Full Transcript is Below:
Megan Cascio:
Welcome to Home Run: Great Client Experiences, a podcast by NFM TV. I’m your host, Megan Cascio. And today we have special guests, our client, Steffaney Prince, and our loan originator, Brandon Pavlovic. Thank you guys so much for joining.
Brandon Pavlovic:
Thanks for having me.
Steffaney Prince:
Thanks for having me too.
Megan Cascio:
Yeah, let’s get into your story. So Steffaney, tell us about your story. How did you come to looking for a home in Arizona?
Steffaney Prince:
Well, I moved from California, now almost two years ago. So we started off by renting an apartment. And after being there for almost a year, decided it hopefully would be time to buy a home for once in our lives. It took us a while to get our credit up to where we needed it. By the time we had been in the apartment for about a year, I looked at our credit and thought, okay, I think it’s finally kind of where it needs to be by now. At least I hope so, based on what they told me before. And so then I reached out to a real estate agent that I had been talking to prior to moving that lived here in Arizona, and kind of told him I was hoping to find a house when our lease was up. And he put me in touch with his lender that I’d spoken to previously.
Steffaney Prince:
And she was the one who told me where I needed my credit and what it needed to look like. And she said, “Well, yeah, you got it where I told you it needed to be. But unfortunately, because of the pandemic,” because this was literally right as it was starting, this was our lease was going to be up in June, I think it was last year. And so I was asking these questions around March and April, thinking ahead. And so that was when the pandemic was pretty fresh. And she said, “Well, due to the pandemic, basically you can’t get a home loan with that score anymore. They want higher scores because there’s more risk,” is what she told me. So when she told me that we decided to just rent a house.
Megan Cascio:
And then that’s when that owner decided to sell. But then you had concerns about the new landlord coming in and people being in and out of the house during the pandemic, right?
Steffaney Prince:
Yeah. So we had already had concerns about, would we even be able to move out in a pandemic? And that was tricky enough. So we were able to find a house to rent and move into it, somehow at a decent price for renting in this neighborhood. And we moved in May 22nd. And September 26th, few months into our one-year lease, the owner said, “Hey, we’re going to sell our house. You can either stay and deal with whoever the new owners might be. And in the meantime, you have to show the house to all these people, or you can try to buy it from us or we’ll let you out of your lease early.” And so we were like, “What?”
Megan Cascio:
So you ended up making an offer on the home, but then that’s when things didn’t really go as planned. So what happened?
Steffaney Prince:
I asked my realtor at that time to kind of step in and help. He didn’t seem like he was very helpful. He didn’t seem like he was working fast enough for me because I know how fast houses go. And I thought, okay, I need answers now. And I need someone who’s going to jump in on my behalf and make it work because I want to stay in this house, I want to stay in this community and I don’t want to leave. And so I reached out on Facebook and just said, “Hey, anyone else know anyone that might be able to help me or give me other info?” And that’s when everybody was like, “You need to talk to this guy, Casey.” And so we met with Casey and immediately I was like, okay, he’s the one I should be working with.
Steffaney Prince:
Because he knows the neighborhood. He lived here and moved just across the freeway from us. So he knows the neighborhood, he knows the house and he knows how fast things go. And he’s right here. If I need him for something in-person, for whatever reason, he could come. So, yeah. We switched over to him and just kind of went from there.
Megan Cascio:
Got it. And then I believe the first lender that you were working with had told you that you ended up needing 4,000 out of pocket. Is that right?
Steffaney Prince:
Yeah. The deal originally, when I switched to Casey, the first lender had had everything pre-approved, she knew that I was going to have to go through different programs to help with the costs to buy the house. She knew that we were doing a VA loan, but we needed help with closing costs and the other things that VA doesn’t help with. She knew that. She said everything would be fine. She said our scores were within the limits that they needed to be to get those programs to work. And sure enough, a week or two into the process, where our offer had been accepted, we were already moving forward. She said, “By the way, you actually need $4,000.” And I’m like, “I don’t have $4,000. We would never have moved forward if we knew this.” I can’t get it from anywhere. I don’t have it. It’s not going to happen.
Megan Cascio:
Wow. And then I understand, Brandon, that’s when he came in and kind of saved the day. So how did he end up kind of getting the deal done and you didn’t have to end up coming with that $4,000 out of pocket after all?
Steffaney Prince:
Yeah. Basically, Casey put me in touch with him. He said, “Hey, would you mind talking to my lender?” I said, “I don’t have a problem with that.” If someone’s willing to either just explain things to me or help me get things done the way they should be, I’m willing to talk to someone else. And so we talked and he was so awesome because he literally laid out everything for me. And the way I do things is I like to know the ‘why’ behind things. Because I want to know going forward, when I buy another house in the future, how things work. What do I need to know going into things?
Steffaney Prince:
And he literally explained, okay, well, this is probably why she’s saying what she’s saying, but here’s the background story behind it. And really, I don’t know that that’s my ethics of doing things. This is how I would have approached it, but to each his own. He was just honest with me and I appreciate the honesty. I don’t like it when people hide things or they’re just not forthcoming. And he was very forthcoming. And so I said, “Okay. I’m going to go with you. If you can make it work, let’s do this. Can you do it in the amount of time we still have to be able to close?” And he said, “Yes, I can.”
Megan Cascio:
That’s amazing. Very good. Now, and Brandon, what do you remember about getting the call from Casey and Steffaney and her husband, Chris, about their situation?
Brandon Pavlovic:
Yeah, kind of just like that. Casey had reached out to me maybe a day before Steffaney and I talked, or maybe just the morning before. And Casey will do that from time to time. We worked together a lot, but obviously the clients make the decision on who their loan officer’s going to be. If he runs into a sticky situation or something that just doesn’t sound or feel right, he’ll bounce it off of me. And I’ll do the same with him if I have questions about certain real estate activity that he would know better than I. And he had brought this issue up or this discrepancy of, hey, we were told that there would be no money needed out of pocket. And now it’s upwards of $4,000 because they’re having to switch programs, down payment assistance programs. And I kind of told Casey the background on how that stuff works, because there is stuff behind the scenes that loan companies have to manage, that we don’t always share upfront with the clients.
Brandon Pavlovic:
And I told them there’s really a way to keep this with no money out of pocket for the client. And then I just said if Steffaney… Obviously, the difficulty was, they were already under contract and they were already through their, I think inspection period, even at that point. And so there was going to be a lot of moving parts. I said, I’d be happy to help, but this is going to be even more stressful for them. We’re going to have to close very quickly. This is going to be stressful for the sellers, because we’re going to have to explain that they’d be switching, but let’s at least have a conversation and I can talk the clients through what’s going on. And so that obviously led to the conversation that Steffaney mentioned. And the reality of it is it’s not that the other lender was doing anything wrong.
Brandon Pavlovic:
I think I explained everything to Steffaney upfront. I’m like, there’s two different down… I don’t want to get too technical here. But there’s two different down payment assistance programs, major down payment assistance programs in the state of Arizona. And one of them, the one that they had or pre-qualified with originally doesn’t allow the lender to charge any fees. And another one does allow the lender to charge some fees to compensate them because those programs just truly don’t make much money for the companies. And the problem, and maybe I’m getting a little too involved, but the problem was the lender realized they made a mistake. Steffaney and Chris no longer fit in the box of one program and had to move to the other. And they’re moving from the no-fee program to the fee program. And so they were passing along that fee. That $4,000 was essentially a fee from the lender.
Brandon Pavlovic:
And so I’m not going to say the other lender is doing something wrong, but the reality is they pre-qualified you for one program, realized they made an error, switched you to the other. And I said, “Now, that’s a little bit different.” If I’m doing something and I make a mistake and I’m switching the client into that program, and I told Steffaney this, in that case, I would waive that fee. That’s discretionary. It’s not automatically charged.
Brandon Pavlovic:
And the reality is they could have easily done the same thing that I did. I’d love to say I’m a hero and a guru of some sort, but they really could have done it. They just didn’t offer it. And they just passed the buck onto the client as if it was their responsibility to now take care of that charge. And I don’t think that’s right. That’s not the way I do business. Casey, obviously didn’t either. And I explained that to Steffaney. And once she heard that, I said, “I’d be happy to remove that to get the deal done for you and Casey.” And then it was just a rush from there to get everything done for the end.
Megan Cascio:
Sure. I mean, it really does sound like the detailed knowledge of the Arizona DPA program really helped. And it sounds like you and your team really know what you’re doing and are very honest and have the integrity that clients are looking for. So, I mean, what would you say that you and your team do differently to really provide that great customer service to your clients?
Brandon Pavlovic:
Well, it’s just kind of the communication and just doing the right thing. It partly is a knowledge of the down payment assistance programs, but really it’s just about doing the right thing for the client in the end and honoring what you committed to upfront.
Megan Cascio:
Yep, absolutely. Wonderful. And now back to Steffaney. Now that you’re kind of settled in, what do you really love about your new home? I’m sure there’s a lot of things.
Steffaney Prince:
Well, one, I love that I’m not throwing away my money every month for the first time in my whole life. And I’m about to turn 40. So it’s about time. But I love my community that I’m in. Just Arizona is different from California already, but the little tiny couple miles of neighborhood that we’re in is literally out in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere. And everyone is amazing. It is like how you would imagine living in a close-knit place in the south is kind of how it feels.
Steffaney Prince:
And so I love the community. The drives are beautiful, when I drive to and from work 50 miles away, it’s just gorgeous. But I love the fact that we have room to move around now. We’re not in a little 1,000 square foot apartment or in California, a really small, small house that is ridiculously priced. Now I pay less for my mortgage than I did for rent. I have double the space. I have a three car garage. And my daughter now doesn’t have to dance in our dining room. She has her own dance room. We turned our little flex room into a literal dance room for her because she is a serious dancer.
Megan Cascio:
That is so cool. I heard that in your story. And I actually grew up a cheerleader and a dancer myself. So I was super jealous when I heard that, because I’m sure that’s every little dancer’s dream.
Steffaney Prince:
I mean, even non-dancers, when our friends come over with their kids, they’re like, my daughters would love this.
Megan Cascio:
That’s great. Well, I’m so glad that it worked out for everybody involved. And Steffaney and Brandon, thank you guys so much for joining us today. We’re really excited that things worked out for everybody involved and just thank you for joining us here.
Steffaney Prince:
Thank you for having us.
Brandon Pavlovic:
Yes, thanks for the opportunity. Steffaney, Thank you very much for taking your time. I appreciate it.
Steffaney Prince:
And thank you, Brandon, for everything that you did.
Megan Cascio:
That’s great. Thanks again. This is Megan Cascio, and this has been another Home Run: Great Client Experiences with NFM TV. We’ll see you next time.
Speaker 4:
Home Run: Great Client Experiences is a production of NFM TV and NFM Inc. NFM Inc. does business as NFM Lending at NMLS number 2893. The NMLS number for Brandon Pavlovich is 1599351. This podcast is for informational purposes only. NFM Lending is not affiliated with any real estate companies. You are entitled to shop around for the best lender and or real estate company for you. The real estate agent is not a mortgage lender. Contact NFM Lending directly to learn more about their mortgage programs and your eligibility for such programs. The experiences of clients appearing on this podcast are individual experiences of those that have used our services. NFM Inc. does not provide incentives for testimonials or reviews.
Speaker 4:
NFM Lending is not a credit repair company. You should consult with a credit repair company to determine what may be best for your individual needs. This is not a credit decision or commitment to lend. Eligibility is subject to completion of an application and verification of home ownership, occupancy, title, income, employment, credit, home value, collateral and underwriting requirements. NFM Inc. is not affiliated with, or an agent or division of a governmental agency or depository institution. Copyright 2021.