but the future is very, very bright at SRE .com to benefit you in the key component there. You receive a 20% rebate on the Commission’s paid out. And that I mean, that’s life-changing for a lot of buyers, they now if the heater goes out, they have that extra money. If they need a couch, they have that extra money. You look at it. And these aren’t discount people you’re working with. These are SRE professional experts, who have made the agreement to take care of each and every single person who goes through the website.

Quincy Carr
Beautiful. Beautiful.

Danielle Alvari
Thank you so much, John, of course for always for your information and for joining us again.

John Stevens
Oh, thank you again, appreciate it.

Quincy Carr
Alright, take care,