Kelli Green: 0:02

Welcome to another episode of the Live Better podcast, which is proudly presented by Centric. I’m your host, kelly Green, and today we are jumping into all things first-time home buying opportunities. We will be joined by our very own Ashley Owens, who is our vice president of our mortgage department right here at Centric. She will share tips to make homeownership a reality, as well as the products that are offered right here at Centric. So whether you’ve been a loyal listener or you’re joining us for the very first time, prepare to dive into homeownership and how Centric can walk side by side you on this journey. So I want to welcome our listeners to another episode of the Live Better podcast, and today we are joined by our very own Ashley Owens. She is Centric’s Vice President of Mortgage. But before we get started and get going, I want you to tell all of our listeners a little bit about yourself and what you really do here at Centric.

Ashley Owens: 0:55

Absolutely. I am Ashley Owens and I have several years of experience as a mortgage loan originator, specializing in guiding our members through the application process, assessing their financial situations and securing appropriate loans for their needs. I have a strong understanding of various loan types and interest rates. I’m committed to providing excellent Centric service by helping our members achieve their financial goals.

Kelli Green: 1:21

Well, and I will tell you this, ashley, I’ve been one of those folks that you’ve helped over the years. You know, ashley, you and I have worked together. You’ve been here at Centric for how many years? 16 years, 16 years, yeah. So we’ve worked together, almost 12 of those 16. And you’ve taken us through two of the home building processes. And I’m telling you, you make us all feel right at ease because you just answer questions.

Ashley Owens: 1:45

Thank you, and that’s what we’re here for to answer your questions and hear for when you are needed.

Kelli Green: 1:49

Yes, and what I love about it too, is that you don’t think any question is silly. No, you understand yourself, because you’ve been a homebuyer before. You know all the paperwork that goes into it and you get it.

Ashley Owens: 2:03

You understand, you’ve been there where we are Right, and that’s what we’re here for, because you don’t do this every day. This is not your baby, this is our baby and this is what we do every day. So, no, no question is a silly questions, any information that you don’t understand. We are here to answer your questions and help you along the way, because it is definitely a journey, and help you along the way because it is definitely a journey.

Kelli Green: 2:24

It is certainly a journey and I just thank you because you and your team, they’re always just a phone call away. An email, no question is too small or too wild outlandish, you know, and some of the things, too, that I’d love to talk about. Today. Our focus is really on first-time home buying, but one of the things I enjoy so much that you guys do you work hand-in-hand with our local real estate agents and really helping your members also, if you know what their budget is and help them find a home Right. What’s probably your favorite part of the whole process when you’re serving our members and finding the home of their dreams?

Ashley Owens: 3:02

I think my favorite part is helping someone that may have thought that they were not ready as far as financially or credit wise in order to get them a home and them not knowing the ins and outs, and us having the ability to give them that information, able to give them financial counseling to get them to where they need to be and achieve a home ownership goal, because that’s the American dream to have a home.

Kelli Green: 3:30

That’s right. And to get you to do that, to be able to say, hey, you know, you slide those keys across the table. You know, to people that’s a I mean talk about emotion.

Ashley Owens: 3:40

That’s a great achievement and great investment to have as well, I love it.

Kelli Green: 3:44

I love it. I love that you and your team get to be a part of that. So something that we know a lot of financial institutions don’t necessarily offer here at Centric or here in our community. But at Centric we really focus on first-time homebuyers or even getting people jump-started to understand that they can become a homeowner. So talk a little bit with us. If you don’t mind our first-time homebuyer program. Tell us a little bit about that.

Ashley Owens: 4:14

Well, we do offer a first-time homebuyer here at Centric and I have been assisting our first-time homebuyers, assisting with their homebuyer process for some time now, since we jump-started the program. It is a personalized product that we have here at Centric where we offer 100% financing on a property that you may find. It can be a site-built home or it can be mobile home and land the great part about it that there is no PMI on this product. So if you were to look at a USDA loan where they do 100% financing, you will in fact have to pay PMI and with their product you have to be in a certain area. We don’t limit the area that you can be in to purchase a home. We just want it to be move-in ready.

Kelli Green: 5:03

So let me ask you this you mentioned the PMI through USDA For all of our listeners. What is PMI?

Ashley Owens: 5:11

PMI is private mortgage insurance. On conventional loans it is required PMI if the down payment is less than 20%. So for our first-time homebuyer loans we did not require PMI insurance on our loans. Even though you’re not financing 80% of the value of the property, we are financing 100% of the value of the property.

Kelli Green: 5:33

Wow. So this program I mean it makes such a difference for folks, I mean especially when they’re thinking about whether they needed a down payment and the closing costs. There’s so many things with this first-time homebuyer program that they don’t have to worry about.

Ashley Owens: 5:47

That is exactly right. They just need to worry about them loving the house, budgeting for the house, getting pre-qualified for the house and making sure that they are definitely in love with the house.

Kelli Green: 5:58

Absolutely, because when you love it, you’re most apt to what Pay for it. Right, that’s right. I love that. I think that’s outstanding. And you know some of the things, too, with our first-time homebuyer program, because it is so unique to this area. We’re one of very few financial institutions that offers this to our members and even to our community. I’m sure that you sit down and you talk about this opportunity with people who are not even members.

Ashley Owens: 6:24

Yes, we do. We have a lot of non-members that come in and just want to know hey, what’s the First Time Homebuyer program all about? I heard about it, so tell me a little bit more about it. So that’s when we have the opportunity to sit down with even non-members and not only tell them about our mortgage products but about our other products that we offer here at Centric, and they are very much enjoying what we have to offer here.

Kelli Green: 6:48

I love it. So kind of take us through this, okay, Because I’m like a visual learner a lot of times and then I like to see it and then I would love an advocate like you, who’s an expert in all things mortgage, to kind of walk us through it. So I come in, sit in your office or I phone you up. What is something that I share with you? Hey, I’m ready to buy a house, but I’ve never been a homeowner before. So what do you? What’s the next step there for us?

Ashley Owens: 7:15

Well, the next step is very simple. Come talk to a loan officer here at Centric. We make the process very simple for them, even if they do not know if they’re ready. We have certified financial counselors in the mortgage department that are here and ready to provide this free service to our members. We obtain a tri-merge credit report for our members. We can also look at a softball credit report. If they think that, hey, I don’t want my credit pool, I don’t know if I’m ready or not, we can look at the softball credit report and it gives us detailed information, including scores, trade line history. We check credit, we address any errors on the credit report.

Ashley Owens: 8:07

A member may need to pay off their debt, may not need to pay off debt. They may need to reduce outstanding debt, avoid new credit. A pre-qualification process started and then you can start looking for a home, because we never want our members to go out and look for a home first and then come back and say, hey, I found this wonderful home that I’m interested in, and then it may be some things on their credit report that they may need to fix or they’re not in budget for it right now and they falling in love with this house. I think the number one thing would be absolutely pre-qualification process. Talk with a loan officer that you’re comfortable with to go over the process, go over your options that you have.

Kelli Green: 8:47

So that pre-qualification process, you’re also sharing with them what they can afford based upon their income and they’re already their expenses that they’re committed to from what you found on that credit report that is correct.

Ashley Owens: 9:00

We go over their expenses, we go over their budget, what they’re comfortable paying, because you do have to put into play that it’s not always just the price of the home. You have to account for homeowners insurance, you have to account for property taxes, you have to account for other expenses that are associated with purchasing a home, home inspection, and then, even after you buy the home, you have to prepare for life. You know life happens and whether your family is expanding for when the kids go to school or things that may break in the home, so you do have to prepare for that. Just because we say, hey, you can be approved for a $500,000 house, do you want to max yourself out nine times out of 10? No, I would not recommend maxing your loan amount or your buying ability out, because you do have to prepare for, hey, your child is going to turn 16 one day. So you do have to prepare for those things in life that will happen, the what ifs, that’s right, and we don’t know what that looks like, do not know.

Kelli Green: 10:04

It would be so nice, you know, if the Lord would just be like hey, heads up, here’s some things that are going to be shaken up, you know, but it doesn’t necessarily work that way. But I love that you’ve mentioned these things getting that pre-qualification that sets you up for success so that you’re not you know what budget you can afford for you and your family and, excuse me, you know exactly as far as what you can afford and where to go and set your a lot of these online home shopping websites and so forth. You can set your budget, what’s your minimum and what’s your maximum that you’re willing to spend on a home, and it kind of keeps you within that budget so you’re not seeing anything that’s outside of that. You know realm and set yourself up for that Cause you just why? Why do that to yourself, right, right, and I love that.

Kelli Green: 10:50

You mentioned too, not only that. You know something to think about with homeowners is, you know, are you going to say, okay, well, I’ve got this new home, now am I going to go and furnish it with all these things and deplete your savings or bring all new dent, go and get new furniture and you get out a small loan for it. You know it’s just not. You’re not setting yourself up in the right path.

Ashley Owens: 11:10

No, you are not. I think when you’re looking to purchase a home, you definitely should fade. Even if you are not required to put down a down payment, that little nest egg helps for when you do want to buy new furniture or when you know you may need to paint something or repair something in your house.

Kelli Green: 11:27

So there is a lot that goes into when you purchase a home so for for you to pull either the full credit report or a softball. What is needed from the member?

Ashley Owens: 11:38

the documents that we would need for the member to pull a soft full credit report or a soft pull. What is needed from the member, the documents that we would need for the member to pull a soft pull or a hard pull would be just their identification and an authorization for us to pull that information and go over that with them. That’s very easy. That is very easy, very simple, and most people have that information on their phone.

Kelli Green: 11:55

That’s right, and we take those things with us everywhere we go.

Ashley Owens: 11:59

That is correct.

Kelli Green: 12:01

Well, and so even talking about these, you know, I mean I know that we have multiple opportunities for folks to become homeowners, but I really just want us to lean in today about first-time home buying and how simple it is. That’s what I think it’s just. There’s this myth that’s out there. People really think that this is so much harder than what it really is. That’s what I think it’s just. There’s this myth that’s out there. People really think that this is so much harder than what it really is. And you come in, you can visit to any of our locations. We have someone that you can speak with in every market that we have. You can also visit them, too, on by email or by phone, and we can even conduct that credit report even in that regard. So I mean, I think it’s just so simple. We kind of take it, take the guesswork out for you.

Ashley Owens: 12:42

We do. We take the guesswork out for you, and some people are more technology or, you know, tech savvy, as I would say and we have the ability that we can even do a Zoom call and go over those documents with them. So we do have different avenues and ways. Some people are more hands-on and one-on-one and want to come into the office, and we welcome that. We love to see our members come into the office and go over their documents, go over their credit report and what they should and should not do. We can do it online, we can do it over the phone and if we don’t have a loan officer at a center, we will travel to that center to meet the member. So we do have different avenues to go over this product with our members and other options that they may have.

Kelli Green: 13:32

I love it Well, and so just to break this down very easy for everyone so when you come in and or even you’re talking with somebody, you go through this, you talk through, maybe even create a budget to see where you are financially. And if you take a peek and you’re getting pre-qualified meaning hey, this is something that we know, that you’re being pre-qualified based on your income and your expenses If not say, for example, if you’re not necessarily pre-qualified today, your team actually walks them through ways in which that, hey, here’s some things you might want to eliminate. Maybe you want to get caught up on. Take us through a little bit about that If it’s somebody that you’ve retrieved that credit report and you think we’ve got some things we need to work on.

Ashley Owens: 14:11

We have had those instances before and later on down the line they have been able to achieve their goal of buying a house. If they come in, we pull the credit report, we are able to do financial counseling to them to say, hey, you may need to pay off some debt, you may need we create a plan for them. Basically, and if they follow the plan of and it’s different for everybody their plan will be different. So some people may need to pay off some debt, some people may need to get rid of some things on their credit report. Some people may be needing just times, because sometimes patience is the key to repairing your credit. We are just here to help them do whatever it needs to do for them to build or buy a house. Sometimes limit knowing your limits as a budget patience finding the right property may take time. Sometimes it’s a long-term project that we have to work on. It may take six months or longer. Sometimes it only takes three months.

Kelli Green: 15:14

Yeah.

Ashley Owens: 15:16

It just depends on the member, what they need and what is on their credit report. So, and sometimes it’s just them jumping in and purchasing a home.

Kelli Green: 15:27

That’s right, it just varies, it does vary, but the thing is, I love so much about this and I’m telling you because I not only am an employee here at Centric, but I’ve also gone through this process with you before and you educate us on being aware of the things that are right, and you educate us on things that say, hey, maybe not, this isn’t really scary right now, but it could be something that could turn into an extra expense, right? So you really want to get these things under control and I appreciate your team sharing that. So, going back over this, if you’re ready, you get pre-qualified from Ashley or her team and all you’re doing now is you go find a home. You’ve got your pre-qualification letter. You provide that to your real estate agent.

Ashley Owens: 16:07

That’s right letter. You provide that to your real estate agent. That’s right Pre-qualification process. We provide that to them or provide it to their agent. They are on the road for searching for a home. They can provide an offer on the home. Once they get an accepted offer, they will provide that information back to us. We will complete the process, the application, with any missing information that we may have for their address, for the cost of the home, down payment no down payment, closing costs.

Ashley Owens: 16:36

The lender processes the application. We send it over to underwriting. We get conditional approval. Once we get that information back, the underwriter basically is asking for additional information. We gather that information and in this process the appraisal is being done. The title work is being done on the property to make sure there are no judgments or liens on the property, that you have clear title on the property.

Ashley Owens: 17:03

Once we get the appraisal back, that states hey, your house appraises for what they are in fact selling it to you for, or it may appraise for more, which is definitely a plus. We are ready to schedule closing issue, a closing disclosure, and we are ready to go to the moving table and then we are ready to go to the clothing table. We are, and then you’re ready to move in after you sign all your documents. Um, it may sound like a lengthy process, but, uh, once you get into it and once you provide documents to your lender in a timely manner, the process goes really, really smooth. Oh, yeah, um, and as long as you’re comfortable with your realtor, as long as you’re comfortable with your lender that you’re able to talk to them um, the process will go very smoothly for you.

Kelli Green: 17:52

And see the thing I love about it. You said you bring it all the way back to the closing table. You’re right there with them, yes, as they’re signing those documents, getting those keys in their hand. You are right there with a member from the very beginning To the very end. So, ashley, I just want to tell you one as a co-worker, but also as a friend, someone who has walked me through this I just want to tell you thank you so much for this time today. I appreciate what you and your team do for all of our members. It is amazing. This program has really been incredibly beneficial for our credit union but, more importantly, for our overall areas that we serve, and so I just thank you so much for what you guys do day in and day out. Thank you.

Ashley Owens: 18:34

We are happy to be here to help members and non-members here of the community. Our first time product, first time home buyer product, is a really great product that we offer here and that can benefit a lot of members that we have coming into the center to get pre-qualified for a home and it may not be your time right now, or you may find a home home that you really really want, but it may not be what you need at this time, so we can definitely get you into a home and later on it may be a bigger home or something that you fell in love with initially. So let us help educate you and help you understand the entire home buying process, establish a realistic budget that leaves you room when life happens and plan for the unexpected. I love it. Thank you so much for being here today.

Kelli Green: 19:27

Thank you for having me. So that brings us to the end of the episode of the Live Better podcast. We hope you found today’s conversation about our journey to first-time home buying and home ownership to be something that is both enlightening and valuable In the world of personal finance. Knowledge is your greatest asset and Centric remains your steadfast partner in that journey. If this episode resonated with you, we kindly ask you to show your support. Please hit the subscribe button, share this episode with your friends and family and take a moment to leave us a review. Your input is invaluable in shaping the content that addresses your financial interests and needs. And, of course, let’s stay connected on social media. You can find us on Facebook, at CentricFCU, and on all other platforms under MyCentric. Stay in the loop regarding the latest financial insights and resources tailored to your unique financial aspirations. Until our next episode, always remember that Centric is by your side as you navigate your financial journey. Thank you for tuning into the Live Better podcast.