NEA Impact: Ep. 2- Pedro Ramirez

And what led you to the mortgage industry?

Well, whenever I was trying to figure out what to do with my career, uh, I realized that I wanted to do something in real estate.

I always wanted to be in real estate in some form, and the only in that I had at the time was the bank.

That's, you know, somebody I knew, uh, uh, an organization I knew that was heavily involved in real estate and loans and lending.

So there was a, uh, assistant position that opened up for one of the top originators for Centennial Bank.

And so I applied.

Later found out that I beat out quite a few other dozen candidates, mainly because I was the only one that was-- had a genuine interest in making a career out of real estate loans or pursuing more education on it.

Uh, so my big, my big help on that was that I was genuinely interested in getting involved in real estate, uh, and that showed throughout my interview.

But I started off as an assistant in mortgage origination.

Okay.

Great, and then so for many people that don't know or haven't been through the, um, homeowner process, uh, yet, what, what would you say-- uh, how would you explain an originator or mortgage development? What, how would you explain that whole process?

So as far as getting a home, uh, or some things that I help people out with, uh, the main things would be education and then the actual qualification.

So a lot of people think they need 20% down, but there's programs for 0% down.

Uh, people are unsure of, uh...

they know they have to make a down payment sometimes, but they're unsure of closing costs associated with every loan, so we discuss that.

Uh, but a lot of my job is either education or qualifying, so letting people know exactly what they need to qualify for a home loan and then helping them get there, whether it be with their credit, uh, with their income, with their assets, their profile overall.

Uh, we try to take as much information on the application as we can so we can see what all products are you eligible for.

Let's present that to you, go over through these together, and see which one's the best fit for you, so we can decide together, and then you can decide, and you're comfortable moving forward with that option.

Okay.

And then I know you, you mentioned a common misconception there where people, um, really, you know, think that they need to put down some money to, to own a home.

Um, are there other common misconceptions, uh, that are out there?

So a lot of people think they need perfect credit or they need a high amount of income.

Uh, with us, you only need a 620.

Some places can do 580, but with Centennial Bank, you just need a 620 and up to look at a bunch of programs that we offer.

Uh, down payment is a huge misconception and, uh, things out of the norm.