Introduction to the Live Better Podcast

Kelli Green 0:00

Welcome back to an episode of the Live Better Podcast by Centric , and I'm your host and Centric Senior Vice President of Marketing , Kelli Green . I'm so excited that you're here . Every month , we post a new episode where I'm joined by guests to chat about finances and all things living better . Subscribe today so that you never miss an episode . Today , our guest is Ashley Owens . She is Vice President of Mortgage, and she's going to be here to help us debunk myths about home ownership . Well , good morning and welcome back to the Live Better podcast . We are joined today by Ashley Owens and we are tickled to have you . You are a recurring guest and we're so grateful for you , so we know that there's so many different things that people probably come to you and think mortgage is a oh my gosh , is this terrible process ? And they are worried and scared .

Ashley Owens 0:54

They are . I call them nervous Nellies when they come in but I also tell them like hey , we're here , we're here to hold your hand and walk you through the process . Wherever step you may be in the process , we are definitely here to assist you along the way .

Kelli Green 1:07

Yes . Well , that's very comforting because I was just talking with you this morning and really kind of going through this . You have walked us through home construction twice , then into a full mortgage twice , and it was a really seamless process for us . I know we've asked you a million questions and you're always there and available , and I think that speaks true not only to you , but even for your team .

Ashley Owens 1:32

Yes , and definitely that helps not only the buyer , it also helps us to understand what you don't know and what you do need to understand , because definitely questions are there to be answered , because you don't do this every day . We do this every day and you don't do this every day . And it could be something simple as what's PMI ? Am I going to have PMI ? You know , you always hear this lingo , but that's not your world and that's our world and that's what we're here for to explain that to you . So we're always here to help you .

Kelli Green 2:02

I love it . Well , and so just kind of tell us a little bit too , for our listeners that may have just joined on and they may have not have heard any of our previous podcasts , but tell us a little bit about who you are and how long you've been here with us .

Ashley Owens 2:14

Well , my name is Ashley Owens and I have been here a little while . We have gone through a name change . We were Forest Craft when I initially started , so I have been here the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2007 .

Kelli Green 2:29

Wow !

Ashley Owens 2:30

So I have been here a little while and I have enjoyed every moment of it . We are definitely a family-oriented company and we are here to help our members as well as our team members here at the credit union . I enjoy doing what I do helping people get in their homes . I enjoy helping them credit counsel . If they're not ready Right now , we can definitely look at their credit and see what they need to do to get where they need to be . So I just enjoy helping people here at the credit union and I think that speaks volumes of who we are here at the credit union .

Ashley Owens 3:04

We're in the business of helping people .

Kelli Green 3:07

That's the truth , and you guys get to do that every single day . I love it . We're glad to have you here . You're just a couple years shy of 20 years . You started when you were five . That's what we're going to say . We're going to stick to it , okay , all right . So here's a few things . We're going to run down a couple of myths . Are you ready ? I am ready , all right . So let's think

Ashley Owens and Mortgage Guidance

Kelli Green 3:28

about this . Do you actually need 20% down to buy a home ?

Ashley Owens 3:33

Absolutely no . A lot of people come in it's like well , I don't have 20% down , I don't have a huge ton of savings . Can I get money from 401k ? You can definitely get money from 401k , but the truth is you do not need 20% down . You can have as little as 0% down . USDA , VA and our very own first-time homebuyer loan program does not require you to have a down payment at all . Now there are other loan programs out there . FHA requires you to have three and a half percent down , now conventional . You can do as low as three percent down on conventional depending on your income , so we can also look at that , but normally on conventional they require five percent down . So there are a ton of different options and that's what we're here for to see what best fits your needs .

Kelli Green 4:25

Gotcha . So if you're in the market for a home and you've been thinking you're not a homeowner and you think , oh my gosh , I have no savings , what can I do ? There is still an opportunity that they could become a homeowner .

Ashley Owens 4:39

It is , it is definitely an opportunity and even if you don't have the money in your savings accounts , we can look at exploring other options . As far as Malmol Papaw giving you gift funds , Sure . We can get money out of your 401k . So there are options and a little wiggle room for that down payment option if you have to go that route , so come in and talk to us .

Kelli Green 5:02

What I love , what you said earlier is talking about the financial counseling , because when you have folks come in and they're asking questions about the down payment , maybe they maybe because of their income , they don't qualify per se for these and they would require a larger down payment . I love that your team is equipped , as financial certified financial counselors , to say , hey , here's what you can do to start saving . And here , if you start today , here's your plan Right , and you give them . You know they're able to see that right away , and sometimes it takes just a little bit of time so that they're completely prepared . So I love that , absolutely love it . All right , so we're on to another one . All right , here we go . So do you actually need perfect credit to be a homeowner ?

Ashley Owens 5:46

Absolutely not . We encourage you to have , you know , the higher credit scores because , as we know , higher credit scores mean lower interest rates and in return you get a little bit better payment monthly . But you do not have to have perfect credit . Actually , with our lender right now , you can have a mid score of a 580 and purchase a home .

Ashley Owens 6:09

It does have to be an FHA loan . You do have to verify that you have are paying rent monthly and you have not been 30 days delinquent on your rent . You cannot have gift funds , so the money does have to come from your source as far as banking account or your 401k . So there are options and you don't have to have perfect credit . Normally , your credit score has to be around a 620 or better Gotcha .

Ashley Owens 6:36

But there are other loan programs out there that can take you a little bit lower . Like FHA is a 580 . So all you have to do is just come talk .

Kelli Green 6:44

That's it . Come talk to us . That's it . And it can be either in person , over the phone , even a Zoom , if you want to meet virtually there's so many different avenues for folks to really communicate with you and your team . And no question is off the books . Right , yeah , it's anything you want , anything goes . You know you got a question . No question is to . You know people think , well , this is a silly question , or , oh , people aren't going to think I'm smart enough or that it doesn't matter . I think the worst thing we can do going through life is if we have these questions and we don't ask , because a lot of times it could save you money .

Ashley Owens 7:18

It definitely could save you money . Or just general conversation , just being transparent with your loan originator . They could find out a lot more information from you and about different loan programs that you may qualify for , because in conversation , if you never mentioned like , hey , I've been in the military , we may can see if you qualify for VA loan with no money down . So just having a conversation with them , it just brings a lot to light .

Kelli Green 7:44

I love it , oh , I love it . Ask the questions no one is perfect , right ? And again , to kind of go back to that about do you need perfect credit ? The answer is absolutely no . And you think about the higher the credit score , the lower interest , which means you're going to pay less every time . That's correct , love it , okay ? So let's talk about this . Give

Myth: 20% Down Payment Required

Kelli Green 8:08

me a little bit of information around . Like a pre-qualification versus a pre-approval Are they different ? If so , kind of tell me a little bit about that .

Ashley Owens 8:17

They are different and in the eyes of lenders or in the eyes of realtors pre-qualification and pre-approved they give you a little bit . We gather a little bit different information . Pre-qualification kind of gives you a broad overview of okay , yes , this is the information that you've given me . You do pre-qualify . Pre-approval is a little bit in stone . Information has been verified and it gives you a little bit more buying power when you go to your realtor and you say , hey , I'm pre-approved rather than pre-qualified , because we dig a little bit deeper in a pre-approval rather than a pre-qualification .

Kelli Green 8:56

And so when you're saying this really means a lot to a realtor , take this theory you can just kind of share with our listeners . If they are maybe a first time homebuyer or are considering homeownership , what's the first thing they should really do before ? Should they go talk to a realtor first , or should they come talk to you first ?

Ashley Owens 9:15

I think they should definitely talk to a loan originator first , because if they go talk to the realtor first , they're going to turn them around unless they're friends with them and say , hey , let's see how much you're pre-qualified for , because you don't want to be looking at four or five $600,000 houses and you only qualify for 300 . So you don't want to walk into your dream house and say , oh , I'm ready to move in .

Ashley Owens 9:35

And then come talk to your loan originator and you're like I'm sorry , you only qualify for this amount and so your dreams are crushed . So definitely go talk to your loan originator , get pre-qualified , talk about all the things money down , your budget , your closing costs , how much you think that you want to pay monthly , and also look in the future as far as what if my payment goes up . Am I prepared for this ? Because my homeowners insurance and my property taxes is going to increase , so next year my payment may increase - $200, $300 , $400 . Am I prepared for that ?

Ashley Owens 10:09

Do I want to max my stuff out , so it's so many questions that can be talked about during the process . So definitely talk to your loan originator first .

Kelli Green 10:18

First step talk to the loan officer . Okay , Loan originator is who we want to talk with . So here's a couple of things I really want to kind of talk a little bit maybe about renting , if that's okay with you . Okay , so I've always . You know , the myth that's out here is that renting is always cheaper . Is that true ?

Ashley Owens 10:41

It depends on the area that you're staying in . I believe renting can definitely be cheaper , depending on if you're in a rural area , or it may depend on what your budget is . So it depends on you and where you are in your life . I believe renting could be the best thing for people that are on fixed income , as they don't have to worry about keeping up maintenance on their house . They don't have to worry about their homeowner's insurance , their property taxes increasing and their payment increasing from year to year , um , because they are on a fixed income , so they don't have any more money to put into a morthg

Kelli Green 11:16

That's right .

Ashley Owens 11:16

mortgage T T mortgageToer ve e rent versus the mortgage is cheaper right um , definitely your mortgage . You're building equity in your home , um , and you have that money available in their income is not increasing like the working class of people . Um, so, it just depends on where you're at if the rent versus the mortgage is cheaper r um . Du year efinitely m do own it ? Um , but you also have to keep in mind about maintenance on your

Myth: Perfect Credit Score Needed

Ashley Owens 11:41

house right you have my nest eggs set aside to fix my home and roof on my home . I mean all the things that come into play with . ou're . So I definitely think it's a self decision on do I really , can I really afford to not only buy a house , pay for a house and have maintenance on the house from year to year ? Yeah , so that's .

Kelli Green 12:03

You're the thing is just , sometimes people think , well , you're a renter , you know . Then that is just almost feel like , oh , what's the word ? Maybe people feel like , well , oh , I'm not in a position , you know , I can't necessarily afford that . This is , you know , not a good thing . You know , maybe I have not aspired to , you know , achieve this particular dream . But homeownership is not necessarily everything people think it is . It's not necessarily just an American dream . While it is an American dream , you know , there are several things that renting could safeguard folks from .

Ashley Owens 12:35

That is correct .

Kelli Green 12:35

Yeah , one of the things I'll share too , just on this , from a personal standpoint . You know my mom she's retired again , like you mentioned , living on that fixed income . So if she were to , actually you know she sold her home because she knew , as she's getting older , she thought , you know , this is something I really need to think about from a standpoint . She lives alone , so if she has something that breaks or you know she would have to pay that's an additional expense out of her pocket . So I think it's definitely in the timeframe that you're in . What does your savings look like ? Does your budget allow for you to have emergencies like that ? Because fixing a roof , sure , you've got like an insurance deductible for that , you know . And so it's um conversations that we have with members often is , you know , more than half , about 60% of our members can't necessarily afford a $400 emergency . So in those situations , home ownership is not something that we would recommend .

Ashley Owens 13:31

Yeah , and maintenance happens when you least expect it .

Kelli Green 13:36

I mean .

Ashley Owens 13:36

I'll take it back to me . Our AC went out and my husband was off hunting . I'm like the AC is out .

Kelli Green 13:43

What do we do ?

Ashley Owens 13:44

And it's a weekend . So if you call them on the weekend , that's extra . Do you have that fixed into your budget ? And it could be something simple , like mine was the capacitor on the AC unit I mean , it was a quick fix . It didn't take him but 10 minutes , but that was $250 later . That's fix . It didn't take him but 10 minutes , but that was 250 later . That's right .

Kelli Green 14:03

You know , that's 250 dollars in grocery for some people , or that could be their medicine , you know , you just never know .

Ashley Owens 14:06

So I have people that come in to me and talk to me sometimes and say what do you think is in my best interest ? Do you think I should sell my house , um , or can we look at doing a second mortgage on my ? House just so I can have some cash flow . And so you just have to have those conversations and hard conversations sometimes with your members to just kind of guide them with the knowledge that you have .

Kelli Green 14:29

Wow , I love it . I love this that you're sharing with our folks today , and it's the first and most

Pre-qualification vs. Pre-approval

Kelli Green 14:37

important thing that we want to get across . And I know , ashley , that you kind of you live and die by this is like just talk to me , right . Just talk to me , yes , have the conversation . Come on over here at mid city . You are located here at mid city in the Monroe office . I think that is what is is . You make yourself available for folks and people trust you . You've been in the business for almost 20 years , working in mortgage , and it just you bring about a sense of ease to folks whenever we work with you and I'm speaking personally , you know , and so I do hope that our listeners will take advantage of just having the opportunity to speak with someone . I think that would be the absolute best thing . Just give you a call .

Ashley Owens 15:18

Yes , give us a call .

Kelli Green 15:20

Yes , well , is there anything else you want to share with ?

Ashley Owens 15:25

our listeners today , I think , just being transparent with your loan officer student loans let's talk about that . I know a lot of people have student loans and some people say , oh , I can't get a loan because I have student loans . Well , that's not true . Depending on what loan program you are exploring depends on how we calculate your monthly payment . So definitely have a conversation with your loan officer when you're talking about your student loans , because they are definitely calculated differently as far as monthly payment , if you don't have a monthly payment on your credit report versus if you do so , there are a lot of factors that go into student loans . So definitely have a conversation with your loan originator when we're talking about getting a mortgage and you have student loans , because they definitely play a factor in your pre-qualification of your mortgage that you're trying to get .

Kelli Green 16:13

Talk about a myth .

Ashley Owens 16:14

Yes .

Kelli Green 16:15

Because we see people with student loan debt day in and day out .

Ashley Owens 16:21

You do and they say , well , I'm not paying it right now , or no , you're not paying it , but we are required to add half a percent or one percent of your balance for a monthly payment depending on your loan program and that can knock some people out of you know , out of purchasing the house , that they really qualify for Sure , if you know they could have no debt .

Kelli Green 16:41

And then if we're doing 1% , that's a lot for some people , depending on how much student loans you have .

Ashley Owens 16:48

So even talk to students that are in high school when they're going into college , or college kids about hey , you know , try not to take out as many student loans as you want you know , get what you need . That's exactly right If that's something that you have to do , um , and I always explore options of scholarship , so that definitely needs to be a conversation to high school kids and college kids absolutely .

Kelli Green 17:09

It's so important you know when people are going and and taking out a student loan . Just because you can doesn't mean you should . I remember I made my dad what I was . Very fortunate that you know , he covered the cost , the expense of my education . But there was one fortunate that you know , he covered the cost , the expense of my education . But there was one semester where my grades dropped and he said all right , kid , you're on your own . And I'm like , oh my gosh , you know what do I do . And so throughout that you know , he said here's the deal You're going to have to go to a financial institution and you're going to tell them you take in , you show them , take your invoice for your that semester and you tell them you want a loan for just this amount .

Kelli Green 17:42

Right , and that's what a lot of people don't understand . You can do that . You can say hey and just take out that amount . I always say I'm with you on this and I know you and I can speak from this personally . But even as we're talking to our kiddos , it's so important that they understand if you can live at home and go to school , why not ?

Ashley Owens 18:04

Yes .

Kelli Green 18:04

Why not , that's ?

Ashley Owens 18:05

what I'm preaching right now .

Kelli Green 18:06

Yes , it's so important you get the same degree right . I mean , you just kind of have to look at it . I think it goes into . It may vary a little bit when you're looking at specialties and so forth , but we are so fortunate in Northeast Louisiana to

Renting vs. Buying Considerations

Kelli Green 18:19

have multiple institutions , from ULM to Grambling , louisiana , tech , delta . You know , you think about all these institutions , from a trade to a full degree , I mean , and then some it's all right here you don't really have to go anywhere and we're fortunate to do that .

Kelli Green 18:37

Right and they have options that they can do and we're fortunate to do that Right and they have options that they can do Absolutely and make a great career , so much so I am just so , so grateful for this time that we've had . You know , guys , I hope that you will go back in , subscribe to us , but also listen in and go back a few months , because we typically have actually in . We talk quite a bit about this because homeownership is something that's so critical , but there are so many scary untruths that are out there , and so I just thank you for your expertise .

Ashley Owens 19:05

You are so welcome . I love it If you're thinking about something or you're thinking well . Is this an unknown ? Is this a myth ? Hey , just give us a call , come in and see us , send us a text email , whatever you know , you can get in contact with us and we can definitely have the conversation with you guys , that's right .

Kelli Green 19:22

Well , just for our listeners , it's 318-340-9656 . You can text that number to get to Ashley . You can also call directly and they will get you directly to her line . And you can always visit us online at mycentricorg .

Ashley Owens 19:36

That's it , yay , come see us .

Kelli Green 19:39

Perfect . Thank you for listening to our podcast and tune back in next month for another episode of the Live Better podcast . Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and to ensure that you never miss out on helpful tips . Like us on Facebook at Centric , federal Credit Union and find us at MyCentric on Instagram , pinterest , tiktok and YouTube . You can find information about today's topic , our monthly blog and more at MyCentricorg . Centric is federally insured by the NCUA .