Dustin Ryan Walker from Ross Mortgage joins us today. Dustin's insights into the current housing market shed light on the factors affecting housing prices and inventory shortages. The pandemic, work shortages in shipping, and a growing population have all contributed to the current situation. The idea of a housing bubble or collapse is dispelled, and we touch on the impact of factors like Airbnb and the growth of wealth among property investors.
Did you know there's a "do not call list" for solicitors that get your information and call you as soon as you inquire about a mortgage? There's an effort to outlaw this practice, but for now, Dustin tells us how to opt out.
The conversation then delves into different mortgage options, including USDA loans with 0% down for first-time homeowners and VA loans. Dustin emphasizes the importance of choosing the right lender and building a strong team, including a reliable realtor.
Dustin's explanation of the "household blended rate" highlights how it considers various factors in a mortgage decision.
In their spare time, Dustin enjoys tending to his home, gardening, and golfing, while Lisa thrives in helping clients find their dream homes.
To reach Dustin, find him online at https://www.rossmortgage.com/dustin-ryan-walker/ or call his cell, which he gives at the end of the podcast.
Connect with our hosts:
Trish Carruth from The Personal Jeweler - https://www.thepersonaljeweler.com/
Jon Gay from JAG in Detroit Podcasts - http://www.jagindetroit.com/
Lisa Bibbee from Keller Williams - http://soldbylisab.com/
Jon
Welcome into The ROCC Pod presented by the Royal Oak Michigan Chamber of Commerce. I am Jon Gay from Jag in Detroit Podcasts.
Lisa
I'm Lisa Bibbee, your neighborhood realtor with Keller Williams advantage.
Jon
And shout out to our third co host, Trish Carruth, not able to join us on this recording. But I'm very excited for today's guest. He is Dustin Ryan Walker of Ross Mortgage, somebody who has been so enthusiastic to come on to the show and I'm so glad we finally have you. Welcome.
Dustin
Well, thank you for having me. Happy to be here.
Jon
Dustin, give us a little bit about your backstory and how you got to where you are now.
Dustin
Sure. So, before I got into the mortgage industry, I actually spent over 15 years in higher end hospitality management, so hotels, higher end restaurants, and really found that I needed to do more, so more for my family, more life work balance. And then also I had reached kind of my cap at where I was going to be financially, and I really wanted to expand and use the skills that I've grown in that industry and my love for math and apply it somewhere else. Here I am.
Lisa
You're in the perfect job.
Dustin
Yeah.
Lisa
Let's talk about how we got here, everybody. The talk of the tow
n is talking about rates and rate hikes.
Dustin
Sure.
Lisa
Market and global pressures that are affecting housing prices and inventory shortage.
Dustin
Yeah, that's what you hear. Another topic that I hear, all the time, and I'm sure you hear this too, Lisa, is you hear this word collapse, right? Or bubble.
Lisa
Oh, yeah. That's not going to happen.
Dustin
Not going to happen. So I know that I'm preaching to the choir with this one, but there are a lot of market factors that have got us where we're at today. Everything from the pandemic that created a lot of work shortages in shipping, right? So in China, they had a super, super hard lockdown, a lot of materials, a lot of builders stopped building new housing. Of course our population is growing. There are more millennials, more Gen Z'ers that are out in the workforce that want to move out of their parents basement.
Dustin
So there's a lot of people looking for housing, and we've never seen a slow down of building like we've had in the last ten years.
Lisa
There's one other factor a lot of people aren't talking about. It's Air BnB. That did not exist back in 2008. That's when it actually started. So not only Air BnB, but you have to think about wealth grows and wealth compounds itself. So you have investors that back in 2008 might have only had one or two investment properties. Well, right now they could be sitting on anywhere from ten to 100 properties.
Lisa
So you've got so many more people out there purchasing, not just people who are looking for their primary residence.
Dustin
You're so right. And if we think about over the last 30 months or so, the incredible amount of equity. I know that you and I have talked about this before that has grown in people's homes. People are accessing that. And that was one of the key factors in inflation, is people were told, hey, you got all this equity in your house. Go out, buy investment properties, invest in different markets, and take the money out of your home.
Dustin
There was a lot of money in the market, right? With all of the Fed putting their funds into the bond market and making rates super cheap. Basically, money was super cheap for way too long. There's too much of it, and we are seeing the effects of that. It's kind of boomeranging the other way. They're digging their heels in until we hit that 2% inflation, and we're still hovering just over 3%. So it's going to be a little bit, I think, before we see rates come down to where people feel comfortable. There's still that sticker shock.
Lisa
Yeah. Well, let's talk about that. With this unprecedented amount of equity that people have in their homes, one option for them are HELOCs.
Jon
Hang on, let me jump in as a layperson here, because I know you two could go on and on all day. Home equity line of credit. I want to make sure I have that right, right?
Lisa
Yes.
Dustin
We'll talk about DTI. LTV all the acronyms, right? Alphabet soup.
Lisa
Hey, guess what? We have professionals here, so when that alphabet soup comes out and you're unclear, give us a call. We'll make sure you understand every single acronym.
Jon
Excellent. And for now, I'm the stand in for the listener. So go ahead with your HELOC question, Lisa.
Dustin
I love that. we can't leave Jon in the corner, right?
Jon
Nobody puts me in a corner.
Dustin
Nobody puts Jon in the corner. HELOCs. Great question. So with all of this equity that you have, you can access that. People do it for all sorts of reasons, whether that's to consolidate debt or to do home improvements. So there are a lot of options, not just HELOCs, and talk to a mortgage professional about all the options that are best for you and your family and what your goals are.
Jon
So, full disclosure, Dustin sent us a list of things that we might cover today, and I'm really curious about this opting out of credit trigger calls. It's kind of like the do not call is for telemarketers. How does this piece of it work?
Dustin
When somebody inquires about a mortgage, all of a sudden their phone starts to ring, right? There wasn't a data breach. There wasn't a leak. Unfortunately, the credit bureaus have found a new way of creating revenue, and that is to sell the facts that you had your credit report looked at by a mortgage company to other mortgage companies that want to buy that information. It's currently being debated right now in the US House to become illegal. So it's actually, enough people have said this is not quite fair for people to they're just inquiring about a mortgage and their phone should not ring off the hook. And when I say 50 to 125 times in a four day period, I'm not exaggerating. That's what our clients have told us.
Dustin
So there is a way that you can opt out of that.
Lisa
Yeah. Dustin, we want to hear because this is a serious problem and everybody wants to know how to opt out.
Dustin
Even if you're on the Do Not Call registry that is out there, it does not apply, unfortunately, to this type of call. So if you're interested, you can go to optoutprescreen.com. And it takes a couple of days. Sometimes, I've heard actually sometimes a couple of weeks for it to kick in. So if you're hearing this now, even if you don't have plans to get a mortgage in the next month or so, the opt out feature is good for five years.
Lisa
Oh, I'm signing up today.
Dustin
Yeah, sign up today. Make sure that you get ahead of that, because the last thing you want is to have some fast talker, get you on the phone. I'm telling you, there are people that make it sound like they're working down the hall from the guy that you just got off the phone with yesterday at your credit union or your mortgage broker. And it's in a very shadier side of the gray in terms of legality. And so they're just trying to make it black and white that this is just not acceptable and a breach of your privacy.
Lisa
And not only that, it's after you purchase the home and you close on the home, you'll get all kinds of unsolicited fraudulent mail that comes your way. And it's important that you have a loan officer like Dustin that you can pick up the phone and say, Is this legitimate?
Dustin
100%. Yeah.
Lisa
Unfortunately, that's the world we live in, and we want to take every step possible to keep you all informed. So when you do purchase that home, you're not getting spammed. But when it does happen, we want to be those resources there that you can call and find out whether it's legitimate or not.
Dustin
100%.
Lisa
So there are a lot of different types of mortgages, and I know we can't really talk about which one's best for the family because it's based on so much information. And so many factors. But there are things like 30 year and 15 year, and ARMs. Can you give us a quick recap on some of these programs that are available?
Dustin
Absolutely. So this is why it's so crucial for you to have somebody that you trust, that you're inquiring for your mortgage. It shouldn't just be some phone bank that you call. It needs to be somebody that's referred to you by somebody that you trust and that you trust because there are so many options. What's right for your family? Is it going to be a long term lower payment, like a 30 year? Is it going to be a shorter term?
Dustin
Knocking it out quickly with a 15 year? There are so many factors. And so with the market right now, what would typically be the case in terms of the interest rates on these things are not the case right now. Normally, the 15 year would be a way lower interest rate than a 30 year. And they're very similar right now, and there are a lot of market factors that go into that. So having somebody explain it to you is super important because like you mentioned, there are a million different scenarios for each family and a million scenarios of what you're trying to do with your money, do with your home.
Dustin
And it is not something you can Google.
Jon
Yeah, there you go.
Lisa
On that note, I'm going to give you guys a pro tip right here. This is coming from a Realtor. I sell houses, I work with sellers, and oftentimes when I put a house up for sale, we're getting multiple offers in when those multiple offers come in in highly competitive situations, it's not just about the price, not just about the terms, it's who the lender is. We need to make sure we can get them on the phone, have the conversations, get this to the closing table.
Lisa
There are so many factors here that it is important on who you guys pick as your lender.
Jon
Absolutely.
Dustin
Yeah. And not only that, but I'll speak to what I know about people that have worked with Lisa. too, is that having that relationship between your realtor, whether you're listing your house or whether you're trying to find the right home for you and your family and lease as your buying agent, there are a lot of relationships that need to be on point. And one of those, like you mentioned, is between the lender and the Realtor as well to make sure that we're in great communication, that if we need to make a decision,
Dustin
Sunday Night 08:30 PM, you got people that are in your court trying to get you that house.
Lisa
Yes. And people often think it's just them buying the house and their Realtor. And the fact of the matter is, we've got lenders, title companies, assistants. I mean, sometimes it can be 20 plus people all put together that we have to coordinate.
Dustin
Absolutely. Yeah.
Lisa
So it is imperative that you have a good team behind you and we'll get you that home.
Dustin
There you go.
Jon
Let me jump in again. As a layperson. I feel like the two of you could do this podcast yourselves. You don't need me at all.
Lisa
We need you, Jon.
Dustin
We need you, Jon.
Jon
Dustin, I've heard about a household blended rate. Lisa asked you about some of the other types of mortgages a few minutes ago. But what is the household blended rate?
Dustin
When somebody comes to me and like you asked earlier about HELOCs and accessing your equity, it's not always about what the rate is on your mortgage. Sometimes there's a lot of other things that you've borrowed money for, and sometimes those rates are a lot higher and they outweigh that low rate on that mortgage. So we take a look at a lot of what we call the blended household rate, what you're paying, and sometimes there's some options to increase your cash flow using that household equity.
Lisa
So, Dustin, I know we talked a little bit about 30 or 15 year things like that, but can you also talk about some of the great home purchasing programs that you have? Things like first time homeowners USDA loans with 0% down?
Dustin
And also VA, right? So don't sleep on our vets. So one of the passions we have over at Ross Mortgage is making sure that our veterans are well protected and that we're out there helping educate other realty professionals to make sure that they understand that process as well. There's a lot of different programs for people living in more rural areas. Like you mentioned, the USDA loan is a 0% down loan. VA loans can be 0% down loans. And then we also have through the state, we work with a couple of different organizations and nonprofits that have some grants to contribute $10,000 $14,000 towards your down payment and closing costs. So there are a lot of options for every different type of family.
Dustin
You don't have to be in any one particular category to qualify for a house. We offer things for everyone and wherever they're at in their life.
Lisa
So talk to me real quick about for self employed individuals who are struggling to get a loan because they're writing everything off for their business.
Jon
Oh, my ears just perked up.
Dustin
Lisa yeah, there are a lot of options. If you are a business owner that has written a bunch off, you've got a great CPA that kept your taxes low every year. There are options that we can take a look at that are maybe not your normal conventional way of doing a loan that shows that you have great cash flow, et cetera, et cetera. There are options for you that we can take a look at.
Jon
Dustin, I want to ask, now we've talked a lot about what you do and how the two of you work so well together, but what do you do in your spare time when you're not working and getting people's mortgages done?
Dustin
Great question. I am a Royal Oak homeowner, so I spent a lot of time making sure that 1954 Brick Ranch is well maintained. We've got a beautiful garden that my wife Christine loves to tend. We have a one and a half year old, Reggie, and we spend a lot of time outside and gardening, fixing up the house. We love music, we love movies. And I'm a golfer as well, so I'm around.
Jon
Excellent. Well, it is now time for our fishbowl question of the day, where we ask you a totally random question. All right, Lisa, you want to draw our fishbowl question today?
Lisa
Yeah. Let's dig in. Okay. Ooh, this is a good one. What do you need more of in life?
Dustin
Oh, I thought you were going to give me, like, a choice. Okay.
Lisa
Oh, no, it could be anything.
Dustin
Wow. I could say the obvious. And Lisa, I think you and I, you know, more business, right?
Jon
That's why you're Royal Oak Chamber members!
Dustin
But I think on a more spiritual level here, I think that we could use more undistracted time with our family.
Lisa
Oh, I love it. I love it.
Dustin
That's what I could use more of.
Lisa
Oh.
Jon
Dustin. Hang on. Can you say that again? I was playing on my phone. I wasn't paying attention. I'm kidding, kidding, kidding.
Dustin
Yeah. So more less screen time.
Lisa
I want more plants. All right, Jon, what do you want?
Jon
Shoot, I wasn't thinking about my own answer for that. I need my family back in Massachusetts to forgive me when I jump off the Patriots wagon and onto the Lions bandwagon.
Dustin
OOH.
Lisa
Ouch. Snap. All right, for all of you listeners out there, I just want you to take 2 seconds and think about what do you need more in your life?
Jon
And with that, we thank Dustin for coming on the podcast today. Dustin, if our listeners want to talk to you and your team at Ross Mortgage, how do they best find you?
Dustin
Well, thank you very much for having me today. This has been really fun. You could just go to dwalker.rossmortgage.com. You can also google me. It's super easy. I've got a Google business page, landing page. Or you can reach me by my cell. Very accessible. 248-761-9255.
Lisa
Thank you so much for being on the show today, Dustin.
Dustin
Thank you. This was fun.
Lisa
My name is Lisa Bibbee. I'm a realtor with KW advantage. I put the "real" back in realtor. Unsure of how the market is shifting and thinking of buying or selling this year? Call for a free consultation. My website is soldbylisab.com and you can find me on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram at soldbylisab.
Jon
We're going to paste in Trish's plug here since she was unable to join us today.
Trish
I'm Trish Carruth, third generation jeweler and owner of Your Personal Jeweler. I specialize in creating custom engagement, wedding rings and fine jewelry. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at thepersonaljeweler, on our website, www.thepersonaljeweler.com or at our storefront in downtown Royal Oak on Fourth and Washington.
Jon
Thank you, Trish. My name is Jon Gay from Jag in Detroit Podcast. If you have any questions about podcasts, I help clients create podcasts from their own home or office. Or in Dustin's case today, his car. Look at that.
Dustin
My car!
Jon
You'd never know he was in his car by how he sounds right now. Any questions about podcasts, I'm happy to talk to you on social at JAGinDetroit or on my website, jagindetroit.com. Thanks so much for checking out this episode of the Rock Pod produced for the Royal Oak Michigan Chamber of Commerce. For more information about chamber events or how to get involved with the chamber, you can visit royalchamber.com. Thanks, everyone.