Tea & Mortgage #32: A live demo of the JC Mortgages Mortgage Calculator

00:00 – 00:13 Norman Schriever

Hey everyone, what’s going on the Tea and Mortgage Podcast with your co-host Norm Schriever and the man himself, John Coleman.  How are you today, John?

00:14 – 00:16 John Coleman
Norm, will you stop? You’re making me blush here. How are you keeping anyway?

00:17 – 00:32 Norman Schriever
Yeah, we’re doing great and great to be on the podcast again. We have something really good for you guys today on Tea and Mortgage number 32, the 32nd episode. And John, you recently had a custom mortgage calculator built for your website, is that right?

00:33 – 01:15 John Coleman
Absolutely, yeah. No, it’s something that’s been on the to-do list for a long time at this point, because obviously, as you know, we do the Roadmap that gives everyone an understanding of where they are and what they might need to do to get the home they’re looking for. But I suppose people are always, in this world we live in, are thirsty for information quickly. And so what we’ve done is we’ve obviously added this to the website to give people an understanding of A, how much they qualify for and B, then what the likely repayments would be based on that. So there’s two different calculators to calculate those, to give people that information immediately.

01:16 – 01:40 Norman Schriever
Yeah, and you’re right. In this day and age, people want some answers. They want some starting info, something to get going and just have a rough idea immediately. They don’t want to wait for an appointment. They don’t want to wait until someone gets back to them in a day or two. So I know you’re going to impress upon everyone that this is not an approval. It’s not set in stone. It’s just basically an estimate based on the information they put in.

01:41 – 03:09  John Coleman
Yeah, and let me kind of describe it in these terms, right, because I think it’s best. Obviously, we respond very quickly. And if someone inquires to us, we’re back to them within a day, and we’re giving them the roadmap within another day. So they get a full-blown understanding in the minute detail that is really, really required. But getting someone ready or getting yourself a proper understanding, I suppose part one is, in theory, how much will the bank lend me, right? And again, the devil will then be in the detail, right? So this calculator will give you very much a very rough and ready ballpark as to what you could qualify for, OK? Then the second part is, well, how much is that likely to cost? Now, as you know, rates can change. And it’s not the rates that are available today, but the rates when you’re actually coming to close the deal. But in real terms, you still need to sense check yourself. OK, I might qualify for €500,000 or something crazy like that.

But if it’s going to cost me €3,000 per month, OK, well, there’s a kind of a, right, well, maybe I don’t want to be borrowing €500,000. And you can manipulate your own thoughts around that. And it’s a tool for a preliminary education. The roadmap is a lot more detailed, and it’s a lot more customised to our client’s individual set of circumstances.

03:10 – 03:25 Norman Schriever
100%. Yeah, I definitely understand that. And so let’s see if it’s OK with you. Let’s pull up the website and we could walk them through it. And maybe you could give a couple notes or some high level analysis as we go. I think I’ll edit this out, but I’m going to share the screen.

03:26 – 04:46 John Coleman
OK, we can start from here. So the first one that people want to see really is, always going to be, well, how much is it going to cost me per month? So you click on that.

Basically, the link there and you put in you’re looking to buy property, say, for €500,000 and you’re looking to borrow €450,000 OK? And the years, you’re 35 years of age and say you want to do this over 30 years. Now, you could probably do it longer. The best rate in the market currently is 3.1%, OK? So that will update that as things stand. That’s the best fixed rate there are. There is a slightly lower rate out there, but we’re using that rate rather than anything else. So say your next birthday is 36. Just put in this figure here, of the combined earning is €150,000. That’s very high, but it might be  combined to allow you to borrow that amount. Well, actually, €125,000 would get you to the point of being able to borrow. What am I doing? I’m managing to break the Internet here, mate.

04:47 – Norman Schriever
There we go.

04:48 – 04:58  John Coleman
There we go. Right. And then just put in that. OK, sorry. Yeah, I’m putting in. We’ll put in zero here for the second app because your second applicant.

04:59 – Norman Schriever
OK.

05:00 – 05:08 John Coleman
Yeah.  And age again, we’ll just say 30. OK. And we’ll press calculate. So that would give you very much a base.

05:09 – Norman Schriever
Wow.

05:10 – 06:11 John Coleman
Figure there of what your repayment would be about €1920 per month. So that’s how quickly they would get this information. Right. Obviously, then if they want the full Roadmap, they can fill that information in and submit it and then it will come to us. Right. So that’s again. Remember, buying a house is very much a journey. So you don’t wake up and are ready. But you might think today, oh, yeah, when the next 6 to 12 months, I’d like to buy a house, get an understanding for yourself as to what your repayments would be and then get an understanding of yourself of what you might likely to borrow.

Now, I personally believe, like obviously in the business, you want to be dealing with people that are ready right now. But in real terms, and you know how strongly I believe in this, there’s no such time as too early to start getting yourself understanding where you are and understanding what you might need to do. Like we start talking to people today and they might be ready for 18 months. Right.

06:13 – Norman Schriever
Yeah.

 

06:14 – 06:11 John Coleman
I firmly believe from a business point of view, we do good enough job helping people get ready that whenever the time is right, they’ll then be happy for us to represent them. And that’s my business kind of ethos, shall we say so. So some people are very kind of, they don’t want to waste people’s time, if that makes any sense. And they’re very, very quick. But my view on this will be very simple. You’re not wasting our time. You’re educating. And that’s part of what we offer. It’s part of the service that we offer.

But if for anyone who just wants to kind of get an understanding as to where they’re at without having to have a conversation with someone at this moment in time, they just might be too busy. So they don’t think, oh, well, I won’t really be looking at this for another six to nine months. But I’d like to know the ballpark where I stand the next kind of pieces. OK, well, I now know what it would be if I could borrow that €450,000. Right. But how much would the banks actually give me?And that’s the sort of the next part of the of the of the jigsaw, shall we say.

07:16 – 07:17 Norman Schriever
So you have that calculator as well.

07:18 – 07:17 John Coleman
Yeah. Just bring this up here now. Right. So let’s take that previous example and just say they’re both earning. That  one of the guys was earning €125,000. And we’re putting in here this is because there’s this would be and this is where there is a difference. Some of the banks will lend and this with the nuances of their bonuses, other overtime is their shift allowance. So commissions and commissions. So it’s the variable piece that creates the sort of uncertainty or creates the sort of well, there’s no one bank will lend the exact same amount because they have different rules around variable pay. They have different rules around what age you can go for. They have different rules around the number of kids. So there’s a whole heap of different things.

But this is very much a very accurate ballpark figure. But as I said, there’s nothing better than the customized roadmap. So let’s just for the sake of this conversation, put in not looking to. Yeah.

08:26 – 08:25 Norman Schriever
Applicant two isn’t working, shall we say.

08:28 – 08:29 John Coleman
OK. And we put  in zero.

08:31 – 08:32 Norman Schriever
That’s applicant one. You put not working.

08:32 – 08:53 John Coleman
Did I? No, no, I did. And we put it down as PAYE. And applicant two. You see, those classes are really working. Applicant two is not working. And then we just press. Calculate. Right there.

08:54 – 08:55 Norman Schriever
Now, look at that.

08:55 – 09:47 John Coleman
Now, some banks might go crazy. Right. And depending on the, and that gives you a maximum figure but sometimes that might be slightly off based on the no income here. So you’re looking at being able to borrow €500,000 will be the minimum. Yeah. OK and that would be ultimately what you want, but if you’re buying a house for €500,000, it is subject to 90%, basically. OK.

But I then would always encourage people to. Get the personalized Roadmap, because that, that’s then you’re getting into really the granular information and you’re going to get the much more kind of absolute figure as to where you stand. OK.

09:48 – 09:53 Norman Schriever
Wonderful. That’s great. And why don’t you show again on the website how to get to calculators?

09:54 – 10:04 John Coleman
So you’re on the home page. Yeah. Great. Good question. Norm, you’re on the home.
Then go into your calculators and then there’s a choice of mortgage calculator. How much can I borrow?

10:05 – 10:07 Norman Schriever
They usually want to start. It doesn’t matter which one they start with.

10:08 – 10:09 John Coleman
No, it doesn’t. They can pick either one.

10:10 –  Norman Schriever
Yeah.

10:10 – 10:18 John Coleman
Just go into calculators to bring it up and then they can take on that one. Their mortgage calculator. How much can I borrow?

10:19 – 10:23 Norman Schriever
OK. Nice and easy in that form to the right. Apply for a mortgage, of course.

10:24 – 10:25 John Coleman
They can fill in that..

10:26 – 10:26 Norman Schriever
or that gets you the roadmap.

10:27 – 10:57 John Coleman
That will just tell us that they’re interested in having a chat and we can tease out the minute details on a call. Obviously, I think we have on our home page. We have the.
Apply Now, I think, is the button for the full roadmap, if my memory is right. There you go. So there’s the actual fact find and they can fill all that in and they’ll get the road map immediately for all of this, you know.

10:58 – 11:13 Norman Schriever
That’s fantastic. Yeah.  Some great tools and resources available for people. And like you said, no one wakes up and they’re ready. It’s a process. And you walk them through that and make sure that they’re going to get a great mortgage so they could get a great property. So this is very helpful.

11:14 – 12:15 John Coleman
Well, that’s the plan. It’s like I said, it’s a, I always, I think I’ve said this to you before. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say it publicly, but I tell people you also view me as the school teacher you didn’t like at school. Right. But you knew in the back of your head they were talking sense. And that really is our role.  Right. Our role here is an education role. We’re not always going to tell you what you want to hear, but we’ll tell you what you need to know. OK. And that’s how we operate. And that’s how we do business, because, but with empathy, empathy as well, obviously, because ultimately buying a home is very, very emotional and it’s a very it’s one of the biggest things you’ll do in your life. And I think I’ve said this to you before, that when I bought my first house and I was a broker for a year, I got sick with the thought of what I was doing again. Oh, my God, this is so outside my comfort zone. What am I thinking? Right. And then I just had to focus on what the repayments were rather than because if you think about the number that you’re borrowing, you mightn’t get out of bed.

12:16 – 12:37  Norman Schriever
So then again, if you add up side by side that scenario of of owning a home and paying what you’re going to be paying in mortgage every month for 30 years and then you on the other side of the ledger look at what you’re wasting on rent every month with nothing to show for it, usually over over time, you know, owning a property, of course, is the big winner.

12:38 – 13:48  John Coleman
Yes. But you know, it’s the biggest winner for and I, as I said, I always say, buying a home for me is not and I probably contradict a lot of experts out there. The people will say, oh, it’s the biggest investment you’ll make in your life. I fundamentally disagree with that, my view on buying a home is you’re buying it to make your life better. Is it near your job? Is it near your family? Is it near schools? Is it near your hobbies? It’s, it’s for your life, right?

It may well be the best investment you make for your future generation or your current kids or whatever, because they’ll benefit from you buying a home. But for you, it’s about, does it make your life better? We’re only on this planet for a limited period of time. And the choices you make kind-of are to help your journey. Yes. Your future generation will benefit from you buying a home for sure. But I strongly believe that yes, buying a home is a great aspiration. It’s a great goal. But personal happiness is far more important. So if you,  if the house you’re going to buy was going to bring a lot of stress or make your life more difficult, I’d be saying rent where you want to live. Yeah, I’m not. I’m not trying to talk myself out of business here.

13:49 – 14:00  Norman Schriever
But I know your job is going to be relocating you in a year or something. It’s like it’s lifestyle factors just as much if not more than the financial Yeah, yeah.

14:10 – 14:25 John Coleman
And I always tell people to view that first and foremost, that you’re buying a home and try to take that view rather than I have to buy a house at all cost, right? And that’s it. It can sometimes be all consuming for people. And it’s well, as I said, personal happiness is the greatest gift anyone can have in life. So it doesn’t have to be about buying a home. Clearly, I want people to buy homes, because that’s the business we’re in. But I have a long term view

14:26 – 14:53 Norman Schriever
When it’s right for them, of course, when you have enough business and enough, you know, you do a great job and have so many referrals. And you know, so it’s not like you ever need to talk someone into it. Of course, that’s not how you do business. But no, I think this is great and useful for people. And now people can visualize what they’ll get and the process of calculating a couple basic things on the website. So thank you for walking us through this John.

14:54 – 15:12 John Coleman
Not a problem. Thanks. It was a good idea of yours to do this. As I said, it’s been on my list to get on the website for a long time. And thankfully, we’ve managed to do it now to help people. But it’s more of a preliminary tool to get people kind of sort of initially educated, but the devil is always in the details.

15:15 – 15:30 Norman Schriever
Absolutely. Well, thank you, everyone. Tea and Mortgage podcast number 32. And very soon, we’ll come back and maybe we’ll do in a future episode, the whole mortgage fact find we could walk through and then they could see what a roadmap looks like.  I think.

15:31 – 15:48 John Coleman
That’s a really good idea. Yeah, no, that would certainly Yeah, I’ve got your’re giving me a lot of homework, but happy to share that that’s a very useful exercise. And it’s one obviously, it is the cornerstone of how we help educate people in terms of them understanding where they’re at and what they have to do, you know?

15:49 – 15:52  Norman Schriever
Yeah, so let’s pinpoint that for next month. I will walk through the roadmap.

15:53 – 15:57 John Coleman
Okay. Let’s see. It sounds like a good plan at this moment.

15:58 – 16:03 Norman Schriever
Well, maybe we got this one in the book. So absolutely.

16:04 – 16:04 John Coleman
All right, everyone.

16:05 – 16:15 Norman Schriever
Well, thanks so much for watching and subscribing. And of course, if you need any help or any information or want to get started with these calculators or application, John Coleman, JC Mortgages.

16:16 – 16:24 John Coleman
Well, thanks, everyone. Hope to hear from you all soon. And we’ll be back this time next month.