This is a podcast of our KLIF morning show program from February 22, 2014. In it we discuss mortgage rates, lending for first time homeowners, and the housing market in general.

Kevin: And, good afternoon! Welcome to the TexasLending.com mortgage show. Kevin Miller here, with Jeff Collins and our favorite long and distant cousin, Kristen Miller, here today.

Jeff: You guys are related? I didn’t know that!

Kevin: Well, somewhere down the line it’s gotta be. Unless someone was lying.

Jeff: Because of the Miller thing?

Kevin: Yeah, it think so.

Kristen: Absolutely.

Jeff: Excellent!

Kevin: So, we are here talking about your home loan this afternoon, whether you are going to be buying or refinancing using that home equity loan. If you are going to be given that FHA, VA, USDA reverse mortgage, we have them here for you. Call us today. Call us on the line. We know that it is a nice weekend. Some of you might be out looking for a home. Get pre-approved here. We have our fast track purchase program here at TexasLending.com where we will get you approved on your credit, your income, your assets, your liabilities, so that when you finally get your contract, we can complete your transaction in as little as 10 to 14 days.

It’s a system you gotta check out. We’ve been in business for quite a while. We’ve put things in place. We are ready to take the purchase business by storm. We’ll also help you with those refinances and especially those cash back refinances. People always need money. You can refinance your home and get cash at the same time, while you’re refinancing here in Texas, call us to do that. It’s using your house as the bank that it should be because it’s your money. And that equity in your home is your equity and you need to make a decision, you know, what you want to do with that, and if you want to pay off your home, we wish you to do that. If you want to use cash, do what you want with your home, what you need to do.

Texas is a great place to get a home loan. We have our homestead state here. We have opportunities to get cash while still  maintaining equity. Time to call us up here and find out what options are for you. We have Kristen Miller here today, one of our lovely, intelligent loan officers here, who is going to talk about the TSAHC program, correct? The down payment assistance program?

Kristen: Yes sir! The down payment grant, we refer to it commonly as our Texas Heroes or grant of gratitude, specifically fire fighters, peace officers, veterans, public school teachers librarians, nurses and we do have some offers for low-to-moderate income…

Kevin: Librarians are my heroes, especially librarians.

Jeff: Really?

Kevin: Yes.

Jeff: I didn’t even know you knew how to read.

Kevin: No, they do things that I would never want to do or I would not be able to do. I mean, I would jump out that first story window of the library if I had to sit there all day and do the…

Kristen: Dewey Decimal System?

Kevin: Yes. So there. That’s why we are giving you an option to get into the down payment program. Rhey’re one of our heroes. But you know, seriously, we are here to help you get information on—if you are—go through all of those qualifications?

Kristen: The occupation specific would be—our Texas Heroes specific would be — firefighters, peace officers, veterans, public school teachers, teachers’ aides even, school librarians, school nurses, school counselors, emergency service personnel, public security officers, county jailors, correction officers, juvenile correction officers, and some nurses if they’re in a teaching faculty position.

Jeff: Wow! Pay attention ‘cause there’s going to be a test afterwards.

Kevin: There are important things that happen—I heard you said emergency—people who answer the—what do they call them, the 911…

Kristen: Emergency services personnel.

Kevin: Yeah. I know. You know, my son when he was four, we had told him that if there’s ever an emergency, call 911. Was hungry one night. We put him in the bed and he said, “I’m hungry!†And we said, “No, you had your chance to eat earlier.†“I’m hungry!†He went into the kitchen. “Mama, I’m still hungry!†She said: “Nope, you have to go to bed, Nate.†And so he sat there at the kitchen table for about 10 seconds, picked up the phone, and called 911. And we were like: “What are you doing?â€

Kristen: It was an emergency!

Kevin: “I told you, I’m hungry! It’s an emergency!†And those people deserve, they deserve down payment assistance as well! If they’re gonna answer the phone like that!

Kristen: For listening to calls, although  that would have been entertaining.

Kevin: Yes. So, anyway, but this is all about your home loan and we want to get you a good, solid information. This is a program about peace of mind and making sure that you are getting educated. We want you to be educated because sometimes there are people on the other line, in this industry, who may not be as educated as you are and/or they might be trying to take advantage of you or they might not know as much as you do because you might know more about it from listening to this show than they do! And it happens all the time. So call us up here. We want to make sure that you get the help you need. The number up here 888-787-KLIF. 888-787-5543.

Interesting times in the mortgage business, folks.

Jeff: As always. It’s always interesting ‘cause you just never know what are you gonna wake up to the next day.

Kevin: Texas is a different place than the rest of the world. We have the lowest rates in the country, ‘cause of our homestead protections that we have down here at the state, and…

Kristen: Most of the time, people can buy a new home for less that they’re paying in rent.

Kevin: Home purchases are up here in Texas, in the last year. And it’s pretty hot and the market’s really hot. And one of the things we need to think about is, the rest of the country is not. Since the rates went from three and a quarter to four and a quarter—the rates are between four and a quarter and five here since May — and it is really cooled down in the rest of the country. It’s down about 15% in the home purchase market. But Texas is not. Texas just keeps going. And so, we’re very fortunate. You’re fortunate to have an opportunity to get in right now because in the next several decades, we are forecasted to take on another ten million people here in the DFW for the next 40 years. So we’re gonna go from 6 million people to somewhere around 14 million people. That might not be a full 10 million more, but it’s gonna be somewhere in that ballpark—

Jeff: Wow.

Kevin: People just keep moving here all the time, so…

Jeff: Can you imagine the line at Starbucks now? It already takes me 20 minutes to get my morning coffee.

Kevin:  There is just going to be more of them, man. I’ll tell you what, our local home is gonna be a suburb of Dallas and it won’t be too long from now. So make sure that you get in now. Get that home while they’re still priced low  ‘cause in a hot market, where people are moving into that area, where home values are low and rates are low, someday it’s not gonna be that way. It is going to be a very valuable asset for you. Call us today. Get on the air. 888-787KLIF. Alright. So, other things going on this week. They talked about existing home sales are down. New home starts were down. Of course, when it’s 40 below zero and you’ve got 4 feet of snow you are not really out there digging ditches to build houses very often. And I am sure that’s all pent-up up north, so when it thaws, they’re gonna start making some homes. So that’s the news that came up this week. Things are slowed around the country. Just know that in DFW is a different story. And with that in mind, we had our Red Carpet experience for realtors and builders this week. We did over 250 people that RSVPd and they all showed up. We had to over 250 people there at Three Forks here in North Dallas. It was a first class presentation and it was pretty much an invitation to let everyone to know that, not only are having thousands of people applying for a purchase loans every month here in TexasLending, we have many realtor relationships that have opportunities for you. So you can deal with the mortgage company to get that approval, but also be dealing with those realtors that we have befriended and understand how we work here. So, you want to be part of a team like that! Jeff, how is your week going, man?

Jeff: My week is going good, thank you very much for asking. I’ve got a lot of things in my pipeline doing a 15-year purchase which is really exciting for this one gentlemen who is moving from one piece of property to another piece of property. So we’re going to take care of that probably in 21 days or less. Also, a couple of reverse mortgages taking place too, Kevin, a great opportunity for seniors over the age of 62. Being able to tap into that equity of their home and not actually have to be concerned about making those payments back, in regards to like– like your traditional cash-out. Things of that nature. You are actually making payments back into what you’ve borrowed. Here, you’re getting to keep the money and not have to worry about making those payments.

Kevin: And keep your ears peeled because we’re going to be talking about reverse mortgage purchases here in Texas soon.

Jeff: Yeah.

Kevin: It keeps moving along in the legislature and they’re talking about reverse mortgages are being that much closer to being able to be done on a purchase here in Texas to That should heat up that market and we’ll be there for you with our reverse mortgage team. Also this week, more mortgage news! This is Texas related. Everyone listen up!

It was about last October when the Texas Supreme Court ruled on a lawsuit that was filed probably 5 or 6 years ago from ACORN. And now ACORN’s gone. Yet the lawsuit stood, and then they made some rulings on the Texas Supreme Court about Texas Cash out loans were getting refinanced. And they came out and said that if someone wants to buy a discount points in their mortgage, it was part of the 3% rule where you couldn’t charge it. So clients couldn’t officially buy their rate down…

Kristen: This is just limiting consumer choices.

Kevin: It was limiting choices, it killed about 30% of the cash outs that were being done in Texas because some people didn’t need to qualify based on their—they needed a lower rate to qualify due to their debt-to-income ratio and such. Some of the loans actually were so small that we need those things to—you need that… Because if you can’t buy your rate down, you are not going to be able to get your loan.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: And so, here is the deal. They reversed it. They are even saving odd day’s interest, so that when you’re closing on a new mortgage and you pay off your old mortgage, that the interest that has accumulated on the new loan there, between when you’ve closed and the end of the month, they’re calling that part of the 3%. Like the lender was charging you those in fees.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: It was interest andm by law, discount points that you pay, to buy your rate down, are prepaying interest in your mortgage upfront. So basically, instead of having a higher rate, you’re paying some of it upfront to get a lower rate. And so those discount points, by law, those interest is not part of those 3% in fees. And so they really messed it up. But they reversed the decision and came back and said we’ve – maybe we could call it – “clarified†the decision to say that that is different. So if you were working with us at that time, we had to kill some loans because of the state—their review of it, and their determination.

Kristen: Yeah.

Kevin: So we couldn’t help people anymore even though we are in the middle of the loan. But if you were working with us, we want to get back in touch with you. Call us today because there is an opportunity for you now.

Kristen: Your choices are back now.

Kevin: Yes! 972-387-4600. 972-387-4600. Ok, so here is the deal. We are gonna take a break and when we come back, we’re gonna get deep into the hearth of the Texas down payment assistance program. And Kristen Miller is an expert at it. She’s done many of them here at TexasLending.com. That’s what we’re going to spend the rest of our show on. If you have a relative or if you’re thinking about buying a home and you might need down payment assistance. Or maybe there is somebody in your office…

Kristen: You’re paying your bills and you can pay your rent on time and everything, but you just can’t seem to save enough with higher rent to… you know…

Kevin: You can pay your… Yeah, you can pay nine hundred bucks, a thousand bucks a month for rent. You can pay that much in a mortgage but you just don’t have the down payment. The down payment assistance program is here to help and we are here to tell you all about it. Like I said, you might have a friend at work, who you know is in that situation, and they just… they’re now… You know what? They have a bright future but their past is not full of money falling out of their walls. So we want to help you earn and own a home.

Kristen: Not everybody can have a rich uncle in the family tree.

Kevin: That’s right! That’s right. They can’t. And not everyone can be Jeff Collins.

Jeff: Well, that is true. Not everybody would want to either. But you know what? Another thing, if you’re a parent and you got a kid who simply won’t leave, you maybe want to sit them in front of the stereo here and make them listen to this thing, too, ‘cause here is the opportunity to be able to get them out of the house and on their own.

Kevin: Yes.

Jeff: All that and more, coming up. News and information. 570KLIF.

Jeff: Alright, there you go! Go ahead! Look at ya! There you go! That’s it!

Kevin: See, that’s it!

Jeff: There you go!

Kevin: Oh, my gosh!

Jeff: That’s pretty good!

Kevin: Alright…

Jeff: Kristen Miller, in the studio, right here in TexasLending.com Mortgage Hour. Kristen, wonderful job by the way.

Kevin: Tell you what, we have the cowbell, and every guest hits it and we do a psychological evaluation.

Kristen: Uh-oh.

Kevin: You need some cowbell assistance. Some people need down payment assistance and that’s what’s bringing us into this next segment. It is the down payment assistance. You got off the hook, ‘cause that cowbell assistance, we have a program for that, we’re gonna have to send you for training.

Jeff: We’ve got YouTube videos but that’s about it.

Kristen: Unless it can instill some rhythm, I am totally in a bad place.

Kevin: Yeah. Now you were afraid to get on the air today ‘cause you said you have too much Texas in your voice.

Kristen: Yes, and my hick accent comes out.

Kevin: Yeah?

Kristen: I hear it on my—when I’m leaving voicemails and stuff, I’m like, “Oh, my gosh! Do I really sound like that in person? â€

Kevin: You know what though? That’s why everyone moves here. We all want to learn that accent because we just feel the pride from wherever we come from. And so we are here now, and now we are listen at the accent from back home and I say “Thank god I don’t live there anymore.†It’s cold and I’m warm.

More importantly, how can I get money? So, listen, you have two ways to do this folks. You can call us up and you can start asking us how to get down payments assistance. Do I qualify? Does my kid qualify? Does my roommate, who I don’t like very much who I’m going to talk to them to buying a home, so they can move out. You have options, right? And we want to talk about what the opportunities are. So I’m gonna ask you questions because we have hired experts, like you, to understand the down payment assistance programs. And I am going to be coming from a place of complete bewilderment about what it takes to get a down payment assistance program. So let me ask you a question.

Kristen: Ok.

Kevin: My first question is: what do I need to do to qualify?

Kristen: Pretty much, as far as the grant options go, as long as you would normally qualify for an FHA, USD, or VA loan, you would qualify for this. There is some income and some purchase price restrictions…

Kevin: So I can get an FHA loan with down payment assistance?

Kristen: Yes, sir. As long as you meet the income requirements for the county that you’re in.

Kevin: What about conventional loans?

Kristen: Conventional loans are not offered with his particular down payment agreement.

Kevin: So this down payment grant is a government program. Do you get to do WA or FHA sets?

Kristen: That grand comes from a non-profit. A 501C3 non-profit.

Kevin: Now, is it coming from a genie?

Kristen: No.

Kevin: Because genies grant wishes.

Kristen: No.

Kevin: This is a grant.

Kristen: Yeah. TSAHC is a 501C3 non-profit organization. Basically, the funds—it’s not like most down payment grants where they run out — it went through the Texas Legislature 94 to offer this program to help Texans who are otherwise qualified, to be able to get into homes.

Kevin: Ok, so how much do I gotta pay back?

Kristen: Actually, this is one of the rare grants that didn’t have a lot of strings attached. There is not the: “If you sell your home within the certain amount of time you have to pay this grant back.†It’s called a non-repayable grant which means, in theory, you could sell your home and make a profit within six months and they’re not going to expect you to pay it back. Now, I’m sure they’d love a generous donation, maybe…

Kevin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kristen: But you are not legally obligated for repayment on that grant.

Kevin: So there’s nothing like, it’s gonna be, there’s no lien that goes in your property?

Kristen: No. Absolutely not.

Kevin: A lot of them were like that in the past.

Kristen: Absolutely not.

Kevin: For example, they put a 10 year lien on your property.

Kristen: Right. This is why this is my favorite.

Kevin: And when you sell it, you’ve got to pay it back.

Kristen: Right. This is why this—I’ve looked at a lot of down payment grants and this particular option is my favorite because it doesn’t come with the strings that others come with. You don’t have to buy in a particular area. You don’t have to own your home for a certain amount of time and you are not obligated on repayment when you sell your home.

Kevin: So…

Jeff: This is a one-time use, though? Right?

Kristen: Yes, it is.

Jeff: I mean you don’t get to buy one and then go again.

Kristen:  You can’t be a habitual TSAHC grant person. You can’t do it.

Jeff: Ok. Yeah.

Kevin: So, ok. I want to get into a home. I want to buy myself a $120,000 house. And so, how much money am I going to get? What am I gonna get? How much am I gonna get?

Kristen: There are two different options, there’s two different grant options. There’s a 3% grant, which on that FHA, just to give you an example, the required minimum down payment on an FHA is 3.5%. With your grant options, you have a choice of getting 3% or 5%. The 3% grant has a little bit lower interest rate—

Kevin: So rates are already set?

Kristen: Yes.

Kevin: So the rate on the loans already set.

Kristen: It’s pre-determined now. It does fluctuate and it’s published on the website, so, it updates, as the rates change. But it is just a set rate.

Kevin: So, the 30 year fix, you said—so it says here, there’s two options.

Kristen: Mhm.

Kevin: So, option number one: 30 year at 4.75.

Kristen: Yes.

Kevin: And so  4.75, how much do I get?

Kristen: A 5% grant which would cover your minimum down payment plus a little bit of closing costs, if the seller doesn’t cover all your closing costs, it could cover that as well. It can go towards your down payment or closing costs.

Kevin: Ok, so, if you can take a higher rate then you can get more down payment grant.

Kristen: Correct.

Kevin: If you want to take a lower rate, then they’re not gonna give you as much of a grant.

Kristen: Well, say for instance you had your own down payment money and you just needed a little bit of money to cover closing costs that maybe a seller doesn’t cover. Then you could do the lower rates—

Kevin: So, if they’re giving you a less money, they’re going to give you a lower rate.

Kristen: Right, exactly.

Kevin: Ok.

Kristen: Right now, it’s at 4.375 with the 3% grant.

Kevin: Ok, so, that money can go towards… what? Down payment?

Kristen: Or closing costs that aren’t covered by the seller.

Kevin: Or closing costs. Wow, this is amazing. Ok, so I’m serious because I’m learning about a lot of this stuff now.

Kristen: Yeah. And you can put your own money down. Like if you do have some money saved up, you can also put that down, with the grant.

Kevin: When people ask me about it, I just say “Call Kristen.†Because, you know, saying “Call one of our other loan consultantsâ€. So, you guys have been—‘cause here’s the deal. These things are changing all the time and for me to stay up on this thing is—is not like FHA which pretty much stays the same and they might have a change once or twice a year. These things were changing, us in command, they were running out of grant money, then they’re changing the way that you got to go to get it.

Kristen: Right. That’s the good thing about this one, is that they don’t run out of the grant money and as far as underwriting, for any realtors that are concerned about, is this gonna take you two years to close? No, you can close it in the same amount of time as you can a regular loan.

Kevin: Where are we getting the money from? Where is the money coming from?

Kristen: TSAHC.

Kevin: Who’s TSAHC? Is that like Shack daddy? Is that like Shaquille O’Neal but his brother…?

Kristen: Texas State Affordable Housing Commission. It’s a 510C3.

Kevin: Ok, so TSAHC is—ok. So it comes from the State of Texas. Is it the state of Texas?

Kristen: It’s a 501C3 non-profit.

Kevin: it’s a non-profit company?

Kristen: Right. It was something that was legislated through the State of Texas.

Kevin: Ok. So it’s legislated through the non-profit organization, doesn’t got to be paid back, sounds too good…

Kristen:  It’s private donations.

Kevin: Sounds too good to be true. Ok, let’s go on. Let’s figure out what else you got to… So there’s a couple of different programs. There is the Heroes program, which means you have to be…

Kristen: Occupations…

Kevin: Do you have to document your occupation?

Kristen: Right. Well, you’re gonna document your occupation on a loan anyways. You’re gonna provide pay stubs and W2s, so, I mean, that’s pretty much the extent of documenting your occupation. Firefighters…

Kevin: So for example, there’s Juvenile Correction Officers, is that any parent who’s got a teenager?

Jeff: You would think so.

Kristen: Unfortunately, no. But that’s about as likely as getting hazard pay for having a parent—being a parent of a teenager. Unfortunately, no.

Kevin: Alright, so juvenile correctional officer. So you have to actually get paid to do that, right?

Kristen: Correct. Correct. You have to be considered a full-time employee in these positions. Unfortunately, volunteer fire department—firemen, that doesn’t count, because it’s a volunteer position. You have to be a full time paid employee in these positions.

Kevin: So, what’s an Allied Health program faculty member?

Kristen: That would be, someone like—say for instance a nurse, that would teach—maybe like at Parkland or University of Southwest Texas University Medical System. If they’re a faculty member, like a teaching faculty nurse there.

Kevin: Ok.

Kristen: Then that would count.

Kevin: And a corrections officer, what is that?

Kristen: Usually someone that works within our…

Jeff: Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Yeah.

Kristen: Texas Department, yeah.

Jeff: I am really familiar with them, Kevin. Good people. Good people.

Kevin: Ok.

Kristen: That’s no surprise Jeff.

Kevin: Alright.

Jeff: They helped me become the man I am today.

Kevin: So then there’s the Emergency Medical Services personnel.

Kristen:  Well, for instance the first responders that maybe like go in hurricanes or some kind of crisis situations. So those would also be involved in there.

Kevin: So, you’re—I have it in front of me says: Emergency Care Attendant, Emergency Medical Technicians, Intermediate Technicians — let’s see — Paramedic Technicians, or licensed paramedic. So man, there’s all kinds of people that can qualify for this down payment. Now, under that program, is there an income limit?

Kristen: There is and its county specific. But a general range, like the lowest ceiling for a county is around $60,000. But it can go as high, depending on the county, up to a $121,600.

Kevin: Ok, so a $121,660 is what you can make… man, just imagine if you pushed for that raise for one twenty-one six sixty-one. You’re screwed. You gotta make sure that…

Kristen: And that’s for an individual. Like this is just for your borrower. So if you have a spouse that also has a job, if you don’t put them on the loan, then it’s only your income that comes in that ceiling.

Kevin: Ok, so, it’s all your income, it’s not your spouse’s income?

Kristen: Correct. Unless they’re going on the loan with you. As long as you can qualify with your family debt, with your income alone, then it’s your income alone that’s used to qualify you.

Kevin: So they can go on title, they just can’t be on the loan.

Kristen: Correct. Correct.

Kevin: So, how about this, another one that is not income specific. Let’s say you’re not a hero. Let’s say you’re just kind of like a—like you’re someone’s idol. What about idols?

Jeff: You walk around with a cape, perhaps.

Kristen: Well, we have our other program, we call it the Home Sweet Texas program. It’s for low to moderate income. Basically, general rule of thumb for that is, if you make below, like, in most counties is like $54.000. The range is $48-69,000.

Kevin: So if you are in that range, depending on where you live, $48-69,000 if you’re not one of the heroes, the fire fighters, peace officers, veterans, public school teacher, all of these different things… You still might qualify based on your income. You need to call us today at TexasLending.com.

Kristen: The ceiling just depends on your county, so…

Kevin: Our number 972-387-4600. 972-387-4600. If you’re listening from anywhere else in the country, 800-346-8047. 800-346-8047. We made those easy to remember. It’s 1-800EGOT0IP. It’s 1-800EGOT0IP.

Jeff: That’s why you’re a forward thinker Kevin. That, right there, I tell you. That’s what separates you from everybody else out there.

Kevin: You got to have a catchy phone number

Jeff: Yeah.

Kevin: So they can spell it on their phone.

Kristen: You’ve got it.

Jeff: That’s perfect. You’ve got zip.

Kevin: You got 0IP.

Jeff: Call us! 1-800 [sound effects]

Kristen: What he said.

Jeff: [sound effects]

Kevin: So 800-346-8047. Call one of our loan consultants right now. Tiffany’is here. She’s gonna take your phone call. She’s gonna answer your phone call live. We always have a live person answering your phone call here. Always a live person to answer your phone all here. Call us today.

Kristen: Better than the alternative.

Kevin: Yes, the alternative. Wait in line for 45 minutes for someone that doesn’t care about you. 888-787-5543. That is the station! 888-787-KLIF. Now, getting back to this stuff. Alright, we talked a little bit about the down payment assistance income requirements we talked about if you’re a hero or if you’re not a hero. And we talked a little bit about when you gotta pay it back and where the money comes from. Alright. Let’s talk about some other stuff. What kind of credit scores?

Kristen: With this particular loan, unlike the other FHA options we have here, you do have to have a minimum of a 640 mid score, which is a pure middle score.

Kevin Ok, so if you have three credit scores, AquaFacts, Strangene, and Expirion, and you have three scores, we take the middle score and that’s what we use?

Kristen: Absolutely. Drop the high, drop the low, and it’s the score in the middle.

Kevin: So whatever the one in the middle is.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: So it’s 640. What if you only have two scores?

Kristen: Then it would be the lowest of the two.

Kevin: Ok. Alright. What if you have no scores? Can you qualify?

Kristen: There is no manual underwrite on it, so you would have to have trade lines on your credit report.

Kevin: A manual would be rather than a computer approval?

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: You would have to have a person do it. So it has to have a computer approval first with human oversight, rather than human approval and human oversight. Ok. So you gotta have a computer approval. You gotta have 640 score.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Alright.

Kristen: It’s a general rule that people who qualify for FHA or VA or USDA, as long as they’re beneath the income ceiling for their county, then they’re good.

Kevin: Alright. I want to buy a billion dollar house with 5% down. Can I qualify?

Kristen: No, you cannot because there is a purchase price restriction, which also depends on the county. But as a general rule of thumb, most counties will allow you to go up to 250. Some even go as high, depending on the area, as 375.

Kevin: So, 250-375,000 potential, depending on your county, where you live in…

Kristen: Would be the ceiling for the counties.

Kevin: Ok, so we are talking about down payment assistance programs in Texas. It’s a charity organization, 501C3 program approved to the state of Texas through the legislature, money coming in your down payment. You don’t have to pay it back. You can get up to 3-5% depending on what kind of interest rate you want in your mortgage. A higher rate, you can get more money. A lower rate, you get less money. Depending on the job you have, it will determine how much money you’re allowed to make. So you can have these loan amounts. So, some counties go up to— every county goes as high as 250.

Kristen: Correct.

Kevin: Some go as high as 375.

Kristen: Correct. That’s correct.

Kevin: Okay. So, listen, we have FHA loans. Every county goes up to 271,000. Some go higher than that. So this maximum is $250,000.

Kristen: Correct

Kevin: So, you’re covered under FHA. So if you are trying to get an FHA loan, you’re never going to be able to surpass the FHA limit, except for the counties that go up to 375.

Kristen: Correct.

Kevin: But those have some higher FHA limits as well.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Alright. We talked about where the money come from. We talked about there is no strings on your money. No strings attached. Do you have to—so we talked a lot about this.

Jeff: I got a question.

Kristen: Well, the one thing that makes it a little bit different, is that it’s not location-specific. Like, if you go to a specific county’s and you try to do a down payment grant through that specific county, a lot of times they want you to buy in a certain neighborhood or something like that. A given area. Well, this one, you can buy anywhere, it’s not a location-specific or anything like that. You just pick out a house and if it’s what you want, then…

Kevin: So anywhere, it’s not really income specific and job related specific?

Kristen: Right. Right. There’s not gonna be like—it’s not gonna tell you a certain neighborhood in Dallas that you can buy in. You can buy anywhere.

Kevin: Any neighborhood?

Kristen: Yeah. Right.

Kevin: Ok.

Kristen: Any neighborhood in Texas.

Jeff: I’ve got a question.

Kevin: Yes, sir.

Jeff: I do. If I qualify for this, ok, if then I actually go through the process of being able to call you and get everything in order, I send you all my W2s and everything, I get pre-approved and we’re set and I get hooked up with a realtor. And then I close. And then a month later, I get a promotion, which takes me out of that income qualification. Is there any foul towards that?

Kristen: No, absolutely not.

Jeff: So you’re telling me that I can actually become better than what I currently am, financially?

Kristen: Yeah, absolutely. It’s a grant, it’s a non-repayable grant at all. There’s never gonna be any, “Ooh, we saw your tax returns and now you are making a $100,000 a year.â€

Jeff: So, “you owe us?â€

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Okay. Next question. We’re gonna stump her eventually.

Kevin: Let’s say—are there any extra closing costs on this loan versus typical loans?

Kristen: There is a little bit extra because there is a fee for the grant. But as far as costs go, it’s a reasonable amount.

Kevin: You mean that people that put this program together want to get some money to run it?

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Are you kidding me?

Kristen: You know, believe it or not, yeah. It helps other people as far as going back towards the grant.

Kevin: You gotta do it!

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: It’s called a non-profit, it’s not called no revenue.

Christin: They survive on the additional fee and mostly private donations.

Kevin: How much is that fee?

Kristen: About 1%.

Kevin: So 1% of the loan amount?

Kristen: Mhm.

Kevin: So if it’s a $250,000 loan, can you use that grant to pay for that?

Kristen: Can you use the grant to pay for the fee?

Kevin: For the fee.

Kristen: Uhuh! You sure can. It can go towards any cost that are not covered by the seller.

Kevin: Okay, so, you have to have a 640 score. So we’re giving people loans who have good credit. We’re going to give them a leg up if they have—it’s an income and loan size specific and so you can qualify for those things, and there’s no strings attached.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: How much extra time?

Kristen: A person with the 640 gets the same rate as the person with the 700.

Kevin: Alright. I call you up. I want to get this loan. How much extra time does it take to get this loan versus a regular loan?

Kristen: None. It actually can close in the same amount of time as a regular loan.

Kevin: How much extra paperwork is there?

Kristen: There is an online home education course that you have to take, which probably can be done in an hour.

Kevin: Okay. Can I drink coffee with that?

Christie: There’s three additional documents that you have to sign and that’s it.

Kevin: Is there anyone watching me while I am doing the online course?

Kristen: You can do it in your underwear if you like.

Kevin: Can I shave my legs?

Jeff: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy, easy, easy…

Kristen: Yes.

Jeff: Oh my gosh, we are going way too far with it. What he really wants to know is can he sit down in front of the computer and not be concerned about the government coming in and seeing exactly what it is he is doing and the color of his PJs?

Kristen: No more than normal.

Jeff: Okay, excellent!

Kristen: No more than normal.

Jeff: Yeah, good. Good.

Kevin: Nice. Alright, so this is so far, so good. So if you’re listening, maybe you’re learning something, maybe you’re not, maybe you’re falling asleep. But you could have been, by now, taking your class online. While you’re listening to the show, you can get that class going. Let’s say someone wants to go do this, do they call their lender first?

Kristen: Always call your lender first. Because it’s kind of pointless to go out looking for a home without knowing how much you can qualify for.

Kevin: Yeah, and how much money you —

Kristen: And most realtors don’t even want to show you a home without you having that pre-approval letter.

Kevin: Okay, a $200,000 home, I want to get the 5% down payment, grant. Can I get up to $10,000 towards my down payment closing costs?

Kristen: Now, the 3-5% is going to be based off your loan amount with your upfront mortgage insurance added. So, it’s going to be a little different than what your required down payment is based off of your purchase price. This is gonna be based off on your loan amount.

Kevin: But I can get up to—

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: I can get up to then thou—on a $250,000 loan, 5% of that is $12,500. I can get that much money?

Kristen: Yes.

Kevin: Okay. It might be more than that. So, $5,000 and then times… yeah, that’s right. Yeah, that’s it. So, I can get $12,500.

Jeff: I’m sorry, I nodded off. What …

Kevin: I can get up to $12,500 that I don’t have to pay back.

Jeff: Beautiful! Let’s do it.

Kevin: On a $250,000 loan.

Jeff: So all you have to do is call us right here, right now, at 972-387-4600. Be able to talk to one of our L.O.’s. We’ll be able to help you through the TSAHC.

Kevin: L.O. is a loan officer.

Jeff: Absolutely. There are so many acronyms in this business, I had no idea. The number, 972-387-4600. More about the TSAHC program coming up right here on news and information. 570-KLIF.

Jeff: That’s how you do it. Take notes!

Kevin: Yes. That’s why… Oh my gosh. You need to have a license for that.

Jeff: Let me tell you something, right here, you can’t touch this.

Kevin: We have to have a license to be a loan officer.

Jeff: Yes. But you don’t have to have an IQ test.

Kevin: There’s no rhythm required to be a loan officer. There’s rhythm required for cowbell.

Kristen: Thank goodness.

Jeff: You would think so, but it’s… Listen. Cowbell. More Cowbell.

Kristen:  with his foot.

Jeff: Whatever. Welcome back to the TexasLendnng.com mortgage show. Jeff Collins, along with Kevin Miller and our very special guest, Kristen Miller. We’ve been able to talk about the TSAHC program and we’ve got somebody on the phone right now. Greg, in Dallas, wants to talk a little bit about TSAHC. What’s going on, Greg?

Greg: Hey, how are you guys doing? Kevin?

Kevin: Yes, sir?

Greg: Tremendous party the other night. You did a great job at introducing new programs to the realtors that can really help the buyers out here. You know, I’m the original buyer’s agent, so, I was really glad to be there. I appreciate it and thanks for the message.

Kevin: Yeah, sure. What else is going out there, man? How hot is it for you for the market?

Greg: It’s insane. I mean, you’re doing a good job on the air here and other places telling these buyers. But you know, they don’t want to believe us. They want to think that this is a credit card. Getting a mortgage—you know, you guys doing it excellently, it’s not like a credit card purchase. You have got to get in the line and then you’ve got to do the proper things in order or it’s not going to happen. And as you said, the sellers have now wised up. They want to save that pre-qualification letter. And I got to tell you, people don’t want to do it, but that’s what they have to do if they want to make the deal.

Kevin: And we’re getting done quick right now. We’re doing hundreds of purchase loans a month. Our company has gone from 77% refinance a year ago. In the middle of the last year, 50% of the loans we were doing was refinance. Third quarter of last year, by the fourth quarter, December, we were doing 66% refinancing. 77% of all of our loans, our loan officers that are working on our purchase loans. That means they’re dialed in to our closing dates. They’re dialed in to getting your down payment pre-qualified, making sure that your credit is there in our fast-track purchase program. They go to the front of the line, where—one day in underwriting in our office since about last April. And so, your loans when they get to underwriting, they’re in and out in a day. Your loans are closing quickly. And I can’t tell you… We’re measuring how many closing dates we’re hitting. We‘re hitting 99 out of 100 closing dates on time. The other one might be a day late. We are dialed into the home purchase market right now.

Kristen: A big part of them are closing early even.

Kevin: Yes, we’re closing, some we’re getting a week… We’re getting paperwork there a week before closing.

Kristen: I’ve got one right now that’s a week ahead of time. Yeah.

Kevin: Yeah, and so, we’re getting it done…

Greg: Those are just fabulous statistics. You are doing an excellent job. But, man, I can’t believe it, now you got this TSAHC program. Do you know what that’s gonna do to the market?

Kevin: I know.

Greg: That’s gonna be a great offer for people  because that means more people are going to qualify for mortgage.

Kristen: That’s right.

Greg: Because as you know, there’s a lot of people that can make the payments, that have good enough credit,  good enough job history and everything, but don’t quite have the cash. And now something like this, well, that allows them to play the game.

Kevin: I know and there’s not many people advertising it because, one, they don’t have a staff. I mean, most mortgage offices have one or two people in them. That’s most loan offices.

Kristen: Well the lender has to be approved and so does the loan officer. The Loan Officer has to take an additional class to be certified for it as well.

Jeff: Yeah, you have to be certified in order to be able to do it—

Kevin: Yes. And you might have an individual office or an individual loan officer marketing out here. But we have a company. When I’m marketing this company, it’s not about Kevin Miller. It’s TexasLending.com. Hundreds of employees here. And they are here getting educated, getting—and we have people here that have been here for years. Kristen, what have you been here now, 2-3 years?

Kristen: Going on three.

Kevin: Yeah, so, and Jeff’s been here 2-3 years now.

Jeff: Yeah, absolutely.

Kevin: But we have people that have been 10 years, 11 years, that are experienced at this stuff. They’ve been through it all. I mean, if you’ve been here for the last 11 years, you saw the refi boom of 2003, the demise of everything in 2008, the dismal times sometimes in the 2010 and early 2011, and now it’s coming back right now up 200% in the home purchase market. Our purchase applications are up 200% since December. Here in DFW. And listen, home purchase applications have continued to fall nationwide. That means, how bad can this be, guys, in other states? We are up in DFW. It’s going crazy right now. The rest of the country is down 15, 20% since May. That means the rest—because we have 10% of the U.S. population here. Texas has 10% of the U.S. population. So if we’re up so much and the rest of the country is down, they must be down 40 to45% because we’re—the increases in Texas are offsetting losses everywhere else. That doesn’t spell good news for other places.

Kristen: Well, it’s falling on the Texas job market. I mean, Texas is getting jobs while the rest of the country lags behind.

Kevin: Well, wherever people go, right? That’s where you’re gonna have your demand. And that’s kind of what we’re doing today. And we thank Greg for his call. He showed up at our party the other night and, you know, we’re going to have another one here sometime shortly. But the main thing is we want the realtors to know that we support you. We had 250 people in the real estate community show up so that we can let everyone know that, one, we are here to dominate the home purchase market and we want to let you know that that is our goal. One of our goals, one of our long term hairy, audacious goals, is to close a hundred purchase loans a day. That’s 2,000 purchase loans a month. And we want to do that within the next five years. And so, that’s big growth for us because with that many purchase loans a day, you need to have a pretty stout organization. That’s where we’re going. That’s what we’re trying to do. You can be part of that. Be part of our growth. A Dallas born company. We were born 13 years ago in August and we are just trying to grow all the time for you to make sure that we have the support for you. A local company. You don’t have to go out of state. You can do it right here in DFW.

Jeff: One of the things that Greg talked about when he first opened up with us is that this is not one of those credit card pre-approval letters.

Kristen: Right.

Jeff: And I had a client, as matter of fact, who brought that up. Now, you’re sending me a pre-approval letter, so this is not representing like, “Hey, I am getting a new VISA Card.â€

Kristen: Right.

Jeff: This is representing the fact that we have already run your numbers.

Kristen: Right.

Jeff: We have already validated all your W2s, your pay stubs…

Kristen: Right.

Jeff: … everything else and we have set you up with the pre-approval letter and this gentleman is actually participating in the TSAHC program. Which is great because we’ve been able to help him with his down assistant… down assistance… or you know what I’m saying!

Kristen: The down payment assistance?

Jeff: Thank you very much! Absolutely! So, being able to do all of that and help this gentlemen because he had everything except for that initial down payment.

Kristen: Right. Yeah. Far too many people right now are paying so much in rent, that they can do everything else. They’ve got great credit. Everything else is perfect. They just can’t seem to save because they’re paying such a high amount in rent every month.

Jeff: Right, so we’re really excited about the TSAHC program. Let’s recap it real quickly. What are the highlights of the TSAHC Program? Break it down.

Kristen: Okay. Highlights is, our Texas Heroes grant of gratitude, it’s occupation-specific. Firefighters, peace officers veterans, school teachers, school nurses, librarians, councilors, emergency medical personnel, corrections officers and also nursing faculty members and veterans. That actually is occupation-specific. In most counties, your income can range—the ceiling range would be form 60-121,000. Which means, in most counties, as long as you, as an individual, make below 60,000, then you should be fine and possibly as high as 121.

Then there’s our Home Sweet Texas which is actually meant for our low to moderate. That’s more for your people who are just, you know, any occupation, but they’re just paying, you know, they’re not able to save their down payment. Most counties, as long as they’re making below about 54,000. But it can go as high as 69.

Jeff: Okay. Great.

Kevin: Make sure you call us today at our office. 972-387-4600. 972-387-4600. So, you know, this is a program that—listen, we talk not the show all the time and we never bring this product up. If you have a friend; a family member; if you, yourself, are thinking about buying a home; if you are a first time home buyer; there is no stipulation this does not show up in your credit. This is not held against you. No one gives you a smiley face for it. No one frowns at you for it. It’s an opportunity for you. A non-profit organization that’s been approved through Texas to offer this down payment assistance and helps people to get into homes. Counties and cities want people in homes because that’s who pays property taxes. Right?

Jeff: Right

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: The more that the counties and the cities can have property taxes paid, then the more that it supports the teachers, right? The more that it supports the police officers and the Firefighters. That’s how they get paid. Through taxes here in Texas because we don’t have a state income tax. It’s all property tax that is gonna help you out in your neighborhood. So think about that. How can you get the value of your home up? Promote people buying homes!

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Because if people are not buying homes, there’s no demand. If there’s no demand, your home value will go down. We’ve seen it. We never knew what could happen, but we’ve realized it a few years ago. Talk to your friends about getting them into a home. We want to help you out today. So, 972-387-4600. Call now. There’s a chill coming in this week. It’s gonna be 48 degrees here by Tuesday or Wednesday or something like that.

Jeff: I’m gonna need to call in.

Kevin: Call us right now, over to tiffany. You’re gonna call in and get that loan program?

Jeff: No, when it’s that cold. I don’t think I’m going to be able to – that’s too cold— I’m sorry. I’m not from up north, Kevin. I mean, this is it. Texas born, Texas bred, this is—I mean anything below 65 degrees, I’m bottling up. I’m like layering my clothes.

Kevin: I know.

Jeff: So, I am just saying.

Kevin: I know.

Jeff: I may need to work from home.

Kristen: Most people have these things like called heating?

Kevin: Okay.

Jeff: Easy now. Here we go…

Kevin: Alright, so we’re here talking about your home purchase loans, refinance loans. Mortgage rates, folks, have fallen since November. They’ve fallen. They were up around 4… They hit it high last year at 4.8 something to 5. They’ve fallen back to about 4 and a quarter if you’re paying a point. If you have a nice loan size between 175 and 417,000. If your loan size is not so nice to you, if it’s smaller than that, then your rate’s can be a little bit higher. You need to have 20% equity to get the best rates. The rates recording are 1% origination fee, your APR’s always going to be higher than your rate, as long as you have closing costs in your loans. So, call us today so we can help you with your decisions. What your rate and APR are gonna be for you. You’re all gonna qualify for a range of rates. Everyone qualifies for a range. There’s no one rate for you. There is a rate with a closing cost and that goes on a sliding scale between higher closing costs lower rate, and higher rate, lower closing cost. Find out what scale you fall into there and make a decision about which way you want to do it. We are here to answer those questions for you. We are not to impose anything on you, as a matter of fact, these days, with the Dod-Frank act, mortgage loans consultants nationwide can only be paid based on your loan size, or a flat fee in your loan. So they’re paid based on the… it’s not about your loan product. Mortgage companies do not pay based on loan product. There’s no benefit for them.

Kristen: Yeah, and loan officers just don’t get paid to get you a higher rate now.

Kevin: They only get paid to help you get or close a loan. If they close a loan, and depending on your loan size, that’s how they get compensated.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: It’s using a percentage of the loan amount. So, like it might be like 1% of the loan amount or 50%… or 50 basis points, which is a half of a percent of the loan amount, and that’s what they get paid on every loan. And so you, at home, we just have to figure out what you want, what you are trying to get in, and the loan officers are just trying to help you get into the closing because whether you’re getting a 15-year fixed or a 30-year fixed or an adjustable rate mortgage, it doesn’t matter. It’s all based on the loan amount.

Kristen: Realtors, if you’ve got people that just don’t have quite enough for the down payment, send them to us!

Kevin: Not many people are good at this, as a matter of fact, you don’t know, yeah, make sure you call Kristen. If you’re a realtor and you are thinking, “Okay, I have a person, they don’t have the down payment.†The down payment assistance might be an option for him.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Have him call us because we have several loan officers

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: We probably have a dozen or so that are qualified in the TSAHC…

Kristen: Mhm.

Kevin: … Program that have gone to the training to make sure that they can pre-qualify you properly.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Alright, so we’ve talked a little bit about this stuff. Kristen, you are not only seeing Down Payment Assistance programs, you’re seeing some other things out there. You’re talking to your realtor friends. What, if you could say is the one thing that you’re hearing the most from them that people just, at home, don’t understand?

Kristen: How quickly houses are moving. If you were going to make an offer you need to make a serious offer because there’s a very good possibility that there’s multiple offers going to be put in.

Kevin: Because there’s not enough homes for sale.

Kristen: Correct.

Kevin: And that’s why builders are killing it out there because they can just build another house.

Kristen: Absolutely.

Kevin: And if a neighborhood runs out of homes for sale, they can’t just build another house in the neighborhood. So, if you don’t have any homes… If you walk out there without a pre-approval…

Kristen: Mhm

Kevin: “Oh, I saw home for sale on the street, I want to get pre-approved.†You’re probably already too late.

Kristen: Yeah, it is very important. Some lenders will just do a pre-approval based off your credit, which is just—it’s not worth the paper it’s written on because you really don’t know. I mean, there’s certain things, like there’s certain write-offs you have on your taxes that would actually deduct from your income which might make you qualify for this product where you might not otherwise. And without seeing a full perspective and doing a full examination of all of your documents your preapproval really isn’t worth the paper it’s wrote on.

Kevin: Or written.

Kristen: Or written, yeah.

Kevin: Or wroten.

Kristen: Yeah. Yeah. Whatever.

Kevin: Depending on what street you grew up on, right?

Kristen: Yeah.

Kevin: So, you know what?  It doesn’t matter. It’s all in the game, right? And one of the things that we want you all to think about is the homes that are selling fast are these homes that are between 70,000, and about 450,000. Those homes are moving fast. So you start talking about the 600 and 700,000 homes, you know, Jeff might pick up 2-3 of those a week when he is out there buying homes.

Jeff: I’m going to close on a couple next week. Yeah.

Kevin: No, but really, the ones that are flying of the shelves are the—you figure, say there’s a 175,000. If you’re listing a home of that, that home is probably gonna sell pretty quick right now.

Kristen: Right. And this is a great option, too. If you’re a realtor and you have a  – you’re not getting the seller concessions you used to get just because there is so much competition for home purchases right now, this is a great option to remember that would apply for the closing cost as well.

Jeff: And you might even want to think about this: be careful. Don’t go just whipping out a listing for your home, without getting pre-approved for a new home.

Kristen: Right.

Kevin: Because if you put a listing out there you might have 4 people coming the first day and they want to close in 20 days. And all of the sudden, you don’t even have—make sure get pre-qualified for…

Jeff: “Mom? Is that you on the phone? Mom, I’m gonna need to come over for, I don’t know, maybe a month or so.â€

Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. “I just sold my house in like 30 minutes…â€

Jeff: “I ain’t got nowhere to go, Mom.â€

Kristen: You do not have to be a first time homebuyer for this program either, just…

Kevin: Ah, nice.

Jeff: Beautiful.

Kevin: So if you’re a serial home buyer, you might be able to get one of those.

Kristen: Correct! You can still qualify.

Jeff: Serial home buyer?

Kristen: As long as you’ve never done it before.

Jeff: Kristen, thank you so much for joining us today. We do appreciate you. Listen. Kevin, wonderful job and we look forward to being able to see everybody.

Kevin: I’m a rookie. You’ve done well. More to come next week. Right here, News and Information 570-KLIF.

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