Katy Parsons is a mortgage expert that specializes in helping self employed people qualify for a mortgage

Meet Katy Parsons – Mortgage Expert for the Self Employed

Katy Parsons Expert Interview

Katy Parsons is a professional loan officer that specializes in helping self-employed families qualify for a mortgage to buy or refinance their home.

Pattern of Excellence

Our primary goal with the Expert Interview series is to shine a light on professional problem solvers that have chosen the mortgage industry as their career.

If you have ever had the unfortunate experience of getting tricked into working with a call center mortgage lender, you will notice a night and day difference when talking to a professional loan officer like Katy Parsons.

We believe that once you are introduced to experts like Katy, you will be empowered with the knowledge of how a true professional works, and you can better avoid the trap of big box lenders trying to dump you into one of their call centers.

What I Learned About Katy

I’ve known Katy both personally and professionally for several years.  What continues to impress me with Katy is that she LOVES a good fight.

Fighting as a mortgage professional basically means that Katy is not afraid of facing a challenge, and taking the time work through a solution, no matter what it takes.

Katy is a “get it done or die trying” kind of person.

Don’t get me wrong, you definitely want to use Katy as your mortgage professional, even if you are not self employed or have a challenging scenario.

Katy is the kind of mortgage pro that you love working with when things go great, and you love her even more if things get hairy!

You always want someone like Katy in your corner if something comes up.  At the end of the day, anyone that works at a lender can help you if you don’t need help.  And when you need help, you want an expert!

Get Your Questions Answered

If you are like most people that visit this website, you’ve got a mortgage problem or an unanswered question and you’re having trouble getting answers.

We are here to help you get the right answer, the first time, and connect you with an experienced loan officer that can help if necessary.

Asking Your Question is Easy

  • Email me Directly:  Simply click the email at the top of the site.  These questions come directly to me and are answered very quickly.
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  • Find an Expert:  Tell us a little more about your situation by clicking “Learn More” below.  I will then be able to match you with an expert that can help!

Read Transcript of Katy Parsons Expert Interview

Scott Schang:                        Alright welcome back to Find My Way Home live. I am Scott Schang, founder of Find My Way Home and this is my … Oh I don’t know, expert interview series is what I call it but what really what this … Really what I’m trying to accomplish here is I want to introduce you to people that do mortgages for a living. That sounds funny. Doing mortgages. Mortgage professionals. Katy and I, we’re laughing a little bit. Professional is a rather loose term that we’re gonna throw around here.

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Katy absolutely has an expertise. There’s such a stark contrast, most people if they need a mortgage first thing they’re gonna do is there ask their friends, they’re gonna ask their family, go out to their social networks and then if not you’re probably gonna call that 800 number on the TV commercial that’s just blasting in your face all the time and if you do that and you make that mistake … You are not talking to a mortgage expert. You’re talking to somebody in a call center.

Most of the people that come to Find My Way Home have made that phon call, have been horrified and then ended up hopefully getting introduced to somebody like Katy. So without further ado Miss … The lovely and quite talented Miss Katy Parsons. Thanks for joining me.

Katy Parsons:                        Thanks for having me Scott.

Scott Schang:                        How are you today?

Katy Parsons:                        I’m good. How are you?

Scott Schang:                        Good. I think we’ve got … I don’t know if Stephen’s on here yet but he says he’s going to be here. We interviewed Stephen yesterday he was a mutual friend. Actually you introduced me to him.

The point of this is really you and I are just gonna have a conversation. I wanna find out how you got in to the business. I’ll tell you what first probably impressed me the most about how you run your business, you haven’t been in the business for a really, really long time but you … This is your career. You’ve chosen this as a profession. You’ve gone all in. The thing that really kind of blew me away as I was getting to know you is I’ve never seen anyone with more selfies with their clients. And I’m just-

Katy Parsons:                        And other loan officers. I can get a lot of loan officers into a selfie.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah. The relationship that you have with your clients, that is the difference between needing a mortgage, getting put on a call center conveyor belt and just going through the machine or working with a professional that’s gonna care about you, care about your family, identify what your goals are and be there for you not only as a guide through that process but anytime you need financing in the future. I mean, you create relationships and lifelong professional relationships and even friendships.

So I guess that kinda leads me into the first question here is that you chose mortgages, you ended up choosing mortgages as a career path but how did you get there? What led you to this crazy, crazy business?

Katy Parsons:                        Honestly?

Scott Schang:                        Yeah, be honest.

Katy Parsons:                        I kinda got tricked into it.

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Scott Schang:                        The rest of us just stumbled into it. I can’t wait to hear this.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah. No, really. I kinda got tricked into it. It was my boyfriend’s idea. He was right, it’s a really good fit but yeah I pretty much got tricked into it. Then he got out of the industry and has been taking a break because he got burned out.

Scott Schang:                        I mean, listen he’s gotta have a crystal ball because you really seem like it just fits your personality just amazingly. You’re super passionate about people. Okay, so you got tricked into it and that’s the first step but … Most people kinda end up down a path and it’s a combination of your experience and your personality but a lot of people end up finding groove.

What would you say, did you find a niche or something that you specialize in? Or something that, you know a part of the business that you just really latched onto and said, “These are the kind of people that I like to help. This is where my expertise is?”

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah. I did. So I was self employed for ever before getting tricked into mortgages and I really liked that entrepreneurial personality type. So a lot of people especially if you call a call center can’t handle that self employed file or the investor file that has multiple rentals. Those are like big puzzles for me and I don’t mind ’em.

All my friends are self employed with rentals. My second loan ever was self employed borrower with rentals and it was a jumbo loan, which is pretty much all the hard things at once.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        So that’s what felt normal to me and so I just got into doing a lot of those because I liked the personality types. And then the other thing that I really liked doing are … The people that are looking at Find My Way Home, the people who have been told no by somebody else but it’s actually easily doable they just need to be working with someone who knows what they’re doing, that’s really satisfying.

We’ve got one that I just got approval on this morning and it’s literally life changing for these people. It lets them keep their house, which they thought they were going to have to sell. Like their dream that they’d built that they were going to have to sell. So I would say those two things are the Spots that I end up putting most of my energy into because they’re things that other people are afraid of or don’t understand how to do and I’m really good at ’em and they make a huge difference.

Scott Schang:                        Do you read a lot of guidelines? I mean … Because these things and Stephen and I were talking about this, the guidelines are 2000 pages just for Fanny May. Good luck finding Freddie Mac guidelines and making your way through those. They’re all crazy, What’s the first thing that you do when … Well actually I guess that’s my next question for you.

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When you get introduced to a new client for the first time, whether it’s a referral form somebody or somebody that comes to Find My Way Home or past client or however they find you. What initially is that initial conversation? What’s that first contact like? We know that if they call a call center, they’re a number and they have to meet a quota and they gotta get an application filled out and get a credit card so that they can charge an application fee. That’s what a call center does. What is your first contact look like when you talk to a client?

Katy Parsons:                        So, my first conversation with any client is just conversation. How did you end up here? What are the circumstances? Is this just an easy thing? Your number bought a house using me and you’ve got everything together or is it more complicated like what comes through Find My Way Home? Sort of what’s going on.

I really just wanna have a 20 or 30 minute conversation about what you’re afraid of, what you’re not afraid of and my biggest thing is what payment are you comfortable with? Then sort of work the approval backwards. What about down payment? Sort of what are their circumstances ’cause as you know it’s different on every single scenario.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        So different. So I just ask them a couple questions and just let them unload and just take a bunch of notes, so I can figure out how to actually structure this. I’m not trying to fit it into one or two boxes like a call center, I’m trying to figure out how to help make their life work a little better. So it’s just a awkward fumbly phone conversation that we’re best friends by the end of it.

Scott Schang:                        So it’s about a 20 or 30 minute … I guess you could call it a discovery call but it’s really just getting to know them. Getting to know what their goals are so that then you can go back and try to start unraveling everything, right?

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah and then I’ll send ’em a link to an application and a list of what I’m gonna need but I don’t … I work with so many people that are self employed that I really don’t know what I need from you until we talk about it. Is it some weird S Corp situation or your W2 or do you not even file business taxes? Just having that conversation-

Scott Schang:                        So that’s incredibly powerful statement that you just made because that is the fact with everyone is you don’t know what the right loan is for them until you get all that information. Until you talk to them. I mean that’s powerful because again, these big box lenders the reason they can do what they do and they can spend so many millions and millions of dollars is they can’t spend time talking to people and then trying to figure stuff out. They have box and all they’re doing is they’re filling out the application, writing your credit and then seeing if you fit in the box or not.

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Katy Parsons:                        Yeah.

Scott Schang:                        It sound like you’re doing … You’re taking your time and you know this is … It was funny I, after talking to Stephen yesterday he had a story that he thought was very relevant. That he had just spoken to somebody that had been working with Quicken Loans for a long time. It was either weeks or months and when Stephen got started talking to them nothing that they were talking about was right. They weren’t gonna qualify under the same … They weren’t gonna qualify the way that they were puttin’ it together. It wasn’t anything. Like it would never get to the finish line. That just floors me and those poor people endured that for months. Or weeks or months until they got ahold of Stephen and then they’re like, “Holy cow. I just needed somebody to tell me the truth from the beginning.”

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah. They don’t realize their option. They think they’re calling a professional when they call that call center. I had a realtor have one of his clients call me. He’d already been pre-approved with Quicken, they’re halfway through the contract and Quicken’s telling him he can’t do it. I gave him enough information, it was such a stupid, simple little fix. It was like, “Here. Just go tell them this and go do it that way.” I’m like, “Did you even think about this? You know the capital gains aren’t even that bad just buy the blah, blah, blah.” Ten minutes later the guy was able to explain to Quicken how to fix his loan.

Scott Schang:                        Oh no.

Katy Parsons:                        So on that one I was just like, “Just go … Like you’re so far into it. Here. Just go fix it with them and call me in two days if they don’t actually have it fixed and then I’ll just fix it.”

Scott Schang:                        Right. Right. But the close of escrow is coming up and it’s just-

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah.

Scott Schang:                        Not worth it and you can tell that it’s not an issue ’cause you solve problems for a living.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah and I was like, “Actually this is not a big problem.” Normally I’m like, “Nope, give me your file. They aren’t gonna. No. They can’t do it. They just don’t get it.” But this I was like, “No. Just restructure these two different things. You’re fine.” At Quicken they don’t have that conversation with them-

Scott Schang:                        No.

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Katy Parsons:                        To figure out what’s going on. I tell my clients in that initial conversation like, “I want all of your documents that I need to do the loan now and I’m gonna rake you over the coals. And then you can go shopping.”

Scott Schang:                        That’s something that Stephen said yesterday too on our conversation is, let’s make this … Let’s get everything out-of-the-way up front, right? Let’s get all of your documentation, let’s get all of your information, let’s approach this, let’s make sure you have a sound foundation to go out and start making offers. It still floors me how many people … How many of your realtors will call up and say, “We need to make an off on this house. Can you get ’em pre-approved?” That’s the wrong time to do it. That’s like the … That happens more often than I wish it did but it actually does right?

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        It does. I want all your stuff.

Scott Schang:                        Take all the stuff. It’s not … Listen, I love what these big box lenders have done to the application process. They’ve made it super simple to complete an application. The technologies that they use to pull in income and assets, there’s nothing unique about that. That’s available to you, it’s available to me, it’s available to everyone but they have millions of dollars to brag about the fact that theirs is online or what have you and that’s a great part of what they’ve done but unfortunately in order for them to afford all that technology and all that advertising … Their business model that supports that high of a volume or that type of business, you can only hire people to sit in cubicles and answer phones and do what they’re told. They’re not going to be a Katy Parsons. They’re not gonna sit down and figure out what your situation or what your scenario is and they’re not gonna know where to go and where to look.

Alright. So this is my favorite part of this is war stories. Do you have a single war story that it just seemed like there was no way you were gonna get through it and you ended up pulling ’em out? I’ve talked to you before. You actually have quite few of them. What’s your … What’s a good one you can share?

Katy Parsons:                        I mean one that we were just talking about before we started this was I had a veteran who had given a house up in a bankruptcy and … Which is fine. That was like six years ago. Plenty of time. The bank had never foreclosed or taken their name of off the property they actually had squatters move in and damage the house and they were concerned about that because they were concerned that they were still responsible for the house because they were still on title. Which they’re not but they didn’t know that and I’m talking to them six years down the road and I got them all squared away even though they were still on title for this house they had given up in the bankruptcy and sent them out shopping, they found a house and two days later the foreclosure started on that. On the property that was included in the bankruptcy six years earlier. Right as we went under contract.

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Scott Schang:                        That’s a little hairy.

Katy Parsons:                        That was fantastic. So I built a really strong case and I was ready to explain all of it and I made sure everything was in the file and it sailed through. I can’t believe I didn’t get hammered pretty hard on that one. It sailed through. Now that’s the file I use as an example every time I have a similar file. Luckily I have an amazing underwriter … That’s the difference but I’m always ready in case a file goes through a different underwriter and be like, “Look what we did here.”

Scott Schang:                        I think that’s something that sets experts apart from other peoples. This isn’t a job for you, this is a career. This is something you’re super passionate about but you’ve surrounded yourself with a team. So you have a team and if you didn’t have the amount of passion and experience and the drive and the commitment to solve these challenges, you as the loan officer, you are the first point of contact for the consumer and the consumer … Most consumers don’t know how much power is in your hands.

‘Cause if you don’t know how to put that story together and put that file together and how to present it to your underwriter they don’t get approved. The underwriters eyes cross and they say, “Get this crap outta my face.” Right? If you don’t put it together right. That’s that behind the scenes stuff that nobody knows about. They don’t know how important you are as that initial point of contact to help tell their story. Because that’s really what we do. We tell their story and we guide them through the process.

Katy Parsons:                        I rewrote a letter of explanation yesterday and it’s on sort of unique file and I told the client I was like, “Hey. Great letter, kind of choked me up a little bit but I’m gonna change it.” Just because her wording on a lot of things … This is gonna … You’re opening up more cans of worms here. Too much detail, let’s back it off a little bit.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        We don’t wanna hear how the house needs repairs. We already have an appraisal number. We’re good.

Scott Schang:                        Well that’s what I kinda tell people is that … Think of me as your attorney. I don’t care if you’re guilty or not. I don’t care if you did it. I need to know everything because my job is to put you in the best possible light and be able to support that so we can get you into your house.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah.

Scott Schang:                        Seeing around corners is so important in this business.

Katy Parsons:                        It is. There’s … I could do easier loans. I’m not opposed to easy loans but … I do really care about the people I’m working with so I’ll take all those difficult files. I’m not really gonna take on a difficult file that’s not doable but if it’s doable I’m in. Especially when I feel like I’m the only one who will really get it done. I can’t let go.

Scott Schang:                        Part of you having that level of experience is … You’ll have to tell me how you approach this but for me it’s never no. It’s just not now. It’s these things need to be done or you need to … These things need to change. It’s not just, sorry I can’t help you and hang up and you don’t give them any sort of direction. You try to, you explain to them why it can’t be done right now and what needs to take place in order for them to qualify in the future.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah and in writing so they can refer back to it and so I can refer back to it.

Scott Schang:                        No we got those all the time. People will come back, “Hey I talked to you three years ago. I don’t know if you remember.” No but I’ve got emails.

Katy Parsons:                        I need to make a call today because there was someone who came to me through Find My Way Home who just wasn’t doable a couple of months ago and there have been a couple guideline changes and I was like, “Oh I know this helps.”

Scott Schang:                        That’s awesome.

Katy Parsons:                        I’m gonna call her today and we’ll be able to do the refinancing and we’ll be able to get her dad’s name off her construction loan and put her into a regular loan.

Scott Schang:                        Oh that’s awesome.

Katy Parsons:                        It’ll be good. That’s because I had that initial conversation and built that relationship so I remember when I see these guideline changes peoples names pop up in my head because I’m like, “Oh.” It’s not like I can make a list of who needs what guideline change ’cause …

Scott Schang:                        No. No, but I mean after you invest an hour or so in conversation with these folks you … You know they make as much of an impact on you as you do on them. I mean, you remember ’em. I don’t know, at least from my experience … You don’t wanna let anything go. There’s always … There’s gotta be a way, right? There’s gotta be a way I just gotta keep looking. You beat it up until there’s just nothing left anymore ’cause you hate to say no.

People are so motivated that you’re just like I can’t give up. They need this so bad. It’ll change their lives in such a way that I’m gonna do everything that I can. So that’s another thing that you’re not going to get if you’re not working with an expert if you’re not working with somebody who does this for a living. Telemarketers not gonna remember your name. They’re not even gonna know that the guideline changed. I don’t think they’re allowed to look at guidelines.

Katy Parsons:                        That’s so true. The other thing that I caution people about is, yeah the call centers in cubicles are terrible but also so many people feel comfortable going into their bank and applying and they feel like they already have a relationship there. The bank already knows me.

That’s not true. It’s totally different department doing the mortgage. There are some good loan officers in banks, this is not a blanket … A complete blanket statement but overall anytime you’re reaching out to a loan officer who has a constant stream of business coming to them that’s not their own, that they’re being fed leads like a call center or a bank, you’re getting a loan officer who doesn’t have much experience or not very many happy clients and they need to be fed that business for a reason.

Scott Schang:                        That’s a good point.

Katy Parsons:                        That level of trust. Like, “I’m going to my bank they know me.” Well so does everyone else and that allows them to really say no to a lot of people because they have a constant. They have eight more files sitting on their desk so as soon as yours gets too hard they just move on to the next one.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah. Yeah. My experience is that the depository banks are almost more restrictive than anybody else they have a lot of what are called overlays where they will decide that an underlying guideline is not strict enough so they will force a more strict guideline on top of that. My challenge with all of this is, is these folks tell consumers, “You don’t qualify.” And they just send them on their way. They just shut ’em down and shove ’em out the door and they don’t … I mean I’m a broker so we have almost an unlimited number of investors that we can go to so we can find someone for a specific deal but if I can’t do a deal and I know somebody else works at a company that does.

I know you can do stuff that I can’t do. You’ve been able to do stuff with your underwriters and your company. They have a different tolerance for risk. I’ve seen that all the time. I’m the first to say, “This can be done I just don’t know somebody that can do it so why don’t you talk to this person or go this direction or do that but you won’t get that with those loan officers that are just … Their whole job is to just crank through the calls, crank through the leads, crank through the customers. There’s lists that they’ve gotta go through and they’ve gotta do what they gotta do.”

That was a pretty good war story but it doesn’t sound like you had to fight as hard as you had to on that one but I guess when they’re all … What’s interesting about that war story is that you were expecting the battle to be much worse than it was but you’ve gotten really good at those guidelines. You’ve been helping people with those types of guidelines and those folks that have had financial hardships in the past. You’re getting really good at those.

Katy Parsons:                        The thing is my underwriter’s really good at ’em. If I’m not sure if I can get something done I’ll ask her up front so having that same underwriter all the time is a huge befit. I haven’t … Okay, I’m not saying that getting loans closed is easy ever but I haven’t had any huge blowout fights ’cause my underwriter, she messages me when shows that we like are coming on you know? We’re friends.

Scott Schang:                        That’s so you.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah. It works out well. Underwriters don’t even like humans. If I really think that I’m gonna have a hard time on something I just tell her up front and she’ll tell me what to do. The thing is I have one right now that … I’m just hoping that it’s fine. The one that I rewrote the letter of explanation for and I’m sure it will be fine but I’m almost paranoid and don’t want to talk about it. It’s basically … I hope this doesn’t bite me, I’m looking for final approval in the next couple hours. It’s a non arm’s length transaction where this woman is buying a house from family members but the house is in foreclosure and that’s generally frowned upon.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        This is legitimately what’s best for everyone in the family and its unique scenario. My underwriter said, “Just avoid mortgage insurance,” and now I had to restructure it and bring in mortgage insurance so I was reaching out to mortgage insurance people yesterday and I’m like, “Let’s say I’m at 82%. What if I just need this much coverage?” And they said okay.

Scott Schang:                        See that … That’s amazing. I just wish people knew how powerful that was. They have somebody like you in the background fighting that hard for that … I hear that scenario and I’m just like, “Wow that is an uphill battle. That’s a good one.”

Katy Parsons:                        I really wanted her to pick any other house except for this house but then it just kind of worked out and it’s really … It’s really what’s best for her family on a lot of levels and for her.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah. That’s great and it sound like you’re gonna fight till the absolute last breath to get this done. I mean you’ve invested so much in it.

Katy Parsons:                        I think we’re good. That letter she sent me is really good and then I rewrote it … It’s pretty damn solid but of course it’s one of those situations where the real estate agents like, “Why isn’t this faster?” And I’m like, “Shut up.”

Scott Schang:                        There’s some gears here. There’s some moving parts on this one.[inaudible 00:28:35] Nobody knows what it takes in the background to get these things done. That actually is a really great story because we don’t win all of our battles. Sometimes we fight for two or three weeks and there just isn’t a solution … Maybe not for that house. That doesn’t mean that family can’t afford a house it just means that maybe the circumstances around that particular house.

That really is a great example of the difference between having somebody like you by their side and then having a call center on the other side of an 800 number that it’s night and day. Hopefully they wouldn’t have even gotten this far but unfortunately most people do. They get really far into the process until they figure out that they could never do it in the first place or that particular call center or company couldn’t do it in the first place and then you got people at the last minute trying to figure out what they’re gonna do.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah and you and I both see a lot of that ’cause when that happens that’s when they go online and start really trying to research.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah and that’s where they find us.

Katy Parsons:                        And they end up finding your website. So if they’re Oregon, Washington I end up talking to them. It’s horrifying how much some of these people know.

Scott Schang:                        Horrifying?

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah. I’ve gotten calls from people through you where I’m like, “Why do you know about these weird things that most loan officers don’t know about?” It’s scary because it means they did that much research. They are tens of hours into trying to figure out how to fix this and I’m like, “Stop. Just don’t look anything. You’re good. You’re home. Mommy’s got you. Like, you’re good. Don’t look anything else up ever … Like you can stop. I already know these things.” But it blows my mind that they’ve …

Scott Schang:                        But if they wouldn’t have gone down that path they wouldn’t have found you.

Katy Parsons:                        Yeah. So it works out but I’m just like, “Don’t google. You can stop. Like I know you feel like you’ve had to defend yourself for the whole last month but … You’re in a safe place now.”

Scott Schang:                        It’s so tough. What is on the scale is your home. I mean it’s a huge, huge purchase. It’s a serious emotional … Transaction. It’s one of the biggest investments you’re ever gonna make in your life and I mean there’s a lot of emotion that’s attached to it. It’s hard to let go but … Yeah. No we get that.

I guess what I wish is more people would do their homework up front like that and avoid getting in situations like … ‘Cause that person knew after a short conversation with you that you were on the same page. You understood everything that they were talking about. You knew everything. They felt confident that you were gonna be the person to talk to, to get them to the finish line.

So let’s wrap this thing up. I have two questions. The first question is, what is the best advice that you would give a new home buyer today.

Katy Parsons:                        Don’t call a call center. I think the biggest thing is don’t wait until you’re ready to go shopping to start getting your ducks in a row. I love it when people call me a few months before they’re ready, before they wanna shop and then we’re able to smooth out any problems ahead of time.

It’s like, “Oh you have this weird thing reporting on your credit report and it’s gonna take three weeks to get it removed.” Well if we’re doing that two months before you go on a contract, who cares? If you just went under a 30 day contract and it’s gonna take three weeks …

Scott Schang:                        So planning. Plan ahead. Take your time. Okay.

Now that’s very similar when I talk to other people … Start a loan application or give somebody your credit card or something like that. Take your time. Do your homework. Send in all of your information. Let Katy go through it.

Okay so that’s home buyers. What is your best advice for a homeowner today? Treating their home … I guess, what’s your best advice for homeowners? You have a ton of past clients, I’m sure they call you all the time and they say, “Hey Katy can we look at my loan? Or I need to do this.”

Katy Parsons:                        Honestly? Right now my best advice for homeowners is insurance. A lot of times, especially if ratios are tight, you might get sort of some hack job insurance policy that makes things work or you’re just rushed and you don’t know what sort of insurance you’re getting. You really need to know … and I’m not saying during the process is the time to do it but you already own your home you should sit down and figure out what insurance you have and what insurance you think you need.

I have a friend right now who’s dealing with a nightmare. Her house got flooded from the inside and it’s like $180,000 worth of damage and her insurance company is offering her $80,000.

Scott Schang:                        Oh, geez.

Katy Parsons:                        So it’s just brutal and it’s in a time where you need people to be on your side and actually on my way, on my drive in I was thinking, you know I still haven’t put earthquake insurance on my house nd that’s something that I want to do just because that could level my house and that would suck. It’s not covered by my normal policy.

Scott Schang:                        That’s really, really good advice. ‘Cause you’re absolutely right. Usually when you buy your home most people aren’t trying to get the Cadillac insurance they’re trying to get insurance. The minimum coverage that they need to keep their payment as low as possible. You know what insurance also ends up being one of those fire alarm things that you’re throwing the insurance together at the last minute. People don’t always plan ahead and shop for insurance to make sure that they’ve got the right plan.

Katy Parsons:                        They’re so overwhelmed by everything else in the process that, that’s sort of the lowest priorities.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        And it turns out that it really matters.

Scott Schang:                        Oh yeah.

Katy Parsons:                        If it ends up mattering, it matters a lot.

Scott Schang:                        Yeah. When it matters, it’s everything. Right? It’s one of those things.

Alright Katy, well this has been great. It’s been very enlightening. Again I want people to know that there are people like you out there. If you can’t have this type of a conversation with your loan officer, if you can’t ask them questions, if they don’t instantly recognize that you’re the hero in this story is the home buyer and they’re just there to guide you through the process and make smart decisions to make the best decisions to get into your home and get to the finish line … For crying out loud man, watch these videos.

If you think you’re gonna buy a home, people who do this for a living say the same things over and over again and it’s the exact opposite of what you get if you don’t choose an expert. So it should be easy to identify who knows what they’re doing and who doesn’t know what they’re doing after meeting fine people like Miss Katy Parsons out there.

So thank you very much. I appreciate you comin’ on here and sharing your experience. Look forward to talking to you again soon.

Katy Parsons:                        Are you so excited that I didn’t even swear the whole time?

Scott Schang:                        I did have a pool going in the back to see if you were gonna drop any bombs and nobody wins.

Katy Parsons:                        Okay. Thanks Scott.

Scott Schang:                        Thanks Katy. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.

Katy Parsons:                        Bye.

About the Author

Scott Schang

A 20+ year veteran of the Mortgage and Real Estate industry, I am passionate about educating and empowering consumers. I have been writing about consumer protection issues and making sense of complicated real estate and mortgage topics on this website since 2007

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