Hey, hey, hey, I'm back and I'm feeling great.
It's Tiffany and it's Mandy. Hey guys, and this is Brown Ambition.
Yes, look at about professional.
I got the results of my DNA test that I that I sent to twenty three and me. No, my husband said we might have to change the name of the show to Beijes Ambition.
Why.
It turns out I'm fifty four percent European and forty three percent sub Saharan African. I'm only forty three percent black. Yay, Like, so.
What because so your father like because.
I was saying, like it's so funny. I mean I guess that means maybe my dad. I mean, yeah, I had a little bit of European. Who knows. It was interesting. I mean there was nothing too shocking. That was just really hilarious.
Yeah. Also sub Saharan African, that's like what Ethiopia? Like, what's that?
Oh?
Actually did I say sub Saharan? Sorry, I met Western Africa. I'm a little bit Subsaharan. It was the same thing, you know. I shared my dad's results a little while ago. He was he did ancestry dot Com. I did twenty three and me and his results were all the you know, the the main you know, Ghana, Nigeria, all those West African countries, African countries, and I basically had the same. Yeah, I'm way more British and Irish than I thought. I mean, I guess that makes sense. I knew my I knew
my mom's side came from Ireland. I didn't know all the all the all the British side too.
But interesting, did your dad when he did his did any like European things pop up, even in the smallest.
I should go back and look now and see, because I didn't really, I didn't even look that hard at my dad's results. I just looked at, you know, like what we're in Africa, my people came from. But yeah, a thirty nine point eight percent West African I am and two point five percent whatever broadly sub Saharan Africa means. I don't know, that's that's the other two percent.
Well, I if I can speak for the Black delegation, we certainly would love for you to maintain your membership. There are things you're gonna have to say every year you will have to renew to watch good Times.
You have to pay the extra dues.
Yeah, the extra dues, You're going to have to wear your curly hair at least I would say one or two months out of the year.
Are you kidding? I haven't straightened this hair in two years exactly.
This is why we're allowed you to maintain your membership.
It's a mess now for real. My hair has turned into like a chia pet gone wrong. Really, but I love your hair, I know, but like it's bad. It's like an overgrown head right now. And I keep trying to trim it. I keep saying, like, oh, I can just trim my own hair, and I mean, I call it a hedge. I'm just making fun of my hair because it's just, you know, I really do trim it like a hedge. I just snip, snip, snipped, like around
till it's shaped roughly, like evenly. But I haven't been to a real salon in two years now, so I need I need an actual haircut. I'm like, because I turn around and there are long strands of curly hair that are like that are way longer than the rest of it. I slick in a little ratchet like you know. I saw my nineteen year old cousin yesterday and she was like it don't look right, like, you know what.
Once the kids start telling me, you're like, you know what.
That was my real rude awakening. I was like, oh, yeah, I can't.
Start saying stuffing. You're like, you know what, let me adjust.
She's just say it doesn't look right.
So I was.
I went to I had my two week update with the doctor. Everything is great. I told her my plans of trying to have twins, and she said, she's like, I want you to try naturally first. There's some tests you can take apparently where they like sir die inside you and they kind of follow the path of the way an egg would go.
And she was like, yeah, I know.
She's like it's kind of unpleasant, so take motrid ahead of time. I'm like, great, but basically it'll it'll show to make sure that my tubes and everything are flowing fully. But she said she suspects they are, and she doesn't want me to go through IVF.
She really wants me to do natural first. And I'm like, but what if I want twins.
She's like, the female body is really meant to carry one baby at a time, although it does happen that people carry two, but that's not really what the uterus is for. And I'm like, so now I'm torn. So I'm definitely open to brown ambition and feedback.
She said, I get those babies in bulk.
I know.
Well she said that, you know, it's not me.
She's like, obviously people do it, but she's just like, well, I would prefer now if I was like thirty, I would definitely be like, sure, girl, But I'm thirty eight, and so I guess I'm a little nervous that what if, like I can't, like I really would like my my baby to have a sister or a brother, and I'm nervous. I mean, Supergirl is obviously it's gonna be her sister,
but Supergirl is already eleven. And I'm like, you know, like a playmate, so like, because I know what it was like growing up with like somebody in my age range, you know, yeah, well, I.
Mean you can only plan so much. And what I would say is, you know you're gonna have what you're gonna have, and you know you are friends who have kids, and like I.
Have a these to a nephew.
So I just said, well, at the very least, I'm at least gonna take do the test to see if she was like, if you flow freely, then there, then you can decide after that. So my mom told me she was gonna say, my mom is off for go get your twins, girl. But that's because every every grandma, potential grandma is always like more than marrier, the more the marrier.
So but she told me, she's like, your doctor's gonna tell you shouldn't, but it's not like you can't.
So I'm gonna just gather as much information as I can and make the best decision possible. Superman is getting nervous now because he's like, I can't raise these babies on my own. I'm like, you are so dramatic. He's just he's worried that like something would happen to me and like childbirth. I'm like, oh my god, please don't, let's not go that far just yet.
Well, I mean that's a that's a sweet inclination. Yeah, I mean, did you see Actually that reminds me. On a sad note, there was this this viral. This guy on Instagram is going viral because he's been posting about he lost his wife and childbirth. It's amazing to think that still happens. In like twenty eighteen, I know, right in America. Yeah, so he lost his wife and it's just like this video of him dancing with his newborn and like the internet is just eating I'm not eating
it up. That sounds like cheap, but it's so sad.
I see that.
It's like sharing his pain. It's it's the most It's what social media. It's when I like social media for once, I'm like, Okay, someone's sharing something real, but it's just so sad, like he's really working through the grief and the public eye.
Yeah, he's probably therapeutic for him.
I don't know. I mean it's it's definitely. I feel like he's probably getting a lot of support and yeah, it must be really hard, but someone did. We did get an email from someone who reached out and just wanted to check on you after your surgery.
Oh a lot of people have hit me up on social Just thank you guys. Honestly, I feel really like last week was like kind of like the last week where I was like, oh, my stitches. I feel I mean, it's deceptive because you want to be careful, but I have to say I feel like eighty five maybe even I would say eighty five percent myself. Like I'm sleeping normally. You know, I'm not carrying anything heavy or anything like that.
But I'm not in pain at all. Sometimes I feel a little tight and it's down there just to remind me, like slow down.
But other than that, I feel good.
I've been I'm back to quote unquote work, you know, as far as meanings, back to sitting at my computer.
I'm not gonna lie.
It's been at It's been hard to jump start because I literally took off like a week and a half and I'm like, all right, Tiffany, come on, Tiffany, come on, you know. But yeah, if you guys have reached out to me on social and just hit me up in the inbox, and I just want to say thank you, you know.
It's and it was.
It's what's so crazy is how many women are like I had the surgery or I have fiboids, and somebody hit me that I thought was great. She was like, thank you so much for talking about how your insurance covered it.
I didn't know that.
She's like, I checked, and my insurance covers my surgery. I'm getting mine too, And I was like, yes, that's awesome.
Thanks. Oh relation. That just reminds me tomorrow was Valentine's Day. I'll me Valentine's Day.
Everybody listen, and if you're with somebody who's called a Valentine's Day, break up with them.
Oh god, man, someone misspelled definitely today and I just got the shivers. I was in that word.
Like pacific and specific.
Oh lord, I can go, we can go.
I don't.
Let's not do that mean while I'm the word like, I don't even judge because when like, in my head, I type correctly, But then I reread some of my Facebook statuses and I'm like, so there's no spell check anywhere on your computer, Tiffany, because this is horrendous.
I'm just not a.
Good like typer, although in my head I know the right things to say.
That's okay, we forgive you.
Are you guys gonna do anything I told I told Superman, like, eh, I don't you know, I don't care.
It's a nice excuse to actually it's a nice excuse to do something nice if you want to. But I don't feel pressure. We we're you know, we're in the middle of this house process and we're both just like a bundle of nerves. So we are going to see Black Panther on Friday, not technically a Valentine's Day date, but I'm excited. It looks really good. I got these tickets like a month ago.
It does look I honestly, everyone keeps saying I have not seen one negative review, which is.
Like unheard of. Yeah.
The soundtrack is amazing. Kendrick Lamard did the soundtrack. It is like the blackest I mean, first of all, like to have the first. This is this is the first all black superhero movie, right or primarily black, right. I can't think of another one. Maybe that one on Netflix with Luthor or whatever it is. But this is like a Marvel movie. Yeah, And I just love that they they are doing the most with it and really embracing it. And they got they got Ryan Kugler to direct, like
he directed? Did he direct Fruitvale Station in Rocky?
I don't know. I'm not a good director.
Okay, I'm pretty sure that's right. And they got Kendrick Lamargin to the soundtrack, like you know, I don't know. It's amazing.
It's black on black on black, black and.
Black by black.
All right, are you ready for some brown break?
Brown booth always well, I am going to take a brown break from the people who are going a little bit too hard against these new presidential the first Lady and President Barack Obama their their new official portraits.
Oh lord, I'm gonna take a brown I mean.
I'm not the break.
Yes, Like, so, when I first saw, I'm very familiar with let me you know, let me portraits because I'm gonna. I don't want to say their name is wrong because especially since the young man who painted it is is Nigerian.
So then was it a young because I've only seen the woman who painted Michelle. So two separate artists did the portraits.
So it's like, let me see, but.
They selected them personally, right.
Yeah, so and and and the portraits are honestly, the portraits are perfect representations of like their work, you know what I mean. And so it's like, Okay, it's Cayenne Dee Wiley. I believe he's Nigerian and at least I think he's West African. So and then Amy Sheryld who's from Detroit, So Kayne Wiley, Like.
Sorry, people are already messing with this one of Obama because you know he's in like the bushes it's beautiful. They put like Sean Spicer creeping out from behind the bushes.
All right, sorry, but people are going so hard and I'm like, so most people liked the President Obama's his portrait, but I mean that's how and some people don't.
But that's if you look at Cayenne's and stuff, it's it's larger than life. I've seen it at the Brooklyn Museum. It's beautiful and like his stuff always has his background like this.
So it's not a huge surprise. They clearly knew. It wasn't like, oh my god, I've never seen it before.
Like you know, anybody who's an artist knows that that you do a sketch and then the color sketch. There's all of these processes that go along. So these weren't unveiled like oh my god, what is this? And then Amy Cheryl that's the one that people are having the biggest pushback with because so she is the first lady is kind of gray tone, which is typical of her paintings. And then but her dress has a lot of meaning
that there's different take cloth and can't take cloth. It was meant to give different messages, like different patterns that you wove into can't take cloth. We'd give different messages so that way slaves could communicate with each other without their master's knowing. And so she, yeah, she embedded all
that in there. And so when I first saw the first ladies, I wasn't in love, I will be honest, but it's definitely grown on me, especially as I've looked up this woman's her her work, and I'm like, you know, it's.
Grown on me. But people are really like, I mean, this is historic.
This is two black artists drawing the first black president and his first lady, who is also African American, and and they're black artists, and this stuff was gonna live in history forever and ever. I don't know if you've seen the lineup of like the last ten presidentss their their portraits, it's like gray and brown and black tones. They're all beautiful and then all of a sudden boom present Obama's portrait, which is like beautifully lush and green
and full of life. And they will go down in history. And you cannot like the art itself because it's super subjective. But people are like just dragging almost like the artists, which I'm just like really like I'm just over it, Like.
I get it. You don't like it. Honestly, I don't care.
I think people are too quick to judge. I mean, if you ever go to first of all, I think seeing a little tiny image on your computer or your phone is not the same thing as being in front of this massive work of art. And if you've ever gone to a museum, you mean, the whole point of those benches in a museum is to sit with it and to look at it and let it wash over you. And some art isn't necessarily as easy to digest as others because it challenges you because it doesn't look easy
and palatable. And I'm not This is not to shade the man who did Obama's portrait, because it's beautiful and lush, and I think that's maybe a little bit more appealing just because the color is used. They're just easy to digest and they're they're so clearly vibrant, and Michelle's is quieter. I mean, I think that you just have to give it a chance. It's regal, it's elegant. To me, it's like it's almost like a black and white image with
a little bit of saturation added. And I just think it's I loved it and I don't see anything like I just think people are just First of all, I think it's a great headline. Michelle Obama's portra doesn't look anything like her. I mean, whether it's a magazine cover or you know, an Instagram post. Michelle Obama's appearance from the second you know, they hit the national stage has
been like picked apart. And to me it's kind of sad but not surprising that the same as happening with this, you know, this work of art maide in her image.
Yeah and yeah, and like you said, and art doesn't have to look like a photograph, like it's.
Not yah interpretation and it's yeah, the only person who really knows it is the artist and whoever's looking at it. You know, what does it say to you exactly?
And from what I understand, you know, first Lady Michelle Obama, she picked the artist like seeing some of her work like this is this is indicative of her work, like gray tones for the skin like it just.
It looks like her work. I mean some of her work is a little bit more colorful, but the.
Skin of all of her, of all of her people are always this color. So I'm just like, and people are like putting brown on to talking about I fixed it, and I'm like, oh, I don't know.
Oh that is soone. That's the worst insult I know to her.
Yeah, I it does me because I know what it is to like and I think we all know what it is to put your heart and soul into something and then the reception. It's one thing, like you don't have to like everything I do, but then the reception to be you know, just levels of disrespect that's just unnecessary, like I fixed it, Like girl, this is like my life's work, Like to be able to to work with, you know, the first black president and his wife, and for my things to sit in the Smithsonian as a
black artist. Do you even know what that means for you to say I fixed it or I just so you don't have to like it?
But I don't.
I think we live in the social media age has made everybody think that disrespect is cute.
Yeah and funny.
It's like we're all bad three year olds, you know, like the three year old that's like listen, Linda, listen.
Remember that video with that little boy was telling his mother.
I still quote that video to this day.
Listen, listen, listen. Okay, listen, listen listen.
Like we all are like bad three year olds getting like high fives for being like disrespectful and unruly. But they're like, oh, but it's so funny, like okay, until you grow up, but you see people in person and you wouldn't say it's in my face.
Though. Yeah, everyone wants everyone wants a funny hot take the most retweets, But this is going to stand through history. Tweets, don't you know? Tweets are nothing. This is gonna you know, decades from now, kids are going to be passing this portrait and they won't think anything of it exactly.
So that is my brown break from the negativity about the portraits. Whether you like it or not, They're here to stay. And I'm proud of the two artists.
Absolutely. Oh I just find anything with their faces on and comforting. I'm gonna buy some Michelle Obama socks or something, just so I want to do a brown boost this week. I actually was hanging out with a couple of friends, not this a couple of weekends ago, and I meant to do this break this boost last week, but the whole lasting took over. So I need to do a boost for Sesame Street, the wokest show on the war
in the world right now. Because I was I was, I happen to stay over at their house and they have a young daughter, she's a year and a half and she loves Sesame Street. And it was Sunday morning, and I guess a new, a new hot Sesame Street episode drops on HBO every every Sunday at like nine am. I didn't know it, but I found out, and so when we were all watching it, and it was this,
it was the cutest little episode it was about. It was one muppet with with the curly natural hair and two poofs on either side, like the same way I wore my hair, and a lot of black girls wore their hair on their little kids and sometimes still now. And then a little muppet with like blonde hair and they were they were damn and the blonde hair girl. It was all about teaching about self love and how different hair textures are beautiful. But they told the story like for children.
You know.
The way that they did it is the girl with the blonde hair was like whipping her hair back and forth, and she was like whip your hair, whip your hair and the other girl's like, well, my hair doesn't whip like that. We can't dance together. And then the the end, the story ending was like, we can dance together. Your hair, I think. I think her hair bounced and her her hair bounced and the other girl's hair whipped, and they made like a dance about you know, hair that bounces
versus hair that whips. And I just thought it was so cute and I was she says to me Street like this is amazing. You can just tell they are really like whoever's writing this show that you don't think about children's television, but and how important it is, you know. But I don't know. I just I just loved it. And to see their little brown baby watching them and me so happy.
Ah, I love that. Honestly.
That's me ses Me Place right or Sesame streetest Street.
I think it's Street right.
I mean it was Stree when I was a kid. Maybe it changed that, I don't know.
No, I think it is Time Street.
I think Sessy Place is like the actual like there's a physical like location where like an amusement park.
But yeah, Sesame Street is the best.
I had no idea. Mm hmmm, did get it all?
Do we have any good questions we do?
I was saving this one from last week. Let me go find it real quick.
I'm gonna say yes iTunes for that Black History Month.
My wind.
That next week we're gonna see if we're gonna say, we're gonna save it never mine rewind.
So do we have any questions this week? It's fine sidebar.
My friend Libriya Jones I posted like about Black Ambition on my Facebook page.
She was like, oh my god, tell your co host Manny, she's got a great voice.
Oh wow, thank you you think so? Oh I can't leave to Oh really sorry, thank you?
Uh.
I will tell my siblings who constantly told me how annoying it was when I talked all the time as a kid. So, yeah, we have a good question and you guys, thanks for sending. We got actually quite a few questions a week, but I have to go back to those from this one from last week. But just as a reminder, you know, you can go to Brown Ambition Podcast dot com dot com to drop us a question. Just click on ask us anything, or you can hit us up directly via email at Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot.
Com dot com.
All right, so this question I thought it was funny. This is from Jamishia. I think I'm pronouncing that right, Jamisha or Jamisia. She says, is there a harm to getting rental cars for other people? My two brothers are constantly asking me to rent cars for them. I always say no because I don't want my name attached to it and if anything happens, it could it could fall on me. Correct. I told them I don't want to lend out my name, and they're insisting that I'm not.
And uh they're insisting that of blah blah blah, uh and try to guilt me, saying you never want to help me, blah blah blah. What do you guys think? Am I being too harsh? They have their own cars, but they're always selling them for some reason or another, and in between they drive rentals.
So why that's such a young guy thing? Right?
I could get the car selling it, right, get the car sell it. I don't. It's probably they're leasing it and their leases are up and then they're like renting in between or something like that. I don't know. That sounds some shady is happening. I think your spidy senses are correct, Jamisia Jamisha, I would say no in a heartbeat too, But I actually just had this happen my baby, my baby cousin who told me my hair ain't right. I'm gonna put her I'm gonna put her business out there.
So she's nineteen, and she's lived, you know, having having seen her grow ups. I used to live with my between college and getting a grown adult job. I live with my uncle and his basement for like two months, and I live with my baby cousins and I, you know, in the same house with them. They were twelve and six and Anna was a twelve year old. So I've seen them grow up and they, you know, their parents
were always there for them whatever they wanted. They had, you know, lived like a but a very loving, like supported kind of household. Never had to you know, never wanted for anything like solid middle class. And now Ann a Banana as I call her, is in college and she wants to get a wants to get her first apartment. You know, she's working the job, she's got the school going on, but they require a co signer, and her dad,
for whatever reason, doesn't want to co sign. So I get this like frantic test from text from her, maybe I need a co signer, please co sign my apartment. And I'm like and this is the first time, but I'm like, I love this is my baby, like I love Anna to like I would do anything for her. But I had to check myself because I was reaching for the pen and I'm like, like, what would you tell a brown ambition listener, Mandy, don't do it? Like,
don't do it. And I feel like this is what happens when like your siblings or someone comes to you and they give you those big puppy dog eyes and ask for something like this.
And honestly, the truth is you might not even be able to.
So I'm on Enterprise's site and Enterprise is a major car rental company and they have on their faques can I pay for a rental of a car for another individual? And it says that the renter of the vehicle must be present to sign the rental agreement and provide their credit card at the time of pickup. The renter cannot provide a credit card or debit card belonging to someone else.
And if you wish to pay for a rental car but have someone else drive it, you can rent the vehicle in your name and add them as an additional driver. That so that is possible, yep. And in order to add an additional driver, the driver would have to meet all of their additional driver requirements and you just have to figure out what that is so you can.
But you have to ask.
So my worry is that what requirements are they not? Are they just looking for your financial support or are there's some requirements that they're not able to.
Reach, you know?
And so I would just be nervous because if something happens, you know, that's your your name and your you know, potentially your money. And so the answer would be, like if my sister asked me to rent a car, it's hard when it's like your you know, your baby sister and brother.
I mean, I mean a judgment call based on what you know about them.
Yes, I was gonna say that, Like if baby Lisa asked me, the answer is no, I love baby Lisa.
Sorryly.
But now if my sister Tracy asked me, who's two years younger, she's super responsible, and let's just say she's like, I just need it for a week because my car's in the shop.
Blah blah, blah.
I might say yes because Tracy is the most responsible well out of all of my sisters, you know, although it's not the best idea just based upon our history, I might say yes.
So, oh, I know what it might be. What if they're under twenty five?
Oh well, then if they're under twenty five, then you would want to And that's what I was thinking, That's what it sounded like. Still, you'd want to add them on as an additional driver, and you'd want to make sure that they could legally drive that car because they would have to still meet whatever requirements are required as an additional driver.
So you'd have to fire.
Still have to show the rental agency their driver's license at them, right, Yeah.
For sure, because I hope what they're not trying to do is get you to rent it as as if you're driving it and they're they're going to drive Oh no, no.
No, yeah, because you can get even more trouble for that.
What super trouble, super trouble.
Yeah, Jamisha, I'm going to support I'm gonna back you up on this one. Hold your ground. Don't let your shady brothers use your name. First of all, this requires you going down to the rental agency, take a time out of your day. I mean, this is a lot of trouble for you. They need to get their act together exactly. I'm kind of talking to myself and trying to like build my because I still kind of feel bad for saying no but tonight to baby Anna. But I'm in the middle of the mortgage process. I can't
be co signing, you know, an apartment. And also, I mean, if anyone have you ever been asked by like a sibling or like a cousin or something friend to co sign?
Thank thank goodness, no now as yet, because I literally remember that when I was in high school, my dad sitting my sisters and I and all down forbidding us to co sign for each other or to ask each other to co sign and telling us why, like we had real money lessons and so like that's never and I don't have any cousins my age, like our age range, so it was mostly like us growing up together, and so we've never asked each other to uh to co sign because we've you know, we kind of grew up
with that lesson of like my dad's like don't ask me and don't ask your sisters.
The answer is now.
If you want to give your sister money or if you only want to lend her money, that's another thing.
But to co sign your name, don't never do that.
And I wish everyone had your dad to like give them, give them the talk. You know, I didn't. Yeah, I said I should actually just talk to Anna and explain to her more reasons, like what cosigning means, and like why you know, why I was hesitant, and and why she should think she should find other ways to get
that apartment. I think you can put that a bigger deposit or or something like that, or just plead your case because I you know, I don't know, But that just kind of goes back to I feel like growing up sort of always kind of getting what you want the first time. You know, that first time when you're like a teenager and you don't get something that you want, like a teenager trying to be an adult. Yes, you're like, what do you mean? I can't do this thing? But
I had an idea. I was going to, like, you know, have my own apartment. I kind of it's hard for me, but I want her to feel that frustration and then find a solution on her own.
Yeah, yeah, and it's good. But like you said, it's a great teach of a moment.
Definitely. Well. Thanks for your question, Jamisha, and good luck with them brothers.
Yeah, Wucha, do you want to take another question?
We could give me a second. I'll find another one, all right.
In the meantime, I'll keep you guys company. So hey, come here often.
Oh, I'm so happy it's not been a terrible winter in the Northeast. I mean, we've had a little snow, a little cold, but it has not been We have definitely have way worse winters, and so I'm glad that although the flu season has been at its worst.
I'm just talking talking about the weather. Everyone's like, stay with me, stay with me. I have another question.
Yeah. I was like, I'm gonna start singing in a minute.
I had to save you. So Tho's question is from listener Wanna. She says, I was wondering if you guys can talk about paying a car or mortgage off sooner? Is it possible to double up on payments each year? Thank you for your time, Wanna.
Wanna you wanna pay it all?
I know you probably hear that a lot. Sorry, what no I was saying? Wana I was using her name like, ah ya want to pay it off early?
Huh. But I'm sure people use her name Wana like that all the time.
Super clever.
Yes, exactly, I'm sure she's like super original.
Good quest. I was actually just asking myself the sorry to cut you off, Yeah, go ahead, this is good for you, my babe, because I was because you know, we're getting a mortgage for this house, and I was
looking at the amortization schedule. I had to practice saying that amortization schedule and this is basically if you've heard of this phrase before the mortgage, this is the schedule of how much of your payments will go toward your principle, which is your actual loan balance versus the interest that you're paying on your loan balance over time. And I looked up I just you know, did that there's like amateurs,
Oh god, I can't say it. Amortization calculators on the internet that you can use and you can put in your loan amount and it can give you an example of what your schedule might be. And I was astounded because banks set it up. Maybe this isn't news to everybody, but it was like news to me to see this that how much of your first mortgage payments, like for the first five years go toward intra Oh my god, I'm like, I'm going to pay how much money and interest?
And how little? I think it was. I don't even remember. It was like it was over one hundred thousand in interest and less than one hundred, like less than fifty thousand in principal payments in the first five years. I was like, oh nah, So naturally, I'm like, how do I avoid this? And you can make additional principal payments
on your mortgage. There's typically I mean, I haven't gotten my first mortgage bill yet, but I've read that there's typically a box you can check when you're paying your bill online or even I don't even know if people mail checks anymore, but online you should be able to say I want to make an additional principal payment and make sure you check that box and submit a payment
toward your principle whenever you want. I think there's no unless your mortgage loan has some sort of pre payment penalty, which is a thing lenders can do penalize you for paying your loan off early, which is shisty to the ninth degree. Nth degree. Yeah, so just keep that in. But yeah, you can totally pay your make additional payments towards a loan, and you don't have to do it just once a year, I think she said, doubling up on payments once a year. No, you can. You can
double up once a month. You can take an extra fifty dollars that you get from you know, doing something like getting a rebate or something and put it towards your mortgage. And I'm thinking, I'm like already strategizing, how can I beat this memortization schedule? Because nah, like how.
I can't go out like that? No, it's true. Yeah, and be just be more mindful.
So Mandy said everything that I would say, I want you to just be more mindful, because she said car and home that you're more likely to find if you're financing a car, you're more likely to find that they have that pre payment, that you're not able to make a pre payment, because I've seen a lot of people not really read their finance contract when they when they finance a car, should just be really careful about that.
Like homes these days, they typically don't have that. But obviously you want to ask that question like, well, am I able to prepay this mortgage and the car? The best thing to do, truthfully is to bring your own financing from like your own bank or even better credit union, so you know everything. And you're like, no, no, I actually came with my own I don't you don't have to worry about that. Yeah, no, I think did you see that? More and more, I don't know if you've
seen this. This is in alignment with home buying, Like I've been seeing more and more videos, like the guy from Shark Tank said this. Another guy said this, that they're really telling people not to buy homes.
What do you mean like on the so.
Just saying like I was watching the guy I don't remember his name, but the bald guy from shark Tank was like, unless you're married with kids, he does not suggest you buy a home.
And his name is Kevin. I think his name is.
Oh the guy from Fubu.
No no, no, no, no.
Not mister wonderful, mister wonderful. Yeah yeah, by the old guy.
Yeah, the old guy. Yeah, it's before him.
He's like some probably multi billionaire and there made all these great moves and we're like he's relegated to the old guy on the shark pit, so he was saying that. But that's not the first time, Like I've been seeing it more and more pop up as I read, like I like to read like a lot of like financial
like articles and magazines and stuff. And really they've been talking about and even now with the new tax plan, how like that your your your standard deductions are going to actually outpace what you'd get if you would itemize your income tax. I'm not your income tax, your your your mortgage tax, and so.
Yes, thank you. I'm like, come on on that.
I'm here, I'm with the layup. I got to you knows the finish line.
And so I'm just like wow.
So it's it's it's a weird not by house movement that seems to be brewing, and I don't necessarily to me, there's benefits obviously to both, but I'm just wondering why that's happening. Why people are telling you not to buy a home and that renting is better unless you have like, you know, like a family.
Yeah, I've actually been, you know, because I started So it's funny, not funny, but I started covering personal finance as a journalist in twenty ten, right at the you know, the the economy was kind of like falling apart, and the housing crisis obviously had already happened and was dragging people down, you know, for years to come after that.
And at the time, there was this huge movement, you know, the idea of the American dream being get a house, you know, with the backyard and the picket fence and all that kind of stuff. There were you know, a ton of articles being written back then about how that dream has been destroyed by this housing crisis and ever since then that, I mean, the most common one of the most common headlines I've written and seen in personal finance news is buy versus rent? When does it make sense?
Was it not?
When does it not make sense? And I think and also among millennials, the idea of buying a house. This is why I struggle with it for so long. And you know, I really resisted my husband, who wanted to buy a house. I kept saying, why why throw all this money into a you know, a house that could any day now be worth nothing? Why do that to ourselves?
And also renting is you know, so much more freeing, Like we don't have to worry about maintenance or you know, just that's actually just it maintenance, you know, pipes that are bursting, and all the responsibilities that go with home ownership.
Like there's I've definitely heard this argument, and I think what's I think what's making it like maybe a little bit more common now is the fact that we are in a very like we're the market is going up, I mean not just going up, but the housing market is insane that the supply of housing, the supply of houses is so not keeping pace with demand that that's why housing values are just going insanely high right now, Like in Atlanta, for example. Atlanta is one of these cities.
You know, we we just did a study of competitive housing markets and Atlanta is one of those cities. I've been looking at. My brother just bought there where I'm wondering, are is there like a mini housing bubble happening in Atlanta and these other cities where people are just like rushing to buy houses and it's driving up prices because
there's not enough inventory. And I actually asked my buddy Tenda are chief Economists about this, and he explained the whole the reason sort of why we have this lack of supply and why that's driving housing prices so high, and he explained, and it makes a lot of sense. So, you know, leading up to the recession, you saw a ton of people building developments and speculating and buying up homes and buying up lots of land to build houses on.
You know, all these developers, all these construction companies building these developments. And then the housing crash happened and there was all these empty houses, never sold. People lost jillions of billions of dollars, and so there was this fear around the same thing happening again. So people weren't building as many homes, and so there just isn't naturally enough home now to meet demand in every city. Some cities
it's not that bad. Some cities it's way worse. New York City is ridiculous right now.
Ridiculous.
Yeah, So there's this artificial price increase that's happening just because of natural supply versus demand. Okay, And actually, my financial planner, when we talked to her last week, I needed someone to tell me that I was not making an insane choice because I was worried about it too.
You know, it is a hot market and I was looking at I mean, if you look at if you go to Zillo or Trulyia or realtor dot com, and you can look at housing values in your neighborhood over the last you know, ten years, and across the board. What I've seen is this very big dip around two thousand and eight twenty twelve, and then this huge incline since then. And I was like, damn, I wish I could have bought during the dip.
Yeah, And I thought like that.
Yet when I was stalking like Zillo and Trulyia and Realtor dot Com, I remember looking like, ah, man, I could have got the same house for like twenty thousand dollars less as I was looking.
But at the end of the so one of the things that I did with my planner and I'm glad she asked that. She what she said is, you know, I think you guys are thinking about this. You know, you have a you have a healthy size down payment. I think you're thinking things through. But I am concerned
because you're buying at the height of the market. And together we looked at housing values where we were, the county where we're buying, specifically the county where we're buying, and the house that we're getting is one hundred thousand dollars. I don't know what percentage it is lower less. The sales price is about one hundred thousand dollars less than the average sales price of a comparable home in this county, Okay.
And like I said, I got very fortunate. I'm just I'm just explaining my thought process because I think, you know, I think everyone situation is different. But here's why I thought it was a good deal for us. One, the it's right place for us for our commute and our lifestyles. Two, we're getting it because the couple who's selling the house are really eager to retire there eager to sell. We were fortunate to even find this house on a whim by checking the Zillo app and they slash the price
because of how eager they are. So we're getting it under market value, significant only undermarket value. And I actually went back and I looked at where the housing prices in this neighborhood were at the bottom of the market in twenty twelve, that's when the bottom was for the
county we're purchasing in. And the house is only slightly more than it was than the average or the media and whatever it is sales price of a comparable home in twenty twelve, and I recommend if you're thinking about buying and you want to know is this market is this a bubble? I would go back and see, you know,
definitely look at the comps. You might hear that if you'd like watch any HGTV shows, but like, see what a comparable house meaning, like single family, how many bedrooms, how many bath in the same zip code, same city or whatever town county is selling for and then you might get a better idea if you are if you're really buying the tip of a potential bubble or whatever.
And as the key is, you want to like if like Mandy and I are buying in, we're thinking like investors, and so even though we're gonna live in these homes, you still want to think of your house as an investment. And so like I, you know, I'm so glad that I got outbid on the other homes, because honestly, they were the houses the help. The homes that I didn't get were really super inflated because they would be listed for two hundred maybe two hundred and twenty thousand, and
then go for sixty two eighty two weeks later. And so if I would have gotten one of those homes, who knows if once the housing markets markets settled down in Newark, if I was if I overpaid. Whereas now with this house that we're getting, because it's a foreclosure and the house and the copperper houses in the neighborhood are worth three sixty this house is worth three sixty
six at its current state. Me getting it for one eighty guarantees, it's like, I mean, it would have to drop so significantly in order for this not to be a good deal, even with us gonna put like we're gonna put maybe like up to fifty thousand dollars worth of work into the house to get like the bathroom in the kitchen that I want. And so even with that,
we still come out on top. So if you're buying a home to live in, to still think about it as a as an investment, like you know, like Mandy said, she did her due diligence to say, Okay, despite us buying like during a time when we're at the top of the housing market, this house is still a good buy, yep.
And and you know, investment not in the sense that oh, I'm gonna this is gonna be my nest egg one year. You know, I feel bad for the couple because this really you can tell this is their nest egg. You know, they bought this house in seventy nine for forty five thousand dollars. You know, they've made a ton of money, but this is their retirement. And I, you know, and I understand why they want to why they want to sell. Now. It's great seller's market, you know, there's tons of hours,
but I'm not thinking that way. I really do. I just want to not lose money on this house. I don't want to lose a lot of money in this house.
You're not.
But it's also you know, another thing is you know the you know, I don't know if well you bought you paid for your house in cash. Most people use a mortgage. And the mortgage lender I was, you know, I've interviewed, like I felt like I was interviewing. I really was interviewing three different lenders to see what they had on offer. And they'd be like, oh, you can qualify r way more than this, don't you worry. You're like, we can get you up to this, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no,
here's what I want. I don't want that. I want half of that. This is how much I need to loan for because I do not want my expenses to be any higher than they are right now as I'm renting, and that's been my goal and I'm so far. I mean, I really had to put a roof a ceiling on my own budget, and with my budget, we really weren't supposed to be able to get a house. It's only
because we got this deal. We saw happened to see this, you know, this house right when it sort of hit the market, that we were able to get it because I and thank god, they like us enough. I mean, who knows not gone a million pieces of wood because we're still in contract. I know, anybody can come and outfit us. You know, anybody could you know, I'm going
to knock on all the wood, all of it. But you know, that's that's I think that's you know, if you're thinking about buying, definitely don't get caught up in the emotion of it, or oh, Mandy and Tiffany are buying a house, like and my cousin just bought a house and I should buy a house, and you really have to look at your own situation and where you're buying and what's happening in your market and what you
can afford. Because, Yeah, if anything positive came from the housing crisis, I think it was that breakdown of this myth that you need a home. You need a house to be successful or to be seen as successful. No, you just need a high you know, a positive net worth and exactly.
What you're doing.
I got my home, I thought I was so grown and cute.
I said, I'm twenty five, kindo with the house, kind of a check me out, and then a few years later, I'm twenty five with a closure twenty nine.
It's that grand opening, grand clothing.
So yes, if I could talk to that Tiffany back then, I had like forty thousand dollars saves, I could have invested and done something different, And yeah, there was just a lot I didn't know. So definitely buying a house is not the cure all. Anytime you're spending a lot of money, you just want to be mindful that you're adding to your lifestyle and you're adding to your net worth.
Yeah, I'll let you know how it all works out.
Yeah, we're rooting for you so hopefully, Like I said, May nineteenth, it's our closing date, which is just you know, we've been through a lot, like we've been through a lot with this you have.
And I'm in that mode where I'm like, something's gonna happen.
No, don't claim it.
You guys have, you gonna have smooth sailing. It's gonna be great. Like I told myself, even if the bank doesn't clean out the house that they promised, because that's what we're waiting on now, then the good thing is we have all the paperwork. We'll just close because we've got the closing agent and they have all the paper where we can close today. That's the only reason why I feel really confident is that we can close today
where we are. But you know, they promised to clean out the house, and honestly, it'd be a few hundred dollars, if not a thousand or so plus dollars to rent the dumpster and all that stuff to get rid of all the crap in the house. So I much rather be patient and let them take care of it. But they promised a month ago, so this is like their last month.
To kind of get it together.
Yeah, and if not I just told super Man, let's just whatever if that's what it takes. I mean, we'll just get our friends together to help us out, because I just don't want to wait forever, you know.
Yeah, so yeah, oh, one one quick thing I didn't mention. I actually, you know, one of the reasons I talked about on the show. It's an early stage. You might be wondering, why is she talking about it out loud, like what if something happens, you know, to be terrible
that it falls through. But I'm so I'm kind of like so fascinated by the whole mortgage lending process itself because I've written about it for so long and now I'm living it, and I'm really excited to be able to share some some like actual first person experience with this, with this shadiness, like the like the one thing I'm excited slash nervous about is so we've put in our We've got and pre approved for a loan from different lenders. We chose our lender. You'll be excited. It's ally they
do mortgages and their customer service is great. So so we've gotten approved, we're in contract, but the lender now is going to do an appraisal. And this is one thing to keep in mind when you're buying at market. So the bidding wars are happening, you know, you're putting in a higher offer. We didn't get into any you know, a serious bidding war. What was I going to say? Oh, the appraisal. So I was I'm worried. I was a little bit worried. I'm like, Okay, what if the appraisal
comes in. You know, the bank wants to know that if they give you this loan, that they will be able to recoup it if something happens right, So that's why they do their own appraisal of the property and
they get their own value of the house. And if you're in a in a hot market, you know, if that appraisal comes in lower than what you've been bidding, there is something written in our contract that gives us an out that we can you know, leave the table at that point because the bank isn't going to give us a loan for the amount that we need. You know, we'd have to basically make up the difference in cash.
You know, Let's say the house we put in a bit of like five hundred thousand, but the appraisal says it's worth four twenty, then the bank would be like, we're only going to give you four twenty, so I have to come up with the other eighty grand And I'm you know, this is a hypothetical buying going to do that, so I would walk away. But that's you know, our lawyers, you know, made sure that clause was in
our contracts. We can get out, and that's sort of my That's the question I have now is what's it going to appraise for? Because if it's not what we're buying it for, I am not.
Of course, no, no, now here's the thing. This is the mistake that I made with a house that we loved in the beginning. That what I wish I would have gotten my inspection before the appraisal, because you have to pay for the inspection and the appraisal, and I had them both done on the same day. And I found out that the inspection that day, like our inspector was like, yo, this house.
Is falling apart.
And so now if I would have known that, I could have not had the appraisal. The appraisal was like, I don't know, maybe like nine hundred dollar. So I paid for that on a house that if I had just gotten inspected beforehand, I could say, you know what, no appraisal needed, We're not getting.
This house, so that's just yeah, that's something go ahead.
We actually got our inspection the same week or offer was accepted.
Okay, I did it.
Yes, the appraisal is not I mean expection. So but that's something I didn't realize. I'm like, oh, I should have had the inspection done ahead of time, so just so we don't have to even go through any of this stuff, because if the house wasn't gonna you know, if it didn't pass, I didn't have to spend all
this extra money I ended up spending. Honestly, when it was all said and done, it was like over two thousand dollars in the process, to only find out later this house is not you know, livable basically, And I was like, oh, it was such I know, it was such a hard pulble swallow, but it was a good lesson because there's things you have to pay for along the way, like you know that you know, I you know, had I known, like I said, I wouldn't have done.
But you know, you living with you learn And I was just like, ugh, just just as mindful for you who are thinking about purchasing a property, make sure you get your inspection first and foremost.
And so far, I'm finding out all the averages you read on the internets are higher in real life, at least in New York. Like my inspection was six hundred dollars, but then once you factor in the pest inspection and this raid on test, which to this day, I don't know if you know I really needed it or not.
We spent eight hundred dollars on the inspection and I was and I walked I don't know if you walked through with your inspection person, but I we walked the entire house with them, and it was a man and his son, and they were like incredibly thorough. It was like a two and a half hour, you know experience, and I felt really good and Solid's like I wanted the inspection right away and so fast because it wasn't
it is an older house. It was built in nineteen forty seven, and I I just want a peace of mind that we were going to be, you know, not investing into something that was like you know, falling.
Upon the part YEP.
And then once we had that. Then we were like, okay, all systems go, let's do this thing. And the appraisal, Yeah, the appraisal, that's part of your closing costs down the line. I'm excited slash terrified.
I know, no, I don't worry, like yeah, I mean if your if your inspection passed, then from what I've heard, appraisals usually like are in alignment. You know that's good though, keep us informed. I can't wait, broc here at your house.
Oh don't chanse it, but yeah, for sure, all right.
All right, it's time for Winds.
Hallelujah. It's Wayne and Winds.
Should we share this one or do you have you know I like, I would definitely like to share this one. We can share this one. So if you guys haven't checked your iTunes app lately, you might see some familiar faces. iTunes showing the love to brand ambition once again. They put us on the Black History Months featured list on the podcast page, which is so exciting. Yes, very exciting, so check it out. Well, you're already listening, so you know you probably saw it or you've already been a fan.
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To No, it was just nice to see.
I'm just like, wow, it's so weird, Like I like I say every week, I just feel like I'm just talking to you Manny like yeah, girl. And then so it's weird when someone's like, oh my god, I love my ambition. I'm like, that's right. It's recorded, it edited and shared, just because I'm just so like, you know, it just feels like us, like how we would talk if we see each other, hang out or whatever. So
it's just dope that, you know. It's like our friendship is I don't know, interesting, and I just love that.
And so entertainment that's what we are. We meet together. Money, but pot.
So let's talk about how we can get Ally as a sponsor. We're putting it out there if you work for ALLYA.
Wait, is that some sort am I gonna get A? I don't want to. I don't want to violate any Oh that's fine laws. I'm not trying to bribe anybody.
No, I'm just saying no, no, no, I'm just saying, like, you know, because I love Ally, you love Ally.
Hey, that's true, we're fans.
Yeah, so you know I'm just putting it out there.
If you know of any other brands that you're part of, they don't have to be financial brands. If you've heard us talk about something about our hair, nails, whatever, and you think that would be cute, cute little sponsorship opportunity, definitely hit us up on our website, which is brandabishoppodcast dot.
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Galentine with the end, Happy Valentine, Oh, got it. Bye,