Episode 25
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This episode, we're going to have Lizzie Mae in here from the perspective of a buyer doing a loan.
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Awesome.
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Welcome to episode 25 with Lizzie Maker. Hi, Lizzie Mae. How are you? Hi. Good morning. Thanks for having me today. I've been looking forward to it. So you have been a client of mine over and over and over and over and over and over. Yes, I have. And we've known each other now for Actually, I don't know how long.
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I. I want to say almost ten years. Yeah. Yeah. We've been working together for a buddy. Seven or eight? Yeah. Medicare would. Yes. You work there? You. You saw me. Be me for years, right? Yeah. And do you know, like, how we actually started interacting? Like, do you remember that story? Probably not. Because you were at the bar.
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Yes. So I was at the time I was the event director and I was behind the bar and I was hanging out. And part of my job was to keep members happy. Yeah, because happy members pay dues. And I was something and I was like, I need a dentists referral. And you're like, I know this guy. that's right.
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And you referred me to Doc Dr. K by Dr. K, and it was a great referral. Yeah. And then I said something like, Well, if you're so smart, how would you help me out of this crappy loan situation that I'm in? Because I was trying to do a refi. Yes. And you were like, actually, I know a guy.
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So that's how we got started. Yeah. Yeah. Eight years ago. Started a loan. So tell me about your home buying process or your process? Tell me about your the homes you bought. How many homes you bought and. Yeah, just started. Zero. Well, I had the pleasure of buying my first home in the middle of the recession, which you've spoken about so much on on the show and just and just throughout our friendship.
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I'm so when I was looking for homes in Southern California with my then husband, we were up against, you know, cash buyers, investors. This is at the end of 22,009. So it was really at the bottom of the market. We saw over 100 homes. We put in over 30 offers. And it was terrible. It was a horrible experience.
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But we ended up on a standard sale and bought our first home down there. We turned it into a rental when we relocated it up here, and then I had two homes in Tacoma and we had our second home there and then went up to a larger home on the water that I loved. And then last year I just bought my fourth home in Gig Harbor, which I'm so excited to be there.
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Yeah. So, yes, I'm on house number four. I'm all of them fixer uppers and ranging from built in 1906 to my newest one is 1994. So brand new. But your 1906 was not your first house? No, that was the second one. was? Yeah, not the third. The third house was 1912. Okay. Yeah. You are the project queen you love.
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I love our houses. Fixing them up? Yeah. I've seen some things you've done. You do amazing work. You just dive in and get things done. Well, I'm not afraid of failure, so. Yeah, that's good. And I've learned that. I've also learned what I'm good at, what I'm not good at. I am not good at them. Right? I'm horrible.
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I am terrible. I am not that detailed. But if I need to, you know, put down flooring or demo or tiling, like there's other things that I'm good at. So I'm really trying. With my most recent home purchase, doing the things that I'm good at and staying away from the things that look like shit once I'm done. So I think I'm getting better.
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Yeah.
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How excited are you for this new home you've been in and now for about a year? Yep, I purchased it. I think I'm at 13 months now. But we didn't. I haven't even had a year living there because when I was, you know, it was pretty much uninhabitable when I purchased it. Yeah, it was. You know, I got a smokin deal on it.
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I feel really solid. And to be able to get in before interest rates went as high as they are. Yes. Feels really good. I think what I'm most excited about is the backyard. I'm which needs a lot of work. And then probably just the entertainment. I can entertain people in it. We can have all the kids over people running around like it is a great house for family and friends to be a really central hub.
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What projects have you done in this house so far? Do they have to be completed? No. Okay. So backyard is obviously under construction. There's lots of huckleberries coming out and Blackberries coming out. I mean, I'm going to be scarred for life with all of this. I've got like ten giant trees to take out, which by the way, I need a tree guy referral.
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I have one of those. Okay. Well, I knew you would. Yes. So I need that inside. I've installed 500 square feet of oak flooring, which I paid someone to install it, but then I started it and stained it and finished it and I love it. I'm so that's actually done, actually, as a finished project arm. I mean, I read it a couple of bathrooms.
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I, I have put some trim in and how to turn out. Listen, a man driving by on a bus is not going to complain. So I think my project truly right now, like when I think about this weekend, I need to paint some trim or I also did new stairs. I forgot I did the stairs. I love them.
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You did the stairs. They're really pretty. Yeah. Yeah. I'm So this weekend is going to be painting trim and probably taking out a couple more huckleberry brushes. You painted the whole interior, too? I did paint the entire interior. I also got a bunch of siding redone. you did? Yeah, I paid for that because siding something you don't mess with.
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I mean, that's. Yeah. You didn't ask me for a referral. You know who I got the referral from though? Yeah, the referral was from my agent who you referred me to. Like, looks like it's like. I know. Harkins Town. Thank you, C.J.. It is. I like all of my referrals. Eventually work their way back to you. So. Which is part of the reason I know you're going to ask me.
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Why do I work with you? You give me great referrals. Well, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So you've owned now four homes? Yeah. What advice would you give to a first time home buyer looking in this market now? Because you still stay on top of the market. You understand where the market is, Rates are higher. Home affordability is definitely a little bit.
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Well, it's the worst in history. Yeah. What advice would you give to a first time home buyer? Do it Because it's only going to get more expensive. I mean, interest rates, I mean, I have my interest rate. I think my highest interest rate has been six, nine, nine. My lowest interest rate has been 275. So it's like I've run the gamut and that's all market rate.
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That's not necessarily like my right, you know, positioning as a as a borrower. So I think get into the market because homes what I've seen I only get to be more expensive. Yeah I've never regretted buying a home. I've regretted not buying a home sooner. And so I would say just get into the market, find professionals that you can trust and try and work within that group.
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So like I have had some great experiences. You know, my last home buying purchase was I didn't even break a sweat on it because I was like, You're the money guy. Hawkins and Poe are the are my agents. You know, they'll they'll find me the home. They'll do all the things. They'll go back and forth. And I just kind of sat back and hit bonbons, like I wasn't stressed one iota.
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But I've also had situations where my lender and my agents were not working together, or I even sold homes. And then I had, you know, my contractor and he was a different guy. And then so it's just very disjointed. And then all of a sudden now all the communication is on me. I don't need that. I'm already spending, in fact, tons of money.
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Like I don't need to be stressed out about communication. Yeah, I have a team that works together and things get done so much faster. Yeah, communication within the team. People overlook that, I think. Yeah. I've worked with agents that I, that we don't communicate well with and the only person that hurts is the, is the borrower. Yeah. Is, is the home buyer.
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Because then you're surprised right. Or you don't hear about things or you can sense that there's friction that's got to be really hard when you have a situation like that. So tell me more about your first learning experience where it wasn't like that. My first learning experience are you avoid it. I'm yeah. So my first learning experience right So baby Lizzie my you know my husband baby at the time right?
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We're super young. We have no idea what we're doing. I'm our lender was referred to us from our agent who was actually referred to us from from a friend. And he was fine. It wasn't transparent. I kind of didn't know it was going on. It was sign here, sign there. We were really, like, overwhelmed and sort of in awe of the process.
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We very much felt I very much felt like I was a little kid with a seat at the adults table, like I did not feel like I was legitimate to be there, which would go back to my advice to first time homebuyers. You are legitimate. You are the boss, like everyone's working to support you. You're not you're not a kid at the adults table, right?
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So where it went south with my lender was we were refinancing the home. We it was a rental property. We were living on a stayed. We wanted to pull some cash out. We had a couple of things we wanted to do and we also wanted to start working on a down payment for home number two. We were going to have two homes at once.
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I'm so let's go back to that real quick. Yeah, you said it was a rental property, but you bought that property. Yes. And lived in it. You turned it into a rental property. Yes. Expand more on that. Okay. Would you do that again? 100%? Yes. I wish that we had held on to our second home in Tacoma. That would have been a great little rental.
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Or if we had held on to the one in Southern California, either one. I'm we saw an opportunity. You see that equity that you have in it and you're like, sweet, I'm going to get a check for whatever it is. Yeah. And we grabbed it. Whereas that would have been twice what it is now. We would have still had the rent covering the mortgage.
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And actually now we would be getting a kickback, right? We would be cash flow positive. yeah. While it's also appreciating. Well, it's appreciating, yeah. So that that to me is something I absolutely regret. And I would say for like for your second time homebuyers. Yeah. If you can hold on to that starter home, beg, borrow, steal and hold on to it.
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Yeah. Because it's only going to be worth more money. And from a lending side, we have things that we can do to help you buy that second home while still retaining the first home. Well, that was this cash out refi that you actually Well, I'll get to how we got to you. But what the where it soured with my lender is I went to him and said, hey, I want to do this cash out, you know, all the things.
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And his communication sucked. It was in 2015, 2016 ish. I don't know what was the market doing? Were rates crazy? Everything was rates were actually pretty good then. They were probably in the 1516. I'm right around five. So he was saying maybe it wasn't the rate, but he was saying, it's going to take 8 to 12 weeks to close.
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And then he wasn't calling me back. I was like, Your communication sucks. I have no idea what's going on. And this is the most important thing in my life. And clearly it's like rings, you know, one that was on your list of priorities. So that's why I came to you at the bar and said, Hey, buddy, do you know anyone?
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You ended up referring it out to someone in your office and you know, that experience was fine. But what I liked about even though I was working with someone else, is you were calling in, checking in or, you know, sending a couple of emails saying, how's your experience? Is this person taking care of you? You know, is this a good referral?
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And you saw me through to the end even though you weren't making any money off of it. And the reason why I couldn't do it back then is because I wasn't and still am not licensed in California, but I have still have avenues to do other states. But yeah, so you can do some other states, but not California specifically.
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No, I'm only licensed in Washington right now. Okay. Would you ever go beyond Washington? I am. I am procrastinating because I have to take the federal test again because it's been so long. I'm not looking forward to the federal test. It basically has nothing to do with the day to day lending things. It's all about, you know, it's just a fun test on restaurant.
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Tila Right. You're saying words and you sound like a Charlie Brown teacher, right now. I know. I know. So we need to make a commitment, you know, hey, on this day, you know, when are you going to have that sense that you can have a more robust, you know, suite of offerings for your customers? Is that what we're doing here?
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Yes, we are. We're making goals. This is accountability. Our. No, it's not. No, it's definitely not. But, you know, that's ultimately why, you know, I have continued to be your client is because even when this wasn't your deal, you checked in and you made sure that I was taken care of all the way through. So that close. And then when it was time to buy now home number two, so low.
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Number three. Yeah, I came to you. It was a no brainer. It wasn't even I didn't even consider any other options because I trusted you. I knew you would follow through. I knew you would take good care of me. Well, thank you. Absolutely. I appreciate that. Tell me about future plans. I mean, you've only been in this house for a short period of time, but do you have for me, though, it.
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It is. Since I've known you, you you go from house to house to house, but you talk about your your 3 to 5 year goals in this house and and maybe beyond. Like, what are you thinking? Yeah. I think over the next 3 to 5 years there's some there's an extensive amount of deferred maintenance that I need to take care of in the home that I'm at.
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This is a long term a long term plan for me. I've got young kids. I do want to be in this home through high school with them. We live at a place with great schools, great community. I'm so it's going to be working through deferred maintenance and really making this a home that I can get old and Yeah.
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which is crazy, you know, crazy to think of. But you know, it's a big home and it'll probably be too big for me as I age and as I become an empty nester. You know, I'm a single mom. It's just me. I don't know that I need 3200 square feet or whatever it is, but for now, I'm enjoying it.
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So I'm going to out work through deferred maintenance. I'm and I think just continue to invest in it, because I know this has really ultimately become a part of my retirement package. Right. There's going to be, you know, money in there that I know and I can go to sleep at night knowing that I will be able to not work until I'm 80 because of the money that I have invested and I'm growing in this home.
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Talk about living. You've lived in California, you've lived in Tacoma, you've lived in Gig Harbor. You don't have to say you covered your favorite, no notes. It is your favorite. Okay. So lately, tell me about tell me about the different places you've lived in Y Gig Harbor is your favorite. Yeah. So growing up in the Bay Area, the Bay area was fantastic.
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It's changed. It's very crowded now. It's really more of a, you know, metropolitan, busy, busy, busy. It's also just affordability. You know, I look at my childhood home, I could not afford that if I gathered up ten of my closest friends and we were all paying the mortgage on property taxes alone are almost as much as my mortgages each year.
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It's insane. So I think the Bay Area is it's affordability and anywhere I could afford to live, commuting is just not realistic. So that's out. I didn't enjoy Southern California. I'm the people weren't right for me. People weren't as friendly. The I never found my sense of community there and it was very much bedroom communities commuting into areas and I don't I just didn't love it.
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Although I say that as I live in a bedroom community, I'm actually been Puyallup for two years. Didn't know that. Didn't know that about me. Wow. So that is why I always recommend if you are moving to a new area. So here's for your hometown. First time homebuyers rent for six months, rent for a year. So figure out the area.
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Because if I had bought purchased in Puyallup, I would have been really disappointed. Yeah, it just wasn't the right place for me. And so came to Tacoma, fell in love with the architecture, fell in love with the people and the schools and the walkability. And it was great. Tacoma is changing over time. Tacoma, you know, it's a little bit of a tougher area to live in from a crime standpoint, from a theft standpoint.
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You know, I'm I want streets that are super safe for my kids to walk on. Yeah. And right now, Tacoma struggles with that and I think it's I think it will get better. I think it ebbs and flows. But right now, with it being just me and my two littles, it made sense for us to come to Gig Harbor where more of our people are, right?
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I've got friends and family that are over on this side of the bridge. I'm home. Affordability was was reasonable too. And you say that living in Ruston which is a the nicer area, one of the nicer areas of Tacoma. Yeah. I mean there was I mean it still crept into our neighborhood and I don't want to sound super going to well, not in my backyard.
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I mean, there's a lot of things that Tacoma needs to address, like systemically and like there is a lot of services that need to be better. We just need to do a better job by folks that are that are struggling. Yeah, but it's how do I balance that with the end of the day? I want my kids to be safe, you know, Which is Gig Harbor.
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Which is Gig Harbor? Yeah. Covers it. I raised my kids in Gay Harbor. Yeah. It's been a I lived in North Seattle basically my whole life. Is that where you grew up? Yes, The shoreline area. When I got married in 1999, my wife said, Moved Gig Harbor. And I'm like, That is for me, that was the end of the world.
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Yeah. We had to cross a bridge to get there. And she said, Live here for a year. And if you hate it, we'll move back up to probably Edmonds. Lynnwood. It took me about three months. Found some new friends, which I do easily. Yeah. Found some golfing buddies and playing cards. And I knew after about three months, literally, Gig Harbor is home for me for probably the rest of my life.
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I love that. I do think that someday I want to live somewhere part time where it's warm and sunny during the winter. But Gig Harbor is such a cool little community, it's not as little as it used to be. I think it's so funny, you know, listening to my parents and stuff. back in the day, there was there was this and I have these stories about Gig Harbor now, like where Costco and Gig Harbor North is.
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When I moved in, that was just woods. There was literally nothing there. And others, Home Depot, Costco, Target, Albertson's and all the best places. Thousands of homes. Yes. Yeah, hundreds. I don't know. There's a lot of homes up there now. So you see yourself growing old in this community? I do, yeah. I mean, so it's kind of a perfect community for growing old.
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Now, I don't know the average age of Gig Harbor, but we're not there yet. No, we're not. We feel young today. I like it. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you. Yeah. No, it's a fantastic place to live. I feel every time I go over the bridge. Yeah, I can sort of feel this because this is my second year here.
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Now, I guess I'm just over two years with the rental home, and it's like, good. Yeah. When I moved there, there was only one bridge and I used to work in Auburn. And I would get off at about 530 between four and six every day, right? And my commute home was horrendous. The bridge would be backed up all the way to the Tacoma Dome every day.
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no, that's. no. That's after you get through the five traffic and then it's so all a 1609. All the 16 was a parking lot from the Commodore to the bridge. When did the new bridge open? man. I'm guessing it was early. 2000s, right? Yeah. I don't know the exact date. Yeah. Yeah, I thought it was a joke.
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I'm like, this is stupid. That the traffic or that they're going to open up a second bridge? No, I didn't think the traffic would be subsided by opening the second bridge because it really goes back into two lanes. Like, So what if there's a second bridge? Still only it's still only a couple of lanes. Right. It worked. And I'm happy to pay the toll to get to the Gig Harbor happily pay the toll sometimes two or three times a day, unfortunately, back and forth over that bridge.
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But 15 or $20 a day is fine now. It adds up, but it's better than driving all the way around, right? That's what they say. that would be a that's a long drive. I've done it before. It's terrible. Yeah. So. Well, thank you for coming in and sharing your insights. I really appreciate it. Absolutely. This was fine.
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Thank you for being awesome. Amazing client time and time again. Thank you for taking care of me through fact. Five loans, five loan loans. Yeah. We need to refi. We need interest rates to come down. Yeah, let's go. Come on. Rates come down. Refi in the books. Done. Well, thanks for listening and thank you for being here. And it's another great day.
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Thanks, dude.
