Latest / The Jeff Crilley Show / Ross Wright, Nexa Mortgage | The Jeff Crilley Show
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- Coming up next on the Jeff Crilley Show, we're gonna be talking all about integrity with the great Ross Wright. He heads up nobodybeatsmyrates.com. His incredible journey just ahead. Many are predicting that the worst is yet to come, which is unfortunate, said one person here. Until now, they've enjoyed the reputation of being the nation's icebox. Watched a burglar in his home this morning by webcam. As a journalist of over twenty five years, stories are what make my world turn. Reporting live from The Dallas News, I'm Jeff Crilley, Fox four news. But in 2008, I took the jump from my familiar life and started a PR firm from my home. We're talking about anyone with a camcorder like the one I'm using becomes a television network. We started slowly growing the company and we now have over a 100 clients and we've branched into the world of live digital broadcasting. I now own eight different TV studios and have a huge team. And the stories that I now get to share are sometimes the most important of my life. Life has a funny way of coming around full circle. Three minutes. This is the Jeff Crilley Show. Alright. The mortgage business is interesting and there's probably a mortgage person on every street corner, but you have to have stick to itiveness and integrity to last beyond a few years in the mortgage industry. That's why I have my next guest on the show, Ross Wright is in the studio, nobodybeatsmyrates.com. Thank you for coming on the show. Hey, it's great to be here, Jeff. Now you're not wet behind the ears, how long you've doing this? I started in 2000, actually in '98, but officially in 2000. Yes, so you've seen some highs, you've seen some lows. That is definitely for sure. Yeah, well I wanna talk about your role model because we were talking before the show and your dad has really shaped you. Yeah. That's for sure. You know, mom and dad actually. Dad was a retired full bird colonel. He was in World War two, Korea and Vietnam. He was known as a soldier soldier and, caught a little flack for being in the helicopters when he would fly out to see the soldiers, but he led from the front and like I said, soldiers knew him as a soldier soldier and that's the leadership that was instilled. He retired, my mom and he retired onto our grandfather's land of 155 acres just south here of Dallas where, you know, we worked the land and when the colonel gave you a task to do, it was to be done the way that he wanted it to be done and so anytime I got something from him to do, I always step back, took a couple minutes to think what's the most effective efficient way to do this. Yes. To get it done, you know, in solving problems was something that I was doing from age six. So, it didn't matter what the circumstances were, if it was raining outside, if it was whatever, I mean it's in literal rainstorms, know, my sisters and I were either climbing up on the roof fixing it or doing something, it just whatever it takes to get the job done. And you lost your father a few years ago, but I'm sure you still hear his voice. You know, it's funny you say that, because I do, actually. Know, do what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it, how you're supposed to do it, your name is the only thing that you're 100% control of. Yes. And again, you know, do what you're supposed to do, when you're supposed to do it and how it's supposed to be done. And I love that you grew up on a farm because that really speaks to your work ethic, I mean, you can't grow up on a farm without having great work ethic. Well, you know, I didn't care much at the time because, you know, it was first thing in the morning until you couldn't see your hands at night. Right. But, you know, it instilled a work ethic in you that I see, you know, just harvesting multitudes of opportunity now that other people that are counted on in this industry don't have. So, you know, without me even really knowing it really puts me miles ahead. You know, the caring part is really from mom. Right? So, my mom, we had, I have seven sisters. And so, mom, God bless her, how she cared for all of us and still does, right? It is amazing and so, you know, you get the combination of that and it really creates a situation to where we care and we do what's necessary in order to solve problems and get done what needs to get done, how it's supposed to get done and when it's supposed to get done. And you still work with family? Yeah. My sister actually is my business partner and she's in charge of operations. She handles that. God bless her because, you know, the operations is not my strong point. But, getting creating value and showcasing the team that we've created through great prayer has blessed us immensely. We've got an incredible team that takes the ball and runs it down the field and does things that people in the industry just can't do. Yes. Or you know, let me correct that they can do it but they don't do it. Yeah. So, know, if a client needs to close a loan in seven to ten days, the law says you can't close a loan before seven days but we're getting clear to closes in three to five days. That's incredible. You know, it's through efficiency and it's through alignment with investors that, you know, are working with you and we're able to pass it on. Because, you know, at the end of the day, the client who's the home buyer, the home seller, the home buyer is counting on the real estate agent to be the expert not only on helping them find the house but negotiate the house and also to have a recommendation to a lender who is gonna do what they're supposed to do, when they're supposed to do it, how they're supposed to do it. And so, my schedule for appointments is open from six a. M. Until eleven p. M. At night. Wow. And I don't have a closed sign on my door. If my client needs to talk to me, then I'm available, I make myself available. I think that's you know paramount. Throughout the process, we coach our clients, we help them, we explain things to them, we want to make sure that they understand that we're with them on this journey and that we're gonna provide the highest and best value period. We're gonna pull up your website and as we scroll down the website, talk about how your upbringing and integrity plays out and how you relate to your customers. Right. Well, you know, I think the the proof in the pudding is what I really showcase to my real estate agents and and to clients. You know, always tell them, I say, hey if I'm going to a restaurant that I've never been to before, you can rest assure I'm pulling up the Google reviews. Alright, and if I see a 2.9 star rating, I'm not expecting a five star experience. On the flip side of that, if I see five star reviews, then I'm pretty much expecting to have a five star experience and so throughout the years, clients, real estate agents, people we've helped buy homes, sell homes have left Google reviews for us and you know, it speaks for itself and that's what I tell clients is, you know, check out our Google reviews and then I even ask clients when I'm working with them, I say, hey, when we get on the other side of this, you know, can I count on you to share with other people what your experience was? Because I think it's it's real important to know, have an idea of what you're walking into, right? Yes. Alright. I want to talk about refinancing. So we're gonna pull up the refinance page off your website. Mortgage rates are fluttering around 6% right now for a thirty year, but many people have so much equity in the house they could use their house as an ATM machine if they needed to. Yeah, they can and you know where the rates are right now, anything under 7% is considered an awesome interest rate. You know for anybody who's been around for a while, we've seen interest rates, you know, above 15% in my lifetime and but we got ultra spoiled, you know, few years ago when interest rates were, you know, around 2% and everybody was standing in line to buy a house at that point. Right. And so, it's really a seller's market at that time. When interest rates popped around 7.5%, 8% just a couple of years ago, it really pulled the reins in. And you know, that's what we've seen is a lot of people not buying. As a matter of fact, studies were done where almost three quarters of people who wanted to buy a house were holding off until interest rates came down to around 5%. Sure. And we've had some dips and they dipped down right in the fives and all of a sudden there was a big surge, so we know that when interest rates come down to about 5% there's gonna be a convergence, right, on the field and there's gonna be a lot of competition out there shopping. So I'm saying that I'm screaming from the mountaintops right now, if you're thinking about purchasing a house, now is the time to do it. Sellers are offering all types of incentives, pay the closing cost, prices are lower than the appraised values of homes a lot of times, so it's really an awesome time to buy a house. Not only that, all indicators are showing that interest rates are going to continue to go down. Yes. And so, when that happens, I'm going to be watching over my clients mortgage. I always tell them, I help you get into the house but our relationship really begins at closing because now I'm going to be managing your mortgage, I'm going to be watching over it and when opportunity arises, I'm going to call you and I'm going to say, how long do you plan on keeping the house? And if you say you're getting ready to move, then I'm going to suggest let's not refinance, right? But if you say we're gonna be in the house three to five years at least, then I'm gonna say this is what you have, this is what you could have, this is what it's gonna cost and this is the break even point. Yes. Right? So, it's a no brainer, pull the trigger on a refinance. When we're in a declining market like we are right now to where rates look like they're gonna continue to go down, my advice is to do what we call a no closing cost refinance and this is actually how I got started in this business is by doing no closing cost refinance. Now, my dad and my grandfather always said there's no free lunch, right? You're not getting anything for free. So if you can imagine if you purchased a home when interest rates were seven and a quarter or seven and a half and now you could get a 6% interest rate and you'd have to pay the closing fees. Yes. Well, how about I just bring you to somewhere around six and a half percent? Yes. Maybe six and five eighths. So, it's not as low as you could go if you paid for it, but if we choose the little bit higher of an interest rate, you're actually getting a credit towards your closing costs which offset the fees. So, let's say your closing fees are say $5,000, just making numbers up, right? Right. Well, that's if you wanted to take the 5% interest rate or excuse me, the 6% interest rate. So, you're at seven and a quarter or higher, whatever and you could go down to 6%, you'd pay for that. We can premium price is what it's called, the interest rate. Yes. To where it's still lower than what you have, not as low as you could go if you paid for it, but we're ratcheting that interest rate down. Yes. And we offset the fees, there are no closing costs for the client. Client gets to not make a mortgage payment for two months. Yes. They get back all the money that's in their escrow account. Right? So, you're hearing in the news right now that, hey, interest rates are still going down and you're hesitant to refinance, we have a no closing cost option which we can ride the wave. When I got in this business, I had a lady that was at 8.125% interest. I refinanced her 11 times. That's pretty shocking, right? Wow, 11 times? Yeah, and she didn't pay the closing cost 10 of those times. Wow. And then in January 2021, I called her and told her now's the time to pay closing costs. We actually even, she paid two discount points and she was able to get a two and a half percent interest rate fixed for thirty years. So, she refinanced 11 times and the only time she paid closing costs is when I advised her we're at the bottom of the market. Right? And so, a good way to look at that where I'm explaining the no closing cost option, I think everybody's heard of buying points or paying points to buy the interest rate down. Imagine the opposite of that. You're actually getting a credit now to take a little bit higher of an interest rate and you do that in a declining market because as time goes by, I'm gonna be calling you back and just like I did with with my client who I refinanced 11 times, I'd call her up say, hey we can save another quarter of a percent doing that closing cost refinance. She doesn't have to make a mortgage payment for two months, she gets all the money in her escrow account back. What did she do with that money? She actually was able to pay off her credit card debt and some other debt that she had. Incredible. Yeah, so it's about strategic planning, being intentional and not being transactional but being transformational and that's that's a big topic in our office is, you know, caring to the point that you're actually transforming people's lives. So, we truly believe that through what we deliver, it's changing people's lives. And you love to work with veterans. You had a story related to that. Will you share that? Yeah. I love working with veterans. And I'll tell you The United States veterans are one of the most underserved people in the mortgage industry. The second being self employed people, right? But Veterans we have a huge heart for, we love our clients, all of our clients, when it's a Veteran it's just icing on the cake for us, but you know a lot of people, a huge percentage of Veterans don't use their VA loan and it's just from not being informed or them thinking, you know, I don't qualify. If you walk into a big box bank, big name bank, right, I won't name it, but big box banks, they have their own rules and they dictate, hey, if the veterans credit score is under 620 and a lot of them are 640, but if it's under 620, we decline the loan. Now, that's not the Veterans Administration's rule, right? That's called an overlay and if you've ever played UNO with a kid, right? The kid starts making up their own rules and you're like, wait a minute, this is not what the rule book says. Right. And the kid says, that's how we play at school. I liken that to the big box banks, they make up their own rules on top of what the rule book says. So VA has no minimum credit score requirement, right? And I had a six foot four veteran who asked asked me to come to the side after the closing and talked to him and he welled up and said, man, I just wanted to say thank you. I got turned down by five banks. Wow. I didn't think that I was gonna be able to provide this for my family. My kids picked out their bedrooms already and had, we thought we were gonna be able to move in and then they came back and told us no we don't qualify. So, getting not only Veterans qualified but anybody qualified, we do something that's very unique, we get our clients approved for lending before they go out shopping. Mean if you go out shopping you want to know that your credit card is going to be able to handle the charge, you don't want to have the embarrassment of being at dinner and they come back saying your credit card is declined. It's the same way in buying a house. So, making sure that we put our clients not only through a pre qualification process but a pre approval process in issuing that so that not only the client but the real estate agent knows KNOWS, right? They know that the client is qualified and that this loan is going to close. No surprises. Yeah. We've got some video that I pulled off of your Facebook page this is just happy couples you know realizing their dream home what does that feel like for you? Chills just when I'm back, it's amazing, you know, it's why we do it. My mom, I'll never forget my mom, I'm so happy that you found something that you love, right? And I do, I absolutely love this business, I get so excited every time I talk to a new client and that's what I'm able to do because Cheryl, my sister, who handles the operations allows me to be able to be on the stage singing, doing what I do best and attending the closings, you know, the celebration. It never gets old, does it? It doesn't, I always say I can't wait to snap the picture of you getting handed the keys to your house and that's what we work for. People are counting on us. You know, it's an attorney or a doctor or whatever, we count on people to deliver high value to us. Yes. Right? We were talking before the show, you don't like to say no and you have so many different relationships with so many different lending organizations that you don't often have to say no, do you? No. And you know, life is choice, right? And Realtors, you know clients choose the Realtor, the Realtor choose who they're gonna align with as far as lending. I get to choose on where I plug in, in the platform that was created for me and again being in this business for so many years, I've had so many different opportunities and the company I work with right now Nexa Mortgage is just amazing, it gives me the platform to be able to do what I do best and what I what real estate agents are counting on me to do is to to fund a loan for the clients that are reaching out to them that want to buy a home. Yes. So, you walk into a big box bank, they have one set of rules that they work with and if you don't fit in that little rule book, they decline the file. You may go to a broker, right, who works with many different investors and when I say many, most only have between five and fifteen different investors to choose from. If you have 15 investors as a broker, that's a pretty large array of investors. So, Nexa has over 300 different investors to choose from. So, know, it has the word loan in it, we've got it covered. I do not want to say no and I always tell clients, you know, I'm not gonna tell you no, even if it's something that's on their side. I say, this is what we need to do. We need to do this, this and this and then we'll be ready to close. But they're counting on me. Again, if we go to the doctor, right, we just don't want the doctor to say, oh, this is the way it is. No, we want to have a plan of action and a solution. Well, you're very smooth and it's because you have a lot of broadcast experience. We got a picture that we're gonna put up on the screen, a very popular radio show called Mortgage and Cash Flow Show. Yep. Tell us about that show. Yeah, it's great. Know, remember we first really broke out on our own, my sister and I and we had an account executive come in our office and she walked out with my signature on a contract and she walked out, boy, I had buyer's remorse, was like, Lord, how are we gonna do this? And the next thing you know, you know, we were all over Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, two hour talk show on Saturday, two hour talk show on Sunday, just talking about what's happening in the market and what is possible and I think that is what's not talked about in this industry is what's possible, it's more transactional. Yes. Right? And, you know, being in radio has been an incredible blessing. It's been a huge net that we've been able to cast into the waters and help a lot of people. Yes. So, it's been an incredible blessing. Well, you've mentioned several times your faith during the show. Why don't we lean into that a little bit? How does how does your faith shape the way you show up to the world? Well, you know, I gotta work for the Lord. That's it. You know, prayer is everything. Guidance, you know, without it, I don't even wanna think about where it'd be. You know, a large part of the community of mortgages is no longer. So walking closely with the Lord and and being prayerful has has blessed our our branch immensely. During COVID, we were able to to hire incredible talent that was just getting mass laid off. You know, it wasn't merit driven. They weren't getting laid off because they weren't doing what they're supposed to do. They were getting laid off just because the companies needed a mass lay off. Sure. So through prayer, it really led me to Facebook. I went on to Facebook groups and went into processor and underwriter Facebook groups and, you know, they were getting laid off like crazy. And I said, everybody else is firing, I'm hiring. I love that. And so, we were able to to really amass an incredible team. And I I say again and again, you know, without prayer, without God, without my team, it wouldn't be possible. And I truly believe that, you know, the real estate agent, the client, we're all on that team and when we approach it from that team, we win. And you know, who is at the top of that? The source is God. Right? The resources are the real estate agents, the lender, the homeowners insurance, all the other components that come together to create excellence. Alright, Ross, we've got about a minute left, so look into the camera on the left and talk to that couple that might need to come see you. Yeah. You know, I would say you mentioned refinance and it's over $1,300,000,000,000 worth of credit card debt right now and I know a lot of people are wondering, you know, how do you manage this? And if you're not managing it, you know, then it's not being managed. You maybe had a low interest rate on your mortgage and maybe loan officers are trying to talk you into refinancing the whole thing and you've given up that low interest rate. We've got alternatives. Right? We you can keep your low interest rate. We can do a second lien home equity line of credit for self employed people. We have bank statement loans. We have all types of home equity lines of credit for self employed people that other lenders don't have. They don't have access to it because they haven't created access to it. We just want to be a source for you. We want you to know that we're gonna walk alongside of you. We're gonna deliver the same high value and deliver an excellent result just like we have with our clients that you can you can read about on our Google reviews. Outstanding. You've been an amazing guest. Thank you for sharing We're your heart and faith with gonna end with his website which is nobodybeatsmyrates.com, the great Ross Wright. Thanks for coming. Thanks, Jeff. That's it for now. We'll see you next time.