Steering Through Economic Waves with Jodie Tanga

Watch or Listen to the full episode

Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE: 
Welcome back. And thanks for listening to the Team Lally Real Estate show home of the guaranteed sold program. Well buy it. I’m Adrienne and I’m Attilio. And if you have any questions, just give us a call at 7999596 or check us out online at Teamlally.com. Hey,

ATTILIO:
our guest today is a seasoned loan officer, mortgage banker and broker with extensive experience in Hawaii. Raised in Kailua and a graduate of Iolani she pursued her studies in financial economics at the University of San Francisco for both her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She

ADRIENNE: 
also worked in banking on the mainland until coming back home to Hawaii, and started Pacific Rim Mortgage. Please welcome back. Our guest the mortgage genius, Jodie Tanga.

ATTILIO: 
She’s an avid member of F 45. And her and her husband even do it. Do F 45 When they’re in Vegas. Yeah. Alright, Jodie, you so doing great. What’s what you got for us this week?

JODIE: 
Well, today, the much awaited inflation data came out. And it was higher than the market wanted and higher than the market expected. And so

we have seen a harsh, immediate reaction to interest rates that are being offered today. So for example, if you were to get an accepted offer today, which a couple of our buyers did, the rate that they are now able to lock today versus yesterday is worse. It is they did go up. So also, speculatively, people were hoping for weaker inflation numbers, which then would support the Fed doing their first rate cut in June of this year. And so now that probability has really decreased it’s not likely at this point, the probability But he has gotten much lower that the Fed will be doing a rate cut in June. Yeah, I mean, we still think that there is going to be one, the Fed still says there are going to be rate cuts. But based on the most today’s inflation data it, it will likely not. Well, yeah, very likely not be June. It’ll be the latter portion of the year. So

ADRIENNE: 
Jodie, with these buyers that got their offers accepted today? What’s your advice or your strategy plan on? Like, what the interest rates? Do you lock right away? Do you kind of

ATTILIO: 
in the moment, what should they do?

ADRIENNE:
What’s your advice?

JODIE: 
Well, we are a broker. And so we do have flexibility, be able to to lock and continue to study the market and continue to know what is happening with interest rates. So our recommendation in such a volatile market like this is always if you are in a position where you are good with the monthly payment, and you are good with the total amount required out of pocket that you you locked in, we don’t want people floating. And you know, so for all the people that got accepted offers yesterday, yes, had I recommended that they floated, they would now be now yesterday’s rates are entirely gone. And they would have a higher interest rate today, right? So similarly, that is the reason that it’s like, forget about anything that you’ve previously seen. And just tell me, is this a monthly payment that you can pay? And is this an amount out of pocket that you are good with? If it is, then let’s get locked in. But we will continue to watch the market. And if this was an initial knee jerk reaction, and we see improvements throughout the coming days, then we will work to take advantage of the improvement as well. Yeah, so

ADRIENNE: 
Jodie, when you say because you’re a broker, does that mean that like you guys have different tools in your tool belt that maybe you know, other types of lending industries cannot do?

ATTILIO: 
Can you use them? Yeah. Can

ADRIENNE: 
you explain the difference? Yes.

JODIE: 
Yeah, so great question. We, we are a broker. So our number one responsibility is to work to get our buyer, the best interest rate at the best closing costs, you know, and part of us being able to do our job, we do have relationships with the top wholesale lenders. So these lenders are not necessarily someone that you can like, be like, well, I want to call them because I want to go and work directly with them. Right. They don’t do that they don’t work directly with like a buyer, for example, they work with brokers like us, and they provide us, you know, very, very competitive and the best rates. And we decide which out of this handful of top leading lenders that we want to go with for your loan when you have an accepted offer. And based on different unique circumstances, like we may only even if I work with 10, top ones, I may only two of them may only be viable because of your unique situation. And so that’s also part of like being a broker is like knowing which wholesale lenders are good at what type dealing with what type of buyers, what’s their niche that they’re working on. And so if you’re not a broker, there are a little bit more stringent policies on like, once you’re locked in, you’re locked in and that is it. Even if rates improve, there’s less flexibility to be able to take advantage of that improvement.

ATTILIO: 
Jodie, the question I have for you and the situations, because we come across this quite a bit. By the way, if you’re a seller out there, and you’re falling behind on payments, and you’re freaking out, you’re not sure what to do. No matter how topsy turvy the situation is either and I have personally worked with over 400 plus allaahu homeowners. So here’s the question for you and you’re like, let’s say somebody, we’re dealing with a distressed sale and we define that as 90 days or more late mortgage payments, maintenance fees, things like that. And that the bank we have to deal with the bank to approve the sale because it’s it’s like a short sale like they owe more than it’s worth in that situation that they write the offer. And, and well one of the things is we On our end, we try not to open escrow with deposits and this and that until we get the approval from the bank. So we take the offer, and we just tell them, we’re putting it in front of the bank. Well, we don’t have any control over what the buyer is doing on their end. So in that situation where there’s an ambiguous open ended situation, would, would you recommend a loan lock or just hang tight regarding? You know, I guess that’s outside of the advice of what’s happening with interest rates?

JODIE: 
Right? No, no, we would always not recommend a loan lock just based on our history. And we’ve done a ton of, you know, short sales, yeah. On the purchase side. And

unless the, the seller can show to us that they’re already sitting on a lender approval, in that case, we would lock. But if if they haven’t even gotten that far, or they’re still in the middle of like, providing paperwork to their lender, the seller’s lender, then no, it’s total, it’s, you cannot lock you just can’t lock the interest rate. So that’s a huge risk, you know, that a buyer is taking, and that is something that a good agent, and a good lender will discuss. Because they will say, you know, this, we might not hear back for 60 days, we might not hear back for 120 days. We might not hear back for six months. I mean, we don’t know how long it’s gonna take. So yeah,

ATTILIO: 
we have a document I created back in like, Oh, 60708, when we were doing ton of them. And it was short sale and distressed sale guidelines from Team Lally. And everyone had to sign it. And everybody had to sign it both sides, everybody seller buyer agents on both sides. And what I put in that document was all the things we kept getting yelled at about, Oh, loan lock, and now we’re gonna call this money. And then so now put in there, we don’t recommend you do a loan lock. And we recommend that you wait till we get back written bank of approval. You know, don’t do anything to that spend money on stuff that’s going to be out of date, termite inspections, Home Inspections, even even the kinds of evergreen condo docks. Yeah, all that stuff. Yeah. Because so if you do you have been forewarned, right? It’s all on you. So God, the what are you seeing in with today’s market as far as like, what’s the i, this one comes and goes, it comes and goes, it started coming in a lot. But the the credits for the buy downs? Are they still steady? Freddie slowing down? What’s been your that’s still a strategy? Yeah. And tell people what that is? And how does it work? Does it still make sense nowadays? And is Do you see a lot of those the credits that credit seller credits for the buydowns? What is that?

JODIE: 
So what one of the solutions to a higher interest rate environment is to do what’s called a temporary buy down. And a temporary buy down is pretty much just buying you some time at a lower interest rate. And so one example of that would be a three to one buydown, this will give you 3% lower than the current, the rate you’re actually locking in at, that would be your monthly payment for the first 12 payments. And then further the second 12 payments, yes, you would be paying 2% Lower. And for the third 12 payments, so year three, you would be paying 1% Lower. So if you’re locked in at 6%, you’re gonna pay 345. And then at the end of the third year, you’ll be back up to 6%. And that’s what your monthly payments calculated off of. Yeah. It’s a huge monthly savings. Like,

ATTILIO: 
it’s kind of like how Adrienne and I go in the ocean, she’s like, it’s cold, and she going in like super slow. And I tell him, I say you know, it’s more cold when you go and slow just dive in. So you can either do three to one, like how Adrienne, you know, you’re going slow, or just dive in? I guess it depends on the strategy and your comfort and income. And it’s the

ADRIENNE: 
whole reason though, that the Yeah, you know, advise the strategies that sometime during this three year period or two year period, whatever it is that you do, Michael Dell, that you may be able to refinance into a lower rates. Right and then you have the lower payment permanently

ATTILIO: 
does shoe because going into an ocean slowly, with global warming happening it probably could be warmer as you go slower into so

ADRIENNE: 
so yeah, so the other thing I know that I had talked to Derek about So you’re probably fine. Yeah, this, this no cost refi what is that or no lender cost refi? Yeah. What is that? Can we explain that to our listeners? And how does that work with PacRim.

JODIE:
So part of our you know, we’ve we’ve been around for 19 years. And we do want to be like your lender for life. And so when you do a purchase with us, and especially in a market like this, when we know rates are gonna go down, we are staying in front of you and making sure that we continue to provide information on interest rates, and when would be a good time to refinance. But eventually, when that does, that time does come up, we are going to do the refinance without any lender related costs. So basically, the class that we have control over, we will not charge you underwriting fee and appraisal fee. And there are other fees associated with a refinance, which are charged by the other third parties, such as the escrow company. And there are other pre collections that have to be made associated with when you’re paying off your existing loan and creating a new loan. You have to like recollect your homeowners insurance reserves in your property tax reserves. So there are still fees. It’s not like $0. But the ones that we the lender have control over and the ones that we would usually charge

ADRIENNE: 
through waves

JODIE: 
we don’t touch. Correct.

ADRIENNE: 
So as long as you buy the home, using Pac Rim, and then you guys do the loan, is it Yeah, like a set time? Is it? Like within two years? Three years, four years? Like, what is that timeframe that you guys offer? That no cost? refi?

JODIE: 
We we don’t have a timeframe. Oh, like, as long as you work with us?

ADRIENNE: 
That’s so nice. So no limit? Yeah. When you’re ready at that

JODIE: 
point? Yeah, at that point, you know, you’re our fear. You’re our, our, like, in the, in the family.

ATTILIO: 
The good news, Jodie and Derek. They eat well, they’re pretty good shape. So they have a high probability of a long lifespan can be claimed for life? If you did

JODIE:

you decide grandmother is turning 104 on June 23. Wow.

ADRIENNE: 
Because the good genes, the genes.

JODIE: 
We have some good genes on that side.

ATTILIO: 
The, the, you know, it’s always that question that people think about here in Hawaii, it’s so real estate is so expensive, so expensive. Should I buy? Or should I just move to Vegas? Or should I rent? Or should I rent? So should I buy move to Vegas or rent? What’s your thoughts?

JODIE: 
I think I mean, for me, I think that if there’s a way and you you value, and you’re connected to Hawaii, yeah. And being here in Hawaii brings you value. As it does me like I wake up every morning. And I think God even though I’ve been home from college for so long at this point that I was able to return and that I get to live here. So I would do whatever sacrifices possible in order to stay here. Also, you know, in talking about kids, like I want my kids to grow up here, you know? If if you’re like, not connected with it, and you’re like, Ah, I can come back and visit. Yeah. You know, the schools aren’t even that good. And this, that and the other? Sure, I do think that you can get value and create an a home, you know, somewhere else that you connect better with and that is 100% more affordable. Yeah, that is not that’s factual, you know?

ATTILIO: 
Yeah. For Me, For You go ahead.

JODIE: 
It’s just not something that I would I would rather, you know, get as basic as needed so that we can remain here for the long run. And when you talk about renting, you’re not looking long term, you’re not thinking long term to come in and you’re not committed for more than a year.

ATTILIO: 
So your answer your answer. God was like, when I call that it was the answer that I call Adult diapers. depends. It depends.

JODIE: 
Yeah, yeah, it really does. I mean, for some people I have rents that, that, you know, they have been here for a very long time, their family. And they, their mother and grandparents are still here, but they chose to go and they’re in Texas, and they live on a lot of land and they

ATTILIO:
have a compound, you know? Yeah, yeah. I have some clients that we’re doing that right now. The kids are in Texas, they’re gonna move. So

JODIE: 
yeah, the right person, it’s just it does, it could make sense. I can see it making sense.

ATTILIO:
I think that why we’re in alignment with you and why you’re one of our preferred vendors is that we have the same mindset. When we sit down with our clients. It’s not about I want to sell okay, this is what it takes to sell, we’re going to ask more questions. Should you be really selling to? Should you be buying on

ADRIENNE: 
the finance side? Like, yeah, does that mean? Does it make sense? Yeah. And I know Jodie does that with all the all of her clients. So, Jodie, as we’re, as we’re coming to the end of our show, I want, I want to, I want you to share some recent success stories.

ATTILIO: 
But real quick, before you do that, we were visiting Japan. And speaking of the pens, they actually sell more adult adult diapers in Japan than baby diapers, that is a fact. Google it.

ADRIENNE: 
Okay, go ahead. So let’s hear somehow, ya know, some happy success stories, even though like, you know, the prices have come up and interest rates have come up, I’m sure that there’s been lots of success stories. So God, share with us one or two that come to mind.

JODIE:
I mean, they’re there. Every single closing that we do is a success story. And part of our our team, you know, our team approach with your agents with all the agents is that we work together as a team, we answer questions, we explain the process, we get rid of the unknown. making everyone feel confident about their decisions, our piece of the puzzle is making sure that they don’t have questions from a financial standpoint, and that they feel confident in their decisions moving forward. And we’ve recently closed the handle, you know, with you guys. And all of them. The buyers are like, Man, I didn’t know it could be this easy. You know, and I do tell them, I’m like, oh, it’s not always as easy like that. Just so you know, like, it’s not always easy. But when you have a team approach, and there’s so much time on the front end, that is spent understanding the buyers main goals, and then their top priorities, I just, nothing feels better than you know, I knew you were going to end up over there. Like I knew you were going to end up in that town, complex in kind of your hair. You know what I mean? Like, just from that initial conversation, like I just knew you weren’t going to end up in town, you know, or what have you.

ATTILIO: 
Here’s the thing, though, I tell you the number one complaint and you said it, your front loading, people are complaining, oh, Jodie, they require so much paperwork out front. But that as a complaint is a compliment. Because how many times we get approvals from other lenders, and it’s like, we go into escrow. I’m like, Okay, that didn’t go to work, because it didn’t front load. And then

ADRIENNE: 
people have spent money and got emotionally attached to the home. And then oops, sorry, you really can’t qualify. So

ATTILIO: 
if you want to hassle, call it on your pre approvals and getting into financing don’t call God.

ADRIENNE:
Right? So the front loading is the key.

JODIE: 
Yes. If you don’t want the full picture, if you don’t want us reviewing and asking the necessary questions that are gonna come up at some point, do you want it to come up now? Or do you want it to come up in the middle of your escrow transaction? Yeah. We need those answers now. Because we can’t be we don’t want you to

ATTILIO: 
have surprises that experience. Yeah. Well,

ADRIENNE:
the great thing about Jodie and her team is even if something does pop up, that could be a challenge. You guys are like you’ve got a great team that has so much experience and there’s always some outside of the box thinking and solutions with how to still make it work.

ATTILIO: 
Yeah, because the other lenders I’m always coughing, figure it out. With Jodie, she already figured it out

ADRIENNE: 
and has options. Yeah. And the plan. Okay.

ATTILIO: 
Thanks, Jodie.

JODIE: 
Thank you guys.

ATTILIO: 
Thank you. Yes. All right. So that was Jodie Tanga. She’s the mortgage genius. Just by listening and being in reverse and your IQ goes up at least by 10 points.

ADRIENNE: 
I know. Yeah.

Follow Us On Social Media