Category: Learn With A Lender With Joel Schaub

Welcome to the March episode of our Learn With A Lender series with Joel Schaub!

Joel Schaub from Guaranteed Rate discusses why some lenders (thankfully not Guaranteed Rate) are taking up to nine months to close on new purchases, and provides guidance on how agents can check-in with a lender to see the status of a loan. Since stimulus checks are on the way Joel also suggests reaching out to local businesses and purchasing gift cards to give away to your clients (or to host a contest). Great suggestions about how you can continue to thrive while stuck at home!

If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!

Joel can be reached at joel@rate.com and 773.654.2049.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by Joel Schaub at guaranteed rate. As a realtor it’s important to partner with only the most trusted name in mortgage lending. Joel has 1000s of satisfied clients and gives $1,500 of his commission back to your buyers on every closing. He is known for his ability to close even complex deals start to finish in only 14 days to learn what 1000s of others already know. Make a note to call Joel at 773-654-2049 or email joel@rate.com Guaranteed Rate is an equal housing lender licensed in all 50 States Consumer Access Number 2611 And now on with the show.

Welcome to keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris I am your guide and host through the show in quarantine like the rest of us today is our Learn with our lender our monthly episode with Joel shop guaranteed rate. So Joel is waving if you’re watching us live or on video here. But for everyone who is not yet familiar with Joel, Joel is a vice president of lending guaranteed rate. He has been doing loans at a high level since 2003. And it’s gotten to that level because of what he does directly for agents which is he gives back part of his commission to the buyer every single time. Last year alone Joe gave back over $291,000 in closing costs to buyers who worked with them. And that put Joe’s production in the top 1% of 1% Sorry, 1/10 of 1% nationwide. Just to show you what that number is out of 400,000 licensed loan officers in the United States. Joel is ranked number 181. I don’t even know what that percentage is. But it’s it is in a very tiny miniscule part of 1%. Year to date, Joel has done 71 sales transactions for just under 27 million and closings. He has currently 102 files that are set to close that are locked that are going to be closing in the next 60 days. The busiest man I know and the biggest Cubs fan I know but never too busy. Thankfully to do our show. Joel, thanks for being on. Welcome once again. DJ, you always do it

Joel Schaub 2:32
right. I’m so impressed by what the keepin it real podcast has become. We’re they’re giving back. We’re teaching we’re learning. And we’re all about education. I mean, that’s what this is on a monthly basis when we can come on and get together and actually share what’s happening because you hear things. But it’s actually good to actually get it right from the source and know what’s happening in the mortgage market. So that you as an agent, or as a buyer can have some firm understanding of what’s going on out there. Yeah,

D.J. Paris 3:03
first, we should say you’re working from home. I’m actually in the office, but the doors locked and barricaded. So no one can come in. But essentially, I’m working from home as well. But guaranteed rate, you guys are still going strong. You were just mentioning for people that are actually we did this before the episode you said 50 was at 5400 employees are now working virtually it’s business as usual. But of course, just working in a different way.

Joel Schaub 3:30
Yeah, we had to make a transition like everybody else out there. And in a 10 day period, we moved over 5000 of our employees nationwide from an office location to a at home work location. So it is business as usual. We hire only the best of the best. And the idea is that things are continuing to go on and even smoother in some cases. As far as the technology that’s getting advanced. I’m going to talk a little bit about what’s happening on appraisals right now. Oh, great. I’m going to talk a little bit about what’s happening as far as the ability to do documentation closings, right, so you can electronically sign a lot of the docs. And so not that there’s much it’s good, that’s come out of this COVID 19 pandemic, but there’s some things that I’m seeing that I know have really moved ahead. years. Okay, when we get out of this some of these things that we’re seeing right now, that’ll really be good for the real estate community as a whole.

D.J. Paris 4:25
Yeah, I agree. And I think, you know, now’s the time where if someone out there is a realtor who’s listening who has a buyer and is nervous, you know, I think now’s the time to look at these larger lending institutions that you know, have the support staff and, and the wherewithal to be able to withstand the changes in the market like your firm has. So I think it’s a great time to, to bank on on the proven lenders, like guaranteed rate.

Joel Schaub 4:52
Well, we just hope that none of the lenders out there go out of business. I mean, this is the time where it would be just a shame if some of these smaller banks that really do provide services to a lot of clients went out of business because of this, but we’re seeing a lot of runs on liquidity as far as the ability to close mortgages, because a lot of people work on a warehouse line, and they can’t produce more transactions until they clear their warehouse lines. And there’s gonna be some smaller places that just don’t make it through this. And that’s the that’s the sad part about this. So we’re not all cutthroat. Okay, it’s, we’re not all hoping that the competition goes away. We’re all in this together, there’s plenty of business for everybody out there. And if I’m an agent right now, and I have any offers that are in process, I’m taking the time to pick up the phone and call that lender and just say, hey, you’ll know a lot in that first few minutes on the phone just saying I just want to check in you have my buyer. This is the listing. I don’t usually make a phone call. But I just wanted to know, is everything going as planned? Okay, I would ask them two questions. Are the files is this current file out of underwriting? And do we have the appraisal back, and those are things that’ll, if I have a listing, and there’s a process in place right now that the closing might be in the next 30 or 60 days, take the time and just find out what’s going on on the other end of the phone? For the mortgage side of it, that’s important. And any good mortgage guy will pick up the phone and answer hopefully, to help you out.

D.J. Paris 6:24
And Joe, could you repeat those two questions just for listeners? Because I think those are key. So if you’re a realtor out there, and you’re well, just wanting to get a status update, or nervous or pick up the phone call the lender. And the two questions again, do you mind sharing?

Joel Schaub 6:36
Well, the first one, of course, DJs is my is the buyers file out of underwriting. It gets submitted to underwriting. Okay. And then the second one is, is the appraisal done, but if I’m the listing agent, I know if it was done or not, because typically they come into the house. But right now, they have so many abilities to do drive by appraisals, that if you’re a listing agent, you don’t even know if the appraisal got done. So you’re just inquiring whether or not the appraisal was done? And did it come in at value? So a couple of things that most lenders will be absolutely happy to help you.

D.J. Paris 7:09
Yeah, or at least at least the good ones. It’s funny, I not funny, but I heard that banks were being flooded with so much business due to all of the rate movement that’s been in the last, you know, four months or so that they’ve even started raising rates as a result of slowdown, the number of applications because maybe they’re just at capacity, like you were saying that the the warehouse, sort of, you know, structure, whereas places like guaranteed rate have continued to thrive and, and are, you know, still still getting loans closed at a good clip. But I do would like to talk to you about what’s changed as far as length of closing, what are you seeing out there? What’s what’s more common these days.

Joel Schaub 7:50
So this is where there’s a big dichotomy in the market between different banks, I just saw one of a competitor’s company that said they were taking between 150 to 180 days to process a refinance request, means that’s five or six months, wow, it said thank you for your request, a processor will reach out to you within 27 days, and based on our current turn times, we will close your file between 150 to 180 days. And it’s a sign of the times, right? Are you even gonna want to refinance in six months, right? It takes that long. And so what that means is that the refinance volume has driven up so much of the demand and the capacity for banks that the purchase business is falling behind. As an agent, what do you care about, you don’t care about refinances. You care about your client’s ability to close on a transaction. And so there’s still a lot of banks that can close in under 30 days on purchase transactions, if they have separated the way that we did, which was we have our own staff for underwriting for refinances, and a staff setup just for the purchases to keep those coming out in 24 to 48 hours. Wow.

D.J. Paris 9:04
Yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s amazing. It’s so I bet you’re so grateful you work for a company with such great resources. You know, it’s, it’s it’s just remarkable. They continue to thrive. Talk a little bit about the the jumbo market, what’s changed there? I know, there’s been, you know, that’s sort of been turned around as well.

Joel Schaub 9:23
Yeah, DJ, you’ve seen this in the headlines a lot right now that anything that’s not a conforming loan amount and on a conventional mortgage that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy in Illinois, that’s 510,400. And since we have so many nationwide viewers and listeners, that is the average for a conventional mortgage 510 400. If you’re above that, you fall into that jumbo category. And those rates have just gone way higher, almost a full point higher than a conventional mortgage, because there’s no liquidity in the mortgage backed securities market so nobody’s stepping up to buy billions and billions of dollars of mortgage pools, if 25% of Americans don’t have a job, and they’re not able to make their mortgage payment. So, because of this uncertainty that we have, right now, the mortgages that used to be the second greatest investment tool behind a US Treasuries is no longer such a safe haven, there’s nobody out there buying them. So the only banks are the only one buying the loans from the bank. So the Fed, Federal Reserve stepped up and put in a big bazooka, they put in $50 billion of de liquidity to help buy up mortgage bonds. But that doesn’t affect anything that’s 800 900, a million to 2.5 million, those are all excluded. So those rates right now, for the foreseeable future are going to be a point higher give or take than what you’re seeing on a conventional mortgage.

D.J. Paris 10:54
Got it? Good. Interesting. That’s good to know. We talked about refi. It’s just a little bit earlier. But you know, what is going on? Right now, you mentioned, hey, some banks are taking, you know, six months is Have you seen the volume start to slow at all, due to our current pandemic? Or is that really not changed, the volume

Joel Schaub 11:15
rates are low. So buyers that bought in the last three years, they’re still calling left and right, they have a rate in the fours and just turn on the TV, you know, and you watch the markets. And you know that 30 year fixed rates are in the threes. And so that’s what’s driving the demand. We saw rates about two or three weeks ago that we’re even lower. And what I preach a lot is, How do we get a no cost? refi? Right, that’s always my focus. The banks and the advertisements and everything is focused. Yeah, they want you calling asking for that 3.25%, they’re gonna charge you 1000s of dollars to get it. Yeah. And that’s great. You can go brag to your friends on the golf course, if you’re allowed to ever leave your house again, I got that three and a quarter rate, but you paid for it, right. And so the idea was, could we instead of taking a rate of 3.2, take a rate of 3.3 or 3.5, for example, and get the bank to waive all fees, a lot of that stuff has really gone away, because the mortgage bonds right now don’t have the pricing at each different coupon level. So I think there’s going to be a time in the next 60 days, 90 days where things settle down, we’re going to see these rates with all the volatility come back down. And it allow for the refinance business to go through a lot more smooth. And I just don’t see any situation which rates spike, okay, the feds are there. They’re literally the lender of last resort, and they’ve stepped up and they’ve said, unequivocally they are buying mortgage backed securities to keep rates low. So I don’t see a situation where we got the jumbo spikes that we will have there in the conventional market. So first time buyers, you’re safe. Step Up buyers, as long as you’re not borrowing into that jumbo space, you definitely anticipate rates in the threes for the foreseeable future, which allows you to go out and buy a lot more house.

D.J. Paris 13:07
And what a great time to call, you know, since we’re all kind of locked in home on periodic zoom meetings. But between the Zoom meetings, everything life is just between zoom meetings now I think but but but during the that in between time, what a great opportunity for realtors to deepen those relationships with their sphere of influence. And whether somebody’s a renter, great time to talk about buying, whether they’re a current homeowner may be a good time to even just mention the word refinance with the right understanding that, you know, banks are backed up a little. But what a great time to just reach out and have those conversations, people have more time to think about it. Excuse me. And you’ve you’ve been saying this, ever since we’ve started doing this, I just want to remind our listeners great time to call and talk about it.

Joel Schaub 13:54
It gives you an opportunity to not call and talk about yourself as as professionals and you’re a real estate agent out there, you want to continue to provide value. And a buyer that closed a year or two ago, maybe you don’t have a reason to call them now’s the perfect opportunity just to say, first of all, are you safe, yeah is your family and those types of things. We’re kind of doing it all on a superficial level with you know, social media, but just to literally pick up the phone. And even if you get a voicemail, we’re just thinking of you. I want to know how your family is doing. And just so that you know market rates are low, I’m sure that it’s a good time for you to reach back out to your bank and just encourage your buyers, whatever bank they had, if they had a good experience, pick up the phone and ask them if they can do a refinance right now. If you’re the reason that a buyer saves a couple $100 A month they’re gonna remember

D.J. Paris 14:49
you. Yeah, you’re absolutely right. And it’s funny too, because with this group, I was thinking about this. I’ve said this a few times on recent episodes, I’ll mention it again, talked about Reaching out just to check in. And of course check on the safety and well being of the people that you care about your, you know, your clients, your contact list, your sphere of influence family, friends, etc. And I was thinking like, Okay, I have all these business relationships, people, I pay fees for even some on an annual basis. There’s no insurance, and there’s financial advisors, and, you know, dentists and, you know,

your Harris’s and whoever. Yeah.

So funny. You mentioned that. Yeah, so thank you, because the only person, my accountant, right, all of these services that I pay fees for, and some of them are, I pay small fees, and others larger fees. But regardless, I was like, I wonder who’s ever going to reach out to me if anyone and check in to see how I’m doing. And the only person that has is the person that cuts my hair. And she checks she sent me a text, how’s it going, just checking in and you hope you’re safe and healthy. I’ve been going to her for like 10 plus years. But she has lots and lots of clients. And I you know, the only person and I thought this is not a crowded space. Everyone got emails from the companies that they support going, here’s what we’re doing. And those obviously became overwhelming. But how many individual reach you know, touches did I get as a result of this, this current situation was one. And she’s probably the one I paid the least amount to, as far as total amount in fees I pay. But it meant a lot to me. And it made me feel like she cared about me. And he you have an opportunity, every one of our listeners, as Jill just said, to reach out and just check in, whether it’s a phone call or text, I think a phone call makes sense these days. But that’s up to you. But to do the one thing that probably none of the other services they’re utilizing are doing. You know, so what a great idea. So thanks for that, Joel,

Joel Schaub 16:45
these companies, everybody’s sending you their message, letting you know what they’re doing, right, these big companies can do it. If I can get an email from the Holiday Inn Express in San Diego where I stayed one night because I missed the flight. I don’t care what you’re doing at that hotel, but you’ve taken the time to let me know, right? You’re seeing all those emails, actually take something out of it and make sure that you take your sphere of influence and reach out, it’ll mean something to those people. And that’s what we are in the day, we’re just people that are trying to make good connections, help people out. And there’s nothing just genuine about it. You know, most of you guys out there really care. And if you take some time, we’re all sitting at home. Right? We have time.

D.J. Paris 17:32
Yeah, the thing about caring is the kind of person that’s going to make that call is the person that cares. Like, it’s it’s you, the people that would do it in a disingenuous way just probably wouldn’t even do it. Because it’s it’s so counter to them. And they’re Yeah. But now’s the time to Yeah, as Joel said, show the heart that you have, and your clients know, you have. And you know, this is a great opportunity just to check in with them. And, and yeah, and then you get the tail end, you could tack on Hey, by the way, I was just thinking about you, if you you know, whether it’s a refinance, or a new purchase opportunity, you know, you can always throw that in if you’d like. But even you know, once we get through the end of this, you know, we were talking about this, my are the owner of our company, Nick. And we were going through some of our providers and working with them, because you know, all businesses are businesses has changed a bit. And about 90% of the service providers that we contacted, and said, Here’s what we’re going through, can you help us with this or that and defer a payment or however, and we’re certainly thankfully in good financial shape, but we were just checking to see what the options were 90% of those companies said no problem we’ll work with you don’t worry about it, the 10% we remember who those 10% are, and when we come out the other side of this, it might be an opportunity for us to re examine those relationships. My point is is is that you know, you can reach out and you can be that that sole provider to that person, there’s probably a lot of people that care about that person, that ad have business relationships, but who’s actually doing the reach out, might as well be you and and you will you will get so much from doing that. And that’s not the reason to do it. But that’s what will happen. When this all is over. They’re going to remember that you reached out and hopefully they would continue to use you in the future. So

Joel Schaub 19:13
So I want to give a tip and you’re exactly right. If I’m an agent out there right now, where are most of the eyes, right? They’re on their phones, you’re looking at social media. And so what I did recently is I created a giveback campaign, it’s called Joel gives back. And at the end of 30 days, we’ll have given 1000s of dollars to our local community in the food and service industries that literally are shut down. So these restaurants right now that are so vital to the your, your local economies where you guys live. Chicago is one of the best foodie type of towns there are okay, and all of these restaurants are really struggling. And so what we’ve done is a campaign to buy gift certificates from some of the restaurants that were the hardest hit, and then give them away And so we’ve done, we’re 15 or 16 days in every single day, we’re giving away $100. And by the time all is said and done, we’ll have donated 1000s of dollars back to the people that run the restaurants that need it. And then giving those gift certificates to people that are less fortunate so that they can put some food on their table and just relax, you know what it’s like to make meals 15 days in a row, I mean, take some time. And so the point here is, you don’t get to do it that many days in a row, go and buy a gift certificate to one of your favorite places, and then raffle it off online and just say, who needs it the most, or make a fun game out of it. And just show that you’re charitable, I promise you, it’ll go a long way, as an agent, find ways to give back. I bring it up almost every time that we’re on here. But it’s a givers gain mentality that will get you through this.

D.J. Paris 20:52
Yeah, and to, you know, when you’re doing that as a marketing opportunity, obviously you’re doing it to give back but to promote it. Definitely let the the establishment for example, if it’s a restaurant, let them know, Hey, I’m going to be raffling this off, I’m going to tag you in the post, if you want to share it with your customers, we’d be honored to have anyone Welcome to do the contest. And you know, you’re going to you know that they’re going to be thrilled. Because it you know, it’s an opportunity for them to attract more customers. And obviously, hopefully, they’ll share that with their, their own social followers. So it’s a great opportunity to to help out those small businesses. And I I also say once those stimulus checks come in, please use them in your local local businesses, please spend some of that money on the places you like the best so that they can stick around because it’s tough for a lot of places right now. So,

Joel Schaub 21:41
DJ, I’m so glad you said that, because that’s exactly what’s going on. People need it more than anything. Okay. I teased this earlier in the broadcast, but I wanted to come up with the two things that I really think are actually moving forward here. Okay, so the first one, and this is letting people know the sky isn’t falling in real estate. So the first one is, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have reduced a lot of the guidelines to get deals done right now. So instead of putting the the reins on these things, one of the big things that they’re allowing for is a much easier appraisal process. Okay. So what we’re seeing right now on purchases, is that the appraisers no longer need to physically enter the property. Okay, let me say that, again, if you have a listing, and you haven’t been contacted by the appraiser, the appraisal might already be done. Right. So last week, the head of the NBA met with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and they’ve issued new guidance, as far as the ability to have desktop appraisals. Okay. So that means that they can use the photos that are directly in the MLS, drive by and make sure the property isn’t on fire or gone, or just an empty lot. And they’re using the Contract Purchase price. So if you got a seller willing to sell it for this, and a buyer willing to buy it for that, they’ve been told, let’s not go out of our way to try to appraise things low. So we’re seeing a lot of two and three day turnaround on appraisals, instead of taking seven to 10 days. So that’s shortening the time deals done. So that’s one of the things I think we’re gonna see going forward as well, is we got away from this a lot. After the 2008 2009 we had to have that guy go out, get in the house and take his tape measure, measure every damn room. You don’t need all that. You just don’t. Okay, you can make common central lending decisions at a big time level without having to physically have that gentleman go through the entire house and take every single picture. There’s so much data. Okay, so we’re getting back to some common sense there. Now we’re not going to start over appraising things, and we’re not going to get away we’re not going to go back to no appraisals, but we’re going to have a lot more common sense going forward. And it’s going to help you as an agent not have so many deals where the appraisal comes in low that’s just the worst Okay, yep. And then to the ability right now for a lot of counties to go fully digital and closings is coming. Okay. Wouldn’t that help if you just couldn’t you don’t have to sit at a title company for two hours the day of closing

D.J. Paris 24:16
it’s almost amazing that in 2020 It hasn’t been this way for 10 years already right like this. This is the future is yesterday but at least it’s at least it’s finally about here Yeah, it’s it’s funny I now I think there’s so many businesses that are now seeing they can do things virtually and so thankfully, the title companies are you know, are catching up and will I guess it very exciting just makes everyone’s life a lot easier.

Joel Schaub 24:45
As an agent you should go to the closing right and but for the longest time agents have gotten away from because they’re so busy, they got other things to do. And they don’t want to be the one sitting there for two hours. But now the ability to do flash closing on a lot of these transactions being Right now we already have the ability to sign 95% of the docs electronically and only go to the title company to sign the six or seven wet signatures that are needed per county. Right now we’re getting close to the point where a lot of counties are allowing full electronic closing packages. And I think it’s going to just ease the process. And it’s, it’s funny that in today’s digital world, you wire the money to the closing you sign packages electronically, you still need to go and squiggled something on a piece of paper. I mean, so we’re getting there, there’s the ability to do all the refinance closings just like this, you enter a room, you show your ID, you digitally sign and making clothes a full refinance from start to finish with no human contact. Okay, that’s it. So we’re getting there on the purchase side of things. And so I just want to get to end with stay strong. Okay, the market isn’t falling, I think we’re gonna see a surge once we get out of this of buyers of pent up demand to come out because rates are going to stay low, the feds have said so. And so just take a deep breath, be safe. And just know that there’s a lot of people around you that care about you.

D.J. Paris 26:13
And reach out to the people you care about. And not just your sphere of influence and contacts, but certainly certainly them. But reach out, now’s the time to deepen relationships across the board. So you know, think back to your friends and family. And now you can start to develop those habits of staying, staying in touch. I know, I know, there’s more people I’m reaching out to these days, just to check in and, and but yeah, so stay in touch, stay connected. By the way for everyone who’s listening for anyone who is listening. And by the way, I should mention before I say this, that we at the firm I met, we have over 600 Realtors here, and the only lender we recommend is Joel. And obviously we get called by every lender, every loan officer would love to be that person. But we literally have this relationship because we just feel that Joel is the best that we’ve seen. I have personally worked with him as well. And everyone I’ve sent to him and said the same thing. So for everyone who’s listening, if you don’t have a great relationship with with a lender, or you’re looking to see what other options exist, we will always tell you to to call Joel and Joel slogan is just call Joel. And we actually think that makes perfect sense because he’s obviously fantastic. But to Joel, what’s the best way anyone? And by the way, you could be an agent out there looking to partner with a lender for for some opportunities, marketing wise. Also, for anyone who’s out there who may be interested in working with you directly. As a borrower, what’s the or refinance? What’s the best way somebody should reach out?

Joel Schaub 27:40
Well, it’s all about building that relationship. And so I just always start with an email and just introduce yourself. I’ve done this several times on the show, and I’ve gotten to meet so many agents from all across the United States. They say, I’ve heard you on the keepin it real podcast, here’s what I do, I’ve actually set up relationships out of state right now to help people on open houses and doing broker opens and helping their clients because we’re in all 50 states and give part of our commission back. So on most transactions, I can give a $1,500 closing cost credit to help offset the buyers costs. And if you’re an agent out there, just looking for a fresh start here and want to work with somebody else here, just feel free to reach out. My email is Joel JOE l@rate.com. So it’s joel@rate.com. And you can always reach me 773-654-2049 I’m still answering. So give me a ring, we can start to build a relationship. I like to know the people that are out there and what they’re doing. And as you can see, it’s about providing value, we’re here to help grow. That’s how I’m doing over $100 million a year of transactions. It’s not because we don’t know what we’re doing. It’s because we’re really truly trying to help you grow your business to the next level. Yeah,

D.J. Paris 28:57
that just makes all the sense in the world and is so smart. And you’ve been doing this for gosh 17 years or so now and it’s remarkable. Here in the local Chicago community everybody already knows Joel so if you’re listening from outside of this area, or again if you’re here and just looking to work with Joel obviously reach out but anywhere any state any one of our listeners can reach out and Joel will hopefully be able to help you so definitely give him a shoot him an email or give him a call. And we just have one quick favor to ask of all of our listeners before I sign off, which is to please follow well two things please. Two favors rather. I just doubled the number of favors I’m going to ask for but the first one is simple, please follow us on Facebook you can find us@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod we as we’re recording these episodes, we post them live on Facebook and kind of watch a little behind the scenes as we’re recording. But also we every single day find an article online designed to help you grow your business and we post it and we also post silly questions of the day and things like that but it’s a good way we try to put a lot of energy into it to give you value. And then the second thing is to please tell a friend, think of just one other agent, one realtor, one broker out there that could benefit from listening to Joel and all the other great guests we have, and please share this podcast, you can send them to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com Or just, you know, tell them to look it up on iTunes or Spotify or wherever they’re finding podcasts. But anyway, on behalf of Joel and myself to the listeners, we say thank you for continuing to listen and support our show. And Joel on behalf of the listeners and myself, of course, we thank you for your continued contribution. I’m so grateful to have you on here every month, and excited to see how busy you are and your success continues to grow. So thanks again and we’ll see you next time. Stay safe everybody.

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Welcome to the March episode of our Learn With A Lender series with Joel Schaub!

Interest rates have dropped again! In our episode, Joel Schaub from Guaranteed Rate discusses how to best position yourself to reach out to past and prospective clients. In addition to the obvious refinance opportunities, there are more buyers out there due to rates being so low. Joel discusses a strategy of listing properties lower than normal to start bidding wars.

If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!

Joel can be reached at joel@rate.com and 773.654.2049.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
On this episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by Joel Schaub at guaranteed rate. As a realtor it’s important to partner with only the most trusted name in mortgage lending. Joel has 1000s of satisfied clients and gives $1,500 of his commission back to your buyers on every closing. He is known for his ability to close even complex deals start to finish in only 14 days to learn what 1000s of others already know. Make a note to call Joel at 773-654-2049 or email joel@rate.com Guaranteed Rate is an equal housing lender licensed in all 50 States Consumer Access Number 2611 And now on with the show

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris. I am your host and guide through the show and this is our monthly learn with a lender episode series with Joel Schaub. So if you’re new to the podcast, let me tell you a little bit about Joel. Joel is vice president of lending at guaranteed rate. He has been doing loans at a high level since 2003. That is 17 years amazing and has got to that level because of what he does directly for agents which is that he gives back part of his commission to the buyer on every transaction. Now last year alone, Joel gave back over $291,000 in closing costs to the buyers who worked with him and that put Joe’s volume in the top 1/10 of 1%. Nationwide for loan officers out of 380,000 loan officers in the country Joel is ranked number 180 ones truly remarkable accomplishment. Year to date, he has done 35 transactions for just under 11 point 4 million closings, which in and of itself is a big deal. But currently he has 110 files that are locked and ready to close for 46 million in deals. This is just an incredible, and we’re so excited to have him on the show Joel can be reached, by the way at joel@rate.com. Again, joel@rate.com. Or you can always call him 773 or text rather 773354 to 049. Let’s say hello to the biggest Cubs fan that I know Joel Schaub Welcome once again to the podcast.

Joel Schaub 2:34
Hey, DJ, good to be back. It’s really cool to actually have the video I mean, check us out. I mean, I’ve always been told I’m good here. But look at you, man, we,

D.J. Paris 2:43
Joel and I spend an embarrassing amount of money buying hair clays and pomades. And we talk about this offline, but hey, someone’s gotta buy it, right?

Joel Schaub 2:55
It’s not all real estate numbers. I mean, you and I do talk offline about hair. It’s good for everyone out there to see us. So it’s really cool what you’re doing, man,

D.J. Paris 3:04
and we’re lucky that we still have hair right? Not everyone does. So we might as well, you know, make it look nice. But no, I’m excited to do this one on video with you. Because for the last year and a half, we’ve been doing this with you. We’ve just done audio only. So this is very exciting. Because I don’t know that everyone’s seen you. Of course you’re everywhere. So everyone does already know what you look like. But now they get to watch you on our show. You know so right now I want to talk about the biggest news going on right now in the lending world, which is revised, revised up because rates are have come crashing down and in an amazing way. So I just read that reef visor up just to let our listeners know, in case they’re I’m sure they all know, but just in case, reef eyes are up 479% from a year ago, obviously, you know, there’s been a lot of volatility in the market. There’s been some corrections there. So obviously rates have dropped and refunds have gone up. But even just from the last week refires are up over 50%, which is absolutely incredible. So what is going on? Tell us what brokers agents Realtors need to know. Well,

Joel Schaub 4:10
I’m glad that you brought me on, I wanted to actually just kind of break it down and give you guys the real scoop on what is going on with interest rates in the market. And so that you can talk intelligently to buyers and sellers and turn it into an opportunity. So this is all about giving back to the realtors and actually saying, I hear things are going on out there. I just heard a podcast with a lender. Now I know something and it’s gonna help you get some more deals. So let’s talk about it. I mean, we know that the markets are down. But what the big misconception was is that the feds cut rates and so mortgage rates dropped either that right? Yes, the Feds didn’t call all the mortgage companies and say please lower your rates by half a point. I mean, it just didn’t work that way. And they said it was a surprise cut but those in the industry We’ve known for a while that that fed cut was coming, we know that there’s another one coming. And that isn’t what necessarily drives mortgage rates. Mortgage rates move on a day to day basis based on the bond market. The bond market had a crazy 10 days. I mean, just completely eviscerated numbers that we’ve seen in the past. And so I’m a technical guy, I watch this stuff daily. I mean, I have it on behind me, I watch the numbers, and it’s nothing. So just to give a little framework for everything that we’re going to talk about. Let’s talk about where mortgages really come from, right, and then we can dig into the numbers, right, and we can dig into a couple of things if I’m a realtor that I’d be doing right now. Okay. So back to basics. Before those Feds cut rates, they were on the way down. So last year, we saw rates that were up into the one fours DJ, that’s what most people had. That was great. Remember how hard we tried to get the four and a quarter 30 year fixed rate we got it. We’re in line and went lower 399375. And then last week bank started offering rates below three and a quarter percent. Then they quickly jumped back. And what they found was with all of that demand, they didn’t have any of the support staff or the money to lend. Right? So you saw big brick and mortar banks literally put the skins on at the end of last week. Wells Fargo, for example, sent across the board their 30 year fixed rates shot to for a quarter percent. They said

Unknown Speaker 6:35
wow, basically stop

Joel Schaub 6:37
requesting refinances. Okay, literally, they wanted to stop the flow, they still were doing rates below that. But if you went to their website, that’s what they were advertising to kind of slow down, for example, our company, and a lot of them out there are doing the exact same thing. What they saw was, in a period of nine days, we took in just under $5 billion of rate locks. Wow. Right? There was a two day period where both days we locked in over $1 billion of residential mortgages. And it’s a shockwave that’s a number that most mortgage companies don’t do in an entire year $2 billion of originations to do it in two days, means that we have the staff and ready to go. So there’s some things going on. You can’t believe everything that you read as far as rates go. So I want to just give a little perspective. And then we’re going to talk about how agents can benefit. Okay, great. What are you seeing because people are coming to you, DJ, what, it’s not all about what I’m at? What are you seeing with agents and what they do?

D.J. Paris 7:38
Well, you know, it’s funny, I don’t hear as much chatter from the agents as I thought I would. And so I think this is a great call to action. You know, Joel, the last time that we was on a month ago, he had spent his weekend contacting all of his clients, because rates were lower, and reaching out to his past clients saying, hey, it might be a good time to refinance. Let’s look at the numbers. And I, you know, we implored all of the agents listening to our show to do the same thing. So, you know, this, there’s the news is now just hitting today’s news cycle is all about refinances and rates. So hopefully, realtors will be more tuned in to what’s going on. But I think a lot of them are so busy, because it’s that time of the year where things have started to pick up that maybe they’re not paying as much attention. And they should be because this is, and I think you’d agree a great opportunity to do some outreach.

Joel Schaub 8:30
This is what I want to focus on. We could talk rates all day long, but I wanted to give two strategies if I was a realtor that I’d be doing right now. So that I can go out and get more transactions, and it revolves around these rapes, right. So the first thing is on buyer side, if you looked at a buyer last year that was on the fence, and they were looking at a specific property, maybe 300 grand, call them back, that exact same property now is $230 a month less based on what rates they could get it for bank. Right, so let’s just let that sink in for a minute. $230 less than the exact same type of property. It’s huge. It’s a huge difference maker from having a rate that’s in the four and a half range to having a rate that’s under three and a half percent, three and a quarter. And so that’s going to motivate people, they just don’t understand what the rate drop mean. But if you put it in monthly payment terms if you’re a realtor, so you go out and you just run a simple mortgage calculator to pull up Google you don’t need to call them mortgage guy it’ll be hard to get one on the phone right now anyway. And just say last year on a loan size of 300,000 the payment was x. Now rates are down around 3.25%. You’ll see that it’s a really great talking point to go back to your old people or new people that are renting and say let’s go find something that is at or less than you’re paying in rent. I have some dad I can help you.

D.J. Paris 9:57
Yeah, great time to lock in. If you’re especially if If you’re a buyer and looking and haven’t quite yet found your property,

Joel Schaub 10:03
exactly, so these are points as a realtor, you sit there with all the news about virus and things that are going on. It’s just like buying airline tickets, my wife and I bought the tickets to London for the Cubs game coming up. I mean, if we die, we die.

D.J. Paris 10:18
Yeah, I was telling you offline, I’m planning with my girlfriend to go to Portugal and kind of just lucky timing, I guess, or unlucky, depending on how you look at it, but financially very lucky, because prices of flights and hotels and, you know, obviously other air tourist areas have been decimated by this. And it’s certainly very tragic in a lot of areas. But for the consumer, it’s been very positive, we now are going on a much nicer vacation for a lot less money. So yes, great time to lock in those refi rates, and talk to your lender, and also a great time to really partner with a lender as well, I think and and say, Hey, I’ve got all these past clients, Joel, you know, what can we work on something together to get the word out? I know you partner with a lot of brokers, we partner

Joel Schaub 11:03
with brokers and the reef eyes are going to be there. But what most mortgage banks are doing is different than what my focus has been. I’ve been letting the agents know that will every other mortgage guys out there just tackling refinances sure I spent last night almost midnight, helping people get pre approved, getting buyer pre approvals. So just because the brick and mortar bank is where you have your checking and savings, you really want to partner with somebody that’s actually dedicated to handling the purchase business right now. So I have two separate staffs of people that are one is handling all of the purchase business. Okay, we have underwriters that are dedicated to it, and then the refinance. Okay. So a lot of banks right now, they’re going to be so bogged down. We’re all I’ve seen it before 60 and 90 days at a brick and mortar bank to get a purchase through because those lenders are just trying to push through all the refinances work with somebody that’s actually going to be dedicated to your purchase buyers right now, this is where relationships are going to be. make or break. Okay. All these agents still have business to do and if you call your lender and they can’t get on the phone, because they’re too busy just doing refinance business find someone else.

D.J. Paris 12:14
Yeah. And I think it’s important to note too guaranteed rate, this is essentially all they do, right, versus a brick and mortar bank that is handling all sorts of other ancillary stuff, checking savings, investments, insurance, etc. And maybe the support staff isn’t there isn’t quite ready to handle the influx of, of applications and refi. So guaranteed rate, you know, you you guys have, this is what you do, and you do it quite well. I’ve refined with you, as well. And it’s always been a great experience. I’ve always only hear good things about guaranteed rate, whether you’re a new lender or refi. The fact that the bottom line is you guys have the staff in place to do this. Yeah, it’s

Joel Schaub 12:56
a mortgage driven company only. So instead of trying to sell checking accounts and savings and car loans to people, it’s mortgage focused. So our dedication right now is for purchase business to close in 21 days for all realtors, okay, we’re all the banks are going to skyrocket on contracts come through, just called you’ll, there’ll be staff available ready to go just do the purchase business for sure. And there is an opportunity to team up on the refi stuff. But the good news is rates are going to be here, okay? This is a situation that will normal out, okay. People ask me all the time, and then probably years, you think they could go any lower? Right? Could rates go lower? I have a four and a half percent, the bank is gonna give me three and a half now. I’m gonna wait. I’m gonna wait a little bit and see, you never know where it’s going to go. I think we’re really near the bottom. And so the good news is that if the rates go lower, it’s pretty easy just to ask your bank refinance loan even further.

D.J. Paris 14:00
Well, and they you know, I think also it’s important to remember like Hindsight is 2020 right and with with ever trying to time the market, whether you’re an investor, and you’re trying to buy, you know, options, or stocks or bonds, the smartest people in the world can’t figure out how to time the market correctly. And this is also a point to remind our clients also we’re not trying to time the market, what we’re trying to do is to possibly take advantage of where things are currently. And it’s a great opportunity to just explore and see if it’s a good option idea to refi or, or to purchase. Obviously rates right now are low and things obviously could change. But it’s a great opportunity just to make sure your clients know what’s going on, versus what they may or may not be hearing on television or or if they’re like most consumers, I bet they’re not paying much attention in real estate. We think everybody knows everything about real estate, especially lending and rates. Most people aren’t paying attention. They have other concerns. They have their own lives. And this is an opportunity for realtors to reach out to their clients and start to educate and what better way to reach out and provide value after a sale or even before a sale, before they’re actually ready to buy or, or after two years after they purchased, you know, hey, I just was wanting to let you know what’s going on out there. I know you’re a big fan of staying in touch with it for those reasons.

Joel Schaub 15:22
So here’s number two. Okay, if I was a realtor, right now, what I would be doing to get more business, we’ve already talked about number one, which is educating the buyers about the rate drop, and not just rates the payment, you don’t write the rate on the check, you write the payment on the check, right? There’s no checks anymore, I’m dating myself, but you send a payment. If the payments a couple $100 less, it means that I can either pay less, or I might be able to go into that next step up and be about the same payment. So that’s one, two, if I’m an agent, I’m going back to all of the listings that may be expired, or people that weren’t ready to list. And guess what with rates down the pool of buyers is huge. Yes, I’m getting request after request for pre approval people are out buying. So what does this mean? It means that a listing right now has a greater opportunity of getting more people through the door, more offers at a higher price. Okay, when the rates go down, the more buyers are out there. So if I had a listing before, then I just don’t think I can get this price. Let’s try it. Let’s get it on the market buyers right now are looking for properties. And there’s still a lack of inventory in a lot of places. So you might get lucky you put the property on the market. And with rates being so low, you get two or three buyers that are willing to pay something that they weren’t going to pay earlier in the year or even just six months ago.

D.J. Paris 16:53
Yeah, I think that’s that’s really important. So it’s sort of a win for the realtor on both sides, the buy and the sell side, right, they’re their clients looking to sell this is an opportunity to create bidding war opportunities, because there’s more because his rates are so low cash is so much cheaper. Now, they have the opportunity to have more, like Joel said, the buyer pool is increased. And then also great opportunity for the buyer as well, who maybe wasn’t able, if rates were, you know, significantly higher, now’s a great time to get them off the fence. renters. Joel mentioned that earlier, if you’re not educating your renters right now about and running an analysis, like Joel said, These calculators are everywhere online, you just run the numbers and say, Oh, by the way, for an extra $100 a month, or maybe it’s even cheaper than your rent, you can own a place pretty easily at this point. And if you’re not making if you’re not doing that, I know for me, when I transitioned, this was a long time ago from renting to buying. The only reason I knew to do that was I just thought about it one day when I wonder how that works. And I googled it and I figured it out on my own. But if somebody would have guided me through that process, I would have been indebted to them. Because I didn’t know I was sort of ignorant, I was completely ignorant on on the home buying process and how mortgages worked. And I just didn’t know I had to educate myself. Don’t, don’t let and I’m a popular guy, I have friends I people like me, and not one person ever sat me down and said, Hey, you should really be buying a property. And I eventually just kind of did it on my own. But don’t you know, don’t let that happen to lots of people are out there aren’t that familiar with it? built my

Joel Schaub 18:31
business by being the educator, right? And teaching, right? So as your mortgage guy selling your buyers? Are they using closing techniques? Or are they actually educating and helping. And so that’s the number one thing that I always encourage my agents to do is be the person who’s educating. If you are providing value, people will continue to come back. So those two points there, it doesn’t help just to call people and say rates are low. Right. But what, Rachel, but what what does it mean for me? What does it mean for the homeowner, okay, for the homeowner that wants to sell their place, I probably won’t have as much time on the market because there’s a lot of buyers out there. Or I might get a higher price. Because I can test the waters a little bit right now I can put something up 10 or 15 grand above 20 grand depending on your market or even more, and test and see we haven’t seen that in a while we used to have these agents and I was not a fan of what I just proposed. I was always a fan of listed for what it’s worth and get a lot of offers. Now there’s an opportunity to literally live something a little bit above or maybe even a lot above. Buyers are gonna go out there. They’re gonna say wow, I can afford that place for this payment. So I’d be going back after the buyers that I haven’t talked to in a while on explaining to them about payment. And I’d be going back to any of the expireds or on the fence listings and explain to them that I can be the guy or girl to list your property right now. And I think we can get x for it. Because buyers are out there, and rates are low. So now you’re providing some value. And that’s what this is all about. And I know

D.J. Paris 20:13
you just, you just said something really important. And I want to just circle back to it. And I not sure all the different episodes we’ve done if anyone’s actually made this exact point. So I want to make this really drill down on it just a little bit, because I think it’s so helpful. So George has said something very powerful that many of you might have just glossed over, which is he said, calling expireds right. So for those that are realtors in this industry expireds for sale by owners, these are listings that are sold these, these leads are sold to realtors all the time. So what happens on an expired listing, is that homeowner is going to get called by a ton of Realtors, all pitching, why they should relist with them, and why their marketing strategy is the best and why they’re the best realtor for the job in the past realtor just didn’t do X, Y and Z. And this is what they’re going to do. And okay, that’s all fine. But what Joe just said it was very interesting. What if you call those expireds and said, Hey, this is a really good time to relist. And yes, I’m going to do a great job for you. But I want to explain to you why it’s a good time to relist, that is such a different conversation than most of these expired owners are going to be those calls they’re going to be getting. This is a very unique call. And it’s it’s number one, it’s true. And it’s educating at the same time. And it’s going to endear you to them. Because you’re going to say just so you know, here’s why I’m calling Yes, I would love to get your listing. But I want to explain why it’s a good time to relist what whoever you choose, and that that’s such a big thing. So I just wanted to honor you for that because that was a big tip that you just gave people.

Joel Schaub 21:51
Most agents call and they say me, me, me, this is why I can do something right. And so you just got to flip it be the reason that people are motivated is that you’ve given them some value, or you’ve educated them on something different. And so that’s the approach, right? They’re going back and saying why? What can we do now? And why am I different? Okay.

D.J. Paris 22:12
Oh, Joe, we have a I forgot to mention, we have a question for you believe the caller calling in now. We don’t have that. But we do have a question. This is our first question that we’ve received from the Jersey Shore, believe it or not. Now, this is what the person said they were from the Jersey Shore. So and I have been to the Jersey Shore. And it’s that is a fun place. But the woman’s name. I actually don’t have it. But some someone from the Jersey Shore emailed us earlier. And I wanted to ask you specifically because she listens to the show. And she said, Do Joelle. Do you work with clients nationwide? She said she knew you were in the Chicagoland area you were geographically located here. Do you work with all states or you only focused in Illinois.

Joel Schaub 22:57
So as an employee of guaranteed rate, it gives me a lot of opportunities. So we’re licensed in all 50 states and I personally have 11 states and counting. Okay, so depending on where they are specifically at, I handle all the high level stuff, I have the conversations. So if there’s any state, we’re lending there, so it doesn’t matter. I have somebody that would be specific on my staff that would be in a specific state. So yes, if it’s out of state, we’re definitely able to take that. And most of our out of state stuff is at 250. And above. Okay, so a lot of people call on the go, I got an $88,000 house and in my own got a pretty nice house. I grew up in Michigan. So for autumn state deals, we have to have some kind of cut off. So I would have somebody else handle the ones that are smaller and just for efficiency. The short answer to that question is yes, we’re in office. So if you’re,

D.J. Paris 23:49
if you’re a realtor out there, or you might even be a buyer or a seller and investor great time investors are going crazy right now, because the rates are so low. They’re obviously buying more up more properties. But if you’re a realtor, or a consumer looking for a lender, Joel can handle all 50 states. And if he personally can’t do it, he’s gonna pass it over to someone on his team who’s equally qualified and going to take great care of you. So please, Joel, we should actually talk about that. What’s the best way that anyone listening to our show can get in touch with you in case they’re looking to have that conversation?

Joel Schaub 24:26
Well, if it’s realtors, and they’re looking to actually have a partner to help their buyers get pre approved, I am taking on new agents and that’s fine. We build a relationship together. And so we’ve done this before. And a lot of people out of state right now I’ve had real fruitful conversations because of this show. And it’s the same thing that we did last time it’s an email, and it’s literally joe@rate.com. So Jay OEL at ra te.com subject line keepin it real. And then inside it’ll say I heard you on the show, let’s get a conversation going, then I’ll schedule a phone call, I’ll learn more about what you’re doing as an agent. And we do a lot of different things to help agents grow. It’s not just them sending us deals, okay, there’s a lot of RESPA compliant co marketing, where I have 1000s of dollars a month that I’m helping agents promote, broker opens and open houses, and flyers, etc. So there’s a lot of opportunities, if you’re working with the right lender, whether it’s me or somebody else, get them to contribute, get them to help and grow your business. So that’s the part of it on any of the agent focus, because even though rates are low, my focus here isn’t just refinances. My focus is making sure that agents have a lender that will actually kick butt for them, pick up the phone, even when they’re slammed with other things and actually have a park. Okay, that said, if you want to do the refinance, you can literally say keepin it real refinance, quote, and then I’ll send a link and we can go through all the different options for refinances that is eligible. So we send an online application, eight to 10 minutes, and I’ll be able to run quotes for you guys to select from.

D.J. Paris 26:10
Yeah, and I want also everyone to understand, too, that that this is a this is not a paid advertisement for guaranteed rate, we are just huge fans of Joel of guaranteed rate, we were looking when we first started our show, we wanted to partner with a lender that could provide that benefit for our listeners, and angels, the obvious choice, we’re so honored to have him because he literally is that good. So if your current relationship with your lender isn’t very strong, if you’re looking elsewhere, we would encourage all of our listeners to and viewers now to to check out Joel, visit him, email him directly at joel@rate.com Easy to remember. And you can also text or call him directly 773-654-2049. Please also understand this is maybe the busiest Joel has ever been in, in his whole career certainly have the busiest time, but he is very, very quick to respond. But I understand it is a crazy time for you. So for people to reach out, you know, Joel, we’ll get right back to you if he’s not immediately available. But that’s he’s he’s always available. And he’s always willing to do this show. And we really honored to have him. So Joel, on behalf of the audience, again, thank you for your continued support of our show, and providing a tremendous amount of knowledge and awareness to the broker community and also consumers about what’s going on out there. And for all of our listeners, we encourage you to reach out to Joel as well for all your lending needs. Also, we could ask everybody to follow us on Facebook couple of good reasons why to do that. Number one, we post every day one article designed to help brokers grow their business, we find we scour the internet, we look for only articles that are high quality, about teaching realtors, how to grow their business, we post that in addition, of course we post all our episodes, but we also broadcast these episodes live. So right now, as you’re listening, if you’re listening through a podcast app a couple of weeks ago, we actually broadcast this live on Facebook. So you can follow us on facebook@facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pot. And please one more thing, tell a friend, just think of one other real estate professional that you know that could benefit from listening to people like Joel and all the other great guests we have and send them a link to the podcast, you’ll be helping us in just being able to do more episodes for everyone. And so Joel, once again, thank you, we will see you next month. And who knows what where things are going to be then right? It’s a crazy time.

Joel Schaub 28:43
Well, I’m glad that we came on in the whole focus here, again, is just making sure that agents got something out of this, that they actually can go out and use those two techniques to get more closed transactions in the next 30 to 60 days because the opportunity is there. Instead of being paralyzed with fear of how do I move forward? Those are two real strategies to go back and get more deals. And then before we go just if it is a refinance scenario, I always want to bring up the best way to go back to your own lender. Okay, so it’s not just coming to me, if you have a good relationship with a lender, remember, there’s always two good options when you’re looking at refinancing. It’s asking them what the lowest rate in the market is, which they would love to give you because you’re gonna pay in fees. Right, right, and say, Well, what is the rate that I could get? Have you paid all the fees for me? Okay, in this environment, rates have dropped a lot. So if you’re in the fours, the banks want you to call and say, give me that three and a quarter percent because they’re going to charge you the fees, right? Well, what would happen if the rate was three and a half and there were no fees? That’s a pretty good deal. I’m going from four and a half down to three and a half and the banks paying all the costs, so be careful. Don’t just go calling everyone looking for the lowest interest rate. You ask, what is the rate on a no cost refinance, and then just do a little bit of math. And that’s another good tip for everybody out there. Okay.

D.J. Paris 30:09
Yeah, don’t be a rate chaser. I think that’s important. I was doing this recently with just some cash I had sitting around and I, I subscribed to a website that every month says, Here are the best money market accounts and savings accounts. And I saw one that was 20 basis points higher than, you know, my current rate. And I thought, Oh, well, that’s free money, I’m going to just chase the rate, go to a new bank, and transfer the money, it should be easy. And it was so difficult to do that I ended up giving up and I went, you know what, I’m keeping it where it is. Because it was such a challenge. And I learned that lesson that you know, chasing rates, while wonderful and great. And if you can do it, awesome. But you want to go with somebody that can get things done for you. And this bank ended up not getting any of my business because they made it so difficult for me just to move cash. Guaranteed rates not going to do that. Obviously, they’re not in the in the in the savings and money market business, but they’re not going to do that with respect to your to your loans. They’re going to take care of you. And they may have the lowest rates, they may not but they are going to get the job done. And that’s the most important part. And the relationship is everything. And Joel has if you’re in the Chicago area, you already know Joey has an amazing reputation. If you’re not in the Chicago area, we encourage you to get to know him. So reach out to him again. joel@rate.com and He will take care of Yeah. So Joel, thanks again for being on the show. And we will we’ll see you next month.

Joel Schaub 31:35
Okay, looking forward to it. We’ll see you soon.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Welcome to the February episode of our Learn With A Learn series with Joel Schaub!

How do you stay top of mind with your clients in 2020? How often should you schedule client appreciation events? What’s the best way to navigate networking events? And why did Joel stay in on Friday night emailing every client of the past few years? Another amazing episode with Joel Schaub of Guaranteed Rate!

Joel can be reached at joel@rate.com and 773.654.2049.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
On this episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by Joel Schaub at guaranteed rate. As a realtor it’s important to partner with only the most trusted name in mortgage lending. Joel has 1000s of satisfied clients and gives $1,500 of his commission back to your buyers on every closing. He is known for his ability to close even complex deals start to finish in only 14 days to learn what 1000s of others already know. Make a note to call Joel at 773-654-2049 or email joel@rate.com Guaranteed Rate is an equal housing lender licensed in all 50 States Consumer Access Number 2611 And now on with the show.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents for real estate agents. Today we have our monthly feature which is learning with a lender with Joel shop from guaranteed rate. And before I talk about Joel’s bio which I’m about to read Joel is by far the best loan officer I have ever met and work with super honored to have him on the show. But if this is your first time hearing an episode with Joel, let me tell you a little about him. Joel is the vice president of lending at guaranteed rate. He has been doing loans at a high level since 2003. And has gotten to that level because of what he does directly for agents, which is he gives part of his commission back to the buyer on every transaction. Last year alone 2019 Joe gave back over $291,000 in closing costs directly to the buyers who worked with him and that put Joel’s volume in the top 1/10 of 1% of all loan officers nationwide. out of 410 loan officers in the country. Joel is in the top 150 year to date. And this is only January, he or sorry in the last year rather Joel did 326 transactions for just under 117 million in closings it was his highest year ever. It this year alone in the month of January Joel’s close already 6 million in sales. Now to get in touch with Joel he can be reached at joel@rate.com Again joel@rate.com or call him at 773-654-2049. Let’s say hello to the biggest Cubs fan. I know Joel shop.

Joel Schaub 2:36
Welcome, DJ, thanks so much for having me today.

D.J. Paris 2:39
We’re, you know, I wasn’t even joking when I said you’re that you’re the best loan officer I’ve ever spoken with. It’s definitely a high bar to clear what you’ve said. And would you mind before getting into what you wanted to discuss today? Would you mind sharing what you told me how you spent your Friday night, which you probably did not ask me to share? I would like but this just goes to show just how great of a loan officer your

Joel Schaub 3:02
DJ asked me. So before we got on there, he said, So how was your Friday night and I said, Well, I’ve kind of just stayed home. And I was emailing all the clients that had closed in 2019. And rates are so much lower right now. I mean, they’re crazy low. And anybody who bought in the entire year of 2019, when we fought like tooth and nail to get that really good interest rate, you know, we got down to four and a half or four and a quarter and we couldn’t believe it. Everything’s down way below that now. So I spent Friday night, four or five hours, my wife is like Come to bed. And I think I got a few more emails. So I was just sending them out to past clients and saying we should connect next week rates are way lower than where they are, when we closed, we should be able to save $100 to $200 a month. And I can get all the fees waived in full. So I was just doing some follow up you got to stay in top of mind.

D.J. Paris 3:55
Now before I met Joel, I’ve had a lot of other loan officers in my life with my own transactions. No one ever did that for me. And by the way, we should also mention one important point Joel, left out of the story, he copied the agent who was representing the buyer, you know, on that transaction so that way the buyer even looks like a hero as well. He’s like, wow, you know, he knows what’s going on as well. Or he or she rather. So

Joel Schaub 4:19
the agent. Yeah, it was just nice that the agent could know that. They’re being stayed top of mind. I was able to I copied the person that referred me. So client referred from an agent made sure that that agent was copied in on the email. And I got several emails back last night just with like thumbs up and like Wow, thanks for doing that. They’re definitely appreciative of it. So pretty easy stuff. It’s just one of the things that a lot of people fail to do or they they get so busy with their life on Friday night they go out and do other things. And believe me that’s not my every Friday night, okay. But it was cold. It was a good thing to do and as you know If you listened to the last time I was out of the country, almost half of January, we were kind of jet setting at a couple of different places. We were in Africa, and we were on the islands. And then we were down at a wedding in Mexico. So it was just good to get back. Get your feet settled, and I can’t believe it’s already

D.J. Paris 5:18
February. Awesome. Well, what would you like to discuss today? Well, guys, the

Joel Schaub 5:22
idea here, if you want to be top of the game, right, if you want to be in the top in real estate, you got to just stay top of mind. So I wanted to go over things that I’ve been doing for years and kind of perfected so that agents can go out there and do the same thing. So a couple of things that we’re going to touch base on would be client appreciation, events, networking events, gifts, and giving, social media, all these different things where we can stay top of mind. And I want to start with client appreciation events. So map out the year now, it’s still early, people are saying it’s really busy, right? It’s never too busy just to grab a calendar, and I literally printed all 12 months on a piece of paper. We sat him down. And we got to business on picking what events we wanted to do this year, and having them laid out and having a game plan. Don’t you think that kind of helps to know what you’re going to be doing? Versus Oh, we should do something in three weeks? How many people do you think come to an event? If you plan it for a couple of months versus plan it for a week? Yeah, yeah, it’s a world of difference. Yeah, you’ve been to a lot of events you got to do to slap this together yesterday, right. And these don’t have to be large events. And a lot of times you can just piggyback from other events. But the idea is getting it down in paper so that you know what your 2020 looks like. So you don’t have to actually go print 12 pieces of paper, like I did with all of the dates. But taking some time right now before it really does get busy to come up with one event per quarter. That’s easy. One event every 90 days that you’re out there, either doing a client appreciation event where you’re inviting a bunch of people, or you are piggybacking on another event, and you’re going there with purpose and making sure that you are out there in the community. And that’s one of the big ways that I over the years grew. My presence in the Chicago market wasn’t just doing my own events, it was going to events with a purpose, and trying to help people that are at those events.

D.J. Paris 7:29
Yeah, and that’s really true if you’re in the Chicago land market, and you’re a realtor here locally. Of course, we have listeners nationwide. But Joel is everywhere. And he is really busy. It’s not he’s everywhere, because he doesn’t have much going on. He’s one of the top 150 loan officers in the country. He’s too busy to go to events, but he realizes the value of them.

Joel Schaub 7:50
And the the idea that a lot of people fail when they walk into a room. And this leads me into the next one, which are networking events. When you go to a networking event what most people do, they go there and they talk about themselves. They’re like, right, what’s the first opportunity that I can put in and tell them what I do? Why I’m the best. I rarely talk about what I do. When I go to a networking event, I have one goal in mind, I want to meet three people that want to get their business card. And then I want to find a way to send them a referral, send them something, okay. Most people go into this event or going to events and they end up with just a big stack of business cards and they don’t have any way to follow up with them. It feels disingenuous, because the only thing they want is something for themselves. Sure. How many times have you heard me say this phrase? givers gain? Yep. If you can go into a networking event and just try this, okay. Find three people, you’re going to talk to a ton of people, but at the end, you’re going to have three business cards, follow up with them and think of a way that you can refer them to somebody, okay, maybe it doesn’t have to be a client, you’re talking to somebody and they wanted to a great hairdresser, or a plumber. These are the types of things you have to go out there and look for ways that you can add value if you go out and the only thing you’re saying is I’m the best realtor, I’m the best lender or insurance person. Everyone else in the room is doing the exact same thing. It doesn’t work. And so that’s why I’ve been so successful over the years. It’s just adding value to everyone else in the room. People get to know who you are if you’re doing it the right way.

D.J. Paris 9:28
Yeah, this is called the law of reciprocity, right? So you you provide so much value to someone else expecting nothing in return, right but are as human beings we are wired to want to reciprocate people that do favors and are kind to us and compassionate and empathic and help us and it’s just natural and so Joe’s right givers get for sure. And it’s just a better way of living.

Joel Schaub 9:51
Yeah, literally it doesn’t matter how much money you’re bringing. It just feels good. That’s what I like it’s such a better way. I sleep well at night. They know that I’ve made real friends in the business. And you can, you can sense the difference between people that are just struggling trying to make it. And those that are out there really adding value. And being friends, it’s not the, the top people don’t have the perfect sales pitch, they don’t have the right thing to say at the right time. They’re just personable, and they’re friendly. And people want to be around him. So that’s one of the things that you can go and do at those networking events, is not make it about yourself, try as hard as you can, and go find some value for others.

D.J. Paris 10:37
And this applies really outside of business as well, if we want to just quickly take a quick detour, because I apply the same principle when I go to social gatherings, which again, are networking events or social gatherings. I try to, like what’s most interesting to me when I meet somebody new is I want to find out what gets them excited, or maybe where they’re struggling. But just beyond DJ talking about, you know, this podcast or my real estate stuff, I want to just learn about someone else, because I, to me, that’s more interesting. And I don’t like talking about myself. I know, Joel, you’re the same way. And you know, we just be interested, it’s like the Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People, it’s basically get interested in other people.

Joel Schaub 11:19
Oh, my gosh, you kind of read my mind on what I’m going to talk about, like two prompts from No, I stole your thunder, I’m sorry. But the idea here is we want to be at the top of our game in real estate, you have to stay top of mind, right? So we got to go do those types of things that are outside of the house and outside of the office. But if we’re inside of the house, and we’re in the office, and we’re doing social media, there’s a good way to do it. There’s a terrible way of doing. So for social media, what we want to do is, you see all these people that are just liking every photo, right? Right. provide some context, if you are and it’s supposed to be social, right? We’re supposed to be having conversations with each other. So when you make a post, and you get all these comments reply to these people, it blows my mind. So many times we’re trying to put good out into the world. And I see these agents or I see insurance people, and they’ll make a post and they’ll get 30 likes, and they’ll get 15 comments. And there’s no replies talk to these people. Yeah, thank them and like start a conversation versus just commenting or just putting out photos. So the whole idea if you make a post, and people are commenting on it, reply back, get a conversation going.

D.J. Paris 12:33
Yeah, my my boss here at my company, instituted a rule with us about five or six years ago, he must have read it somewhere. And he said, because we have so many realtors in our own firm, and they’re constantly contacting us for support and training. And they he said, Whenever you get an email, always, you know, answer their question. And then if they write back and say thank you, because sometimes people just write back and say, Thank you, you write them back and say, You’re welcome. Right? You never you will always be the last person to email. You know, which is such a it’s such a simple thing, but it really people really appreciate it.

Joel Schaub 13:08
Oh, that’s the key. Okay, I like that, then it’s true. It goes a long way. Right? It means that people are actually feeling that they’ve been heard. Absolutely.

D.J. Paris 13:20
And, and also to people put information on social media, they want to hear your thoughts they want are, they’re interested in your comments. And if someone’s nice enough to spend time to write a comment for you, thank them, or continue the conversation, you know, from that thread. But yeah, you’re right. It’s a lot of things go unanswered or uncomment it.

Joel Schaub 13:40
And a lot of times, when I come on here, I always want to think should I be sharing all of these like mortgage tips, because that’s what I do. But I think a lot of my business is really focused on how I made so many connections and got to the level that I did. And so I really like this type of conversation where we’re talking about how you can stay top of mind and real, bonafide things that you can do in 2020. So that you can pick up one new buyer, one new listing, close one more transaction, and one of the focus that I do is gifts and giving. Okay? It doesn’t have to be something huge. But on every single closing, if you’re not sending at least a thank you card with something small in it, you’re missing an opportunity, right? Even up front when you get the opportunity and you were introduced somebody said hey, you know my sister selling a place, I want to introduce you handwritten card $5 Starbucks something or more importantly, figure out what that person liked or they had dog person $25 to Petco, something small a couple of dollars here and there are gonna go a long way. And so many people failed to do it. And even if you did in the past, and you started falling off from it 2020 I encourage you, if you’re getting a new client, right little note, put something of value in there. It makes you stand out if they’re talking to three agents about who to list the house to and I got a letter in the mail three days later with a little thank you, you know, I’m choosing you.

D.J. Paris 15:13
Yeah, I couldn’t, could not agree more that is so important. And it’s so you know, if you think to, for our audience that people listening are mostly Realtors 99% are probably realtors. And if you’re not giving something, even if it’s just a heartfelt handwritten thank you, you just made probably two and a half percent of the price of the home as a commission, you do something for that person, right? You just made a ton of money. And yes, you earned it. But you should, you know, always give back.

Joel Schaub 15:43
That’s where a lot of the referrals are coming from. We know this, right? We can put up billboards, we can do Zillow, we can do all of these things, but a person that you delivered for that you went for weeks or months to sell the property and it came to a conclusion and it’s a positive one, they will say your name to other people. And if you can give them even more of an incentive to do so even if it’s just subconsciously that you got something in a gift form. It’s not a lot of money, but you have to invest. I always say it like this, you wouldn’t expect that you could open up a McDonald’s franchise and not be able to afford the cups or the plates or, you know, the signage. You can’t be a realtor and not put more money back into your business to help it grow. And these are some small little things, gifts, be a given person be known as somebody that’s charitable and giving back and boy, it does come back to you. Five and 10 fold.

D.J. Paris 16:46
Yeah, I couldn’t agree. So do you mind talking about what’s going on with with rates? is, you know, I know there’s been some really favorable news recently.

Joel Schaub 16:55
Yeah, a lot of people are getting sick with this virus. It’s very favorable news DJ. There’s Coronavirus fears. And what’s really strange is that anything in this level of contagious when there’s these types of things that are happening, it does lead to lower interest rates. And so we just saw this thing. It’s a flight to safety. So instead of putting money into the stocks, all this money goes into the safety and security of bonds, when bond prices go up, yields come down. And so now even though we talked about this, just before my Africa trip on the last podcast, yes, rates were lower. Again, we saw another substantial leg down over a quarter point drop, again, we’re seeing these 30 year fixed rates getting really close to three and a half percent. We are seeing 15 year fixed rates at 3.1 to 5%. And we’re seeing a lot of the jumbo money. So stuff that is over $510,000. In most cities and municipalities on arms, we’re getting rates in the twos. So it’s absolutely crazy where the market is. And this is kind of like gas prices, they’re they, they they’ll come down, but they’ll spike right back up, you just don’t know when they’re going to go back up. So there’s an opportunity right now. Okay. And if I was a real estate agent, and I had 10 closings last year or 50 closings last year, I would get my list out. And over the weekend, I would make some phone calls. And it’s just the follow up to say, Hey, I’ve seen it in the news recently, the interest rates are low, I think you should reach back out to Jim and Susie, your lender, you know, and see if they can do a no cost refinance for you.

D.J. Paris 18:50
Yeah, that that is again, that is going the extra step. And, you know, they always say it’s never What’s the expression, it’s never crowded along the extra mile.

Joel Schaub 19:00
It’s true. And notice what I said there, though, I didn’t say call him up and see what the lowest interest rate was. So that you pay a bunch of fees to the banker, what I want us to do is, remember the old trick where we can call the mortgage company that has your current loan, okay, or the person that helped you so much during that transaction? And you say, I know that my rates are in the fours and I heard they were lower. What are the current rates today? What would you recommend? And then ask, what would be the rate that I could get? If you Mr. Banker covered all of the costs because it takes a couple grand or refinance a mortgage? There’s no secret there. Right? That’s why these banks and there’s banks that mail you stuff in the mail. There are banks that call you left and right. They’re not doing it because it’s free. They’re doing it because they hope you call and ask for the lowest rate that’s available and they’ll happily give it to you in exchange for a couple $1,000 in profit. St. George’s? Sure. So what we want to do is we really want to see if my interest rate today was at four and a half, and the best rate was three and a half. I might be interested in 3.75. If I had to pay $0, why don’t you go from four and a half down to 375? And pay nothing? That might be a lot better than going down just an extra quarter of a point and paying $3,000? Yeah, absolutely. So as an agent, we can go back and we can just provide this value. Remember, the whole topic here today is staying top of mind. And it’s so much easier to call them up with something that will actually hit their bottom line on a monthly basis. If these clients can save $200 a month, and they didn’t have to pay anything, boy, will they remember it because you prompted them, they know that the rates are low, but a nice phone call from the professional to help them and pushing them in the right direction. And if they didn’t have such a great experience with that lender, you know, somebody now because of me on this podcast that can handle a refinance transaction, you say, you know, you didn’t really have that great of an experience, let’s make sure that I connect you with somebody that I just learned about his name’s Joel at guaranteed rate, and they can do a no cost refinance for you. I love that business. But by no means is that a push for me, I really want this to be a focus for the real estate agent to go out there and connect with their past clients, so they can get one or two more deals in 2020.

D.J. Paris 21:27
Yeah, and in addition to that, you know, obviously Joel is happy to, to speak to your clients, but also, you know, job partners with brokers all over and basically can help them possibly with some of their own efforts, right. So, you know, definitely call Joe and when your clients need need a refi or, or they need a loan. But also, you know, this is the guaranteed rate, especially with Joel is a great partner to have. So if you’re a realtor that’s looking for a really solid loan officer who’s who’s going to really help you grow your business. And quite frankly, Joel is the only loan officer that I would ever recommend, because of how much he gives and gives back, Joe, what is the best way whether it’s a, you know, somebody’s looking for a loan, or a broker who wants to work with someone like you, what’s the best way they should reach out?

Joel Schaub 22:18
Well, right now, I’m actually looking for a couple of agents that want to really do marketing dollars. So if it is something that they’re doing as far as marketing, and it requires a lender to come in and actually spend some money. And I don’t care if this is five grand a month, or it’s five grand over the year, I want to work with like minded people, agents are actually out there trying to grow their business. And so an email to me as simple, we can use the short version, which is Joel JOE l@rates.com, R A t.com. So that is the quick email for my guaranteed rate.com email address. And just say, I heard you on the podcast, here’s my phone number I’d like to talk. And that’s it. It’s something simple so that we can start the communication, I can learn a little bit more about what you’re doing in your market, and how I can come in and actually spend some money RESPA compliant, and help you grow that business. So we’re definitely I won’t share on air the dollars that we’ve been spending because it’s sizable, but we’re definitely looking for some like minded agents that want to grow, no matter whether you’re right at the bottom just starting, or you’ve been doing it for a long time, we can definitely help grow and partner together no matter what state so we’re in all 50 states.

D.J. Paris 23:39
Yeah, well, let’s, let’s recap sort of what we went over. So we first talked about client appreciation events, every broker out there should be you know, hosting them, or attending them once a quarter right and hosting them. It doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, you can even find a volunteer organization and invite your clients to come help volunteer, Joel is very proactive and animal rescue. And he’s on the board of real estate to the realtors to the rescue. And, and there’s lots of organizations and the cool thing about about working with charities or volunteer organizations is every human being on the planet wants to volunteer more. So most people just get caught up, they’re busy, they’re living their lives. And so you can provide them an opportunity to do some good as well. And also, you know, create a lot of good feelings. So I always think some of the some of those are the best events

Joel Schaub 24:31
and map it out. Now. That’s the whole point is take the time right now in the next week or two to actually map out the year and get pen to paper so that you actually do it.

D.J. Paris 24:42
And then Joel also talked about networking. So if you’re going to a networking event, don’t make it about you learn about other people and think how can I add value to them? What can I what what pain points do they have, what problems can I solve? What value can I provide and then watch as all value returns to you after you provide value. And then also talked about contacting your clients. So anyone that owns a home, whether you help them, purchase it or not call everybody, all your clients, all your friends and say, Hey, I’ve been noticing that rates have been dipping, you know, and even if you don’t know their mortgage situation, I was just thinking about you, like Joel did last night for all of the clients he worked with last year. But you can do this as well with anyone you know, who’s a homeowner and say, I don’t know, you know, if you don’t know the mortgage situation, I’m not really sure your situation, however, you may want to reach back out to your loan officer. And if you don’t have a good experience, I’ve got a great person you need to talk to. So if you have the reluctance it

Joel Schaub 25:39
is to pick up the phone do an email as well, the whole point is that if they bought the last year, the rates are lower today by a big amount than anytime that they bought in 2017 2018, or 2019. It’s just the fact that there weren’t rates this low in any of those years. So if they were like a rate chopper, and they were so focused on making sure that they called the person that gave them the lowest rate, that rate is at least a half a point higher than what’s available easily today. So there’s something that can be done.

D.J. Paris 26:12
Wonderful, everyone listening, reach out to Joel, if you’re looking for a loan officer who is going to be your partner, if you’re a borrower, and you’re looking for one loan officer who actually gives you back on every time you close a transaction Joel is also your guy. So reach out to him at joel@rate.com which, by the way, is the smallest email address I’ve ever heard. And it’s so easy to remember. I love it. Thank God there You weren’t like the second Joel to join, guaranteed rate. Joel to rate that go. So joel@rate.com or call him or text him 773-654-2049 Joel on behalf of the listeners, we thank you. You are actually I was looking at our this is this is absolutely true, although I don’t have the data right in front of me. But I was looking at this two days ago. And your episodes are the second most listened to series. We have five regular guests on the show and you’re an Aeron second position, which is and I know that I know you don’t care. But that is how appreciated you are to our listeners. So we’re super appreciative appreciative to you. And on behalf of Joel and myself to everyone who is listening, please continue to listen, tell a friend, if everyone just tells one other realtor about this show, we can help twice as many people and obviously get twice as many listeners. And that opens up the opportunity for us to do even more episodes. So this really supports the show and support Joel reach out to him for all your lending needs. So Joel, thanks again. And we will see you next month.

Joel Schaub 27:48
Absolutely guys, it is time to stay top of mind. 2020 is going to be amazing. And we will be here for you every step of the way.

D.J. Paris 27:57
All right. Thanks again. We’ll see you next month.

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Welcome to the January episode of Learning With A Lender with Joel Schaub!

In this episode Joel Schaub talks about the importance of aligning yourself with a cause that you believe in. Not only is it the right thing to do, but you’ll see that over time clients want to work with brokers that give back. Next, Joel talks about joining groups (such as a college alumni program or an online neighborhood group) and providing value there and over time you’ll start to attract more clients! Last, Joel discusses how loan limits have changed and how borrowers can house-hack more easily than ever before!

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by Joel Schaub at guaranteed rate. As a realtor it’s important to partner with only the most trusted name in mortgage lending. Joel has 1000s of satisfied clients and gives $1,500 of his commission back to your buyers on every closing. He is known for his ability to close even complex deals start to finish in only 14 days to learn what 1000s of others already know. Make a note to call Joel at 773-654-2049 or email joel@rate.com Guaranteed Rate is an equal housing lender licensed in all 50 States Consumer Access Number 2611 And now on with the show

Welcome to keeping it real the largest podcast in the country for real estate agents made by real estate agents. My name is DJ Paris, I am your host and what a year it’s been we have doubled our traffic and our listenership and we have now expanded nationwide with our guests and also with our listeners and we’re so excited to continue to bring you this kind of content today on the show. We have our monthly episode with Joel shop from guaranteed array called Learn with a lender if you are new to the show. Let me tell you about Joel Joel is vice president of lending at guaranteed rate. He has been doing loans at a high level since 2003. And has got to that level because of what he does directly for agents he gives back part of his commission to the buyer on every transaction every time. Last year alone, he gave back over $271,000 in closing costs to buyers who worked with him and that put Joel’s volume in the top 1/10 of 1% of loan officers nationwide. out of 380,000 loan officers nationwide Joel is ranked number 181 year to date, he has closed 317 transactions for just under 113 million in closings in the month of December alone, which is no closings happen. Joel has already done 10 million in closed transactions. And Joel can be reached at joel@rate.com. Or you can always call him directly at 773-354-2049. Let’s say hello to the biggest Cubs fan. I know Joel Schaub Good afternoon, sir.

Joel Schaub 2:39
Hey, DJ, thanks so much for having me on again. And the accolades and the numbers that you you know, you share with the listeners, they’re great, but I love this time to come on and give back and go through some of the things that I’ve seen other agents doing that can help them really, really grow their business, and not spend a lot of money. I’m gonna go through several things that I have seen other people doing and really give back here today. So I’m really excited to be on the show.

D.J. Paris 3:11
And, and thank you, we’re so excited. You’re a fan favorite. And we’re so appreciated by our audience. And I would like to tell the audience, just how dedicated Joel is. Joel is catching a flight tomorrow to go out of the country on safari, which is super exciting. And he does not have time to do this right now. And yet he’s doing it. That’s how dedicated he is. And we’re so grateful that you’re able to do this for us.

Joel Schaub 3:35
Well, I’ll do it again in January, if I make it back and I don’t get eaten by a lion, a tiger, whatever the other animals there are going to be and we’re excited. So yeah, my wife and I tomorrow we fly and we’re doing Christmas in the Seychelle islands. So we’re going to do six nights there before going to Cape Town, South Africa. And then that’s where we’re going to spend almost two weeks doing Africa stuff.

Unknown Speaker 4:02
We’ll be there. Well, I

Joel Schaub 4:03
hope miked up and

D.J. Paris 4:05
I hope my girlfriend isn’t listening because you’re now making me look bad because we’re she and I are just going to Florida. Not as exciting,

Joel Schaub 4:12
as warm but it’s a once in a lifetime thing. As a child, I always wanted to go. And I wanted to go to Egypt. Here’s the two things DJ I wanted to do. I wanted to be a major league baseball player and I wanted to go to Egypt and I was so bad at sports. Like I struck out at T ball. I wasn’t athletic at all. So that’s passed me by but at least I can take my beautiful wife and we’re gonna go spend some time there. We ended in Cairo. So we get back middle of January. So it’s gonna be a good three weeks plus warm to get away. And before we go, let’s go through some things that we can really do as real estate agents and professionals that are on the podcast today, to get ready for 2020 What are some of the things that we can do to put our minds in a mindset for growth? Okay, and the one thing I want focus on is just giving back data. How many times do I talk about this every single time? It’s truly what it is. People don’t care about how much you know, until they know how much you care, okay? And when you can literally grow your business based on giving back, not only do you sleep better, do you feel better, but the referrals that come to you are so much better. Okay? As agents are so many different agent options that are out there. So if you got a referral from somebody that was a friend, a family member, or a co worker, where you really were involved in the other person’s life, it’s a lot easier to work with that person, they’re less likely to say, Oh, I’m gonna go call five different real estate agents and see which one’s going to give me the lowest commission. That’s a race to the bottom, we don’t want that, what we want to do is build our people. So giving back a couple things that we can do be out there and actually pick a charity that you actually could get involved with and spend some time it doesn’t have to be a lot of money. But my wife and I have been part of the real estate to the rescue, we’ve been on the board of directors. And when you align yourself with something, naturally, you’re seeing people that see you as a giving person. And if everybody knows what you’re doing in real estate, you will get more deals from it. So it’s so simple, but it’s so many people fail to do this, go out next year, and find something that you’re passionate about, and asked to join on the board.

D.J. Paris 6:30
I do this. For me, it’s miserable Cordia here a local place in Chicago. And it is not only has it helped me, business wise, which is not why I do it. Same with you with real real estate to the rescue. But it is something we both care about. And I will tell you, it just transformed my life. When I started getting involved.

Joel Schaub 6:51
It is and then you’re actually connecting with people that are like minded. And it’s surprising to me how many people say they will do it and not do it. So just the first step, find a charity, find something that you’re passionate about, and then give back and then let every single person know this, you know, it’s a little self serving, but let them know I’m in real estate. I want to be the person that helps you on the next transaction. And people want to help people that are helping others. Okay. Okay, so that’s charities, the next one is groups, whether it’s a mommy daddy group, a school group, or some kind of former college athletic or university connection, join groups, okay? And make sure that you’re doing the exact same thing you’re giving back, you’re being present, and you’re helping some organization or cause grow. It doesn’t have to be a charity, the one that I really love is just where did you go to school? Right. Lastly, online neighborhood groups, okay, if I was a new agent, and I didn’t have a lot of money, I literally would be doing five or six hours a day just on the group’s Okay, that seems crazy. But literally five or six hours a day, just answering questions chiming in, being that person that knows about real estate, okay, and it will take time. But if you don’t have a lot of money, to go out and do big time, advertisements, and budgets and parties, being on these neighborhood groups, as the professional that is in your community. It’s a long game. But it’s one of the most cost effective ways that you can be an expert.

D.J. Paris 8:33
And so what Joel is talking about, and this is a great thing, because I’ve interviewed people for the show that have built these groups, if there isn’t one for your neighborhood or your suburb is go on Facebook and do a search for it. For example, if you’re a mother, guess what other mothers in your community want to know about all the kids stuff that’s going on in that community. And you can start posting here, all the events coming up. And then as you start to do that you become a fixture in that Facebook group or other social group, you’ll start people start going well, what is it that you do and all of a sudden, you’ve added so much value, that you start getting clients as a result? You’re exactly

Joel Schaub 9:09
right. This is not an opportunity to sell. You are literally providing value and giving answers and actually being a resource that naturally does come to you people make the mistake of going on, and blasting advertisements and I see it and I would never call that person. Right? Yes, it does call somebody that’s actually providing value that’s helping that’s giving answers that are spending time and writing a reply. Whenever somebody needs a plumber or needs a roofer or needs a handyman, if you can be the person that’s referring people out, you become that neighborhood expert in Facebook groups is a great way to go out and grow your real estate business.

D.J. Paris 9:51
Wonderful. I couldn’t agree more.

Joel Schaub 9:53
So you’re talking off air. You’re seeing a lot of different things that people are doing for advertising. What’s going on? What are you seeing

D.J. Paris 9:59
So this is this is just funny, fortunate timing. And it’s going to sound like I’m doing a commercial for guarantee rate, which I would always do a commercial guaranteed rate because I loved guaranteed rate. But this really happened two nights ago. So I got home, I live in a high rise downtown and in River North, and I in my, my mailbox was a an eight and a half by 11. Color, you know, basically front and back. And it was from a very successful realtor who’s actually been on our show, and I won’t mention it just in case he doesn’t want me to. But what here’s what was great about it, it was on the front, it had all of the current listings for my building that were on the market. And it showed in the past, I think 30 or 60 days, what has closed. So I could look at this very quickly and say, Okay, here’s what the places in my building are going for. Here’s what they’re selling for. And guess what, it was co branded by who else guaranteed rate? Yeah. And I handed it to my girlfriend, and I said, look at how brilliant this marketing is. Because is it providing value? Yes. Right? Like that is exactly what everybody who lives in a building wants to know is what are other things going for, because maybe I want to sell or maybe I maybe I want to buy another property in my own building, right? I just want to know what’s going on and most time and I’m in the business, and I don’t know what’s going on in my own building. And I said, this is brilliant. And I said, Oh, how funny is it? Because I’m gonna have Joelle on in a few days, I need to really talk about how I’m not kidding, I get a ton of I get a ton of advertisements from other realtors who partner with other lenders, and it’s just, hey, use me I’m great. And all that’s fine. But I thought wow, this is a piece of, of advertising that is hyper targeted. And I go, how great is this, that, you know, they’re partnered with guaranteed rate because we’re about to come on the show. So really, I couldn’t have been more impressed. And within a minute, I looked at this, I knew what was going on in my building, and I got value. And I and I remembered it. So I you know, this is the kind of things that as agents, we want these kinds of partnerships, right, we want partners that can provide and help us with our marketing efforts. And Joel is exactly the kind of person that can do this with

Joel Schaub 12:11
you. And that’s the nice thing right there too, is that you actually hit the nail on the head, I love that you said a partnership, because there’s a lot of great lenders, there’s definitely people at all different banks and brokers that do it right that know how to do the process. But are they actually partnering with you to help you get more transactions, and you hit the nail on the head, doing the marketing dollars and CO advertising is how I got to having over 100 good real estate agents in the city of Chicago, that say just called Joel. And so I give a closing cost credit back to every buyer that comes over from that agent. So I do a $1,500 credit out of my commission, it goes right on the closing settlement statement. And that helps the buyer bring less to the closing table. And it also gets the listing agent, or the agent that was referring the person over to me more deals because that buyer then is so happy that they got somebody that was at our level, but also giving back.

D.J. Paris 13:17
Yeah, and guys, this is not just a marketing gimmick, this giving back, this is huge. Most lenders do not do this, this isn’t an option at a lot of places Joel does this himself. It’s how he’s built his business. And everybody here locally in Chicago knows Joe and there are probably 1000s of different lenders. And Joel might be the most well known because of his ability to give back. And he doesn’t just give back financially, although How great is that you get to bring that to your client, hey, I’ve got a great lender for you. Not only will you close quickly, with a great rate, but also my lender is going to credit you back, you know, up to X amount. And I think that’s so huge. So you’re providing value, Joel is providing value, and everybody wins.

Joel Schaub 14:04
Yeah. So if you’re an agent that’s on the podcast here today, in 2020, I am definitely looking to expand and have some additional agents come on. And so you can just do a quick email now. joel@rate.com. So it’s j o el@rate.com. And then just in the subject line write marketing, and then I’ll give you a follow up. And we’ll schedule some time to see how we can actually help you through the CO branded marketing the flyers through the credits back, help you grow and in 2020 So I’m happy to happy to throw that out there to somebody that really wants to expand and grow their business.

D.J. Paris 14:42
And to all the listeners look we have 1000s and 1000s of listeners do not delay on this there is a finite amount of people that Joelle can partner with and if you really are serious and looking for a partner immediately as soon as you’re done listening to this, shoot that email out to them so you can have that conversation because at some point he’s going to get fit The emails, and that is going to be hard for him to manage all that. So be one of the first people that reaches out because he is. I mean, here in Chicago, he is a legend. If you’re outside the Chicagoland area, he will, he’d love to still work with you. But definitely reach out because he is a busy man and gets a lot of requests. So shoot that over to him immediately. So you guys can work on your 2020 business plan together.

Joel Schaub 15:23
Okay, got one more thing. I’m all about providing value. So if you are in the real estate space, you’ve heard about this. You’ve seen other mortgage guys or agents talking about the loan limits getting increased? Did you hear anything about this? Like, one day there was 15 posts, and everyone was just saying 510,005 10? They’re just saying this number that now the loan limit is up. But what the hell does that even mean? Right? If you’re outside of the industry, and you’re just buying for the first time? Why does this matter? Right? What does it mean? So let’s actually talk about what that loan limit was because you could always borrow above the old limit, right? There wasn’t a limit on what you could borrow, right? You could borrow $1,000,000.08 100,700. So what this is, is the limit got increased from the cutoff point for a conforming mortgage to a jumbo loan. Okay, and all it means is that now, first time buyers in those without a large downpayment, can borrow more on the lowest downpayment, options, 3%, down and 5%, down all the way up to $510,400. So as an agent, what this means is, it’s good to know that it’s on that number for a one unit property. But my focus here is, there isn’t just one loan limit, there are loan limits for two units, three units and four units. Okay. And so, right now, there’s a really big opportunity for borrowers to go out and buy a two to four flat building. Okay, so if you’re an agent, why go help somebody buy a $280,000 condo, and you can help them buy a $590,000.02 unit or a $700,000.03 unit building? Okay? They can how’s that one of the units? Yeah, well, you could live in one and you could literally collect rents that cover the entire mortgage payment if you get a good agent that can find some of these diamonds in the rough. Okay, so a four unit limit. This is not jumbo, the four unit limit on Fannie Mae now is $981,700. Yeah, a four unit building, and there’s tons of them. Okay. And for most people, if you’re just a regular salaried person $900,000 Seems like a complete pipe dream, how can I ever get a bank to approve me for this type of loan? Well, if you’re buying in a building that has three other rents, your person that’s just maybe making 80 grand a year as a teacher, very easily could go buy a four unit building, if they’ve never bought a place before. They could buy it with 5% down and have the rents cover the mortgage. So those are some of the tips that I wanted to focus on. And give a little context in color to this number that you keep seeing on social media 510 510. That’s one thing. But these two to foreign unit loans have increased as well. And there’s a real opportunity to go to your database, and start having these buyers that maybe are renting, move into a multifamily purchase.

D.J. Paris 18:37
And guys, you don’t have to have these conversations alone. This is why you partner with someone like troll, he can talk to your clients and have those conversations about what we call house hacking, this ability to buy a multi unit living in one and then have you know, the the more of the rent mortgage is paid by the rents in the other. So definitely, let’s let’s continue to reach out to Joel, he is your great, greatest resource to helping your clients get to that next level. They’re not just homeowners, now they’re investors as well.

Joel Schaub 19:10
And now we’ll refer you more business when you genuinely put these people first and not just look at as a commission, you will get more deals. And I’ve seen this for year after year with agents where I’ve taught them and teach them how they can actually take a small group of buyers, and year after year get more referrals from them by putting them first just it feels good. It’s the right way to do business.

D.J. Paris 19:33
That will And that does it for the end of the year. Joel is on his way to Africa and he’s actually got a conference call in two minutes. So we’re going to sign off and we’re going to first thank you Joel for the entire year all the hard work you’ve done on this podcast. Joel does not get paid to do this. He does this because he truly wants to give back. And if if I could ask all of our listeners, our Realtors, our listeners who might be buyers sellers, use Joel reach out to Joel He is honored to earn your business and he wants to earn your business. So Joe, what’s the best way that an agent or a buyer can reach out to you

Joel Schaub 20:09
joel@rate.com J OEL at r a t e.com 773-654-2049. And before I go, just big shout out to you, DJ and everybody that it takes to put this together. You’ve grown so much. We really love what you’re doing. And we’re really excited to partner with you in 2020.

D.J. Paris 20:32
Well, we’re excited, the honor is all ours and so have a great holiday season, Joel, have a great safari with your lovely wife, who I adore. And also we’ll see in January, when you guys get back, we’ll keep doing these episodes. And to all the listeners, thank you for continuing to support the show. And the best way to support the show, aside from telling a friend is support Joel, you reach out to him he is your resource, he will help you make more money as a real estate agent, and I’ll help your clients save money on their their lending. So please, please reach out to him. You know, we’re so honored to have him a part of the show. So, Joel, thank you so much and have a great time in Africa.

Joel Schaub 21:11
I appreciate it. Thank you, everyone.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Welcome to the November episode of Learning With A Lender with Joel Schaub!

In this episode Joel Schaub discusses the recent rate cut by the Federal Reserve and how this is NOT necessarily going to reflect mortgage rates decreasing. Often these cuts are predicted (in-advance) and lenders already have baked them into current rates. Also, Joel provides a strategy about asking your loan officer for a no-cost loan, and why that often is preferable than the lowest rate (plus fees). You’ll be able to call your contacts with this information and provide incredible value!

Joel Schaub can be reached at joel@rate.com or 773.654.2049.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by Joel Schaub at guaranteed rate. As a realtor it’s important to partner with only the most trusted name in mortgage lending. Joel has 1000s of satisfied clients and gives $1,500 of his commission back to your buyers on every closing. He is known for his ability to close even complex deals start to finish in only 14 days to learn what 1000s of others already know. Make a note to call Joel at 773-654-2049 or email joel@rate.com Guaranteed Rate is an equal housing lender licensed in all 50 States Consumer Access Number 2611 And now on with the show.

Welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate brokers for real estate brokers. My name is DJ Parris. I am your guide and host through the show today we have our our regular episode learn with a lender with Joel shop. Now if you’re not familiar with Joel Joel is the vice president of lending at guaranteed rate. He has been doing loans at a high level since 2003. And it’s gotten to that level because of what he does directly for his agents. And what he does is he gives back part of his commission to the buyer your client on every transaction. Last year alone, Joel gave back over $271,000 in closing costs to buyers who worked with him and that put Joe’s volume in the top 1/10 of 1% nationwide. Now out of 380,000 loan officers in the country. Joel is ranked number 181 year to date, he has done 268 transactions for just under 98 point 6 million in closings. In the month of October alone, Joe’s closed 14 million in sales averaging over 10 million a month. And by the end of this week, Joe will hit a huge milestone in his career, and it will close over $100 million in one year, not even a full year in loans truly incredible. If you’re looking for a mortgage professional, Joel is the very best in the industry. And he can be reached at joel@rate.com Again, joel@rate.com and also on telephone and he answers the phone at 773-654-2049. So let’s say hello to the biggest Cubs fan that I know Joel Schaub Good afternoon.

Joel Schaub 2:39
Thanks for having me on DJ every time I hear the numbers, it just reminds me of how much We’ve both grown since the first time I’ve done the show,

D.J. Paris 2:47
we were just talking about this, I couldn’t believe that you’ve grown to $100 million. That is, it’s almost like a fantasy number. And you’re there. So this is what you’re 16 for you in the business, something like that.

Joel Schaub 3:01
16 years, it doesn’t happen overnight. But it’s all about that giving back and teaching and educating. And that’s really what we pride ourselves in. So it’s not just the numbers and the accolades. That’s all great. But you know me, you know me off air. And it’s I’m the same way on these as I am. If you meet me in a room, I’m I’m open, I want to give back and want to see how I can help these agents achieve the numbers that I’ve been doing. And I think we got a good show today. We got some good stuff coming up.

D.J. Paris 3:33
Yeah, and I’d like to tell the listeners because this is a big milestone for Joel hitting 100 million in 11 months, which is truly incredible. And I just want to tell people who might be newer to the show how Joel got to be on this podcast, talking about giving back. I met Joel at an event that he was a sponsor for. And I didn’t know Joel and Joel certainly didn’t know me. And I knew he was working the desk when people were coming. And he was saying hello, he was greeting people and giving them their name tags, because he was one of the sponsors. And he said to me, he says, I listened to your podcast, you don’t have a lender on your show you need I need to be on your show. I have so much great information to give to your audience. They need to hear this. And it was I will tell you, I’m listeners that every single day, a lender will reach out and say I want to be on your show. I want to be the next guest on your show. And but what they never say is here’s all the great information I offer. And as soon as we met Joel, we’re like, Well, that’s it. Joel is our guy. And that is his passion is really giving back. And as Joel will tell you, he is a lending nerd. And so he comes on every month and tells us careful, be careful. Hey, I love nerds. I’m a nerd too. Yes. So we’re excited to have you. All right. What do we want to talk about today? Oh, actually, I would I have a thing I want to bring up so and I want to get your thoughts on this because I did a little research on what’s going on in lending right now. And I saw an article on MSNBC just published today that said refinances are up. As of last week, I believe up 188% over last year. Can we let’s talk about that.

Joel Schaub 5:13
No, it’s absolutely true. I mean, the roadmap for the show today is I am going to talk about the Fed cut that just recently happened. I’m going to discuss the winter market and the opportunity for buyers and some things that they actually don’t think about. And then I’m going to wrap up with a prediction on rates for 2020. Just so that we can kind of get a roadmap of where we’re going. And you’re right, the refinance volume is up almost 200% year over year, and to kind of do a little deep dive and kind of understand what that means. I was telling a story last week, and and this really hit home to the buyer. I explained remember when you bought in 2018. And our focus was all about the rate, isn’t it? So true. DJs people are just so focused, when they’re closing, what are your rates, right? There’s 100, things that go into a transaction or more, sometimes they just get stuck on that one number. And they feel like I gotta call five different places and find the bank, that’s gonna give me the lowest rate. That’s not necessarily the best way about going about it. We’ve discussed this in years past on the show, maybe finding the person that has the lowest rate is equivalent to finding the cheapest eye surgeon

D.J. Paris 6:25
Exactly. And I will tell you, when I got my laser eye surgery done 10 years ago, I did not go with the lowest cost provider. And there are places that we were doing it for pennies on the dollar. And I spent a significant more because I wanted the surgeon that had done 1000s of these. And he charges a little bit more because of that experience. And that was worth it to me.

Joel Schaub 6:47
So what happened here was no matter what year, you know, what they bought in the last three years, so 2015 1617 and 18, that’s four full years. Rates today are better than any time they close. That means all of the time that they went in, they spent shopping trying to find the lowest rate, just with one simple phone call today, the market rates because of the recent fed cuts three in a row, the markets better. And so there’s an opportunity, and that’s why people are flocking back and taking advantage of the refinance rates right now.

D.J. Paris 7:20
So what should Realtors be doing to not take advantage of have the courage but but to see the opportunity that lies in this scenario?

Joel Schaub 7:32
I have my agents going through and doing a very specific thing for most of you, you’re looking for touch points, if you’re a good agent, the idea that you could reach out with some value is paramount. Can you find something that you could reach back out to those clients that you closed? And provide them some value? Okay, so how many agents? Do we have that? They’ll call back? And they’ll say, Do you know anybody buying or selling? I’d be a great referral.

D.J. Paris 8:00
That yeah, I’m never too busy for your referrals, that kind of thing? Yeah.

Joel Schaub 8:05
That one? Well, sure. Yes, I bet. But that doesn’t, that doesn’t do anything. For me, I loved you when you helped me buy the house. So I’m a big fan of educating the buyers and providing something of value. So the conversation looks like this, you take your list of the last two years, and now that it’s getting close to the holidays. In even if you’re a really busy agent, you don’t have hundreds of closings, right? You take the last two years, if you have 50 or 100 clothes, you’re You’re doing good. For the average person, you might have 50 clients that you closed over the last two years. It’s a really manageable number. Okay. And the conversation goes like this, you reach out to them and you’re providing value, and you’re letting them know something that you learned today. And here’s the takeaway. You can refinance your mortgage, you can lower the interest rate, but nine times out of 10. When you call the bank, they want to charge your fees, right. And that’s the way they advertise everyone advertises interest rates, okay. They rarely talk about closing costs, they want to kind of bury it, or hide it or not talk about it. Okay. So here’s the takeaway, there are two different types of mortgages that you can get when you refinance, the one that makes the bank a bunch of money, and the one that’s better for the client. So let’s think about it. If the best rate in the market today is three and a half percent, and you call up the bank, they want you asking for that three and a half percent rate, because they’re gonna charge you two or three grand and fees to refinance your mortgage. And they’ll say since you’re at four and a half, it definitely makes sense to go from four and a half to three and a half. And you’ll make that up in a couple of years. You know, maybe you save $100 a month and over $3,000 It’s 30 months if you’re going to be In the house for 30 months, great. Okay, that’s what the banks want you to do. Okay. And here’s the little secret. Once you call your own bank and you say I’d like to refinance, you ask them what the best rate in the market is no, provide it. And then you’ll say, now what rate? Can you get me if you don’t charge me anything, and you cover all of the costs, the title fees, the appraisal and the lender fees? Bingo. Now, the now the mortgage guy will go, okay, yeah, I’ll tell you what that is. And the idea there is maybe it’s 375, or 3875, maybe it’s more than the three and a half percent. And they will be. But I can go from four and a half percent, down to 3.875, for free. And I’ll still save $150 a month, or I could pay a ton of money and take the best rate in the market. Now.

D.J. Paris 10:53
I will take the gamble that you’re going to be there for that amount of time before the break even.

Joel Schaub 10:58
I love a no cost refinance, I love being able to educate clients on a no cost refinance. I think that most mortgage guys don’t want to talk about a no cost refinance, it makes them a lot less money. In the end, that’s the reason that I do so many transactions in a month, you know, it over 14 million, that’s a good year for a lot of mortgage guys.

D.J. Paris 11:21
And that’s a that’s a just an average month for you.

Joel Schaub 11:24
That’s a good month. That’s that was you know, that’s it’s because of the education piece of it. So here’s the second piece of what we were talking about here. So now that you know, you can do a no cost refinance, I talked to agents all the time. And they say, and I didn’t know that or I thought about that. But I didn’t know the components or the exactly how that worked. And so again, it’s very straightforward. It doesn’t have to just be me, whoever you got the mortgage through, you call up the mortgage company and say, What’s the best rate you can get me right now? Once you determine that, you’ll say now what rate can you get me if you cover all the fees? If the rates lower than what you’re paying, it probably makes sense to take the no cost rate, especially since we think rates may be continuing to come down. So we don’t want to pay for a rate that a few months from now or next year, we could get for free. And we don’t want to just wait. Okay, everyone says Should I wait, hey, things are gonna go down further. They might, but there’s a very good chance that they do not. So let’s take the best way you can where you’re not paying anything right now. If it goes down further, great. But at least you didn’t pay any money and you got instant savings.

D.J. Paris 12:33
That makes perfect sense. And I want to let’s bring that I want to bring this back for a moment to the listener because Joel just said some really profound things. So we’ve always said whenever rates have dropped, I’ve always with the brokers we haven’t even our own company and certainly other brokers I mean, and on the show though all of our listeners we say call your clients call everyone you know that owns a house and is paying a mortgage and say hey, rates have dropped great time to call your loan officer and see if rates refinance is a good idea. But what Joel just gave you a second level conversation, that by the way, this is not an email, you should be sending your client Hey, great time to refinance. By the way, here’s how you want to ask for a no cost loan. And here’s how to compare that is not an email that is a phone call, and maybe even an in person meeting if, if, if possible, but certainly a phone call. So this goes so far beyond Hey, great time to refinance. And by the way, when you call your your lending institution, here’s what you want to ask for. And boy, Joel, that is really, really great.

Joel Schaub 13:33
Take two three hours, guys, literally, this is an action plan. After you listen to this. You get your database for the last two years that people that had closed, okay. And the conversation is as follows. I know rates are down, you probably see it everywhere. I was just listening to a podcast, I got some really insight information, some real high level details. Did you know that you could call your mortgage bank back in once you get the best rate in the market? Ask them, what’s the rate you can get for free? Right now there’s a really good chance that you can actually save some money. Okay, that right there leads to one or two things. Wow, that’s so great. My sister is getting ready to buy a place. Can you help her? Right? This is what it does. givers gain if you literally are out there providing value and I am a dork for this type of stuff. But if you’re out there literally giving good to the universe and you’re giving back in all these ways. Agents tell me left and right. I took one of your techniques. And I have three new buyers or I got a new listing off from it. And you have to you just have to set some time. And while it’s slow, this is a great phone call. And that’s how you do it. That’s the easiest one. Right now rates are low. I want you to call back. You know Jim who did your mortgage remember he helped us he was great. Call him. But do this trick where you ask him what’s The fees, what’s the rate you can get with no fees?

D.J. Paris 15:03
Why what is it’s great. And this is again, this is why Joel is on the show. And I will do I want every one of our listeners to consider using Joel for their clients, or even their own transactions with their own investor, or just pricing or refinancing their primary residence because by supporting our partners like Joel, you help support our show. And it keeps Joel wanting to come back. And he has got deals from people who have listened who have reached out to him. So Joel, what is the best way that one of our listeners can reach out to you to to start that relationship?

Joel Schaub 15:37
And I’ll say it, but I want to preface that it’s not a sales pitch for us at all. I really want you guys, if you had a good relationship with that last lender, that’s what you do, you stick with it, you’re build loyalty, you have a relationship. And that’s paramount having that. Now if you have a really bad lender on the last one, call me, I definitely want to help them out. If it’s a brick and mortar bank, and they took a long time to get your paperwork or nobody answered at seven or eight at night or on a weekend. I’m here to help those types of things. So yeah, people can always reach me, I mean, it’s joel@rate.com, it’s J OEL at r a t e.com. And the direct line to me from 9am to 9pm, is 773-654-2049. And the focus here on that phone call guys wasn’t to say, Hey, call Joel, it’s literally you’ve provided value. And what I want you guys to get out of it is it really truly will pick up, especially around the holidays, you’ve called them before, they get to see friends and family and they have people in their house and they’re traveling. And if they actually take advantage of this, and do the work and make a phone call. They’re going to be talking about it around the Thanksgiving Day table. You know, hey, my realtor called me and gave me some real value. And now my payments down $150 Less. Don’t you think that’ll get you some more listings?

D.J. Paris 17:07
I would certainly hope so. And guys think about this, too. So the the holiday seasons coming up, we have Thanksgiving, we have the December holidays, and everybody who sends out something sends out a card on the holiday at the holidays. And by the way, that’s great. That’s fine. That’s better than nothing. But now you have this great opportunity before the holidays to do what nobody is doing. And I’d say even if it’s not somebody that you worked with, in the past, just call everybody you know who owns a house and say, Hey, I don’t know your mortgage situation is certainly none of my business. However, I’ve got this little trick that you can use to take advantage of the current dip in the rates. And here’s what you want to ask for. You know, I want to just pass this over to you thought you’d find it helpful. By the way, happy holidays, right? That’s so much value you’re providing. And the funny part is, what’s that expression, it’s never crowded along the extra mile. Just like Joel said, spend three to four hours. I mean, if it was me, and I was a producing broker, I’d spend like three to four days doing this because it is the biggest no brainer win in history, right? It’s a reason to pick up the phone and deepen that relationship.

Joel Schaub 18:15
That’s exactly what you do, you’re gonna get a lot of voicemails and just so to add a little extra value here, what it sounds like is Jim Suze, it’s Joel, I’m giving you a ring, hey, give me a ring back. I just wanted to connect with you. I know there’s a lot going on interest rates in the news, I have something that would be very valuable to you. Give me a ring back when you have a moment. And then you get them on the phone and you go through it, you’re going to get a lot of voicemails people don’t pick up I don’t pick up the phone. When it’s the cell phone, right? I pick up my business phone all the time. But these are consumers, they just bought a house, they’re not like us as far as real estate professional, so you’re gonna get a lot of voicemails, and you just, you provide the value, you let them know I have something that would be helpful for us. Can you give me a ring back and then you can share that information? Beautiful. Alright, so there’s that. I’m excited. Okay, can we talk about the Fed cut?

D.J. Paris 19:09
Let’s do it. So this is the big news, right? The Fed just cut rates. What does that mean? Okay,

Joel Schaub 19:15
I’m gonna blow everybody’s mind here for a moment. And I’m gonna let you know that just because the Feds cut rates that didn’t have an impact that they had mortgage rates that one bit,

D.J. Paris 19:27
but it’s, it’s every headline, every headline is saying that the Fed cut rates and you’re saying Yeah, well, maybe that’s not so important today.

Joel Schaub 19:37
So let’s talk about why what did the Fed do the Fed that day cut the prime rate, okay, Prime was at 5% and they lowered the 475. Remember, rates are already below four. Okay, so mortgage rates right now are in the threes. They did not call the mortgage banks and say, Please lower your rate today by point two 5% Okay. But that’s what the headlines say rates are down. So everybody that’s buying a house tomorrow, they think, Oh, my rate should be a quarter point less. And that’s not the case. Okay? Those rates have been baked in for months now, we knew that the Fed was going to be cutting rates DJ. So that’s a little bit of controversy where people think, Wait a minute, the Feds cut rates in the mortgage rates didn’t move. It’s really true. What we knew that was pretty baked in meaning there was no announcement, it actually that they slightly worked against mortgage rates, because we kind of have an administration that wants us to cut rates even further. Okay, I won’t get into all the politics buying anything, I always like to stay right in the middle. But since the Feds didn’t cut rates more, that’s why the rates were slightly flat to the upside.

D.J. Paris 20:54
Got it. So the bottom line is, don’t be that concerned about rate movement. As it’s happening.

Joel Schaub 21:05
REITs speak with a trusted professional know exactly where you stand. And the point is like on a 30 year fixed rate. If the rate is 3625, or 375, it’s still so much lower than it’s been, at any period of time, don’t get caught up in these small little moves. It’s a long term thing that we’re looking at right now, the trajectory is flat to lower.

D.J. Paris 21:31
So this could also go into the voicemail that you’ll likely be leaving, as Joel said, you know, people outside the real estate world don’t always answer their phones. So you have to figure out a strategic way to leave a message that’s engaging. And again, this is something to mention and say, Hey, you might have seen news about the recent fed cuts, I actually have some insight, or I wouldn’t say inside a fridge, but I have some additional information that I think would be really valuable to you, that can help you possibly even save, give me a call back. So

Joel Schaub 22:00
it’s exactly right, DJ, you’re providing value. And you’re making sure the agents know exactly what’s going on in the market.

D.J. Paris 22:08
Well, this is a great, I don’t I want us to end at this. Because at this point, everyone listening should have a whole bunch of great, exciting work for them to do, as we all know, as real estate professionals, that one of the hardest things to do is think about reasons to contact your existing clients that have already bought a home from you six months ago, it’s like, okay, why do I call them? How do I call them, we know that if you stay in touch, you’re gonna get referrals. But as Joel has said, time and time again, every month, you have to come with value, you have to bring something of value, otherwise, you’re just asking for referrals. And nobody really wants that. Nobody really wants to be asked for referrals. They want somebody in their life that’s consistent as providing value, as Jill just said. So this is by the way, how did Joel get to 100 million in 11 months, it wasn’t by accident. It’s because Joel is constantly providing value, not just on this show, Joel is on WGN. Constantly, he is out and about. Everybody here in our local market in Chicago obviously knows him. Because he is constantly out there and what he’s what he doesn’t do self promote. Nothing turns me off more than self promoters, right. That’s just me personally, but I think it’s a lot of people. What I love is people that come with value. That’s what this show is all about. That’s what Joel is all about, which is of course why he’s such a no brainer to have on the show every week and every month rather. And if anyone listening is looking for a new lending professional, Joel is a great fit. He won’t do a commercial for himself. But I always will, because I’m his biggest fan. So Joe, one more time, if anyone out there is looking to speak with you what’s the best way should they should reach out?

Joel Schaub 23:47
If you found value in what was going on today, it’s fine. Let’s reach out and just have a conversation. And I want to hear more about you and what you’re doing in your business. And we can do some of these many one on ones where I can actually help you in the buyers that you have navigate the mortgage business in a much easier way than what you’re probably used to. So 773-654-2049 or just an email. It’s my name, Joel JOE l@rate.com.

D.J. Paris 24:18
And by the way, for those listening who aren’t here in Chicago, because our podcast is listened to nationwide, but I guess worldwide, really, but nationwide. If you’re somebody who’s not here in Chicago doesn’t matter. Joel can help.

Joel Schaub 24:31
We’re licensed in all 50 states. When I started there was 171 guys at the company and now I’ve helped build it up to over 5700. We have 300 offices nationwide. And we’re all about value. It’s trust. We are one of the biggest mortgage companies that you’ve never heard of. So that’s what we do.

D.J. Paris 24:49
Well here in Chicago, everybody knows the name guaranteed rate because they just have come in like like a hurricane or a slow hurricane and just come pletely built up. And so if you’re not familiar with them, they’re huge. I’ve used them in my own refinancing, and they were amazing. And again, you should use them too. So reach out to Joel and, guys, everyone who’s listening couple of quick items, before we wrap up, please tell a friend. So as I’m saying, reach out to Joel for all your mortgage needs. There are lots of realtors out there that need to hear this information need to hear what Joel just shared. So please, if you know any other realtors that could benefit, pass this podcast over to them. Boy, that would really help us out we’d super appreciate it. So definitely send that over. Also, you can stream every episode we’ve ever done, including all the jewel episodes from our website, which is keeping it real pod.com. And lastly, and we’ll talk about value, how do we bring value to our listeners? Well, obviously through these episodes, but you might not know this, every single day, our producer Liz goes online and looks for an article Realtors could or should read that will actually give you an actionable strategy that you could take advantage of immediately to help grow your business. And we post it on our Facebook page. So Liz was just in here an hour ago. And she said you have to tell the listeners to start following us on Facebook. So go to facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And every single day you’ll get a tip that shows you another way to grow your business. And Liz also does her weekly Liz lesson video, which we’re going to post shortly as well. So guys, tell a friend, follow us on Facebook. And of course, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, anywhere, Spotify, anywhere podcasts are found. And Joel, thank you once again for being a part of the show. We couldn’t do it without you. You’ve been a great partner, and we want to keep doing these episodes. So everyone listening. Thank you and Joel, thank you.

Joel Schaub 26:43
Thank you so much for having me on every time we do it. It is absolutely a pleasure. And just big shout out to you. It is what you do that keeps everyone tuned in. You’re amazing. And I look forward to doing it again soon.

D.J. Paris 26:56
Well, I will say we were both amazing. That’s easier for me to say. But I’m just the guy who asks people like Joel to be on the show who really provide the content. So guys, again, thanks for listening, Joel, thanks for being part of it. And we’ll see everyone next month.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Welcome to the August episode of Learning With A Lender with Joel Schaub!

In this episode Joel Schaub partners with Christine, a renovation loan expert at Guaranteed Rate, to explain everything real estate brokers need to understand about these products. They get into detail about FHA 203k loans and how to use for both home improvement and home purchase. If you’re not familiar with renovation loans, you will be by the end of this episode!

Joel Schaub can be reached at joel@rate.com or 773.654.2049.

Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:13
Hello and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast in the country made for real estate brokers by real estate brokers. My name is DJ Parris. I am your host and guide through the show today we have our monthly regular segment called Learn with a lender with Joel shop from guaranteed rate. If you’re not yet familiar with Joel, let me tell you a little bit about him. He is a vice president of lending at guaranteed rate. Joel has been doing loans at a high level since 2003. And it’s gotten to that level because of what he does directly for agents and their clients, which is he gives part of his commission back to the buyer on every transaction. Last year alone, he gave back over $271,000 in closing costs to buyers who worked with them and that put jewels value in the top 1/10 of 1%. nationwide. out of 380,000 loan officers in the country. Joel has been ranked number 181 year to date, he has closed 163 transactions for just under 58 million in closing. In the month of July alone, Joel’s close to 15 million, which exceeds the entire amount he did in the first quarter. And it’s not like the first quarter was slow. Joel is never slow. By the way, if you are looking for a lender, you really need to look no further. Joel is your is your person. He’s your guy. The his slogan is just called Joel because when you do, he actually will take such great care. You’ll never need to call anyone else. Here’s how to get in touch with Joel can be reached at Joel JL e l@rate.com. Or you can reach him on his phone which is 773-654-2049. So let us say hello to the biggest Cubs fan. I know Joel Schaub Good morning.

Joel Schaub 2:00
Hey, good morning, everybody. I really appreciate it. That warm introduction. All the accolades aside, it’s really about giving back. And I think today is going to be a really good show, because we have some knowledge that’s going to help the real estate agents actually close more transactions. And isn’t that what it’s about? We want to be able to provide some value. And I know that we have some great topics for today.

D.J. Paris 2:23
Great. Let’s get started. Oh, let’s

Joel Schaub 2:25
jump right into it. Right. And so here’s where we’re at. The market was strong. And I think right after the fourth of July, what we saw was a slight amount of this softening. And so what we want to do is help agents out there that maybe you have a property that’s in a perfect location, but it needs updating. We’ve seen this a lot, right? DJ, there’s properties that are great, but what is it you walk into? And there’s something wrong with it? Yeah, maybe it’s not the right kitchen, maybe literally as a big amount of space, and they want to do an addition. So I get phone calls all the time about can we do renovation loans, okay. And if you’re if you know anything about me, I don’t do anything unless I really know it. Right. I’m an expert in what I do. And on the call, I have an expert in all things renovation. So Christine, are you there? Good morning. Good morning. Christine, is part of my team, I want you to introduce yourself, tell everybody how long you’ve been with us and just in the business in general so that we get an understanding of what a true boss you are.

Christine 3:31
Great. Well, I started in the business in 1996. And I fell into a renovation situation about 2006. When that was the start of what we call the bubble, the housing bubble. Had a friend buying a property and the entire kitchen was missing for our real estate transactions where we’re encumbering a mortgage. You can’t get a mortgage if there’s no kitchen, because it’s not habitable. So that’s when the entry happened for me on how you could help people who could not pay cash for a home, get a kitchen to make it habitable. And that’s how it started. Was it about 2006 Since then, I’ve closed over a billion dollars and renovation loans, new construction, jumbo VA, you know, everything the gamut. We try to help people get into these homes that that needs some TLC or just need updating.

Joel Schaub 4:30
Christine literally done more renovation loans than anybody in the entire state that I know. And so the knowledge that she brings to these types of transactions because they’re not easy, DJ. It’s not something that you can just jump into with anybody who says, oh, yeah, I can also do renovation loans. You need an expert. Okay. And so on this call today we’re actually going to be able to identify several ways for the average real estate agent or even top real estate agents. How they can take advantage of some of these programs. Sound good? Sounds great.

D.J. Paris 5:04
And welcome, Christina.

Joel Schaub 5:06
It’s good. We’re so excited for. So Christine, tell me one of the typical situations that we have when a buyer comes to us. And we’ll start with probably the FHA, right, and it’s one of the two or 3k loan type of products that you offer. Just walk us through a typical situation that you’ve actually done. That has resulted in a big success.

Christine 5:28
For FHA 203. K, they offer two different programs, one’s more of a streamlined version for simple cosmetic updates. So how it will help the realtors is if they’re looking at a property, FHA has a little bit tighter restrictions on the appraisal process. And if they notice some things like maybe some, you know, crack windows, some GFI outlets, you know, not right, you know, maybe the biggest thing we see in a municipality, for example, Chicago is that the back porches need to be up to code if you’re buying a two, three or four unit, and those can run 20 to $30,000. And FHA is a low down payment at three and a half percent. So we’re able to help the realtors find financing to do these type of repairs to get the homeowner into the property. So those would be success stories is is getting, you know the buyers into the properties that need some repairs. Like if they’re missing kitchens, or bathrooms, or maybe they have water damage, we see a lot of foreclosures, that they don’t winterize properly, that may have some water damage from the roof leaking. That home is not financeable with a regular real estate mortgage, we would use one of our renovation programs to help the buyer obtain the property with a low down payment and give them a lot of money to fix it. You know, it can be 10,000, it can be 200,000. It just depends on what the buyer would like to do.

Joel Schaub 6:57
Let’s say it’s a $200,000. Let’s say it’s a $200,000 property. And it does need work. And I’m going in and buying my real estate agent saw several offers several listings that said cash only they think that it has to be cash. Is this something that FHA two or 3k loans will allow you to still finance even though it says cash only?

Christine 7:17
Yes, that’s I think a big misconception for some agents who maybe are not aware of renovation financing, if they walked into the property, and let’s say there is some water damage, and maybe, you know, the kitchen was removed for some reason, you know, if it’s a foreclosure and we have that a lot of agents will put cash only, and they’ll get pennies on the dollar for that type of listing versus a financed offer, which we would bring in a financed offer, which should be stronger, and allow the border repair the property. So I think there’s a big misconception that homes that are outdated or distressed, have to be cash only because it’s just not true. They are not aware of this program.

Joel Schaub 7:59
Now, DJ, have you seen agents come to you and ask you the same type of questions? How do you think this could help some of the agents that are on the Oh, yeah, I

D.J. Paris 8:06
think it just in particular, you know, removing some of the misinformation about renovation loans is huge. And I think you just provided a great service, because agents aren’t loan specialists, right? That’s not their job, and typically not what they’re best at. So you know, they need somebody like you and Christine to be able to, you know, set the record straight and just let them know what options are available, in particular with things that get a little bit more creative like this.

Joel Schaub 8:34
That’s beautiful. Christine, on that scenario here for $200,000. How much can they borrow? Is there a limit? Or is there a general guideline as to what the after repair costs? Walk us through what that looks like? Please?

Christine 8:48
Yeah, that is going to vary based on county. So if any, you know, one does have a question, we go off their county of website for FHA loan limit, for example, in Chicago, which is Cook County, that loan limit is around $365,700. So we would have to maintain that loan, with the client putting down three and a half percent. So in your example, if it was $200,000 purchase with 100,000 of repair, we’re fine because we’re below the loan limit. And they scale up. Our conventional program has typically higher loan limits. We have high balance locations, such as New York, Massachusetts, California, where loan limits can go almost up to 800,000 for single family, then we step up again into our jumbo renovation, new construction, where loan limits can go up to 2.5 million to 3 million depending on location. Because you do have some areas where in California, Alaska, Hawaii, New York, there’s there’s much more higher price points. So we’re able to really do the full gamut, you know, anywhere from 100,000 up to 3 million in the renovation and new construction that farm.

Joel Schaub 10:00
So I want to hit those loan amounts again. So for Cook County here, let’s just get the basis for some of these people on the podcast and really start to identify their people listening now that are out there helping buyers look at different properties. And so this is going to open up the door and I hope hopefully lead to them closing more transactions in the next quarter. So on FHA, I heard you say, just north of 365, and is that the full loan amount, they could not buy something at 365 and then borrow more under that scenario, right? Well,

Christine 10:34
they can always bring in the downpayment to make up the difference, if you bought something, just call it 350. And they needed 50,000, we could do that they would be required to put down $32,000 towards downpayment, but then we’ll give them 50,000 back. So it’s definitely case by case when we do some analysis, what would help for them, a situation where it might not work is if it’s a higher price property for 400,000, that needs 100,000. In that case, it probably would not make sense to do an FHA 203 K. And it also steps up depending on property type. So for example, single family is at 360,000. Whereas a two unit would be able to go to 471,100. And it will continue to step up three unit and four unit, the loan amounts go higher, the more units you’re buying. Conversely, do a conventional program, Joe, which we’re seeing that we’re having to use a little bit more, in Cook County, the loan limits 484,350, that’s almost $115,000 Higher, and can help more people with that loan amount.

Joel Schaub 11:45
That’s amazing. That’s real numbers that people could go out. Those are real numbers, that people could go out and start looking at properties and then put a plan in place so that they can acquire something in a great area that just needs renovation, and they most people think they have to come out of pocket, or that the renovation loans are tough, that they take six months. Let’s talk a little bit about that. It’s not your typical two or three week close, but but let people know that it’s not some month after month process, right? What is the typical timeframe on a closing that you guys are doing every single month

Christine 12:23
on a closing for cosmetic simple repair, we can do those between 45 and 60 days on a addition or major rehab, we definitely require 60 days. And the difference is the first 30 days is when you are vetting what we call your contractor and consultant information and maybe getting your architect plans. But typically, all of our loans are closing in 60 days on renovation.

Joel Schaub 12:50
It’s absolutely amazing. So let’s say it again, 60 days is what’s needed. They don’t need to have five and six months. And I have so many people come to me and think oh, I’ll never take an offer because it’s got a renovation loan. That’s simply not the case. Right? Yeah, we

D.J. Paris 13:05
should also mention to for the listeners who aren’t in the Chicagoland area, Joel, Christina and myself are however, guaranteed rate has loans all over the country. So even if you’re not local here, Joel can assist you, Christine can assist you as well. So definitely reach out to get those limits and information since it is county based and state based to reach out to find out what what those are in your area.

Joel Schaub 13:30
This is how big your reaches. I think I told you this last time when we were talking not on the podcast, but you have a nationwide reach I received a phone call just over two months ago. And he is in Boston, we closed a transaction for somebody who heard us on the air and was buying a investment property in well outside of Massachusetts. So that’s absolutely your reach. Bravo, DJ.

D.J. Paris 13:58
Well, I’ll tell you the reason the reach has grown as I would love to take credit for it. But it’s for all the guests we’ve had who had been so generous, including Joel and Christine, were really quite frankly, are too busy to do this. And yet they take time out. And you know, they do it out of the goodness of their hearts to educate people to provide value. And, you know, I know Joe very intimately as a friend and this is his whole life is about giving value. And everyone I’ve ever met a guaranteed rate is very much that same way. So this is why the reach I think is grown because these top producers we interview or people like Joel come on and say how can I help educate, and we’re just grateful that people listen.

Joel Schaub 14:41
Beautiful. Okay, Christine, tell us a little bit about some of the other scenarios that somebody on the podcast could really benefit from that. You can can share with us, please.

Christine 14:55
Yeah, I think on the real estate side for realtors, just having the education About this program can separate them in a real life example because I like to use these it really resonates with with our real estate brokers, we had a state sale where the parents had passed away. And there were four adult children, all with a realtor. I mean, I’m sure you’ve run into that DJ. So all four, brought in their realtors to say, you know, can you move our parents home, we need to sell it. The first three Realtors said, Oh, it’s outdated, you know, they’ve lived here 16 years and you’re talking about something close to the children’s heart, that’s where they grew up. So the first three Realtors came in with more of a maybe negative tone, like you know, it’s outdated, it’s going to take a lot to move it. And then one of Joe’s Realtors went in and said, Hey, we have this great program, we can show before and after photos, this is a great house, it has great guts, it needs some updating, but we have financing for it will be able to list it, you know, properly with a strong value. Instead of just giving it away and having a negative connotation. They spun it as a positive with this amazing financing. That realtor became, you know, the listing agent, they hired that realtor that that had the knowledge of the program. And they sold the property within 60 days using our platform, and our materials, which really helps, you know, put everything together for the realtor.

Joel Schaub 16:26
That’s amazing. So now. So now what we’ve seen as real life scenarios where agents on the podcasts that are listening can obtain a new listing, right instead of going in and saying, Oh, I don’t know how we’re ever going to sell this. I’m your person, we can get this listed, I’m going to make sure that one of our contexts at guaranteed rate, we’ll do the financing on the renovation loans. For any buyers that come in, we’ll create the marketing pieces that we set out at that open house. And let people know that it’s not a long process, and that they can do it. So now we’ve talked about how agents can get new listings, because they can have this in their back pocket. And we’ve also covered how buyers can go out and with their agents and actually acquire these properties. So if you’re a realtor that’s listening, these are two big things that can help us grow, because now you have somebody in your pocket that can help you close these transactions and open up a whole bunch of new transactions for

Christine 17:29
you. And Jill, just to add to that, on the realtor side, if you’re working with your buyer, sometimes there’s like certain school districts or they need to be close to their parents who might help with their kids, you know, maybe needing to be near work in a certain location. Sometimes the inventory is not that strong, where there’s a large selection. This allows them to maybe buy a property that needs updating or expansion in a specific school district or near their parents or near their job. And we can customize the home for them. Again, giving the realtors the insight to share this knowledge with their buyers and say, Hey, we can get you in the area. And you can update the house to how you want it since we’re not seeing exactly what you want. So it’s something for the realtors to keep in their back pocket for not only the listing side, but also on the buyer side.

Joel Schaub 18:20
Christine, does this also work on investment properties? Or does this buyer have to live in the property?

Christine 18:29
For a majority of our programs, they’re for owner occupied. We do mixed use for units through our FHA program. But they are all pretty much for every residence, the only Ester options we offer is for long term hold where let’s say an investor’s buying a property, wanting to update it and hold it for a couple years as a rental. We are allowed to do that on one unit property only like single family condo Townhome. Other than that we do not have investor properties for mix mixed units or for jumbo they don’t offer that at this time.

Joel Schaub 19:05
I could buy a house that I’m going to rent out and I could get a renovation loan. I just can’t get into this, renovate it and flip it right. We’re not that’s not our target market for any of those underwriting things. Right. That’s not the way it works. Okay. That’s a lot here, DJ questions for us.

D.J. Paris 19:26
Now, you know, my question is always thinking about the broker. You know, who should they be talking to about this? You know, with this respect to investor clients, you know, this is a conversation that really needs to originate from the realtor side and I think we just we just gave some really good talking points, but any ID any ideas about how they should reach this or broach this topic with their investor clients?

Joel Schaub 19:56
Well, Christine, you’ve probably seen this before, were they the age Doesn’t the agents, the one usually getting this brought to them by the buyer? They’re saying, Hey, can I do any renovation loans? And the agent goes? I don’t know. Right? And so this is the reason that being on the podcast and learning that yes, all you got to do, you know, just cultural, they will connect you with Christine. And we work as a team on all of these transactions. It’s not just that I hand it off to Christine, and that we’re not involved, we work hand in hand on all of these transactions, so that the buyers can go out there and look at places that they just never thought they could get into. So it’s a it’s a win win for the agent, because they’re going to be able to close more transactions, because they now know some of these little tips on how they can do renovation loans.

D.J. Paris 20:42
Perfect. You know, I’m interested in hearing your take Joel AND and OR Christine, on the recent news that just happened, I believe, this morning, where it was reported on by various news outlets that the Fed may be cutting, cutting rates, interest rates by a quarter of a point. Any thoughts on how that may or may not affect loan rates?

Joel Schaub 21:08
I’d love to talk about what that means and what it doesn’t mean, right? Because there’s a lot of misinformation about what a Fed cut does, to mortgage rates. Okay. So the day that the feds cut interest rates, they don’t call the mortgage companies and say, Please lower your rates today by this amount. Wouldn’t that be great? If it was so orchestrated that way, but that’s not what it is. Weeks and weeks have gone into this? This is DJ the, what we call on the floor here, the worst kept secret, right? We know that the feds are cutting rates, and they’re going to do it again at their December meeting. So six weeks ago, the traders priced in almost a 100% rate cut for today. That’s when rates dropped. That is why July, we’ve had more refinance activity and closing activity than I had in the first quarter of 2019. The rate cuts are here. The actual announcement today is just happenstance. Which is pretty cool, though. So what it does is it will be another way for your agents out there to have a talking point. So what does it do? Hey, did you hear that the feds cut rates reach back out to your lender now you should be able to qualify for more of a house and pay less on the same property. So it’s going to get buyers off the fence. So this is a great talking point for agents right now, tomorrow and in the weeks ahead. It’s going to be in the news Feds cut rates. What we know now based on what I just told you that the rate cut has been here. But it still means that rates today are lower than they’ve been in almost three and a half years, which is crazy.

D.J. Paris 22:54
I was looking that excuse me on average rates are about 100 basis points, which in layman’s terms is 1% less than it was November of last year even today?

Joel Schaub 23:05
You remember Anna? You’re exactly right. That’s a big drop.

D.J. Paris 23:10
Huge drop. So even if you aren’t working with any current buyers, but you have previous clients, what a great opportunity to call and say, Hey, I don’t you know, know your current mortgage situation. However, did you know that rates are much lower than they were even last year might be time to call your you know, your your loan officer. If you don’t have one? I’ve got somebody and obviously you can reach out to Joel.

Joel Schaub 23:34
Yeah, no matter what bank they talk to the rates are down right now, which is great. It doesn’t just have to be me your guaranteed rate. The banks right now on a 30 year fixed are down around 3.75 As of this morning and 3.25% this morning on a 15 year. So these are some talking points that you can say with your buyers, because they probably don’t know that for all of last year, all of 17 rates were in the fours and like you’d said in November, they were in the high fours even with 20 and 25%. Down the lowest rates were just below 5%. So we’ve seen a major move down where a 30 year fixed rate now has 3.75 on average.

D.J. Paris 24:18
And I can almost guarantee all of the brokers out there listening that your clients are not getting called by their their loan officer to tell them that you know, loan officers are too busy and it’s just not typically those calls aren’t made by many of them. And so here’s a golden opportunity for you to be a hero to your clients say hey, I know I already helped you purchase that home however, might be time to look for a refi another great reason to reach back out after the sale and keep that relationship and deepen it and continue to provide value. So huge.

Joel Schaub 24:50
I love that. Why don’t we like doing that? Isn’t that such a great thing. We’re all salespeople but what most people fall in this habit of is either not calling Little pasture your past clients at all? Or when you deal you’re asking them for business, Oh, do you know any friends or family? That could refer me? You know? No, they already know this, they would refer you. But if you call them with something of value, hey, just want to check in with the kids the house, hey, rates are down. Remember when we closed, I know that you had a rate in the fours, call your mortgage guy back, you know, remember, Jamel helped you close, I bet he didn’t get that rate down right now. And it means that there’s a lot of rates, if 375 is the best rate in the market, you can be a little bit higher than that with no fees, right. So if you have a rate right now, that’s at four and a half percent, and you could lower it to four, and not pay anything. That saves 10s of 1000s of dollars over the life of the loan for your average three or $400,000 loan, and you don’t have to pay any fees you can refinance. Typically, you’ll ask your banker, what’s the lowest rate in the market? And also what is the rate where you will cover all of my fees to refinance this mortgage? So I as a buyer, don’t need to pay anything. And then you can make the decision which one makes the most sense for your financial situation?

D.J. Paris 26:09
Wow, that’s a great place, I think to wrap up and by the way, everyone who’s listening who wants to speak to a loan officer like Joel and you should, because once you speak to him, you probably won’t need to ever speak to another loan officer. Joe, what’s the best way someone should reach out to you whether they’re a broker or client directly?

Joel Schaub 26:30
Yeah, email me directly. I really liked the communication and we could do the phone call as well. So I’ll start with email, which is just my name. It’s Joel JOE l@rate.com. So that is short for Joel at guaranteed rate. Even doctors and attorneys I always get people that misspell guaranteed. It’s like

D.J. Paris 26:48
that was a smart move. That was a smart move to make it the email simpler.

Joel Schaub 26:52
Jolin rate.com. And then 773-654-2049. And then with Christina on the phone, please do the same tell us the best way for you to connect with the folks on the call. And did we lose Christine,

D.J. Paris 27:12
we may have lost.

Joel Schaub 27:15
Tell them where you can be reached.

Christine 27:19
I can be reached at 773-848-4144 or Chris, Chris de like david@rate.com.

Joel Schaub 27:33
You’re awesome. This was really great. I really enjoyed what we covered today.

D.J. Paris 27:37
And thank you so much, Christine Angele on behalf of the listeners for taking time out of your two busy days to provide value to our 1000s of listeners. So I want to remind the listeners that please to support our show, we can do two things. One, give Joel a call whenever you have a client that needs a loan, whether it’s renovation loans, traditional mortgage, anything, reach out to him he will do his best along with Christine. So support our guests. And the second thing is to remember to tell a friend, right if you know other brokers in your area get we are nationwide. So there’s a huge pool that doesn’t yet know about our show, let them know pass this over every week we have on a top 1% producer and once a month we have on specialists like Joel to help you too. So on behalf of the listeners, Joe and Christine Thank you. And on behalf of Joel Christine, we thank you to the listeners for continuing to support our show, guys. We will see everyone on the next episode, which will be coming out shortly. Also Lastly, please join our Facebook page we post links to every single episode including as well as every Dr. Associate Producer Hanna sources, an article that will help you grow your business that we find online. So we try to provide value every single day of the week. Because we only do these episodes about once a week. So thank you if you are already a member of Facebook, if not the way to find us go to Facebook, just do a search for keeping it real podcast you’ll find us and also our website, we can stream every single episode keeping it real pod.com Oh, one more thing. You can also send in questions. Let us know your lender questions and we will pass those over to Joel and Christine and we will get those answered on a future episode right through our website or Facebook. Send us your questions and we’ll get to them. But anyway, Joel Christine, thank you so much. And we will see you both on receiving the next step. Which will be in a month. Thank you DJ.

Christine 29:35
Thanks DJ

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