- Where Kayla came from, how she became a Mortgage Loan Originator, and what’s her passion for her clients?
- What has history taught Kayla about the current time that we’re in as far as mortgages and real estate in general?
- Kayla’s perception of where the market is going
- Understanding and starting to see the value in each market
- What are the portfolio programs or services Kayla offers that they’re successful with?
- The importance of communication and education amongst the entire team
- How to convey the fear of rates to a consumer who’s considering a potential purchase in this current climate?
- Helpful nuggets that will inspire and motivate you in your endeavor in terms of buying a house.
- Phone: 701-370-9766
- Email: kkallander@fibt.com
- Website: poplme.co/waXRMK1y
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaylakallandermortgage/
- Contact Number: 843-619-3005
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exitstrategiesradioshow/
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/exitstrategiessc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxoSuynJd5c4qQ_eDXLJaZA
- Website: https://www.exitstrategiesradioshow.com
- Email @: corwyn@corwynmelette.com
Episode 71: 2023 Real Estate Trends: Will Mortgage Rates Drop?
CORWYN:
Good morning, good morning, and good morning. Guys, please forgive me for not having full power right now. I’m over here adjusting the lights in the studio to get it right over here because look here it’s so bright in here. I felt like I was getting sun-tanned or something today. So look guys welcome to EXIT Strategies Radio Show. I’m your host Corwyn J. Melette, Broker and Owner of EXIT Realty LowCountry Group in beautiful North Charleston, South Carolina. Hey guys, I am super duper excited today for this show. Because guys look here, look here, we went way out and we got the best. Okay, well, that’s what we’re doing. That’s what we’re doing. Look here, we keep casting a net. And we’re like, hey, look, you’re who our listeners need to hear from, you’re who we need to talk to. Hey, can you come on? And can you be a guest on this show? So, guys, I want you all to get your pen and pad ready. We have an industry veteran with us today, none other than Kayla Kallander. She’s a Mortgage Originator with First International Bank and Trust. Guys, she is a 20-year veteran. 19. We’re gonna say 20. Look, we round up. That’s what we do. A graduate of North Dakota State University with a degree in Business Administration. But here’s why she’s here. She is passionate about our clients and she gives them superior customer service. Because she has a focus on the minutia of details, attention to detail, and great communication, she ensures that our clients have a smooth process guys doing their home-buying journey. So she is an advocate for animal rescue. A member of the Homeward Animal Shelter Board of Directors. Kayla and her husband reside in West Fargo, North Dakota and they have four rescue pit bulls. I’m a pit bull fan myself so guys look, because look here, that makes us family. But look here before we go too far to remember that Kayla is in North Dakota. It is cold over there. So if your climate is not cold, then you might not relate to what she’s going through. But just understand that look, she’s up in North Dakota guys and I told her today that it’s cold weather. So Kayla, how are you doing today?
KAYLA:
I’m cold. I’m really cold. But we are built to last a year in Fargo, North Dakota. Let me tell you so
CORWYN:
That is true. Look, yeah, I’m a weakling because look here, that right there, I mean, look here, every now and then you see something on television, like the weather or something. And you’re just like, Oh, Ah, you are definitely a trooper, you are a trooper. That’s the kind of person that didn’t want a corner.
KAYLA:
But you know, it’s true.
CORWYN:
Tell our listeners, and I don’t want to bore them with the weather today. But we want to kind of get into, like some meat and potatoes, if you will. So you have been a Mortgage Originator for again, nearly 20 years.
KAYLA:
Yeah. So in the banking industry, for up yeah, actually, you weren’t too far off, it will be 20 years in May. So I was wrong about that. So a little bit about where I came from, and kind of my background to kind of paint the picture of where I’m at today. I grew up on a farm, with a very large family. I’m the youngest of six. And my father was obviously a farmer. We had to bring in income as my mom stayed at home. I mean, six kids, I mean, someone’s got to stay with us. So she had her own job. And my father worked tirelessly, tirelessly, for hours and hours to provide for our family. And I actually grew up working in the fields. We have lots of corn, beans, and wheat. And so I grew up actually working on a farm, no livestock, but just out wants to be in the field. And as I grew older, I had an opportunity to have a, like a real job I called it where my father wasn’t paying me. And they were hiring at my local bank, and it scared the bejesus out of me. I’m like, Oh, my goodness, I have a bank. Okay, I’m gonna apply because a local dairy queen wasn’t hiring. So I went ahead and applied to be a teller. And I was a teller at that bank for 11 years at the age of 15 I started. That led me into being in a bank until I worked my way up, had done all the jobs, you know how it goes and started in a mortgage, and oh my gosh, I was not prepared. In fact, I left. I’m like, I can’t do this. I don’t have experience and realize that it has a way of bringing you back in. So I left it for a month and realized no, this is for me. And what I did is I started as a processor and worked my way up so that I could truly help my clients and not just shoot from the hip and pretend I knew and so that led me to where I’m at today, which is a Mortgage Loan Originator where I get to help clients create generational wealth for them and their families. So, I’ve been doing that role since about 2017. And, you know, I’ll tell you, it doesn’t get any easier. You just do hard and better. That’s basically what you do. So,
CORWYN:
Oh, I like that. Oh, you’re hard, better. Wow. Yeah. Okay. So I’m gonna tell you what I heard and all of that Kayla. What I heard was that I am in this personally, and I’m gonna share this brief. But sometimes we get snooties. We have a lot of pretensions if you will, but you get it, you understand where people come from? Because you came from there yourself. So people like that know how to help somebody, make a transition into a better life for them, their family, or what have you. Because they made a choice somewhat of a transition themselves. They brought in their shoes if you will. That’s awesome. That is such a wonderful story. So tell our listeners, we’re talking backstage kind of things that you want people to know, like, the media will have people believing that the sky is falling when the sun comes up it is literally that bad. Just so you know, it’s stuck in my head, that you do hard, better. I stopped right here. We’ll do hard, better, but what are you seeing, what history has taught you about the time that we’re in as far as mortgages and real estate in general?
KAYLA:
You know, I’ve learned a lot that, as I said, “Nothing is perfect.” There’s never a perfect market. There’s never a perfect scenario. You probably are never going to be 100% ready. And I feel that the media has created this fear-mongering amongst a lot of us where it’s not the right time to buy, and rates are high. And truthfully, we could have gone back to the market that we had six to 12 months ago, and said that wasn’t an ideal time to buy. Rates were lower. But we were seeing people writing offers noncontingent on inspections, offering 25 50,000. Yes, 50,000 over asking. And then if prices and values drop, then they might be underwater. And so we were seeing this market that truly wasn’t normal. But all people remember, well, rates were low. So to go back to say there’s never a perfect market, there isn’t. But you have to find the good in each market. And each market is going to provide something great and something not so great. So what I’m seeing now in this market is that the competition has decreased. Well, what does that mean? We’re seeing more FHA offers accepted. We’re seeing sellers give sellers paid closing costs. What you didn’t hear about that months ago? I saw it on a purchase agreement yesterday. And I’m like, “What is this?” Yeah, and we’re seeing now these programs for 2-1 buydowns. There are so many opportunities, but so many people are getting caught up in that rated game. So one of the things that I see people doing a little bit better now is they’re getting pre-approved early on. Because when you’re doing that, they’re preparing themselves for that. When and if rates do drop a little bit here, they’re ready to pull the trigger. And in fact, I’ve had more purchase agreements and applications come through this one, than I have in the last two months. So people are starting to see the value in this market.
CORWYN:
So we’re seeing similar activity. All people are going from when panic to a frenzy sets in. Let’s call it frenzy, because that’s really what it was. Good choice of words. Yeah. Yeah, there’s a calming that takes place at some point in time. So the cooling, and then after the cooling is when the senses come back to people. They begin to come back out because during the frenzy, I mean, it’s almost like a zombie apocalypse or something like that. Every time you open the door, there’s a zombie, trying to eat your face or something. So you build yourself up in the house, and the zombies only come out at night because you never see zombies, seemingly in the day. So when that night is over, that morning, you come out and the Zombie Apocalypse is over, at least for that night. And now you’re able to go out and do what you need to do. And that’s kind of where the market or what the market did that frenzy that set in, quote-unquote doing zombie apocalypse. I like it. That’s the best. I like that it’s all new material. Gotcha. That thing now has people like regrouping and resetting themselves. So where do you land? What states are and such, and where do you lend?
KAYLA:
I land in all 50 states. So even where you’re at? Yes. Yeah, it’s great. And truthfully after COVID I mean, we were seeing people flock to North Dakota. But we were also thinking of people moving from other states because they could work anywhere. So I have the ability and the blessing to lend everywhere, which is really pretty cool, especially because I’m connecting with people constantly on social media, and every other platform that normally people didn’t lean into as much as they were now.
CORWYN:
That’s fair. Very fair. So you guys have a suite of programs or products. As I heard, you mentioned FHA. So you do have government back programs, any niche programs, anything that you guys are doing, or that you’ve been successful with?
KAYLA:
Yeah, and I think a lot of people, for the most part, a lot of lenders have the same things, the government programs, they’ve got the Conventional, they’ve got their Jumbos, one of the things that I do that is my niche is I get creative. If I cannot find an answer, I will find an answer. And you know what I might not be that we can do it tomorrow, but you’ll be sure we’re going to set you up for success to get you somewhere, whether it’s three months, six months, or 12 months. So that is one of the things that I offer. My company as a whole, we have a lot of portfolio products. What does that mean? That is where it might not fit the box of black and white, Fannie, Freddie. But it’s an option for those that don’t. Some of those options are Doctor loans, or maybe you’re self-employed, and you don’t have those two years of tax returns. So that’s where we can offer creative solutions that make sense, deals in that case.
CORWYN:
That is awesome. For our listeners, over the years we have kind of picked up on these portfolio programs. I mean, not everybody offers to have this ability to create a niche program to service a client-based that otherwise is missing out, because they don’t fit this box that doesn’t fit that particular part if you will. So it is awesome that you guys are doing that, offering those types of programs and products. So Kayla 19 nearly rounds it 20 years of experience in banking, you’ve probably seen it all. So what is one of the big like, if you were sitting down with a group of people, and having a comment, or to start a conversation about, hey, look, you want homeownership? What should you be doing? What would that conversation start off with?
KAYLA:
That is an excellent question. And not a lot of people ask that, they just go to Google. So if someone is
CORWYN:
Don’t ask Google, ask Kayla.
KAYLA:
Absolutely! Ask kayla.com. We’ll work on that. You know, I tell people, if you’re even thinking, it’s even remotely at the tip of your brain that you want to buy a home, apply and get approved with a lender, and meet and talk to a human lender that is willing to take a phone call, get to know you, discover your goals, your dreams, your hopes, and find out about you as a person. And about all of those things. Because when you are purchasing a home, it’s not just your biggest asset, but it’s your biggest liability. So it’s important that when you are starting this process, yes, get approved. But make sure you’re getting approved by a human that will strategize and talk to you. If you’re just putting clackety clack information into an online form, and hitting submit and getting a ding ding, you’re pre-qualified. I would say that’s a serious problem. Make sure that if you’re doing that, you’re having someone, a lender, follow up with you, discuss your application, talk about your assets, talk about your income, and make sure everyone’s on the same page. Because by doing so, allows your lender, Hi me to say okay, from what I understand, this is your goal, this is your budget, and this is what you’re approved for the programs I have. How do we make harmony amongst all of this? And far too often, people are chasing a rate. They’re chasing a program. They’re chasing the fact that “Oh, I got an online approval really quick.” But they’re not stopping to realize, who am I working with? You know, when I’m looking for a doctor or a dentist, or maybe someone’s looking for a therapist or a coach? They’re not just going and saying, Oh, that one’s 999. Oh, that one has one program. They’re getting to know the person that they’re going to work with. And again, for the biggest purchase of their lives. So for me, that would be my biggest recommendation for anyone. Even if they’re just starting to do it, just think about buying a home.
CORWYN:
That is like you said everything that I think about it oftentimes throughout this process that nobody ever talks about, they don’t talk about. So lenders don’t talk about getting to know the consumer, having that rapport. Because if I’m going to help you, if I’m truly going to be of service and of help to you, it’s a whole lot more important to know, just some different leads. So let me move this on the other side, that’s no different than a buyer coming to an agent and saying, “Hey, I got a pre-approval for 300,000.” And the agent, not having any idea what the buyer is in need of their family or anything, they don’t know anything. And because immediately what they’re going to focus on, is trying to help that person find or buy a $300,000 home. If you’re a single person that has no, no debt, and has the ambition of owning multiple properties, you may not want to start at 300,000. That might not be in their best interest, you may want to start at closer to 200 with a townhouse or condo. Or if let’s say as in other situations, there are other options that present and they present. Because you know something about the consumer, you find out you ask something other than what you approve or what’s your credit score, all that stuff, you get to know them. That, that Kayla, oh, gosh, that is it, right? That’s the bread and butter right there. That’s it right there. That’s it right there. So you sit, I say sit. But I mean, granted today, as we talked about, being in Zoom heaven, feel like you’ve been going on to glory. But being stuck in meetings, you probably do a lot of meetings virtually back and forth. But you sit and go through this process with prospective buyers, to really explain to them and offer what you can perceive as the better and best options to them. But lay out everything to them fundamentally. So they understand. That’s something that’s unique, but that’s something you do.
KAYLA:
Absolutely. I feel like if you’re educated, you’re empowered, and there’s nothing worse than okay, I know I’m gonna buy a house and I’m approved. But why do we want our clients to not know the ins and outs and the whys? So I will educate my clients so that they are empowered because when they realize they understand and they get it, their fear is gone. They’re excited now about the purchase. They’re not nervous. And what does this mean? There are no surprises we’ve talked about. What’s the down payment? What is an estimated rate based on today? Because you haven’t found a house yet. And what are you going to bring to closing day for funds, someone might have 20,000 in their account, but maybe they want to use two. And so it’s so important to teach them and show them. And also when they go out to look at a home, I will tell my clients to send me the address. And we’re going to run numbers before you even write because there will be no surprises. And what does that do? It empowers them. The communication is what I find missing between the lender and the realtor and the buyer. But when you’re all in sync, and you’re all communicating, hey, realtor, this client has approved for 250, I know the home that they’re looking at is 200, I want you to know they have room to go up to 250 so that they know where they can be in. By the way, the closing costs are going to be $6,000. So if you’re asking for the seller to cover those closing costs, make sure you know that it’s going to be X amount. So for me, it’s communication and education amongst the entire team. There’s one bench and on that bench, it’s the realtor, lender, client, insurance, and title. We all have to be on that same roster playing at the same level.
CORWYN:
I just had a vision, but I love it. Because that’s what it really is. And a lot of times you don’t get that level of communication the consumer really misses it. I can tell you countless times over weekends, late afternoon or late afternoon, late evening at night, me getting calls from agents, from my agents, trying to figure out how to help a buyer place an offer and trying to get numbers and I’m like well call the lender. But when the lender is not answering or the lender doesn’t ask me to call in after a certain period of time or doesn’t answer the phone on the weekends. In a hot market and at critical times, in interesting times in our industry like what we have now it’s very important that there will be cohesiveness. So if I’m working with someone then the first question is “Well hey, what’s your availability?” If you’re not gonna ask the phone will you at least text can I run a scenario by you? Can I do something to kind of have an idea and an understanding of how to best serve this client because we don’t want them to miss out on a house? That’s heartbreaking. Look here, it ain’t blood running, their blood and in my car. Have a blessed day, blood running elsewhere, right? So we want you for the weeks that we worked, to serve them.
KAYLA:
Well, and you. I mean, deals aren’t done Tuesdays at two. We know that client, I mean, that’s what I tell my clients, I say, Hey, I know it’s not going to be a Tuesday at two that you’re gonna message me, it’s going to be Hey, Kayla, sorry to bother you. It’s Friday at 8 pm. Well, guess what, that’s when deals get done. And if someone is not accessible, I get it. We all have our lives. And we, sometimes get things that are going to keep us away from our phones at times but dang it. Don’t be afraid to reach out to me, because that’s how we’re going to make a difference.
CORWYN:
Yeah, that is awesome. That’s awesome. So Cayla, if you don’t mind, how can people get in contact with you?
KAYLA:
I’m trying to think of which ways you can. So I am pretty active on Instagram. And that’s at kaylakallandermortgage. You can find me on LinkedIn, and you can find me on Facebook. And if you Google Kayla Kallander, it’ll probably give you all of them, including my own website as well.
CORWYN:
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So let’s kind of go back to this, you touched on this a little bit about people getting tunnel vision, very singularly focused on rates, and not that rates aren’t important. Don’t get me wrong, but rates fluctuate, and the market fluctuates. And there is this belief, or I think it’s more of a hope that rates are gonna significantly decline, they always ebb and flow. But then they’re going to drop significantly, and people are holding out for it. But it’s really hope because nobody really knows. But historically, rates are low in comparison to what they used to be. So how do you convey that to a consumer who’s considering, in this climate of potential purchase? How do you get them over that fear of rates?
KAYLA:
You know, you really have to listen to your client and find out what their pain point is. Is it the idea of the rate? The sound of 6%? That doesn’t sound awesome. The sound of three does. When we run, what I do is I run the numbers and I say, here’s the difference, I will do this, I will say, You know what, here’s where we were, here’s where we were at, a year ago, when you’re looking, here’s where we’re at now. How would you feel if, in two months, the rate is now let’s just say seven? Now, the payments are higher? A lot of lenders, I feel like sometimes they’re tone deaf, when they say, Well, you can refinance later. I will tell my clients, there’s the option that they may be able to refinance this later. But how would you feel if your rent went up? And it kept going up? Because that’s what we’re seeing? We’re seeing a rent increase. So I just play the what-if question and answer with them is, what if your rent goes up? You can’t control that? How would you feel getting into a home at this price with the idea that perhaps you could refinance? And if you didn’t buy the house, how would you feel knowing it went up even more? I feel that what we’re seeing in our market is we are seeing decreased inflation, we’re seeing it, we all know that we’re probably going to see decreased rates, but you can’t just tell a client, buy now rates are going to decrease. You have to listen to their pain points. And at the end of the day, it has to be their decision. Do they want to be in this boat or this boat? I also run a rent versus own analysis. We’re all putting in what they’re paying for rent. And I’ll put in what they’re paying for a potential home. And we will run what the appreciation gain is. We will run if rent increases, what does that look like? And I will show them visually, and that will help them to make that decision as well.
CORWYN:
That is very helpful. And a lot of times people don’t do an apples-to-apples or oranges-to-oranges comparison. They’re comparing one thing to something completely different. And they’re oftentimes incorporating personal feelings and belief into it versus the matter of fact or what else? What if they continue to climb, and you don’t buy now that you won’t be able to buy later? And that’s a real conversation. As I know we run into that quite often. So Kayla dropped one nugget for us as we look to close out today’s show. Drop a nugget for our listeners. Something that you believe will help and will impact them obviously, positively and trustfully inspire and motivate them in their endeavor.
KAYLA:
So one thing in terms of buying a house?
CORWYN:
In terms of anything. Buying a house is great because we love buying houses.
KAYLA:
Oh my gosh, that’s true. One nugget that I have. That’s a great question. I think when I think about time, I think about, there’s not enough time in our day. But really, we all have that same amount of time. And you hear that often. And one thing that’s helped me, and I feel like this is a nugget for anyone, not just people buying a home, people in real estate, but we are so prone to find ways to make our work day more efficient. We have, okay, we’ve got to have a system for this, we have to have a system for that. And one of the things that have helped me and maybe this will help our listeners, as I was listening to Admire Let, one of his recent podcasts with Rob Dyrdek, and they said that they’ve started to apply efficiencies to their personal life. You know, we don’t always have the efficiency to have date nights with our spouse, well, why don’t we have efficiency? You know, we know that a roadblock is going to occur, preventing us from going to the church on time on Sunday, and why are we not taking these ways that we’re finding systems and efficiencies in our day jobs, and applying them for life? And the reason that I say that is that if we all have more time in our day, or we can find these areas that we can truly make so much more efficient, maybe our meetings become half-hour meetings. It allows us in this world of chaos, and even in our market, in our industry, we know that inside and out of that chaos, it provides a level of peace. And so as people are thinking about their goals in 2023, it’s January, and we still have them in mind, I would challenge our listeners to start looking at their day, at work at home, and finding ways to be efficient and find these gold nuggets of time. Whether it’s to allow peace or balance, more time with family or friends because I think it is just so important.
CORWYN:
That is massive. So for our listeners, guys, Kayla just dropped the jewel along the wall in regards to essentially managing yourself. Your inner peace is very important because we have to have a degree of balance. We cannot operate at all times out of balance. So Kayla, thank you so much for that jewel, for that nugget for our listeners. Thank you so much for being here on the Exit Strategies Radio Show and being a part of our Exit Strategies Radio Show family. For our listeners, guys, y’all please, y’all break the internet, kaylakallander that’s kaylakallander. Y’all go fonder on social media. Y’all follow us up. Y’all let them know what questions you have and what she can help you with. Because I promise you she’s a resource for you in your endeavor for homeownership, for an investment property, for whatever you may desire as it relates to real estate and mortgages, please reach out to her. Again Kayla, thank you so much for being on the show with us today. And we appreciate it.
KAYLA:
Thank you! It’s an honor.
CORWYN: You’re quite welcome. So listeners, guys, y’all know what we say to you. You know how we feel. And we’re gonna give it to you in combination, fashion as we always do. That is number one, I love you. Number two, I love you. Number three, I love you. And we’re gonna see you guys out there in those streets.