 And welcome to At the Crossroads. I am your host, Isha King. And as always, we're bringing you conversations that are real and relevant. Today, just like all the other times, we are going to have a very special guest with us. Today we have Reina Miyamoto with us from the Home Ownership Center. I hope I got that right. You did. Good, Reina, welcome to the show. Oh, thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Now, I know all about the Home Ownership Center. I have been, I've been through the class. And in fact, I'm very excited to say that that organization has helped me find my way to a brand new home. Just for me. Congratulations. Very exciting. It is a very exciting time. And I couldn't have done it without taking the class and learning all the information. When you think you know and you have an idea, you find out there's always more to learn. And as an educator, I found that they say it's impossible for teachers and others in those types of professions to become homeowners. But I found out that it's possible. So talk to us a little bit about the course and then we'll get into some details about things you can learn at the course. So at the Hawaii Home Ownership Center, we actually offer classes and individual home ownership coaching to help buyers get ready for the purchase process. Through the class in particular, since she asked about that, it covers everything from getting ready, like considerations before you're getting a mortgage. So our first half is about money management and credit in the context of getting home financing. And the second half of the class is actually about the buying process, what happens with the loan officer, the real estate professional, insurance, and what happens during escrow too. So if you only took the home ownership classes and at least you'd kind of think about or get to know about considerations prior to the purchase process all the way to getting your keys. I see. Now, how long is this class? So it's nine hours worth of classes and it's cut up into different pieces. So it depends on what island you're from. So on Oahu, we offer it on either weeknights and Saturdays, so you could take it over two weeknights and a Saturday or over two Saturdays. And on the neighbor islands, we do usually a Friday, Saturday, Friday evening class and then a Saturday daytime class. Okay, so this is not something that's exclusive to Oahu only. It's all over the state. It is. In terms of the live classes that I just talked about, we offer that on Oahu, Kaua'i, and the big island on Maui. We only offer online education, which is offered to anyone, regardless of where they are in the state. And then they also get phone coaching versus live coaching. So everybody else where we have a live staff should be on the big island and Oahu can do either face-to-face coaching or do it over the telephone. I see, but that's very exciting. And it's very informative. So we're gonna get into details about the course itself, but I have to ask, who is providing this education? Who are their instructors that are specially trained? Yeah, so all of our staff has a variety of backgrounds, but we are all certified in whatever area that we're delivering services in. So our education coordinator and anybody else teaching our classes or group sessions are certified in homebuyer education for groups. And anybody doing one-on-one coaching is certified in that particular area, too. Okay, so they're not like real estate agents, are they? They're not. If somebody was a real estate agent or a loan officer and they came to apply for the home ownership center, they would have to make their license inactive because there would be a conflict of interest in doing the coaching education and doing sales at the same time, too. Exactly, exactly. Now, how much is the cost of the course? Actually, it's a $60 lifetime membership, so it's not actually limited to the course. It actually covers classes, it covers individual coaching, and even what we call post-purchase services. So in your case, after you become a homeowner, you can still come back and talk to our staff, if you'd like. We'd have some workshops specifically for home owners that you could take. And so it's a one-time fee, and it's per buying unit. So if I'm buying by myself, I'll pay $60. If I'm buying and I have a house of 10 people, all 10 of us could still take the classes, the coaching, and all of that, too. Oh, that's really good. That's a lot of bang for your buck, $60, and you can get the education from the courses and the coaching. Now tell us about this one-on-one coaching. What's that like? So for folks who want to participate in coaching, we usually collect financial documents similar to what a loan officer would ask for for pre-qualification. And what our staff does with that is we take a look at the household sites that self-reported and the income of the household, because that's usually the check on whether or not they'll qualify for buyer assistance programs. So when I was a first-time buyer, I didn't think that there were first-time buyer programs, assistance to help me get into my own home. But now that I know that, I feel compelled to make sure that all first-time buyers will know that. So anyways, that's one thing that we do in coaching. We also do an assessment of what we call mortgage readiness, taking a look at the household income as well as the debt payments for the household as well as well as how much savings do they have. So it's really a basis for a conversation with prospective buyers to see what are some of the thoughts about the timeframe to buy, where do they want to buy, what are some of their options, what are some of the next steps that they should consider or could consider in terms of getting what we call mortgage ready. Right. Now, I did that with Dale. Thank you, Dale. It was really helpful for me. And when I went through that mortgage readiness, one-on-one coaching, I found I wasn't as ready as I thought I was. And I really had to make some adjustments because island-style living is very different from the mainland. And I thought I knew how different it was, but I really wasn't prepared. So that one-on-one coaching is highly recommended almost as much as the course itself. Do you find that people who go through the one-on-one have more success than the others who just take the course and think they can figure it out? You know, I haven't actually done like a comparison. People only take the classes versus folks who take both. But personally, I would recommend that I think it's a good pairing because the classes does a really good job at providing a really broad overview. Whereas the coaching actually allows somebody to take a look at their own personal situation. It's confidential. You can kind of lay everything out on the table and have a private conversation about what your hopes and dreams are and what's the next steps for you. So there's no judgment in the conversations. That's right. Sounds like you found that too. There isn't any judgment and there are no stupid questions, right? So you can ask and everyone is patient and friendly. So if you don't get it, I know for a fact they will take their time and make sure they go through it with you over and over and over again until you do. So that worked out for me. I also received a lot of support with technical terms and actually I wanna go back for a second because with the one-on-one coaching you mentioned that they ask you what your goals are. I found just in having been asked that question, I really didn't think about some things that could be my goal. So I devised a plan with Dale that helped me think about where I'd like to be 15 years from now. And what a huge difference that made for me because I thought, well, I wanna buy a home in a year. And all I thought about was the next coming year. And he said, yeah, but what do you wanna do with that home? You wanna stay there forever? Is this your forever home? Is this gonna be your starter home where you can get another home afterwards? Keep that one or not keep it? And those were things that I hadn't really considered. So it was nice to have someone who can give me a perspective that I hadn't had before. So kudos to him for that. Now, I also like the fact that you have a variety of dates and times for the course so that you're able to help people no matter what their schedule is. And your online course, is it as beneficial of online learning is a little bit tricky? It is. Personally, of course, I might be a little bit biased that I prefer the live classes myself, but I find the online option is a good alternative with people who have varied schedules. Some people work during the evening. Some people work on this specific day that we have our class. And especially when you're buying a home, making your hourly pay and not taking a day off if you don't have to can really make a big difference. So I think it's a good alternative and we do require a follow-up session with one of our staff. It can be done over the telephone. So that helps connect the dots in terms of personalizing it, talking about their own specific goals and kind of rolling that in there. So while I do think that the live classes are my preference, but I think the other one is a good alternative too. It's a good option. Good deal, good deal. It's so good to know that the variety is offered, the different times are offered as well. And that you all also kind of cater to the needs of the students in the class. And by that, I mean, I found you had visuals, you had paperwork. I had a stack of papers this thick. I thought I'd already bought the home. But it makes a difference. As an educator, I know you have people who are hands-on learners, people who are visual, people who need to hear it, maybe once or twice before they get it. And you all provided all of that. So thank you for that. Thank you for appreciating and noticing that we did that on purpose. Yes, yes. It made a huge difference. I found when I took the class, I wasn't there just as a group of adults. I saw teenagers there with their parents. I saw children in the class, not very, very young. But I saw a good mix. I saw older people and a lot of millennials. How do you think that, is that intentional from your point of view? You know, I would say that I was surprised because just visually I noticed that we do have a lot of younger folks pursuing home ownership or checking it out, which I think is awesome. Speaking for myself, I think that I could have or I wish I had thought about it even earlier than I really did, but maybe I wasn't really mature enough or ready for that. But I do notice that there are more millennials in the classes. Our average age is still in the mid-30s, actually. The dial hasn't changed too much over the last 10 years in terms of our membership. So maybe it's just people, it's maybe a wider gap when folks are coming after their kids are in college and then some are before they're actually starting their families. Yeah. So I want to touch base on the, oh goodness, homeowners or first time home buyers, assistance or down payment programs. I think you have a variety of programs that meet that qualification. Can you talk to us about those types of things? Sure. I kind of alluded to it in the home ownership coaching, but it really is based on household size and household income in terms of qualifications. And that can be kind of a big range in terms of what the income is for the same household size. So the first thing I'll say is I think a lot of folks might write themselves off thinking I'm not going to qualify for home buyer assistance programs because it's only for lower income people, et cetera, but I tell folks you should check it out because actually the options are varied depending on what's out there. You know, in terms of the home ownership center, we do our best to try and track who offers what type of assistance, whether it's a local bank, a government entity and that sort of thing too. So it could range from a 0% interest, second mortgage in terms of an assistance. It could be a grant where they actually just give you the money and they don't expect anything in return, which is fantastic. Those are the ones I like. Not as common, but yeah, that could be some of it and some are more tax related in terms of tax credits. So it can kind of vary. Okay. Now you said over the past 10 years, how long have you all been in existence there? The home ownership center has been here, we're going to be 16 years old actually in October. Sweet 16. That's right. So teenager. I've been here for 13 of the 16 years. So it's been a fun ride. Yes, indeed. I'm sure you've learned a lot and have seen a lot, especially with the way that the market is for home buyers at this time. I know, funny you mentioned the income and how it makes a huge difference. And most people don't think that they qualify. Some think they make too much and some think they make too little to qualify for assistance. But the median income that you need to make here in Hawaii to survive puts us all in a certain bracket that we'd rather not be in at times. So I think it's important for people to know that everyone should at least apply if you're interested in buying a home. At least check it out. I learn about what's available and then make a good decision because some of these buyer assistance programs do come with requirements in terms of how long you live in the home and those type of things too. So sometimes it's a great offering but maybe not great thinking for five, 10 years down the road like you were talking about. Right. Kind of weighing it. Yeah, and it also makes a difference as to where you live. If you want to live like way on the far, far west side in Makaha, there are programs that are in existence for people who live over there. Maybe not as much for people who live in town but then there are other options as well. So I love the different programs that you offer and the fact that I learned so much about them. Others will too if they find out more. So we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back we're gonna continue our conversation about the home ownership center right here in Honolulu, Hawaii. I am hosting at the Crossroads. I'm Keisha King. We'll be right back. Aloha. I'm Wendy Lo and I'm coming to you every other Tuesday at two o'clock live from Think Tech Hawaii and on our show we talk about taking your health back and what does that mean? It means mind, body and soul. Anything you can do that makes your body healthier and happier is what we're gonna be talking about. Whether it's spiritual health, mental health, fascia health, beautiful smile health, whatever it means, let's take healthy back. Aloha. Aloha, I'm Gwen Harris, the host here at Think Tech Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness in Hawaii. We are a Hawaii nonprofit that depends on the generosity of the supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you'd go to ThinkTechHawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Thanks so much. Aloha and welcome back to At the Crossroads. I'm your host Keisha King and we are having a great conversation today with my friend Reina from the Home Ownership Center. I keep wanting to say Home Ownership Association but you all are the Home Ownership Center that's been here for 16 years helping tons of families. I believe we have a video that we would like to show about a family that purchased a home. So we've been living in Makakilo back in my mom's house and I love those guys dearly, but a lot has changed, you know, a lot of traffic and every single day he's a student and he's such a student at Command Man Schools and every day we drive two hours to and from. And you know, it's two hours that we never can get back and it's just getting worse and so we're really looking for something closer to here because he attends Command Man Schools and so we found this incredible place with great real estate agents and of course great help with the Hawaii Home Ownership Program and we were finally able to lock in and buy and purchase. So my son, can you believe it, doesn't know that I purchased this place and we're the team of my friends and my cousins. We just worked on this house in September working every weekend. You know, we normally go hiking and all that kind of stuff. They put aside their time to help me, to help this project and so basically we kind of got it the entire house. We didn't think we were gonna do that, but we did and so tonight, after three months of intense working and just a lot of great fun too, a lot of great learning, we're unveiling it to my son and so basically he's in the limbo right now. I had to drop him off at the library of all things, so all my friends are here, my cousins, my nephews and his best friend from school is here. So we're all kind of just gonna be in on this great surprise and I hope that he'll appreciate what we did for him and I certainly am humbled to be able to share this moment with you guys. So thanks. What? Okay. What? What? No. Welcome home. Oh my gosh, you're the heart of the earth. This is why we've been going all over the place and every weekend, you know, I've been dropping you off and we've been dropping you off at Noah's house and dropping you off with mom and you know, I just want to tell you that I love you so much. This is your room. Wow. How you like it? Wow. This is your bathroom. Because you're a commandment boy? Hey. What are you doing to me? You know, it was really kind from the very first day, knowing that programs like yours, Boy Home ownership program, and this is not just a plug for the program, it really is truthful, it's honest, because somebody inspired me to look into that program. When you're doing something really well, it's contagious and I thought for me, you know, that was the bug that set me off and you know, of course I had to make the time, but it was well worth it because I could see the future when they broke it down, you know, and that's what you need. I think, you know, everybody wants to go to home, but it's so overwhelming, but if you can break it down bit by bit, what you guys have done, it worked. I hope I can do something for my kids one day like that. That's just amazing, honestly. The video is of Terry Vesperis and his son, Nainoa. So Terry, the video actually happened a few years ago, but not only did he buy a home, but he kept it a secret from his son and they're pretty close. You can kind of see that relationship through the video and he surprised his son with the home a few days before Christmas. So you'll kind of hear him talking a little bit about it, but he had told his son, oh, we're gonna visit Auntie, like a family friend, and they even had like take out food in Yosina Nainoa, carrying that in his hand. And so he thought he was going to his auntie's house, but when he opened the door, what he's looking at is a welcome home banner for Nainoa. So it was basically the surprise and some of the things that happened after that. Wonderful. So I've seen that video. It is amazing. It's almost a tear-jerker. I will say, I'm not crying, you're crying. I do cry every time I watch it. I know, it's such a good one. And the fact that he was able to surprise him, I think makes it all the better. Yeah, it was a pretty special one. Yeah, so it's important, just that demonstration alone shows that anyone can do it and it makes a huge difference in your family, your finances, and for generations to come. So home ownership is what they call the American dream and it's possible for anyone here in Hawaii who follows the program, of course, meets certain requirements. So you guys have been around for 16 years and you're gonna have a few special things coming up during August and again in November. Why don't you tell us what's happening in August? Oh sure, that's our 12th annual golf tournament. So we've been doing it for 12 years and it's one of our few fundraising events that we have during the year. So it helps us with our operating costs so we can not only serve the same amount of people that we currently do, but it helps us to possibly grow our programs too and continue to grow our membership since I talked about our lifetime membership. So it's not like we stop helping people after they become homeowners, we basically add to our home buyer or member count rather. Awesome. Yeah. So now that's a golf tournament. Is it open to the public? Anybody who'd be interested in participating, she could certainly participate if they go to our website, hihomeownership.org. On the right bottom hand corner of our website, you can't miss it. It's a button that says golf tournament. They can click on that. It'll say a little bit about our current sponsors and there's a link or a download option for the registration form that tells a little bit more about it. Wonderful. So that is the golf tournament happening in August and then you have a gala in November. We do. It's gonna be our third year doing what we call flavors of neighbors. It's a fun gala. It has a lot of, it features our celebrated chefs, 10 of them from all over the different neighborhoods in Hawaii. So the name of flavors of neighbors was the idea that all of our home owners become part of different neighborhoods and they enjoy different flavors of the different neighborhoods. So that's the reason why we named it that. And we also have live entertainment, a silent auction. It's a fun evening on a Monday. It's on November 18th. Okay. Wonderful. Yeah, it's a good time. So you'll have to come back and tell us more about the gala and the golf tournament so that we can be fully aware and also hear about the results hoping that you all meet the need. That's amazing. You all do such an amazing work to help so many people get into our homes. Have you kept track of how many people come through the course and then enter a home? We do. I would say we're almost at 2100 home owners statewide. So don't quiz me on the exact number per county because it is statewide, but I would say most of them are from Oahu just because the population is largest here and we started here. I would say about 3500 have gone through the homebuyer education course. Okay. So some folks are still kind of making their way to home ownership and one thing I'll say about that too is buying a home in terms of coming through our classes, it kind of depends on the person's goals and hopes and dreams too because we do meet folks who can buy a home right away but they decide not to buy at that particular time for whatever reason, whether they want to save up a little bit more, say they want to create a little bit more breathing room by paying off some debts or whatever it is too. So some of the timing regarding purchasing is kind of based on each individual. Yeah, but that has to be a good feeling for all of you to know you've put 2100 people in a home. Absolutely. Congratulations, that's amazing work. If you weren't doing this in your life, what would you be doing? I know that's off topic from buying a home but I think you're making such a huge difference in the lives of people all over the state. What else would you do with your time? You're talking about me as an individual? As an individual, yes. I would say most of my adult career has been in the nonprofit sector so if there wasn't the home ownership center for me to invest my time and energy into, I would imagine it would be something in that type of segment. Mission-driven work is something that I think is really important and needed in the community too. So I'll probably find another cause in that particular sector that would be able to make a difference in our communities. That's amazing. I think you're making a huge difference right now. Never ever stop. We need you. Oh, thank you. Actually, I have to give kudos to our staff and our many volunteers that really dedicate so many hours and their hearts towards the home ownership center. Yeah, I know each and every one of them that I've come in contact with are really passionate about the opportunity to help you, the individual, get into a home. So thank you, thank you, thank you to all of them. Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you, our viewers, for tuning in. If you or someone you know is interested in buying a home but they don't know all the facts because it can be quite confusing because there are so many terms and we talk about different types of mortgage and down payments and all these other wonderful things. Let's not even talk about principle and interest and insurance. No, let's not go there. Or the stack of papers that's so daunting it feel like you're signing your soul. But if you want to make sense of it and if you want to realize your American dream of becoming a homeowner, please contact Reina and the others at the homeowner's home ownership center right here in Honolulu. I'm your host today. You've been watching At the Crossroads and I want to thank you so much for joining us. Aloha.