A NEW LOOK AT YOUR HOME FINANCING
In this podcast of Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe, since there are so many mortgage rate choices, you will get answers to the question — how do I know which rate is the BEST rate for me? Financing can be tricky. I will be covering some ways you can easily determine if refinancing your mortgage is a good investment move for you or not. Gwen Christensen of Builders Floors and Interiors is in the studio to talk about some of the flooring trends—what’s trending and how to get a “new look” for the flooring you want and need in YOUR house at the right price.
Thank you for stopping in to visit with us. If you have a question or concern regarding your real estate or your real estate financing, email or call me and let me know your questions so that I can get back to you with your answer. Subscribe to our other weekly podcasts. Getting you the info you need when you need it is our focus.
To Your Success,
Jo Garner
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Good morning Memphis! Good morning to homeowners and aspiring homeowners across the country. You’re on Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe and I’m your host, Jo Garner, mortgage loan officer. You can connect with me at www.JoGarner.com or, if you’re on twitter, make your comments to #JoGarner. You can talk with me personally by calling me directly after this show at (901) 482-0354 (901) 482-0354. Or you can talk with us this morning live while we are on the air July 2, 2016 by calling (901) 535-WREC or (800) 474-9732.
Our general topic today is GETTING A MORTGAGE & GETTING NEW FLOORING FOR YOUR HOME –A NEW LOOK AT YOUR HOME’S INTERIOR AND YOUR FINANCING. But if you have a real estate or financing related question, please call us while we are live. I want to talk with you on the air. During today’s show, you will answers to the question 1. Since there are so many mortgage rate choices, how do I know which rate is the BEST rate for me? 2. I will be covering some ways you can easily determine if refinancing your mortgage is a good investment move for you or not. 3. These summer temperatures are hot and so is the real estate market—Gwen Christensen of Builders Floors and Interiors is in the studio to talk about some of the flooring trends—what’s trending and how to get a “new look” for the flooring you want and need in YOUR house at the right price.
Gwen Christensen, owner of Builders Floors and Interiors with an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, is in the studio today ready to talk with you about your flooring. I’ve known Gwen almost 10 years and she has done a wonderful job on flooring in my home and rental property. Not only has she been a flooring expert for over 25 years, but she is an interior designer too. Gwen, so glad to have you back on Real Estate Mortgage Shoppe. Tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and what Builders Floors does for your clients. <Gwen introduces herself and Builders Floors>
(Jo) If you took your first look into mortgage terms to buy a house or refinance a few months ago—even a year or two ago—and the payments or the costs were too high, you may want to take a second look now. Last week, with news of Britain leaving the European Union, mortgage rates dropped below a 3-year low. 30YR FIXED – around 3.375% to 3.75% conventional with government FHA, Veteran loans, USDA Rural housing coming in lower. Yesterday I quoted 15 yr conventional loans around 2.75- 3%. Prices on rates are determined by factors like loan type, loan-to-value, loan amounts and credit scores. My assistant, Susan, and I have been working from early morning into late nights taking care of our clients who want to take advantage of the lower interest costs. One of our radio listeners called yesterday and said she had been quoted by a different bank several days ago when rates in the market were higher, but when I started calculating her new payments on a 15 year fixed rate at 3% and 3.125%(if the loan amount was over $200k the rate would have been around 2.75% to 2.875%.) and with no points for her to pay, she discovered she could knock years off her mortgage term and the new payment with the shorter term would be about the same has the old payment –but saving her over $50,000 in principal and interest payments. She couldn’t believe it at first. I told her, “you just got some serious bragging rights on your new mortgage.” She replied, “I want it! Lock it in!” I think that is the trending mantra this week from what we are hearing from our customers. If you considered buying a house or refinancing one 2 weeks ago, 1 to 3 years ago and the rates just weren’t low enough to make the deal work for you, let’s relook at your numbers today. You may be pleasantly surprised. Call me directly after the show at (901) 482-0354 or connect with me at www.JoGarner.com
<Gwen makes comments about what she is seeing trending in the flooring market and any other short comments –especially about the benefits of hard vinyl etc>
(Jo) Another trend we are seeing and I know some realtors in our listening audience will be shouting “AMEN!” is a high velocity on home sales. With inventory of homes for sale on the low side and demand on the high side, houses generally are selling at record speed—within 24 to 48 hours. Pam Beall of Crye-Leike had one of her clients praising her on her Facebook page for winning a bid for a house they wanted to buy over a competitor and for selling their home within about 1 hour of having it listed. Other realtors are getting some great KUDOS! from their clients too. Here is a word to the wise—BE READY, BE PREAPPROVED with your mortgage lender. Know what you want and at what terms. Then, when your realtor calls you and says, “This house fits what you say you want,” then if the DEAL WORKS FOR YOU TODAY, DO IT TODAY. Don’t wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow may be too late.
Gwen, you are staying busy installing floors for builders and homeowners alike. Two customers called me this week who wanted to buy a house that was in good condition but they wanted to replace the floors and upgrade the kitchen after they purchase the home. Since there was so much competition among buyers for homes in that area, they did not want to risk asking the seller to do any upgrades. They wanted to be in that neighborhood so they bought the house and planned to remodel it to make the house theirs after closing.
When that homebuyer contacts you about getting the flooring done, what steps do you go through to determine what type flooring would be right for them and what are some tips you have for people who want to get the most for their money? <Gwen launches her topic until 9:15 break>
2nd segment after 9:15 break: It’s time for the Look Back Memphis Trivia Contest. The Look Back Memphis Trivia Contest is brought to you by notable Memphis historian, Jimmy Ogle. Jimmy offers free historic walking tours in downtown Memphis in the spring and fall. To find out more, ask Jimmy at www.JimmyOgle.com . Our 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.
Garner # 85 7/02/16
Mid-America Mall—
Question: I opened in Downtown Memphis on the Bicentennial of the USA – July 4, 1976. Who am I?
Hint: I was the hope of saving a Downtown area that was losing tenants in the late 60s and early 70s.
Hint: The President of the United States – Gerald Ford – actually dedicated me in celebration of Independence Day.
Hint: I had a big circular fountain right in the center of me, in the front of City Hall in the Civic Center Plaza.
Final Hint: I was the longest of my kind in America – one mile.
Answer: Mid-America Mall. In Downtown Memphis, the mid-60s will forever be linked with the slow process of integration, the sanitation workers’ strike, the riots, and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. It also marks the decade when Main Street began its decline, with almost all retail stores and numerous offices moving out east, linked by the expressways. By 1970 Main Street was just hanging on.
In 1976, Memphis blocked off Main Street altogether and created the one-mile-long, pedestrian-only MID-AMERICA MALL, between Exchange Avenue and Peabody Place – dedicated on July 4 – the Nation’s Bicentennial by President Gerald Ford. It was the longest pedestrian mall in the nation at one mile in length. Surprise! But the opportunity to walk along a tree-lined and sculptured-filled mall full of store and cafes never really attracted the shoppers that it was predicted to do. Memphians didn’t walk.
So, it which was later renamed the more-appropriate MAIN STREET MALL. The few stores still around now had no traffic at all, and Goldsmith’s Department Store lasted until 1993. So the city began hijacking tourists – stopping cars along the interstate and bringing them to the mall. But it still didn’t work. Even with the Main Street Mall, Main Street was dead and boarded up. Two decades later, the City Government finally figured out what was wrong. They came to realize what others knew at the beginning: Memphians don’t walk! So with the help of the U.S. Government, Memphis invested in a system of antique trolleys, which opened in 1993. After some maintenance issues two years ago, the antique trolleys ceased operation. Hopefully, soon the antique trolley cars will return to the Main Street Mall.
On this Monday (July 4), there will be two Patriotic Fireworks displays in Downtown Memphis – on the tip of Mud Island at 9:15 p.m. and after the completion of the Memphis Redbirds baseball game – between 9:00-10:00 p.m. in AutoZone Park.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY GWEN CHRISTENSEN:1. We can your home financing and home flooring and interiors a fire cracker of a deal for you! (talks about how Builders Floors and Interiors can install for less cost than the big box stores).
2. How do I select a flooring covering for each room of my home? Hard surface or carpet?
3. What is the difference in laminate, engineered wood floors or solid wood floors?
4. What kind of floor covering should I use to sell my house?
5. What makes Builders’ Floors & Interiors different from any other retail flooring store?
6. What is the difference in plush and berber carpet? What are the uses of each? What rooms
7. Do I put wood floors in my kitchen?
8. I have heard of the solid vinyl floors that look like wood, what do you think about them?
9. Can I just take the square footage of my rooms and figure how much carpet or wood I need?
10. Can I finance my large floorcovering purchases?
11. What about the large 12×24 tiles that look like wood. Where do I install those?
12. Can you help me select my colors and coordinate the counter tops and tile with my
Flooring?
QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY JO GARNER :
1. There are so many mortgage rate choices available to borrowers today. How is the best way to determine which is the BEST rate scenario?
Most mortgage borrowers call and ask “What’s the lowest mortgage rate I can get?” Here’s a word to the wise—the “lowest mortgage rate” is RARELY the best deal. There are plenty of low teaser rates being advertised everywhere, but many of my customers forward to me those companies’ official estimates on terms, I find the lowest rates come with higher closing and points, making it more affordable to go with a little higher rate without the extra costs. For instance ;
As a rule of thumb, you want to be able to recapture the closing costs you pay on a refinance within less than 2 years if you plan on keeping the house for 5 years or more. In this current market, it is easy to recapture your closing costs in about a year or less. If you are refinancing your 30 year mortgage to another 30 year loan with a lower rate and you save $300 per month and you paid $3,000 in closing costs, you would recapture your closing costs in 10 months $3,000 in costs divided by $300/mo savings –that’s pretty good.
If you are refinancing your $220K 5% 30 year mortgage with 22 years left that has a $1,200 principal and interest payment to a 15yr term, you can calculate how many principal and interest payments you are eliminating from the term by shortening the number of months left on the mortgage. $1,200 x 84 months eliminated by shortening the term by 7 years and you have saved over $100,000 dollars in total principal and interest payments. Is it worth paying $3,000 or so in closing costs? You bet it is because ultimately, if you keep the house over the next 15 years, you would have spent around $3,000 to save over $100,000.
If you have some numbers to compare to determine if it is worth it to YOU to refinance but you want me to run the calculations to see how long it will take you to recapture your investment, I am happy to help you. You can call me directly after this show at (901) 482-0354. Or email me at jo@192.232.195.219
2. What are some easy ways to calculate whether refinancing a mortgage is the best route or just prepaying the principle to reduce the overall interest costs?
I had a lady call me recently and she only had about 8 years left on her loan. She had called one of these 1-800 numbers to get a quote on a refinance because she was paying 7% or 8% on the interest rate on what was originally a 30 year loan and they wanted her to lock in and refinance. I asked her to pull out her amortization schedule showing her loan payment schedule and find her balance that she owed today. Since the largest part of her principal and interest payments were principal anyway and only a wee bit of the payment was interest since the loan had been a 30 year but now was in the last 7 or 8 years of being paid off, she would have lost money refinancing because her closing costs were going to be over $3,000. Over the next 7 years, according to her amortization schedule, she had less than $3,000 in interest payments left to pay. She thanked me for preventing her from wasting $3,000 and for showing her that little trick.
3. What kind of savings on a mortgage are your clients seeing today that they couldn’t get a few months ago?
Excerpts from www.JoGarner.com blog posts:
6-29-13 The 30 yr fixed rate conventional loan ended around 4.5% Friday afternoon with no points. The 15 yr ended around 3.7%. FHA and VA rates are a little lower. Today’s rates vs rates on 6-29-13—3 yrs ago you will save you $100/mo or $36,000 on a $200K loan 30 yr fixed
REAL ESTATE TIP OF THE WEEK: (Gwen shares important tips to how to properly clean wood floors and laminate floors with some other tips about proper cleaning of carpets. )
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 July 6th , 2016 9A-10A CT Talk Shoppe presents
2. Talk Shoppe events are free thanks to our supporters like Retired Navy Commander Peggy Lau who shows us how to take dream vacations and get paid to do it. (901) 289-0747.
3. In honor of our July 4th weekend show here’s an announcement from Holly Swogger president/board/chair of West TN Veterans Home, Inc announces a major milestone this week when the land site selected for the Veterans skilled nursing home was transferred to the Department of Veterans Affairs. that makes it official. Getting the veterans’ home in the Memphis area WILL happen. Kudos! to Holly Swogger and others who have worked tirelessly on this project. There is still have $8mm to raise. Anyone wants to help, go to www.veterans-home.com to donate.
5. Attend the University of Phoenix Memphis Campus Career Fair on July 21st at 10 am.
For details, contact the campus at 901.752.2612
4. FOR THIS PODCAST OF REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE SHOPPE AND MORE, GO TO JOGARNER.COM
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QUOTE CORNER:
Abraham Lincoln: “My dream is of a place and time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.”
Patrick Henry in 1775, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death “
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REJOINERS:
Jeri Jeffries, Tiger Paws Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning http://tigerpawscarpet.com/ (901) 210-9746
Eve Sotiriou, Waterville, Maine
Clint Cooper, Redeemers Group www.redeemersgroup.com
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Transitional Music: “New Looks From A Old Lover Again” by BJ Thomas; “She’s Got The Look” by Roxette; “Take A Look Through My Eyes” by Phil Collins ; “Memphis” by Johnny Rivers for Look Back Memphis Trivia Contest
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ABOUT GWEN CHRISTENSEN, OWNER OF BUILDERS FLOORS AND INTERIORS
www.buildersfloorandinteriors.com
I am the Owner of Builders’ Floors & Interiors which I started
in June of 1997. I have been in the Floorcovering business
for over 25 years. I have spent much of that time working
with clients in choosing interior finishes for their homes,
creating model homes for Builders to enhance their home
sales and soliciting commercial and realtor related business . We are a very service oriented business and our
customers’ needs are paramount to us. Great and timely
service is our goal!
Specialties: Commercial floorcovering|Expert Interior finishes coordination|creating models homes| extremely good
Floor covering installations|Huge selection of carpet,laminates,
ceramic tile and other floorcovering|Floor covering expertise
and extensive experience
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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