Now talk real estate with Sharon McNamara, sponsored by Boston Connect Real Estate Services.
Hi, I'm Sharon McNamara and you are listening to Talk Real Estate Roundtable. Let me share a little bit about my background before we get started. I am the broker owner of Boston Connect Real Estate, a boutique real estate firm that is home to over 30 real estate sales and marketing consultants who serve as home buyers and home sellers throughout Boston, the South Shore, the South Coast, and Cape Cod. Our firm takes pride in assisting our clients in the next chapter of their lives by taking a holistic approach to their real estate endeavors. We believe that every move should be a moving experience every week. My real estate team member, Mary Baker and I, along with the director of Boston Connect Real Estate, Melissa Wallace, provide you with our unique marketing approach to selling homes and share with you our expertise in navigating the home buying process. We'd like to mix it up sometimes, so not only will you hear our perspective on real estate topics, but you will hear the expert thoughts and opinions of some of our real estate agents at Boston Connect Real Estate and the preferred professionals that we trust be part of our round table.
If you have any questions during the show, please call 7 8 1 8 3 7 4900. We'd love to talk real estate. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and wherever you listen to podcasts at Talk Real Estate Round Table. If you would like a one on one consultation with me and my team or one of the dedicated agents at Boston Connect Real Estate to discuss your real estate needs, you can connect with [email protected] or 7 8 1 8 2 6 8,000. Now sit back, relax, take good notes and let's talk real estate. And good morning to all myself, shore neighbors. This is Sharon McNamara. You are of course listening to talk real estate round table. We are here live in the studio yet again. We are on a mission to continue the month live every single time. We did a lot of, uh, playbacks over the season, but we're live today and I have Melissa Wallace in house with me this morning. Hello, Mel. Hello. How are you? I am doing wonderful and it's such a beautiful day out. I have to do what I'm grateful for. I'm on day five of what I'm grateful for of 30 days. Right? Yeah. Making it a mission. You've been doing that with all the agents in the office, so that's going well. Yes, I.
Have. I've been trying to, they're like, oh no, I don't look, I don't look good. Right. I'm like, um, first off, if you came to the office and if you're meeting clients, Lloyd, that you look right now, you should be able to do a video for your Instagram. Yes,
Absolutely. So you're doing a really good job on that. Thank so, I love seeing all the agents every, every day. One thing I surely am grateful for today is that we have Tim in studio at w a td. Good morning, Tim. Good morning. Good morning. I am so happy that we have you there manning the controls and uh, hopefully you had a wonderful Halloween. Our event went off splendid. Oh,
Excellent.
Yes, it was great. And my little Marley Bella won, uh, first in place with, uh, the Boston Connect Dogie, so yeah, right. So it was really fun. That wasn't a shoe in, was it? I don't
Know. Everybody thinks it.
Was was fixed, but she was so stinking cute. My little Marley Bella. So, um, very nice. Yeah. If anybody has any questions for us today, feel free to give us a call. You can ask us any real estate questions. 7 8 1 8 3 7 4 9 0 0. But we do have in house today a special guest, so we're really, really excited about this. We have Michael Nielsen, he is from Guaranteed Rate, and uh, we are gonna be talking, um, all things loans, but sort of in particular, we're gonna be talking a little bit about some VA stuff, right? Yes, of course. All right. Awesome. And I know, um, Michael is actually in the office this morning. I thought that this would be nice and easy for him just to come an hour earlier. Uh, he's gonna be doing an event, uh, this morning with, uh, Jess Paige, one of our full-time agents here at Boston Connect Real Estate along with the Flynn team, Trian, Nick Flynn, uh, talking about VA loans. It is something that they are extremely passionate about and with rightfully so, right? Correct. Uh, because Nick is, uh, was, uh, maybe you're always are a Marine, right? Yeah. I'm thinking no one can take's a Marine. Always. You can take that title away from anybody. I'm sorry. It applies to everything life. Yeah, it really does. And um, my actually my godson is a Marine right now and he is stationed in West Africa, so Yeah, that's wild. They say rah, it's.
Wild. Like to talk to Kim about it, like she's just so proud of him, but also like, I wish I could go and see my baby. I know you're like, he's a Marine <laugh> know.
Now. When he was going to West Africa, this is sort of a funny story, Michael, so it's her only son. It's like I have two daughters and you know, she has her son and my other girlfriend has a son, but he's younger and he came home in between being stationed, so he's just 18. And she was talking to him about, uh, packing sunscreen cuz he was gonna West Africa. I'm like Kim, he literally just graduated from like Marine, like the Marines like the training to be a Marine. Yeah. And they're sending him to West Africa. I think he knows how to find sunscreen. Like.
I think he'll be okay and he'll be pretty resourceful.
<laugh>. I think he'll figure it out and if he gets a sunburn I betcha he won't even feel it. He's that tough, right? Yeah, he's a, he's a tough, so he comes to the territory. It does. So, um, so obviously Nick is, um, a Marine and um, which he, he doesn't war, so, uh, we really appreciate him and his service there, but a lot of times people don't think about the family members that are involved. So Trish obviously her, his wife, and um, you know, she goes through a process being married to somebody who's, you know, in the military and as well as just Paige. Cuz her husband Matt was he, what was he, was he Army? Army I believe Army. Yes. Army. Yeah. He was in the Army just as, just as great. I mean, my father-in-law was Army World War ii. So there we go.
Um, so we're really happy to have you here today. I know it was last minute and you jumped right in. You're like, yeah, sure. Happy to be here. All right. Awesome. Why don't you tell our listeners, cuz cuz this is, um, your first time with us, hopefully not your last. Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit, um, not only do we have I a TV listeners, but we are live on Facebook and uh, Melissa is putting us everywhere right now. Tell us a little bit about you and how long you've been in the business and the service, the areas that you service.
Yeah, so my name's Mike Nielsen. I'm with Guaranteed Rate and I've been doing mortgage lending now since 2016. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I've been around real estate my entire life. My dad was a developer, so I always grew up around real estate and wanted to be a part of it in some way. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> found a passion in mortgages, so Nice. I've been doing it since then. And my main focus is really making sure that clients at the end of the day have a good understanding of what they qualify for mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they don't feel as if they're getting bad information mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. They can feel confident that they know everything that they're sounding up for.
Yeah. That's awesome. And it is. I didn't realize that your father was in, um, was a developer. What areas was he like what, where did grow up? South Shore in so shore. Yeah. All right. Awesome. Where did you grow up? Marshfield. Oh, in Marshfield. Oh, so you're a really local guy here. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, keeping it local.
<laugh>.
So we're, we're it local where it's all about being hyper local here and guaranteed rate I know is a great company. So tell us a little bit, um, about guaranteed.
Rate. So guaranteed rates, national lender, I believe we're number two or three right now in the country. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, the best part about being with guaranteed rated support. So at the end of the day, we have all of the programs available to everyone mm-hmm. <affirmative> and you know, we're not gonna most likely not have something that you're gonna qualify for. Okay. Right. That's really what it comes down to and why I went there.
All right. That's awesome. Um, and I know it's really important with this, what, you know, are you sick of hair on the question? I mean, what happened on November 2nd, right, with the rates? So where, where are we now? And I know that this is a, it depends question. Yes. Um, so let's just keep that in mind. Listeners who have heard it in the past, I mean, obviously Mike can't just come out and say this would be your rate. It all is determined on several factors. Like what?
Correct. So when you hear rates going up, that's the Fed raising rates. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And the byproduct of that is then the bond market adjusts based on what the Fed's comments are. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the Fed's raising rates now, right now due to inflation. So what's happening is the bond market adjusts due to inflation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and rates are going up because of that. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you're gonna see 30 year fixed rate mortgages depending on the lender, depending on the bank, probably somewhere in the sixties and sevens right now mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And that's well above what we've been seeing the past few years, which is a little bit of a knee jerk reaction for most buyers in today's market.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and I feel like they were that way for a while, right? Six and seven. So like this last time it didn't make it boost up cuz we are hearing things like what eight?
Yeah. So I just have to make this comment because, um, on Thursday night we have a young professional networking group. Actually Jess and the Flynns are a part of it. There's no age limit. <laugh>, it's your young at heart. Um, we met here and we, we try to meet once a month and we were sort of talking about like, what's going on really in the market. I know that's a very general question, but, um, it was like a time for us to sort of debrief as a small group. And um, one of our agents, Kristen ent was like, you know, I'm, I'm actually switching what I sort of talk about with my buyers because you know, we, it's easy for us to be like, it's a great time to buy, it's a great time to sell, but like financially, if somebody can't afford that, like we can't give that advice. Yeah. So she's sort of switching her gears and being like anything financial when it comes to like money mm-hmm. <affirmative> talk to your loan officer because, you know, it's been changing like day after day. We just, we don't know. We have to keep up with those things if we're gonna be giving that sort of advice.
And I think I'm glad that you brought that up and I wasn't at the young professional thing. I, I, I don't know if I'm invited or not, but you're always invited.
Just, that there's no age.
Limit. I know, but I figure that there are times that you guys certainly don't want me around and I tend to like over talk sometimes you get to listen to me all the time.
It's sort, it's of mine and uh, Mary's time to shine. But really it's all of us because we give each other. We had a hot potato.
Hot potato,
Yeah. Like hot potato. Like okay, it's your turn to talk really.
Hot. That's fun. That's true. Yeah. That's awesome. But I'm glad that you brought that up because you know, you're seeing, I don't know if I can if I should say this, but like, don't take your advice from TikTok, right? Like Yeah. It's just so crazy to me. And you know, everybody has an opinion and I think that a lot of things what's happening right now is, again, I'm, I'm not saying anything bad about any real estate agent or we were very lucky out here on the south show. We have great, great agents all over, but I agree. I don't think we as real estate agents should be giving the advice of this is the one that we're hearing. Just get into the loan now and then you know what you can just refinance. Like that might be okay for you to say Mike. Yeah. Cause you know, what the heck.
Did you get real expectations? Yes. So that's something I always go over with clients. The way that I cover it with clients is actually the same way I've been covering instead of doing mortgages mm-hmm. <affirmative>, the math has just changed, but the equation's the same. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you buy a house you can afford regardless of whatever the math is, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it's your income and price of the house and interest rate. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> that hasn't changed. Yeah. But it might just change now with where the rates are at. You might have to just buy a slightly cheaper house. Yeah. But you still don't overextend yourself. So it's still having those conversations with clients to say, Hey, don't go buy a house you can't afford just because rates are higher and you think they're gonna get better and you can refinance in six months. Cause.
Who knows? Yeah. Who knows?
Well we were talking about that too on Thursday is, you know, when the rates were lower it was like, oh my gosh, I gotta get into a house. It's okay if it's gonna be higher at a higher price point. Like, you know, I got a great rate. But now we're thinking like, you know, you gotta put yourself in your position. Like what happens after the closing day? If you can't afford your mortgage, you shouldn't have bought that house. Yeah. So it's not just thinking about what your rate is, the day of closing or what you need to bring to the table. It's everything afterwards. Can you afford that monthly payment? Mm-hmm.
<affirmative>, I'm just smiling because just Paige just walked in. Oh,
Look at.
Her. She's so gorgeous, isn't she? Look she cute
As a button.
You really are so cute. Look at her. She is such a cutie tuty. Oh my goodness. I love that girl <laugh>. Um, and I know she loves me. So, um, I love it when Justin and I talk on the phone. By the way, just Paige is a full-time real estate agent. She is here today with Mike doing, um, you know, they're doing a veteran's first time home, just a home buyer program. Um, but every time I love when we hang up with each other and it's like, love you. Love you too. And I don't know how many other brokers, <laugh> and their agents have that relationship. Yeah. So, um, so let's talk, um, a little, oh, so I know one of the things I was gonna say, just to sort of piggyback on what you were saying mm-hmm. <affirmative> is, and Mike maybe you can tell us too mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because you don't just do VA longs, you do all of them, but do you find that people were, they were buying the rate not the house when it was two and a half, three, whatever, but then, okay, you're paying, you, you emotionally were buying. So in order to get that house you had to spend a hundred thousand dollars more. Yeah. So a hundred thousand dollars more at three 4% versus a hundred thousand dollars less at five or six. Yeah. I mean does it sort of balance out?
It does. What I've noticed is the scarcity of the recent market with interest rates being so low and how competitive it was, it had people going into corners of the market that they probably wouldn't have and they're not doing today. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that's what I'm noticing right now in today's market is the right priced home in a good neighborhood. That's a nice house is still competitive. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then the homes that are a little bit in the corner that might be on a main road might be a little outdated. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they're sitting on the market. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So the opposite was happening before where the right price home was still crazy competitive, but then everyone else was picking up all the scraps. Yeah. No one really paid too much attention cuz that scarcity factor was coming. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, why'd you need a house anyway? Yeah. So I'll buy the house on the main road in Marshfield and, and pay more because mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I just need to get into a house.
And those people that did take advantage of that rate, hey, I think that's great. But like you said, they sort of, and I know that you're thinking this firsthand, right. You don't just, you don't think it's good for our clients to just settle. Right. Right. So I feel like a lot of people settled because they were buying the rate. Yep. You
Know, the rate and the scarcity. The thought of, I'm not gonna get
The thought of not getting a house. Yeah.
I'm gonna miss out the fomo. Yeah. Yeah. People had FOMO and people have an opposite fomo. They're having a FOMO that they're gonna, you know, buy the wrong time.
FOMO for uh, other old or uh, listeners here is fear of missing out by the way. I just happen to know that cuz I have a 27 and 28 year old. So 26. Um, so tell us a little bit about what's going on today. Um, again, you are listening to Talk Real Estate Roundtable. We are here this morning with Mike Nielsen from Guaranteed Rate. We are very excited to have him as a guest. Our first time here. I've been meaning to sort of catch up with you and you know, sort of have, uh, some time to do this and to just see how you work. Yeah. So we're really excited and I know for me as the broker of Boston Connector Real Estate, it's interesting because I, Jess is a great agent, obviously we all know that. And she like every, it's all about Mike <laugh>, you know what I mean? Yeah. Which is good for us. Us My.
Guy.
My guy. He's my guy. Yeah.
My guy,
My guy. That's it. That's what she says. So, um, so I don't bring anybody onto our show, Melissa and I don't bring anybody onto our show unless we have the utmost confidence in them doing a good job for our listeners and for the people who are watching us on Facebook. So, uh, it looks like you're in a little, um, you're in a little, you're in a little nest now. Okay. Much appreciated. <laugh>,
Welcome to the crew. You
Good work. Welcome. Oh yeah. Maybe you should go to some of those little events that they have. The young professionals you should sign out. Introducing. Well
We, the whole point was to start networking within like, you know, our loan officers and, and everything. Um, and even other agents and companies. Not as like a recruiting thing cuz we don't recruit, we attract mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But it's more of like, hey, like we're sort of all in the same boat. Let's talk about it. Um, we started it right before covid, then Covid hit and we started meeting during like in Zoom and mm-hmm. <affirmative> now we sort of this year started get back to um, meeting in person and stuff, so mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, we're gonna, the new year is coming. Mm-hmm. So it'll be here before we know it. <laugh>.
So tell us a little bit about the event that's going on today.
So today we're hosting a VA first responder event. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the idea around it being VA first responder, it's, we just noticed the marketplace that that's usually where veterans end up. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we talked about it earlier where the mission for Jess and the Flynn team, you know, being involved so heavily with veteran family and one being a veteran himself is the myths or stigmas in the marketplace of trying to buy a home with a VA loan. Particularly the past few years it's been extremely difficult. Yeah. Cause it's been so competitive. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. You have a couple things working against you that might not, you know, land home for a veteran in terms of why am I not getting my offer accepted. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I'm a veteran and it's, you know, a hundred percent financing the thought of the extra property requirements. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, those stigmas in the marketplace. We're trying to really de demystify that mm-hmm. <affirmative> Right. And have conversations with veterans to get them confident out there in the marketplace to make offers. And I think right now is a great time for veterans to make offers and homes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> because it's not as competitive as it was.
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And you know, one of the things that I think is so important about this too, and I'm just gonna put it out there because I'm not sure, um, I'm not sure if they have a full house or not right now, but hey, if you are a veteran or a first responder of any type a capacity and you're listening to Asho this morning, or if you know of anybody, come on by. I mean you're gonna be here today, what time?
11 to two, I
Believe. 11 to two. They're gonna be doing a workshop on home buying and with loans and everything. Uh, so come on over. We're at 19 Chesa Street in Pembroke, uh, right across the street from Stop and Shop. So, um, and if you can't make it today and you would like a one-on-one consultation, Mike, why don't you give your phone number out
Now? Yeah. Phone number (781) 733-6726.
Perfect. And um, we'll make sure to be given out everybody's phone number again at the end, uh, because Jess Paige is here and Trisha Nick will also be here. So come on by if you can.
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