Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing mortgage rates at all time
Speaker 1: lows and back to school spending. Yeah, Joel, not only
Speaker 1: are we gonna talk about how mortgage rates uh interest
Speaker 1: rates that they are at all time lows, but we're
Speaker 1: also going to discuss what to do if you can't
Speaker 1: pay your rent, So if you don't own a place,
Speaker 1: or if you're not looking to own a place, what
Speaker 1: to do if you are in a renting situation. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and back to school spending. By the way, I use
Speaker 1: that term loosely because I realize a lot of people
Speaker 1: aren't actually physically going back to school, but there's still
Speaker 1: money to be spent, right and there's still things that
Speaker 1: people need, and in a particular electronics right now for
Speaker 1: a lot of their kids who are doing schooling from home,
Speaker 1: there are deals to be found. Man, speak of electronics
Speaker 1: real quick, Are you still rocking your your bone conduction
Speaker 1: wireless headphones? I sure am, Yeah, where like the sound
Speaker 1: vibrates through your your skull bones? Yeah? I really like
Speaker 1: my They are the Aftershocks brand. I guess there are
Speaker 1: probably a couple of different brands, but they're by far
Speaker 1: the most well known and and yeah, I really really
Speaker 1: like them. I have a pair of over the ear
Speaker 1: headphones too that I that I use sometimes, but if
Speaker 1: you're serious listening, I don't want any noises. It just
Speaker 1: kind of depends on what I'm doing, especially if I'm
Speaker 1: riding the bike and I want to listen to something
Speaker 1: like on my bike commute. I love the bone conduction
Speaker 1: headphones for that because you can also hear what's going
Speaker 1: on around you when it comes to pedestrian or carnaways. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like having multiple inputs for your for your brain
Speaker 1: in those situations. I just pulled one of my earbuds
Speaker 1: and so I just got there. You go. Both work well.
Speaker 1: The reason I asked is I just got some super
Speaker 1: cheap oh Amazon Lightning Deal earbuds. I've been rocking like
Speaker 1: these old school ones, the kind that like sits over
Speaker 1: your neck and then like the wires come out of
Speaker 1: that thing and then it like loops up and plugs
Speaker 1: into your ears. They still work, but I am not
Speaker 1: able to run with those because the thing kind of
Speaker 1: bounces around on my neck and that your buddsend up
Speaker 1: like popping out of my ear and plus as well.
Speaker 1: I've caught them on my thumbs before, like on my hands,
Speaker 1: and when they're kind of plugged in your ear and
Speaker 1: then you remove them quickly, it is not comfortable and
Speaker 1: it kind of hurts, and actually I think messed up
Speaker 1: you're hearing. Anyway. I wanted to mention that though, because
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it, and this is an instance
Speaker 1: where I was afraid I was gonna go cheap. But
Speaker 1: I feel like when it comes to certain electronics like this,
Speaker 1: it's okay to go a little bit cheaper. Maybe just
Speaker 1: look for the best deal because man, technology becomes obsolete quick,
Speaker 1: especially in like consumer electronics like this, and so in
Speaker 1: this specific instance, I feel this might be an example
Speaker 1: of where it makes sense maybe to go cheap instead
Speaker 1: of going with something higher end. But yeah, what are
Speaker 1: your thoughts? Are you calling me higher end? Is it? Well? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean when it comes to sounds like you've got
Speaker 1: a specific brand, you know, after shocks. I don't know
Speaker 1: what those are. It sounds like a type of shot
Speaker 1: guns over in a nice tennishoe When now I just
Speaker 1: heard from people, a few people that are working with
Speaker 1: that that had after shocks and they were like, they're
Speaker 1: really great. They really like having the bone conduction instead
Speaker 1: of just you know, having earbuds that go in your ear.
Speaker 1: And I've always found them uncomfortable anyway, putting earbuds straight in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh no, I love those. Ye I hate it, okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel I feel uncomfortable. So that's why I'm using
Speaker 1: the ones that are either over the year or the
Speaker 1: bone conduction, because I don't like anything in my ear. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I like it just plugged in there to where I
Speaker 1: can't hear anything else, like, because I like to use
Speaker 1: them as kind of like noise cancelation as well. But
Speaker 1: that being said, these don't have noise cancelation. These are
Speaker 1: super cheap thirty bucks literally And that's another thing too,
Speaker 1: is like they're really small and I'm afraid you might
Speaker 1: end up losing them, you know, like Apple makes their
Speaker 1: fancy air pod pros or whatever, um, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: spend tune with thirty bucks on a pair of those.
Speaker 1: I don't know how this don't fall out people's ears.
Speaker 1: I think they have like little inserts in them where
Speaker 1: they kind of like plug in. They don't just like
Speaker 1: rests on the little bowl of your ear. I know,
Speaker 1: I know that but still I was like running or
Speaker 1: something like that. Well, that's the thing. Either way, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to spend that much money on something
Speaker 1: that is that small that a might be obsolete and
Speaker 1: and be like that I might end up losing and
Speaker 1: the quality isn't bad. That's the other thing. I'm not
Speaker 1: willing to spend like eight times more are just on
Speaker 1: something like is it actually eight times better to go
Speaker 1: with the Apple product, even though I'm all about Apple
Speaker 1: products like in this case, No, I'm want to keep
Speaker 1: rocking those l cheap pos unless they break, and then
Speaker 1: I'll let you know, because that's what I've gone, cheap
Speaker 1: and bit being the butts. Yeah, when when it came
Speaker 1: to getting the aftershocks, I just waited on a sale
Speaker 1: because I knew that at some point i'd be able
Speaker 1: to get them forty fifty bucks off and and finally
Speaker 1: it happened, and so I bought them. I was in
Speaker 1: no hurry, in no rush, And sometimes that's how you
Speaker 1: score the best deal on something that you actually really want,
Speaker 1: just waiting around for the price to drop. All right, Matt,
Speaker 1: let's get on to the Friday flight. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: some of the stories that we found interesting this week,
Speaker 1: and we'll get to back to school spending in just
Speaker 1: a second, but before that, I wanted to mention something
Speaker 1: that I know you're going to be excited about. While
Speaker 1: a lot of businesses and retailers are having a tough
Speaker 1: time and some have announced locations closing, all the one
Speaker 1: of your faces is thriving love all right. So I
Speaker 1: just saw a story that seventy all these are set
Speaker 1: to open in the United States this year, all these
Speaker 1: and thirty seven states right now, and pretty soon they're
Speaker 1: going to add another one. They're gonna be in Arizona,
Speaker 1: and they're just gonna be opening up more stores in
Speaker 1: states that they are already in as well. But for
Speaker 1: all of our how to money listeners out in Arizona,
Speaker 1: you're pretty soon gonna be able to shop at the cheapest,
Speaker 1: best grocery store around. Yeah. What I'm afraid of is
Speaker 1: that these all these are going to get too big,
Speaker 1: because I've been into some of the newer ones and
Speaker 1: they are bigger than the one that is closest to
Speaker 1: where we live. And that's one of the benefits is
Speaker 1: that they're so small you can kind of get in
Speaker 1: and out of there. Yeah, I feel like if you,
Speaker 1: if you normally shop at like Kroger or safe Way,
Speaker 1: give all these shot because you'll definitely will be able
Speaker 1: to save some money. In another quick tip, if you've
Speaker 1: never been to an Aldy, make sure you show up
Speaker 1: with your own shopping bag, because they charge you for
Speaker 1: shopping bags there, and that's one of the ways that
Speaker 1: you're able to save money. We use the giant blue
Speaker 1: Ikea bag because you can fit so many groceries in there.
Speaker 1: Nice nice. Yeah, well and actually too, even if you
Speaker 1: don't decide to shop at all the but already shows
Speaker 1: up in your neighborhood, by default, the prices go down
Speaker 1: at the place that you're shopping because of the increased
Speaker 1: levels of competition. So yeah, more all these all around
Speaker 1: is just better for everybody, even if you don't shop
Speaker 1: at Yeah man, makes sense. All right, let's talk about
Speaker 1: some of that back to school spending. Schools almost back
Speaker 1: well sort of right, Like your kid may not even
Speaker 1: need a new backpack because they may not be going
Speaker 1: in person. You know, zoom calls might be what your
Speaker 1: school life looks like for the next few months. But
Speaker 1: the average expected school expenses per family is up this year,
Speaker 1: you know, which I think is in large part due
Speaker 1: to needing to purchase another computer just like you mentioned, Joel.
Speaker 1: But we want to remind folks UH that even if
Speaker 1: you don't feel that you have, you know, the technology,
Speaker 1: the tools to do online school well currently, you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily need to buy a super expensive computer. We'd recommend
Speaker 1: for folks to look at some deal sites like deal
Speaker 1: news or slip deals where you can shop for tech
Speaker 1: bargains ahead of the start of school. And also too,
Speaker 1: don't be afraid if you are looking even to buy
Speaker 1: an Apple product, don't be afraid to buy the refurbished
Speaker 1: items on Apple's website directly. Every single Apple UH desktop
Speaker 1: computer and laptop device that we've ever purchased, Joel Uh.
Speaker 1: Literally ever we have purchased ref Back in the day,
Speaker 1: they used to call it refreshed, but now I saw
Speaker 1: that they just like owned up to it and they're like,
Speaker 1: it's just referb But they've always served us well, and
Speaker 1: we've always been able to save anywhere between like ten
Speaker 1: even upwards, depending on the item that you get. Nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then we actually just spent ninety bucks on some
Speaker 1: power line adapters so that we can have stronger internet
Speaker 1: in the back of our house where we're planning on
Speaker 1: setting up the schooling area. So it's kind of part
Speaker 1: of our additional costs of of school this year, but
Speaker 1: it should make a big difference in reducing the stress
Speaker 1: level that we face as we're trying to kind of
Speaker 1: help our kids succeed in online schooling. And of course,
Speaker 1: like all of our roles as parents, if we have
Speaker 1: kids going to school, it's just ramped up in a
Speaker 1: big way because most of us are helping out with
Speaker 1: the learning and helping out with getting our kids into
Speaker 1: zoom calls and all that kind of stuff a whole
Speaker 1: lot more than we typically would be if they're just
Speaker 1: gone at school. Right. Uh, we've got those unpaid teacher
Speaker 1: assistant positions now, yeah, exactly. So, Yeah, I understand why
Speaker 1: why spending overall for is is up, and that's because
Speaker 1: people need things that they don't typically need in the
Speaker 1: school year. But there are other things I think you
Speaker 1: can forego, like a new backpack because who needs it. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and Jul you know you mentioned that powerline adapter that
Speaker 1: essentially turns your homes electrical system into like a you know,
Speaker 1: working ethernet cable because you plug in the little adapter
Speaker 1: into the wall and it boosts the signal. That's a
Speaker 1: great solution. Something else that we've done is we we
Speaker 1: took an old wireless router and hard wired it to
Speaker 1: our new one, and using that we rant it to
Speaker 1: the other end of our house and we're able to
Speaker 1: turn that wireless router and so basically just another Internet
Speaker 1: access point, and so it blankets the home in solid
Speaker 1: internet coverage. And so if you have like a long,
Speaker 1: skinny house sort of like we do, it allows you
Speaker 1: to not just have internet in the back of the house,
Speaker 1: but also in the front where the offices and the
Speaker 1: girls need to be on the internet. Yeah, during those
Speaker 1: zoom calls for sure. Yeah, and the mesh router WiFi
Speaker 1: mesh routers are kind of all the all the rages
Speaker 1: these days. But those costs like three times as much
Speaker 1: as what we just got. I think it's gonna work better. Um,
Speaker 1: And yeah, you can do it even cheaper if you've
Speaker 1: gotten an older router lying around. Most people do because
Speaker 1: like what are you gonna do with those? You know, Like,
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of time they're just like
Speaker 1: sitting in closets and they're in that same box that
Speaker 1: you have a bunch of old Ethernet cables, you know,
Speaker 1: and all my old cell phones that I forgot to sell.
Speaker 1: So yeah, uh, Matt, let's talk about tax refunds to
Speaker 1: everyone out there who's filed their tax return but they
Speaker 1: did it more recently and you haven't received your tax
Speaker 1: refund yet, Well, it just heads up. It could take
Speaker 1: a while before that refund gets to you. Last week
Speaker 1: was tax Day delayed by three months, of course, and
Speaker 1: then with COVID shutting down some I r S offices
Speaker 1: and stimulus checks taking up a lot of resources, tax
Speaker 1: refunds are going to be slow to get to people
Speaker 1: this year. So in particular, if you are old school
Speaker 1: and sending in a paper return, you'll be waiting even longer.
Speaker 1: You can check the status of your refund online. Will
Speaker 1: put a link to the I r S website where
Speaker 1: you can do that in the show notes. But the
Speaker 1: great thing is that if your if your refund is delayed,
Speaker 1: the I R S is going to be paying you
Speaker 1: interest on those refunds that they weren't able to get
Speaker 1: out in a timely manner. Yeah, so it might be
Speaker 1: a bummer, and especially right now where so many Americans
Speaker 1: have a reduced income, that tax refund is something that
Speaker 1: they're in all likelihood wanting quickly, and the stakes are
Speaker 1: going to be delayed. But at least, yeah, there's that
Speaker 1: silver lining that you might get paid some additional interest
Speaker 1: on that refund money. Yeah, and actually saw that the
Speaker 1: interests that they're paying is actually pretty great. Uh, they're
Speaker 1: paying five percent for April through June, and then starting
Speaker 1: in July they're only paying three percent, but still three
Speaker 1: percent is huge compared to what the online high interest
Speaker 1: Savings accounts what they're offering. And so it's actually not
Speaker 1: a terrible thing that that money's sitting there with the
Speaker 1: I R S and JO. Speaking of taxes, let's talk
Speaker 1: about property taxes. Some local cities and towns are offering
Speaker 1: extensions to pay property taxes, and even some states like Idaho,
Speaker 1: they have set up property tax relief funds to provide
Speaker 1: aid to those who can't currently afford to pay. And
Speaker 1: so if you're having trouble, you know, paying that property
Speaker 1: tax bill, be sure to contact your local tax assessor's office.
Speaker 1: The same thing is true with homeowners insurance. A lot
Speaker 1: of providers aren't necessarily advertising that this is something that
Speaker 1: they're doing. But reach out to both your tax office
Speaker 1: and your insurance company and see if that's something that
Speaker 1: you can negotiate, because there might be some relief there
Speaker 1: for you. Yeah, Matt, we've tried to cover on the
Speaker 1: show everything that you can do to postpone payments on
Speaker 1: your mortgage, on property taxes now, and on your car loan.
Speaker 1: I mean, there are just so many ways that you
Speaker 1: can get relief because of COVID, And if you think
Speaker 1: your job is at risk or you have lost your job,
Speaker 1: it's important to take advantage of as many of these
Speaker 1: things as you can because that's going to keep your
Speaker 1: emergency fund intact. That's gonna allow you to continue to
Speaker 1: buy groceries and keep the lights on, that kind of stuff. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: everything that Man and I hear about, we're gonna relay
Speaker 1: it on the show because we want you to be
Speaker 1: okay financially, and so much of that means taking advantage
Speaker 1: of what's being offered. And Matt, on that note, let's
Speaker 1: talk about getting out of a lease. It looks like
Speaker 1: the new stimulus bill it's probably not gonna be passed
Speaker 1: until sometime in August. That remains to be seen, but
Speaker 1: a lot of people could use a direct payment right
Speaker 1: now to help out with things like rent, and the
Speaker 1: numbers reflected that almost twenty million Americans are at risk
Speaker 1: of eviction before the end of September. That's pretty awful, right,
Speaker 1: But some states are offering a moratorium on evictions, which
Speaker 1: of course helps the most vulnerable among in so many locations,
Speaker 1: but other states have not extended that deadline. So depending
Speaker 1: on where you live, your landlord might not be able
Speaker 1: to evict you, and then in other states if you
Speaker 1: just don't have that protection. So it's important to know
Speaker 1: your rights. It's important to see exactly what your states
Speaker 1: government has said about eviction proceedings and whether or not
Speaker 1: your landlord can begin the eviction process. If you're having
Speaker 1: a hard time paying your rent right now, yeah, if
Speaker 1: that's the situation that you are in, it is certainly
Speaker 1: good to know what the laws are in your states.
Speaker 1: But then beyond that, next we would recommend for you
Speaker 1: to have a frank conversation with your landlord. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: when tenants don't respond to the ghost or landlord, chances
Speaker 1: of working things out in a mutually beneficial way like
Speaker 1: that massively decreases. But if you have been communicating and
Speaker 1: you've been a good tenant, the chances are that they
Speaker 1: will do their best to work with you through this
Speaker 1: difficult time. If you're doing your best there, you never know,
Speaker 1: you might even be able to ask for for new
Speaker 1: terms even Yeah, Matt, I don't know what you've seen
Speaker 1: with your tenants, you know. I tried to communicate early
Speaker 1: and often with mine throughout the pandemic as things are
Speaker 1: getting crazy and people were losing their jobs or or
Speaker 1: having unstable income. And one of my tenants was about
Speaker 1: and sign a new lease and she just felt uncomfortable
Speaker 1: going into another year long lease, and I totally understood,
Speaker 1: but she's been a great tenant and I want to
Speaker 1: keep her around. So we're we've gone month to month,
Speaker 1: and we were able to work out a reduced rent
Speaker 1: amount too, And also we just decided to do away
Speaker 1: with late fees for the time being, because sometimes you
Speaker 1: can't pay rent until the tenth or eleventh of the month.
Speaker 1: And that's okay for me right now, because things are crazy,
Speaker 1: right and so we all just have to do our best.
Speaker 1: But landlords and tenants should be working together to find
Speaker 1: terms that work for everybody moving forward. Yeah, that's totally true. Man. However,
Speaker 1: you know, if you do find yourself in a position
Speaker 1: where you can't afford the rent, or you know you
Speaker 1: need to move somewhere else that's maybe a little more affordable,
Speaker 1: you can also give a thirty day notice that you
Speaker 1: are leaving and offer to help your landlord find another
Speaker 1: suitable tenant. You might receive threats that you'll owe rent
Speaker 1: for the entirety of the lease that you originally signed
Speaker 1: and agreed to, but most states require that the landlord
Speaker 1: worked to fund a new and mitigate that damage. And
Speaker 1: so again, this is another situation where it is helpful
Speaker 1: to know what your specific states laws are, but know
Speaker 1: that this is a common rule in most states. Yeah, Matt,
Speaker 1: you said mitigate the damages, and what that means is
Speaker 1: that the landlord is required to try to find a
Speaker 1: new tenant to take over your lease and to get
Speaker 1: somebody else living in the house as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1: Like you said, right, there's a lot that an individual
Speaker 1: tenant can do to help that process along by listing
Speaker 1: the property and trying to help the landlord find somebody
Speaker 1: to fill the shoes that you were in. But it's
Speaker 1: so important for tenants to know that while you could
Speaker 1: be on the hook for the rest of the least
Speaker 1: if your landlord isn't able to find somebody to take over,
Speaker 1: if there is decent demand in your area, this might
Speaker 1: just be the best move that you have is turning
Speaker 1: in that thirty day notice and leaving the property and
Speaker 1: helping the landlord find somebody else to take over. If
Speaker 1: you have to move in with friends or family in
Speaker 1: order to lower your housing costs in a massive way,
Speaker 1: this is kind of a gamble, but it might be
Speaker 1: the best thing that you can do for yourself, yeah, man.
Speaker 1: And also the National Low Income Housing a Lot Alliance.
Speaker 1: They have a list of resources state by state that
Speaker 1: you can turn to four rental assistance if you're struggling
Speaker 1: right now, and we'll make sure to link to that
Speaker 1: in our show notes. And on the housing note, let's
Speaker 1: talk about mortgage rates and some of the nuances you
Speaker 1: need to consider if you are considering refinancing a mortgage,
Speaker 1: if that's on the table for you, and we'll get
Speaker 1: to that right after the break. All right, we're back
Speaker 1: from the break, Matt. We were just talking about preventing
Speaker 1: eviction and let's talk about like the flip side of
Speaker 1: housing for people who own a home or are looking
Speaker 1: to buy a home soon. Mortgage rates kind of just
Speaker 1: hit a magical level where you can get a mortgage
Speaker 1: right below three, which is just incredible. Yeah, it's been
Speaker 1: a long time since we've had rates that lad. I
Speaker 1: think it's been like fifty years since we've dipped under
Speaker 1: the threes. Yeah, pretty nut to think you can borrow
Speaker 1: money at two point seven five percent or two point
Speaker 1: eight seven five percent for thirty years, right, And there
Speaker 1: are a lot of people who would be well served
Speaker 1: by refinancing right now with a bank, credit union, or
Speaker 1: an online lender. It's so important, though, to think about
Speaker 1: your specific situation. I had a friend recently reach out.
Speaker 1: She's gonna sell her home in probably less than a year,
Speaker 1: and she's thinking about refinancing, And I was like, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you probably don't. Not for you, Yeah, because you're gonna
Speaker 1: pay thousands and thousands of dollars in closing costs in
Speaker 1: order to make that happen. So a good question to
Speaker 1: ask yourself is are you planning on being in the
Speaker 1: home for a while to come right, Because it doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense if you're not going to be there typically
Speaker 1: for at least three years, more like five years in
Speaker 1: a lot of cases, depending on what your rate is,
Speaker 1: and depending on what the closing costs are associated with
Speaker 1: that refi because they are all these fees like the
Speaker 1: appraisal title fees and other loan fees like underwriting and
Speaker 1: origination fees. Those can make refinancing cost prohibitive if you're
Speaker 1: not getting a big enough cut and interest rate and
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be able to realize it over a
Speaker 1: long period of time. Yeah, that's true, man, There are
Speaker 1: a lot of costs associated with refinancing. But what about
Speaker 1: no closing costs refinances? Those seem to be getting more
Speaker 1: steam right now. And basically the way those work is
Speaker 1: that instead of paying out of pocket for the and costs,
Speaker 1: which can be anywhere between one and four percent of
Speaker 1: the overall loan amount, those costs get rolled into the
Speaker 1: mortgage balance or you'll you know, possibly end up with
Speaker 1: a higher than market interest rate. And so typically you'll
Speaker 1: get the best overall terms when you opt not to
Speaker 1: go with a no closing cost mortgage refinance. But it
Speaker 1: could make sense in particular if you don't have immediate
Speaker 1: access to the cash and you're wanting to jump on
Speaker 1: those really low rates. But especially you know, in the
Speaker 1: situation until that you mentioned, this would have maybe worked
Speaker 1: for her. You know, if you don't plan to be
Speaker 1: in the house very long, opting for you know, a
Speaker 1: slightly higher than market rate, assuming that it's still lower
Speaker 1: than what you currently have, and then going the no
Speaker 1: closing cost route can make sense because effectively you're not
Speaker 1: realizing all of those expenses right then and there. It
Speaker 1: kind of gets spread out over the life of the loan,
Speaker 1: and if you know you're gonna move out soon, well
Speaker 1: that's something to consider. Yeah, and again, knowing that there
Speaker 1: are multiple flavors of no closing cost mortgages, that's that's
Speaker 1: something I actually discussed with her. I was like, if
Speaker 1: you're just paying an above market rate, but it's lower
Speaker 1: than what you currently have, then there's like no harm
Speaker 1: in doing that no closing cost refi. But if it
Speaker 1: adds a whole lot more of the loan balance at
Speaker 1: the same time, then it doesn't make sense. Right. Uh So,
Speaker 1: something else to consider is whether or not you even
Speaker 1: qualify to do a refinance. This can be one of
Speaker 1: the issues that comes up if you're recently unemployed or
Speaker 1: if you're self employed. But it's slightly affecting a lot
Speaker 1: more individuals these days because of coronavirus and with banks
Speaker 1: tightening up on lending standards. So if you've had a
Speaker 1: salary cut, you're just not making as much as you
Speaker 1: used to, then it's likely that the debt to income
Speaker 1: ratio that lenders use when deciding whether an applicant qualifies
Speaker 1: or not, that those ratios are a little out of
Speaker 1: whack for you. A refi or even a new loan
Speaker 1: that you might have qualified for a year ago might
Speaker 1: be out of reach, or the interest rate might not
Speaker 1: be the lowest that's available on the market right, and
Speaker 1: that's a bummer, But there are ways around this for you.
Speaker 1: For instance, you could bring more money to the closing
Speaker 1: table if you have that cash on hand. That's just
Speaker 1: something to keep in mind if you've been financially impacted
Speaker 1: by COVID. It's important to kind of have an idea
Speaker 1: when you're submitting an application for a REFI of the
Speaker 1: terms you think you're going to be able to qualify
Speaker 1: for based on your income, based on your debt, and
Speaker 1: based on your credit score. Yeah, man, you know, that's
Speaker 1: actually a situation that Kate and I that we're finding
Speaker 1: ourselves in right being self employed. We've seen our income
Speaker 1: drop because guess what, man, there aren't a whole lot
Speaker 1: of big in person weddings happening in a lot of
Speaker 1: small backyard elopements, and we were not expecting to see
Speaker 1: that impact our ability to potentially refi a property. So
Speaker 1: in our case yet, we we've kind of been talking
Speaker 1: about potentially looking to maybe even focus on paying down
Speaker 1: a mortgage of an investment property a little bit early.
Speaker 1: But that's something we can maybe say for another episode
Speaker 1: because there's kind of a whole lot of psychological things
Speaker 1: to kind of talk about when it comes to that
Speaker 1: as well. I'm not a psychologist, but I'll dive deep.
Speaker 1: That's the hard questions, uh, Matt. Another thing too, I
Speaker 1: think people are actually doing early you know you said
Speaker 1: you might pay off your mortgage early. Well, other people
Speaker 1: are actually pursuing buying a house earlier than they otherwise
Speaker 1: would have because the rates are so low. And I
Speaker 1: think for for a lot of our listeners who have
Speaker 1: put themselves in a good financial position and they were like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I might buy a home in the next two years,
Speaker 1: But I don't think right now, with rates being so low,
Speaker 1: I could understand why they might be interested in accelerating
Speaker 1: that decision. And I think sometimes like market conditions, right,
Speaker 1: getting something on sale or getting a better value like
Speaker 1: locking in a thirty year mortgage at two point eight
Speaker 1: seven vibe or something like that, can make it worthwhile
Speaker 1: to bump your plans up. But I think only if
Speaker 1: you're underlying financials are in a really, really good place,
Speaker 1: that is when I would say, yeah, I go for it,
Speaker 1: bump up that timeline and make it happen. That's right, man.
Speaker 1: And one other thing we wanted to cover we saw
Speaker 1: that consumer choice it is vanishing due to the coronavirus.
Speaker 1: We're seeing fewer options and lots of different areas, ranging
Speaker 1: from grocery stores to restaurants and even to auto and
Speaker 1: motorcycle manufacturers. A lot of this has to do with
Speaker 1: the fact that there there have been just supply chain bottlenecks,
Speaker 1: you know, and manufacturers an ability to really just get
Speaker 1: goods and parts two retailers. So you know, it's partly
Speaker 1: a business decision, as businesses are focusing on just trying
Speaker 1: to keep up with the high demand you know, they're
Speaker 1: they're looking to just keep the basic items on the shelves.
Speaker 1: You know, who cares about all the different varieties of
Speaker 1: you know, fat free potato chips or all the different
Speaker 1: kinds of motorcycles that they used to sell, and they're
Speaker 1: just trying to look to maintain some of the basics.
Speaker 1: Some of those companies are looking to cut some of
Speaker 1: those zombie brands right that aren't making a whole lot
Speaker 1: of money. So, you know, don't be surprised if you
Speaker 1: don't see your odd walla smoothiejuice on the shelves next
Speaker 1: time you go to the grocery store. Oh, man, I
Speaker 1: hope there's one thing that I tried recently. My dad
Speaker 1: had some at the house. It was a combination of
Speaker 1: dr pepper and cream soda that shouldn't exist. Man, that's
Speaker 1: one of those things I think they should cut from
Speaker 1: the rotation. It was terrible. Apparently my young nephew really
Speaker 1: likes it. Uh. But from a consumer's point of view, Matt,
Speaker 1: I think things aren't super stable on the income front
Speaker 1: for a lot of us right as we've been talking about,
Speaker 1: so it's natural to see a shift towards kind of
Speaker 1: the basics compared to just the endless options that we
Speaker 1: used to have. A lot of the country is taken
Speaker 1: kind of a batten down the hatches approach, and they're
Speaker 1: finding ways to reduce their spending and so skipping super
Speaker 1: niche things like organic toilet paper or whatever. Altogether. It's
Speaker 1: it's one of the natural consequences of economic uncertainty, and
Speaker 1: it makes sense that certain companies might be limiting their offerings.
Speaker 1: And part of the reason I think this is actually
Speaker 1: a really good thing is that decision fatigue is real,
Speaker 1: and it affects us all right. With with so much
Speaker 1: going on all around us in our lives and the
Speaker 1: economy and just kind of general uncertainty, We're living in
Speaker 1: a typical times, and I'm sure most folks are actually
Speaker 1: searching for ways to reduce the number of decisions that
Speaker 1: they have to make in daily life, to provide a
Speaker 1: little ease and a little piece And I think having
Speaker 1: fewer decisions at the grocery store, fewer decisions with the
Speaker 1: things that we are on shelves that we might consider buying,
Speaker 1: is actually better for our brains. I think it's helpful
Speaker 1: to fewer decisions. Oh yeah, man, I'm always looking for
Speaker 1: ways to put things in my life on autopilot. And
Speaker 1: plus you know the health risks as well. I don't
Speaker 1: forget those like who wants to spend a ton of
Speaker 1: time in the grocery store debating their different options when
Speaker 1: you've got like another shopper without a mask on breathing
Speaker 1: down your neck. You know, we mentioned all the at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the show, Like, that's another one of
Speaker 1: the huge was going with Ald, Like you really can
Speaker 1: be in and out of there in one minutes. Like
Speaker 1: I feel like I mentioned that before in the show, Like,
Speaker 1: but one of these times, I really I'm gonna time myself.
Speaker 1: I wanna hit hit go on the stop bots, gonna
Speaker 1: run in and grab milk and eggs, which is oftentimes
Speaker 1: what we need right just like to restock for the
Speaker 1: week and get out of there and see how long
Speaker 1: and it can actually take. But like, I love how
Speaker 1: small those all these stores are, because you really can
Speaker 1: make it happen so quickly. Yeah, and you realize too
Speaker 1: when you're shopping at all the oh, I didn't really
Speaker 1: need twelve different kinds of all the different options. Yeah, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: So I agree. That's one of the things I love
Speaker 1: about aldi is that you don't have the decision fatigue
Speaker 1: that comes from going to the grocery store and it
Speaker 1: doesn't take nearly as long. Yeah, I'm with you. You
Speaker 1: don't have to devote an afternoon of your weekend to
Speaker 1: go into Costco. All right, I'm done with you. Our
Speaker 1: friendship is over. Uh you wish you can't. You can't
Speaker 1: hate on Costco, man and get away with it? Not
Speaker 1: not on this podcast. Now. They're both great, Man, They're
Speaker 1: just great for different reasons. For instance, I really appreciate
Speaker 1: that cooler backpack that you guys picked up for us
Speaker 1: the last time you're at Costco. That thing's been clutch
Speaker 1: the summer. Yeah, it's uh, it's pretty helpful, isn't it
Speaker 1: super helpful? All right? Well, that's gonna do it for
Speaker 1: this episode. If you want the show notes, including a
Speaker 1: link to those adapters that I bought, they're gonna massively
Speaker 1: help our WiFi and the list of resources that can
Speaker 1: help you if you're struggling to pay your rent will
Speaker 1: link to those in the show notes as well as
Speaker 1: other things, and those are available on our website at
Speaker 1: how to money dot com. And if you've been listening
Speaker 1: to our show and you've enjoyed it, we would love
Speaker 1: for you to leave us a review over at Apple
Speaker 1: Podcast specifically. That really helps us out. And you know,
Speaker 1: while we're giving Aldi some love, if you haven't left
Speaker 1: us a review yet, go over there, and when you
Speaker 1: leave your review, let us know what item you specifically
Speaker 1: love over at Audie. I, for one, I'm a huge
Speaker 1: fan of their basic vanilla ice cream. It's in this
Speaker 1: black cartain and people I've talked to multiple people and
Speaker 1: everybody loves this ice cream. It's literally got like I think,
Speaker 1: like six ingredients or maybe even like four, but it's
Speaker 1: super like pure. There's not a whole lot of preservatives
Speaker 1: in it, and it really is some really dang good
Speaker 1: ice cream and we're eating a lot of it. This stuff.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna say the spicy salami and sharp
Speaker 1: cheddar cheese. There you gon good comment? Well, alright, man,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be it until next time. Best Friends Out,
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out.