Let's Talk with Leaha & Rhonda

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This is a que un the studio's original program. The following is a paid program sponsored by Crawford management group and smart time consultants. Please be advised that the voices and opinions you hear do not represent the views of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Hi, my name is Leah Crawford.

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And I'm Rhonda Nolan.

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And you're listening to the let's talk with Leah and Rhonda show for all the beautiful entrepreneurs

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out there. This is for you. Good morning, Las Vegas. I have missed you live. Good morning. How are you doing?

Unknown Speaker 0:46
I'm glad to have you back. How about that? How about y'all she is back off of her world tour around the world world tour. How was France? France was beautiful. France. Well, we missed you. Yeah, I missed you all, too. Were you thinking about us?

Unknown Speaker 1:05
I was I was like, Oh, they should be here and join this beautiful ocean. You know, I love the French. You know, carbs are not really what I'm supposed to be eating but you can not turn down a fresh may croissant or fresh made chocolate or chocolate croissant or just anything they have quite frankly, the food

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is good. The food is absolutely the food. The food is good. You know, and I like good food. That's we talked about that I

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like and if you're a coffee drinker, you know coffee is a thing over there. And if you are Rosie drinker, I drink so much coffee and so much Rose Day. I was like, Okay, what's happening here? It was wonderful.

Unknown Speaker 1:39
I'm glad to have you back. But also you went to Atlanta.

Unknown Speaker 1:42
I did. I went to Atlanta, I went to the 100 black men, a Las Vegas National Convention, where we took the Las Vegas team of the Wells Fargo Junior Investment Club, they placed they ranked top five in the country over all the other youth organizations in within the 100. And then we went to the competition and we placed third. Okay, one it was only three places. 123 It was our first time first time we came in. Third, and we are so excited. The kids did a fantastic job. Pharaoh, Ross Kilani, you did a wonderful job. And we take in the number one spot next. That's all right.

Unknown Speaker 2:21
You want to know what though? Kudos to you. Because we I think you bought the program here about two years ago. And now they're on a national stage. So Las Vegas. I mean, we talk about the program all the time, when is the program want to kick off again for next year. So

Unknown Speaker 2:36
the junior Investment Club kicks off in December of this year, we start early,

Unknown Speaker 2:39
right, you start in December. And then they work until we work until May they work until May. So then we put the announcement out there again, guys, we're teaching the children how to invest. And for all of us adults, we probably if you if you have a child that can give you need probably need to listen because you can learn something you

Unknown Speaker 2:56
do because I learned about I bet they they invested in stocks I had never heard of. And then stocks did extremely well. Okay. So I was just like, oh, okay, I see what's going on here.

Unknown Speaker 3:09
Well, because they probably did the research they did. They did

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the research, they did the ring their ears to the ground, because they out there in the streets. So they know they know what kids like, you know what I mean? Because kids children know what children children know what children like exactly, they on a whole different wavelength and US adults we behind they moving fast, quickly, very quickly. And then don't forget, ladies and gentlemen, our banking class will start January 2025.

Unknown Speaker 3:30
Okay, and with the banking class, tell us a little bit more about the banking class. So what

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they want is called the Youth economic empowerment club where the children learn all about banking, a checking account savings account, credit, the whole nine. And the beautiful part about this program, because the banking program we've been doing for four years now, if the students open up a savings account at any bank of their choice, and they put in $200, we match that $200

Unknown Speaker 3:55
Alright, so I want you to say that again. So they deposit $200. During this period, you met we

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match that $200 in both classes, and then both class in that class and in the US economic empowerment class. So if I'm

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an adult, and I have a child that qualifies for both Nasir Thompson and I'm gonna make sure Nasir listens to this, because nicely you actually did. He did both one year, and he got the $400. That's right. It's real. The checks come in the mail, and the checks are written out to the children. And guess what you put the check in the account. Exactly.

Unknown Speaker 4:28
But the checking account and the account keeps growing so that when the child decides what their next path is, after high school, they have some money in the bank that has grown interest, and they can use that for school or for for college for trade school or whatever it is they want to do going to armed forces, whatever it is, they have some money there. And

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if you work in conjunction with REO Watson, the scholarship doctor who came on you'll get other opportunities to earn some more money to put into the bank account. That's right. So there I mean, we're trying to show you how to get there. Yeah. Find a Teacher

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and the 100 is helping because this year is the 25th anniversary of the 100 black man in Las Vegas. And tonight is our scholarship fundraiser. And we're giving five students $5,000 each. Tonight, we're giving out $25,000. Tonight at the scholarship fundraiser and we are so excited. Okay,

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and then live. We'll talk about that process when that starts next year, too. Yes. So we're trying to show you how to, especially if you have children that qualify, if you have children going to college, college is expensive. If you're in all of the little, I mean, one $5,000 Here, $1,000, then this stuff adds up, it adds up, it adds up. I know we were at a convention because kudos NABBA that the NAB a chapter in wall sorry, NABBA, the national organization was here. And all the black accountants, a lot of black accountants were at Aria, and just the list of companies that were there. And the exposure, I can tell you that you know, Las Vegas, we're on fire. As always, we're back. We're on fire. I'm gonna have more information about Natalie, because as a business owner is not just for black accountants anymore. We want to expose business owners to our world. And just to give you a list, the Big Four, they were in a room so you have PricewaterhouseCoopers Ernst and Young KPMG and Deloitte in the room. But you had Disney Mickey Mouse came on there he was Disney, Disney, one of your So Warner Brothers. They're in the room, the IRS, the CIA, the Treasury. They're in the room, they're recruiting just the number of companies that were there was absolutely amazing. I've gone through this list about five times with about 10 different people, just to show them the impact of Napa that they have nationwide. And we're going to bring some because we now have a local Las Vegas chapter. I am excited. And as we get more information and we start our mixes IMing mix and mingles. We'll let our listeners know because you get a chance to network with other professionals. That's right. that potentially can help you network nationwide, so that you can grow your business. I mean, you make connections, because now it was like a family. A large family, but it is a family. Well enough about all of us.

Unknown Speaker 7:12
Oh, one more thing I forgot to talk about. Okay, entrepreneurs, the urban Chamber of Commerce is having their partner appreciation award on Thursday, August 22, at wild horses, golf course. And if you are an urban chamber member, this is free to you actually, it's free to all entrepreneur. So hey, if you want to come out, mix and mingle and meet some other businesses join us at wild horses on Thursday, the 22nd of August, where we will hand out awards to all the top corporations and small businesses that have been partners of the urban Chamber of Commerce over the last 20 years.

Unknown Speaker 7:51
Oh, wow. That is absolutely amazing. Yes. We need to announce that every week now. Is there a registration it that goes with? Yes,

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there is and you can find it at www urban Chamber of commerce.org. That

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or appreciate. So let me go over the list of exhibitors. I had to pull it up against that so that you can No, no, I want to tell people what the impact of this conference had on this community. So in town we had Abbott Accenture, Alvarez and Marcel, Amazon Amazonians. Were in the room. They were in the building. American Express, Anderson Baird Baker, Tilly, Bank of America. BT yo, Becker Becker, anybody studying for the accounting exam? You know what Becker is, but the Becker representatives were in the room taught and I didn't get my Becker alumni pin. That's how that's what helped me get past the exam. Being why Mellon Boeing, CH Q Chevron, so you talk about oil company, they're in the room. At this conference, CIA CLA Clorox. Clorox is in the room so you find it off the shelf. Now you see the people behind the scenes at Clorox CRO Cummings Danaher, Deloitte Dow Edward Jones Eisner, hamper Electronic Arts EA why FDIC the FDIC is you can talk to the people when you see the little thing these people are actual people behind it real people, real people 84 of us mayor's Freeport McMoRan GE genuine parts company global Atlantic financial Grant Thornton guidehouse Hilton and Hyatt Hilton and Hyatt right MGM property. Right. I'm not gonna say who wasn't in the room, IRS Johnson and Johnson JP Morgan Chase KPMG Lincoln Financial Lowe's Marco McDonald's, Microsoft, Moody's Morgan Stanley Moss, Adams next air energy OCC PCAOB for the accountants, you know who PCAOB is they were in the room. So if you had a question, you had a concern. You can talk to the people at PCAOB. Right, they're here. PNC Bank for positivity Prudential Financial PwC Raymond Jones Robert Half RSM RTX to a Walmart. Walmart is in the room, and Walmart is in a row. Wells Fargo Warner Brothers, I told you Disney was there with them workday didn't know about workday. So workday is killing the game. And they all working virtually. Why PTC your part time controller in the room right? You Pro and Zillow. All right, so Zillow is in the room. So just the access to the people because when we walked, I was like, Oh my God, not only as a you know, just just networking with amazing people that want to talk to you. That's cool. They want to talk to you. Alright, so we have somebody fabulous in the room. Today, he is absolutely amazing. And what I love about this man is when ever he's a wealth of information, and he wants to help people, especially, we talk about home ownership. We talk about, you know, the real estate side finding a property and not all the time do we talk about the loan process? You know, because before you know what house the look at, you need to know how much you can afford to buy. That's right. Gotta know how much you can afford to buy. So I want to welcome Mr. Lamar Harris. Hey, hello, Lamar.

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How's it going?

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It's going well, good morning.

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Good morning. Good morning.

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How y'all doing? We I

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love and then he got all his swag. He got his age CMG, you know, hairs capital Mortgage Group, right. That's That's it. He has his swag on represent this company. That's right. Got to promote yourself. But how about that self promotion? I am. Talk to us today tell first of all, about you reintroduce our community because this is not your first time on on here with us. But let's reintroduce the community to you. Absolutely. So

Unknown Speaker 11:45
first and foremost, thank you both for having me. Lamont Harris, President, CEO of Harris capital Mortgage Group, we are a national mortgage company that happens to be based out of good old Las Vegas, Nevada. There you go. So we were excited to be on air this morning with you, you know, just sharing a wealth of information about some of the changes that are happening in the market and just keeping people keeping people educated on what's happening right now, right? Because there's a lot of misconception in terms of, you know, is this a time to buy is it's time to wait, you know, what should I do? So, so I'm just, you know, excited to be here on air this morning. Just to share a little bit about what my thoughts are on that entire process and what's happening right now in our market. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 12:28
so I do have a question for you Sure. Because the interest rates are high. And a lot of people will talk about oh, wait, now is not the time to buy now. It's not the time to buy it? I mean, is it?

Unknown Speaker 12:41
So, so So is interesting. Right? So So you lead with the interest rates are high. Right? So are they would be my question. Right? So our interest rates are really high, or where we teased for a moment, right in time where we all knew that things were different. In our economy, things were different in the market. Right? We were coming off a a worldwide crisis. Yeah,

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we've had to it over the past 20 years.

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Right. So so in a worldwide crisis, what you know what we were looking at? Did you Did you really think the two or 3% rate was around to sustain itself for life? That's the first question that I would ask. So let

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me ask you this, though. So prior to the two and 3% rate, because I remember my mother telling me that their rates were like 15 16%. Right, when they were buying houses, so we get teased with this two to 3%. And do the two and 3% rate people had Mike right now so they're telling the story. That is not the time to buy?

Unknown Speaker 13:47
Well, so so so here's how I look at it, right? You look at minium excuse me look at minimum versus median, right? So if we go back from 1990 to 1999, right, the median mortgage rate was 780. Right? So rates were hovering around 8%. During that 10 year span, and from 2000 to 2009, the median interest rate was 6%. Right? 6.18 To be exact, right? So you look at that, and then you you measure that to 2020. To now 2020, the now meeting interest rate is right under 5%. So so the reality is when I hear people say interest rates are high. The question is what is what is high because most of us that have not decided to purchase a home yet we're still renting and then renting that's high too. I was gonna I was gonna lead with it can't get higher than 100% can't get hired and 100% and I'd have to ask you, because, you know, from a from an accountants perspective, right, does it make more sense to pay 100% interest or to pay seven?

Unknown Speaker 14:57
Well, let me ask you Okay, so let's so let's look Gotta geographically to and what makes sense, okay? Because where you are in the country says a lot, because there are some people like in, in the high hot areas so you Bay Area San Francisco, Oakland, maybe in DC, New York and maybe LA, where if you are lucky enough to still have that rent, that's 1000 $1,200. No, it doesn't make sense to buy. But here in this market now what we're seeing is, the rent is $2,000. Right. And if you buy something, you're going to pay about $2,000. So it's about the same, and the outlay is about the same, but the benefits are for those that that are buying, instead of for those that are renting. And so

Unknown Speaker 15:42
I hear you, but my thought process would be that in every metropolitan area, in the US, the market rent has substantially increased post COVID. See

Unknown Speaker 15:57
in the thing, and then it did. Okay, so, and I think it's an individual call. I don't think it's a blanket call. Sure, sure. Sure. Sure. Sure. And a lot of times, we don't take the time to really, we don't know our finances enough to go through and analyze what makes sense for us. Blanket overall, it always makes sense to buy 100%, because you get the benefit of being an owner, and becomes a little bit more responsibility, because you can't just call them the management company and tell them to fix this, right? You got to fix some stuff. And you got to maintain the house. Yep. But the equity that's built in the house 100%.

Unknown Speaker 16:29
And that's why I always go back to like you were leading with, you know, if you're paying $2,000 a month in rent, and I can pay $2,000 a month to own, it probably make more sense to actually buy right and but the reality is, it doesn't always work out that way. Let me

Unknown Speaker 16:46
just say this as a person who bought a home during COVID. When I lived in my apartment, when I first moved in, my rent was $715 for a one bedroom, okay. In six years, it jumped to $1,400. So double, right. And that happened. That was because the Raiders came here, half of Oakland came here. Then the Firestar burned down the houses in LA, half la came here. And they started renting apartments. So when they got to an apartment, there was eight or $900. That's a joke, because they've been paying $2,000 for a studio apartment for years. Right? So basically, all the landlords at these apartment facilities raise their price. Oh, we got California coming it used to pan $2,000 for a shoebox, so we can re charge to our knowledge. So all the apartments went up crazily here in Las Vegas. So what did I say, wait a minute, I'm paying a mortgage, I'm in a one bedroom apartment, I'm paying a mortgage. No, I bought a house, I got a five bedroom home for the same amount of money. So in this market, if you are able to buy a house, it makes sense.

Unknown Speaker 17:49
So So Rhonda, you raise a good point, because I think what the landlords were thinking is they were thinking more people are moving in, right? Our inventory is what it is at the moment, right. But because of such a high demand and a limited supply, we reserve the right to then say here's what we're going to command in the market because this is what the market is calling for. But the

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thing about that is that also hurts the market, the market because the the wages aren't keeping up, because now you got a lot of people displaced. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 18:23
so I agree with that

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you got a lot of people displaced because now instead of it being no part of a check, to pay now I have to say maybe one and a half checks to pay something that I mean, because I didn't buy at the good time because honestly, to me the best time hindsight being 2020, the best marriage in this market was between 2008 and between 2014 Because the housing prices were still low. That's right. And the interest rates were low. So if you were able to buy something during that time, you're winning. That's right, you'll win. And no, because I know people are like, well, Leah, should I refinance my mortgage? Why are you refinancing you got a 3% rate. Take out a HELOC do something different because then you're not gonna get that rate again.

Unknown Speaker 19:11
So because you talk about that. And then I heard you mentioned earlier where you you started with the question of Is this the right time to buy right? With interest rates being so high, as we said, and so that'll take me back to this when interest rates drop? What will happen to houses, the prices will go up? Absolutely. So what will happen is persons that were able to buy in this market, they will not be able to buy in the next one. And so is it a time to buy at the time the buys always always it's always and it really comes down to a matter of positioning yourself so that you can write and so a lot of times we're waiting on the perfect time

Unknown Speaker 19:52
and it's not. It's not it's not it's just it's just somebody's and your blessing might come a different way. Absolutely. And because I know Even though you start off at the 2000 2000 wouldn't likely you're paying PMI. Right? Because you haven't you gotta wait until the LTV gets to a certain level in order for you to drop the PMI. Sure, because when you drop the PMI, then your mortgage decreases. Absolutely. And then when a mortgage decreases the rent stillborn up. That's That's it. So,

Unknown Speaker 20:18
so it's a balance.

Unknown Speaker 20:24
You can't do that. Can't do the wobble. So that was, yeah, but I love it. So is it just time to so how would I start? So I, you know, I've been thinking about buying a house? Sure. I'm not sure where to begin? What I mean, I've been thinking about it. Yeah, what do I do? So

Unknown Speaker 20:41
I think the first step is to talk to a mortgage professional, like myself or my team, and and get pre approved, right? Because, you know, one thing I'm a firm believer in, if you're ready to take that first step, we're going to stay with you always until we accomplished a goal, which is getting you into that home. So we stay with you every step of the way. Right? And, you know, and I think that's important, because a lot of times people, you go into the bank, right? And this is no not at retail banks. But we all we all been there before you go into a bank, you ask questions about a loan, right? They give you the information, maybe they put you with their loan specialist, and then you sit down with that individual, maybe you apply for the loan, if you're not getting approved at the bank, it's kind of like that's the end of it. Right? You didn't get approved, you walk out, you feel defeated. The nice thing about working with independent mortgage professionals here locally get it gives you an opportunity to sit down with somebody that's going to actually care about getting you to that next level. And if we can't get you there today, then guess what, we're going to stay with you every step of the way. And so we accomplished a goal of getting you into that new home. And

Unknown Speaker 21:57
that's and that's important. Because there again, there's a dance even with that. You learn about you learn about credit, you learn you do you learn. And you also learn about your habits. And you have to correct some things because there is a certain credit score that you have to have 650 right and still 650

Unknown Speaker 22:16
absolutely not what is absolutely not so. So listen, for minimum for minimum down payments. The minimum FICO is 580 Oh, they went low. But we actually can go all the way down. Now ladies all the way down to 500. Yes, everybody can buy.

Unknown Speaker 22:37
Say you get a house, you get a house and you get a house and we all get houses. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 22:42
500 500. So so just for clarity, right, just so so everyone understand. So for FHA loans minimum FICO score is a 500. So here's how it works 500 to 549, your down payment is going to be 10%. Okay, 550 to 579 that downpayment drops to 5% at a 580 credit score or higher the downpayment is now the FHA minimum, which is 3.5%. So,

Unknown Speaker 23:13
okay, so that could be the again, the reason why we bring Lamont on because new programs come out all the time, and you need to be aware of what programs are out there. So you can see if you qualify, again to contact Mr. Harris. 888-441-3930. I'm gonna say it one more time, slower. 888-441-3930? What if I already have a house and I want to buy my second property? That's awesome.

Unknown Speaker 23:49
Let's do it. Let's

Unknown Speaker 23:52
say Oh, my God, it's time for a second property. Number sound good?

Unknown Speaker 23:56
So I'd say this, right. So the first thing is second property we look at, you know, what's the second property? What the, what's the use gonna be for? Right? Is this a second home for you to live in? And the Bay Area? Because you can't handle the heat in Vegas in the summer, right? Or are we talking about buying investment property? Now me personally, I love when I have new investors that want to talk about buying investment properties, because we have some of the most flexible terms out there in terms of mortgage products for investors. One of my favorite products, actually, that I love to talk about as a DSCR loan, which which the acronym stands for debt service coverage ratio, it's just a fancy way of saying an investor cash flow loan. But the nice thing about these loans credit scores start at 640. Here's the nice thing. You don't have to be working. You don't have to have a job. So this loan, I want you to think about this for a second 20% down is what's required on these investor cash flow loans right now It's got to show that the property is going to produce income, right. And so if we could show that the cool thing is, hey 20%, down three to six months reserves. But here's the even nicer thing that's even more flexible about all this, the downpayment, and the Reserve can both be gift funds. So not only do you not have to show any income, but you don't even have to really be using your own money.

Unknown Speaker 25:28
So here, let me let me run that number again. 888-441-3930. Again, 888-441-3930. And you can also if you didn't catch it, if you Google, let's talk with Leah, and Rhonda, the shows will pop up and you can go back and listen to all of our past shows. If it's any information that you might have missed, you can't catch it, because you're in a car. If you Google, let's talk with Lea and Rhonda, we can actually we can put the link on the website. Beautiful, but the link on the website so that way you can listen to this. Again, if you missed it, we probably need to put a contact sheet on there. And here we got a whole bunch stuff to do. Right, but put a contact sheet on here because that's huge. It is because a lot of times it's information we don't do because we don't know. And we go to tick tock and audit other stuff, you know, YouTube to get information, but we can't ask them questions. You're here and you're willing to give the information you share the information?

Unknown Speaker 26:27
Absolutely, absolutely. And I appreciate the opportunity to do just that.

Unknown Speaker 26:31
So first time homebuyers. If you're looking for the second property, you can contact Mr. Harris, his company again the numbers 88844139308884413930. And we got to bring him back on because it's the end of the show, because he hasn't talked to us about buying commercial by commercial. And that's always a topic. I know what you had to come back on next month because we need to talk about the commercial.

Unknown Speaker 26:55
That's right. We do need to talk about that. Because we have some listeners that are interested in that and

Unknown Speaker 26:59
a commercial property. All right. So you've been listening to the less talk with Leah and Rhonda show. I am Leah Crawford. I

Unknown Speaker 27:04
am Rhonda Nolan and I am so happy to be back in Las Vegas. And Mr. Harris, thank you so much for joining us today and dropping your nuggets like you always do. But yes, we need you back on next month because we do need to speak about

Unknown Speaker 27:18
and we can't bring him on with anybody else because what he spent the whole time talking about this tonight. We're at 100 Black men Yes.

Unknown Speaker 27:25
25th anniversary scholarship fundraiser, Caesars Palace Hotel. Octavius ballroom for more information www eventbrite.com. Love it. Love it. Alright,

Unknown Speaker 27:36
until next week. Oh, Happy Fourth of July y'all happy. All the sparkly stuff is gonna be going yes, this will be fun. We'll see you next week after the fourth be safe. Hydrate. And remember, do not leave your electronics in the car now, because they will not operate for a while. hydrate,

Unknown Speaker 27:55
hydrate, hydrate and workout and workout. If you do leave your electronics in the car, put it in the freezer so cool down fast. If you want to know what that's fine.

Unknown Speaker 28:04
Until next week, bye some blessings.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai