Episode 116
Homeowner's Guide to Energy Efficiency and Market Trends
In today's dialogue on Boxcar Universe, we delve into the pivotal strategies for conserving energy during the scorching summer months, featuring insights from Sean LaPointe of Mr. Electric. He elucidates practical measures that homeowners can adopt to mitigate their energy expenditures, particularly relevant in the context of the relentless heat afflicting the Southwest. Furthermore, we engage in a comprehensive analysis of the current housing market with Jeff Kadlec from NEXA Mortgage, who provides a nuanced understanding of market trends and interest rates. This episode serves as an invaluable resource for listeners seeking to enhance their energy efficiency while navigating the complexities of real estate transactions. We invite you to join us for a thorough exploration of these critical topics, ensuring your home remains both comfortable and financially sustainable.
Takeaways:
- In this episode, we explored advanced strategies for energy efficiency, particularly during the intense summer heat in Phoenix.
- Sean LaPointe provided valuable insights on how to effectively reduce energy costs through innovative thermostat programs and home insulation.
- The conversation included a thorough analysis of the current housing market trends and mortgage rates, emphasizing the importance of staying informed.
- We discussed the impact of energy-efficient upgrades and potential financial incentives available to homeowners in Arizona.
- Listeners were educated on the rising significance of sustainable living options, including container homes and eco-friendly renovations.
- Our dialogue underscored the necessity of proactive maintenance in electrical systems to prevent costly repairs and enhance safety.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Mr. Electric
- NEXA Mortgage
- Ideal Home Improvement
- Legacy Custom Homes AZ
- Stardust Building Supplies
Links referenced in this episode:
- idealhomeimprovementaz.com
- stardustbuilding.org
- iFoam.com
- mrelectricphx.com
- lowratesfastclosings.com
- boxcaruniverse.com
Transcript
On today's edition of Boxcar Universe, we've got a great lineup planned for you.
Speaker A:Sean Lapointe from Mr. Electric is stopping by to share some of the easy ways to save on your summer energy bills.
Speaker A:And then later in the show, Jeff Kadlec from NEXA Mortgage joins us to break down what's really going on in the housing market right now.
Speaker A:So stick around.
Speaker A:It's going to be a good one.
Speaker B:Since the dawn of time, mankind has searched for ways to shelter themselves from the elements.
Speaker A:Over the centuries, these shelters have evolved from bamboo huts to concrete towers.
Speaker B:The last few years, there's been a.
Speaker A:Push to save the planet.
Speaker A:Are you ready to embark on a more sustainable lifestyle?
Speaker A:Look no further.
Speaker A:You're about to enter the adventures of container home Living.
Speaker C:And now, contractor, radio and TV personality.
Speaker A:And your host for Boxcar Universe, Steve Dubel.
Speaker A:Hi, I'm Steve Dubell, host of Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:And this is what's on this week's edition of Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:We're talking with Sean LaPointe from Mr. Electric of Phoenix.
Speaker A:And we're going to be talking a little bit about energy and what this intense heat is doing to us across the country, specifically in the Southwest in the Phoenix area.
Speaker A:And then also the mortgage housing market is heating up.
Speaker A:And we're going to be speaking with Jeff Kadleck from NEXA Mortgage in our second half hour.
Speaker A:And we're going to be talking about good where the rates are and where the market trends are going.
Speaker A:So I want everybody to hang tight.
Speaker A:We're going to have a great show planned for you.
Speaker A:All that and more on this week's edition of Boxcar Universe, your home for remodeling and renovating your world.
Speaker A:And we like to welcome all of our listeners to Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:And it's going to be a.
Speaker A:So far, it is an intense summer here in Phoenix, the valley of the sun.
Speaker A:But I do want to send out prayers to all the families and loved ones in Texas who suffered the horrific flood over the Fourth of July weekend.
Speaker A:And our prayers are with you.
Speaker A:And I know there's some people that are still missing, but we want to, we want to send out our prayers and hope that they're found and all love to their families through this really, really rough time.
Speaker A:But you know, Lord is with us and the prayers will keep coming.
Speaker A:Don't worry about that.
Speaker A:Plenty more where those came from.
Speaker A:But we've got a great show, as I said, planned for you.
Speaker A:And up first is our great sponsor, Sean Lapointe from Mr. Electric.
Speaker A:And Sean, welcome back to Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:How are you holding up in the heat?
Speaker B:Steve, I really appreciate you having me back and it's definitely a hot one with some brow moppets going on.
Speaker A:Yeah, I would imagine so.
Speaker A:You know, a lot of times you hear those brownouts, but you don't hear too much of them, you know, in the Phoenix area, but you always hear about them in California.
Speaker B:So it's interesting you mentioned that because I was going to bring up a couple of things.
Speaker B:One is I'm part of the SRP's thermostat program and you have a choice to enroll in what's called their rush hour program.
Speaker B:And so this is, what do you call this?
Speaker B:It's something that you allow to happen.
Speaker B:They don't force this on you, so it's voluntary.
Speaker B:But some afternoons they will take control of my thermostats and they'll give me a warning, say, hey, you know what, Sean, we're going to turn you up to like 84 degrees for a few hours.
Speaker B:Hope you don't mind, so that we have enough energy to give to somebody else or some other place.
Speaker A:Oh, wow, that's amazing.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So it's fortunate that I have a pool so I can just go jump in the pool until the house cooled back down.
Speaker A:But wow, I didn't, I didn't know that they, they, they had that.
Speaker A:I've never experienced that, but that's good to know.
Speaker A:Is there any part of the Valley that they do that or just all pretty much just SRP customers?
Speaker B:You know, I don't have any details on who they select to do that with, but it's not every day, so I'm sure it rotates.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, hopefully they didn't do it yesterday.
Speaker A:It was 117 degrees here in the Valley of the Sun.
Speaker B:It was, yeah, yesterday was a good one.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:We definitely.
Speaker B:They turned IR off for two or three hours until 6 o'.
Speaker B:Clock.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, you know, worst comes to worse, if it's too hot, just go in the car, turn the air conditioning on, go to Costco.
Speaker B:Story.
Speaker B:Speaking of, you know, rotating power and trying to, you know, trying to, you know, keep from browning out and whatnot.
Speaker B:Someone that was in one of my networking groups said they were on on Monday.
Speaker B:They were out of Canyon Lake and they were beached back in the, you know, somewhere back in the, you know, remote area.
Speaker B:And they said the water was starting to, to drain out of the lake.
Speaker B:And apparently when there's, you know, when there's a A need for it.
Speaker B:There's some, there's a, there's a power reservoir that the water jumps through.
Speaker B:It's like a hydrothermic dam.
Speaker B:And they, I had no idea they did this.
Speaker B:You guys are getting this for 10 or 20 years.
Speaker B:Like if the power gets really bad, then they'll, they'll open up that reservoir and they use the water in the lake to turn these turbines to create power for the, you know, additional power for the service.
Speaker B:And then I guess that, that goes into a reservoir and they pump it back up into the lake afterwards.
Speaker B:How about that?
Speaker A:Well, that's pretty cool.
Speaker A:It's called recycling.
Speaker A:Yeah, this is good.
Speaker A:Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker A:Well, you know, at least, at least somebody is on the case, especially, you know, knowing what we go through here every year.
Speaker A:And I think the people that live here kind of expect it.
Speaker B:Programmable thermostats are awesome.
Speaker B:And especially the kind you can connect to your Internet.
Speaker B:I have one on my, on my office in Mesa.
Speaker B:And the nice thing about it is you can, you know, on off peak hours, you can, you can have it, you know, have it maximized for cooling efficiency.
Speaker B:And when it's on, on peak, you can, you can have it where it automatically resets itself so it's not utilizing the most power down those high peak hours.
Speaker B:That's great.
Speaker B:And I'm finding that even the smart ones go one step beyond programmable.
Speaker B:You have a smart thermostat that actually attaches to the Internet and it can be remotely actuated and operated.
Speaker B:And you know, like I was talking about earlier with srp, you know, access to it and they can see the data, what's going on and what kind of power is being used and how often your, your AC is cranking and, and, and whatnot.
Speaker B:And then to go along with that, gosh, you know, like, you know, run of the mill ceiling fans are, are, you know, fantastic to have.
Speaker B:And we do a lot of those.
Speaker B:I gotta say, like, soon as spring hits for Arizona, we're getting phone call after phone call.
Speaker B:Hey, can you guys help me out some ceiling fans?
Speaker B:And the answer to that is absolutely, we can.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I know you.
Speaker A:There's a project that you and I are doing in, in Ahwatukee that homeowners basically doing a complete gut and remodel.
Speaker A:And she did, I, I think she did a very smart thing in, in updating all her, you know, outlets and switches and then she's going to upgrade all her ceiling fans.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, so that's going to be good.
Speaker A:So when she does move in probably, you know, I'm guessing probably sometime in August that everything will be up to speed and she'll be able to cool the house down because it does have vaulted ceilings.
Speaker B:So yeah, Mr. Electric is working at the, at the national level with a company that provides whole home fans.
Speaker B:And it's a, this is more commonplace in the Midwest and other places where it's not so hot.
Speaker B:But basically you crack your windows open and then there's a fan that sucks the air from the outside into your home and expels it through your attic.
Speaker B:And that's like a remote fan that kind of goes in the attic space and helps to move outside air inside.
Speaker A:Well, I gotta believe that that was probably used where the outside climate temperature is a little more temperate than it is here.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm sure it's not going to be over huge in Phoenix, but if you go north a little bit, you know, Pace and Prescott and Flagstaff, I bet you that's, you know, a prime spot for something.
Speaker A:Yeah, I know we, I was up in Prescott, which is for our listeners that's about, about an hour and a half north of Phoenix.
Speaker A:And you know, it was, it was over the 4th of July weekend where it was extremely hot down here in the Valley, but up there it reached like in the low 80s.
Speaker A:But yet in the evening we were watching some fireworks about 9pm believe it or not, it was getting cool.
Speaker A:I mean haven't felt that till, you know, down here you don't feel that kind of temperature change till maybe November, December.
Speaker A:So it's, it's pretty, it's pretty different.
Speaker A:But those, those, it's good to have those things depending on what part of the country that they're in.
Speaker A:But, and I know the other thing that, you know, AAPS and SRP offer, you know, they're, they're different plans that you can have and probably the last thing you want to do is, you know, do use a lot of appliances during like peak hours from like 3 or 4 to 7 or 8 o' clock at night.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:And so something that can help with that if, you know, if you're not into trying to, you know, deal with that yourself from calculation standpoint is they do make these load controllers that go on your electrical panel and you can take your high, your high capacity loads that aren't your air conditioning, like the dryer, electric, water heater range, that kind of thing and actually say, you know what, you're not going to be allowed to turn these on during peak hours.
Speaker B:We're just going to shut them off and now we don't even have to worry about it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, for the most part, if you're working every day, that routine is the same.
Speaker A:Now can that be changed if, like, say they're home on vacation or, you know, weekend hours?
Speaker B:Almost certainly.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Okay, that's great.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:We're going to take a short break.
Speaker A:When we come back, we're going to have more information, some maintenance tips and other things, how to reduce power and some of the financial incentives that are out there.
Speaker A:So I want everybody to hang tight.
Speaker A:You are listening to Boxcar Universe.
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Speaker A:Plus cutting edge solar systems to help homeowners save money on their utility bills.
Speaker A:Hi, I'm Steve Dubell.
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Speaker A: -: Speaker A:Remember, Ideal Home Improvement and Legacy Custom Homes az, where your dream home becomes reality.
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Speaker A:For more info, visit stardustbuilding.org all right, we are back and you're listening to Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:And we are here today with Sean LaPointe from Mr. Electric of Phoenix.
Speaker A:And we are talking, you know, energy, power and everything that you need to keep your house cool and running because, you know, the last thing you want to do is have a power outage.
Speaker A:And you know, it's not just the, the municipality that could go bad.
Speaker A:Excuse me.
Speaker A:It's the, you know, it could be your, your old panel.
Speaker A:And Sean, how many times do you find, especially when it gets extremely hot here in the valley, that the people realize that their panel is just too old and it's time for an upgrade?
Speaker B:Well, unfortunately, it's when it's when that panel stops working.
Speaker B:If you lose, even if you use lose just like half the pound or one leg as we call it, the air conditioning typically requires two legs to function.
Speaker B:And so, yeah, we get that a lot.
Speaker B:And right now our phones are ringing off the hook.
Speaker B:Can you come up?
Speaker B:Can you come up?
Speaker B:Can you help us out?
Speaker B:And, you know, we can work toward our capacity is.
Speaker B:But a lot of times it's, it's beyond what we can handle to field all the phone calls.
Speaker B:And given that, the fact there's so many electricians in the valley, it's crazy how many calls that we're getting.
Speaker B:The biggest thing you can do is to be proactive.
Speaker B:And by, by being proactive, it means you're getting somebody out and you're doing some sort of an, some sort of a systemic inspection on your electrical system.
Speaker B:And Mr. Electric provides these every time we go out to residential call and we don't charge for this.
Speaker B:But we think that, you know, from a safety standpoint, you know, we want to know if there's going to be a problem.
Speaker B:And you as the homeowner, we feel you should be educated as well, just in case you don't run into stuff.
Speaker B:And the things we look for is, you know, older busing or burnt busing or corroded.
Speaker B:Sometimes in the past, certain wire might have been ran to like an old air conditioner.
Speaker B:And let's say you upgraded new air conditioners that old wiring may not be up to the, to the requirements of the new air conditioning.
Speaker B:And same with the size of the breakers.
Speaker B:And you know, we.
Speaker B:Even when your lights are flickering, when the AC come on, that could be a telltale sign that, that the wiring is either insufficient or there's a connection problem somewhere between the power company and your air conditioner.
Speaker B:And typically, that's your house.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, those, those things are, you know, I, I know I had a, a customer not too long ago.
Speaker A:She couldn't figure out what went wrong.
Speaker A:And I think this was.
Speaker A:She thought it might have been an electrical problem, but she just happened to close the door on her microwave in a funny way.
Speaker A:I think she's, her husband's like, flung it closed and slammed it.
Speaker A:But it must have been a coincidence, but because all of a sudden when she hit start, it just didn't work, you know, so she didn't know what to do.
Speaker A:And obviously sometimes the easiest thing to do is do something that is, you know, where you could use your common sense.
Speaker A:I said to her, I said, if, if there's something wrong, I said, if it's, if it's.
Speaker A:Let's just say it's not rule out the electric, that the electric is okay and it will focus on.
Speaker A:Then it's got to be something with the microwave, I told her to plug in something that she could plug into the outlet above the microwave that could draw power.
Speaker A:Something that she could turn on like a toaster or a blender or something like that and see if it blows the circuit, if it stops working.
Speaker A:And when she did that, it didn't blow out.
Speaker A:So I got, I said to her, I said, well then it's got to be, it's got to be something wrong with the microwave.
Speaker A:Well, she says it's like, was like 15 years old.
Speaker A:And I'm like, you know, I think it's time for a new microwave.
Speaker B:But so let, let me tell you a story, Steve.
Speaker B:We run into this all the time and it does, it is kind of dependent on the age of the house.
Speaker B:But it used to be homes would have, they wouldn't come with the microwave.
Speaker B:They would just come with a, you know, like a range hood or a fan over the stove.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And typically these would be put on a lighting circuit.
Speaker B:They would not have their own discrete circuit like they do now.
Speaker B:And so what happens is that, hey, I got this bright idea.
Speaker B:Let's put a microwave here where this, where this, where this exhaust fan was.
Speaker B:And the exhaust fan only pulled a few, you know, a few watts.
Speaker B: his microwave in and it pulls: Speaker B:You're like, whoa, what is going on here?
Speaker B:Well, you just installed a dedicated appliance on the lighting circuit.
Speaker B:And it's, you know, nine times out of ten it doesn't, it doesn't work.
Speaker B:And so we'll come in and we'll oftentimes add its own circuit that's required for that microwave.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So people, people, you know, they do that.
Speaker A:And when you, when you do a remodel and stuff like that and people, you tear out what's there and yeah, they have that old fan unit and you tell them it's got to be a 20amp microwave, you know, dedicated circuit.
Speaker A:And they, they, they question, well, why?
Speaker A:I said, because like your other appliances, supposed to be on, on a dedicated circuit as well because it draws so much power.
Speaker A:But, but these are things that people need to know, obviously in the course of doing a remodel or just, you know, talking about what we just mentioned was a, we'll call it a minor upgrade to a microwave.
Speaker A:So these are things that you've gotta be, you've gotta be careful of.
Speaker A:But another thing I've gotta mention too, which I know, at least I think I hear this more often than not that people that have old AC units, you know, they're.
Speaker A:They're thinking, why is my bill so high besides it being hot?
Speaker A:And then you get a question of, well, how old is your AC unit?
Speaker A:And again, you know, you get something that's up, like if you're lucky enough to get it to last 15 years, it's old, and it's probably drawing more power than a lot of the newer units.
Speaker A:And of course, your bill's going to be higher.
Speaker B:Definitely.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:We offer a service where we can go in and actually do what's called a, a, a, A power.
Speaker B:Power draw test.
Speaker B:And what we do, Steve, is we look at the nameplate on all the appliances, like the air conditioner and the dryer and the oven.
Speaker B:And then we turn these items on and we do an actual measurement and see what the, what the draw is and compare that draw to what it's supposed to be listed at, you know, from the manufacturer.
Speaker B:And so if we see something outside of whack, then we can bring that to the, you know, to the customers attention, say, hey, look, you know, this is supposed to take 10amps, but we're actually showing it's drawing 15.
Speaker B:And so it might be time to, to replace this particular appliance.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's true.
Speaker A:So it's, it's like everything else, you know, we, we all our bodies, as we get older, requires maintenance, homes require maintenance.
Speaker A:But again, you know, I mentioned this a lot of times, you know, when you, you go buy a car, at least a new car, they give you a manual for your new car, and you take it after you get all your paperwork and you take the manual, you put it in your glove box.
Speaker A:And Sean, I'm telling you, everybody I've ever asked this question looks at me like deer in the headlights.
Speaker A:When's the last time you took out your manual and looked at your car manual and there's no answer?
Speaker A:And it's.
Speaker A:Nobody looks at it.
Speaker A:It's there just, you know, I think most of the time people maybe, maybe if they need a fuse or a light bulb, they'll look it up to see what the number is on it, you know, if they have to go get it.
Speaker A:But other than that, they never look at it.
Speaker B:It's the same with electrical systems.
Speaker B:Like, sometimes we'll go into a house like, hey, can you show us where your panel is?
Speaker A:And they don't even know, where's my panel?
Speaker B:I got a panel.
Speaker B:I don't.
Speaker B:What do you think it would be?
Speaker B:Well, it could be outside that Would.
Speaker A:Be a good, yeah, it would be a good outside like maybe the left side or right side of the house in front of the wall.
Speaker A:You know, let's, you know, so, but yeah, so these are things that people need to be aware of.
Speaker A:And again you know talking about some financial incentives, you know the government and the state have energy efficient, you know, when you do these upgrades you can get some tax incentives.
Speaker A:And I would encourage everybody in the Phoenix area, you know, who has APS or SRP to go check out their websites because I've had people on from srp, you know and they have these energy saving plans and programs that you could get on and depending on your routine it's going to save you money.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And also don't forget about the inflation reduction Act.
Speaker B:It's kind of a not really well for some reason not really well advertised but they're.
Speaker B:As long as you can get them.
Speaker B:This might change with their current administration.
Speaker B:There's a lot of changes coming down the pipe but as of today there's still tax credits available for energy associated upgrades to your home like a new water heater, solar, new electrical panels and such and so and there's some paperwork to fill out and it's, and it's amazing how little information there is about this readily available.
Speaker B:So you got to dig a little bit.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But you find it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And again I think if you're, if you looking for someone that is going to be able to explain to you what all these things are and how to keep, you know, what to look at in your home, basically what to go over almost like a home inspector advisor, I think we'll call it that because that's basically what home inspectors do.
Speaker A:They, they seek out what's, what's wrong with your home and they advise you of it.
Speaker A:And most of the time people don't use home inspectors unless they're getting ready to sell their house.
Speaker A:But to have a review of, of this, it's like a checkup.
Speaker A:Have a healthy home checkup like our good friend Dan Hayden has done in the past.
Speaker A:Hey, do a healthy home check to see.
Speaker A:I mean Sean, when we were doing TV earlier several years ago, I mean I know Dan brought up a lot of points where he'd open up a panel box and it looked like it was going to short out any second.
Speaker A:There were burnt marks all over the place and people don't look in these places.
Speaker A:So having somebody come by and do a healthy home check and check these things that we talked about I think is really important.
Speaker A:Just to give you peace of mind and if you have something wrong, you got a budget for it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you know what else we're running too, this is really unfortunate is occasionally we'll go and we'll do an inspection, we'll find some things wrong.
Speaker B:We had a case last week where we went to a gentleman's house and there was obvious discoloration on the busing and it was where the breaker was connected.
Speaker B:And so this panel, Steve was 33 years old.
Speaker A:Oh wow.
Speaker B:It was 23 years out of warranty.
Speaker B:Imagine if you had a car that was 33 years old.
Speaker A:Oh wow.
Speaker B:It was probably to keep that thing running.
Speaker B:You're probably going to need to do a little, a little, you know, maintenance.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker B:And so we, we said, look, you know, here's, here's our findings on this now.
Speaker B:And, and we, we back it up with, you know, with the NFP, gosh, at the NFPA 70, which is the governing body of the NEC.
Speaker B:And it explicitly says if there's any kind of indications of corrosion or, or annealment of the busing that it needs to be replaced because it's no longer ul listed to carry the current it was designed for.
Speaker B:And this guy was not buying it.
Speaker B:He goes, you know what, I, I got a home inspector over here.
Speaker B:He says, there's nothing wrong with this panel.
Speaker B:He went and got a, pulled a permit from the city of Phoenix.
Speaker B:Director came over and said, there's nothing wrong with this panel.
Speaker B:And I said, he goes, you're just using scare tactics to try to drum up business.
Speaker B:And I was like, wow.
Speaker B:You know, I said, I've been an electrician since, you know, the late 80s now.
Speaker B:You know, land and you know, these.
Speaker B:I'm considered a professional expert.
Speaker B:I've actually testified in court, you know, bioelectrical issues.
Speaker B:And you know, this isn't a scare tech.
Speaker B:This is reality.
Speaker B:This thing's 35 years old.
Speaker B:It's obviously been overheated.
Speaker B:And our recommendation and whether you do have us do it or have anybody else do it is to get that thing replaced.
Speaker B:It's a safety issue.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Really.
Speaker A:I mean, it's like, it's like these older cars.
Speaker A:I mean if you had an older car that was 33 years old, you had, you'd have historical plates on it.
Speaker A:And you know, unfortunately, 33 year old panel doesn't.
Speaker A:Nobody knows it.
Speaker A:The only way that you know that it's old is by looking at how all those contacts and everything are wearing.
Speaker A:I mean, I'm sure something that Old, probably.
Speaker A:You couldn't even get, you know, replacement breakers.
Speaker B:So we.
Speaker B:That was discussed originally, but, you know, he's the.
Speaker B:And he's like, you know, can that be substituted in lieu of a new panel?
Speaker B:And so I said, well, you know what, let me, let me come out here and take a look at it.
Speaker B:One of my technicians was originally out there, and so I went out there personally and opened that thing up and I said, guy, here's my findings.
Speaker B:And he's like, you know what?
Speaker B:I think you're full of it.
Speaker B:Maybe you should just, you know, leave me alone.
Speaker B:I was like, wow.
Speaker B:Hey, man, all I can do is advise.
Speaker A:That's all you can do.
Speaker A:I mean, like, that's like that old saying, you can only lead a horse to water.
Speaker A:You can't make them drink it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I did my job.
Speaker B:I helped my end of the deal up.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:Okay, so I let our listeners know a little bit.
Speaker A:Okay, so what are like some telltale signs?
Speaker A:And why would they need to call Mr. Electric?
Speaker A:Especially my anytime, but especially now with the, with the, the peak usage and things.
Speaker A:What things should they be aware of?
Speaker B:Well, the big thing is with your electrical system, you have heat during the summer and cold during the winter, and we have some pretty extreme swings.
Speaker B:And the metal contacts and screw connections have a tendency to swell and contract as a result.
Speaker B:And over time, this causes a loose connection.
Speaker B:And the result of a loose connection is heat.
Speaker B:And that can deteriorate rather quickly, you know, the components in your electrical system.
Speaker B:So we highly recommend a yearly inspection.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:Like I said, for us, you know, we don't charge for this.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:You know, we're going to come out, we're going to do a, you know, a really good visual inspection.
Speaker B:And if we see something that needs to be, you know, taken care of from a safety standpoint, we're going to educate the customer on what it is, and definitely we're going to give them a price for it, you know, but it's not like we're just looking for work.
Speaker B:But, you know, we feel that we're, we're safety conscious and that we're educators and we're able to solve problems.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:And the one thing I want to bring up too, before we wrap up our segment, the fact that talking about when certain, like, homeowners decide to do a DIY project in an older home, and let's just say for argument's sake, they, they run in their new.
Speaker A:Let's just say they took their patio and made it into Actual living space.
Speaker A:And they needed to run some electric outlets out there.
Speaker A:And the home is old enough that it has aluminum electric wires.
Speaker A:And somebody decides who doesn't know any better, takes it and thinks, oh, we'll just splice them together and everything will be cool.
Speaker A:And it's not going to be cool because not to mention the draw that we talked about before, if that line overheats, those two dissimilar metals are going to arc.
Speaker A:And if the homeowner doesn't know what's going on with it, that could be.
Speaker A:That could be a little, you know, scary.
Speaker B:I'm gonna be honest with you, Steve.
Speaker B:We do run into some do it yourself projects.
Speaker B:And one of the first questions we ask is, do you have some sort of a superintendent or a contractor running this project?
Speaker B:And when they say no, we look very carefully at the job and sometimes we'll refuse to take on work that's being done by a homeowner.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because sometimes.
Speaker A:Yeah, because, you know, like, there's certain.
Speaker B:Timelines for certain things to happen.
Speaker B:Sometimes the cart gets put before the horse, and next thing you know, you're coming back time and time and time again.
Speaker B:And, and so one of the first recommendations we make, and I know we've done this with you, Steve, is, hey, you know what?
Speaker B:This is a sizable project.
Speaker B:You should get somebody who's done this before to help out with the timeline and kind of run things.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker A:I mean, these are things that people need to know about.
Speaker A:And there are ways of joining those.
Speaker A:Those two dissimilar type metal wires.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:And so that it is a safe, you know, connection.
Speaker A:But I.
Speaker A:People need to be aware of this.
Speaker A:You know, anything creating heat or, you know, it's going to cause those wires to.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Get.
Speaker B:You know, I'll tell you what, Steve, what we're running to now too is just recently is that insurance companies that are insuring certain projects aren't even allowing that, you know, like a Lumicon remediation or, you know, the, you know, the, the replacing the contact points.
Speaker B:They're saying if you got aluminum wiring in the walls and it's 110 volt, it's got to be replaced or we're not going to insure it.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, these are things that you, you have to be made aware of.
Speaker A:And sometimes, you know, when you have a, like if you have a, a minor or major disaster and you happen to find this out, there's an added cost to what needs to be doing.
Speaker A:And, you know, I guess a lot of times when Those situations happen.
Speaker A:Depends on if the insurance company says, well, you need to do that.
Speaker A:I mean it depends on.
Speaker A:Do you think they, in your experience have they covered basically doing a whole house rewire in a situation like that or they just say, you know, to the homeowner you're on your own.
Speaker B:I think what they're leaning towards is the, is, is the existing susceptibility of a possible incident.
Speaker B:And what they're saying is that we're not going to insure you if you have aluminum wiring.
Speaker A:Yeah, okay.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So they rather disavow the whole situation.
Speaker B:And get a remedial rewired.
Speaker B:And it's a, it's a big job.
Speaker B:It's not cheap.
Speaker A:No, it's not.
Speaker A:Absolutely not.
Speaker A:I mean I've gone through and done a lot of drywall work on homes that have been completely rewired with copper wire.
Speaker A:And yeah, it's, it's quite extensive.
Speaker A:So it's quite.
Speaker A:But Sean, tell our listeners a little bit how they can contact you.
Speaker B:Well, we have, if you look us up on Google, we have two locations and we'll happily, you know, provide service from either one.
Speaker B:We have Mr. Electric of Phoenix Metro and you can find us@mrelectricphx.com and you can also find us a brand new location, Mr. Electric of Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler.
Speaker A:Okay, great, great.
Speaker A:That sounds good.
Speaker A:And if you have any needs at all, Mr. Electric is very well known here in the valley with a very good track record, excuse me, of service and quality.
Speaker A:So make sure that you call Mr. Electric.
Speaker A:You can always find Mr. Electric's information on our website, Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:So I want to make sure that everybody knows where to find you, Sean, and keep up the good work and congratulations on the Mesa location And Steve.
Speaker B:It'S been a pleasure.
Speaker A:Thank you and we look forward to seeing you again.
Speaker B:Thanks, sir.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker A:All right, that was Sean Lapointe from Mr. Electric and we are going to go to break and when we come back we're going to be speaking with Jeff Kadlik from NEXA Mortgage and finding out where the market is in the housing and in interest rate market.
Speaker A:So stay tuned.
Speaker A:We'll be right back.
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Speaker A:All right, we are back and you are listening to Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:And again we want to thank Sean Lapointe from Mr. Electric for sharing his words of wisdom.
Speaker A:And for those of you out there, you know, who are, you know, we'll say suffering through the heat because obviously, you know, being a contractor and stuff like that, you got to start early in the morning.
Speaker A:I mean, even still at 9:00 clock this morning.
Speaker A:Just to give our listeners across the country a little idea of where we're at, heat wise, it was 98 degrees at 9 o' clock this morning and we're well over 100 right now.
Speaker A:And it's the afternoon here in Phoenix, so it's, it's that time of the year, but we all knew it was coming, so we all learned to live with it.
Speaker A:But again, make sure that you keep an eye on your electric and energy and things that keep you cool because it's no fun when you know, your electric goes down.
Speaker A:Maybe your AC will blow circuit breakers because it's on its last leg.
Speaker A:So I hope all of you here in the Southwest have had that pre spring AC check that we urge everybody to have before the heat comes.
Speaker A:But as we were talking earlier, the mortgage market is heating up.
Speaker A:Not to use a pun on words, but it is.
Speaker A:And here to tell us all about it is Jeff Kadleck from Nexa Mortgage.
Speaker A:And Jeff, welcome.
Speaker A:Welcome back to Boxcar Universe.
Speaker A:Hope you're staying cool.
Speaker C:I always do, you know, fans in one part of the room, AC turned up to blast a certain part of the room.
Speaker C:Unfortunately, my office in my house is facing south.
Speaker C:So it's never fun to be in the office at three o' clock in the afternoon in Phoenix unless I have all the fans going wild.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, well, being south or west is not a fun place to be.
Speaker A:Maybe we need to come and put another addition onto the side of your house so that.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's covered.
Speaker A:What do you think?
Speaker A:Or a patio.
Speaker C:Well, I had a really nice tree out front, but some monsoon blowed it.
Speaker C:That blew it down years ago just to keep it warm, so.
Speaker C:Yeah, that'd be great.
Speaker A:Let's do that.
Speaker A:Okay, that sounds good.
Speaker C:I just pump foam into my walls, change the windows out.
Speaker A:Hey, this.
Speaker A:I've had plenty of people that can just pump foam into your wall and keep it cool.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker C:You know what, Steve?
Speaker C:It just gives me an easy way to walk out of the office early.
Speaker C:I've got to go.
Speaker C:You got to go do something else.
Speaker C:Let's go play racquetball.
Speaker A:It's the excuse factor.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker C:We don't want to fix it.
Speaker C:No, no, no.
Speaker C:The wife expects me to stay in here all day.
Speaker A:Oh, okay.
Speaker C:Well, yeah, just come out with a paycheck.
Speaker A:I had to run out, honey.
Speaker C:All right.
Speaker C:Getting just too hot.
Speaker C:I was sweating in there.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Anyway, give our listeners a little bit of idea.
Speaker A:They haven't tuned into some of our past interviews with you and NEXA Mortgage and tell us a little bit about that and then get into.
Speaker A: re in middle of the summer of: Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Well, what do you want to begin?
Speaker C: le boy in Brooklyn, New York,: Speaker C:Now we'll move forward.
Speaker C:Yeah, move forward.
Speaker C:So, yeah, I. I am a loan originator for 30 years now.
Speaker C:Got involved with one of the best mortgage companies in the country.
Speaker C:And I don't say that to brag.
Speaker C:I say that because I've never seen anything built like what we've built over the last seven, eight years.
Speaker C: I started at Dexter in: Speaker C:You and I both know him well.
Speaker C:Mr. Mike Neal begged me to come over here, and I'm like, dude, I'm done, man.
Speaker C:I'm flipping homes, buying investment properties.
Speaker C:I don't want anything to do with this business.
Speaker C: I moved here in: Speaker C:We are now 3,000 plus loan officers, real estate agents that come on board.
Speaker C:Now we got real estate agents doing loans with us without even having to do any work, to be honest.
Speaker C:And it's just become a phenomenal, phenomenal thing that I wish I would have thought of 20 years ago, because there's no Place better for my business with 270 plus banks that I can AI through and find out a scenario for my clients within seconds.
Speaker C:So right now just enjoying a slow market because we know it will be coming back like you were discussing.
Speaker C:It is definitely picking up because I think people are just getting used to where rates are right now.
Speaker C:And this Phoenix market that we've been enjoying for so many years is not slowing down.
Speaker C:We may not be selling as many homes, but we are definitely getting a lot of money coming into this town of companies building.
Speaker C:I mean, I think we have the highest permits in the country for multifamily units.
Speaker C:And that just tells you something right there with all the industries that are coming in here.
Speaker C:All the, all the, you know, we got the, what's it, the, the chip manufacturer up there in Northern Phoenix coming in.
Speaker C:If you go down, I mean if you go down the, down south or head towards Queen Creek and, and all that Casa Grande is going to become huge at some point.
Speaker C:We just build them as far as we can go and it's just unbelievable what's going to happen, you know, once, once things settle down and people have more confidence in what the administration is doing right now.
Speaker C:I think everyone's gonna come back to where we're gonna, we are gonna have a frenzy.
Speaker C:It always happened.
Speaker C:I've been doing this 30 years and every time we have a lull, there's always a frenzy after it.
Speaker C:So, and then everybody's fighting for pieces of property and not, they should have bought them, you know, a year or two earlier when they didn't have to fight for the, the, the bidding wars that will, that may come back.
Speaker C:But right now we're kind of in a, kind of in a good cooling market where things are a little bit slow, but it's, it's all based around affordability basically.
Speaker A:Right now, do you find people are just, just still hanging on, waiting to refinance?
Speaker C:I mean, refi.
Speaker C:Yes, unfortunately, that's actually a big problem.
Speaker C:I think it's going on right now.
Speaker C:As you know, I'm not a big believer of lazy equity, so I don't like leaving money in any of my rentals and I certainly don't like leaving money in my, my own personal residence because it doesn't grow.
Speaker C:I can grow it twice if I pull it out, right?
Speaker C:I can grow it while it's growing inside the property and then I can take the money out and go invest it and put it and get a nice, you know, anywhere from 8, 10, 12% return on it.
Speaker C:But there's a lot of lazy equity people are trapped in their rate, and we call them loan locked all over the country, which is what slowed down a lot of our inventory for years.
Speaker C:Because who wants to give up a 2 1/2% interest rate, right?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Who wants to give up a two point?
Speaker C:I think, I think mine is a 2.685 right now.
Speaker C:Why would I want to walk away from that?
Speaker C:I can't even find a rental for less than what I pay on a mortgage.
Speaker A:Right, right.
Speaker C:So, you know, the biggest, the biggest problem I see people doing is that, you know, we.
Speaker C:I never advise everybody to use equity to go buy toys.
Speaker C:What I say is, pull your equity out, balance your financials.
Speaker C:And I may have shared this one with you before.
Speaker C:I had a client a few months ago and she just kept delaying, delay and delay.
Speaker C:And I was like, you know, you got to get your, you got to get rid of those credit cards.
Speaker C:You carrying 50, 60, $70,000 in credit cards.
Speaker C:You're paying $7,000 a month out of pocket every month.
Speaker C:But I can't get rid of that low rate.
Speaker C:I don't want to get to that low rate.
Speaker C:I kept telling her your blended rate is about 8%.
Speaker C:Seven, seven and a half, 8%.
Speaker C:That means I'm taking all your credit cards and what you're paying to them.
Speaker C:I take your mortgage and what you're paying there, I take a percentage of it.
Speaker C:I blend it together.
Speaker C:You're making an eight, eight and a half percent payment to these credit card companies.
Speaker C:You're never going to get ahead.
Speaker C:You're paying about $7,000 out of pocket right now, and you've got about a half a million dollars of equity sitting in your house.
Speaker C:That's not doing anything for you right now.
Speaker C:Your house isn't going to go down in value because you take money out of it.
Speaker C:Right, right.
Speaker C:So she finally got to a breaking point where they realized, you know, we're barely getting through month to month.
Speaker C:And I said, listen, if you do this, you're going to drop your payments right now.
Speaker C:All your payments, your car payments, all the, all the boats, the cars, the credit cards, you're paying about $7,000 out of pocket every month.
Speaker C:So when we finish consolidating everything.
Speaker C:Yeah, I know.
Speaker C: diculous rate that you got in: Speaker C:You're going to go to six and a half percent and we're going to wrap it all into one payment.
Speaker C:You're going to drop down to about 30 to 30, 300 bucks.
Speaker C:So right there she was saving about 3,500 to 3,600 bucks a month.
Speaker C:So I said, don't go spend that, go put it in a savings account.
Speaker C:So here it is, I think three or four months later, she's calling her, she's, oh my God, Jeff, I can breathe again, I can sleep again.
Speaker C:I got money now.
Speaker C:I said, well, yeah, the money that was sleeping in your house is out now.
Speaker C:You're sleeping.
Speaker C:So that's the problem is people are trapped in this rate thing.
Speaker C:And that's just consumerism.
Speaker C:It's what the general public always wants to believe, that they got a great rate, they can't get rid of it.
Speaker C:But what they don't understand is you're paying 25, 30% on your credit cards, you're never paying those off.
Speaker C:And meanwhile, you know, all that equity in your house is just sitting there not doing anything.
Speaker C:And if you do, and I'm saying it's not for everybody.
Speaker C:If you said if she had less debt, if she was at like 10,000, it probably would not been worth it.
Speaker C:But when you look at the comparison of, you know, the money she's just the interest she's given out to the banks on 70, $80,000 is ridiculous.
Speaker C:It was just ridiculous.
Speaker A:She had a lot of credit card debt there.
Speaker C:That kind of interest in car payments, you're paying 6, 7% of these car payments now, you know, hopefully, you know, with this new big beautiful bill we're talking about, buying new cars will be an interest write off like it used to be right back in the 80s.
Speaker A:Well, it could be, you never know.
Speaker A:It's going to be good.
Speaker A:So what is, what is actually the current rate to buy a home?
Speaker A:What is it, Is it, is it below 7 now?
Speaker C:It can be.
Speaker C:And that's a loaded question.
Speaker C:And I think 30 years, if somebody goes, what's your rate?
Speaker C:I go 2%.
Speaker C:What do you mean, 2%?
Speaker C:Well, yeah, you could buy it down at 2% if you want.
Speaker C:If you're putting 50% down, I could probably do you at 6%.
Speaker C:If you're putting 2% down or 3% down, then you're probably going to be stuck at about seven, seven and a half.
Speaker C:If you do an fha, you can probably get about six and a half, six and a quarter.
Speaker C:But FHA comes with a little C called mortgage insurance, which, you know, if you combine the two of those, your rate may look like it's cheaper, but it's just the same as the conventional at 7%.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker C:So, and then, oh, well, I have a 480 FICO score.
Speaker C:Well, that's also going to hurt you, right, because we're not going to be able to get you that perfect eight paper credit.
Speaker C:So to answer your general question, if you're putting 20% down and you have a 740 FICO score, you're probably looking at 6.625, maybe 6.875 right now.
Speaker C:And that's without any buy downs.
Speaker C:But what's happening today in this market, sellers that are eager to sell their home, they're helping buyers buy their home.
Speaker C:And that's where having the right agent in place and the right loan, loan professional in place is always going to help you because you've got to be able to negotiate points.
Speaker C:I've been teaching this for years and years to not only the investors that I work with, but to even just agents that are brand new to the business.
Speaker C:Don't negotiate price.
Speaker C:Price doesn't help you with the payment as much as terms do.
Speaker C:So someone say, well, I want to buy a $300,000 home and I want to offer 270.
Speaker C:Okay, that's awesome.
Speaker C:You can have a $30,000 discount on your price, but $30,000 is only going to save you maybe $150 off your payment.
Speaker C:But if you take $30,000 and buy down your rate on a $300,000 mortgage, you're probably going to save about 250 to $300 on your payment.
Speaker C:So if monthly payment is your goal, then don't negotiate price.
Speaker C:Give them what they want.
Speaker C:Get the seller to contribute towards your closing costs, your discount points, get a lower rate.
Speaker C:And guess what?
Speaker C:Lo and behold, the appraisal comes in and their appraisals are 290.
Speaker C:Guess what the seller is going to have to do now?
Speaker C:They have to reduce their rate.
Speaker C:I mean, they got to reduce their price.
Speaker C:And they may not ask to lower their seller concessions, but they could.
Speaker C:But again, this is where I always say the appraisal is always going to negotiate price.
Speaker C:But anyone who's, you know, monthly payment is the most important thing.
Speaker C:The last thing you want to do on a house you absolutely love is go and say, well, let's see if we can lowball them.
Speaker C:Let's see if we can lowball them.
Speaker C:You spend most of your time, you know, putting offers in that don't get accepted and you really don't want the payment for when you're all said and done.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker C:But yeah, it's, it's you know, but right now, you know, today in Phoenix, just our market, Steve, sellers would rather pull a listing off the market than reduce their price.
Speaker A:Really?
Speaker C:They'd rather.
Speaker C:Yeah, because people are just testing the market.
Speaker C:Some people don't need to sell their house.
Speaker C:They're just, let's see what we can get.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:So a lot of buyers also have this.
Speaker C:I don't know why I'm a net guy.
Speaker C:What's the net number?
Speaker C:At the end of the day, most people are.
Speaker C:But there are some people that want to brag to their next door neighbor that they sold the house for X and don't want to say that they lowered the price or whatever.
Speaker C:So by asking them to get seller concessions, you can still say, yeah, I sold my house for $300,000, but I gave away 3% of $9,000 towards seller concessions.
Speaker C:They don't want to say that.
Speaker C:So you really sold it for 291, not for 300.
Speaker C:That net.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Anyhow.
Speaker A:Yeah, I digress.
Speaker A:It's all the way that it's presented.
Speaker C:Yeah, but I gotta.
Speaker C:The seller sells it to, you know how the seller.
Speaker C:What the seller wants is really what it wants, what the buyer needs.
Speaker C:And most buyers today, you know, especially with the medium home price here in Arizona somewhere, $450,000.
Speaker C:It's expensive for them to buy a home, but they could afford a home when five rates were 5%.
Speaker C:They can't afford a home when the rates are six and a half.
Speaker C:So go get the 5% or get the five and a half and get the buy down.
Speaker A:Yeah, and that's the key thing because you got to look at it.
Speaker A:It's not what you're looking at at the point of sale.
Speaker A:It's how are you going to be able to afford this down the road?
Speaker C:Exactly.
Speaker C:Well, that.
Speaker C:And guess what's going to happen.
Speaker C:You know, you and I both understand what's going to happen if you wait two years for rates to drop.
Speaker C:Do you think you're the only person in the world who's been waiting for rates to drop?
Speaker A:God, I was only praying.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker C:No, it's going to be like the, there's going to be like being at the Apple store when the new iPhone comes out.
Speaker C:Oh, everybody's coming and everybody wants that beautiful house that you couldn't buy, you could have bought, but you were waiting for rates to drop two years ago and now you got 16 other people putting an offer in on a Saturday afternoon on an open house.
Speaker C:And now you got to go 50,000 above purchase.
Speaker C:Price and think you just saved money by going, but worried about the rate because you think it's too expensive.
Speaker C:Well, guess what, you own that home now.
Speaker C:You can, as a phrase always says, you.
Speaker C:You marry the home and date the rate.
Speaker C:So if you own that home now, in two years from now, when the frenzy starts, you just lower your rate.
Speaker C:No one's going to outbid you for your own home.
Speaker C:But that's, again, that.
Speaker C:That's not the way the, you know, the commercialism of our country does deals with people.
Speaker C:They just kind of, kind of push this one narrative that I swear just makes them scared to buy.
Speaker A:Well, that's amazing.
Speaker A:All right, we're going to take a short break.
Speaker A:When we come back, we're going to have more great mortgage information.
Speaker A:And also, you know, obviously mortgages are tied into your financials, so it's a good idea to have someone like Jeff, you know, in your corner talking to you about what's going on and how it's going to help you if you look at things in the long term, not the short term.
Speaker A:So I want everybody to hang tight.
Speaker A:We're getting more stuff coming your way right here on Boxcar Universe.
Speaker B:Hi, I'm Sean with Mr. Electric, and I have a tip to help make your life better.
Speaker B:One important reminder is to call a qualified electrician.
Speaker B:When you have frequent problems with blowing fuses or tripping circuit breakers.
Speaker C:When you.
Speaker B:When a circuit breaker trips or a fuse blows, it's indicating that you have a problem with some other part of the circuit.
Speaker B:If your breaker trips more than once, you should have a qualified electrician come out and take a look at it.
Speaker B:Contrary to what may be acceptable, you really shouldn't try to continuously try to reset the breaker because there may be a problem somewhere else down the circuit and you could be causing a fire hazard.
Speaker B:There could be a loose connection or some other form of problem on the circuit.
Speaker B:And every time you reset, the circuit breaker could be causing a spark at the other end.
Speaker B:We recommend having a qualified electrician come out and check on the condition of the circuit and make sure that the circuit does not have any problems.
Speaker B:And it could just be a bad breaker also, but you definitely want to have a qualified electrician check that out.
Speaker B:To have someone come out from our team may only take a portion of a day, but it could potentially save you a lot of money or your life.
Speaker B:And that's just another way Mr. Electric has the power to make your life.
Speaker A:Better, govern the future of sustainability, sustainable lifestyle living with Boxcar Universe your go to source for cutting edge container home and container pool information.
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Speaker A: -: Speaker A:Listen, learn and build with us.
Speaker A:All right, and we are back and you're listening to Boxcar Universe and we are speaking with Jeff Cadlik from NEXA Mortgage.
Speaker A:And before we get back and talk a little more mortgage stuff, as they say, I want to, I have a great, great announcement that I want to make for everybody.
Speaker A:For those of you who might remember, we have done a lot of TV in the past and if you are a person that utilizes Roku, my show, the Image Home Improvement show, hosted by your yours truly, will be coming back to a Roku channel near you in the very, very near future.
Speaker A:And you may ask, well, what are we going to be talking about there?
Speaker A:We're going to be talking about renovations and different tricks and tips and DIY stuff and renovations and some of the stuff that you will see that Jeff and I have done in the past and everything from remodeling and dreaming, you know, to build your home the way you want to build it and, and do it the right way, which is the most important thing.
Speaker A:Because a lot I hate, I hate Jeff.
Speaker A:You know, I hate seeing people out there, they put something on their home and it looks like they just threw it on it and it doesn't flow, you know, I mean it just looks like somebody just like hung it on the house and it doesn't go the outside, the inside, you know.
Speaker A:So we're going to be talking a lot of energy trends, design trends and other different types of budget savvy transformations that we can help you with.
Speaker A:So I want everybody to stay tuned.
Speaker A:We'll make sure we make some announcements as we get a little bit closer.
Speaker A:But the Image Home Improvement show is coming to a Roku station near you.
Speaker A:So we're pretty excited about that.
Speaker A:But let's get back to a little bit talking about some of these things.
Speaker A:You know, Jeff, we, we, we didn't touch base on first time home buyers and people that are interested in, you know, are interested.
Speaker A:Well, you know, a lot of people offer incentives for first time home buyers in the purchase price.
Speaker A:But what about when it comes to mortgages Right.
Speaker C:Well, first time home buyers are definitely having a challenge and you just touched on one.
Speaker C:As far as the ADUs, some first time homebuyers, and this is, I think you and I discussed this yesterday, are now saying, well, I can't afford the house I want, but mom and dad have a nice big 2 acre parcel of land that has plenty of room and I want to put an ADU on it or I want to add a single family home on it.
Speaker C:So now the best part about is that it's much cheaper for them to build on an existing owned piece of land than to have to buy the property and the land.
Speaker C:So that's one way to do it.
Speaker C:It's just multigenerational families are buying homes now and doing it that way because it makes it easy for the kids.
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker C:The other thing is that there are programs out there.
Speaker C:You know, down payment assistance programs is definitely out there.
Speaker C:We have 1% down programs.
Speaker C:We even have some programs that are exact, that are attached to, you know, putting solar paneling on the top of your house.
Speaker C:And the program will literally give you 3.5% of your purchase price to buy the home.
Speaker C:And it finances the entire cost of the solar paneling plus the cost of the home.
Speaker C:And as you know, it will lower your utility bills dramatically.
Speaker C:And that's a program that's really catching some traction right now with first time home buyers because right now a lot of buyers just don't have that down payment they need.
Speaker C:But you pretty much got to stay within that 455, 50 range max price, which most even first time home buyers can't buy today.
Speaker C:But the other option is by doing those programs, combine that program with the seller contribution or seller contributed buy down programs where maybe we do a permanent buy down, which means if your normal rate was six and a half today, we buy it down to five and a half with the seller's money.
Speaker C:Or we do a three, two, one buy down.
Speaker C:Where your buy down.
Speaker C:When you say buy, that means your payment for the first year is 3% lower than the average rate.
Speaker C:So if you start at six and a half, you're at four, you're at three and a half.
Speaker C:Year, two, it goes to four and a half, or should say three and a half, four and a half, then five and a half and then you're back to six and a half where the original rate would be.
Speaker C:So that's how those buy downs work.
Speaker C:And sometimes that works because they're able to keep their payment low the first 12 months.
Speaker C:Some people are just coming into a new career where they have raises coming at them, overtime is coming at them, and by year two, the payment's going to be easier.
Speaker C:By year three, if, if you even get to year three and rates haven't dropped, you've got yourself an opportunity to hopefully wait for rates drop three years before your payment increases.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But now you have time to figure out your, your, your mortgage expenses, which is a great way to do it.
Speaker C:But there's down payment assistance programs out there all day long for people to use.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's so important too.
Speaker A:Now, one quick question.
Speaker A:Now, what about like when we talk about first time home buyers, is that, is there like, say for instance, say somebody owned a home, you know, five or 10 years ago and they've been renting ever since because of the way the market went and everything.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Are they considered a new home buyer again if they access this program?
Speaker C:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:That's a good question, Steve, because yeah, everyone's like, oh, I would have bought a home.
Speaker C: eductions or you don't have a: Speaker C:So first time homebuyer could be a little deceiving.
Speaker C:It could be a second, third and fourth time home buyer.
Speaker C:As long as you haven't paid a mortgage in three years, you are back in the market as a first time home buyer and can take advantage of those programs, whether it be the 3% down conventional or, you know, maybe an FHA down payment assistance program or even some of those 1% down programs or even USDA.
Speaker C:I mean, there's some parts of the country that, you know, when I say the country, we used to have them here in Arizona.
Speaker C:USDA loans are great because they're 100% financing and zero down.
Speaker C:But most, you know, they're usually sitting out there in rural areas.
Speaker C:I'm working on a few deals right now that are in Coolidge.
Speaker C:Superior, Arizona has them still.
Speaker C:So some realtors out there are really pushing those deals.
Speaker C:But they also their income, the income base.
Speaker C:So you can't make too much money to get those loans.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Now just as, as a, as a, just, you know, thought of this.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Going back at least probably 15, 10, 15 years.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:People used to get crazy over the, the mortgage plans that they had where they had a balloon payment.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker A:Because, because the rates were low for a specific amount of time.
Speaker A:But they know that that balloon payment always loomed ahead if you couldn't get, get, catch it in time before and get a, get a lower, negotiate a lower rate, are those, are those plans still out there, people still taking care of them or the people still bailing from them?
Speaker C:Yeah, they're not out there.
Speaker C: rank and the whole, you know,: Speaker C:People were getting these option ARM programs where they had this wonderful teaser rate of 1% for the first year and then come year two, you went from 1% to 6% and that dramatically changes your payment in the second year.
Speaker C:Sometimes that was what caused a lot of these foreclosures is those option on programs now.
Speaker C:It's, it's not, I never called it a balloon payment.
Speaker C:I think a balloon, a balloon payment to me is when you, you, you take out a loan where you say, okay, this loan is good, it's a 30 year mortgage doing five years.
Speaker C:So those, there are programs out there.
Speaker C:They don't let, they don't let primary residents do that.
Speaker C:Those are only for commercial and investment properties today.
Speaker C:But yeah, that was for, for the first time homebuyer.
Speaker C:Those were dangerous programs because they were letting these first time homebuyers use these programs, not thinking that hey, maybe we should qualify them based on the final rate next year that it jumps to.
Speaker C: uish and foreclosures back in: Speaker C:But yeah, those are non existence anymore.
Speaker C:Those, those are not called qualified mortgages is what we call it in the industry.
Speaker C:We have non qualified mortgages and qualified mortgages.
Speaker C:Now the non qualified mortgage that's getting a lot of traction, especially here in Phoenix and also in other parts of the country.
Speaker C:Right now you cannot buy your primary residence with, but you can buy your investment properties with.
Speaker C:And they are called DSCR loans.
Speaker C:So basically what they're doing is it's a debt service loan that basically calculates that as long as the monthly payment can cover the mortgage payment, they'll qualify you.
Speaker C:So it's more of an asset based loan than a debt service loan.
Speaker C:So those are great loans for investors, but people who want to buy their own primary can't be using those.
Speaker C:And those are considered non qualified mortgages.
Speaker C:They don't fall under the same guys as the, the, the federal mortgages like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, fha, Virginia, usda, where you have to qualify to buy, you have to be vetted very thoroughly in order to get approved for a Mortgage versus the good old days when you needed a heartbeat and you know, at least one credit score and they'd give you 105% financing to buy a new home.
Speaker A:Yeah, those were the good old days.
Speaker C:And were they good?
Speaker C:I don't know if they were good.
Speaker A:Well, yeah, when they were good, when you first looked at him.
Speaker A:But they could, they came, could come back to bite you really bad.
Speaker C:Yeah, they were good for the loan officers.
Speaker C:But that's what, that's what forced me into the flipping business, Steve, for five years.
Speaker A:Yeah, I mean, you know.
Speaker C:But nobody, nobody could afford, nobody could afford their homes anymore.
Speaker C:So I was, you know, with a bunch of capitalists buying, buying back all those foreclosures.
Speaker C:Unfortunately, luckily none of them are loans.
Speaker C:I did, but I, I was always against that option on loan.
Speaker C:Even back then.
Speaker C:I just, we all knew it was just, it was, it was just a, you know, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
Speaker C:It was, it was, some of these people were getting loans, they were literally a cold away from missing their mortgage payment because they were hourly and if they missed a week they didn't get paid.
Speaker C:And now we're done.
Speaker C:Yeah, it was ugly.
Speaker A:It was ugly, ugly.
Speaker A:One quick thing before we wrap up.
Speaker A:Do you see more and more, more homes going to foreclosure or is it for the time being, is it relatively stable?
Speaker C:You know, I haven't seen much.
Speaker C:I mean, it's, it's ticked up a little bit.
Speaker C:I think the biggest challenge we have in this country right now is credit card debt.
Speaker C: erence between what we saw in: Speaker C:Everyone has, everybody who's purchased their primary home over the last decade or more has qualified.
Speaker C:They had jobs, they had good credit, they had skin in the game.
Speaker C:They put money into the house.
Speaker C:So if you put 20, 20, $30,000 or even 20, 30% into a house, you're not going to walk away from your money.
Speaker C:Secondly, we don't have prices dropping like a rock.
Speaker C:So most people in America right now have a ton of equity in their house.
Speaker C:So worst case scenario, they can do a HELOC.
Speaker C:And some of these HELOCs we have today take less than three to five days to fund and they can go online with AI technology and get approved within hours.
Speaker C:So if the lack of better word, the shit hits the fan.
Speaker C:There's options out there, but if the equity disappears, then of course Foreclosures will start.
Speaker C:But most people, investors are buying these things.
Speaker C:There's so many investors out there right now that are just, you know, putting, putting offers on homes.
Speaker C:I myself am one of them.
Speaker C:You know, I find a home, I'll put an offer on it, and we'll get people out of their foreclosures pretty quick, and they'll get three or four offers.
Speaker C:One of the really cool things we should have talked a little more about this is there are programs out there with the, with a group that I'm working with.
Speaker C:They will literally buy your house.
Speaker C:They'll let, they send their team in to rehab it, and then they'll sell the house.
Speaker C:And when they sell the house, they're sharing the profits from the rehab, from the sale of the house from some of these groups.
Speaker C:So, you know, that's when you talk about foreclosures.
Speaker C:That's why I don't foresee them ever being where we had them back in the day.
Speaker C:And, you know, knock on wood.
Speaker C:But, you know, that's, that's a model that's out there now.
Speaker C:You know, I buy homes, cash.
Speaker C:You know, call me the, you know, the home buyer.
Speaker C:I mean, there's all sorts of investors out there that have realized that people don't want to let their home go for a song and a dance anymore.
Speaker C:Especially when you have, like, you know, half a million dollars in equity in it.
Speaker C:But they're willing to say, hey, you know, we'll let you keep 400, we keep 100, and we'll fix it up for you.
Speaker C:So that's a, that's a product that's fairly new.
Speaker C:I mean, I, I've been working with a handful of investors myself, two or three of them right now.
Speaker C:And yeah, that's, that's the, that's the M.O.
Speaker C:so Folkwell foreclosures.
Speaker C:I don't see it happening as far as the prices go.
Speaker C:You know, prices keep rising.
Speaker C:We saw a little bit of a dip, but that's typical for summer.
Speaker C:But, you know, prices are.
Speaker C:There's not enough inventory in this country right now.
Speaker C:So it's a, it's just a simple Economics 101 supply and demand issue.
Speaker A:Well, so that means.
Speaker A:That's kind of discouraging.
Speaker A:That means we won't have any more Tuesdays down in front of city hall bidding on property like we used to.
Speaker C:Yeah, well, this time I'm going to be the guy that sells the picks and shovels instead of being the guy that's buying them.
Speaker C:I'll be down there Selling the hot dogs in my.
Speaker C:In my food.
Speaker C:My food vending van or machine, whatever the hell.
Speaker C:Do you remember that, man?
Speaker C:I remember that we had hot dog concession stands.
Speaker C:We had food trucks down there.
Speaker C:And when we first started doing that, there was like six of us.
Speaker C: By the time we got to: Speaker A:I know, I know.
Speaker A:That's when our.
Speaker A:Our good.
Speaker A:Our good friend decided that he's gonna do a TV show.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:What was that show called?
Speaker C:Oh, no, I can't remember.
Speaker A:I can't remember either.
Speaker A:I know what it is.
Speaker A:I was just.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:The memory escapes me, though.
Speaker A:I keep seeing his face on the billboards all over Phoenix, though.
Speaker A:I'll buy your home.
Speaker A:No, you know, nothing.
Speaker A:Nothing down.
Speaker A:No inspection, no repair costs, you know?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Property wars.
Speaker A:Property wars.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:That was a great show.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:My.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:When I had actually made friends with one.
Speaker A:You remember the.
Speaker A:The lady investor, Tara Dondas?
Speaker A:She was the only.
Speaker A:She was the only lady that was there that gave.
Speaker C:See the red hat lady, the blue hat?
Speaker C:She had a red hat.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Or a red hat every day or something.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, I heard.
Speaker C:Heard about her.
Speaker C:I never saw.
Speaker A:Yeah, she was actually a co host.
Speaker A:Guest on my show.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah?
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:About two years ago.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So she's really good.
Speaker A:She's actually doing realtor work now.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker C:Well, you know.
Speaker C:Well, you know, the story between Doug and I, that was the whole.
Speaker C:That was how I got pulled into it, man.
Speaker C:Was it a great ride?
Speaker C:Not for the.
Speaker C:Not for those that were losing their homes.
Speaker C:I mean, it was pretty sad, but yes, it was.
Speaker C:And like I've told you, I. I probably flipped about 120 plus homes back in those days.
Speaker C:Now that's for you.
Speaker C:And I, we.
Speaker C:We disconnected for a couple years and then we reconnected somewhere and I was like, holy crap, dude, I need a contractor.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah, Help me out, man.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:All right, Jeff, tell our listeners how they can contact you.
Speaker C:It's really easy.
Speaker C:I always answer my phone.
Speaker C:I'm old school.
Speaker C:But you can text me too.
Speaker C:Yeah, my son will pick those up for me.
Speaker C:I'm kidding.
Speaker C: -: Speaker C:I will always return your phone call within 24 hours.
Speaker C:If not, then you might have to call the hospitals in the area because that's not my M.O.
Speaker C:and if you want to just check me out, you can go to J, E F, F K A d l e c dot com.
Speaker C:Which is my LinkedIn site.
Speaker C:And then I also have a retail site called LowRates.
Speaker C:Fast closings dot com.
Speaker C:That's LowRatesFastClosings dot com.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:And if.
Speaker A:If you call Jeff and you get his voicemail, he.
Speaker A:He could be, you know, on a racquetball court.
Speaker A:It's just.
Speaker A:But he will.
Speaker A:But he will get back to you.
Speaker C:Yeah, usually.
Speaker C:Usually when I walk out of the gym, because they always have bad cell service in those damn courts.
Speaker A:It's like going to Home Depot.
Speaker A:You can't.
Speaker A:You mean it's like.
Speaker A:It's like a stone cage.
Speaker A:You can't make outbound calls in Home Depot.
Speaker C:That's because they don't want you to check the pricing on Amazon.
Speaker C:They know what reason they shut that.
Speaker A:Man.
Speaker A:Either that.
Speaker A:Either that or Lowe's.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:No, they want.
Speaker C:They don't want you.
Speaker C:They say it's because of the building, but it's like you have to step outside and check all the prices.
Speaker C:Then you can go back in and buy.
Speaker A:True.
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:All right, Jeff, thanks so much for being here again and some great information for all our listeners.
Speaker A:And we'll be definitely checking NEXA Mortgage out.
Speaker C:All right, buddy, good chat.
Speaker C:All right, you too, soon.
Speaker A:Take care.
Speaker A:All right, and thanks for listening to all our Boxcar Universe followers.
Speaker A:You remember, we are your source for cutting edge information on remodeling, renovations, and also let us build your dream container home or container pool or adu.
Speaker A: -: Speaker A:That's 18 triple three, boxcar.
Speaker A:And boxcar universe can be heard weekly on any podcast player.
Speaker A:And always remember, let us elevate your sustainable lifestyle.
Speaker A:See you next time on Boxcar Universe.
Speaker C:You're a great American.
Speaker B:I love you, Sam.
