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 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 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 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 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 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.