Mortgage Tips & Real Estate Investing with Mesha Miller

Mesha Miller - WGP S8

[: 00:00:16

[00:00:29] Mesha: I'm well, and yourself?

[: 00:00:30

And so, as you guys know, we do not have interviews. We have genuine conversation. So let's go ahead and get into it. We have an icebreaker. Are you ready for your icebreaker?

[: 00:00:41

[00:00:42] Brianna: right. So your icebreaker is in the world of mortgage loans and flipping houses. I have to ask if you could flip any famous house from a movie or TV show, which one would it be?

And why?

[: 00:00:55

[00:01:15] Brianna: Okay, you already thinking about the marketing of it. So I love that. All right. So we're going to go ahead and get into our jam conversation. So with that being stated, who is Mesha?

[: 00:01:29

Not that I have all of them, but being able to find the answers, knowing what I don't know, being okay with what I don't know. and then sharing the information that I have with,

[: 00:01:57

[00:02:09] Mesha: you know, I don't maybe on a subconscious level, but, you know, I think back to, and this was a date myself. Now, we didn't have Google and, click notes and all that stuff online where you could go and cheat with class. Right? So, when you had a book report, you had to read the book, or when you have stuff to look up, you have to pull out your encyclopedias and go to the library And do your reports that way. Well, I realized that I was resourceful because I would often get away with writing book reports for books that I didn't read or

[: 00:02:41

[00:02:43] Mesha: Always been pretty resourceful.

Nice. So how did you get into real estate, getting into mortgage, things of that nature? 15, 16 years before getting into real estate. But how I got into real estate is that I kind of fell into it after I was laid off.

So I was working for a charter school organization in Houston and they basically folded up our whole department. And so they eliminated all of the positions in our department. And so that left me unemployed in a place that I didn't have a lot of connections because I had relocated from California to Texas.

So I didn't have the usual, you know, people I could call that work in the charter school world and get something else. And so I thought while I'm unemployed, because I was being paid for a few months as well, I'm going to go ahead and study for my real estate license. I just felt like I needed to accomplish something while I had that downtime. So I got my real estate license. and I just couldn't get a job. I looked I interviewed I was like I had never it hit me like a ton of bricks because I had never Worked that hard to still not find a job. so I started working in real estate, to make it work.

I would do transaction coordinating, I would be a showing agent for other agents and just kind of gotten, got into a routine where I could substantiate, doing it full time by way of piece of my own deals with the work that I was doing on the side for other realtors. And honestly, for a while, just no matter if I, I would passively look for jobs like here or there.

[: 00:04:12

[00:04:31] Mesha: I went to mortgage because I am the type of person that likes to educate buyers understanding what DTI is and understanding their mortgage options and like tying process operations kind of came into, the real estate work and kind of like how to get somebody from step a, you know, all the way to Z and all of the pieces step by step that it took to get there.

And a big piece that was missing for me as a realtor was being able to be informative on the financial part of the purchase. and so I studied and got my mortgage license and then got into mortgages about three years ago.

[: 00:05:07

[00:05:19] Mesha: yeah, I think what makes, me not so necessarily unique because there's a lot of dual mortgage professionals and realtors, but I think what makes one of my value propositions is that. I have a deep understanding of the process from every facet. So, being a buyer, being a realtor, being in mortgages, and so I'm kind of able to have that empathetic ear for all of the people who kind of carry the, purchase from start to finish.

it helps me kind of understand how to work with realtors as well, because I understand, the frustration and not having communication, be it good or bad. And you don't, you, you know, you're not able to have the confidence with your buyer when you don't have the information you need about what's going on, on the financial side.

[: 00:06:01

[00:06:06] Mesha: So hopefully they come to me first. And if you come to a realtor, most realtors are experts in having a team ready. They do have lenders that they could connect you with. So, honestly, go where you feel comfortable.

I will say that. But the reason I say go to mortgage first is because you don't want to get an idea in your head that you can't bring to fruition. So, like, you really want to know how much home you can afford. You want to know if you're ready to get a mortgage. You want to know if you're going to be qualified for a mortgage.

And honestly, it's a service to. Your realtor, when you come ready, like, they know what your max purchase price is. They know that you're pre qualified. They can take you shopping, you know, drive all those miles in their car, knowing that you can close that transaction versus, you know, they're meeting you getting the idea of what you want, what you like, but they don't quite know what you can afford.

[: 00:07:01

[00:07:25] Mesha: I'm going to say something outside of all of the paperwork and the financial documents that you should bring, bring your honesty, right? Because when you're completely honest with your mortgage advisor, they are often able to guide you the right way towards the right product. So that you can successfully qualify for that product and then close it.

if you haven't been on your job that long, tell them you haven't been on your job. If you had a gap, let them know you've had a gap. If, you had a bankruptcy a few years ago. just be comfortable enough to, tell the truth about your situation and then get the guidance for the product.

So the product will dictate what all you'll need. so you definitely need, 2 years of, what your 2 years of work history is. And I say that with an asterisk, because if you were in college, that counts. but yeah, so you want your, W 2s, bank statements, tax returns, the typical financial documents, but that could change based on the product.

[: 00:08:24

So understanding that somehow when you come to me.

[: 00:08:56

when I get an application in, I'll look, see, what the income is, where their current address is to see if they qualify for something special based on the zip that they're moving from, get an idea of where they're looking or, their idea of where they want to look, see if there's any special programs in that area.

because all of those things can help you qualify for more home by way of a lower interest rate. Or, being able to buy down your interest rate, et cetera. So I'll help them qualify for as much as they can afford. and then, let's talk about that dream home that you want that might be 10 years down the line.

And here's how you could get there. You could leverage. FHA and buy a 1 through 4 unit complex, run out the others become a landlord while you're building up enough funds and equity and all of that. So that you can later leverage that to. Get that drink, you'll get that fresh Prince of Bel Air house that you

I know that's right, and so you mentioned it a few times DTI. What is that? Yeah, so DTI is your debt to income ratio and that's basically looking at all of your monthly obligations against what you bring in every month. So, how much money do you actually have left to pay for a mortgage after you paid your credit card, your student loans, your child support, your regular monthly application.

And so that's really how the bank determines how much mortgage you can afford, because our goal is really to set you up for success for a product that you can afford, not that you'll stretch yourself to make, We want you to be able to comfortably pay. At least I do want you to be able to comfortably pay your mortgage.

[: 00:10:57

[00:11:12] Mesha: Yeah, so when I think of a success story, I don't necessarily think of one that was like related to a dream home. But one that kind of gave me energy early on and getting into mortgages and that I think about often is, one in where there was a mom and dad that were, renting the home. They had been renting a home for 40 or 50 years in Grand Prairie, and, the dad had passed away a few years ago.

Mom had been paying the rent. Kids thought that mom was paying the mortgage. mom was one of those strong moms who really doesn't bring her kids into her financial struggles until It got to the point that it was, you know It got to a point where she had to and that point was because the owners wanted to sell the property So in the meantime, they have been doing home improvements to that property had done some things in the kitchen done work Put a lot of sweat equity and time into that property.

And so the mom could not qualify for a mortgage. However, we were able to have her son who lives there qualify for the mortgage, get the mortgage and buy the home. And which kind of sucks, right? Because I'm sure when they moved in, that home was probably, 20, 000, if that, and they bought it for 185, 000, however, it did appraise for 260, 000. So they were able to see equity, a substantial amount of equity, you know, and can leverage that later on to do, to either do something to the home or buy other property to build that generation.

So that they don't find themselves in that situation.

[: 00:12:53

[00:13:01] Mesha: Generational wealth means knowing that what I'm doing today. Is going to positively impact great, great, great, great, great, great, great kids that I'll never meet. Create a legacy that they can be proud of from a woman that they never met. Yes, it's looking out for generations that you've not yet seen, right?

it's making sure that they have, the means, a lot of generational wealth to me also is in education, right? Just passing down the education, things that I've learned in mortgages, things that, could benefit them but like I said, it's really leaving a footprint, a legacy for a generation that I will never see.

we're going to go ahead and move over to our highs and lows. You can make this as one answer or you can make it separate, but let's start with your highs. Anything that you're like, I'm so proud of Mesha. Mesha did a great job. We made it through. Well, I will say my high is, and I'll show it to you, it is this book here. So I am actually a, contributed author, that's me there, it, the book is called Shattered Hearts and Wounded Souls, and it's an anthology of women who have, overcome domestic violence. and my contribution to the book is that I'm a child of domestic violence, and I did, you know, have some struggles in an adult relationship that I.

Tie directly to my childhood. and the reason that was a huge accomplishment for me is because I'm an introvert. I'm very private. I'm very introverted. And so I had never shared a lot of what I share in this chapter before with any. I'm proud of myself for finally getting to a place where I'm okay being vulnerable and I'm doing it for me.

And so I applaud myself for that.

[: 00:14:48

So I mentioned that for several years, I could not find a job. I did go back to W 2 employment alongside doing mortgages last year.

[: 00:15:23

It was a blessing in disguise, but it made me question, like, what am I really doing, right? What am I really giving my talents to? And what is giving my talents to those things going to do for me, for my family, for generations, after me and my children? And I realized that the time and the energy and the effort and the esteem and the motivation and all the things that I thought that I was getting from that role were things that I was given to the role, given to the organization, given to everyone else and not given to me.

and it really forced me to, take stock of the talent skills and abilities that I have even outside of mortgages. I love operations. I love process improvement. I love data analysis. And so what I do also is I do some consulting on the side, and so I'm still able to focus my energy and, most of my time to mortgages that I love, but I'm still able to,

improve operations and improve processes. and so I'm able to do that with a small portion of

[: 00:16:43

[00:16:53] Mesha: get so many different things from different parts of yourself, right? And like, and if you're only doing 1, you leave these boys because you can't get everything from 1. Anything one person, one place, one job, one anything. So yeah.

[: 00:17:08

[00:17:27] Mesha: Yeah, so I am on all the social platforms, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook as Mortgages by Mesha. I'm on LinkedIn Mesha Miller, but yeah, pretty much all of the social platforms, you can find me Mortgages by Mesha and online www. Meshamiller. com. learn about mortgages, apply for a mortgage, reach out and, ask questions.

[: 00:17:49

[00:18:13] Mesha: Yeah, I think something that I go to personally all the time and I say to others quite often is that comparison is the key to joy. so being in the real estate business, being in any business, especially now in the world of social media and everything looks so good, you know, the editing is good. The clothes is good.

The makeup is good. Everything looks like, you know, everybody's selling this experience and, in the real estate industry. It's a lot of that that happens. And, you know, a lot of us are struggling, but it looks very glamorous. And so You can fall into that place of, you know, comparing yourself to others.

Oh, they've been in real estate for this amount of time. I've been in this for this amount of time. I should have X, Y, and Z because this is what I see. This person, or this is the success that this person is having. only compare yourself to yourself. Because often people will show you all that they have and tell you all that they've accomplished, but they won't often tell you the resources they have.

They won't often tell you about the struggles they've had. They often will not tell you about the help that they've received. So, you could be comparing yourself to something that you are not even y'all in 2 different. Resource powers, right? Like, you could be doing everything yourself and so what you have accomplished, even though it doesn't look as shiny and great.

It's somebody else you could have worked. 12 times harder to get for a year. So don't compare yourself to anybody else except yourself. as long as you're doing better than you was doing last year, yesterday, last month, then you're doing it right. And don't worry about what anybody else

[: 00:19:51

If we just focus on one, so many opportunities can be closed because we're just seeing what's in front of us versus the bigger picture that's around us. And I feel like if you don't take those opportunities, You're going to miss out on growing. You're going to miss out on money. You're going to miss out on so many different things because at the day, you're just focusing on what's in front of you.

So in order to create these opportunities, you have to be open to these opportunities. And, you know, basically, like you mentioned, you didn't transition from California to Texas. you were trying to see what it was in the workplace. But it wasn't working, but you didn't stick to that. You stuck to, okay, this is happening.

Let me just go ahead and dive in over here. And it sounds like a plethora of opportunities came to you due to you still being in real estate. You know, like you were meeting people, you were helping people, you were educating people. You didn't stop at, ooh, me getting a job is not working. What do I do now?

Because I think a lot of times when we see those downfalls, we're stuck on those downfalls versus seeing what God has over here. It could be amazing. But Green, the money, the opportunities, the network, you know, there's so many different things on this end versus looking how sad and gloomy things are on this end.

So that's what I thought about. How about you?

[: 00:21:46

Okay, well, I thought I was going to have this nice job over here being the director of this nonprofit, but that didn't work out. so instead of, like, waiting for an opportunity or looking for something in that exact space, I really just, like, had to go inside and like, what else what can I pull from that experience people that I've met?

You know, during the year that I was doing this work, how can I pull from those things and find and create new opportunity from it? So, I think, you know, with opportunity, I think a lot of us, and I was guilty of that too. Like, God, I've been doing this great work or, you know, I've worked with these people and they've seen my work.

They've seen, you know, what I can do and I'm waiting on them to, you know, present me with an opportunity or recognize something about me and, and allow me to have an opportunity. Well, most of my opportunities have come out of my creation. So you have to create, you have to create these opportunities for yourself.

[: 00:22:53

[00:23:00] Mesha: Mesha. Well, this is a wrap. Did you have anything you feel like I left out today? Anything you wanted to mention? No, I think that's it.

[: 00:23:10