 Thank you for joining me on Think Tech Hawaii. I'm Sheena Park, your host for many talks. My guest is Amber Gonzalez. She is a real estate agent at Coldwell Baker. Welcome to the show, Amber. Hi, thank you for having me. Thank you for being on. It's great to have a fellow Gen Z on the show. Yes. So tell me more about yourself and what sparked your interest in real estate. So hi, I'm Amber Gonzalez. I am a local real estate agent here on Oahu with Coldwell Baker Realty. I was born on Oahu and raised here. So I do feel, you know, like I have a special love for the islands, our culture and our people. I love working with Coldwell Baker because we have such a great support. We do have one of the largest market shares on Oahu as well as a national and international reach. So it really helps us serve our clients best we can. For me, I got into real estate because I really wanted to help people. And I know here on Oahu, you know, a lot of people may feel like home ownership is impossible or they're intimidated by the whole process. And my goal is to help you, you know, achieve your lifestyle goals and build generational wealth. And I feel like being a part of that journey and just being able to help people anywhere I can is really important to me. Wow, that's beautiful. And you know, you're so young and super successful on real estate, which is amazing to see. And you know, I do agree with you that generational wealth is really important. And I think it's important that you start, you know, thinking about that at a young age. And actually, September is life insurance, we're innocent. And I feel like life insurance and real estate go hand in hand when you think about that. Well, first of all, a happy life insurance awareness month. I basically had a home life, but I think that's great. I agree with you. I do think that life insurance and real estate do go hand in hand. A lot of people don't realize that you can use life insurance as a vehicle to save money for a down payment. But more importantly, once you achieve home ownership, I think it's very important that you have a policy in place so that you can protect your assets. Yes. And I agree too that protecting your assets and making sure that, you know, once you've purchased a home, you have to think about all the layers of your financial foundation. And I know that with life insurance, it could be a way to that could help people purchase their first home. Do you wanna tell us more about that? Yeah. So actually, I've helped some of my clients set up a life insurance policy where they can save money in that instead of having it sit in their regular savings account at their bank. Do you know how much your savings account interest rate is at your bank? I believe it's around 0.2%. So like every month, a statement that has like, okay, your interest is like pennies or like a dollar, right? That's fine. So when saving for a down payment, it's super important that you're putting it into something where your money can grow. So putting it into like a high-yield savings account or a life insurance policy where it can grow at four, seven or 13% is way more helpful and useful than like just letting it sit in your bank account doing nothing. For example, if you're saving like $500 a month, if you're putting it into your bank account, you're literally just saving $500 a month. But if you're saving that and you're getting like a 7% interest, that's like $35. And then once you start compounding, it adds up a lot quicker than just putting it in your bank account. Yes, I agree. And I feel like since September is like insurance awareness, a lot of people don't know that there are many different types of life insurance. So what we're talking about in particular is something called an index universal life. And I feel there's a big misconception about life insurance and you know, people only receiving money when someone has passed away. However, there are many great living benefits now with the type of life insurance that's out there. But you know, using trash value and a life insurance to purchase your first home, what is the process of you know, buying your first home? Yeah, so the process is pretty simple. The first step you would make is to meet with me a real estate agent or a lender. If you meet with me, typically I like to meet with my clients for about 30 minutes to an hour so that we can kind of go over what you're looking for in a home and the whole process in great detail. It's super important to me that you are comfortable and confident with the whole process so that when we do start the process, you know what's going on. You understand, you know, pretty much everything and you don't have any like random surprises coming at you. Even if you're not planning to buy a home right now and you may be planning within like the next year or three years, it's really important that we do meet so that we can come up with a game plan and kind of see where you're at now in your life and then where we need to get you. The second person you meet with, like I said, is the lender. They're probably one of the most critical people in this whole process because they're gonna be looking at all your finances and guiding you financially through this process. Typically we don't go shopping without our wallet so same thing here, we can't start hot shopping until we got free approved. So the lender is gonna get all your paperwork and then free approve you and then me and the lender will work together to make sure that, you know, we're not only giving you the most that you can afford but we're taking into consideration your lifestyle as well because we want to make sure that you're living like a happy, sustainable life as well as affording a mortgage and not just putting everything you have into the mortgage. Yes, and I agree with you too that you don't wanna have your money tied into just one investment to have an immutable investment in vehicles or different accounts. I like that you just shared about having lender or, you know, that you are meeting with someone for 30 minutes an hour because for me I have not purchased a home yet. So it makes me feel really confident and good that eventually when I do, you will guide me every step of the way. But with that being said, how much is needed for a down payment when you purchase your first home? Well, how much do you think is needed for a down payment? So what I've heard is around 20% but I could be wrong, so. Don't worry, a lot of people think 20% as well but for our first time home buyers, there are a lot of different programs that don't require a minimum of 20% down, sorry. They do require a minimum of like 3% down and there are different loan options as well. So if you're a veteran or if you're in the military, you do have the option to use the VA loan which requires 0% down and then there is the USDA loan which is also a 0% down loan option but there are certain requirements such as income restrictions and area restrictions but again, that's when your lender comes into play so that we can look at everything and see which loan option best fits you and your situation. I see, that would too because I feel like a lot of times, at least for me, I felt a great pressure of purchasing a home within the past few years. But how? It would seriously stress me out because it just seems so out of reach. Sure, not knowing where to start or what to do or what are even the first steps to take. So a lot of people feel like that so I wouldn't worry and I feel like people think like, oh my God, I have to save like $50,000 or something before I purchase my first home but when you break it down to like, okay, 3% so it's like $20,000 or it's more much more achievable and then you're like, okay, how can I grow my money? So like we talked about like high-yield savings or life insurance policies. It's like when you break it down with somebody and that's why I'm here to help, like it's so much more achievable than just looking out in Zillow and being like, oh my God. Yeah, a lot of people think that I have to put this much down and like, yeah. No, I agree. And I think that's the thing about not, well, social media is great but having devices that tell us everything and sometimes it can be misleading information so it's great to go to the source itself and to have someone like you educate myself and others but I wanted to go into interest rates right now because interest rates are going up and I know a lot of people are getting scared so what do you suggest for someone who is a first-time home buyer? I'm so glad you brought that up because yes, interest rates are such a big topic right now especially in this market and a lot of buyers are really concerned about that so you're not alone. It's a big thing that everybody is thinking about. So let's talk about it. How do they impact buyers and what can we do about it? So ever since interest rates have started going up we've noticed that home prices themselves have started to normalize and they don't increase as fast as they were during COVID while interest rates were really low so it's really nice that you can get a home now at either asking price or below asking price instead of $50,000 or $100,000 over asking. Another nice thing is that you don't have all the competition that you had during COVID so a lot of times people were, once you hit the market your home is basically already sold and you were competing against 30, 20 people. It was really crazy. And then lastly, we're seeing sellers offer seller credits or concessions so what that is, is sellers are giving you money through escrow to help you either buy down your rate or pay for your closing costs. So let's say we're doing a rate buy down and there are different types of rate buy downs. There's permanent buy down. There's a three one buy down, a two one buy down. Lots of different options. Definitely something we can talk to the lender about as well and they can guide us in the right direction to see which one would benefit you. But for example, let's take a two one buy down. So this buy down for the first two years your interest rate will be lower. So let's say we locked in a 7% interest rate today. For the first year, your mortgage payment would be at a 5% interest rate. And then the second year, it would go up to the 6% interest rate. And then the third year, you would be back at your 7% interest rate. So this is great for you as a buyer because it helps you get acclimated to having a mortgage payment. And hopefully within that time period before the third year, interest rates will go down and then you can refine it. So hopefully you won't ever have to be paying the 7% interest rate that we see today. Yeah, well, thank you for going so in detail about that. And that's really good to know for myself. I feel that like I mentioned before too, I think social media is a fantastic platform. However, it can sometimes be scary and misleading because for me, I think that's what scared me the most too about purchasing a home this upcoming year is everyone is talking about the market is going up. It's crazy, but knowing that there's so many different options didn't achieve a bowl for someone like me, you know? It's totally achievable. And the process isn't really as scary as a lot of people think. And like, I'm here to help the lenders here to help. You have so much people around you that's supporting you and making sure that we're doing everything we can to make sure it's a smooth process. I think a lot of people are just like a fade one of the down payment. And then some people get scared of the monthly payments, but that's why it's like really important that even if you're not ready, we start now so that we can get you like prepared and then also just work closely with the lender to really like address your concerns. I think that's the biggest thing is like being open and able to talk to me and your lender because like we're a team and we're like very, very important to this whole process. So if you don't tell us how you're feeling, you know, it's really hard for us to make sure we're giving you the best service. So I think it's really important that you find a realtor and a lender that you really trust and get along with because open communication is key. Like I'm very transparent with my clients because one link little slip up or you know, like if I don't tell you something it can just snowball into like a whole big thing. So really like open communication is like the most important thing. And it just makes the process easier for everyone. Yeah, of course, especially if you're buying a house and you're putting all that money into, I think yeah, it would definitely be important to be transparent about the whole situation. And you know, for me not having gone through this whole process yet, what would I do? So I would, do I go on Zillow and look at houses and then approach and be like, hey Amber, this is the house I want. Or what would the steps be? Do I just contact you and then you show me houses? Yeah, so like I said, I can go into more detail about the process. So reach out to me first or you know, someone that you know that's a real estate agent, but me and then I will meet with you, we'll go over the whole process. So we'll talk about what we do before you buy the home. So like a lender kind of go over what you're looking for in a home, what areas you want to be in, how many bedrooms you need, how many bathrooms. I'll ask you like how many cars you have because we got to take into consideration parking. There's a lot of different, yeah, a lot of different things that people don't think about that I'll ask you about. And then once we cover that, I'll kind of go over the whole process even more. So I'll talk about, okay, once we get you pre-approved, then we'll take that and we'll look at your price range. And then I'll start sending you homes. Some people do continue to look on Zillow and then they'll send the homes to me. So it's really up to you, but I'll send you homes that I feel like, you know, is exactly what you're looking for. And I love feedback. So please tell me like, yes, I love this home. No, I hate this home. Like what are you sending me? You know, so it helps me get a better idea of kind of what you're looking for as well. And then once we do that, we'll write an offer on a property that, you know, fits your needs and your lifestyle. And then hopefully we'll get it accepted. Once we get it accepted, we'll open escrow. And so escrow, they are a mutual third party. It's a company that just holds the funds and facilitates the transaction while we're doing our due diligence. And then during that process, we're gonna have things like the home inspection, termite inspection, we're gonna get a bunch of documents. And so I will go over this with you in more detail like when we meet. But typically the most important thing to note is the home inspection. You're looking for the big four ticket items. So the home inspector will point out everything they see with the home that is wrong. If there's like scratched paint or something, they'll point that out. But you wanna just make sure that nothing is wrong with the foundation, the roofing, the plumbing and the electrical. If anything is wrong with those four items, typically we would ask the seller to repair it or you have the option to cancel the contract because you don't wanna be stuck paying for those big ticket items on like your first home, you know? So the home inspection is very important. Also the termite inspection, but I feel like a lot of people don't realize that we do live in a tropical climate. So termites are a lot more common than we think. It seems scary, right? Like, oh my God, there's termite damage, but you just wanna make sure that he's getting treated and he's getting taken care of. And typically if something does come up in the termite inspection, the seller will pay for that to get treated. That's good, no. So what I'm standing to is that you guys are very hands on. I think for me, my biggest issue or my concern was, oh, like where do I start? What do I do? But you guys are here for a reason and it's to walk us through the whole entire process. I mean, duck, but it's refreshing to know and to hear all the stuff that you take to ensure that we buy the property of our dreams or something we're actually looking for. Yeah, I know, I could go on and on about like the whole process because that's something like, that's why I like to meet with my clients and I'm going on one because sometimes it's like a lot of information and like you're kind of like, whoa, but it's a lot of good information and I'll send you home with like a booklet that has all of the information so that you don't forget because I know, like just listening to somebody talk to you for half an hour about all of this stuff can be a lot and you're just probably like in one ear at the other, you know? Yeah, no, definitely. I need to bring someone's information too. It's like gibberish or something foreign so it's really hard to grasp the idea and concept. I assume that's why there may be a lot of meetings by a client, okay? And after you purchase a home and after that whole entire process, I think what we talked about earlier too protecting your assets and that's really big part because the first step of course and the biggest part is purchasing a home but I don't think people realize the after part of what I said, protecting your assets. So what's your take on that? What do you think? I completely agree. I think it's super important to protect your assets and I feel like a lot of people don't think about these things, you know, even when I was younger my family, my auntie, I had an auntie that was like you should get a life insurance policy and it's so cheap right now, you know? And I was like, why do I need life insurance? Like I'm so young, isn't that for when, you know, like later on in life, like if you have kids or like whatever and I didn't realize that there were so many different types of policies and like not only is it good to protect your assets so if you do have a home and let's say you're married, like your spouse depends on you, right? So help pay that mortgage. If something happens to them where their income stops like and you're stuck with the mortgage, you don't wanna lose your home. So having that life insurance policy for either one of you, you know, it's super important or even like if something happens to you and like you're injured, you know, like people don't think oh, my income is gonna stop, like, yeah. So I think life insurance is super important not only to protect your assets but just to protect yourself and your income as well and like there's so many other benefits to it. I'm sure, you know, like long-term care and like all of this stuff. And I feel like, you know, I still think I'm young but I'm also like getting older and like I didn't realize I have to think about all of these things. Like seeing my mom, you know, take care of her parents, like it's a lot and I don't wanna put that into my kids. So it's like, how do I prepare myself to not only like, you know, have generational wealth but also like, don't burden my family. So, yeah. No, I completely agree. And I'm like with you, I'm on the same boat as you because boat is you, I think you're of the same age and my mom as well when she asked me, you know or was telling me about life insurance, I just didn't see any value in it. And no cars, I don't have a house. Like what could I possibly need it for but you're right. I mean, regardless if you don't have kids or if you're not married, it's important to start now and it's a crucial part of a strong financial foundation. And later down the line, when you do start accumulating different sources of assets, it's nice and reassuring to know that you have something in place. And yeah, I completely agree with you as well, you know about not burdening anyone and being left with a mortgage. And I feel like a lot of times, you know it isn't a sexy topic to talk about, but also reality and it's good to plan ahead, right? There's car insurance, I know, phone insurance, insurance or everything, but one of that are, and you know, we're the people paying for all these things. So in the event that anything were to happen, we worked so hard to purchase a home but protecting that as well. Yeah, yeah, that's a good thing. That's a good way to put it is like protect yourself, you know, like you do so much to live the life you live and to get the things that you want, like make sure that you're taken care of. Yeah, and that's the ultimate way to create generational wealth, right? It's to be affected in all areas in your finances. But back to interest rates, I don't know why this just popped up, but I know we are having a conversation yesterday too. And I think you mentioned something about the interest rates are spiking. However, the interest rates are like the same if you were to purchase a car or, I can't remember exactly, but you need a really good point. And I said, I mentioned that interest rates are rising, they're at like seven, between seven and 8% right now. But like when you get a credit card, what is your interest rate? Like 20 something percent, right? But people still get the credit card. Now they buy a car, it's like seven, eight, nine percent. People still buy the car. So like why are people so afraid of a seven percent interest rate on their own? And like I mentioned earlier, like there's so many different things that we can do to try to lower the interest rate for you. So I think it's just really important that you reach out to a professional, meet with me, and like we can explore all the different options, because it's really not as scary as you think. And unfortunately, I don't think we're gonna see those beautiful two percent interest rates like we did during COVID, even I'm sad about that. So, but you know, it is what it is and we just have to adjust and kind of see how we can, you know, work it and moving forward. Yeah, I really liked that point that you made because I mean, you're absolutely right. I have a credit card, I have a car, and the interest rates, I mean, are all the same. So one, you know, I feel like home ownership is a big goal in everyone's life. It's different for each individual, but for me, ownership is important. And after our conversation that we're having right now and as well as yesterday, I realized that it's a lot more doable than I ever thought it would be. Yeah, just remember like if you keep on renting, the average person pays like 1500 for rent, maybe, you're wasting like $18,000, $20,000 a year. Where is that going? To someone else's pocket. You're never gonna see that money again. If you can like save for a little bit and you know, even buy something small because a lot of people start with like a smaller home, like a condo or a townhouse, especially here in Hawaii, you have to be okay with starting a little bit smaller. But at least you're putting it towards, you know, yourself and your generational wealth and like your investment. And then in three to five years because our market does appreciate pretty well, we can sell that home and then you can use that as a down payment for a bigger home until you actually get into your dream. So baby steps, you know, be okay with starting small, but eventually you'll get there. I think that's a great point that you just made because for me, my idea was this huge mansion. But realistically, it's not even a bad idea if you purchased a smaller property, like that could be an investment property or just set up your total market too. And I feel like each individual is different, you know, renting could work for them, for people who travel a lot, you know, where it would just make sense or even, and it's really reassuring to know that you are there to, you know, help guide me in every aspect of what would be best suitable and, you know, affordable for my lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just want to thank you again, so much Amber for being on the show because like I said, I haven't purchased a home yet. The idea was very daunting. I just didn't even know where to start or begin. And I feel like you explained this whole process and you made it seem just so doable. And like you said earlier too, living in Hawaii, I feel like a lot of times people feel like it's out of reach. And I know for us being so young, I only know that the prices of everything is going to go up over time. And that is just scary, but that's inevitable. So it's nice and reassuring to know that buying your first home, it's not as hard and not as scary as it seems. And now that I know too that if I look forward to buying a home in the next one to three years, I need to start now. So I would, let's see, I get that process going. Yeah, so I'm here to help. I'm always just here, even if you have questions along the way, but like I said, even if you're looking to buy within the next one, three, five years, don't be afraid to message me and reach out and just ask me, like, hey, where do I start? Like that's what I'm here for. I'm here to guide you. I'm here to make sure that you're taking all the right steps that you need to be to achieve what you want to achieve. So yeah, thank you so much for having me. Guys, thank you for being on. I'm sure we will see more of you. Yes, I hope I see more of you too. Okay, well, thank you again, Amber. And I hope to see you all at the next episode of Money Talks. I'm Sheena Part, a Gen Z inspiring lives and liberties. Thank you.