[Joe]: Good morning and welcome again to Ask The Experts on Talk Radio 1190. Today we’re with Roger Wakefield, Expert Plumber of Texas Green Plumbing. (972)-442-4101 is his phone number. You can also try his website www.texasgreenplumbing.com. Jeff Lindigrin also here gracing us with this presence. Vice President of Happiness, if you believe it we managed to get him here, the Vice President of Happiness at Great Western Home Loans. You can try his website www.gwloans.com and (972)-407-9900 is the way to get him on the phone. So Roger, we’re going to pretend that Jeff’s not here for a minute. Just –
[Roger]: That’s easy.
[Joe]: Yeah we’re going to, we’re just going to act like there’s a wall there. There’s nothing, just because I’m wondering, we like him, he’s fine. How has – how exactly has Great Western helped Texas Green Plumbing that you brought him here with you today?
[Roger]: It’s like I said a while ago: Jeff is a good connector, a good networker. A good relationship marketer understands connecting people’s what it’s about. It’s not just – if Jeff every time he walked up to somebody he says: hey look we want to do your loan for you, okay? Tell me are you buying a house soon? Are you’re doing this? In relationship marketing it’s not just about marketing yourself, it’s about: look I’ve got a whole group of people and no matter what you’re looking for I can help you, and when people call me and say: look I need a mason because my daughter ran into the brick and it’s right by the frostproof and you’re probably going to have to come fix that. It’s like: okay look, I’ve got a mason. I’ve got a mason for brick, I’ve got a mason for rock. Jeff is that kind of a connector and like I said earlier: when you walk in to a networking event with Jeff or if Jeff’s there, Jeff’s looking around the room saying Roger do you know so-and-so? Let me introduce you to them and it’s what it’s all about.
[Jeff]: Well getting to know people is fun. I mean there, some people are so interesting and you don’t even know it. You could know them for years until you actually get to have a, you know, in-depth conversation with them, you won’t know that. Connecting the dots is what it’s all about in the big picture and it’s fun for me, it’s fun for you Roger. One of the biggest throwbacks, well throwback is not the right word, Joe.
[Joe]: Okay, I’ll cut that one out.
[Jeff]: Alright. So I get folks want to come to a networking events and they said well Jeff I need a name tag. And when I started this job the first thing I did was got a name tag. I threw away my name tags and I get folks all the time at our company and others go: I need them, I can’t go, I don’t have my name tag. I go: look, your name tag is not helping you. It could be hurting you. Sometimes people don’t want to talk to you if they know who you are what you do. Even if they don’t know you, okay? Because they go: ah, it’s just somebody from that mortgage company that’s going to ask me for business, and that’s not what you’re there for. You’re there to meet them and get to know them and you know what? Be friends with them. Just make friends. Because people do business with their friends.
[Joe]: And you were talking about the sort of “wallflower” mentality that can happen at these networking events where somebody just sort of stays by their wife and stands by the wall and stuff and I feel like that’s kind of the freezing aspect of it: Is you look around and some people just see a roomful of people that are going to try to sell them something.
[Jeff]: You know, this Facebook and everything – I have a twelve-year-old and a Mac and she’s always on her phone, she’s FaceTiming, she’s doing the Spotify and it’s a lost art I think. True socializing without a phone, a device is a lost or a dying art, I think and you’ve got to work at it. I mean, to be happy and fun, you know, to yourself it is, all the time, is not easy to do, you know? You got to build yourself up for that. If you’re in a bad mood, you just got some bad news and not feeling well then just don’t go, because you don’t want to leave that impression, you know? Yeah, Yeah. I mean heck, you know, sometimes I live off my reputation for a while because, you know, I’m busy doing other stuff, you know? And that’s okay, you know? But leave a lasting good impression is what I try to do.
[Joe]: So let’s talk about – let’s turn the tables now. Now Rogers not here, Jeff. So why did the Vice President of Happiness come do a radio show with a plumber?
[Jeff]: Well he paid me. Well, you know, Roger and I think very similarly in terms of marketing and advertising in exposure and this is another outlet for that, you know. We have a radio show as well on a competing station and Roger comes and helps guest host that with me as well. But even if I didn’t have that I would still network with Roger a lot because he is an influencer and he’s become that really in a short period of time and that’s that’s where I want to go, you know? Everybody has to constantly grow and try to get better at what they’re doing. This is a new challenge. I don’t want to just sit back and make flyers about an open house and just, industry norm. Let’s raise the bar higher and Roger and I are both on the same wavelength in terms of that. What can we do to take it to another level and get more exposure for our brand?
[Joe]: So Jeff, we’ve been talking a lot about your your online presence, your networking presence, your Facebook presence, let’s talk about home buying what kind of recommendations can you give for home buyers right now? What kind of advice do you have?
[Jeff]: Well great question, it depends on the type of and price range of home you’re looking for. If you’re if you’re looking to stay under $500,000 in the Metroplex whether you’re a first-time homebuyer or you’ve never bought, the game for that, and it is a game, is much different than it was 10 years ago. It is extremely competitive and I’m a very competitive person, so I call it a game, I put it all in in-game phrases. But you cannot go out and buy a home in reverse order, game time decisions. You have to be prepared beforehand because it’s very competitive. If you’re trying to buy a $300,000 house in Colin or Rockwall, Hunt County, something like that there going be 15 other people lined up, they’re submitting offers too. Why are they going to choose you and your offer over the other one, okay? I recommend you deal with a local lender, such as Great Western Home Loans, family trusted, family business, small, understands everything, has the community presence. But if you’re going to go buy a house, you’ve got to get your financing in order first. You got to get pre-qualified or pre-approved before you even go shop. Don’t even go talk to the Realtor yet. They’re going to tell you to turn around and go back and get pre-approved. So being prepared is the biggest advice if you’re less than $500,000. If you’re more than that, you’re in the upper luxury market, it’s not as competitive but you still have to be prepared. You know, the same process, you’ve got to be financially prepared before you go and look.
[Joe]: Do you – so, you’re saying it’s changed since the, over the last, what? 10 years since? Yeah, do you feel like it’s more difficult now to get a house than it than it used to be?
[Jeff]: You know, it’s… Well yes, it’s more difficult now than it used to be, all right? Because back then you could have a five hundred FICO score, you could not have a job stated income, bad credit, it didn’t matter. Well all of that’s gone, right? Now it’s really the way it should be. You can still buy a house with zero down, with three percent down, with three and a half percent down, with five percent down. You don’t have to put 20% down, as some of the national media outlets will portray. So it’s not that difficult, it’s really not unlike going to buy a nice car. You just have to document your income, we’re gonna look at all three credit bureaus, not just one like a party overdue, you got to prove your income and then prove you’ve got money in the bank. Assets or reserves. I mean if you can do that, then buying a house is really pretty simple.
[Joe]: Well we just got a little bit left but plenty more to talk about with Roger Wakefield of Texas Green Plumbing and Jeff Lindigrin Vice President of Happiness at Great Western Home Loans. Plenty more to come, stay with us this is Ask The Experts on Talk Radio 1190.
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