Moving from Renting to Buying With Aimee Dodson

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Movement Mortgage.

Movement provides residential home loans in all 50 states. Founded in 2008, amidst one of the biggest financial meltdowns in American history, Movement set forth on a mission to create a movement of change in their industry, in corporate cultures, and in communities. So that a portion of their profit creates a long term positive impact in communities, both close to home and around the globe through the Movement Foundation and Movement Schools. It all comes back to their mission to love and value people. Learn more at movement.com slash faith.

dot org. Anyone trying to buy a home these days knows what it's like to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. I am Rob West. Many factors are making home ownership more difficult. But the big ones are higher interest rates and low inventory. Today I'll talk with a Mae Dodson about overcoming those hurdles, and then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Well, it's great to have a Mae Dodson with us again today.

She's the national director of affiliate relationships at Movement Mortgage and underwriter of this program. And Mae, it's great to have you back. It's so good to be here and spend some time with you.

Thanks for having me. Absolutely. Mae, a while back, it was actually cheaper to own a home than to rent. That's no longer the case, is it? Well, it depends. In some markets, we're hearing about the staggering increase in the cost of rent.

So it's one of those things that requires a professional look at your picture in alignment with the market conditions to decide which is a better value for you. But so is low inventory. Why are there relatively so few homes on the market these days? Yeah, I know millennials are reaching the age where they're having kids as well. They're looking for single-family homes. So a lot of factors coming together all at once. And that's why it's so difficult these days, especially for the first-time home buyer, to buy a home.

Difficult but not impossible. So what are the best steps that prospects are for you to be able to buy a home, especially for the first-time homebuyers? Well, the first thing you've got to do is you've got to know before you owe, which means you've got to talk to someone who can really assess your situation. Because there are a lot of programs out in place that are first-time homebuyer programs and down payment assistance programs. A lot of things that can help people get into homes that otherwise might not realize that they could qualify. So if you talk to a loan officer who can run your credit, talk about your credit profile, discuss your long-term goals and strategies, they can provide you with the marching orders of what you need to do to position yourself to be able to buy a home.

It's not impossible. And while the rates are higher than they were statistically over the course of mortgage history, they're not that high. So there is an opportunity to get in now because the way the economists are talking, it's not going to get less expensive. Houses are not going to be losing value because there is going to continue to be a greater demand than supply for some time.

Yeah, I completely concur with that. So how can Movement Mortgage then help a prospective buyer navigate through the home buying process? Well, it's easy. Actually, if you go to movement.com slash faith, you can find a loan officer that is in your geographic area, have that initial consultation. They will help you figure out what steps you need to take. Talking to that licensed professional, and of course we would love to earn your business at Movement, is the first step because then you know what you have to do. And it's different for everybody based on their economic history and their credit score and where they are geographically.

That's so good. There's so many lenders out there in May. What makes Movement different? Well, we are an impact lender. We define that as any lender who gives at least 10% of their profits away, and at Movement we give almost 50% of our profits away.

So when you do a mortgage with us, it means more. Oh, I love it. I know you're doing work all over the globe, and we'll have to have you back sometime to tell us about that. But so thankful to have this partnership with you, May, and thanks for stopping by today. Thank you.

Have a great day. That was a May Dodson with Movement Mortgage. We're so delighted to have Movement be an underwriter of this program.

Listen to this, folks. Since 2012, Movement has given more than $300 million to the Movement Foundation to uplift people and communities across the globe. We know it's important to you to do business with people who share your values, and that's why we're delighted about this partnership. To learn more, you can go to movement.com forward slash faith. All right, your calls are next, 800-525-7000.

We'll be right back. And we're grateful for their sponsorship of the Faith and Finance Program. More information is available at lightpointportfolios.com. As a faithful listener of this program, you know that there's life-changing financial wisdom in God's Word, and FaithFi is here to help you and millions of others learn to be good and faithful stewards. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on help from monthly FaithFi patrons, supporters of this mission, to help us continue and expand our outreach. Has God provided financial answers for you through this ministry? If so, consider becoming a monthly FaithFi patron.

Visit faithfi.com and click Give. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West, your host. All right, it's time to take your calls and questions. 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. We'd love to hear from you, and we have a few lines open today. Let's dive in and see if we can help you apply the big ideas, themes, and principles from Scripture to the financial decisions and choices you're making in your finances every day. We're going to begin today in Pennsylvania, and welcome Jeff to the broadcast.

Go right ahead. Yeah, Rob, thank you for your godly ministry. I have a question about, is it wrong to give the tithe directly to the pastor? The most clear equivalent would be the local church, allowing then the leadership of the church to determine how that's used, both in programming and salaries and anything else, and directing it is kind of really making that decision on behalf of the church.

But give me a little bit more insight into why you would want to direct it. Well, the church is in good shape financially, both in missions and in general, in building fund. The pastor just has some special needs. He was a missionary for a while, and he came off the field, and now he's a pastor, and he just has some financial needs. And he's not wasteful, he's not wasteful, and he's just in need, and I've just kind of been burdened. I like to help him out, and so that's why I ask that question.

Yeah. Well, it's a good question, and I think ultimately this is between you and the Lord, so I would encourage you just to pray through it and allow the Lord to direct you. But again, I think we could get into the habit there of saying, well, I think I want to place my tithe here. Man, we really need more in the missions budget over here.

Man, I wish this person was a little more highly compensated over there. And then all of a sudden, the body of Christ is not supporting the work of the local church, but we're kind of all directing our tithe, and I think that would become really problematic. So, I would say if it's a one-time thing, you just want to bless your pastor, great. But I wouldn't get in the habit, if it were me, of making your tithe to a specific project or person, regardless of who it was.

I would make that a one-off, something you just bless him with, as opposed to making that your kind of normal protocol with regard to your tithe. Does that make sense? Yes, it does. God bless you. I appreciate that, Rob. Absolutely, Jeff. Thanks for your call today. Thank you very much for that encouragement. We appreciate it.

800-525-7000 to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hi, Mary. Go right ahead. Hi. Good afternoon. Hi.

How can I help you? Basically, I have an account with a major brokerage firm, and we have been with them, my husband and I, for many years. I was blessed with an inheritance of a large amount of money, and since that money has been put into my account, it was transferred over from the person that had it before to me. They have said that they want to have a financial advisor, along with the brokerage that I had before. Before, I was paying no fees for the brokerage account, but now they want to add the financial advisor, who is going to be charging 1% on the funds that I have. Yeah. And you're wondering whether that's an appropriate fee? Yes, I am. I live off the dividends and stuff, so that's why I'm just wondering.

Yeah. Well, the first question is, do you need a financial advisor making the buy and sell decisions for you, or is it something you want to do yourself? I like the idea of you having an advisor. It takes the onus off of you. You don't have to have the skill and experience and knowledge to manage it. It also removes it from being an emotional decision, which for an advisor who's taking a rules-based approach and applying an investment strategy for the long haul, allows him or her to weather some financial storms, perhaps a little bit better.

Often, when we're managing our own money, we might be a little quicker to move out of the market to try to time the market, which is a losing proposition when we look at the data behind it. But even if you weren't to do that, I think just having somebody who's waking up every day thinking about managing this money, protecting it, and growing it in an appropriate way makes some sense. Now, if you say, Rob, I feel like I have the time, the skills, and the training to do that, then absolutely, you can manage it yourself. I just find for most people, especially once they've built up a significant nest egg, having that advisor to delegate that responsibility to makes a lot of sense.

You'd still be in regular communication, understanding everything that's being done. It's all being done in light of your values and priorities, goals and objectives, not the advisors, but they're making the ultimate decision. If you decided to go with an advisor for the reasons I mentioned or others, what is the appropriate fee? One percent for somebody to take discretion over the funds, meaning they're making the decisions for you, is a very appropriate fee based on the assets under management. So for a million dollars, you're talking about $10,000 a year.

It sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it's also a big responsibility. And that fee based on one percent would be what I would call normal and customary. Is that helpful? Okay.

I appreciate that. Yeah, they wanted to rejuggle the stocks in my account because I had 60 percent energy stocks, and so they wanted to balance out the account more also. Well, and I concur with that idea as well, and I think that's one of the other benefits of an advisor is we can get, perhaps because we like a sector or we inherited stocks that were already in a sector, and maybe we're trying to honor the approach of the person that we inherited it from, or for other reasons, maybe we worked in that sector. We can often be highly concentrated in any one sector, and part of the job of an advisor is to apply the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, which means we don't put all of our eggs in one basket. We're staying properly diversified, and although energy has done well, I don't like the idea of you being that highly concentrated in one sector. If it were to get out of favor, if the price of the natural resources declined, if we move more toward a market that's focused on growth stocks, you could have more volatility than you'd like to have. Even though those are producing probably great dividends that are helpful to you, it could introduce more volatility into the portfolio than you'd want.

So I like the idea of them diversifying you out of that sector, not entirely, but perhaps where you're not as highly concentrated as you are today. All right, thank you very much. I just didn't have any idea. Thank you so much for accepting my call. You're very welcome, Mary. God bless you.

John in Highland, Indiana. Go ahead, sir. Hi, Rob. How are you? Doing great, thanks.

Good. A question regarding your credit cards. Is it wiser to have a prepaid credit card versus a monthly reoccurring credit card charges for, like, my IPAS purchases online, stuff like that?

Yeah. Well, I think the key is that you have something that's going to report to the credit bureaus because you want that consistent online payment being reported to the bureau. A lot of times those prepaid cards don't. So, you know, the interest rate really isn't a concern. If you're paying it off every month, only using it for budgeted items, which I recommend. And I like the ability to get some cash back as long as you're not paying an annual fee. They're just redirecting part of that merchant rebate back to you. So I would stay with a traditional revolving account credit card because of the benefit of you getting that positive credit history reported to the bureaus. That's just my preference.

There's also a few more protections on that one as well, if it's compromised. Hey, just after this break, we'll be back with a lot more of your calls and questions. Stay with us. This is Faith and Finance. We're grateful for support from Movement Mortgage, who provides residential home loans in all 50 states. Guided by a mission to love and value people and a goal to redefine the mortgage process, Movement seeks to help others achieve their financial goals. You can find out more at movement.com slash faith movement mortgage LLC supports equal housing opportunity in MLS number 39179.

For licensing information, please visit in MLS consumer access.org. Are you struggling to fit your faith into your practice as a Christian financial advisor? The certified kingdom advisor designation teaches you a step by step process to confidently deliver advice that aligns with Christian financial advice. Discover the skills you need to help your clients make a kingdom impact. Get started today by enrolling in the CKA educational program at kingdom advisors dot com slash get certified.

That's kingdom advisors dot com slash get certified. Welcome back to Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial. We've got some lines open. So what are you thinking about today?

How can we help you apply biblical wisdom to your decisions and choices financially speaking? Let's hear about it. Eight hundred five two five seven thousand again. Gabby T standing by to take your call today and we'll get you on the air quickly.

Eight hundred five two five seven thousand. Let's head to Cleveland WCRF. Hi, Agatha. Thank you for calling. Go right ahead.

Thank you. I'm calling to ask when is it appropriate for you to give the last four digits of your Social Security when you're trying to transact business? I called Synchrony Bank.

I had made an inquiry. They sent me a letter and I called them and the woman at the lady acted like she could not find my account with my last four. And I made the mistake of giving her my whole Social Security, even though I had that misgiving. So I received a letter today from Credit One Bank in Las Vegas. Somebody opened an account and but they they charged for you to decide to charge like seven dollars for the credit card that you wanted.

And they charge. I got the total was eighty one dollars and it's for, what do you call it, like a fee, some kind of fee. So I called them and I spoke to three different people. And my question is, when is it appropriate to even give your four digit?

I've learned my lesson with my Social Security and I informed them that I'm still calling to report it as a scam because it was. I've not been there. I don't know who had access. Probably the lady I spoke to at Synchrony. Thank you.

OK, so you have an account at Synchrony. Is that right? Yes. OK. And you placed the call to them. They didn't call you.

Is that right? I had called them initially or see where actually I had talked with. Yes, I had called them initially and they sent me a letter which I responded to about my inquiry. OK. And then you called them back? Yes.

OK. Well, a couple of thoughts. I mean, one is I would not give your Social Security any part of it, including the last four, to anyone who contacts you, regardless of what it says on the caller ID, because all of that can be amassed and appear to be coming from a legitimate institution, one even that you do business with. I would only give out the last four of your social when you are calling in. And there really shouldn't be a reason why you'd need to give your full social to them unless you're opening an account, which you would do online or with a paper form. And then you would need to provide your full social because they need to be able to report certain documents to the information to the IRS and so forth. But only give the last four of your social if you're contacting customer service when you initiate that call using the toll free number on the back of your card.

And don't ever give it out to anyone calling you, regardless of who they say they're with. And never click on a link in an email and provide any personal information with regard to an account that's open fraudulently in your name. If that has happened, there are several steps to take. Number one, contact that card issuer. Let them know that that was open fraudulently.

Ask them to close the account. Number two, freeze your credit. So you'll want to contact each of the three credit reporting bureaus, TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, and you'll want to freeze your credit. And that simply means that they're going to lock your credit file, you're going to create a four digit PIN number, and anytime you want to open an account, you're going to need to provide that four digit PIN for the lender to pull a copy of your credit report to determine whether or not they want to extend credit to you. That freezing of your credit report has to be done with each of the bureaus separately, and it is free.

So I would do that immediately. Also, if you determine an account was opened in your name fraudulently, I would place what's called a fraud alert on each of the three credit bureaus. That will just inform anyone that's checking your credit file that that has happened and they can be more aware of that. I would also order a copy of your three credit reports just to see if there's any accounts you don't recognize.

You'll want to do that at annualcreditreport.com. I hope that's helpful to you. I know that's a lot, but I think those are the steps to take with regard to giving out your personal information and addressing this fraudulent account that you've identified. Thank you for calling, Agatha. We hope that you can get this sorted out here quickly. To Woodstock, Illinois. Hi, Larry. Go ahead, sir. Hi, Rob.

Thank you. I have a stepdaughter and son-in-law that have very poor credit, and I'm trying to get into renting a property, and I'm trying to see what I can do to help them improve their credit. One thing I've heard is putting them on as an authorized user on a credit card, and I'm not sure how that would affect me in the long run. Well, it won't affect you at all unless you give them one of those credit cards and then you allow them to start charging on it.

And then that might affect you a lot because you'd have a debt that you're responsible for. But if you simply add them, and everybody's on board with this for the purpose of building their credit as an authorized user. They don't get a copy of the card.

They're not using the account. Then all that's going to happen is they're going to inherit your credit, and that will provide positive credit, which will help her score over time. The other thing she could do would be to open a secured credit card, which is just a card with a certain amount on deposit that she might set up an automated charge for, just a few dollars a month for a budgeted item. She pays it off in full, and that's going to be reported to her file each month as well. So what we want to do is just get enough positive credit history going her way that it's going to help to improve her credit because oftentimes the lack of credit is just as big a problem as having bad credit. Does all that make sense? Yeah, we already have her getting in to get a card and starting to use it. Now when you say it takes some time, six months plus?

Well, how far away? Does she have bad credit? Does she have some black marks on her file? She actually has never had credit, and then her husband, his credit's like 519, and he's probably got some bad things against him. The hope here would be to give the greater amount.

They probably have credit under $5,000, and if more than one family could add to that, we could easily quadruple that or more. Yeah, very good. Well, I think that's the key. It's going to take some time. Yeah, it could take six months or more. The other thing they may want to look into is something called Experian Boost. This is a new service from Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus that allows her to get credit for paying her utility and phone bills on time. I think between the adding as an authorized user, the secured credit card, and then Experian Boost, that will certainly get her pointed in the right direction. You could also look at something, and you could just do a web search for this, something called a credit builder loan, which is a loan that you repay ultimately to yourself, specifically for the purpose of building credit. That's going to come in not as a revolving account but an installment account, which is a different type of credit.

That will help also. Well, once again, our time went by way too fast, but tune in next time, and we'll do it all over again. Have a great rest of your day, and I'll see you again next time for another edition of Faith & Finance. Faith & Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.