Welcome to the April episode of Learn With A Lender with Joel Schaub of Guaranteed Rate!
In this episode, Joel talks about choosing a closing day that is other than Friday and how agents and clients will benefit from this practice. He also speaks about likeability, and why this is one of the most important qualities to develop. Joel gives advice on how to educate your clients on the timing of transitioning from renting to buying. Last, Joel provides a rate update.
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
All right. 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 Parris. I am your guide and host through the show today once again is our monthly series called Learn with a lender with Joel shop from guaranteed rate. Now Joel is the 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 specifically for agents, which is he gives back part of his commission to the buyer on every transaction. Last year alone, Joel gave back over $291,000 in closing costs to buyers who worked with him and his team and that puts Joe’s volume at in the top 1/10 of 1% of all lenders nationwide. Now this is out of 400,000 loan officers, Joel is ranked number 137. Last year, he closed 535 transactions, his highest amount ever for $195 million. Now already this year, which is even more incredible. Joel has already closed 198 transactions, we are still just out a quarter one for $77 million. So he is on pace to even best his last year. If you’re looking for a loan officer, we cannot highly recommend more highly recommend Joel he’s the very best we’ve ever worked with. He was my loan officer I just closed a few months ago. And I can tell you from firsthand experience, he’s that good. And if you are do not have a great relationship with a loan officer or just want to see what other loan officers offer. Joel is the guy that you should be talking to and his team is amazing. You can reach him at joel@rate.com. That’s j o el@rate.com. Or shoot him a text message at 773-654-2049. Let’s say hello to the biggest Cubs fan. I know Joel Schaub
Joel Schaub 2:51
AVj thanks so much for having me on. And those numbers are great. And that’s cool that you always mentioned that you’re way too kind to me. But this is the time we’d like to give back. So I really liked the time that we spend each month to help agents take it to that next level. And you’re always busy no matter what you’re doing. But our hopes is that you get something from each and every time you tune in. And you can take it to that next level and close the type of transactions that we are.
D.J. Paris 3:20
Great. So what do we want to talk about this time?
Joel Schaub 3:24
Agents always look at the closing calendar, we’re writing a contract, right? And they look at an actual calendar and they pick a closing date typically like a Friday at the end of the month. Right? Why do we do that? As agents? Why? Because borrowers want to close and buyers want to close on a Friday and get in before the weekend. All right. I want people to start moving away from that. And I want to remind agents out there that there are days in the week that aren’t a Friday. There are Tuesdays there’s Wednesdays or Thursdays. And all joking aside my agents that I work with and even the ones that I don’t that I’ve seen really take it to the next level. actively choose closing dates other than Friday. I want to know why
D.J. Paris 4:07
I would because I have a guess why? I’m assuming because since that is probably the most selected closing date. It just taxes the resources of lending teams and it just makes it probably more difficult and more stressful to kind of cram it all in is that that’s my guess.
Joel Schaub 4:25
God, you’re good. You’re so good. Okay. That’s one thing, right? That’s absolutely right. But it’s harder and more work to close on a Friday. Okay, so let’s just think about it. Even if you are a great agent, and you’ve partnered with a good lender and everything goes fine, and they’re closing on Friday. Everybody else is also closing on Friday. So it’s not the lender. It’s the title companies that are really an escrow that are backed up, right. So processing that if they can do it on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. They’re done and they have a good experience so that they can refer you more transact auctions.
D.J. Paris 5:01
Well, I am I am a silent partner in a title company and I can absolutely I should have that should have been my first answer to why Friday’s aren’t great, because I should know that because I’m sort of involved in that. And he Joel is absolutely right. It’s it’s oftentimes the title company. And I know that when I was closing my condo, just just recently, with Joe’s team, the only hiccups we had had nothing to do with Joel’s team at all, it was all on the title side. And it and it just happens and Joel’s team was perfect, they were great. But because we were closing on, towards the end of the day, on on, I don’t remember what day it was. But boy, the waiting room and that title company was jammed with people. And I wish I would have chosen a different day. So I completely agree with that.
Joel Schaub 5:47
escrow officers and title companies have a lot of work. So for example, as we’re recording this, it’s a Wednesday and I have two clients closing today. I have two clients closing tomorrow, but I have 11 clients closing on Friday. Oh my gosh. And so if that’s just one story, multiply that over the number of agents. And so here’s what we want, okay, we want the buyers, and you want your clients to have great experiences, not just to get through the transaction with you, but get through. And that’s the last part that they remember the signing of the docs and getting the keys. And if they have a really great experience there, you’re going to get more referrals, and how did I do $77 million of closings already. And just over three and a half months. It’s because we’re strategically educating agents on how to do more business and get not just close transactions, but raving fans from the people that close so that you don’t have to go out and pay for more advertising, the best advertising or the people that you really care about that closed and closed on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
D.J. Paris 6:53
You know, that’s a tip that I think we’ve never given on the show, or that I’ve heard ever, in all my years in this industry. So that’s a really great tip. So, you know, work with your loan officer, talk to the title company, and maybe even ask them as the agent, hey, what’s the day that works the best for for both your teams, the loan, you know, the loan team, and then also the title team and find out and it’s probably a struggle said probably not a Friday. So you can then bring that to your client and say, Hey, I know you want to close on Friday, but I’m going to give you a couple of reasons why we should do that earlier in the week, and we just have a better chance of it going more smoothly. And that brings your right that just brings a better experience to the customer. It also shows that you care and that you’re knowledgeable and you’re not just sitting there with the attorney. You know, your clients aren’t sitting there with the attorney and that at the title company going, what’s happening is something something’s going wrong. And, and we all know what that’s like, as an agent to sit there feeling helpless. And, you know, you could have just scheduled it for a different day and everyone would have been happy. Now I know you also wanted to talk about what happens if somebody is moving, transitioning from renting to buying and trying to figure out the balance of when do I stop renting? And when do I When Should I close? When should I move with my new purchase?
Joel Schaub 8:10
So as agents, you’re exactly right, DJ, the conversation comes up a lot. So I want to educate and just re emphasize some of the big selling points that you can do to educate your borrowers about when is the first payment due on the mortgage side of things, because even experienced agents sometimes forget this, right? So we’re in April right now. And if we close today, the payment doesn’t come due in May, it won’t come due until June. All right. So it’s always that next month. And so we can schedule around the clients last rent payment, and the first mortgage payment so that there’s not a doubling up where I have to pay rent and the first mortgage, and then I’ll alleviate the anxiety of the buyer, and they’ll be more likely to move forward if you can educate them on the timing of this.
D.J. Paris 9:00
Yeah, it’s a good thing to remember, right now with gosh, so many buyers, because rates are so low, that there’s just so a flood of buyers into the marketplace and people who are renting. And really it’s a great opportunity for agents, all of our listeners and viewers to talk to everyone who is renting and say, Hey, rates aren’t going to be here forever. And let’s run some numbers. And they say, Well, my lease is still up in two months, say hey, that might not be a problem. Let’s take a look here and remember, you’re getting a little bit of a window there before you have to start paying so great opportunity to have those conversations with renters and, and understand the flexibility of of, you know, moving from from renting to buying and I know with my place I left with a few months left on my lease. I worked out an arrangement with my owner, but I still owed him for one month and that that was negated out by the fact that I had four weeks you know, without a payment on my mortgage and it worked out perfect. So I’m a perfect example of that.
Joel Schaub 9:56
Here’s a good tip if I’m an agent and I’m working with One of my good mortgage professionals reach out to them because we all know that mortgage payments are typically due on the first. But a lot of companies like ours will allow the client to pick any date that they want for the automatic payments all the way up to the 15th of the month. Which means for example, if a client was closing next week, and they closed, in the very beginning of a month, let’s take may 3, for example. They could literally not have the mortgage payment due not in June, but July and as late as July 15. DJ that means 72 days in between the closing date, and that first payment due date. And if they select the 15th with their lender, that means every month that’ll be the due date to correspond with probably a payroll, right? It’s a really great way to do things.
D.J. Paris 10:51
Boy, that’s so smart. And that’s really where as agents, you know, you don’t have to know all of this, but what you do need is a good loan officer relationship. So you can talk to them and say, here are the concerns that my clients having, can we figure out a solution. And you know, obviously, there’s good lenders and good institutions that the lenders work for, are able to accommodate some of those, and maybe some of the smaller lenders, who are maybe you know, not as fully featured, maybe wouldn’t be able to do so that and also just getting things to close, making sure you’re working with a lender that can get things to close. As quickly as possible. I know you have an incredibly low number of days, you know, average site cycle from from start to close.
Joel Schaub 11:36
Yeah, on the purchase side of things, DJ right now, when a contract comes in, my goal is to have a fully completed file in under 10 days, that includes appraisal, or an appraisal waiver all the way through underwriting and what we call the CLEAR to close. Some of them take 12 to 13 days, some of them are a little bit longer. I had one today that was six days from start to finish. And so it’s one of those things where it allows you as an agent, when you’re partnering with a good lender in your community to actually be the leader and go get offers accepted that other agents are because you can give very good terms we can close in 21 days, we can close in 14 or 15 days, when there’s multiple offers in this market, having a lender that will actually just expedite the loans for you could be invaluable. So that you’re not just always having to come in at the highest and best, it could be the best without being the highest.
D.J. Paris 12:32
Well, yeah, that absolutely makes sense. And this should also be a good reminder to everyone who is working with buyers to only only take out buyers especially right now in the current low interest rate environment. And the competitive environment that buyers are facing, we all know how difficult it is to get up just to get contracts because there’s so many buyers have a pre approval every single time. If you’re submitting offers without a pre approval listing agents are going to, you know, maybe deprioritize those to you know, other other offers that have those pre approval letters because they know that that’s serious. And it’s got a you know, big financial institution already banking on that person.
Joel Schaub 13:13
As an agent right now, I’m absolutely calling the lender and having them update the pre approval DJ to make sure that the lender has today’s date, that property address and the exact dollar amount that we’re offering so that the offer stands out. Agents, you guys know it, you’re getting 12 and 15 offers, half of them are sloppy at best, some of them are good, but you’re looking for that outlier, who’s going to be the easiest to get done. And so the first one is cash, right? A cash buyer, even if it’s a few grand less is going to be a lot better than having to deal with us mortgage jerks. Okay? If you can do cash, that’s going to be key. The next one would be the number one financing, right. So it’s not just the highest offer, we’re really encouraging agents to reach out to the lender that’s on the letter, and you’ll know within a few seconds of talking to them is the financing solid. And that’s how you should be selecting the offers for your seller is who’s doing the financing because that highest offer DJ isn’t the best. If they’re 55 grand above listing, and there’s kind of a shaky institution ordering the appraisal and the financing, you as an agent are gonna be putting their property back on the market again. So you want to make sure that you’re doing the right service to your seller, and picking the buyer that has the strong financing terms and you know who they are. Right You know, the people in your community that really get the financing done every single time that answer the phone, and that actually know what client you’re talking about when you answer instead of the WHO The what now which buyer. You know what that is an agency that all the time, right?
D.J. Paris 14:54
Yeah, I was also I wanted to sort of, we didn’t I didn’t mention this ahead of time, so I’m gonna throw this So this very simple thing that you because I found it very interesting and just, you triggered a memory, that we also have to remember too, that with social media in particular, our clients are seeing all sorts of information that has been thrust upon them on Instagram. Now Tiktok, Facebook, of course, and all the other social platforms. And sometimes their information will be like, here’s a little hack for how to hack your mortgage. And I’m not talking about House hacking, where you buy a multifamily property and live in one of the units and rent out units. That’s an amazing opportunity. But right as I was about to close for my property, my girlfriend said, there’s this viral video on tech talk about how to hack your mortgage. And she sent it to me and I said, I’m curious, what is it? And so it was a guy saying, here’s, here’s what you do, you basically pay as the little amount, you put down as little as possible. And then in your second month, you flood the payments you do, you know, without, you know, find a place without prepayment penalties, and you put, you know, a ton of money in there, and then that saves you 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of dollars. And I looked at that I go Yeah, that’s not how things work. There’s, there’s no way lenders are going to allow you to do what this guy was saying. And he was like, You’re gonna save, you know, $50,000 over time. And so I What’s What was funny about it is it looked really great. It was shiny and cool, and, and exciting. And then I realized, oh, but that’s not how things work. And I realized there’s a lot of consumers out there that are just getting some bad information from social media. And that’s where it’s really important to have that good lender relationship. So if your client calls you and says, I just learned about the secret trick that you can use to to reduce your overall payments. You know, by $100,000, you’re like, well, that doesn’t really sound right. Let’s talk to our our lender. But I was funny, I meant to mention that to you. Because I saw that I went, Hey, that sounds great. And I thought about it for a minute. I’m like, There’s no way lenders let you do that. Now you can prepay things, but the way that it was sort of suggested to do was just not the way that that loans were.
Joel Schaub 16:59
There reminds me of the guys that really have the secret tricks to roulette or a secret blackjack trick. Yeah, if this gentleman knew how to make so much money at a casino, then why are they sharing it with you. And maybe the information on that mortgage part was right in a degree in which if you make a $50,000, free payment, I’m sure the total interest goes down. But I don’t subscribe to like tricks we want tried and true information each and every single time so that you can educate the borrowers and just be honest, there’s no magic in anything. It’s just what works and what doesn’t. And going forward from a sense of education. And that there’s not just like the next big thing, there’s not mortgages have been around, there’s a couple of flavors 15 year, 20 year and 30 year, there are adjustable rate mortgages as well. But there’s no major secret. It’s about having a good credit score, good income, and then having somebody that’s in your corner, helping you and not just walking into the bank, because you have money at the bank, the bank will do a good job, of course, but the person there works for the bank, right? So hiring a private mortgage professional, they’ll go out and shop all the different rates for you and the different terms and bring those back. That’s the reason why I’ve been at the same company for 16 years because of the educational piece. I’m not beholden to my company’s rates or programs, I can go out and educate and even if it’s not the Guaranteed Rate program, sometimes we do take loans to the big national banks, and that is great for the consumer.
D.J. Paris 18:33
Yeah, I agree. It’s the same reason why if you’re looking, if you’re looking for health insurance, for example, you might not only want to talk to a Blue Cross representative, which is great blue cross here, at least in in Illinois is an amazing major medical health care provider. It’s what I have. But I want to talk to an agent that can represent, you know, lots of different options to say, here’s the best plan for you. Obviously, you do that at guaranteed rate where you’re able to shop around and and find the best product for the borrower. Let’s talk about rates real quickly before before we end up on because I know rates have ticked down a little bit. So is this doubt still an amazing time to get your your buyers on board? Yeah,
Joel Schaub 19:10
most mortgage rates when we talk rates are 30 year fixed. And as agents you know, you saw them come up over 3%. And that scared a lot of buyers. And we all know if you’ve been in the industry anytime these are still low threes for 30. year fixed was a godsend that we haven’t had any time in the last 50 years, right. Some people got spoiled last year when it was really through the throws of COVID. And we didn’t know where things were going to go that the rates got down to two, five and to six and to seven. There’s not a major difference DJ between something and just below three and just above three, unless you’re borrowing 1,000,005 and 1,000,006. The big thing here is figuring out your total payment, talking about the property taxes, insurance and if you’re buying in a building that has assessments, those are the needles that really move Have your payment a lot more than an eighth or a quarter point and rate. And if you can teach your borrowers that as an agent, as a realtor, you’re going to get more business because it’s not so interest rate driven. Okay? But yes, rates are back at 3%. And there’s a lot of loan programs that we’ve been locking for clients that are under that. But you shouldn’t always have the focus about rate with your borrower, it should be payment. And it should feel comfortable, so that they’re not cursing you, every time they write the mortgage. You want them happy in the home that they’re buying. And you want them referring you more business. So right now rates are low, and we anticipate all the way through 2021. And into 2022. The Federal Reserve is keeping a cap on rates. And that equates to mortgage rates at a real macro level where we’re not going to see a big spike. So teach your borrowers don’t sell fear. So many people are telling your borrowers and these clients hurry up and do something because rates are going up. Once you start hearing that kind of talk, you’re not educating, okay, you never can predict the future. So make sure the client is comfortable with what they’re doing. And not just buying because they’re afraid rates are going higher.
D.J. Paris 21:11
Yeah, it is a good time to educate your your renters and anyone who owns a home who might be thinking of upgrading or moving, that it is a good time to consider based on current, you know where we are with rates. But it is also not the time to start fear mongering and saying you know, because, as Joel says, nobody has a crystal ball. And it reminds me I have a funny quick story to tell you’ll get you’ll love this. So my, my parents in the when they bought there was really I guess their second home anyway, this was in the mid 70s. Like, let’s say 7677, they were able to lock in a 30 year rate at like six something which was incredible for them. They were real, that was an amazing rate. And then we remember the rate, we had a big rate problem, a big interest rate problem right after that, and rates skyrocketed. This is in the late 70s. And all of a sudden, the average 30 year rate went to like 18%. So here’s what happened to oh two home sellers, they couldn’t really sell homes, because it was so expensive to buy a home with rates. And so my parents, they needed to move from the suburbs of Chicago down to Central Illinois, because my dad’s job was moving down there. And they had their home on the market for 18 months with a very reputable REALTOR at the time, who just because of rates just nobody was buying. And so this is so funny. So they had got their mortgage, initially from their local savings and loan. And it was a friend of my mom’s who was the loan officer. And she made she made a huge mistake on the mortgage. So what my mom eventually said to to an attorney, Hey, can I sell this thing myself, my realtor isn’t really doing anything, I’m gonna hire you as an attorney. Just take a look and see if there’s anything goofy with with my situation. The attorney called her back and says you’re not going to believe this. But I’ve almost never seen this, you have an assumable clause in your in your loan, which basically means the rate is assumable and can be transferred to somebody. He goes, we never see this. So my mom’s so my mom put a sign in the yard, or? Yeah, in the suburbs that says assumable mortgage 6%. You know, and she goes, I sold the home in a week. And isn’t that I don’t know how common those are anymore. But my mom was saying it was she goes we called we called our friend and said, she and the friend said Do not tell anybody I made this mistake, I will get fired. And they said no, no, you’re our hero. We’re not gonna tell anybody. So this is back in the late 70s. But isn’t that amazing? Like just a funny, funny little mistake that ended up allowing them to sell their home,
Joel Schaub 23:45
it became the best house on the block not because of price because they were hundreds of dollars less than anybody else buying the neighbor’s home. Those assumable rate mortgages, banks that hold their loans, that’s still an option. Okay, this was reached out to a lender right now, specifically, if you’re trying to sell a home and this is the problem that we’re seeing a lot of banks that hold their paper a portfolio loan, you may have a rate once the market goes up, that’s going to be very attractive. Okay, but the big national sellers, the big brick and mortar institution, they all have non assumable mortgages, but don’t assume that your loan isn’t assumable
D.J. Paris 24:23
Yeah, but I just such a funny story. And my mom loves telling that story because she’s like, you know that that loan officer who wasn’t supposed to put that clause in there and just had made it she was new to being a loan officer and just made a mistake. So that ended up saving my parents. Funny But anyway, if you are out there looking for somebody who doesn’t make those kinds of mistakes and is able to give you your clients the best possible service. Joel is is really the person I’ve known I knew Joel for years before I ever worked with him. You know, we’ve had him on the show for years because he is all about adding value. He did that to me throughout my entire loan process my by Same process, but also on the show, he has been giving our 1000s and 1000s of listeners that guidance as well. So please give him and his team a chance if you don’t have a great strong lending relationship, guaranteed rate is eligible in all 50 states and Joel and his team can assist you, Joel, if somebody is out there wanting to work with you and your team, what’s the best way they should reach out?
Joel Schaub 25:21
I actually pick up the phone I mean, test me, right. So you can always reach out to the office line, which is 773-654-2049. And DJ, a lot of agents for the last couple of months have just emailed me just simple questions. And I’ve taken the time at night, to give thoughtful replies on situations that they’re facing marketing things that we’re doing that can help them and just be a resource. It’s fun. I really like being here. And thanks for having me on once again.
D.J. Paris 25:51
Awesome. Well, on behalf of our listeners, and our viewers, thank you Joel for continuing to come on our show and provide value on behalf of Joel and myself to the listeners and viewers we say thank you and please tell a friend think of one other agent that could benefit from these great episodes and send them a link to our website, which is keeping it real pod.com or have them pull up a podcast app search for keeping it real and hit that subscribe button. Alright, y’all, we will see you next month and thanks again.
Joel Schaub 26:19
Yeah, it was really great. Thanks again, DJ
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