 Good evening and welcome back to The First Time Homebuyer Show. I'm your host, Esti Klassen. As you know, we've got amazing content coming to you live every weekday, this week. We've got someone doing guacamole with the private property podcast. That's every weekday at 7 p.m. And of course, Mbali comes to your screens with the farming podcast every Tuesday and Thursday at 8 p.m. And Chad Vivieros travels the amazing Johannesburg and looks at gorgeous homes around Kauting. That's every Monday and Friday at 8 p.m. Live your dreams through the screens and let's watch Chad travel Dane Fern all the way to Fourways to Santon and to the gorgeous Houghton, wherever you want to be, Chad will show us the gorgeous homes that they have to offer. And let's jump straight into this evening's show. I am with the absolutely amazing Mullatello Baloi with us, who goes by Lady What property on Twitter, giving us absolutely amazing gems, dropping gems for first time home buyers as well as saving strategies and everything we need to know to start that property journey. Good evening, Latte, how are you today? Hi, how are you, Steve? Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for coming on to the, let me tell you something, through our talk conversation, you have so many nicknames on Twitter. So yeah, I'm like Latte or Lattello. Then it's solofellow this morning. So what can I call you? I think Latte works. I think it's the common name that has gained traction in the property industry. People call me Lady What property. It is very interesting for me how I have grown my profile within less than a year. And yeah, thank you. Let's talk about the name Lady What property, where that came from, how your journey started. So Lady What property is so fascinating. One day a Twitter profile, Sam was like, listen, what do you want to achieve this year? How would you contribute to society on Twitter in short? And I was like, I'm not certain. I'm thinking, should I share information on emotional well-being or should I share property? And he said, just do it, you know? And then within the next 48 hours, I changed my profile. And I was like, listen, I am interested in first-time home buyers because my experience with buying property, with buying my home when I started, I wish there was someone that can hold my hand. And I think that was the intention behind it. And the more people that came onto my profile and read and I shared more information and it expanded. And I looked forward daily to sharing information that I knew that I thought was common. And here it is. Here we are sitting. Yeah. Did you find out that it is common or was it not so common when you were educating those? Listen, it wasn't common. I think I took, I shied away from what I've gained throughout the years, my journey, the mistakes I've made. I think I thought that people understood because there was always people saying there's support, there's an estate agent, there's a lawyer, there's this, but people needed more information or they needed a person to unpack it better for them and to caution them on their decisions because I think what I try and achieve through my page is to share information so that home buyers become more accountable. I think my analysis throughout the year, I learned that people had become, they'd become stakeholders. They'd become people that are just fine with their lives. The example that I always put is guys, please understand the process, understand what you're doing because if you look at the home that you're buying, at most it can cost 30% of your income. That's 30% of the hours in a day. So that's a big buy. I mean, how do you become just a spectator, a person that sits whereby decisions are being made about your time and your money? It can't be. I've never ever looked at it like that. Wow, that's so true. But now I like that you said you want to educate first time home buyers to take accountability. Accountability for what exactly? Awesome. So accountability for your homes. I think the idea is I want to own a home. I think you become accountable when you understand what that means. I always say that the process of buying your home does not start off from the day you sign your documents. It starts off from the day you understand your buying power, right? It starts off from understanding what it means to sign an offer to purchase, what a property inspection means. I mean, people, or I used to do that, I would go in and look at the covers. If I like the covers of the kitchen and that it's got a garden, that was enough for me. But now I'm asking them to think differently like a property investor. So an investor's mind said things a little differently from a home buyer. We think in the manner that is this valley for money, right? We think like you're in the construction industry, right? You're sitting down and you're like, if a person is going to build a house, the foundation has to be correct. The structure has to be correct. The roofing has to be correct. So now I want home buyers to explore that, to think of it that way. I don't want people to no longer look at the kitchens. I want people to question the value, the quality of the building. I want people to understand how the structures are, the different structures in the development space. You know, there's an estate, there's a sectional title, there's a freestanding. What are the implications? What am I paying for? What does it mean? There is so much going on in the property industry and I'm just breaking it down crumble by crumble. And I think that's what I mean when I say a home owner needs to become accountable. You need to know what you're doing so that when you speak of your property, it's not just a home, it's a structure for opportunity. Right. I love that you said think like an investor because a lot of the time we don't as first-time home buyers. It's a very emotional process and we hear that often on the show that home buyers, let's say maybe you don't know just yet you want to become property investor one day. But if we start thinking like that and having that mindset before we even get into saying I want to be a property investor, we've already laid the foundation for what we're going to build one day. And I love how you said we need to take accountability and understand what buying a home means for you. What did it mean for you, Lati, when you started your journey? Wow. I think just to take a bit back, for me, it was an experience that I didn't think that it was meant for me. I think it comes from being homeless. When I tell people this, they go like that's impossible. I think I always tell people that my pain became my passion, right? It became a place of security, a place of comfort. And I needed to expand more on my knowledge so that I can always maintain it. As much as it started off from a place of security, a place whereby I felt like if I don't know better, I can lose it again. My family can go through the same thing. Then it transitioned to there's a bigger world out there. Because, for example, when I meet people, I met a young gentleman that works with me, my nine to five, and he's like, I know your profile. I'm like, you know me, but the bigger thing is this, he's like, you're an estate agent. I'm like, no, I'm a property entrepreneur. And I just want us to go a bit to that because it tells me that people still think of property investing as just estate agents and owning a property. And I was like, I know better. I own a home. Not only do I own home, I provide homes to people because I understand what the gap is. I understand the type of service I'm looking for and I'm giving people that. And for people to say, we know your brand, you own home, you give homes, you tell us about our homes. I was like, okay, that's enough. I can go eat cake. I can go eat cake. I want to take it back to that moment of, like you said, you know, being in a place where you don't have anything. And I think that's the driving force is that you never want to go back there. I once spoke to a guest who said, don't let poverty chase you. Like we need to run away from poverty, right? And sometimes when you're in this position of having absolutely nothing, you've got so much more motivation and that fight is so much more with you. What was your biggest lesson that you learned in that time of having absolutely nothing? I think my biggest lesson is understanding that I do not need to stay there forever. I think my biggest lesson was I needed to understand that I have everything in me to take myself out of it. When I started, I was looking for answers from every way in detrimental places because I don't know if it was the easy way out or it was, you know, I always say the loudest noises are not always the only solutions because that was what I was accustomed to or that's what was exposed, you know. And association changed my life. I started seeing life differently. You know the saying that is it half full or half empty? I needed to change my mind. I always write to people that the lady that you met four or five years back is not the same lady today because I needed to relocate myself to go and fetch my being. Listen to calls like saying that your conviction is not meant to make you stay in it. It's meant to be your fuel. And I listened to a video so many times and I said what does it mean? And she said success leaves traces. And I was like huh? It leaves traces. She says when you are on a journey, be willing to go over and over and over again till you speak like the people in the room because people are comfortable with staying in places for a short period because they are looking for quick results. Be okay with learning over and up until you become the speaker in the same room that you were a visitor. And I think those are the things that I've learned through our time and I'm still learning and I'm still applying them today. This also reminds me of what you said just before we started shooting about sitting in that struggle, sitting in that and this is also something that I learned that we're so quick to just try and jump over it or jump over the hurdle and then find it's done. But we never sit long enough in that mess or in that feeling of having nothing or in that in that feeling of I am struggling. We never sit long enough in that feeling in order to know what this is teaching us. And I think that's over. I love that you said that earlier and I just wanted to find out from you what you have taught yourself. Because I think it's so important that yes it's really great to invest in property but and it's really great to grow your property portfolio. But are you growing you as a person? Wow so here's the thing. I have learned that we find ourselves most in service because you see yourself in another person and you understand their desperation. You understand their needs and you come to have sympathy and apathy at the same time. And I think I am still learning. I remember four weeks back I was sitting with Genevieve. She's the mentor Genevieve Jack Stafford and and I say to her you know I've seen people build these profiles on social media and and and I thought this is but listen now that I know better than them I'm seeing these people are misleading us and she says no they were not. They are as good as you are because there are some points whereby even today you think you know 10 years later you'll be a different woman and a different kind of breed because you would have grown better and you are going to fix your mistakes. Your audience is going to grow with you and you are allowing people into your space not because you know better but you're saying I have a better exposure because of one two three come let's use my platform to learn together and I think that is it. Knowing and realizing that accessibility does not always mean you know better. It means you're willing to put yourself as a platform for conversations to lead people to a better destination. You know I said and I listened to you and I'm like wow you know I'm so glad I found you and that I can sit here and have this conversation with you because what's so important is that through your journey yes we're supposed to talk about first time homebuyers and we're supposed to talk about property yeah but through all of that you always come back to yourself when you're talking you always come back to mentors and to educating those around you and and motivating those to to to get on to a level where you're at or even surpass that level you know so I love that and again it just emphasizes the importance of thyself within this journey. You're extremely passionate right let's see about educating people and yes it's still a shock to you when people come to you and say oh my god you lady what property you know on Twitter and you're doing these things but what has been the most powerful moment for you. I know you work with people on the daily so there must have been maybe a moment or a situation um in someone else's journey or even in your own journey that was like a big turning point for you um I think it's when I created a link and this lady came and she's like listen I am going through this in my life it's not a comfortable place and I could find my mother in it and I say you always find yourself in service and you see yourself because my mom my mom's marriage didn't go through that's okay that's part of life and this lady was saying I'm in a similar situation and I saw my mother and she says listen I am buying a house right and and it's big it's great it's got pools it's got five bedrooms and all these things and what I always preach the steps of your credit record your financial health what's your relationship with money and I said listen I'm not a person that's interested in what's going on in your pocket but I'm going to take my tools for free and give them to you so that you can understand if you can afford it or not yeah that's the first big thing and she says can I please have your email because this is just a link I have a link that I give like yes definitely you're gonna find it because I'm giving you my tools and she came back and she said can we have another session and she says listen from our talks I learned that I can't actually afford this house and I'm learning to have a strategy in property that I should refrain from ego buys because this is a big buy and she said you know I don't even think it was about the property I think it was far more about my emotional well-being I was buying this house because I wanted the world to see that I am coping but in fact the world will do just fine without them understanding whether I'm coping or not and I think it is such moments that take me back and make me realize that I wish there was someone that could have told my mother that my aunt that people around us to say start some way again start fresh start with better knowledge start with so much conviction you've got this I think that's that's one of the moments that I looked back and like whoa dude and almost like a moment of gratitude that you could be there to save that person because you were saving that wow I mean you know we don't want to you because a lot of the time we do things because we're influenced by people around us and because we want to show unfortunately you know we come from a past where we weren't seen yeah and in order to show this is what we do that's why one of the biggest things that a lot of people in my community where I come from is we first buy a car because we want to show we want to be seen which is I was there as well you know did you I got off out of that train do you also think buying your cars a mistake I don't think it's a mistake I don't think I always tell people that personal finances are a beauty and I've got a friend that says stay in your lane and I never understood it she's big right now she's she's I'm like oh my word I know you she's big she's big she's doing great for herself but I think here's the conversation I don't think there's a mistake if you understand your actions right um for instance um I'll take it back to my car story yeah when I bought my convertible I had hair oh wow the breeze was going through my head but I didn't understand that I'm stealing away the opportunity to optimize on my income I didn't understand that income buys income which buys desires and at that point it was relevant I needed to taste the soft life so that I can decide you know it was very relevant yeah but I think I would groove it because here's my conversation I don't mind a car but if my car robs me of a comfortable future yeah then that's no longer a goodbye no so that's my conversation if you can afford your car listen by all means I'll be the passenger right um but personal finances personal be very personal be very honest uh convict yourself um unpack it um understand what your vision is um always look towards the future with your finances um the present always takes care of itself true it always does I like what you're talking about um you know income makes income and one of the most difficult thing especially for first time home buyers or property investors starting out is budgeting saving just having enough money and being in a in a place of security where that if you do make that big buy or you do you know take that take that risk because it's a risk game this thing that you'll still be okay and you'll be safe financially so so what would you say is your biggest and I'm gonna ask you like you're educating us because this is what you do on their daily so I don't even want to know what you do what advice do you give uh first time home buyers in order to save and to budget correctly okay so here's the thing um I try and change their mindset in this way that you don't only save money when you buy you save money when you are in the house so when you buy your property there are points whereby you should negotiate right um it's the first negotiation that I always throw to people is when the bond originator the person that comes from the bank from different banks and says listen this is the interest rates you can get that is not set in stone right that is the first document you're getting from your bond originator tell them always say it's not about um if they give you a certain percentage and you're happy it's always about how low can you go that's money you are saving money by saving on your interest rates yeah go back to and say but I think because I understand my credit profile listen I think actually I'm a good client right right I am an awesome client can you get me something better as soon as that is done go on to the bank and say listen since you are saying that you can see that I'm a good client can you help me on the legal costs as well can you take care of 50% of those because listen then we in business right think like a business person then go on to the state agent and say listen I have heard you're selling it can we negotiate yeah right that's another that's another way you're saving money then the next step is to understand what you're buying don't try and be a jack of all trades like I used to be guys try and get a team right um one of the team very important team members that should form part of your process as a property inspector negotiate with the property inspector every person that you speak to is an opportunity to negotiate and always tell people negotiations should not come to a point whereby when you leave a person you leave them hurt as though they're not giving you very for money negotiation means that can we both get something out of it yeah that's very important because then when the person services you they are happy to work with you over and over and over again and actually they might even give you a better network of people in the future and say listen I think that's the other person that you need because I saw this from your house you see that built even team that builds your team so I think it's it steps over and over so that's the first process there's a lot that goes into it but that's the first one the second one I always tell people is that life when you take care of yourself life responds right what do I mean for instance when you take of your finances your credit score improves right when you understand it right when you the more you grow opportunities expand and your income expands that in a way also improves your credit record because listen you're getting more income and you know how to take out your finances when that changes go back to the bank and say listen I am an even better client listen yeah I know I know it yeah I need you to review my interest rates because so many a times as home owners we sit back for the 20 years and we're like we know we're paying for fk we okay we okay we okay but I think if you do that and you use your bond or payment uh extra payment calculator yeah and you track your spending and you track what you're paying and what those payments mean for you you have a different vision all up together you know um I think that's what's so important understand where you can actually save money and when you do please don't show that money yeah take it back into the bond because as much of it sounds like it's not so much it's a lot I always say the the more you take from the bank the bank is in business yeah the more you pay back the longer they dipped the more you pay back yeah yeah and I think what I've I've just taken from this is that negotiation is definitely a power tool that we need in our bag of tools when going on this journey but my biggest thing is because you've just introduced me to different types of people where I can negotiate where you know a lot of first time home buyers don't even know that they can negotiate with the bank yeah and we so afraid to just even try and ask for less because you're right we have access to looking at what our credit record is right um there are apps there's everything these days that show you okay no but you're great your score is high yeah but it's about having the confidence also to go to the bank and be like come on yeah and you're right we're business partners with all of these institutions we are business partners yeah we don't owe them right no it's about changing the mindset which is yeah another tricky thing yeah um yes lati so I was gonna you know it's really easy to say negotiate with all these different channels and um but I think the big question the burning question I'm sure of a lot of viewers at home as well is how do we negotiate with the banker what do we say what do we do when we get there what how do we have that conversation of negotiation with the bank okay awesome so here's the situation first of all obviously you motivated to go to the bank to say the reason why you are asking for negotiation can be because you are not coping with your repayment that is valid as well yeah banks want to maintain clients let's not get it wrong just because you're struggling does not mean the business does the banks don't want your business right if you're struggling it's okay to go back and say guys I don't want to lose the house I think because of my situation can you please help me you know um they might come back and say we'll give you a lower interest rate or because your risk profile is not the base they might say let's rather expand it you know and when you are better we can come back but when you are degree bomb you know when you've got it you like listen I've fixed my finances oh my life is better you know I am eating well yeah life is soft it's a matter of going first to your bank um just ask for the home loan division and explain to them that guys I understand my buying power right now I understand the changes in my life I'm not looking to go bigger I'm not buying a better house I just want you guys to review my interest rates okay they might go like okay we'll give you and they're like 0.5 0.3 you look okay if that's the situation let me sleep on it right and when you sleep on it you like go to other banks and say listen you and you and listen I am interested in knowing that if I shift my home loan account how much more would you be willing to give remember let's say you are the client yeah he that holds the money he that holds the honey pot makes the rules and and that's a change of mind said normally we like the bank know the bank is looking for you they want you yeah they want they want your business yeah then you go to other banks you like they'll give you further more interest rates with your current one of that 0.3 0.5 they might go like listen if it's really good they might say 1% right if it's 1% you go back to your old bank and say but listen you want to keep me this is what other banks are offering me can you match them or beat them right so already if you're out I sell people 1% looks like nothing yeah on paper but if it's 1% of a million over a 20-year period that's a lot of money you're saving go and actually do the numbers and when you do land on that 1% saving whatever percentage please don't increase please don't think your home loan our payments are increased think like an investor yeah take them back into your home because you are used to paying that exactly and maintain it because it will cut the 300 grand can cut two to three years off yeah bond yeah um and I think the other thing that I always tell people that when you're going negotiate um it's not only about the the amount that you're paying yeah it's the period that you're paying right it's your excess bond right if you have extra money into it you've done well yeah and people should come and pet you on the back and say but you've done well we are willing to actually meet you halfway and I think the more homeowners that can go out and start that behavior the more the banks will be more lenient towards us because we are trying to get homes at the end of the day um and I think yeah try the strategies come back and tell me they listen it worked that's all that's all I need because I also I also believe that obviously there's different strategies for different people we're all sitting with different bank accounts here definitely so when going and different credit records and credit scores so what's so important is and I love that you you know continue to uh give us the advice is because you get to come into our world yeah and you know we get to yes of course you're using your own experiences and previous um mentees experiences that you've used before but what's so powerful is that I know that when you leave here today I've learned something like you left something in whether you educated me um with the conversation we had before even now during the show but so I want to say thank you for coming um but I also before you go I want to ask you uh very uh I don't think it's a personal question but I'd love to hear your answer just because I know where you your background where you come from and I don't know where you're going but we know you're going somewhere big high places the definition of the word home wow wow what does that mean for you home home means comfort um opportunity um expansion home for me is it's a place where you could always go back and find yourself yeah because the world is so cold at times um home is a resting place um I've shifted from home being a structure and home being experiences yeah home is an experience an experience of relation an experience of love yeah and I love that you said expansion because to continue to build and grow on those beautiful words you just used um it's something we all want right it's it's like we all want to reach for that that feeling when you're when you're at home or because I I believe home can be a person I've always believed yeah I've always believed home can be like someone people even a city you know um which so thank you so much I love that you shared that with us and I am 100 sure that you've left your mark here and that people are learning from you on the daily so continue to do what you do uh on twitter and I know that before this you said that you know you're a little bit scared to take it further please do we need you we need to be educated by people who like you said people resonate with you because they look like you they sound like you they understand where you come from because they come from a similar walk of life we need that so thank you so much and continue to do great thank you guys so much for having me um I always say when people choose you um that's privilege thank you so much we are privileged to have you yeah thank you so much Lati it's everyone watching at home thank you so so much for joining us you know we're live every Wednesday evening at 8 p.m take care and we'll see you there