Real Estate with Renee Featuring Sinberg Capital Lending

Well, happy Friday, Zach.

Hi, Renee. How are you this afternoon?

I'm good. I'm good.

Thanks for having me.

Oh, my pleasure. And thank you for joining us on a Friday afternoon. I hope I'm the only thing standing between you and the weekend.

Yeah, just, you know, looking forward to it and spending some time with my children. So it'll be good.

Good, good, good. Well, welcome. My name is Renee Hahn. I'm with William Ravis Real Estate, and this is a little bit of a, a turnoff, if you will, an exit ramp from what I was using these StreamYards for, which is all about connecting people in Southwest Florida. And we're still doing that, but I thought we'd be selfish for a little while and steer conversations towards our world of real estate And so I'm thrilled to have you here. You are officially my first guest under the real estate umbrella, and hopefully we'll have people near and far joining us and certainly watching us on instant replay. So I'm thrilled to have you. I have with us today Zach Zinberg, and Zach is an expert in the area of mortgages, and I'll say that in case he doesn't because he's also modest. Um, I, I a bit handpicked Zach for this first segment because I've had the opportunity and the pleasure with working with Zach, not just in a capacity, um, on deals I work on, but Zach also did lending on my personal purchase back in October. So, um, I have the opportunity to work with lots of different people, but you know when a real estate agent picks someone for their own private purposes They must know what they're doing.

Well, we appreciate that.

Well, Zach, as a segue then, what I'd like to do before we get into the topic of mortgages and, and how brokers fit into that, share with the audience a little bit about yourself and, and your business.

Well, um, Simberg Capital Lending was established back in 2007 in Durango, Colorado, where I'm originally from. We started there, and once I had transitioned down to Florida with my family, then we opened up a faction of the business down here. So we represent both the Florida and Colorado markets. And, you know, we specialize in residential mortgages, of course, mostly conforming, conventional, jumbo, FHA, VA are the loan programs that we work within. And, you know, we just try and do an awesome job for our clients and, you know, build our business, you know, mostly on referral base and, you know, working and building relationships with, you know, top-tier real estate agents like yourself.

Well, great. And as the name would indicate, this is a family-owned business.

Yep. My brother and I are partners and both principals in the business. And, you know, ostensibly he handles the Colorado market because that's where he lives. And I handle the Florida market because I am down here most of the year as well. And then it gives us the luxury of going back and forth between two great places.

I was just gonna say that, Zach, because if nobody gets anything else, that should be an indication of IQ, because picking two places like Colorado and Southwest Florida as anchors, if you will, for your business and your lifestyle is pretty darn intelligent.

Yes, I wouldn't have it any other way, to be perfectly honest. It's more than enough, but great markets to be in. Durango, like Naples, is one of those communities where people want to live, and the demand for good properties is always on the high side of things.

Well, and I'd love to actually— I know I'm asking you some things we were going to talk about, but if you'd be a good sport with me, I have two questions. Number one, is it snowing there yet?

You know, we have had some snow in the high country, but you know, the days get real nice and then, you know, drops into those fall, cool winters, you know, weather temperatures in the evening and then it gets cold at night, so.

Great, and question number 2, Zach, is their market blowing up like Southwest Florida right now too? I heard it is.

It is, you know, Southwest Colorado, I mean, like here, they are buying homes anywhere from $200,000 to $20 million sight unseen at this, you know, people that are wanting to exit out of the cities, you know, and find that they can either work remotely or work remotely part-time and buying, you know, nicer homes in more, you know, desirable areas, I guess. And so yeah, I mean, Durango and the market in Durango and in the surrounding Four Corners area is always strong. And then, you know, up in the Front Range, up in Denver, You know, once again, you know, just a mass influx of people coming in.

Yeah, well, that's fantastic. Well, I hope— I wish continued success in both marketplaces.

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely.

Zick, what I wanted to do, recognizing that particularly as this post on Facebook, I have a lot of agent followers, but I also have a lot of consumers and consumers who would potentially be looking for mortgages. In their own private buying. And, you know, we all like to think we're experts at some level of things, but the reality is I work in real estate and there's a lot I don't know about mortgages. So what I wanted to do is maybe start with the layman's terms around what are some of the mortgage options that are available for people. And as you talk through each of them, How would, you know, what are some of the things if you were going to do your own personal mortgage, knowing what you know, that you would be weighing out with each of those options as a consideration?

You know, I think first and foremost is, you know, building that relationship with the client and understanding what their scenario is, you know, and then that way we can gather all of the documentation at once and, and then really assess what product works best for their scenario. You know, everybody's, you know, financial scenario is a little unique to themselves, so it doesn't always have a, you know, one-glove-fits scenario. So once we've had that opportunity to meet with either your clients or your referrals, that we can have a real good idea of how to approach, you know, the entire transaction. You know, it helps the real estate agents write their contracts, and then, you know, sets up the expectations of the timing to, you know, get it start to finish from once you do have an executed contract, knowing that, you know, you can close within a reasonable period of time. You know, working with a broker as opposed to maybe a retail bank, we can certainly speed things up and move at a much different pace than, you know, maybe some buyers and real estate agents are accustomed to.

Yeah, and I can actually personally attest to that because we had, um, just for the audience, it wasn't that long ago, less than a month ago, I think we had— I had a cat fire on a property in Naples. And at a time when everybody was talking about, you know, closings taking longer, appraisers being booked, all of the things that can slow that process down, you know, being the pipeline being full of refinancing. Excuse me, we had a buyer that we flipped from cash to lending, and I think we closed in about 3 weeks, give or take. Do you remember, Zach?

Absolutely. You know, typically on a, you know, when things are even as busy as they have been during all of this, you know, we're getting our loans underwritten in about 2 days. Yesterday I had one underwritten the same day, so I submitted it at 8:30 in the morning And by about 3:30 in the afternoon, I already had the loan conditionally approved and already had been working towards getting all of the extra documents that need to, you know, get a loan to close. You know, if, you know, nowadays, you know, sometimes we get appraisal waivers. So if that's the case, that certainly reduces the time it takes a transaction to get done. You know, I'd like to say that, you know, we can always guarantee a 30-day closing. You know, is pretty fair. And then, you know, on or before. So I think that's really important for the real estate agents to know that they've got somebody that, you know, basically once you've done the home inspections, that, you know, we'll handle all of the communication between yourself, the title company, the lender, you know, and the, the communication is very transparent and comes freely as things go along. We've got great technology where we can keep you guys updated minute to minute of what's happening in the loan process as well.

Great. One of the things I want to talk about, it's probably going to seem very remedial for you, but let's talk about— you were talking about you can get a closed, you know, the conditional close, if you will. I found that even highly educated buyers who have bought and sold many homes as they are borrowing, they don't understand some of those major thresholds and they get them confused. So could you give us the description of some of the milestones and what each of those means? So when you get a conditional close, what does that mean versus clear to close at the end? Do you mind sharing a little bit about those steps in the process?

Sure, absolutely. So I mean, of course it starts off with you guys, the realtors, looking for a pre-approval process. So that's when, you know, I interview the client, you know, get the minimum amount of financial documents in order to ensure that we can make sure that they're gonna be able to close on this loan. So what we like to do is get it all up front or as much as possible so that it is, you know, very comprehensive, that when you know that you're submitting your offers that, you know, this person can, you know, follow through on the transaction. So that's the first step. And then once we do that, you know, hopefully we are able to get all of the documentation that we need and we try and keep it really streamlined for the buyer as well so that their document gathering isn't as arduous as it may have been in the past. So then the next step is once we do that, we've got a platform where we send out all of our loan documents electronically. Everybody, all everything's e-signed real similar to your guys' documents. And then once they receive them and e-sign them, then we can submit the loan right to underwriting. Typically, like I said, our underwrites are taking anywhere from a day to 3 days to get underwritten. And that's when the lender will analyze everything that we've gotten in. We try and submit as complete a loan package as possible right from the initial upload that makes it so that the conditions that come back might be the title work, the homeowner's insurance, if there's any homeowners association dues or anything like that, that's where we start gathering all of that information. And then once we've satisfied all of the conditions, then we get what's called the clear to close, meaning that all of the underwriting processes are done and then we're just waiting for the actual day of settlement. And then the buyers sign our loans have instant funding, meaning that once the seller and the buyer both sign, that the title company can disburse funds immediately. So the realtors would then, you know, be walking out of the door with a done, uh, settled transaction.

Yep. Well, and let me ask this. This is a very, um, general question, so I expect a general answer, but you think about from the point of either pre-qualification or pre-approval to then a conditional close to a clear to close, what do you see some of the fallout rates being through that process?

For us, it's very little. I mean, I, I see it more happen if for some reason the real estate itself doesn't work out for the buyer. You know, they are in their inspection period and something, you know, develops that, you know, doesn't work for them, or that, you know, the sellers are unwilling to you know, do the remediation work, things like that. You know, I see them falling out. But, you know, once we've kind of had the initial pre-approval process, we know whether the transaction's really going to work. I mean, we've run credit, we've, you know, looked at assets and employment and income. So, I mean, once we've determined that, we usually have a very high success rate that, you know, if the buyer follows through on the transaction, that it closes.

That's great. And Zach, part of why I wanted to ask that question, I want to point out that that's not necessarily true with every lender. I have— obviously I work on both the listing and the selling side, so I've been on both ends of that. And there are times when a pre-approval, uh, letter doesn't end up meaning a whole lot if the lender has not done a good enough job with the upfront um, you know, due diligence. And so I point that out as you've got prospective sellers and buyers out there listening in, to say, you know, one pre-approval letter isn't necessarily the same as every pre-approval letter because we're relying in part on the process and the requirements that those lenders had to be able to give that letter out. And, uh, you know, I've had some pre-approval letters that failed early on and many that, you know, were good indicators of what to expect with loans being able to go all the way through. So thank you.

Sure. I mean, you know, when I work for myself like you do, so I want to, you know, do the homework up front and make sure that before I put a lot of effort into it and, you know, string it through 2 and 3 weeks worth of work, that I want to make sure it works. And we try and make sure it works from the beginning.

Great. I wanted to touch on my first question when we talked about type of mortgage options. You know, I'll just share a little vulnerability on my part. When I first got into real estate, I didn't have a good appreciation for the difference between conventional, VA, FHA. And I'm talking about when I'm counseling my sellers on how strong an offer is and what some of the considerations are with those different loan types. I've learned a lot moving forward in my real estate career. But if you're a seller and you're looking at offers that are either FHA, VA, conventional, different things. What are some of the things that, if you were in that seller position, knowing what you know as an expert, that are considerations when evaluating what, uh, you know, what those lending options look like to be on the receiving end of that?

Well, I think that if, you know, for a qualified buyer, I mean, there's different loan programs that would work for them in all instances. So, you know, I mean, I don't know if there's any necessarily pitfalls, if you will, but, you know, I mean, for some people, you A VA option is a great option for a veteran. They get the ability to take care of, you know, the veterans, and they can get into homes with 100— with zero money down. Um, you know, puts a lot of people into homes. FHA for people that, you know, maybe don't have the huge down payment money, where they can, you know, maybe finance a little bit more of it with coming in with lower down payment at 3.5%. As opposed to a minimum down payment of 5% on a conforming conventional loan. I mean, as far as a seller is concerned, I think that they want to make sure that they've got a strong, you know, buyer that, you know, that hopefully that the lender that's doing their work is, you know, working on their behalf to get them to closing just like the seller wants to get to. Of course, conforming conventional for a qualified buyer is probably the easiest loan programs to go through. They're automatically, automated, underwritten through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So that, you know, that kind of defines the way the loan is going to go.

Great. Well, thank you for that. And Zach, what I wanted to talk about now, because there's obviously different lender options, there's big banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, you've got credit unions that are in the mix of, of lending money, you've got brokerages like yourself. You're a broker So talk a little bit about what that means when people work with you and, and some of the considerations and how that actually may provide benefit.

Sure, absolutely. You know, I mean, first and foremost, I mean, I think going with a broker, we have a better array of products that we can take a lender or a borrower to. Not everybody does everything well all the time. So, you know, I mean, there's different lenders that work really well in the FHA sector or the VA loans, There's, you know, banks that are really good at jumbos. There's banks that are really good at condominiums. So I mean, all different, you know, scenarios. So we have the ability to take them to those lenders, and we've got a great portfolio that we've worked with for, you know, over a decade now that, you know, we can make sure that our loans get to closing. Our customer service with the lenders, we've got great relationships there. Our loans get underwritten quickly, we get our conditions cleared up quickly, and we have a direct access to talk to the underwriters on a daily basis on all of our scenarios. So I think that's one thing that, you know, when you walk into, say, a big bank like Wells Fargo or Chase or any of them, you know, you're looking at, you know, when you walk into their office, that person doesn't have to be licensed. They're just— they fall within the auspice of the bank itself. So they may or may not— they might have been a teller 3 days ago and all of a sudden they're now the mortgage person. You know, I don't know, they've got one product to sell where, you know, you walk in and they've got a Wells Fargo loan and that's pretty much where you're going to lie or where you're going to end up. And that may be great for somebody and, you know, there's not great for somebody else.

Well, and one of the things I want to touch on, two things that I get asked about when I give options to people I work with and help with introductions, and then they ultimately pick who they work with. But one of the things I get asked about when I bring up brokers, I get two questions. One, um, is that going to cost me more since they're, you know, how do they get paid if then the lender gets paid under? Uh, so I'd love your reaction to that. By the way, I get asked the same questions with insurance brokers. It's just, you know, people are always trying to understand if something's costing them more. So talk to that.

You know, in most scenarios, we try and quote everything at a par rate, meaning no origination or points you may have heard. Because our business is streamlined, it's just myself and my brother, we do all of our own work. We try and give those savings back to the client where we're not charging any fees so that that person goes and tells 3 people, that person, you know what I mean? We build our business on referral basis on that way. Sometimes buyers need a little assistance with their closing costs so we can slightly increase the interest rate and get them back a lender credit towards those closing costs.

Yeah, so that's good. I want to make sure people know, even though Zach and Sliver Lending would work on your behalf to find the best lending program across a wide array of options, that's not a service that's costing you more than if you went to other lending options. So I think that's really important. And Zach, the other one I get asked is, okay, does a broker then mean I'm going to talk to 15 different people in my process? Because Zach's just there as the introduction and then I go somewhere else. And I'd like you to talk to that too.

Nope. Every time you call that number going across the banner, you get me. There's no switchboards. You know, there's— like I said, our business is myself and my brother, and we've got one other individual that works with us, but we do all of our own processing. So every time you call me, you will get me on the phone or at least a voicemail and a return call, you know, within a very reasonable period of time. One of the benefits with working with us is that we are in two different time zones, so we can really spread a day out pretty far. So things get started really early in the state of, you know, Florida, and then work into the evenings in Colorado when, you know, after business has already shut down here. So we can get, you know, turn an 8-hour workday into about a 14-hour day pretty quick.

Yeah, well, thank you. I obviously— things I've experienced myself. I want to make sure others have the opportunity to know that. And that is true. I, you know, I talked to Zach on day one of the process, and as a real estate agent who stays very involved in the process to make sure everything, you know, everybody's talking to everyone and title is coordinated with mortgage and insurance, I see it from start to end. And Zach was the same person I talked to, um, at the very end when we got the clear to close and, and things were ready to go. So, uh, that is very, very true. He's not just giving you lip service. That is truly a customer experience. And one of the things, Zach, that I certainly appreciate about working with you— let me ask this. I'm going to give— we've got a few minutes left in this segment, and I want to give you the floor to talk about a little bit, um, you know, what you're seeing in the marketplace. Obviously it's been a great year in terms of rates. Um, you know, there's lots of views, although it seems somewhat consistent that we may be enjoying these for a while. But give a little bit of a, a market update from your vantage point, um, and share, share with folks about what you're seeing.

Well, to echo what you said, Renee, I mean, the real estate market is just insanely busy right now. Uh, good properties do not last long, so people need to, you know, be— have everything in a row ready to go. Um, you know, I think those pre-approvals really help the real estate agents so that when that property does come available, that their buyer can feel confident that they can write an offer and close on that transaction quickly. I think that, you know, that's the end goal for everybody, is to, you know, get the transaction going, get it done, and then execute it in a seamless, timely fashion. So, you know, when we all work together in that synergy, that, that's the way that the experience becomes pleasurable. You know, we get a lot of people that are transitioning down to Southwest Florida, they don't know anybody. So I think it's really incumbent upon the professionals that have their boots on the ground here in the Naples area that all work together to make that so that, that experience is really good for the buyer.

Fantastic. And I wanted to ask you, Zach, now that you've become an expert in this mortgage space, what does Zach the mortgage expert wish he knew back when you were pre-mortgage days and buying homes? What would you have told your younger self?

Wow, that's a good question. I would've kept buying smaller properties and kind of cleaning them up and, you know, I enjoy doing that type of stuff. And then I would've bought a lot more properties in Southwest Colorado.

Yeah, we all, I remember talking to people even here in Naples because Naples history in certain segments isn't really that long. And, um, you know, I have friends that were teachers back in the day who tell me what they paid for property close to the Gulf, and a few of them that sold it since then and just kick themselves every day for not having that early pioneer to gobble up some of this property.

I mean, just think, I heard that lots originally in Port Royal were $250,000.

I know I'm always a day late and a dollar short, I tell you.

I think you're doing great, Renee. You know, you know, kudos to all your success as well. I mean, you've, you know, when you came onto the scene doing real estate in Southwest Florida, you really, you know, put in the time and the effort and, you know, made a big splash.

Well, thank you, Zach. You know, one of the things I enjoy, um, in real estate, whether it's, you know, in the, the, again, insurance, mortgage building, all of those things. One of the things I love about working in this industry is you work with entrepreneurs. All of us that are serving the different segments of a real estate industry are all self-employed. We all, you know, we work for ourselves and we take great pride in our businesses and providing a service that's hopefully differentiated for people. So I just love the opportunity to meet, work with so many talented and brilliant people in their, in their spaces, because it's pretty amazing. There are very few industries that I can point to that have a similar composition, um, as, as this industry that we all support.

I agree wholeheartedly, you know. I mean, it's different schedules, different hours, you know. We work weekends, you know. So it's, you know, everybody, you know, pulls together and this— it works. It works well.

Yeah. Well, fantastic. Well, Zach, as we sit here on the cusp of what we hope is a great season. Although candidly, I'm seeing less of the big extremes between the season because I haven't gotten much time off in the last 2 summers, which was unprecedented in Naples history where, you know, you got to catch your breath in the summer. Hopefully we're gearing up for a great season here as we enjoy some of our seasonal visitors and homeowners coming back down to enjoy a little, little bit of vitamin D down here.

Absolutely. And it's great to see the demographic getting younger and younger. So, you know, there's a lot of great opportunity out there for people. And there's, you know, Southwest Florida and Naples, you know, area is growing and the projections are also fantastic. So it'll be interesting to see. And I'm glad to be a part of it.

Well, you know, quick before we wrap up, one of the things you just said sparked a thought in me. And, you know, I don't know that it's enough data points to declare it a new trend, but you were talking about the shifting demographics. And certainly again, on the buying and selling side, one of the things I'm seeing is I'm starting to see more loans. Now, part of that is cash buyers who say, you know what, I have cash to buy it, but why wouldn't I borrow it when I'm making more in my investments than it would cost me to loan? But there's also a part of it that is this shifting demographics of people who are, you know, still in the throes of their career and may not have the liquidity, the assets on hand to buy things cash outright. So I think more and more Sellers are going to have to get used to seeing more loans being a bigger part of the buying pool than certainly Naples, which has been such a dominant cash market, has been in the past. And with that, I'm also seeing a more, you know, home sale contingency arrangement. So I think as we buckle down and look at some of this, as you talked about this growing diversity of residents in our area, I think we're going to see some of that shift. And certainly you're in the right space to facilitate that.

Absolutely. I mean, we have doctors, teachers, real estate agents. I mean, there is a, you know, huge economy here in Southwest Florida and it is drawing a lot of people here that will be working and buying homes and, you know, being part of a community.

Absolutely. Zach, I so appreciate you being with us. I wanted to point out down below Zach's information has been going across the tickler, so if somebody wants to get a hold of Zach and talk about the different lending options, even if you're just in the, the beginning stages of thinking about that, I encourage you to do that. We are enjoying a low interest rate right now on loans, so I encourage even those traditional cash buyers, um, you know, it may be a good time to borrow at least a part of it. My husband and I opted not to pay cash in its entirety, but instead took out a modest loan to take advantage of the low rates. And by the way, be able to help the credit scores over time because we, as we all know, paying for things in cash doesn't necessarily help you build your credit score. So I encourage you to reach out to Zach and explore some of those options for yourself. And I appreciate you joining us, Zach. Any parting words as we close for the day?

Nope, I'd be glad to help you, your clients, and your other real estate professionals. If anybody has any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. And, um, you know, really approachable, and we'll help you out.

Great. So, Zach Sinberg, Capital Lending, thank you so much for spending your Friday afternoon with us.

And thanks for having me, Renee.

Beautiful weekend I hope we're all going to have.

Absolutely, you too. Thank you so much, Renee. Have a great weekend. You too. Bye-bye.