The Southern Nevada Real Estate Show

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This is a KU NV studios original program.

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You're listening to special programming brought to you by ragana Cooman, Henry of Coldwell, banker, Premier Realty. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Regana Kooman Henry 0:37
morning everyone. Welcome back to the Southern Nevada real estate show that airs every third Sunday of the month at 8:30am right here on 91.5 FM, K, U, N, V, the jazz and more station. And I am ragana Cooman, Henry, real estate agent and broker, associate with Coldwell Banker Premier Realty. I am a quality service award winner and also a member of the Veterans Association of real estate professionals. I have serviced all types of buyer and seller transactions, from first time buyers to experienced sellers, and also corporate buyers and sellers transferring in and out of Southern Nevada with over 30 years of full time experience here in Southern Nevada, and this show is real talk for real estate. And again, I'm Regina, your trusted local real estate expert. And today's show is one I've been really looking forward to. We're diving into why, despite all the noise out there about the economy, politics, inflation and everything in between, now could actually be a smart time to take action, whether you're a hesitant home buyer or a homeowner wondering if it's time to sell, move up, downsize, or even hang up your landlord hat, uncertainty is real. But today, Kiersey, with the loan depot, is going to explain creative ways of how you can qualify for a loan, even if your credit is not perfect, and even if you don't have a lot of money for a down payment. And I'll show you how the current Southern Nevada market might be holding opportunity that's right opportunity for you. So let's get into it and welcome back to the show. Keirsey, Ah,

Kirsi Mbacke 2:32
thank you, regana, thank you for having me. It is always nice to come here and and just to break down the home loan process and kind of explain it in plain English for our listeners. Yes, so today, I thought that we would dive into a challenge that a lot of people really don't talk about enough. And that's the uphill battle that self employed borrowers face when trying to qualify for a mortgage. So if you're a freelancer, a small business owner or a gig worker, you know, just really dreaming of buying a home and thinking that it's out of reach for you. Then, then this episode is for you. And then also, I thought we would talk about two other special programs that are available right now. Sure. So when you are a w2 employee, you know, get a paycheck. You have hourly pay. It's pretty simple for lenders to to verify your income. You know, you hand them over a few pay stubs, maybe a w2 boom, Bada bing. You're done, right? But if you're self employed, now we're talking about a whole different ball game. You know your income isn't always straightforward when you're self employed, and one of the biggest hurdles is providing consistent, reliable income. Right? Self Employed borrowers often have very variable income from month to month, or even from year to year, and what lenders are really looking for is they want to see stability. And, you know, that's hard when one year you just crushed it, and then the next you may have had a dip due to market changes or seasonal work or, you know, let's just be real. Life happens, right, right? So lenders usually want to see two full years of tax returns, and they're not really looking at your you know, your gross income. What they're looking at is your net income after deductions. So that means all those write offs that you do to save yourself some money at tax time. Guess what? They can actually hurt you when you go to qualify for a mortgage. And secondly, you know, there's just a lot more paperwork and a lot more scrutiny when, when you're when you're self employed, sure. So you know, they have to, you have to provide, typically, just mountains of documentation, business licenses, profit and loss. Statements, bank statements, letters from the CPA. I mean, there's just so much more that you need to provide, right? And then you want to show that your businesses is healthy and likely to continue operating, and you know that that might be hard, especially if your income dropped recently. So what, what lenders are really looking to know is, is this business sustainable over time? Is your income repeatable? It's not just how much you make today, it's whether you're going to continue to make that income, and is it stable and predictable over time? Sure. So there are solutions out there. I don't want to, I don't want to make it sound hopeless. It's far from it. You know, plenty of self employed borrowers buy homes every year, and there are some alternative loan programs that are designed specifically, specifically for self employed borrowers. So these different programs look at your deposits, not just your tax returns, and they can offer maybe a little bit more flexible underwriting. So what you can do if you're self employed and thinking about buying a home, first, you know the first thing you want to do start early, right? Talk to a lender who really understands self employed borrowers. And then, you know, also consider working with your CPA and let them know, Hey, I'm looking to purchase a home in the next year. And then they can help you structure your income so that you can be mortgage ready, you know, so that when it comes time to apply, that you don't have any surprises, sure. So we have a couple of programs that we rolled out recently, which are, you know, I'm really excited about these. These are maybe a little step up of I'm sure the programs are out there, but these are a little bit step up, a little bit easier to qualify for self employed borrowers. So I'm very, very excited about that. So the first one is our one year 1099 program, you know, so self employed borrowers who have that two year history of being paid 1099 so for example, like Uber drivers, right? They get a 1099 they may, you know, we could possibly qualify them without having to provide tax returns, which is awesome, right? Because then we're not going to show all those deductions on there, all the write offs for mileage and stuff, right? So, I mean, they you do need to be currently employed as a 1099, to be eligible, you know, for the program, and then be able to show that that income is is coming in. And then secondly, we have a one year tax return program, and it is limited to our self employed borrowers, but it only requires one year worth of tax return versus two. That is the typical required for, you know, like traditional, conventional loans. Yeah, so one year is is awesome. Maybe you had, you know, in the past, we would just average two years worth of tax returns. So if you had maybe a slow year the year before, and you've had a great year, we would have to average those, which would bring your buying power down. But with this program, we average it over one year, and could, you know, greatly increase your buying power. And then, thirdly, we have a bank state statement program. So, you know, maybe you're self employed, but you don't get a 1099, you get, you know, cash deposits and however, you know, Zell all that other kind of stuff. So, an overview on this program, it's designed for the self employed borrowers, and we're going to utilize your most recent 12 or 24 months consecutive personal or business bank statements to document your income, right? So, and the reason we use that 24 is, you know, maybe, maybe your business does a lot of business around the holidays, you know, and so that's where most of your income comes from. But we want to average that out, you know, so that you could do that for the whole year. And then, you know, the borrower does need to have owned the business for at least two years to use this bank statement program. But you know, it's a program for those that you know their tax returns are not really showing any any net income. And as always, you know, if you've got questions, regatta and I, we have answers,

Regana Kooman Henry 9:36
sure. And what about the teacher program?

Kirsi Mbacke 9:41
Kirsi, yeah, so right now, I I'm glad you mentioned that. Ragana, this program has been extended through December, 31 2025, so I know all you know, we have a bunch of new teachers in school just started not too long ago. You know teachers are. They, they, they make it their life's work to educate young minds and to show our appreciation. You know, there's a program out there, home as possible for Teachers Program, and this home buyer program is like extra credit for our teachers, so who helped make Nevada a great place to live. So some of the program benefits for this program is they will give you $7,500 to use for either down payment or closing costs or a combination of the two. It's a zero interest, zero payment loan, and as long as you stay in the home after five years, it's forgiven. Most of the other down payment programs is 30 years. So it has a competitive fixed interest rate. I think I looked yesterday, and for that program, it was in the low sixes. And then there's also no first time homebuyer requirement. So if you moved here from another state now you're going to be teaching in Nevada, you can, you can still

Regana Kooman Henry 11:06
utilize this program. You don't have to wait at least three years right

Kirsi Mbacke 11:10
now. You do have to be a licensed full time kindergarten through 12th grade public school classroom teacher in Nevada. Okay, so, you know, you can't just work at the school. You have to be a licensed, a licensed teacher, and that does include charter schools. You know, we have a lot of charter schools around, around this area. The qualifying income goes up to 165,000 which, wow, is pretty awesome too, because most of the other programs is like 70 something, you know, minimum credit score, 640 so that that's a good one. And then they do have to live in it as their primary residence. And then they do have to do, like, a short home buyer education, education, expected. So, yeah, I mean, it's a pretty simple program. And I mean, if there's teachers out there looking to buy this is definitely something that you know, utilize this program.

Regana Kooman Henry 12:06
So and Kirsty, let's talk about VA loans a little bit. That's near and dear to both of our hearts the VA loan buyers. Can you give us some extra information that maybe some of the listeners don't even know about,

Kirsi Mbacke 12:20
yeah, I mean, we do love our veterans. Rihanna, so I think there's a lot of myth out there, just because the VA loan program, you know, maybe 2030, years ago wasn't what it is today. You know, they've really made it a lot more friendly for the veteran and for sellers and buyers to to utilize this program. So I thought what we would do today is we'll play a little game called The Truth about VA Home Loans. Okay, I'm gonna put you on the spot here. I gotta All right, so my first question is, does the VA home loan benefit ever expire? No, it doesn't. Oh, see you're so smart. Rick on it, it doesn't. Now it used to expire. So there's a lot of borrowers out there that could qualify for a VA loan, but they think that their benefits expired, you know, and you know that's that's a tragedy to me, that that's a tragedy that they're missing out on that. Okay, so our second question is, can the VA home loan benefit be used more than one time?

Regana Kooman Henry 13:37
I know the answer, yes,

Kirsi Mbacke 13:39
again. Okay, yeah, yeah, so smart, yes. Now this is another one you you didn't used to be able to use it more than one time, but now you can, you know, if you have a home and you sell the home and you want to buy another home, VA, you can do that. If you have a home and you need a bigger home, or you're moving, you can have two at the same time, which I answer my next question for you. Can you have more than one active VA loan at a time? Which is yes, yes, you can Yes. Okay, so let's move on. Is there a loan limit to the VA home loan?

Regana Kooman Henry 14:20
No used to be, but not anymore.

Kirsi Mbacke 14:22
Yep, you're right there. There used to be a loan limit, but I think one of the biggest ones, we just closed not too long ago, not in Nevada, but maybe Florida, was a $4 million VA loan, 100%

Regana Kooman Henry 14:37
financing. Wow. Well, veterans deserve

Kirsi Mbacke 14:40
that, yeah, isn't that's that's pretty awesome, right? It is okay. And then I think that there's kind of some myths out there for for realtors. And so my next question for you work on is, because that's your specialty, are the VA appraisals?

Regana Kooman Henry 14:58
Difficult? No? No, I thought they were for a long time, but actually they're. They can be pretty flexible, especially if the appraisal comes in low,

Kirsi Mbacke 15:10
right? And that the, you know, you hit the nail on the head on that one. So the great thing about VA appraisals versus, you know, conventional FHA, any of those is if the VA appraiser doesn't think that the value is going to come in, they notify us and give us 48 hours to go to the realtor, yes, and the seller and say, Hey, I'm I'm not seeing where you're coming up with this value. Yes, please anything you can provide, you know, maybe some sales that aren't on the market. Maybe you did a bunch of upgrades, or, you know, let me know why, why you see this value, and then they take that into consideration. You know, that's different from every other appraisal. And then, so next question, let's move on here. Do you need to be a combat veteran to be eligible for a VA loan? No, you don't. You're right. You can't. You can be National Guard. You can be a reservist. You can have served. You know you don't have to be a combat veteran. Sure. You know you don't have to see combat to be eligible for that. And then another myth with with lenders and realtors, do VA loans take longer to close?

Regana Kooman Henry 16:31
Not too much longer. No, they don't.

Kirsi Mbacke 16:34
Now we close those the same as we do regular, conventional and FHA loans 30 days or less. You know, we can do those pretty quick. And then our last question is, can my service connected disability reduce my VA loan costs?

Regana Kooman Henry 16:52
It sure can, with the funding fee not being there.

Kirsi Mbacke 16:55
Well, very good. Yes. So if you have any service connected disability, then you they the VA waves that funding fee for you. And the funding fee, you know, we know what the funding fee is. They might not know the funding fee is just kind of like VAs

Speaker 4 17:13
mortgage insurance, yes, yes, yes.

Kirsi Mbacke 17:17
So that, that about wraps up my, my little Q and A for you on the VA loans. You did great. Regana, Oh,

Regana Kooman Henry 17:25
thanks. I passed 100%

Kirsi Mbacke 17:30
Exactly. I'll turn the time over to you.

Regana Kooman Henry 17:33
Okay, well, thank you so much. Kiersey, that is so such great information. And Kirsi, if you could please give your name, company name, and your phone number out twice, and I'll also also bring you back on the show once I am done speaking to our audience.

Kirsi Mbacke 17:51
All right. Thank you so much. Ragana, it's always a pleasure to be here. I am Kirsten Baki with the loan depot. My animal s number is 1398336, and you can reach me at 702-322-0421,

Kirsi Mbacke 18:10
again. Kirsten Buckey, loan depot, 702-322-0421,

Regana Kooman Henry 18:17
thank you so much, Kirsty, and I'll bring you back on the show after I'm done speaking to the audience, so you can give your information out for the listeners that maybe didn't get a chance to write it down. So let's start with you potential buyers that's listening this morning, especially those of you who've been sitting on the sidelines wondering, is the right time? Is today, like this year, a right time to make a move. And I hear things like this every single week. They're saying things like I'm hearing I'm just waiting for the market to crash. I want to see what happens after the election. I'm nervous about interest rates, inflation, or, you know, just the economy in general, and totally understandable. But here's the thing, guys, markets don't wait for certainty. By the time the coast is clear, the best opportunities are usually gone. Here's what's really going on in Southern Nevada right now, interest rates, you know, they're not back to pandemic error lows, obviously, but they are a little bit more manageable, and there are programs to buy down rates, including seller incentives, builder credits and local grants. Inventory is rising significantly, which means buyers have more options out there and a little bit more, a bit more leverage when negotiating. We're seeing fewer bidding wars right now, more sellers willing to make deals, and properties staying on the market longer. And you know, prices have. Have softened in certain parts of southern Nevada, as well as other states, and that's giving buyers room to to enter the market without overpaying. And rent continues to be unpredictable, right? And it's expensive, very expensive. If you're renting, your monthly payment is 100% interest with no equity gain. Now, if you purchase even at a higher rate, you're looking in, you're locking in your housing costs and starting to build equity immediately. And most importantly, waiting doesn't always make things better. If you know rates drop significantly now or next year, guess what's going to happen? I'll tell you, you won't be the only one jumping back into the market. You'll be competing with a flood of other buyers, and prices will rise. And buying now means you can just refinance later, but at least you don't have to fight over homes with bidding wars. Now let's shift to you sellers that might be listening this morning. You might be wondering, why would I sell right now, if the market feels so uncertain? Well, it depends on your particular situation, but for many of you, this is actually a strategic window to take advantage of your equity and make your next move before the next market shift. So let's break it down. Guys, home values in Southern Nevada have held strong while we're not seeing 2021 level appreciation. At the moment, most homeowners are still sitting on significant equity, especially if you bought, let's say before 2020, and if you're thinking of moving up to a larger home, maybe a better school district, or your dream just to your dream kitchen, this market could work in your favor, and you might be sitting at home asking why? I'll tell you why, because the home you're buying now isn't overvalued like before, and if you have equity from your sale, you can use it to offset higher interest rates. Now let's say you want to downsize to a smaller home. I specialize in people that wanting to downsize. This is the time to cash out your equity, buy something smaller, more manageable, and possibly eliminate your mortgage altogether. And for landlords out there, if you're tired of managing tenants, the maintenance, the looming regulations with HOAs, this is a great time to exit the rental game. While values are still higher and demand for single family homes is still good, plus plus more serious buyers are in the market right now, the what we call looky loos are gone. The ones touring homes today are serious. They're qualified, they're motivated and ready to make a move, and with the strategic pricing, professional marketing and the right Realtors such as myself, you can sell for the top current market dollar. Now let's talk about something a little uneasy, the elephant in the room, uncertainty. Yes, the economy is unsure. Yes, interest rates and inflation are still on everyone's mind. But here's the truth, real estate is local, while national headlines grab attention. What's happening here in Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, and just Southern Nevada in general is really what matters, not what you hear nationally. We still have a job growth and in hospitality logistics, and people are still moving here from California and other high cost states. So if you're waiting for the perfect time, it doesn't exist the perfect time, the key is making smart, informed decisions based on your goals and not fear. If your life is telling you it's time to buy or move or stop being a landlord, then the right time could very well be right now, not later. So I'm here to help guide you through it, step by step. And again, my number is 702-596-1267, that's 702-596-1267, so if you've been on the fence, buying or selling, let's have a real conversation about your options, no pressure, no hype, just strategy and again, 702-596-1267, and if you would like to meet in person for an appointment, we can do that. Remember, uncertainty doesn't have to equal. In action, sometimes it just means you need better information. And a real estate professional such as myself and a knowledgeable and experienced loan officer that you can trust like kirsie mbaki That's patiently waiting to say her her contact information at the end of the show with the loan Home Depot mortgage company, we we can make this happen for you. And now let's get into the real estate stats for August in Southern Nevada. Okay, so this is for used homes, resale homes, not new construction. So this is for August here in Southern Nevada. There were 1800 35 homes that sold. $480,000 was the median price of a single family home sold. There were 3192 new single family home listings, $524,450 was the median price of new listings, $546,237 was the median price of all available single family home listings both new and not new on the market, excluding offers and 54.1% of all single family homes went from available to under contract with the buyer in 30 days or less. Now I'm switching to condos and townhouse. There were 485 condos and townhomes combined that sold, 298,000 was the median price of all condos and townhomes combined. That sold, there were 919 new condos and townhome listings combined. $299,900 is the median price of all new available condos and townhome listings combined, and $280,000 is the price of all available condos and townhomes combined, both new and not new on the market, excluding offers. And 48.9% of all condos and townhomes that sold combined went from available to under contract with the buyer in 30 days or less. And if you missed any of these stats, didn't get to write them down again, my number, if you'd like, you can reach me at 702-596-1267, now, for all you listeners out there that have still have questions, are concerned or how on how do you become a homeowner, even if you don't have perfect credit, even if you don't have a lot of money for a down payment, or maybe you're a new resident, or, soon to be, a new resident of Southern Nevada, whatever your current situation is, Kirsi, your mortgage expert and I, your real estate Professional, will be hosting a home buyer seminar, and are putting an interest list together. And for more information on this seminar, you can reach me at 702-596-1267, or if you would just like a private consultation with me, your real estate expert, or Keirsey, your mortgage expert, or both Kiersey and I together for a private consultation. Again, my number is 702-596-1267,

Regana Kooman Henry 28:08
to schedule an appointment now. Kirsi, for the listeners this morning that may not had the opportunity to write down your contact information. Please say your name, company name and phone number again, twice for the listeners,

Kirsi Mbacke 28:24
all right, yes, so Kirsty mbaki, loan depot, NMLS, number one, 398, 336, and you can reach me either text or call at 702-322-0421 again, 702-322-0421,

Regana Kooman Henry 28:45
Kiersey at the loan depot. Thank you so much, Kiersey. You're always you're always an asset to the show and a wealth of knowledge for the show. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, you're welcome. And thank you so much for the listeners that's listening this morning. And again, my number 702-596-1267 and I am ragana kumin Henry with Coldwell Banker Premier Realty, your host for the Southern Nevada real estate show that airs every third Sunday of the month at 8:30am my number is 702-596-1267 that's 702-596-1267 and my license number is BS, 27880, thank you so much for tuning into my show this morning, and I wish Everyone listening a great Sunday and a great week. You.

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