Interview with Broker & Mortgage Specialist Stefani Boyd

Episode 15: Interview with Broker & Mortgage Specialist Stefani Boyd

In this episode, I have a very special guest Stefani! She is a Sacramento local serving those in California and those leaving California with their home mortgage needs.  After a successful career in criminal investigations as one of the youngest criminal investigators in Sacramento County, Stefani went on to pursue her dreams of joining the family real estate business.  She spent years learning the ins and outs of real estate and lending with her family brokerage. Now, Stefani has both her real estate and mortgage broker licenses and is the CEO of her own corporation. A single teen mom turned success story, Stefani is a proud Air Force mom, has three sons, two granddaughters and her adorable Pomeranian, Lola.

Stefani Boyd Contact: (916) 215 - 9811
First-Time Buyer Guide: www.firsttimebuyerhandbook.com

Transcript

00:00.00
theloansigninghustle
And without further ado welcome Stephanie.

00:04.16
Stefani Boyd
Thank you so much for having me Brett and glad to be here.

00:15.26
theloansigninghustle
Thank you for taking the time out of your weekend to get on this episode I know that we have tried one other time but it kind of fell through because I had a closing pop-up and. Um, as you know what the industry is just a thing that happens.

00:55.92
Stefani Boyd
Definitely Well, It's been worth the weight and I'm sure that you're busy and that definitely takes priority above anything else when you've got assigning to get to.

01:14.78
theloansigninghustle
Exactly So um, just tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into the real estate industry I am also super curious about your. Criminal investigation background as well.

01:47.26
Stefani Boyd
Okay, well let me start by saying that I was a teenage mom so I had my son when I was None and everybody told me it was going to be a disaster so I decided to go. To college immediately and get an education and make sure that my life did not turn out as a disaster as everyone was predicting. Ah so I took the high school proficiency and I ran down to Sacramento City College in my beat up clunker car and i. Um, enrolled in classes and I decided to take criminal justice classes because I was very interested in the law and the criminal justice system. Um, and I just decided that I loved going to school.

03:42.40
theloansigninghustle
Um, right.

03:41.58
Stefani Boyd
So I stuck I stuck with that. Um I actually went through a correctional officer academy and I was very close to being a correctional officer when I was None however, um, the justice system was not a huge fan of my background I did have. Um, a juvenile case with Joyriing and um, so there's my confession for the day Brett I was a former as a joy writer I couldn't get a job in the criminal justice system um on the law enforcement side. But ah.

04:37.90
theloansigninghustle
Oh guys.

04:57.74
Stefani Boyd
As years went by and I finished up my education I found out that there was such a thing as a defense investigator. So ah, Sacramento County was hiring criminal investigators and most 99% of the candidates want to work for the district attorney's office and. I what? Ah where your you have to have a post certification to be a da investigator so they only hire law enforcement and this is a very cushy job that law enforcement officers from detectives sergeants everybody wants this job. As kind of a retirement gig a lot of the guys from the sheriff's department from the jail came over um and they become criminal investigators kind of after they do their first twenty years. So um, at twenty one I was hired by the Sacramento County public defenders office as an investigator and I was the youngest investigator that they ever had and I stayed there for None ars investigating murders felonies None strikes rapes robbery all of the nasty stuff and after None ars I excited I'd had enough. It was a real interesting job but it was a very difficult job. Emotionally, there was just every single.

07:40.48
theloansigninghustle
Right? I I was going to ask you I couldn't imagine having for for myself I could not deal with seeing those type of events on a day- to-day basis even a weekly basis I'm sure that could take. Atoll mentally.

08:16.84
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, it did. It was really just sad all around you know, um my team I was a 3 strikes team. So every one of our clients was looking at 25 to life for a certain amount of time you know, um while I was on that team.

08:55.36
theloansigninghustle
Wow.

08:55.24
Stefani Boyd
And a lot of them were shoplifting cases. So you know a guy had priors from twenty years ago that were a strikeable offense and you know had stayed out of trouble for 20 years and then gets picked up on a shoplifting charge because he's broke and now he's going for 25 to life. So luckily um, or not luckily but I guess skillfully I was able to negotiate a deal less than 25 for life. Um, for all but None client. So in my 5 years work in these cases. We only. Lost 1 to 25 to life and we're able to get a lot of better um results for our clients than a life sentence. But how many of them deserved a life sentence and we got him out I don't know.

10:33.28
theloansigninghustle
That's amazing.

10:40.70
Stefani Boyd
So you know it was kind of like whether I won or lost I felt this particular angst I guess you could say in that job just whether I'm helping somebody because you don't know as the investigator I have no idea what the facts are I just know what people have told me about the situation. So. You know, um, are we getting off innocent people and helping them out or are we helping guilty people get away with crimes and eventually it was just too much and there's a lot of politics involved in this type of work and I'm not that great at politics. So ah. I went and joined my family's real estate brokerage. So my mom started out in the late 80 s as a real estate appraiser and in the 90 s she became a broker and she figured out how to do loans and she recruited everybody in the family to the loan and real estate business. So. I joined I got my license in 2000 and back then there was no loan license. So if you had a real estate license. You could do loans if you wanted to and I found out that I yes, no and Mls which you know this is exactly why they created the and nmls because a lot.

12:56.50
theloansigninghustle
Interesting.

13:14.40
Stefani Boyd
Of Wild West type of activities were going on back then So um, you know.

13:29.92
theloansigninghustle
I'm sure there were That's that's kind of mind blowing That's something I didn't I didn't know that if you were like what what did you say a real estate agent. You could do loans as well.

13:48.78
Stefani Boyd
Oh yeah, no additional training. No additional requirements. Nothing just get an account executive to come into your office and train you on their products and everybody can do loans if they feel like it. So um, apparently that didn't turn out to be the. Best business model. Um, and the results were that a lot of people went into foreclosure and obviously the subprime meltdown I mean there were a lot of reasons for that unfortunate set of events. But um I Do believe that part of it was. Just there was no regulations So There were no.

15:10.88
theloansigninghustle
Right? and people probably weren't getting monitored and into proper loans with either their credit history or you know stuff that they had and that probably put things in a very bad position for that to happen.

15:39.22
Stefani Boyd
It did and from what I've come to understand later a ah lot of so there was massive amounts of mortgage fraud going on. So first of all, there was lenders who were. Not qualifying people based on income. So if you had a None credit score then you could state whatever income you wanted to state so we've got stated income stated employment. We're not even gonna check and see if you actually have a job. You tell us you have a job. We believe you? we are None trusting in the early 2000 ah all we really did was look at your credit and the lender comes in and says well if you've got this credit score. Let's do an option arm pick a payment they can make interest only or even a minimum payment where you're not even paying all your interest and they can negatively amortize up to none of the value and. Since values are going up every day and skyrocketing no problem. You'll just refinance your client out of this loan. You know None months or a year down the road and everything will be great and so we did that people got upside down on their mortgages. Sometimes they weren't able to refinance and the disaster. Unfolded. Um, so therefore they put in all the regulations and now we have an and nmls license lots and lots of rules about being greedy and getting kickbacks from everybody in the industry and um definitely has instilled a little more ethics into. The whole process. So I think it's definitely a good thing. We're protecting borrowers now we're doing qualified mortgages where people actually have to qualify based on repayment ability. Income verifications of employment are happening. You know at least twice during the loan process now. So lots of good checks and balances these days. Um, so.

19:39.24
theloansigninghustle
It's much needed, especially with the chaotic World. We already live In. We don't need a back pedal and have a disaster like that again because that sounds pretty crazy. Although I am kind of jealous that I did not get intone buying. At that time.

20:08.96
Stefani Boyd
Ah, yeah, a lot of people I mean you probably would have foreclosed like everyone else did so if that's the silver lining. But yeah, ah.

20:30.80
theloansigninghustle
Ah.

20:36.30
Stefani Boyd
You know we're starting to see non-qm products coming around now where there are you know bank statements for income verification if you have good credit. Um, but there are definitely a lot less risky than those loans we were doing back in the early 2000

21:07.52
theloansigninghustle
Right? So with getting into your family's business. How long were you doing that and what inspired you to start your company.

21:25.72
Stefani Boyd
Well so I worked with the family business until the crash and then we all went out and got massage licenses not everybody but my sister and I both did that. Um, and. I always joke that everyone went from being a loan officer to a massage therapist but probably not everybody but I'd say there was a good amount of us who decided we wanted a much less stressful job for a while um my my mom's company stayed in it and in 2015 I got relicensed and came back to work. With the family company again and um, over the past few years I Just it felt like the logical next step to become a broker myself and um, kind of just see what I can do out on my own. So Um I recently went through. Ah, rebranding and launched my very own website and um, got my very own brokerage and I am just um, my family company is kind of retiring slowing down. So I'm picking up where they left off but just. In a slightly reimagined fashion.

23:53.40
theloansigninghustle
Right? I mean I think that's what's amazing with entrepreneurship and you know moving forward with your own business because you can have it imagined in your way. Ah so when you did rebrand. Ah, what is the website and um, where can people find that.

24:35.40
Stefani Boyd
Well so my website is http://stephanieboyd.com and that's STEFA n I like Gwen Stefani but I always have to tell people please call me Stephanie um and my.

25:01.76
theloansigninghustle
I was confused at None because I wanted to say safani. But um, you caught me really quick.

25:14.62
Stefani Boyd
Well, you know what's funny to me is for years I've been called Stefani ever since Gwen Stefani came along and now lady Gaga has the same name and the same spelling and so when her movie came out I noticed people started calling me Stephanie again. So.

25:52.70
theloansigninghustle
Nice.

25:52.20
Stefani Boyd
I'm not 100% sure if as a coincidence but um I did I feel like I got a little redemption from lady gaga after Gwen Stefani sort of ruined my life for years. Um, ah.

26:16.16
theloansigninghustle
Oh I'm sorry I'm sorry Gwen with.

26:26.48
Stefani Boyd
And I also have another website which will just take you to my main website which is firsttime Buyerhandbook Dot Com So I just put together a handbook to help people figure out how much they can qualify for um and there's some calculations on there to get at your debt-to-income ratio And. Um, just really kind of take control of your purchasing power so that you have the information to you know before you go on Http://realtor.com rent some calculations and just see where you're at and will you know go from there and contact me.

27:44.40
theloansigninghustle
That sounds like an amazing tool to be honest, so there are so many different roles in the real estate transaction with title and escrow. You have the loan officer the real estate agent the notary signing agent or assigning service.

27:41.38
Stefani Boyd
If you have questions.

28:24.32
theloansigninghustle
Can you dive into what the loan officer's role is.

28:30.66
Stefani Boyd
Well sure so the loan officer you really cannot do any of this without a loan officer unless you have a giant pile of cash sitting around. So um. As a loan officer I'm also called a loan originator. So I originate the loan file. So um, a person decides. They want to buy a house and they don't have a giant pile of money sitting around so they may call a real estate agent and say can you please take me out and show me some houses. Um. The real estate agent is very likely to say please send me your loan approval or your pre-qualification letter and so that's where the loan officer comes in if the borrower has not been pre-qualified typically the real estate agent will suggest um a loan officer that you call hopefully it'll be me. And um I have an online loan application. So you just go through click through the link give us some information about you know credit finances cetera and we get you qualified so the loan officer's responsibility is to. Protect basically the investor's money so we have to make sure that you are employed for None ars or more credit score you know would check and make sure that you don't have foreclosures bankruptcies. You know you're in with the time periods of all of. Issues that you might run into that would cause a problem with credit. Um, and then your loan officer going to be the one that you submit all of your documents to so with these qualified mortgage mortgages I mentioned we need to prove your repayment ability so we do that by submitting w two's. Taxes if. You're self-employed bank statements pay stubs. Um, and we might run into some situation where we may need a letter of explanation if there's anything. That's a little bit out of the ordinary on there. Um. So ideally your loan officer is going to work very closely with your realtor and they are going to stay in good communication as these interest rates go up and make sure that you continue to qualify for the houses that you're looking at and for the offers that you're writing so. I have agents who call me and you know in this climate I'm not sure I think you're on the East Coast um I think this is going on all across the country where buyers are paying more than the asking price. It's definitely a seller's market. Um, and.

33:55.28
Stefani Boyd
With interest rates rising. It's real important to make sure that the borrower continues to qualify. So for example, I've got some people. Maybe I've been working with them since February when their rate was ah none now or in may and rates are going up. And up and up and their rate may be now none or 4 and none might be in the fives now.

34:49.80
theloansigninghustle
Yeah I had a closing I'm in Denver Colorado and I had a closing yesterday and 1 of the clients. Their rates were at I think five point two five right now or well that's what I saw.

35:17.96
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, definitely you're gonna see a lot of them in the fives and it you can get them lower. It's you know, kind of a buy down type of situation I try to get my marginal first time buyers in as low as possible on the interest rate because. They just don't have a lot of payment ability. A lot of times. Um, so you know they may come in and pay their fees upfront rather than having them paid out of the loan amount or out of the interest rate so it kind of depends on the way the deal's structured. Um, but definitely rates. Are much higher than they were a couple months ago so if you're going out to shop for a $ 500000 house and your rate was you know none and now it's let's call it none you may have a much harder time being able to qualify for that loan now and then add on top of that. The fact that the seller might have None competing offers and you know they're all over asking price. So that.

37:24.90
theloansigninghustle
Right? Which people are if it's over they have to you know, come up with that cache usually right.

37:37.20
Stefani Boyd
Exactly it's all depends on the appraisal. So if the appraisal comes in at 500 then that's you have to come up with whatever additional cash now. Let's say you've got a None purchase price. So you now you need your.

37:59.58
theloansigninghustle
Right.

38:10.98
Stefani Boyd
However, much your None None 20% down payment plus you need the 50000 that's over the asking price. Plus you need all of your closing costs. Plus you need the money to buy down your rate. So you know I'm seeing in this scenario a couple that needs to come out of pocket $100000 on this deal. And you know a lot of young couples going into their first home just don't have $100000 um, a lot of them are blessed with a gift from family. Um, you know and in my market. We're definitely seeing people coming from. san francisco bay area with cash who do have that ability and in fact, they may be the ones driving this um madness. But um, yeah, we're not seeing as many none time buyers getting in with zero out of pocket as we were a year or so ago.

40:00.12
theloansigninghustle
So now at the closing table I'll sometimes have the loan originator Loan officer at the closing to sign off on some of the docs like the 103 loan application. Do you ever go to your local clients.

39:56.60
Stefani Boyd
Definitely.

40:32.40
Stefani Boyd
Absolutely I Love going to the closings whenever it's possible I I prefer to be there. Um, sometimes there's weird questions that come up I've had you know one that the address was somehow.

40:37.96
theloansigninghustle
Closings.

41:08.30
Stefani Boyd
Wrong So They had their old address or their work address it somehow got out on the loan documents and um, the notary didn't know if it was going to be okay to continue signing or if we're going to have to reschedule redraw documents reprint everything but because I was there I was able to kind of. Feel that get on the phone with the lender and verify that it wasn't actually going to cause a problem in this instance so that's just one little example of you know the different things that can come up and I just think it's really great if the loan officer can be there to answer the borrower's questions because ah. As the notary or a signing agent or whatever. You're not the one that has those answers. So.

42:39.00
theloansigninghustle
Right? But and at the same time if something like that pops up as I tell my listeners um and other loan signing agents out there if something like that pops up and the loan originator is not there. You need to get either the Escrofts or on the phone. Or the lender and verify before proceeding just to make sure everything is good to go.

43:25.58
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, definitely important and I'm sure that you have signings that are after hours or on the weekends or what have you where it's harder to get a hold of somebody. So obviously if I've got a client you know.

43:43.50
theloansigninghustle
Yes.

43:56.84
Stefani Boyd
8 hours away who's doing a refine in Southern California I'm not going to be able to make it to their closing but I'm definitely available by phone for all 100% of them. So.

44:23.42
theloansigninghustle
That's awesome now staying on the closing table topic. You mentioned 1 mistake what other mistakes have you seen a notary closing agent make at the table if any.

44:49.72
Stefani Boyd
Well I'm not sure. Um I mean Gosh off the top of my head I had one that we had to resign because ah the notary was sure.

44:58.12
theloansigninghustle
Or what issues.

45:27.34
Stefani Boyd
That oh gosh I can't oh I'm so sorry Brett I can't think of the details on this but I definitely know that I had a notary. He was a new notary and he was convinced that one little thing that was on the the documents was going to be fine and in fact.

45:42.12
theloansigninghustle
Ah, it's It's okay.

46:03.86
Stefani Boyd
It wasn't going to be fine and so we ended up having to redraw those docks because he insisted the borrower continued signing and when I actually got a hold of the lender we actually did need them to resign. Um.

46:08.62
theloansigninghustle
Ok.

46:30.84
Stefani Boyd
So I would just say in general the signing agents like everyone just needs to know what their particular expertise is and make sure that they stick to that um lane I guess I could say because just you know once once in a while.

47:02.38
theloansigninghustle
Absolutely.

47:09.20
Stefani Boyd
Oh I had a notary that told my borrower that they didn't need to keep the or they didn't need to sign all of the rescission forms or something and they really did need to sign the rescission forms and keep one and send one back if they wanted to rescind so you know there's just all kinds of little details and it's. Very important that everybody knows which ones they're responsible for for sure.

47:59.16
theloansigninghustle
Exactly And if it's in there have it signed I'm sure you know the loan originator worked up the file file and escrow did and they put the paperwork together giving it giving them the benefit of the doubt perfectly and properly. So if it's in there. Get it signed.

48:35.24
Stefani Boyd
Absolutely very very important.

48:46.20
theloansigninghustle
Now Ah does the loan Officer have a say in who the notary closer should be for their file.

49:09.34
Stefani Boyd
Theoretically maybe so back in the old days where um, there were no regulations. Ah I will tell you that people in my office were notary publics and we were able to notarize loan files within our office. So. Ah, they didn't even really mind if I notarized my own purchase file at that time there was really literally no regulations. Yeah so I could be the notary and the real estate agent and the loan officer on None file. What could possibly go wrong. Yeah right? What could go wrong? um.

49:56.38
theloansigninghustle
Whoa.

50:08.28
theloansigninghustle
You are blowing my mind you are blowing my mind with that information.

50:21.60
Stefani Boyd
So really the way that it works in practicality though is that I mean in my state The loan officer sends everything to title and the title company coordinates the notary. So um I don't really have any say So I'm not sure that there's any.

50:49.38
theloansigninghustle
Right.

51:01.40
Stefani Boyd
Rule preventing me from referring you to a particular notary but they're very well maybe but definitely the notary is all coordinated by the title company so they have some type of pool of notaries some type of app-based. Platform that I imagine is somewhat similar to uber where somebody requests a signing and the None notary out there sees it come across the platform and the None one that's able to get it grabs it off of there Accepts the job and goes out and does the signing.

52:08.50
theloansigninghustle
Exactly I just I just wanted to pick your brain a little bit because most of my listeners are loan signing agents. So I'm sure they're curious if you give out that specific business.

52:08.46
Stefani Boyd
Um, so I.

52:47.20
theloansigninghustle
Um, but as we know most of it and mainly it does come from escrow and title.

52:51.72
Stefani Boyd
Yeah I I do make relationships with a lot of the signing agents and notaries that I see in the field because I am one of the loan officers that shows up to all the signings. Um, and if I was able to I would definitely Ah. Recommend None over another sometimes. But um, typically they're just coordinated by title. So you know I believe that you just go get qualified. Take your classes to become a real estate expert in the field of the notary and then you know get on. With a title company or None of those app-based services.

54:18.10
theloansigninghustle
Yep, now we kind of touched base earlier on interest rates how they're arising So where do you think? Interest rates are headed.

54:40.34
Stefani Boyd
Oh boy well I hate making predictions. But I think this one is pretty much a no-brainer since the fed has said that they are going to raise interest rates. Um I think they said None times this year or if not None times but they meet every six weeks and every single time they've met. They've raised rates and they keep they promise to raise them several more times this year so I believe we're looking at at least None more rate hikes this year and

55:43.48
theloansigninghustle
So that's something I didn't know so they meet every six weeks to see if they're going to raise or lower rates.

56:00.00
Stefani Boyd
Yes, and this so the past few years have been historically low like the 0 interest rates is not typically the way we run things. Ah. You know I'm sure people with savings accounts noticed that they weren't getting any returns on their savings. So these interest rates you know they they affect everything your car interest rate your credit card rate your home mortgage rate. Um and the fed basically meets. To try to either. You know somehow control the markets so that we don't have rampant inflation or that we don't have a massive recession etc. So yes, in order to correct this ah covid related. Situation that we're in the fed has promised to raise the rates. Um, every time they meet this year so that's the reason for these climbing rates that we're seeing which have gone up basically to full points in the past couple of months and

58:25.34
theloansigninghustle
And oh I was just going to go into you know what was it in 12009 they were sitting around I think maybe what was it 7%

58:27.80
Stefani Boyd
Ah, go ahead.

59:00.40
theloansigninghustle
So still where they're at right now people need to understand that in the grand scheme of things they are still lower than the past thirty forty year average.

59:23.00
Stefani Boyd
Definitely there's still definitely low. Interest rates. The problem is that the housing prices are out of control. So just for some perspective when I bought my none house in None my interest rate was None and none but my house was only none so and you know my income was 40000 at that time. So and my house payment was $1100 so now let's look.

01:00:04.96
theloansigninghustle
Right.

01:00:24.20
theloansigninghustle
So nice. Ah, if I could get to $1100 again

01:00:31.34
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, exactly. So now you know I'm looking at my son and his wife. For example, you know they're in their early thirty s they actually just bought a house. Ah, her income is you know their income is each around $50000 so you know maybe let's say we've seen a 20% increase in you know the median income in the past twenty five years since I bought that house roughly but the house that they bought is 300% more expensive than the house that I bought so their income being 20% more doesn't really. Math doesn't line up with the 3 to 500% increase in the house and now you know the house that I bought for one hundred and seventeen Thousand is now selling for None so yeah, and I mean for so for somebody like me to.

01:02:16.74
theloansigninghustle
That is insane and amazing at the same time.

01:02:30.38
Stefani Boyd
Be able to afford that house in terms of the way that I was able to afford it at that time they would need to make 6 times as much so that you know your None time buyer now needs to make None instead of 40000 so you know I mean.

01:03:00.50
theloansigninghustle
Right.

01:03:09.16
Stefani Boyd
In my market. There are a lot of high-paying jobs that are coming from the Silicon Valley um you know and even wage earner jobs. Are you know the minimum wage is coming up towards $15 an hour and really $20 an hour for entry-level positions. Um, but that still doesn't put you at a none job to buy that $600000 house now. So yeah, so that's what concerns me you know I'm a mom I'm actually grandma too I've got 2 little granddaughters and.

01:03:59.20
theloansigninghustle
Um, oh nowhere near that.

01:04:22.52
theloansigninghustle
R.

01:04:24.34
Stefani Boyd
Um, you know what's the world going to be like when they're out looking for a house in 20 years um and what's it going to look like.

01:04:45.42
theloansigninghustle
Hopefully we're in a better place because things are very chaotic right now, especially after a pandemic people are just trying to. Get by and survive and yet they're having to worry about gasping six seven dollars to get from point a to point b um to even put food on the table.

01:05:25.68
Stefani Boyd
Exactly and that is what concerns me is when you have a choice to pay your mortgage or buy food and gas is costing you you know 50% more than it was costing you a year ago when you qualified for this house. Um. Who is going to choose to pay their mortgage and not feed their family. So I don't know I hate to be a doomsayer but I don't see I don't see a real. Um. Positive outcome for all of this when it all shakes out I think that we're going to have to see some major corrections in the market and the prices have to come down for people to be able to make these payments and sustain this you know for a long period of time.

01:07:01.30
theloansigninghustle
Which which gets into my next point as we're talking about Obviously the housing market is going up but I also talked to some of my escrow officers at fidelity and. You know they say that things have to balance out at some point they cannot continue to Rise and appraise these houses for you know, astronomical amounts. Eventually things will start to balance out and what's kind of your take on that.

01:08:09.40
Stefani Boyd
Well, that's my hope or else. Otherwise we're headed for another great depression and I mean I think it's either None of those things it has to gently correct itself or. People are going to be driven out of their homes because of the cost of living rising so much and yeah, the inflation is crazy. The gas prices are crazy the cost of food. Um the world war that we're on the brink of like I don't know Brett i'm. I am really like every day I wake up and I do my positive affirmations and I just um I I guess I just lie to myself that everything is going along just swimmingly here. Ah, but it's a little bit scary out there I don't know I just think there's a lot of uncertainty and. Um I don't like to be the bearer of false hope and I don't like to be the bearer of just doomsday and ah, you know hell at fire and brimstone. But um.

01:10:18.38
theloansigninghustle
Right? But you have to be realistic I mean there's a lot going on that you can't turn a blind eye to and people have been turning you know, um away from things that have been happening. For a very long time but now it's getting to the point where there's a lot that is just blatantly right in our face and you know there comes a time where we need to wake up and figure out okay where we headed what's going on and what impact can we make to help. This move in a better direction.

01:11:28.38
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, which you know I think that's a really good point and you know we're at a point in time where we just need to really focus on our community and the people that we see every day The people in our neighborhood. You know, Um, how we can kind of help each other. To get through the rough times and while we continue to hope for the best you know? Um, so that's kind of what I do to balance out all of the uncertainties. Um I just stay active in my community. I Try to do outreach where I can. You know we've got a growing homeless problem in my area. Um I would imagine. Yeah you know and I think it's only going to get worse and I Just think it's important for us all to get together to come up with solutions.

01:12:51.16
theloansigninghustle
Oh everywhere.

01:13:12.16
Stefani Boyd
So many things you know we've got just global warming water issues. Ah homelessness Inflation World War like what else could go wrong? Yes, please.

01:13:32.44
theloansigninghustle
You want to hear something crazy yesterday yesterday. Um, well the day before yesterday was ° here in Denver beautiful day. Um, it snowed last night and yesterday.

01:13:59.78
Stefani Boyd
Wow.

01:14:10.44
theloansigninghustle
Yeah, so we got about I think I don't know four inches of snow here in Denver but in the mountains supposedly they got up to thirty one inches overnight and the weather changed I think it was over fifty degree difference in less than 24 hours

01:14:36.36
Stefani Boyd
Wow that is crazy although I will say we did used to have summer snow like I remember when I was maybe twenty years ago there was always like a mayor june snowstorm up in tahoe and if you if you went camping.

01:15:15.58
theloansigninghustle
Definitely it's it's common I'm just getting used to it because I'm from San Diego who so.

01:15:15.78
Stefani Boyd
You know? but oh yeah no but I mean for years here in California we haven't had that um, kind of late you know, late spring storm if you will um but I think that that is really like. The word of the day is extremes. There's just extreme extreme differences just extreme changes. Everything is a little bit extreme right now and I think that you're right that it's got it even off and who.

01:16:26.38
theloansigninghustle
Hopefully.

01:16:25.60
Stefani Boyd
Yep, we just have to just take a deep breath hang in there. It's gonna it's gonna be a wild ride. Um, but for now people are still buying houses people are still signing I'm sure you're still busy signing.

01:16:51.18
theloansigninghustle
I Am My my biggest thing during all this has been to Market Market Market and really build my clientele because it is slower than what it was. You know, Mid-pandemic when interest rates were 2% and people were going haywire and you know so.

01:17:30.28
Stefani Boyd
Oh yeah I have a notary friend who I met at assigning mla maybe it's been two years now he was telling me he had done a None signings that year so yeah ah that.

01:18:00.40
theloansigninghustle
Oh I believe that? yes.

01:18:06.00
Stefani Boyd
And he was talking about doing None or 8 in a day at that time. Um, so for sure we're not seeing that nobody's really fighting over these interest rates now as far as refinancing everybody that refinanced I mean there's still a straggler that for some reason is still in a seven or eight percent rate somewhere. Um, and you know I'll be refinancing my hard money borrowers um, eventually they're not going to keep those loans. So even you know when rates are None six seven percent someone who's in an 11% hard money loan is still going to want to refinance. But I'd say definitely um. 90% less refinances than two years ago

01:19:31.30
theloansigninghustle
Now we're going to touch on 2 last questions topics um talking about the extremes of the world and the chaos how has covid changed lending guidelines.

01:20:00.18
Stefani Boyd
Oh man, let me tell you Brett it has been It's covid change lending guidelines. Um daily hourly weekly. So for example, well obviously. The lender is concerned with getting their money back right? So the none thing that started happening with covid was people ah locked out of their jobs. You know the lockdowns. Ah the job a lot of jobs just didn't exist anymore for a while.

01:21:10.10
theloansigninghustle
Oh no, every acot shut down everybody was you didn't have an option offices closed and that was it.

01:21:25.38
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, so the lenders responded to that by just shutting it down quite a bit of it. So I mentioned the zero down program. So for a while the down payment assistance programs just all got suspended There was no more. Um, for a while there was basically no loan for a self-employed borrower. Um so some lenders just quit doing them period. Um, and other lenders put in more um, stringent credit. Qualifications you know? So for example, used to just be able to walk in with a self-employed borrower with a none credit score as long as their income qualified. No problem. They could just get a regular convention loan. Conventional. But for a time in the pandemic. They may needed a None 60 credit score if they were self-employed and so that's one way that the lenders are able to control who gets the money is by implementing um more rules which we call. Ah. Overlays. So the lenders put a lot of new overlays in due to covid and really what happened was the guidelines changed daily sometimes so I would have a borrower that would have qualified. No problem a week or two ago and I would have to call my underwriting department and run this whole scenario passed to make sure that they were still going to qualify so a lot of programs went away. Um the credit the credit score requirements got more stringent and um, the lenders just got. A lot more picky about who they were going to lend money to because their investors are sitting there watching everybody lose their jobs and there's so much uncertainty that they just really, that's the way to control um them getting their money back eventually.

01:25:51.80
theloansigninghustle
It's wild. But I mean it does make sense when everybody's losing their job I mean obviously the guidelines and Credit. Um Criteria income Everything I'm sure changed and. How do you think? Covid changed a real real estate industry at large.

01:26:31.00
Stefani Boyd
Wow. Well there were so many just changes in the real estate industry I mean the the biggest one obviously is these wild prices that we've been through um, but from a marketing point of view realtors a lot of times their marketing involves going door to door and. Hanging door hangers doorknocking meeting the neighbors introducing themselves. So for None ars people have been afraid to open their doors. So I know some realtors that kind of continue doorknocking. Um I know. A lot of my real estate real estate groups on social media and and my neighborhood groups too. I saw comments in the neighborhood groups where they would be saying oh I can't believe this real estate agent is outdoor knocking in the middle of a pandemic and they're just spreading covid around the neighborhood. Um. You know? So I think that really almost every aspect of the industry has had to kind of be reimagined um to accommodate digital. Everything. So you know we're digital. We're having. We're doing everything on Zoom. Ah, you know you go into the title company. The title company doesn't want you in there to sign documents I saw so many title companies just close down. You know where we would kind of before the pandemic. We'd kind of have a party at the closing. You know the realtor might bring in a closing gift and some champagne. Ah, maybe not to be open and consumed at the title company. But I've seen it happen occasionally um, you know and so I think it took a lot of fun out of the industry. Really um, the fun of the celebration of it all you know.

01:29:41.94
theloansigninghustle
Right.

01:30:10.10
theloansigninghustle
Of buying a home of getting into your first home I mean it really is such an exciting thing and now it's becoming a little more daunting and such a process and a hassle and people are having to go through so much to even.

01:30:10.32
Stefani Boyd
Ah.

01:30:47.82
theloansigninghustle
Get to the final stage. Ah, which should be even more of a celebration at that point but I will say that it has been starting to open up um somewhat back to normal. I would say I am doing more full purchases at the closing table over the past month or 2 where everybody is involved. Um, so I have been seeing that but definitely during covid and you know it's been years now. It was. Signing outside signing on on a picnic table. You know, massed up with the wind blowing everywhere.

01:32:07.78
Stefani Boyd
Yep, oh my gosh. Yes I know with a None pages in a stack and the wind and you're outside and you're in a mask and you can't hear each other and just so many technical difficulties over the past couple of years

01:32:22.86
theloansigninghustle
Ah.

01:32:42.12
theloansigninghustle
So many.

01:32:42.38
Stefani Boyd
Um, and I do agree that it's definitely getting back to normal except the prices. Um you know and the lack of inventory. So um I I know a lot of people are moving out of California and I hear a lot of people going to places like.

01:32:55.14
theloansigninghustle
Right.

01:33:21.16
Stefani Boyd
Georgia and Kansas where the prices are still lower and affordable. You know, um, but I know that a lot of people in my market in Sacramento don't want to put their house on the market because even though they have a lot of equity if they sell their house where are they going to go you know and what a yeah.

01:33:57.28
theloansigninghustle
Right? because prices are so high no matter what if you're staying in the area. So yeah, you're building a lot of equity. But I mean you're still fighting that high price.

01:33:58.86
Stefani Boyd
What can they afford.

01:34:26.34
Stefani Boyd
Yep so I think we're going to see more people moving out. Um out of the higher priced markets like California and we're going to see prices going up in the lower markets. Um like Spokane for example, just None little quick random thought. Um, my son is in the air force and he went up to Spokane five years ago. So when I started visiting him I was watching the market and there's none of houses for None or forty Thousand tons of flips going on and now fast forward five years later their median price is around None and there's. Hardly anything lower than none so that's what's pretty much going to be happening in these lower priced areas where people are coming from out of the area buying cheap driving up the house flipping it and um.

01:36:10.98
theloansigninghustle
And I'm sure they're going to be upset too. But at the same time. It's like what are we supposed to do where I live right now is a fortune so I have no other choice but to you know, go ah to another state where things are lower.

01:36:41.80
Stefani Boyd
Yeah, exactly? Yeah so I don't know are we going to see a new dust bowl. Ah you know migration from the so-called richer states to the poorer ones are we is it going to come.

01:36:48.98
theloansigninghustle
Um, for some people.

01:37:17.60
Stefani Boyd
Backwards I don't know it's just it's a wild ride. It's so unpredictable and I just wake up every day and just pray and hope for the best.

01:37:41.50
theloansigninghustle
Amen to that and I am on this journey with you and we are here together. So I Genuinely appreciate you taking out the time and giving your input on the industry but before we close out. The show did you have anything that you would like to tell the listeners.

01:38:19.84
Stefani Boyd
Um, I would like your listeners to know I'm here for them if they have questions they can call me. They can go to my website they can call me at None None None None None None None None None one that is my direct number. Um, if they have questions fears uncertainties. I am available and I'm here to help in whatever small way I can ah and you can check out my none time buyer information. Um, at first time buyer handbook dot com and um, yeah I just really wish everybody prosperity and. Flexibility through whatever we're going to face this coming year.

01:39:47.28
theloansigninghustle
While marketing marketing marketing. The business is out there. You just have to get up and go get it and that's why I have the loan signing hustle. I'll be sure to link all of your information Stephanie um below so people can contact you and also that website will be linked below as well and i.

01:40:42.82
Stefani Boyd
Antem.

01:40:49.56
theloansigninghustle
Just want to thank you so much Stephanie for joining and this is the end of episode None thank you guys for listening and don't forget to subscribe to be updated on newly released podcasts. Please click the link in the episode description for ways to donate and help support the show you can follow me on Instagram at the loan signing hustle and if you have a question or you would like to be on an episode with me send an email to info@signaturesusa.com until next time this is the loan signing hustle.