Mortgage Loans, Life and Landscaping, Planning The Best By Design

Mortgage Loans, Life and Landscaping, Planning The Best By Design

In today’s episode of Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe, I will be sharing some rules of thumb on picking the right mortgage product & 5 things to do BEFORE you pay any fees. John Lawhon of Lawhon Landscaping will be sharing a few very important things to consider before spending the first dollar on your landscaping project.
If you still have questions or need other real estate and financing related information that was not included in our show, please contact me personally at (901) 482-0354 or jo@192.232.195.219 Let me help you find the answers.
To Your Success,
Jo Garner

Good morning, Memphis! Welcome to our listeners across the 50 states! You’re on Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe. I’m your host, Jo Garner, Mortgage Loan Officer. You can connect with me at www.JoGarner.com. If you have a question or comment or a real estate related conundrum, even if it is not directly related to our topic, call the studio while we’re live on August 6, 2016 at (901) 535-9732 or outside the Memphis area (800) 474-9732. If it is about real estate or real estate financing, let’s talk about it. If you’re on Twitter, make your comments to #JoGarner or call me directly after the show at (901) 482-0354. You can also email me at jo@192.232.195.219
Our general topic today is “Mortgage Loans, Life and Landscaping, Planning The Best By Design.” I will be sharing some rules of thumb on picking the right mortgage product & 5 things to do BEFORE you pay any fees. John Lawhon of Lawhon Landscaping will be sharing a few very important things to consider before spending the first dollar on your landscaping project
Sitting at the coffee table this morning we have John Lawhon of Lawhon Landscape Design and Construction. John and his family have been in the landscaping business since 1958. They design, install and maintain landscapes for both residential and commercial customers. The Lawhons also install irrigation systems and they have some plant pathologists on staff—plant doctors and they do house calls. John, it’s great having you back on Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe.Tell us a little bit about how you got into the landscaping business and what keeps you there
(Jo) As a dedicated mortgage loan officer, I watch or listen to the market throughout the day. Yesterday, like a spring garden, the jobs report sprouted an extra 255K jobs with wages inching upward too. Mortgage rates jumped higher on the news. 30YR FIXED – 3.375-3.625%;FHA/VA – 3.25%; 15 YEAR FIXED – 2.75%-3%; These rate quotes can vary depending on your loan amount, loan type, loan-to-value and credit score. If you locked your rate yesterday, good for you. If you haven’t locked yet, well the rates are still a great bargain. If you are someone you know is interested in buying a home or a rental property or refinancing one here in the Mid-South or anywhere else in the US, let’s get the calculator out and I can put together your numbers for you. The lowest mortgage rate is rarely ever the best deal. It’s important that you look at the other costs behind the rate. BUT LET’S MAKE YOUR PLAN, WORK YOUR PLAN & IF THE DEAL WORKS FOR YOU TODAY, DO IT TODAY. Call me while we’re live at (901) 535-9732 and outside the Memphis area (800) 474-9732 or you can call me after the show directly at (901) 482-0354 or connect with me at www.JoGarner.com
(Jo) John, during today’s show I would like to cover 5 important steps borrowers should take BEFORE they pay any mortgage fees. The first step is about “planning for the best by design.” The first step is to know the maximum comfort level on the monthly mortgage payment and the maximum comfort level on a down payment too. When I ask my customers about their maximum comfort level on a monthly payment or down payment, the common answer about the payment is, “I don’t know. What’s the max I can quality for ?” The mortgage underwriting software can only roughly estimate your maximum allowed payment amount because a mortgage payment can change depending on the amount of property taxes and the amount of the homeowner’s insurance monthly premium. The best way to really know what mortgage payment amount fits your comfort level, is to take a small chunk out of your day and review the money that has gone in AND OUT of your bank account and what specific items were paid for on your revolving credit card. You may want to estimate some of the other bigger items that might not show up on your bank account like an annual or semi-annual like car insurance or car tags or other annual fees. Then, look at your net income going into the bank. Allow for 10% of your income for giving and 10% of your income for building your savings. Now you can subtract the bills and expenses you know you will be paying each month—the remaining amount of money left in the bank is what you will have available for the house note. At this point most people will just venture a guess on what they think is a comfortable house payment. This number can change of course when they find the house they cannot live without. If you are that person, rest assured you are not alone. There are some books and apps out there to help you cut down on your expense budget and still have a life though and hopefully the house you really, really want too. Don’t get discouraged. With rates as low as they are right now, you will probably be pleasantly surprised at how much house you can buy for very little payment.

(Jo) Over the years I have been working with real estate investors who are buying a number of homes and using them for rental income. Occasionally I will work with them to refinance some of their rental properties to lower the monthly note, which if you’re a landlord that’s like giving yourself a raise. Sometimes investors want to shorten the term and get rid of the mortgage sooner. Or sometimes they will pull cash out to give them funds to leverage to buy the next house and the next house after that.
Other of my clients are people who want to lower the overall interest on their home loan and shorten the term or just lower the payment. If you can lower the monthly payment on a small loan by at least $100/mo and recapture your closing costs investment in less than 18 months, you can pat yourself on the back. Let me put some numbers down for you and let’s see how much better we can get your mortgage terms. The opportunity is out there for so many people right now. Don’t miss it!

(Jo) John Lawhon, I know the landscaping business is a lot like the mortgage business in some ways. How do we plan the best by design when we want to start our landscaping project?

2nd segment after 9:15 break: The Look Back Memphis Trivia Contest is sponsored by John and Jennifer Lawhon of Lawhon Landscape (901) 754-7474 the Lawhon’s can help you plan your landscaping if you have a BIG, BIG project or a smaller project . The Lawhons are giving away a $25 gift card to the first person with the correct trivia answer. If you know the answer to our trivia question, call us at 901 535 WREC 901 535-9732.]
TRIVIA QUESTION: Who am I?
[Trivia Answer: ] Collierville, TN or Collierville Town Square
[TRIVIA HINTS]
1. The first train ran in this small town in Shelby County TN in 1852
2. In 2014, this historic town’s square was ranked by Parade Magazine as the “Best Main Street” in America.[7]
3. There were two battles and two small skirmishes of the American Civil War that occurred late in 1863 in this small town. The first battle occurred on October 11, 1863. This town was one of the garrisons established to protect the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. The second battle was on November 3 and was a Confederate cavalry raid that attempted to break up the Memphis and Charleston Railroad behind Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s XV Army Corps, then in the process of marching to the relief of Chattanooga.
4. The landscaping in the center of downtown in this small town was designed and installed by Lawhon Landscaping company.
Other trivia: In 1850, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company purchased the charter of the earlier bankrupt Lagrange and Memphis Railroad Company .[7]

The Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company planned to connect the Mississippi River with the Atlantic Ocean.[8] The new company used the embankments and the materials left by the La Grange and Memphis Railroad which meant that Collierville would be an important link in the connection of these two major bodies of water[9] .

In October 1852, the first train ran in Collierville.[10] The first view of the train was an incredible sight for many Collierville citizens who had never seen an actual train. In her book, The History or Collierville, Elizabeth Parr recounts a letter from Mr. J.K. Waddy, a Collierville citizen who witnessed the very first train. The letter stated:

“The people from all directions living in the county came into see the first train come by. More people had not seen a train than had…long before the time, the train was scheduled to arrive the citizens lined the area along the tracks, hitching their horses to tree limbs and fences. Finally, the train, with much huffing and blowing and smoke boiling out of a funnel-shaped smoke stack, came into sight through the cut near Mrs. B.M. Cowan’s home*. Most of the people were literally scared out their wits. Children ran into the woods and many people ran too; some actually fell down on the ground and covered their faces.” (Parr 8-
*The Cowan home was likely located at the current Cowan Road near Byhalia and South Rowlett intersection
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY JOHN LAWHON-
⦁ The Olympics 2016 opening day was yesterday. Talk about an example of planning by design! These athletes didn’t just show up to participate in the games. They decided many years ago that they wanted to be an Olympic athlete, and started back then to train and set up their support system. The principle of planning by design transcends to life, getting the right terms on a mortgage and designing your landscaping to work for your life style and tastes.
What are some examples of clients who have benefited from getting you to help them plan their landscaping projects?
2. What are some things you can do to improve curb appeal for someone on a budget who wants to sell their home quicker?
3. Why should the homeowner spend the money to hire a professional when they could just use Home Depot?
5. What are some tips for keeping up with landscape maintenance?
6. What are some solutions you use to help fix drainage problems?
7. Please share some helpful tips on what NOT to plant in certain areas.
8. Please share information on when to trim shrubs and trees and when NOT to trim them.
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY JO GARNER:
What are the 5 most important things to do BEFORE spending any money on getting a mortgage?
⦁ As I pointed out earlier in the show, Know your personal comfort levels on the amount of your monthly house note and know your personal comfort levels on the amount of move-in costs.
⦁ Check your credit free at ⦁ www.annualcreditreport.com If you see errors on the report, this will give you time to inquire of the creditor and get the errors corrected. If you see unpaid collection accounts, judgments or other derogatory items, make note of them, but I would suggest talking to a knowledgeable mortgage officer first before jumping ahead and paying them off. I do believe in paying creditors what they owe, but I look for ways that they can STRATEGICALLY pay it off without damaging their credit score right away. My assistant, Susan, and I are trained on the Credit Simulator Tools. In most cases we can accurately guess what will help or hurt your credit score. And you want your credit score to be high when you are ready to get your mortgage terms locked in because the higher your credit score, the lower your interest rate.
⦁ Call 2 or 3 mortgage companies to check rates. When you are asking for a rate estimate, you need to give each of the companies the same sales price and loan amount and number of years like 30, 20 or 15 year terms if you are buying a house. If you are refinancing, give them the approximate value and loan amount and the terms of your current loan and the terms on a 2nd lien if you have a second mortgage. Remember, the lowest rate is rarely ever the best deal. You need to look into the other costs items on the estimate and not just the rate. Make sure you are working with a loan representative that is not just trying to sell you a loan and make sure this rep will be working on your loan from start to finish and not handing your loan off to a “department.” If the loan representative is not in control of your file through the whole process, then YOU aren’t in control of your file either.
⦁ As soon as it is possible, get your income supporting documents and all pages of your bank statements and other asset account statements to the lender for review. Your pre-approval letter is much more compelling to a seller if the lender has stated that your credit and your income and asset documents have been reviewed. In a competitive real estate market, having a pre-approval letter that is stronger than a competing offer, can put in the best position by design. There have been times when the seller has admitted at the real estate closing that he accepted my client’s bid over a competing bid, even though my client’s offer was lower because the seller wanted the surest deal and not necessarily the highest deal.
⦁ When you making an offer to buy a home, if the seller is agreeing to pay a certain percentage of your closing costs and/or prepaid taxes and insurance, make sure the percentage clearly refers to the percentage of the sales price and not a percentage of the costs. You will short change yourself a few thousand dollars if you are not careful.
⦁ If possible, see if you can get into the offer that you are allowed to order a home inspection and be able to review the report before having the lender order the home appraisal. If there are problems indicated on the inspection report that cannot be worked out with the seller, then you would have only spent money on the inspection and not yet another fee on the appraisal.

REAL ESTATE TIP OF THE WEEK ( John shares a tip to not over water your plants and shrubs when it is really hot outside. They do need water but he said, “don’t kill them with kindness” by OVER watering. Too much water sitting around the root system creates root rot and will kill the plant.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Talk Shoppe offers free networking & education to anyone interested in real estate or in business. Talk Shoppe meets every Wednesday 9A-10A CT at the University of Phoenix 65 Germantown Center 1st floor Cordova, TN. This Wednesday August 10, 2016 Talk Shoppe presents “Memphis Code Enforcement—What Investors Need TO Know” Steven Beckham.
Talk Shoppe events are free thanks to sponsors/advertisers/supporters like supporter retired Navy Commander Peggy Lau, who can show you how to travel on the vacations of your dreams and get paid to do it. (901) 289-0747. And Edward Jones Investment Advisor John Keller, Making Sense of Investing Contact John to talk about YOUR money at (901) 569-5009. and Talk Shoppe’s Chef Eric Meyers of www.EatAtErics.com and his food truck. He also serves coffee from www.Java4Jobs.com helping provide jobs for others. The Java4Jobs program is sponsored by Evolve Bank and Trust.
3. Check out the Olympics.
4. FOR THIS PODCAST OF REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE SHOPPE AND MORE, GO TO JOGARNER.COM
5. Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe reminds you that IF THE DEAL WORKS FOR YOU TODAY, DO IT TODAY.
QUOTE CORNER: From Cynthia Occelli, author, mother and a businesswoman who has over some soul-ripping tragedy: “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression. It must come completely undone. The shell cracks. Its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.”
Jimmy Turner—“The success of my garden is built on the compost of my failures.”
Twowomenandahoe.com “Life is too short; Buy the hydrangea”
@beckandlola “No rain, no flowers”
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REJOINERS:
⦁ Troy and Lynn McDonald of Erin McDonald Insurance Agency (901) 849-7101
⦁ Jana Cardona, Executive Director of Business Network International in West Tennessee and North Mississippi ⦁ www.bnimidsouth.com
⦁ Pat Goldstein, Realtor Crye-Leike, Realtors TN. and MS. (901) 606-2000
Transitional Music: Elton John “Empty Garden”; Tim McGraw  “Where The Green Grass Grows”; David Mallet (the songwriter) “Inch By Inch”; Look Back Memphis Trivia Contest “Memphis” by Johnny Rivers

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ABOUT JOHN LAWHON OF LAWHON LANDSCAPING:
Beautiful gardens begin with thoughtful design. The staff of Lawhon Landscape Design includes professionals with degrees in Landscape Architecture, Plant Pathology, Studio Art, and Agronomy. Our designers and plant professionals create outdoor living spaces with your lifestyle in mind.
Our many years of experience in design, installing, and maintaining Mid-South landscapes make us uniquely qualified to create gardens that are both beautiful and practical to maintain.
A Family Business
Our business was started in 1958 by Rex and Beth Lawhon and was one of the first weed control companies in the Southeast. Over the years, we have kept our client list small and personal in order to serve the gardens of Memphis with the best in lawn and shrub care. The high quality of our work has paid off over the years by the many repeat customers we have – both residential and commercial. We follow the philosophy of doing it right the first time. We hope that you will give us the opportunity to serve your garden needs as well.
In 1985, we expanded our family company by offering a complete design build landscape service. John Lawhon, with a degree in Landscape Architecture, offers complete landscape designs for every budget as well as outstanding plant installation services. In order to help maintain your landscape, we offer complete irrigation system installation. We have everything you need to make your home more beautiful than ever.

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ABOUT JO GARNER-MORTGAGE LOAN OFFICER:

www.JoGarner.com (901) 482 0354 jo@192.232.195.219 twitter @jogarner
Jo describes her job description: “As a mortgage loan officer, my job is to give my client the benefits they want from their financing terms– listening to my client and determine what’s of the most value to THEM– What is their comfort level on a house payment, how much are they comfortable paying down, what type of financing do they need to get the house they want to buy or refinance. Different clients have different priorities in life—some are buying their first home with very little down payment funds. Some are recovering from medical challenges, divorces or preparing to send children to college and some are embarking on a long term goal of buying properties to build rental income. Whatever their personal priorities are, my job is to put together a mortgage with comfortable terms that will help them achieve their goals.”
Jo Garner is a mortgage officer with extensive knowledge in tailoring mortgages to her customers who are refinancing or purchasing homes all over the country. She offers conventional, FHA, VA or other loan programs for refinancing and purchases.
Jo can help you look at rent vs buy, when it makes sense to refinance, how to get the best deal on your home purchase financing.
Jo Garner has been in the real estate/financing business for over 20 years.  She got her start in Portland, Maine where she first began her real estate career. She received her real estate education from the University of Southern Maine  and was personally mentored in San Diego, California  by Robert G. Allen, author of Nothing Down, Creating Wealth and The Challenge. 
On moving back to West Tennessee in 1987, she went into business buying and selling discounted owner-financed notes secured on real estate.  In 1990 Jo went to work for a residential mortgage company and has been a mortgage loan officer for over 20 years.  Her goal is to offer excellent, affordable service to her customers, tailoring the loan programs to the specific needs of her clients.  
In addition to her work in the mortgage field, Jo Garner  is the primary sponsor and founder of Talk Shoppe in Memphis. www.TalkShoppe.com She was also the editor of Power Shoppe, a free weekly e-zine designed for real estate professionals and others indirectly connected to the real estate industry and currently publishes on her blog www.JoGarner.com