Hey, hey, hey, well back, we're black and brown.
Last time I checked. Oh you know what I found out? My brother texted me, so this Hi, I'm Mandy. This is brown ambition. You're here. You made it? Yes, that's Tiffany. So my little brother had got my dad a DNA test for Christmas. You know, it's ancestry dot com DNA test. And actually my husband got me one from the other DNA test. It's called the Google one twenty three and me, okay, anyway, I was like, okay, great, I'll see if these are accurate. I'll see what my dad says and then compare it
to mine. I don't have mine yet. But my my brother texted me and he's meanwhile, we all know my father's black, right, Yeah. He's like, so dad is African. I'm like, yeah, not surprising. And he's like, he's West African. Yeah, so is like anybody who descended from slaves, right, So it's pretty funny he actually has he's like nineteen percent and Nigerian. Yeah, okay, what does that make me? Like twenty five I don't know, fifteen no, ten percent Nigerian.
I don't know how that works out like that. And then he's twenty percent Senegalese okay, and the rest of them ben In, Thanks beanin fourteen percent, Cameroon, ten percent, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and then ten percent it says Africa Southeastern Bantu. What is that. I think it's like maybe a region that might I don't know, I might cover
part of South Africa. Anyhow, what I found hilarious, well not hilarious, kind of sad, was so obviously my dad's people defense descended from slaves and when they got to America, because it shows like how far his lineage just has his lineage has moved. We haven't gotten further than like Louisiana. It's like Georgia, the Carolina's, it's very much like in the southeastern part of the US. So that's my that's my people.
Wow, that's awesome. I can't wait to hear your results. I'm actually really curious. I kind of want to do mine just to see like is it true, you know, because I mean according to my people, like you know, like we're Nigerian and but I do know like for example, Lovey did I think she did twenty three and me and she found out actually that she was more. Oh, what's the neighboring country. I don't know if it was Cameroonian, but she was more of the more of the neighboring country.
I can't remember what country she said. Then she was actually Nigeria and she was trying to figure out, oh why. But because here's the thing, Like Lovey is Uraba. And we have to remember that during the Council of Whatever like or the at some point European countries sliced and diced up Africa and they created these countries. But if you look at Lovey and you know like what she is, which is African and Yorba, what you will find is that there is Yorba. The real country or land of
Yurba overlaps those two countries. So it's not that it's like, oh, you know, you're not Nigerian. No, she's truly Yourba. Like it it like so if these two countries are neighboring, Yorba land is on both sides of the country, and just the line was drawn and all of a sudden,
you're Nigerian. But it's like no, I'm just so. And what they found too is that she's very very Urba, meaning like they were really excited to get her DNA into the system because her DNA is now a marker to set for other people to see how you're about or how Nigerian or how Cameronian and whatever they are. Because it's like your mom is, you're about your dad is, you're about your grandparents and your grandparents and your grandparents and your grand you know what I mean, Like you
don't get too many people. Yeah, so I'm really curious to see with my people, like I know that like on at least on my dad's side, I know, like my dad can go back up at four generations, like when Aliche, which is my last thing, well not so much anymore, but Aliche was like like was just one name, like when my great great great great grandfather his name was Alich, and then when our village was founded by four brothers, and so it's just like he could go
back that far because we have like African telling oral history and so every kid in the village can go back that far. But so it would be interesting to see if there's like any deviation or are we just super Ebo you.
Know, yeah, I mean it's also every country I listen to my that is from, they're all basically neighboring countries on the West coast. You know, one of the origins of the slave trade. And you know, if you ever read the book Homegoing, I had talked about it before on the show. It's by yag Yasi. I learned more about the slave trade and the history of West Africa from that book than I ever learned in school. And it is. It is a fantastic book. It tells it
starts at the beginning. It starts I think in Ghana. The author is Ghandian, and it starts with the tribe in Ghana, the very first tribe who selled their people to the Europeans as slaves. And it tells one story, one person's story, from every descendant of that family through the books all the way up until I think the nineteen eighties. Is just like phenomenal that I highly recommend it. It's awesome. I have a little bit of read it too.
What is it.
It's called Homegoing by yah Kyasi. Let me look it up.
That sounds interesting, Yeah.
Yah Yasi, it's y Aa g y A s I I'll post a Lincoln and the show notes too, because me by the have me by it was like squeezing my heart the entire time reading that book.
That's like the book by uh Chimamanda. Oh yeah, she wrote this book called Half a Yellow Sun, and you know, for most people of the context, it's like, oh okay, but it was crazy because it's that book talks about the Nigerian Civil War, which put Ebos, who live in the south and kind of west against the rest of
the country. And my parents lived through that and to read, I mean because my dad used to tell the stories when we were younger, but to read it and like knowing and like putting things together, Like I remember, they didn't go to school for a few years. Like my mom, who grew up as a city girl. All these Ebos had to leave major cities because they're being literally killed and had to go back to their ancestral lands, which
is the village. And that's where my mom and dad met because my mom was you know, although they had land in the village, she wasn't a village girl, but
my dad was a village guy. So it's almost like if a civil war were to hit and like you had to go back down south to like you know, where your people are from, you know, to not be killed because right now in the big city, if they find out that you're evil, Like there were stories of a plane being about to take off people like evils were trying to leave and them stopping the plane and having people say certain words in Urbi and other languages to see if you said it with an evil accent
and killing you right there. It was crazy times and starving, like starving like the South, and to try to make them to submit. It was just to read it though and know like asking my parents like that happened, and like seeing like my aunts and my uncles and asking them because you know, my dad is in his seventies, my mom is in her sixties and so it's not that long ago, and just being able to kind of say, Daddy, did you know did this happen? Did you live through this?
And so it was really now that had me like in tears, like I can't believe you live through that? How did you even live? You know? Yeah, that's such a great book, but I think even more so it just touched me just being ebo and reading like, you know, this history of my people and just just you know, how what a devastating time that was. Yes, some books have you like on your back, like lot.
You know the best. Those are two great recommendations. I've had Half a Yellow Son on my bookshelf for a while and I haven't read it yet. I've read Americana and then we should all be feminists. By I think I butchered her last name. It's Ngozi and g Ozi Jim in London and Gozi Adichi excellent.
Yes, okay, So for those of you who know my surgeries, in a couple of days, I'm both nervous and relieved. I'm like, I'm so I'm ready, but I'm so glad they're gonna be knocking me out because I was worried. I mean, I guess I figured, but they it's imilar to like fibroid surgery. From what I understand, the one I'm getting is like similar to like a C section, so I know during a C section, they don't knock
you out. So I was like, wait, you're gonna knock me out right because I don't want to be like awake, and they're like, yes, Tiffany, you will not be awake. So I'm like, eh, so I'm curious. Part of me wants to be like so I want to see what it looks like when you take them out. No, because a friend of mine just posted on Facebook she actually has two days worth of fiveboards, so she has seventeen.
Oh my god, I didn't realize.
You know, it's not until like you share that you're going through something that you realize how many people are going through. I would I could honestly say, if I've told ten women that I'm getting fibroid surgery, at least I would say four have said, oh I have five words too, or I had the surgery, or you know, like it's so just the amount of women that and have just listened to the podcast. So many of you have reached out to me, thank you so much.
Who are like, yeah, me too, don't google it. Who that was a mistake, you know, like a fleshy grapefruit.
Yeah, that's basically what it looks like. It's like just this fleshy ball and they cannot figure out why they grow, and they're really prevalent, and women in their like thirties and forties, and so yeah, it's just I mean, and it's pretty common surgery. You don't really you know, so I'm you know, I can honestly say I'm not nervous just because it's not I'm like my husband had and yours in brain surgery. Now that's you know, like, ah,
super risky because you know, one false move. But I feel like the surgery is common enough, but still it's surgery, and when they put you under, there's always a risk of not coming back. And you know, they were like they're asking all these questions with beforehand, like a week before you have to kind of go through prep where they tell you like they'll eat for a certain time and what not to take, and don't worry, you know, don't worry the jewelry when you come in, just like
all these different things. And she was like, is there anything that would prevent you from like you know, religious for religious reasons whatever, for you not to get like a blood transfusion. I'm like, wait, what just in case, like you know that they're doing surgery and you start bleeding uncontrollably, I'm like, yikes. I was like, give me
blaed I'm fine. Girls. Just stuff like that. But I'm also really excited to finally move past this part and just be like who we sigh and oh and good news about the house, I finally can share we are ready to close, but I decided we're actually gonna push to closing because I'm like, well, I don't so two things. The bank has been just like h just a mess. But we finally have to deed and my realtors that
we can close anytime. But I told her, you know, I'm having a surgery, and she's like, well, how long would you have to be in the house. I said for about the month of February for the bolt part. So she was like, well, how about this. It doesn't make sense to close now because I was going to close before, she said, because you won't be able to get to the house for a month. If you close first thing in March one, it gives them time to because of the trouble that they've put us through of
getting the house. She requested what's called the seller's concession, where the seller can sde something to you. So we asked for money off. They said no because they had already given us five thousand dollars off when we put the initial bid in. We got the house for one eighty instead of one eighty five. So she said, well, at least will you deliver the house broom swept because
the house is a foreclosure. So there's still a ton of furniture and stuff in there, which we would have to get a dumpster for and a permit, and we have to pay to have the garbage remove whatever. And they said, yeah, so they will pay for someone to clean the house and bring it to us empty, which is a you know, that could be a few thousand dollars. It costs depending on how much stuff it is, because sometimes make you pay for trash by the pound if
you're taking a dumbster away. So she said, if I are you, I will go in there, rip up any carpet you don't want, and just like get all anything that you don't want in the house let them take it out. So I said okay, And then she said two February quarter one taxes are due, and I think our taxes are like six hundred something bucks a month or whatever. So she was like, let them pay Q on taxes. That's your concession right there that way, because you don't own the house yet, since you know, you
can decide you're closing later. So I was like, woo woo. My realtor is the bomb dot com. So we're gonna let them pay taxes, let them clean it out and we'll close the first thing in March and to a clean house and we can do whatever we want with it from there.
That makes sense. Oh yeah, I'm excited springtime a new house, I.
Know, and like the weather, like hopefully it'll break because that was my concern. I'm like, oh, no one wants to do any like work, construction stuff whatever and when it's cold. And she told us, she was like, she just texted me a little while ago. She said, just so you know, I got the updated comp for your house about like what your house is currently worth in its current state, and it's currently worth about three hundred and sixty six thousand dollars. She was like, give her take,
and I was like wow. She was like, but I think with the with whatever audition, in whatever you know, you fix it up to. She's like, I really can see your house being worth more than four hundred thousand. And meanwhile, we bought it for one eighty and we were really fortunate because doing foreclosures, you just never know like when when the house was being foreclosed upon, I don't know what the original people bought it for, but they owed three seventy on the house when they bought it,
and the bank really wanted two twenty. They wanted to recoup at least through twenty, but we got it for, like I said, one eighty. So they're going that's why they were like Salad's concession of five thousand, and we're already losing body, you know. So yeah, so they wanted to two twenty. We got it for one eighty and they were old three seventy, which just goes to show you like, yeah, there's deals out there. It's I mean, they're not you know, people will make you think like, oh,
there's foreclosures everywhere that aren't like are great. But with the little patients, you can find a deal out there if you're willing. When you're looking for a home.
Yeah, a lot of patients. You guys started this process back in what like.
A year ago? Yeah, no, well further than that, like it's been more than a year. Like we started this particular house process back in September, but before that, we were looking for a house for almost a year. Before that, we were trying everything like maybe a multi family regular mortgage. Remember we were talking about that then. But you know, with do you.
Think the fact that you paid cash all cash, that that helped you as well get a better deal than someone who may be with financing.
Oh yeah, for sure, because the we got this house on a it's called like realty bid or something like that. That was the website. And so when you go on some of these auction websites, sometimes the people selling it will stipulate will only sell. Sometimes they'll say, you know, we'll take all kinds of financing, and sometimes like if it's like lots of times, banks are like, we're selling it so cheap, we'll only take cash. So that definitely,
that definitely helped. But you can find or foreclosure that is that you can finance. That's definitely out there. It's just about it. With foreclosures, there's so many things that can go wrong because there has to be a shift in ownership. So if at any time the ball was dropped, it's like who actually owns a house And when the bank put it on the website, they didn't even own
the house yet because they didn't have the deed. Yes, they might have taken the house back, but if the deed is still in the previous owner's name, they still had ownership. So that process of switching the deep over can take months and then they have to switched the deed over now to us, you know. So it was for a lot of realtors won't do foreclosures because of
this this long drawn out pop process. And I have to say, like, my for what she's getting paid, you know, because she gets her three percent or whatever commission it's for and for the work that she did, it's not net net even. But my realtor, Ameana, is smart because my parents are now selling their house and it's worth I don't know, seven hundred eight hundred thousand dollars and they want to buy a small like a condo. So guess who I said, mommy, daddy, this is who you
need to use. So she's not making a whole lot of commission off of me, but now you have a commission off of seven hundred thousand plus whatever three or four hundred thousand dollars condo they get in exchange. Plus they're you know, their friends who are wanting to down that are wanting to downgrade. So you know, she's just really smart because it's you learn sometimes in business that you don't make your money with the first thing, but the second thing you do.
You know, definitely, I mean That's the biggest lesson I think I've learned in my career is I mean, I can trace the first two jobs I had back to a thank you note. You never know, you never know who you're handings are, like, who you're interacting with, now what kind of power they'll have in your life later. Didn't mean to get deeper on your real estate.
Story, but no, I think you're right though.
Yeah, well I had a women I had a girl power moment this weekend. I went to the Women's March, which I was finally. I wasn't able to go last year because I was sick of a dog, but this year I went and it was awesome. Really, Yeah, I went to the obviously the one in Manhattan. Yeah, it was. It was. It took place right outside of Central Park, and I went with a couple of girlfriends. I made
some signs and just kept it really simple. Yeah. It was just I don't know, it just it was really good vibes, and you know, I was a little bit like, I mean, I wanted to go and I wanted to feel the crowd and it was whatever. We had to wait for about an hour before we could actually march because it was that crowded, so and it was actually really well organized. They were letting people go in in spurts instead of just like you know, mobbing sixth Avenue.
But aren't when we when we finally, because you know, you go, you start at like seventy second in Central Park. And for those of you who aren't familiar with New York City, once you get to fifty ninth Street and Central Park, you're right in front of the Trump International Hotel. It's a giant building. It's one of Trump's many sized skycraper skyscrapers in the city, but it has his name
on it. And when you get to when you get to that building, people will stop and they had music and drums and you know, people would stop there and chant and sing, and it really like you felt it. You felt people's energy and you felt like, I don't know, it was weird. I felt like I was really sending the president a message in a weird way. I'm like, he's going to hear this, Like I don't know, it
felt like I was doing something. It felt like so much better because you know, I feel like the past year, especially you know, I'm a journalist, I don't like to air my political beliefs on Twitter. Not that I I mean, I'm not a political journalist. It doesn't really matter. You know, I don't have the same standards as other political journalists.
But I really hold back. I mean, I represent a company, a YadA YadA, so I don't I'm not so public with my feelings about politics on Twitter and other social media. So I felt like, I know, I hold it in except for in my social circles, hold it in throughout
the year. I also have a lot of family who supports him, so you know, it really felt like for me, I've been holding this in for the past year, and it felt good to really just be in that moment and say no, I don't accept this president and here's why, and you know, just to be with a couple of my close girlfriends and do that. It was. It felt good, not a bad way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday.
And the weather was great, wasn't it.
Weather was perfect. Yeah, I was like it was in the fifties, I want to say, in the sun. And I made I made a few signs. One of my signs was the Solange. I had lyrics from the Solange song. We got a lot to be Mad About, which is one of my favorite songs from her record, A seat at the Table, I would have. Yeah, I had a good time.
Oh that sounds honestly that it looked. I saw the pictures. I was said, look at Mandy, curls are flowing.
Yes, well, there's a lot of natural hair out there. That wasn't the only one in my little pocket. It definitely felt because you know, people talk about that diversity of these movements, and there's controversy over whether, you know, the Women's movement, the Women's March anyway has been welcoming to different to women of color and sexualities and stuff. You know, it did feel like I mean I didn't take a poll or survey the entire crowd. I was
in a very tight little group. I saw some. I definitely saw women of color, but there it definitely felt like it was more white women than anything who were out there. I couldn't help but notice that. But I did see a lot of I did see definitely, I mean every time I looked at the crowd, I could point out people of color, but it certainly wasn't you know, split down the middle, but people different ages. I saw kids and grandmas and you know, young old. I think
it's it's sad that it has to happen. But at the same time, you know, I think it's great to see parents like taking their kids out and showing them how to be involved and just that you can come together as a group, you know, and it's beautiful that we can even do this in our country at all. So I sort of I just felt grateful for that.
Yeah, now, honestly I love that. I mean, as much as you know, this current administration has been, like you guys are like the worst. What it has brought out is like I was talking to my accountant today and he was like, you know, it's so crazy. He was like, I mean, he's like, I'm like a Civics lesson. He's like, I'm more woke. I'm like, wait, whoa, whoa. He's like my six year old like, so, Dad, how did he win when when Hillary Clinton had more of the votes?
Why is this electoral college stick at six? And he was I went with you to the voting booths and we voted in school, and the most votes one And he was just saying how this has really forced him and people around him to really pay more attention to what's happening politically.
Yeah, we can't. We can't unsee this, like we can't unlive it.
Yeah. So speaking of this dang administration, So I remember I said before I had a budget aist the bills that I helped my friend, right, Yeah, And they passed the House to House the Senate and it's sitting on Governor Christie's desk and all he has to do is sign it, and all literally every single uh political Republican and Democratic senator said yes, and he didn't sign it. Oh no, we have a new governor, Film Murphy.
And so right now he starts, like when does he start?
I don't know now basically, And so when the governor's on his way out, he had about one hundred and sixty bills on his desk, and out of one hundred and sixty he either signed or actively veatoled one hundred and fifty.
And the other ten he just didn't look.
He just he beatoed by. They call it beatle. It's like saying no by not saying no, you know what I mean, but not saying anything. It's like it's a weak way because it's like I don't want to be the one to veto to say no, no financial literacy for kids, but for whatever reason, he didn't sign. So it's a no just because by default, because you didn't say yes. Oh a real punk move. But you know what,
that's exactly what he is. So we have to start all over literally from committee to House to House, Senate to Senate and back up to the governor.
Oh, I'm so sorry. You were so excited the last time, I know.
And cause I was like, who's gonna say no financial education for kids? I mean, how is this a bad thing? So, but you know what, it won't be part of his legacy. It'll be part of hopefully governor film work He's legacy, and it'll will go hopefully faster because we've already have like all these people who are kind of on board, and so it is what it is.
Well, fight the good fight. Yeah, so you're gonna try to get next season or next.
No, she said, honestly, she's like, let's see what she's like. I want to see we could push this through in like six months. This is Assembly Women. Angela Vie McKnight, she said, because now that we have everyone on board, it shouldn't it shouldn't be hard to because it was like explaining to people what it meant and tweaking it to make sure both sides felt comfortable. But now it's like, hey, guys, he didn't sign it. We're just let's just everybody vote
just like I did last time. Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I'm hoping that so she doesn't have to do quite as much politicking in between each vote. So I'm hoping that it'll go much faster because this last round took two years to get here.
Yeah.
Yeah, So, I mean, but I feel confident in it because it's a it's a good bill. Like it's not like we're saying, hey, should we give riddling to kids? Should we teach them financial education? I mean, like, why is that bad?
People? Well, you know, people will find a way, you know, especially in schools. It's so touchy. There's so much there's so much controversy in schools right now. And I feel like, and I've written about financial literacy in schools, and I know that the standard conservative response to these types of programs it's just giving more. It's giving teachers in schools more stuff to do. Government, it's government influencing schools and education.
And you know that Conservatives are all against that, and Chris Christy being a conservative, it seemed in line with his party stance. I wonder if the next governor since he's Democrat, right.
Yeah, he's Democrat. And honestly, that was when we first met. We met with some sort of education committee and it was full of teachers and educators and women who Angela asked me to come to her office to speak with them, and they said the same thing. And I can honestly say I sat with them and I said, I agree that there shouldn't be a large place that makes teachers have more grounds. Like I was a teacher for ten years, so I know what those changes feel like in the
classroom where you're like really another thing. And so when we really worked out the bill, it was so that it wouldn't add additional work. It wasn't like stop its financial literacy time. That instead it would be infused into what you're already doing. So if today is counting day, then we might say, hey, here's some ways to infuse counting money into today's lesson. You see what I mean.
So I really worked hard to make sure because I totally get it, because that's true, it's too much to ask a teacher to put aside another two or three or five minutes for something else, because I've been there. And so that's why I honestly the bill started to really pick up traction because people were like, okay, good because you're right at the conservative side. That was a little bit of the pushback. But once we tweaked it
and edited it, everybody was like, love it. I love it, you know, And so that's why I'm just like this guy. But whatever. On that note, are you ready to break or boothe I'm ready.
I'm gonna break. Are you ready for I haven't break break broken in a while.
I'm gonna I'm gonna booth. I'm gonna booth.
Okay, let me go first and we can end on a high note.
Okay.
So I want to take a break from if I if I could take any more, if I had any more breaks to give, I would give my last break to Bank of America, Everyone's least favorite bank, my least favorite bank, I'll just put it that way. I broke up with them like five six years ago, finally, and they just announced today that they are getting rid of low fee checking accounts for oh sorry, low balance free
checking accounts. So if you're the kind of person who carries a low balance, you live paycheck to paycheck, which is a lot of people in the US. There just aren't that many great There aren't a lot of great, big bank checking accounts that actually don't charge fees. And Bank of America was like sticking its tongue out to those people and just took away. It's a low feed
checking account if you have a low balance. So if you have a Bank of America account and you're like what I described, you your balance as close to zero. Sometimes maybe have had a few overdraft charges the last year, it is time to get out.
Get out out of that.
They don't have free checking anymore, if you could even call it that, because they still charge things like overdraft fees and whatnot. There's just so many better options out there. So if you have Bank of America or any other sort of big, big brand bank, I guarantee you can find better services for better rates, better fees at other banks. In fact, I can. I'm going to put in the show notes because I want you guys to just see
what's out there. Magnify Money has a great page where you can review checking accounts and you put your zip code in and then you put in how often you make overdraft during the year, so that you can get a list of banks that are probably best for you in the way you use your checking account.
No, that's awesome, but yeah they can remember. Because so I saw a lot of dreamcatchers posting about it. I'm like, they've been trash.
Right, it's just one, it's just one other reminder. Why.
Yes, it's like she and boyfriend. Who oh, so you got her pregnant? Okay, so you know what. I can't do this. I can't do this, Okay, So mine is a boost super simple light. So I was at the mall with with Superman and I was like, our comforter is shameful. I mean, honestly, we discomforter like a dog wouldn't sleep on this comforter. It's just raggedy. You know, you watched it too many times and the comforter is just looking sad and raggedy. So he was like, I'm
gonna go. We were eating at Johnny Rockets. I got a veggie burger for those of you who care, and they do. I could have done without it, but either way, we were at the mall at eating at Johnny Rockets, and he was like, you know what, there's Marshalls. I'll go buy a comfort while we wait for our food. So, you know, I was nervous because I said, oh boy, I know Superman is not known for his style. I love him dearly. I was like yes, I was like.
Okay, it took us months to pick a comforter, like I'm not kidding, And I was no nervous arms.
I didn't want to leave the table like with the food, because I was like, I don't want them to think, oh they ordered and they ran, you know, and so I said, okay. He came back first of all with a super cute comforter. It's like a gray and navy stripe and actually I love it. And on the other side, it's like shirling material, like like sheep swoop. When I say this thing, I can't even get out of bad Mandy, I cannot get out of bed. It is the best comforter.
I honestly, I'm rubbing it right now and I'm like, hey, how you doing. I'm gonna see you in a minute. Like it is. So it's transformed how we sleep because we're always like, oh we get up. We're like no, this thing, I'm gonna see if I can fride who makes it? Who makes his dag on comforter eyezid hoo child, this thing is zid you nd I will dedicate my first I'm gonna call my first born eyesid. Okay, but
it's honestly, it's just an amazing conforter. It is so comfortable and because it's it's winter, well you know, it's weird winter, but it's weird winter in Jersey where it gets you really cold at night sometimes, and this thing is like sleeping literally in a cloud. And so that's my boos. These izod shirling half shirling half whatever's on the other the other side is actually really cute. But the other side, the side that you put on your body shut, oh, hal side. You want a sponsor?
It is time for questions, yes again. You guys can go to Brannanbission podcast dot com.
Nope, okay, oh dot com, Sorry I'm late.
It's okay, and send us a question. Just click to ask us anything tub or you can email us directly. Brand Ambision podcas asked at gmail dot com to be featured on the show. We got a lot of good questions after last week, so I'm going to try to get to a couple today. The first one is a question about home ownership and a down payment on your mortgage from listener named Kim. Kim says, Hi, guys, I love you guys. Here's a home ownership question for you.
What is the benefit to putting twenty percent down on a mortgage? Do you really save on your mortgage payments? Can you put down less and not have to enroll in a private mortgage insurance not to enroll in private mortgage insurance for a new home? That is her question. Excellent question.
It is an excellent question, and the benefit is just as you said, the benefit is, well, there's a couple of benefits. One, you can not pay PMI private mortgage insurance, which is that insurance that you pay when you don't have enough equity in the home when you first buy it. So that makes you a risk. So basically what the bank is doing is they're hedging against you. They're like, eh,
she don't have that much skin in the game. So because you put down three percent or whatever, So I'm going to charge you an extra fee every month just in case you default on this loan. At least I got a little extra money upfront from you. But also to what I found though, like I mean, there are ways to get around PMI and not put down the full twenty percent. But what I found too is putting
down twenty percent also makes you a stronger buyer. So take yourself out of the buyer's position, put yourself in the sellers position. And two people want my house. One person says I've got three percent to put down and all this financing, and one person says I've got twenty percent to put down in their financing. Which one are you gonna go with? Even though it's the same amount
of money that they're both gonna give you. I'm going with a stronger buyer because what it tells me is that if you've got twenty percent to put down, you're probably gonna have an easier time getting financing. And I'm not gonna you know, it's going to be easier to get to closing with you versus someone who can't put down as much, because that maybe singles to me, signals to me that maybe this is not as strong a
buyer as I would like. And so that's another reason why you know, you don't have to put twenty percent down, but it's another benefit to putting twenty percent down.
Absolutely. In fact, we just did a study on this. We looked at we decided so right now it's competitive, as if you're looking for a home, it's competitive out there depending on where you're looking. Inventory is low, meaning there's not a lot of new houses being built, and there's more people who want houses, so supply and demand, so the prices at home are going up. So it's just it's really expensive to buy homes right now. But
also the buyers are what make it competitive. Like if you're up against someone who not only comes with a twenty percent down payment, but has a higher credit score and comes pre approved for a mortgage, they're going to knock you out of the race if you haven't come with those similar characteristics. So we actually analyze like over a million home purchase a mortgage loan requests through lending tree dot Com recently and looks at one hundred different
cities and found the most competitive market. So if you're shopping in a place like Denver, Colorado, the third most competitive market. On average, people are putting down sixteen percent over like nearly two thirds have been pre approved for a mortgage San Francisco number one. The average there is eighteen and nineteen percent for a down payment. I think it's this is really help well. I'll post a link
to this in the show. So if you want to look and see where your city falls, like, maybe you can get a sense of who you're up against when you're out there shopping for a home. Not only will it make you more competitive, but like Kim you mentioned, and like Tiffany said, you're going to avoid playing for mortgage insurance. That being said, some people may choose to maybe put down a lower down payment. There are loan options if you have a low down payment, and even
some loan options that require no down payment. We did a guide on this recently, so I just pulled it up so Sofi. Sofi offers a mortgage, has no mortgage insurance requirement and you only have to put down ten percent, okay, and that Sofi is a new a new player in the lender space. I like Sofi a lot. I think they're a great lender. So write that down if you're looking for a low down payment mortgage and you don't
want to have to deal with mortgage insurance. The thing with Sofi is the reason they're able to do that is because they have higher credit requirements, So you will need a credit score of about seven hundred or higher likely to qualify for SOFI. Then there's now there's like federal programs. There's an FH loan if you put down you can put down as little as three point five percent, but you will have to pay mortgage and mortgage insurance premium.
I think it's called same thing as private mortgage insurance. You can put down three and a half percent to ten percent, depending on your FICO score. Then there's us AD a us D A loan. So this is for people who are buying homes in rural areas. And you'd be surprised what the Department of Agriculture considers rule It
doesn't it doesn't mean out in the boonies necessarily. So you can go to USDA dot gov and put in your zip code for where you're thinking about buying and they'll tell you if that's considered a rule environment and that's no down payment required. There's also a Home Ready program which is offered by fan EMA that's a three percent down payment. There is a mortgage insurance requirement, and the last one I was going to mention was VA loans.
So if you're a veteran, there's no down payment required on a fur VA loan, and there's no mortgage insurance either.
And you want to make sure when it comes to PMI because I believe don't quote me on a but FAHA that there's no So if you get like a regular loan and you put down less than twenty percent, right, and then once you get to about twenty twenty two percent, you can then have the PMI dropped. There are some loan products that there is no dropping the PMI even once you get to over twenty percent equity in the home.
Yeah. What a lot of people do with FAHA, and specifically for that reason, is they'll refinance it into a conventional loan. So when you get to a certain point, you can say, Okay, I'm ready, I'm gonna I'm gonna refinance out of my f h A loan to a conventional loan with another lender. Once you've got up to a certain amount of equity to where you qualify for refinance.
Yeah.
Yeah, And that's that's one thing you can do if you if you if you put down a load down payment too and you're paying mortgage insurance. Once you get to that equity sweet spot where you have twenty percent equity, you can try you can try to refinance out of that loan to get rid of that PMI requirement.
And know too that they are banks that offer, like right now, M and T like milk and tomatoes. I don't know M and T. I didn't know what else with that milk and tacos. So M and T Bank is a bank that we were actually gonna use Superman and I before we decided to pay cash because M and T was offering uh, I want to say, uh six percent or up to like eighteen or nineteen thousand dollars toward closing costs because M ANDT was found doing some like, you know, disreputable things to folks that are brown,
so Latina, Latino and black folks. And so if you are a person of color and you're wanting to live in a neighborhood which is fifty percent or more people of color than M and T, if you get your mortgage to them, they and that's literally it. There's no other income requirement or whatever. Because we were looking at a bunch of houses and we just gave them the zip code and they say, yep, that fits the criteria and we would we would get up to I think
it was like eighteen something, eighteen thousand something. So there are you might be able to use that to help you with that. So there are programs like that, and they don't widely talk about that, like if you do a Google search. It took me forever to find it and I just called and they were like, yeah, we do have that program.
Yeah, just doing a search for your city and then down payment assistant programs or first time home buyer programs. You never know what may be offered in your local community by your local banks that are out there exactly.
We have one good question.
Yeah, let's do a quick question. This is from listener Asia. Asia has a credit report question. She says, I just requested my credit report from all three bureaus. After looking it over, I've noticed there is thirteen inquiries, which none of which not sure we're considered hard or not, but thirteen inquiries that have posted in the past year, and I only recognize two out of the thirteen inquiries. It's clear to me that some sort of fraud has taken place.
I have a suspicion who it might be. My question is what can I do to have these inquiries removed, have a fraud alert placed at my credit reporter accounts, and prevent this from happening in the future. Thanks in advance Asia, Then there girl happened to me. Yes, question one, have the inquiries removed?
Yes, she can have inquiries removed, but I will one make sure that because sometimes you'll have an increy and it's a soft inquiry, you know, so you want to make sure that the thirteen are indeed like increase where somebody gave your information in order to get you know, credit or whatever in order to incur more debt, because it could just be like if someone sends you like a soft solicitation, like hey, you've been pre approofd for a credit card. That's also an inquiry, but it's a
soft inquiry. It doesn't affect you. So I would just say, first do.
That and if you if they really are a hard inquiry and someone's actually open an account, she doesn't mention if like they're actually tied to an account that's been opened, you can dispute those through each You have to do it through each of the three credit bureaus, but each bureau will have a dispute form where you can say, hey, I don't recognize this inquiry or I don't recognize this account,
it's fraudulent, and then they'll start the investigation. I think they have like forty five days by law to get back to you. Thirty or forty five days. Number two she I think number two and number three maybe the same thing. But she wants to know about adding a fraud alert on her credit report. I think that I'm pretty sure each of the three bureaus has some sort of fraud alert system that you can sign up for if you've been a victim of one of these data breaches, like,
for example, the Equifax data breach. They offer they actually offered some free credit monitoring services, so you can actually get it for free that way. Or you could do what I did. Do what I did, which is to put a credit freeze on my accounts on all three bureaus, and that just means that nobody's allowed to open a credit card or open an account. You know, I realized I couldn't even open a CD because I had a
credit freeze. I had to thaw my report before I could open up a CD account recently, which you know, it was fine, but it just prevents that it prevents anybody but you from opening up an account.
And so like I said, you know, I have a LifeLock because I was having so much trouble with people like, well, not me, but Superman was just I don't know, people were stilling his identity left and right, like somebody bought
a car, just all of this stuff. So finally he got LifeLock and then he's like he really should get it too, And I've paid like what ten bucks a month, and I get like a notification like if I try to open up a bank account, even myself, I get a notification like, hey, Tiffany, someone's at a bank trying to open up a bank account. Is that you. They'll text me and they'll email me and I have to say yes or no. So it might just be worth worth it, you know, to look into that as well.
Yeah, So those types of services are identity identity monitoring.
Yeah, not even monitoring, because the monitoring stuff is usually free. It's literally a protection so it stops people. So like for example, like this credit sess to me might have identity monitoring, which means, you know, they'll show you, Hey, these things are happening, but they won't stop people from opening up account. So something like a LifeLock, Well, if someone tries to open an account, even if it is you,
there's another firewall that pops up with you yourself. They'll call you, they'll texture, they email you to have clear verification, like yes, that's me. Continue all right, quick wins? Do you have a win?
Quick? Quick? Quick? I cannot not give a win to the cast of get Out and the director of get Out, Jordan Peele, who was nominated for an Oscar Today, which is like what a psychological thriller about race? Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director, Like that is amazing, and so was the actor Daniel Kalua who started that movie was nominated as Best Actor alongside Denzel A lot of a lot of like brown, brown girl, brown guy. Magic. Yeah, they're listening, it's happening.
And so mine is just just a quick win from miss Mary J. Blige because she she got nominated for her role in Mudbound, which is I guess it's a Netflix yes book.
I read that.
That's really good, you know, because Mary Mary's you know, she's had a quite a rough year with with you know, can do and all can't don't and you know all that he's put her through. And I'm like, Mary right now is winning on winning. She got her star, her Walk of Fame, her you know, on her birthday. So I hope he's over there getting his absolute worst life as he watches his wife, his ex wife blow up.
He tried to tear my girl Mary down. And so just a little extra grease for your elbow, Mary, That's what Nigerians say when they were like, go, hey girl, more grease to your elbow. And yeah, just it's it's dope to see all of this Brown is shining during the award season and and what was his sterling k Brown? You know this is us Like, didn't he get the SAG.
Award continues making history as the first African American I had to win all these awards.
Yeah, he cried and I was like yes, so yeah, So that's winds good on good, And hopefully we have a little surprise for you coming up right. We're you know, we're gonna tease at it, but hopefully we'll have like a really dope interview. You know, we don't do interviews very often, but I think this person is gonna be amazing.
If I'm able to be here, I will. If not, you already know, Mandy, got y'all and yes, and you know I will be listening from my bed as I order Superman around because I won't be able to get up for two for a few days. Like give it, give it X. Yeah, I have a bell. Oh, I should get a bell. I would be divorced within a week with the bell.
I'll just do what I do in text. Hello, sir ten feet away. Well, everything is gonna go well, and I wish you a speedy recovery. And I can't wait to hear from you and hear that everything went perfectly and you're well on your way to get them. Twins.
Twins, honey, twins, You just wait them. Twins are common