Speaker 1: Hey, hey, hey, I'm back and I'm feeling great.
Speaker 2: It's Tiffany and it's Mandy. Hey guys, and this is
Speaker 2: Brown Ambition.
Speaker 3: Yes, look at about professional.
Speaker 2: I got the results of my DNA test that I
Speaker 2: that I sent to twenty three and me. No, my
Speaker 2: husband said we might have to change the name of
Speaker 2: the show to Beijes Ambition.
Speaker 3: Why.
Speaker 2: It turns out I'm fifty four percent European and forty
Speaker 2: three percent sub Saharan African. I'm only forty three percent black. Yay, Like, so.
Speaker 3: What because so your father like because.
Speaker 2: I was saying, like it's so funny. I mean I
Speaker 2: guess that means maybe my dad. I mean, yeah, I
Speaker 2: had a little bit of European. Who knows. It was interesting.
Speaker 2: I mean there was nothing too shocking. That was just
Speaker 2: really hilarious.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Also sub Saharan African, that's like what Ethiopia? Like,
Speaker 3: what's that?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: Actually did I say sub Saharan? Sorry, I met Western Africa.
Speaker 2: I'm a little bit Subsaharan. It was the same thing,
Speaker 2: you know. I shared my dad's results a little while ago.
Speaker 2: He was he did ancestry dot Com. I did twenty
Speaker 2: three and me and his results were all the you know,
Speaker 2: the the main you know, Ghana, Nigeria, all those West
Speaker 2: African countries, African countries, and I basically had the same. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm way more British and Irish than I thought. I mean,
Speaker 2: I guess that makes sense. I knew my I knew
Speaker 2: my mom's side came from Ireland. I didn't know all
Speaker 2: the all the all the British side too.
Speaker 1: But interesting, did your dad when he did his did
Speaker 1: any like European things pop up, even in the smallest.
Speaker 2: I should go back and look now and see, because
Speaker 2: I didn't really, I didn't even look that hard at
Speaker 2: my dad's results. I just looked at, you know, like
Speaker 2: what we're in Africa, my people came from. But yeah,
Speaker 2: a thirty nine point eight percent West African I am
Speaker 2: and two point five percent whatever broadly sub Saharan Africa means.
Speaker 2: I don't know, that's that's the other two percent.
Speaker 1: Well, I if I can speak for the Black delegation,
Speaker 1: we certainly would love for you to maintain your membership.
Speaker 1: There are things you're gonna have to say every year
Speaker 1: you will have to renew to watch good Times.
Speaker 2: You have to pay the extra dues.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the extra dues, You're going to have to wear
Speaker 1: your curly hair at least I would say one or
Speaker 1: two months out of the year.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding? I haven't straightened this hair in two
Speaker 2: years exactly.
Speaker 3: This is why we're allowed you to maintain your membership.
Speaker 2: It's a mess now for real. My hair has turned
Speaker 2: into like a chia pet gone wrong. Really, but I
Speaker 2: love your hair, I know, but like it's bad. It's
Speaker 2: like an overgrown head right now. And I keep trying
Speaker 2: to trim it. I keep saying, like, oh, I can
Speaker 2: just trim my own hair, and I mean, I call
Speaker 2: it a hedge. I'm just making fun of my hair
Speaker 2: because it's just, you know, I really do trim it
Speaker 2: like a hedge. I just snip, snip, snipped, like around
Speaker 2: till it's shaped roughly, like evenly. But I haven't been
Speaker 2: to a real salon in two years now, so I
Speaker 2: need I need an actual haircut. I'm like, because I
Speaker 2: turn around and there are long strands of curly hair
Speaker 2: that are like that are way longer than the rest
Speaker 2: of it. I slick in a little ratchet like you know.
Speaker 2: I saw my nineteen year old cousin yesterday and she
Speaker 2: was like it don't look right, like, you know what.
Speaker 3: Once the kids start telling me, you're like, you know what.
Speaker 2: That was my real rude awakening. I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 3: Start saying stuffing. You're like, you know what, let me adjust.
Speaker 2: She's just say it doesn't look right.
Speaker 3: So I was.
Speaker 1: I went to I had my two week update with
Speaker 1: the doctor. Everything is great. I told her my plans
Speaker 1: of trying to have twins, and she said, she's like,
Speaker 1: I want you to try naturally first. There's some tests
Speaker 1: you can take apparently where they like sir die inside
Speaker 1: you and they kind of follow the path of the
Speaker 1: way an egg would go.
Speaker 3: And she was like, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: She's like it's kind of unpleasant, so take motrid ahead
Speaker 1: of time. I'm like, great, but basically it'll it'll show
Speaker 1: to make sure that my tubes and everything are flowing fully.
Speaker 1: But she said she suspects they are, and she doesn't
Speaker 1: want me to go through IVF.
Speaker 3: She really wants me to do natural first. And I'm like,
Speaker 3: but what if I want twins.
Speaker 1: She's like, the female body is really meant to carry
Speaker 1: one baby at a time, although it does happen that
Speaker 1: people carry two, but that's not really what the uterus
Speaker 1: is for. And I'm like, so now I'm torn. So
Speaker 1: I'm definitely open to brown ambition and feedback.
Speaker 2: She said, I get those babies in bulk.
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 3: Well she said that, you know, it's not me.
Speaker 1: She's like, obviously people do it, but she's just like, well,
Speaker 1: I would prefer now if I was like thirty, I
Speaker 1: would definitely be like, sure, girl, But I'm thirty eight,
Speaker 1: and so I guess I'm a little nervous that what if,
Speaker 1: like I can't, like I really would like my my
Speaker 1: baby to have a sister or a brother, and I'm nervous.
Speaker 1: I mean, Supergirl is obviously it's gonna be her sister,
Speaker 1: but Supergirl is already eleven. And I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: like a playmate, so like, because I know what it
Speaker 1: was like growing up with like somebody in my age range,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, well, I.
Speaker 2: Mean you can only plan so much. And what I
Speaker 2: would say is, you know you're gonna have what you're
Speaker 2: gonna have, and you know you are friends who have kids,
Speaker 2: and like I.
Speaker 3: Have a these to a nephew.
Speaker 1: So I just said, well, at the very least, I'm
Speaker 1: at least gonna take do the test to see if
Speaker 1: she was like, if you flow freely, then there, then
Speaker 1: you can decide after that. So my mom told me
Speaker 1: she was gonna say, my mom is off for go
Speaker 1: get your twins, girl. But that's because every every grandma,
Speaker 1: potential grandma is always like more than marrier, the more
Speaker 1: the marrier.
Speaker 3: So but she told me, she's like, your doctor's gonna
Speaker 3: tell you shouldn't, but it's not like you can't.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna just gather as much information as I
Speaker 1: can and make the best decision possible. Superman is getting
Speaker 1: nervous now because he's like, I can't raise these babies
Speaker 1: on my own. I'm like, you are so dramatic. He's
Speaker 1: just he's worried that like something would happen to me
Speaker 1: and like childbirth. I'm like, oh my god, please don't,
Speaker 1: let's not go that far just yet.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean that's a that's a sweet inclination. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, did you see Actually that reminds me. On
Speaker 2: a sad note, there was this this viral. This guy
Speaker 2: on Instagram is going viral because he's been posting about
Speaker 2: he lost his wife and childbirth. It's amazing to think
Speaker 2: that still happens. In like twenty eighteen, I know, right
Speaker 2: in America. Yeah, so he lost his wife and it's
Speaker 2: just like this video of him dancing with his newborn
Speaker 2: and like the internet is just eating I'm not eating
Speaker 2: it up. That sounds like cheap, but it's so sad.
Speaker 3: I see that.
Speaker 2: It's like sharing his pain. It's it's the most It's
Speaker 2: what social media. It's when I like social media for once,
Speaker 2: I'm like, Okay, someone's sharing something real, but it's just
Speaker 2: so sad, like he's really working through the grief and
Speaker 2: the public eye.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's probably therapeutic for him.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean it's it's definitely. I feel
Speaker 2: like he's probably getting a lot of support and yeah,
Speaker 2: it must be really hard, but someone did. We did
Speaker 2: get an email from someone who reached out and just
Speaker 2: wanted to check on you after your surgery.
Speaker 1: Oh a lot of people have hit me up on
Speaker 1: social Just thank you guys. Honestly, I feel really like
Speaker 1: last week was like kind of like the last week
Speaker 1: where I was like, oh, my stitches. I feel I mean,
Speaker 1: it's deceptive because you want to be careful, but I
Speaker 1: have to say I feel like eighty five maybe even
Speaker 1: I would say eighty five percent myself. Like I'm sleeping normally.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not carrying anything heavy or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But I'm not in pain at all. Sometimes I feel
Speaker 1: a little tight and it's down there just to remind me,
Speaker 1: like slow down.
Speaker 3: But other than that, I feel good.
Speaker 1: I've been I'm back to quote unquote work, you know,
Speaker 1: as far as meanings, back to sitting at my computer.
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: It's been at It's been hard to jump start because
Speaker 1: I literally took off like a week and a half
Speaker 1: and I'm like, all right, Tiffany, come on, Tiffany, come on,
Speaker 1: you know. But yeah, if you guys have reached out
Speaker 1: to me on social and just hit me up in
Speaker 1: the inbox, and I just want to say thank you,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: It's and it was.
Speaker 1: It's what's so crazy is how many women are like
Speaker 1: I had the surgery or I have fiboids, and somebody
Speaker 1: hit me that I thought was great. She was like,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for talking about how your insurance
Speaker 1: covered it.
Speaker 3: I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: She's like, I checked, and my insurance covers my surgery.
Speaker 1: I'm getting mine too, And I was like, yes, that's awesome.
Speaker 2: Thanks. Oh relation. That just reminds me tomorrow was Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2: I'll me Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1: Everybody listen, and if you're with somebody who's called a
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day, break up with them.
Speaker 2: Oh god, man, someone misspelled definitely today and I just
Speaker 2: got the shivers. I was in that word.
Speaker 3: Like pacific and specific.
Speaker 2: Oh lord, I can go, we can go.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: Let's not do that mean while I'm the word like,
Speaker 1: I don't even judge because when like, in my head,
Speaker 1: I type correctly, But then I reread some of my
Speaker 1: Facebook statuses and I'm like, so there's no spell check
Speaker 1: anywhere on your computer, Tiffany, because this is horrendous.
Speaker 3: I'm just not a.
Speaker 1: Good like typer, although in my head I know the
Speaker 1: right things to say.
Speaker 2: That's okay, we forgive you.
Speaker 1: Are you guys gonna do anything I told I told Superman, like, eh,
Speaker 1: I don't you know, I don't care.
Speaker 2: It's a nice excuse to actually it's a nice excuse
Speaker 2: to do something nice if you want to. But I
Speaker 2: don't feel pressure. We we're you know, we're in the
Speaker 2: middle of this house process and we're both just like
Speaker 2: a bundle of nerves. So we are going to see
Speaker 2: Black Panther on Friday, not technically a Valentine's Day date,
Speaker 2: but I'm excited. It looks really good. I got these
Speaker 2: tickets like a month ago.
Speaker 1: It does look I honestly, everyone keeps saying I have
Speaker 1: not seen one negative review, which is.
Speaker 3: Like unheard of. Yeah.
Speaker 2: The soundtrack is amazing. Kendrick Lamard did the soundtrack. It
Speaker 2: is like the blackest I mean, first of all, like
Speaker 2: to have the first. This is this is the first
Speaker 2: all black superhero movie, right or primarily black, right. I
Speaker 2: can't think of another one. Maybe that one on Netflix
Speaker 2: with Luthor or whatever it is. But this is like
Speaker 2: a Marvel movie. Yeah, And I just love that they
Speaker 2: they are doing the most with it and really embracing it.
Speaker 2: And they got they got Ryan Kugler to direct, like
Speaker 2: he directed? Did he direct Fruitvale Station in Rocky?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm not a good director.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm pretty sure that's right. And they got Kendrick
Speaker 2: Lamargin to the soundtrack, like you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 3: It's black on black on black, black and.
Speaker 2: Black by black.
Speaker 3: All right, are you ready for some brown break?
Speaker 5: Brown booth always well, I am going to take a
Speaker 5: brown break from the people who are going a little
Speaker 5: bit too hard against these new presidential the first Lady
Speaker 5: and President Barack Obama their their new official portraits.
Speaker 3: Oh lord, I'm gonna take a brown I mean.
Speaker 2: I'm not the break.
Speaker 1: Yes, Like, so, when I first saw, I'm very familiar
Speaker 1: with let me you know, let me portraits because I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: I don't want to say their name is wrong because
Speaker 1: especially since the young man who painted it is is Nigerian.
Speaker 2: So then was it a young because I've only seen
Speaker 2: the woman who painted Michelle. So two separate artists did
Speaker 2: the portraits.
Speaker 3: So it's like, let me see, but.
Speaker 2: They selected them personally, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so and and and the portraits are honestly, the
Speaker 1: portraits are perfect representations of like their work, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And so it's like, Okay, it's Cayenne
Speaker 1: Dee Wiley. I believe he's Nigerian and at least I
Speaker 1: think he's West African. So and then Amy Sheryld who's
Speaker 1: from Detroit, So Kayne Wiley, Like.
Speaker 2: Sorry, people are already messing with this one of Obama
Speaker 2: because you know he's in like the bushes it's beautiful.
Speaker 2: They put like Sean Spicer creeping out from behind the bushes.
Speaker 6: All right, sorry, but people are going so hard and
Speaker 6: I'm like, so most people liked the President Obama's his portrait,
Speaker 6: but I mean that's how and some people don't.
Speaker 1: But that's if you look at Cayenne's and stuff, it's
Speaker 1: it's larger than life. I've seen it at the Brooklyn Museum.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful and like his stuff always has his background
Speaker 1: like this.
Speaker 3: So it's not a huge surprise. They clearly knew. It
Speaker 3: wasn't like, oh my god, I've never seen it before.
Speaker 1: Like you know, anybody who's an artist knows that that
Speaker 1: you do a sketch and then the color sketch. There's
Speaker 1: all of these processes that go along. So these weren't
Speaker 1: unveiled like oh my god, what is this? And then
Speaker 1: Amy Cheryl that's the one that people are having the
Speaker 1: biggest pushback with because so she is the first lady
Speaker 1: is kind of gray tone, which is typical of her paintings.
Speaker 1: And then but her dress has a lot of meaning
Speaker 1: that there's different take cloth and can't take cloth. It
Speaker 1: was meant to give different messages, like different patterns that
Speaker 1: you wove into can't take cloth. We'd give different messages
Speaker 1: so that way slaves could communicate with each other without
Speaker 1: their master's knowing. And so she, yeah, she embedded all
Speaker 1: that in there. And so when I first saw the
Speaker 1: first ladies, I wasn't in love, I will be honest,
Speaker 1: but it's definitely grown on me, especially as I've looked
Speaker 1: up this woman's her her work, and I'm like, you know, it's.
Speaker 3: Grown on me. But people are really like, I mean,
Speaker 3: this is historic.
Speaker 1: This is two black artists drawing the first black president
Speaker 1: and his first lady, who is also African American, and
Speaker 1: and they're black artists, and this stuff was gonna live
Speaker 1: in history forever and ever. I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: seen the lineup of like the last ten presidentss their
Speaker 1: their portraits, it's like gray and brown and black tones.
Speaker 1: They're all beautiful and then all of a sudden boom
Speaker 1: present Obama's portrait, which is like beautifully lush and green
Speaker 1: and full of life. And they will go down in history.
Speaker 1: And you cannot like the art itself because it's super subjective.
Speaker 1: But people are like just dragging almost like the artists,
Speaker 1: which I'm just like really like I'm just over it, Like.
Speaker 3: I get it. You don't like it. Honestly, I don't care.
Speaker 2: I think people are too quick to judge. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you ever go to first of all, I think
Speaker 2: seeing a little tiny image on your computer or your
Speaker 2: phone is not the same thing as being in front
Speaker 2: of this massive work of art. And if you've ever
Speaker 2: gone to a museum, you mean, the whole point of
Speaker 2: those benches in a museum is to sit with it
Speaker 2: and to look at it and let it wash over you.
Speaker 2: And some art isn't necessarily as easy to digest as
Speaker 2: others because it challenges you because it doesn't look easy
Speaker 2: and palatable. And I'm not This is not to shade
Speaker 2: the man who did Obama's portrait, because it's beautiful and lush,
Speaker 2: and I think that's maybe a little bit more appealing
Speaker 2: just because the color is used. They're just easy to
Speaker 2: digest and they're they're so clearly vibrant, and Michelle's is quieter.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that you just have to give
Speaker 2: it a chance. It's regal, it's elegant. To me, it's
Speaker 2: like it's almost like a black and white image with
Speaker 2: a little bit of saturation added. And I just think
Speaker 2: it's I loved it and I don't see anything like
Speaker 2: I just think people are just First of all, I
Speaker 2: think it's a great headline. Michelle Obama's portra doesn't look
Speaker 2: anything like her. I mean, whether it's a magazine cover
Speaker 2: or you know, an Instagram post. Michelle Obama's appearance from
Speaker 2: the second you know, they hit the national stage has
Speaker 2: been like picked apart. And to me it's kind of
Speaker 2: sad but not surprising that the same as happening with this,
Speaker 2: you know, this work of art maide in her image.
Speaker 1: Yeah and yeah, and like you said, and art doesn't
Speaker 1: have to look like a photograph, like it's.
Speaker 2: Not yah interpretation and it's yeah, the only person who
Speaker 2: really knows it is the artist and whoever's looking at it.
Speaker 2: You know, what does it say to you exactly?
Speaker 1: And from what I understand, you know, first Lady Michelle Obama,
Speaker 1: she picked the artist like seeing some of her work
Speaker 1: like this is this is indicative of her work, like
Speaker 1: gray tones for the skin like it just.
Speaker 3: It looks like her work. I mean some of her
Speaker 3: work is a little bit more colorful, but the.
Speaker 1: Skin of all of her, of all of her people
Speaker 1: are always this color. So I'm just like, and people
Speaker 1: are like putting brown on to talking about I fixed it,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh, I don't know.
Speaker 2: Oh that is soone. That's the worst insult I know
Speaker 2: to her.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I it does me because I know what it
Speaker 1: is to like and I think we all know what
Speaker 1: it is to put your heart and soul into something
Speaker 1: and then the reception. It's one thing, like you don't
Speaker 1: have to like everything I do, but then the reception
Speaker 1: to be you know, just levels of disrespect that's just unnecessary,
Speaker 1: like I fixed it, Like girl, this is like my
Speaker 1: life's work, Like to be able to to work with,
Speaker 1: you know, the first black president and his wife, and
Speaker 1: for my things to sit in the Smithsonian as a
Speaker 1: black artist. Do you even know what that means for
Speaker 1: you to say I fixed it or I just so
Speaker 1: you don't have to like it?
Speaker 3: But I don't.
Speaker 1: I think we live in the social media age has
Speaker 1: made everybody think that disrespect is cute.
Speaker 3: Yeah and funny.
Speaker 1: It's like we're all bad three year olds, you know,
Speaker 1: like the three year old that's like listen, Linda, listen.
Speaker 3: Remember that video with that little boy was telling his mother.
Speaker 2: I still quote that video to this day.
Speaker 3: Listen, listen, listen. Okay, listen, listen listen.
Speaker 1: Like we all are like bad three year olds getting
Speaker 1: like high fives for being like disrespectful and unruly. But
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, but it's so funny, like okay, until
Speaker 1: you grow up, but you see people in person and
Speaker 1: you wouldn't say it's in my face.
Speaker 2: Though. Yeah, everyone wants everyone wants a funny hot take
Speaker 2: the most retweets, But this is going to stand through history. Tweets,
Speaker 2: don't you know? Tweets are nothing. This is gonna you know,
Speaker 2: decades from now, kids are going to be passing this
Speaker 2: portrait and they won't think anything of it exactly.
Speaker 1: So that is my brown break from the negativity about
Speaker 1: the portraits. Whether you like it or not, They're here
Speaker 1: to stay. And I'm proud of the two artists.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Oh I just find anything with their faces on
Speaker 2: and comforting. I'm gonna buy some Michelle Obama socks or something,
Speaker 2: just so I want to do a brown boost this week.
Speaker 2: I actually was hanging out with a couple of friends,
Speaker 2: not this a couple of weekends ago, and I meant
Speaker 2: to do this break this boost last week, but the
Speaker 2: whole lasting took over. So I need to do a
Speaker 2: boost for Sesame Street, the wokest show on the war
Speaker 2: in the world right now. Because I was I was,
Speaker 2: I happen to stay over at their house and they
Speaker 2: have a young daughter, she's a year and a half
Speaker 2: and she loves Sesame Street. And it was Sunday morning,
Speaker 2: and I guess a new, a new hot Sesame Street
Speaker 2: episode drops on HBO every every Sunday at like nine am.
Speaker 2: I didn't know it, but I found out, and so
Speaker 2: when we were all watching it, and it was this,
Speaker 2: it was the cutest little episode it was about. It
Speaker 2: was one muppet with with the curly natural hair and
Speaker 2: two poofs on either side, like the same way I
Speaker 2: wore my hair, and a lot of black girls wore
Speaker 2: their hair on their little kids and sometimes still now.
Speaker 2: And then a little muppet with like blonde hair and
Speaker 2: they were they were damn and the blonde hair girl.
Speaker 2: It was all about teaching about self love and how
Speaker 2: different hair textures are beautiful. But they told the story
Speaker 2: like for children.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: The way that they did it is the girl with
Speaker 2: the blonde hair was like whipping her hair back and forth,
Speaker 2: and she was like whip your hair, whip your hair
Speaker 2: and the other girl's like, well, my hair doesn't whip
Speaker 2: like that. We can't dance together. And then the the end,
Speaker 2: the story ending was like, we can dance together. Your hair,
Speaker 2: I think. I think her hair bounced and her her
Speaker 2: hair bounced and the other girl's hair whipped, and they
Speaker 2: made like a dance about you know, hair that bounces
Speaker 2: versus hair that whips. And I just thought it was
Speaker 2: so cute and I was she says to me Street
Speaker 2: like this is amazing. You can just tell they are
Speaker 2: really like whoever's writing this show that you don't think
Speaker 2: about children's television, but and how important it is, you know.
Speaker 2: But I don't know. I just I just loved it.
Speaker 2: And to see their little brown baby watching them and
Speaker 2: me so happy.
Speaker 3: Ah, I love that. Honestly.
Speaker 1: That's me ses Me Place right or Sesame streetest Street.
Speaker 3: I think it's Street right.
Speaker 2: I mean it was Stree when I was a kid.
Speaker 2: Maybe it changed that, I don't know.
Speaker 3: No, I think it is Time Street.
Speaker 1: I think Sessy Place is like the actual like there's
Speaker 1: a physical like location where like an amusement park.
Speaker 3: But yeah, Sesame Street is the best.
Speaker 2: I had no idea. Mm hmmm, did get it all?
Speaker 3: Do we have any good questions we do?
Speaker 2: I was saving this one from last week. Let me
Speaker 2: go find it real quick.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say yes iTunes for that Black History Month.
Speaker 2: My wind.
Speaker 1: That next week we're gonna see if we're gonna say,
Speaker 1: we're gonna save it never mine rewind.
Speaker 3: So do we have any questions this week? It's fine sidebar.
Speaker 1: My friend Libriya Jones I posted like about Black Ambition
Speaker 1: on my Facebook page.
Speaker 3: She was like, oh my god, tell your co host Manny,
Speaker 3: she's got a great voice.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, thank you you think so? Oh I can't
Speaker 2: leave to Oh really sorry, thank you?
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: I will tell my siblings who constantly told me how
Speaker 2: annoying it was when I talked all the time as
Speaker 2: a kid. So, yeah, we have a good question and
Speaker 2: you guys, thanks for sending. We got actually quite a
Speaker 2: few questions a week, but I have to go back
Speaker 2: to those from this one from last week. But just
Speaker 2: as a reminder, you know, you can go to Brown
Speaker 2: Ambition Podcast dot com dot com to drop us a question.
Speaker 2: Just click on ask us anything, or you can hit
Speaker 2: us up directly via email at Brown Ambition Podcast at
Speaker 2: gmail dot.
Speaker 3: Com dot com.
Speaker 2: All right, so this question I thought it was funny.
Speaker 2: This is from Jamishia. I think I'm pronouncing that right,
Speaker 2: Jamisha or Jamisia. She says, is there a harm to
Speaker 2: getting rental cars for other people? My two brothers are
Speaker 2: constantly asking me to rent cars for them. I always
Speaker 2: say no because I don't want my name attached to
Speaker 2: it and if anything happens, it could it could fall
Speaker 2: on me. Correct. I told them I don't want to
Speaker 2: lend out my name, and they're insisting that I'm not.
Speaker 2: And uh they're insisting that of blah blah blah, uh
Speaker 2: and try to guilt me, saying you never want to
Speaker 2: help me, blah blah blah. What do you guys think?
Speaker 2: Am I being too harsh? They have their own cars,
Speaker 2: but they're always selling them for some reason or another,
Speaker 2: and in between they drive rentals.
Speaker 3: So why that's such a young guy thing? Right?
Speaker 2: I could get the car selling it, right, get the
Speaker 2: car sell it. I don't. It's probably they're leasing it
Speaker 2: and their leases are up and then they're like renting
Speaker 2: in between or something like that. I don't know. That
Speaker 2: sounds some shady is happening. I think your spidy senses
Speaker 2: are correct, Jamisia Jamisha, I would say no in a
Speaker 2: heartbeat too, But I actually just had this happen my baby,
Speaker 2: my baby cousin who told me my hair ain't right.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put her I'm gonna put her business out there.
Speaker 2: So she's nineteen, and she's lived, you know, having having
Speaker 2: seen her grow ups. I used to live with my
Speaker 2: between college and getting a grown adult job. I live
Speaker 2: with my uncle and his basement for like two months,
Speaker 2: and I live with my baby cousins and I, you know,
Speaker 2: in the same house with them. They were twelve and
Speaker 2: six and Anna was a twelve year old. So I've
Speaker 2: seen them grow up and they, you know, their parents
Speaker 2: were always there for them whatever they wanted. They had,
Speaker 2: you know, lived like a but a very loving, like
Speaker 2: supported kind of household. Never had to you know, never
Speaker 2: wanted for anything like solid middle class. And now Ann
Speaker 2: a Banana as I call her, is in college and
Speaker 2: she wants to get a wants to get her first apartment.
Speaker 2: You know, she's working the job, she's got the school
Speaker 2: going on, but they require a co signer, and her dad,
Speaker 2: for whatever reason, doesn't want to co sign. So I
Speaker 2: get this like frantic test from text from her, maybe
Speaker 2: I need a co signer, please co sign my apartment.
Speaker 2: And I'm like and this is the first time, but
Speaker 2: I'm like, I love this is my baby, like I
Speaker 2: love Anna to like I would do anything for her.
Speaker 2: But I had to check myself because I was reaching
Speaker 2: for the pen and I'm like, like, what would you
Speaker 2: tell a brown ambition listener, Mandy, don't do it? Like,
Speaker 2: don't do it. And I feel like this is what
Speaker 2: happens when like your siblings or someone comes to you
Speaker 2: and they give you those big puppy dog eyes and
Speaker 2: ask for something like this.
Speaker 3: And honestly, the truth is you might not even be
Speaker 3: able to.
Speaker 1: So I'm on Enterprise's site and Enterprise is a major
Speaker 1: car rental company and they have on their faques can
Speaker 1: I pay for a rental of a car for another individual?
Speaker 1: And it says that the renter of the vehicle must
Speaker 1: be present to sign the rental agreement and provide their
Speaker 1: credit card at the time of pickup. The renter cannot
Speaker 1: provide a credit card or debit card belonging to someone else.
Speaker 1: And if you wish to pay for a rental car
Speaker 1: but have someone else drive it, you can rent the
Speaker 1: vehicle in your name and add them as an additional driver.
Speaker 1: That so that is possible, yep. And in order to
Speaker 1: add an additional driver, the driver would have to meet
Speaker 1: all of their additional driver requirements and you just have
Speaker 1: to figure out what that is so you can.
Speaker 3: But you have to ask.
Speaker 1: So my worry is that what requirements are they not?
Speaker 1: Are they just looking for your financial support or are
Speaker 1: there's some requirements that they're not able to.
Speaker 3: Reach, you know?
Speaker 1: And so I would just be nervous because if something happens,
Speaker 1: you know, that's your your name and your you know,
Speaker 1: potentially your money. And so the answer would be, like
Speaker 1: if my sister asked me to rent a car, it's
Speaker 1: hard when it's like your you know, your baby sister
Speaker 1: and brother.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean a judgment call based on what
Speaker 2: you know about them.
Speaker 1: Yes, I was gonna say that, Like if baby Lisa
Speaker 1: asked me, the answer is no, I love baby Lisa.
Speaker 3: Sorryly.
Speaker 1: But now if my sister Tracy asked me, who's two
Speaker 1: years younger, she's super responsible, and let's just say she's like,
Speaker 1: I just need it for a week because my car's
Speaker 1: in the shop.
Speaker 3: Blah blah, blah.
Speaker 1: I might say yes because Tracy is the most responsible
Speaker 1: well out of all of my sisters, you know, although
Speaker 1: it's not the best idea just based upon our history,
Speaker 1: I might say yes.
Speaker 2: So, oh, I know what it might be. What if
Speaker 2: they're under twenty five?
Speaker 1: Oh well, then if they're under twenty five, then you
Speaker 1: would want to And that's what I was thinking, That's
Speaker 1: what it sounded like. Still, you'd want to add them
Speaker 1: on as an additional driver, and you'd want to make
Speaker 1: sure that they could legally drive that car because they
Speaker 1: would have to still meet whatever requirements are required as
Speaker 1: an additional driver.
Speaker 3: So you'd have to fire.
Speaker 2: Still have to show the rental agency their driver's license
Speaker 2: at them, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: For sure, because I hope what they're not trying to
Speaker 1: do is get you to rent it as as if
Speaker 1: you're driving it and they're they're going to drive Oh no, no.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, because you can get even more trouble for that.
Speaker 3: What super trouble, super trouble.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jamisha, I'm going to support I'm gonna back you
Speaker 2: up on this one. Hold your ground. Don't let your
Speaker 2: shady brothers use your name. First of all, this requires
Speaker 2: you going down to the rental agency, take a time
Speaker 2: out of your day. I mean, this is a lot
Speaker 2: of trouble for you. They need to get their act
Speaker 2: together exactly. I'm kind of talking to myself and trying
Speaker 2: to like build my because I still kind of feel
Speaker 2: bad for saying no but tonight to baby Anna. But
Speaker 2: I'm in the middle of the mortgage process. I can't
Speaker 2: be co signing, you know, an apartment. And also, I mean,
Speaker 2: if anyone have you ever been asked by like a
Speaker 2: sibling or like a cousin or something friend to co sign?
Speaker 1: Thank thank goodness, no now as yet, because I literally
Speaker 1: remember that when I was in high school, my dad
Speaker 1: sitting my sisters and I and all down forbidding us
Speaker 1: to co sign for each other or to ask each
Speaker 1: other to co sign and telling us why, like we
Speaker 1: had real money lessons and so like that's never and
Speaker 1: I don't have any cousins my age, like our age range,
Speaker 1: so it was mostly like us growing up together, and
Speaker 1: so we've never asked each other to uh to co
Speaker 1: sign because we've you know, we kind of grew up
Speaker 1: with that lesson of like my dad's like don't ask
Speaker 1: me and don't ask your sisters.
Speaker 3: The answer is now.
Speaker 1: If you want to give your sister money or if
Speaker 1: you only want to lend her money, that's another thing.
Speaker 3: But to co sign your name, don't never do that.
Speaker 2: And I wish everyone had your dad to like give them,
Speaker 2: give them the talk. You know, I didn't. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: said I should actually just talk to Anna and explain
Speaker 2: to her more reasons, like what cosigning means, and like
Speaker 2: why you know, why I was hesitant, and and why
Speaker 2: she should think she should find other ways to get
Speaker 2: that apartment. I think you can put that a bigger
Speaker 2: deposit or or something like that, or just plead your
Speaker 2: case because I you know, I don't know, But that
Speaker 2: just kind of goes back to I feel like growing
Speaker 2: up sort of always kind of getting what you want
Speaker 2: the first time. You know, that first time when you're
Speaker 2: like a teenager and you don't get something that you want,
Speaker 2: like a teenager trying to be an adult. Yes, you're like,
Speaker 2: what do you mean? I can't do this thing? But
Speaker 2: I had an idea. I was going to, like, you know,
Speaker 2: have my own apartment. I kind of it's hard for me,
Speaker 2: but I want her to feel that frustration and then
Speaker 2: find a solution on her own.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and it's good. But like you said, it's
Speaker 1: a great teach of a moment.
Speaker 2: Definitely. Well. Thanks for your question, Jamisha, and good luck
Speaker 2: with them brothers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Wucha, do you want to take another question?
Speaker 2: We could give me a second. I'll find another one,
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 3: In the meantime, I'll keep you guys company. So hey,
Speaker 3: come here often.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm so happy it's not been a terrible winter
Speaker 1: in the Northeast. I mean, we've had a little snow,
Speaker 1: a little cold, but it has not been We have
Speaker 1: definitely have way worse winters, and so I'm glad that
Speaker 1: although the flu season has been at its worst.
Speaker 2: I'm just talking talking about the weather. Everyone's like, stay
Speaker 2: with me, stay with me. I have another question.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was like, I'm gonna start singing in a minute.
Speaker 2: I had to save you. So Tho's question is from
Speaker 2: listener Wanna. She says, I was wondering if you guys
Speaker 2: can talk about paying a car or mortgage off sooner?
Speaker 2: Is it possible to double up on payments each year?
Speaker 2: Thank you for your time, Wanna.
Speaker 3: Wanna you wanna pay it all?
Speaker 1: I know you probably hear that a lot. Sorry, what
Speaker 1: no I was saying? Wana I was using her name like,
Speaker 1: ah ya want to pay it off early?
Speaker 3: Huh. But I'm sure people use her name Wana like
Speaker 3: that all the time.
Speaker 2: Super clever.
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly, I'm sure she's like super original.
Speaker 2: Good quest. I was actually just asking myself the sorry
Speaker 2: to cut you off, Yeah, go ahead, this is good
Speaker 2: for you, my babe, because I was because you know,
Speaker 2: we're getting a mortgage for this house, and I was
Speaker 2: looking at the amortization schedule. I had to practice saying
Speaker 2: that amortization schedule and this is basically if you've heard
Speaker 2: of this phrase before the mortgage, this is the schedule
Speaker 2: of how much of your payments will go toward your principle,
Speaker 2: which is your actual loan balance versus the interest that
Speaker 2: you're paying on your loan balance over time. And I
Speaker 2: looked up I just you know, did that there's like amateurs,
Speaker 2: Oh god, I can't say it. Amortization calculators on the
Speaker 2: internet that you can use and you can put in
Speaker 2: your loan amount and it can give you an example
Speaker 2: of what your schedule might be. And I was astounded
Speaker 2: because banks set it up. Maybe this isn't news to everybody,
Speaker 2: but it was like news to me to see this
Speaker 2: that how much of your first mortgage payments, like for
Speaker 2: the first five years go toward intra Oh my god,
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm going to pay how much money and interest?
Speaker 2: And how little? I think it was. I don't even remember.
Speaker 2: It was like it was over one hundred thousand in
Speaker 2: interest and less than one hundred, like less than fifty
Speaker 2: thousand in principal payments in the first five years. I
Speaker 2: was like, oh nah, So naturally, I'm like, how do
Speaker 2: I avoid this? And you can make additional principal payments
Speaker 2: on your mortgage. There's typically I mean, I haven't gotten
Speaker 2: my first mortgage bill yet, but I've read that there's
Speaker 2: typically a box you can check when you're paying your
Speaker 2: bill online or even I don't even know if people
Speaker 2: mail checks anymore, but online you should be able to
Speaker 2: say I want to make an additional principal payment and
Speaker 2: make sure you check that box and submit a payment
Speaker 2: toward your principle whenever you want. I think there's no
Speaker 2: unless your mortgage loan has some sort of pre payment penalty,
Speaker 2: which is a thing lenders can do penalize you for
Speaker 2: paying your loan off early, which is shisty to the
Speaker 2: ninth degree. Nth degree. Yeah, so just keep that in.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you can totally pay your make additional payments
Speaker 2: towards a loan, and you don't have to do it
Speaker 2: just once a year, I think she said, doubling up
Speaker 2: on payments once a year. No, you can. You can
Speaker 2: double up once a month. You can take an extra
Speaker 2: fifty dollars that you get from you know, doing something
Speaker 2: like getting a rebate or something and put it towards
Speaker 2: your mortgage. And I'm thinking, I'm like already strategizing, how
Speaker 2: can I beat this memortization schedule? Because nah, like how.
Speaker 3: I can't go out like that? No, it's true. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and be just be more mindful.
Speaker 1: So Mandy said everything that I would say, I want
Speaker 1: you to just be more mindful, because she said car
Speaker 1: and home that you're more likely to find if you're
Speaker 1: financing a car, you're more likely to find that they
Speaker 1: have that pre payment, that you're not able to make
Speaker 1: a pre payment, because I've seen a lot of people
Speaker 1: not really read their finance contract when they when they
Speaker 1: finance a car, should just be really careful about that.
Speaker 1: Like homes these days, they typically don't have that. But
Speaker 1: obviously you want to ask that question like, well, am
Speaker 1: I able to prepay this mortgage and the car? The
Speaker 1: best thing to do, truthfully is to bring your own
Speaker 1: financing from like your own bank or even better credit union,
Speaker 1: so you know everything. And you're like, no, no, I
Speaker 1: actually came with my own I don't you don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about that. Yeah, no, I think did you
Speaker 1: see that? More and more, I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: seen this. This is in alignment with home buying, Like
Speaker 1: I've been seeing more and more videos, like the guy
Speaker 1: from Shark Tank said this. Another guy said this, that
Speaker 1: they're really telling people not to buy homes.
Speaker 2: What do you mean like on the so.
Speaker 1: Just saying like I was watching the guy I don't
Speaker 1: remember his name, but the bald guy from shark Tank
Speaker 1: was like, unless you're married with kids, he does not
Speaker 1: suggest you buy a home.
Speaker 3: And his name is Kevin. I think his name is.
Speaker 2: Oh the guy from Fubu.
Speaker 3: No no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: Not mister wonderful, mister wonderful. Yeah yeah, by the old guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the old guy. Yeah, it's before him.
Speaker 1: He's like some probably multi billionaire and there made all
Speaker 1: these great moves and we're like he's relegated to the
Speaker 1: old guy on the shark pit, so he was saying that.
Speaker 1: But that's not the first time, Like I've been seeing
Speaker 1: it more and more pop up as I read, like
Speaker 1: I like to read like a lot of like financial
Speaker 1: like articles and magazines and stuff. And really they've been
Speaker 1: talking about and even now with the new tax plan,
Speaker 1: how like that your your your standard deductions are going
Speaker 1: to actually outpace what you'd get if you would itemize
Speaker 1: your income tax. I'm not your income tax, your your
Speaker 1: your mortgage tax, and so.
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you. I'm like, come on on that.
Speaker 2: I'm here, I'm with the layup. I got to you
Speaker 2: knows the finish line.
Speaker 3: And so I'm just like wow.
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's a weird not by house movement
Speaker 1: that seems to be brewing, and I don't necessarily to me,
Speaker 1: there's benefits obviously to both, but I'm just wondering why
Speaker 1: that's happening. Why people are telling you not to buy
Speaker 1: a home and that renting is better unless you have like,
Speaker 1: you know, like a family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've actually been, you know, because I started So
Speaker 2: it's funny, not funny, but I started covering personal finance
Speaker 2: as a journalist in twenty ten, right at the you know,
Speaker 2: the the economy was kind of like falling apart, and
Speaker 2: the housing crisis obviously had already happened and was dragging
Speaker 2: people down, you know, for years to come after that.
Speaker 2: And at the time, there was this huge movement, you know,
Speaker 2: the idea of the American dream being get a house,
Speaker 2: you know, with the backyard and the picket fence and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. There were you know, a
Speaker 2: ton of articles being written back then about how that
Speaker 2: dream has been destroyed by this housing crisis and ever
Speaker 2: since then that, I mean, the most common one of
Speaker 2: the most common headlines I've written and seen in personal
Speaker 2: finance news is buy versus rent? When does it make sense?
Speaker 3: Was it not?
Speaker 2: When does it not make sense? And I think and
Speaker 2: also among millennials, the idea of buying a house. This
Speaker 2: is why I struggle with it for so long. And
Speaker 2: you know, I really resisted my husband, who wanted to
Speaker 2: buy a house. I kept saying, why why throw all
Speaker 2: this money into a you know, a house that could
Speaker 2: any day now be worth nothing? Why do that to ourselves?
Speaker 2: And also renting is you know, so much more freeing,
Speaker 2: Like we don't have to worry about maintenance or you know,
Speaker 2: just that's actually just it maintenance, you know, pipes that
Speaker 2: are bursting, and all the responsibilities that go with home ownership.
Speaker 2: Like there's I've definitely heard this argument, and I think
Speaker 2: what's I think what's making it like maybe a little
Speaker 2: bit more common now is the fact that we are
Speaker 2: in a very like we're the market is going up,
Speaker 2: I mean not just going up, but the housing market
Speaker 2: is insane that the supply of housing, the supply of
Speaker 2: houses is so not keeping pace with demand that that's
Speaker 2: why housing values are just going insanely high right now,
Speaker 2: Like in Atlanta, for example. Atlanta is one of these cities.
Speaker 2: You know, we we just did a study of competitive
Speaker 2: housing markets and Atlanta is one of those cities. I've
Speaker 2: been looking at. My brother just bought there where I'm wondering,
Speaker 2: are is there like a mini housing bubble happening in
Speaker 2: Atlanta and these other cities where people are just like
Speaker 2: rushing to buy houses and it's driving up prices because
Speaker 2: there's not enough inventory. And I actually asked my buddy
Speaker 2: Tenda are chief Economists about this, and he explained the
Speaker 2: whole the reason sort of why we have this lack
Speaker 2: of supply and why that's driving housing prices so high,
Speaker 2: and he explained, and it makes a lot of sense. So,
Speaker 2: you know, leading up to the recession, you saw a
Speaker 2: ton of people building developments and speculating and buying up
Speaker 2: homes and buying up lots of land to build houses on.
Speaker 2: You know, all these developers, all these construction companies building
Speaker 2: these developments. And then the housing crash happened and there
Speaker 2: was all these empty houses, never sold. People lost jillions
Speaker 2: of billions of dollars, and so there was this fear
Speaker 2: around the same thing happening again. So people weren't building
Speaker 2: as many homes, and so there just isn't naturally enough
Speaker 2: home now to meet demand in every city. Some cities
Speaker 2: it's not that bad. Some cities it's way worse. New
Speaker 2: York City is ridiculous right now.
Speaker 3: Ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's this artificial price increase that's happening just
Speaker 2: because of natural supply versus demand. Okay, And actually, my
Speaker 2: financial planner, when we talked to her last week, I
Speaker 2: needed someone to tell me that I was not making
Speaker 2: an insane choice because I was worried about it too.
Speaker 2: You know, it is a hot market and I was
Speaker 2: looking at I mean, if you look at if you
Speaker 2: go to Zillo or Trulyia or realtor dot com, and
Speaker 2: you can look at housing values in your neighborhood over
Speaker 2: the last you know, ten years, and across the board.
Speaker 2: What I've seen is this very big dip around two
Speaker 2: thousand and eight twenty twelve, and then this huge incline
Speaker 2: since then. And I was like, damn, I wish I
Speaker 2: could have bought during the dip.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I thought like that.
Speaker 1: Yet when I was stalking like Zillo and Trulyia and
Speaker 1: Realtor dot Com, I remember looking like, ah, man, I
Speaker 1: could have got the same house for like twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars less as I was looking.
Speaker 2: But at the end of the so one of the
Speaker 2: things that I did with my planner and I'm glad
Speaker 2: she asked that. She what she said is, you know,
Speaker 2: I think you guys are thinking about this. You know,
Speaker 2: you have a you have a healthy size down payment.
Speaker 2: I think you're thinking things through. But I am concerned
Speaker 2: because you're buying at the height of the market. And
Speaker 2: together we looked at housing values where we were, the
Speaker 2: county where we're buying, specifically the county where we're buying,
Speaker 2: and the house that we're getting is one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: I don't know what percentage it is lower less. The
Speaker 2: sales price is about one hundred thousand dollars less than
Speaker 2: the average sales price of a comparable home in this county, Okay.
Speaker 2: And like I said, I got very fortunate. I'm just
Speaker 2: I'm just explaining my thought process because I think, you know,
Speaker 2: I think everyone situation is different. But here's why I
Speaker 2: thought it was a good deal for us. One, the
Speaker 2: it's right place for us for our commute and our lifestyles. Two,
Speaker 2: we're getting it because the couple who's selling the house
Speaker 2: are really eager to retire there eager to sell. We
Speaker 2: were fortunate to even find this house on a whim
Speaker 2: by checking the Zillo app and they slash the price
Speaker 2: because of how eager they are. So we're getting it
Speaker 2: under market value, significant only undermarket value. And I actually
Speaker 2: went back and I looked at where the housing prices
Speaker 2: in this neighborhood were at the bottom of the market
Speaker 2: in twenty twelve, that's when the bottom was for the
Speaker 2: county we're purchasing in. And the house is only slightly
Speaker 2: more than it was than the average or the media
Speaker 2: and whatever it is sales price of a comparable home
Speaker 2: in twenty twelve, and I recommend if you're thinking about
Speaker 2: buying and you want to know is this market is
Speaker 2: this a bubble? I would go back and see, you know,
Speaker 2: definitely look at the comps. You might hear that if
Speaker 2: you'd like watch any HGTV shows, but like, see what
Speaker 2: a comparable house meaning, like single family, how many bedrooms,
Speaker 2: how many bath in the same zip code, same city
Speaker 2: or whatever town county is selling for and then you
Speaker 2: might get a better idea if you are if you're
Speaker 2: really buying the tip of a potential bubble or whatever.
Speaker 1: And as the key is, you want to like if
Speaker 1: like Mandy and I are buying in, we're thinking like investors,
Speaker 1: and so even though we're gonna live in these homes,
Speaker 1: you still want to think of your house as an investment.
Speaker 1: And so like I, you know, I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: I got outbid on the other homes, because honestly, they
Speaker 1: were the houses the help. The homes that I didn't
Speaker 1: get were really super inflated because they would be listed
Speaker 1: for two hundred maybe two hundred and twenty thousand, and
Speaker 1: then go for sixty two eighty two weeks later. And
Speaker 1: so if I would have gotten one of those homes,
Speaker 1: who knows if once the housing markets markets settled down
Speaker 1: in Newark, if I was if I overpaid. Whereas now
Speaker 1: with this house that we're getting, because it's a foreclosure
Speaker 1: and the house and the copperper houses in the neighborhood
Speaker 1: are worth three sixty this house is worth three sixty
Speaker 1: six at its current state. Me getting it for one
Speaker 1: eighty guarantees, it's like, I mean, it would have to
Speaker 1: drop so significantly in order for this not to be
Speaker 1: a good deal, even with us gonna put like we're
Speaker 1: gonna put maybe like up to fifty thousand dollars worth
Speaker 1: of work into the house to get like the bathroom
Speaker 1: in the kitchen that I want. And so even with that,
Speaker 1: we still come out on top. So if you're buying
Speaker 1: a home to live in, to still think about it
Speaker 1: as a as an investment, like you know, like Mandy said,
Speaker 1: she did her due diligence to say, Okay, despite us
Speaker 1: buying like during a time when we're at the top
Speaker 1: of the housing market, this house is still a good buy, yep.
Speaker 2: And and you know, investment not in the sense that oh,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna this is gonna be my nest egg one year.
Speaker 2: You know, I feel bad for the couple because this
Speaker 2: really you can tell this is their nest egg. You know,
Speaker 2: they bought this house in seventy nine for forty five
Speaker 2: thousand dollars. You know, they've made a ton of money,
Speaker 2: but this is their retirement. And I, you know, and
Speaker 2: I understand why they want to why they want to sell. Now.
Speaker 2: It's great seller's market, you know, there's tons of hours,
Speaker 2: but I'm not thinking that way. I really do. I
Speaker 2: just want to not lose money on this house. I
Speaker 2: don't want to lose a lot of money in this house.
Speaker 3: You're not.
Speaker 2: But it's also you know, another thing is you know
Speaker 2: the you know, I don't know if well you bought
Speaker 2: you paid for your house in cash. Most people use
Speaker 2: a mortgage. And the mortgage lender I was, you know,
Speaker 2: I've interviewed, like I felt like I was interviewing. I
Speaker 2: really was interviewing three different lenders to see what they
Speaker 2: had on offer. And they'd be like, oh, you can
Speaker 2: qualify r way more than this, don't you worry. You're like,
Speaker 2: we can get you up to this, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: here's what I want. I don't want that. I want
Speaker 2: half of that. This is how much I need to
Speaker 2: loan for because I do not want my expenses to
Speaker 2: be any higher than they are right now as I'm renting,
Speaker 2: and that's been my goal and I'm so far. I mean,
Speaker 2: I really had to put a roof a ceiling on
Speaker 2: my own budget, and with my budget, we really weren't
Speaker 2: supposed to be able to get a house. It's only
Speaker 2: because we got this deal. We saw happened to see this,
Speaker 2: you know, this house right when it sort of hit
Speaker 2: the market, that we were able to get it because
Speaker 2: I and thank god, they like us enough. I mean,
Speaker 2: who knows not gone a million pieces of wood because
Speaker 2: we're still in contract. I know, anybody can come and
Speaker 2: outfit us. You know, anybody could you know, I'm going
Speaker 2: to knock on all the wood, all of it. But
Speaker 2: you know, that's that's I think that's you know, if
Speaker 2: you're thinking about buying, definitely don't get caught up in
Speaker 2: the emotion of it, or oh, Mandy and Tiffany are
Speaker 2: buying a house, like and my cousin just bought a
Speaker 2: house and I should buy a house, and you really
Speaker 2: have to look at your own situation and where you're
Speaker 2: buying and what's happening in your market and what you
Speaker 2: can afford. Because, Yeah, if anything positive came from the
Speaker 2: housing crisis, I think it was that breakdown of this
Speaker 2: myth that you need a home. You need a house
Speaker 2: to be successful or to be seen as successful. No,
Speaker 2: you just need a high you know, a positive net
Speaker 2: worth and exactly.
Speaker 1: What you're doing.
Speaker 3: I got my home, I thought I was so grown
Speaker 3: and cute.
Speaker 1: I said, I'm twenty five, kindo with the house, kind
Speaker 1: of a check me out, and then a few years later,
Speaker 1: I'm twenty five with a closure twenty nine.
Speaker 3: It's that grand opening, grand clothing.
Speaker 1: So yes, if I could talk to that Tiffany back then,
Speaker 1: I had like forty thousand dollars saves, I could have
Speaker 1: invested and done something different, And yeah, there was just
Speaker 1: a lot I didn't know. So definitely buying a house
Speaker 1: is not the cure all. Anytime you're spending a lot
Speaker 1: of money, you just want to be mindful that you're
Speaker 1: adding to your lifestyle and you're adding to your net worth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll let you know how it all works out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're rooting for you so hopefully, Like I said,
Speaker 1: May nineteenth, it's our closing date, which is just you know,
Speaker 1: we've been through a lot, like we've been through a
Speaker 1: lot with this you have.
Speaker 2: And I'm in that mode where I'm like, something's gonna happen.
Speaker 3: No, don't claim it.
Speaker 1: You guys have, you gonna have smooth sailing. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be great. Like I told myself, even if the bank
Speaker 1: doesn't clean out the house that they promised, because that's
Speaker 1: what we're waiting on now, then the good thing is
Speaker 1: we have all the paperwork. We'll just close because we've
Speaker 1: got the closing agent and they have all the paper
Speaker 1: where we can close today. That's the only reason why
Speaker 1: I feel really confident is that we can close today
Speaker 1: where we are. But you know, they promised to clean
Speaker 1: out the house, and honestly, it'd be a few hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: if not a thousand or so plus dollars to rent
Speaker 1: the dumpster and all that stuff to get rid of
Speaker 1: all the crap in the house. So I much rather
Speaker 1: be patient and let them take care of it. But
Speaker 1: they promised a month ago, so this is like their
Speaker 1: last month.
Speaker 3: To kind of get it together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and if not I just told super Man, let's
Speaker 1: just whatever if that's what it takes. I mean, we'll
Speaker 1: just get our friends together to help us out, because
Speaker 1: I just don't want to wait forever, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, oh, one one quick thing I didn't mention.
Speaker 2: I actually, you know, one of the reasons I talked
Speaker 2: about on the show. It's an early stage. You might
Speaker 2: be wondering, why is she talking about it out loud,
Speaker 2: like what if something happens, you know, to be terrible
Speaker 2: that it falls through. But I'm so I'm kind of
Speaker 2: like so fascinated by the whole mortgage lending process itself
Speaker 2: because I've written about it for so long and now
Speaker 2: I'm living it, and I'm really excited to be able
Speaker 2: to share some some like actual first person experience with this,
Speaker 2: with this shadiness, like the like the one thing I'm
Speaker 2: excited slash nervous about is so we've put in our
Speaker 2: We've got and pre approved for a loan from different lenders.
Speaker 2: We chose our lender. You'll be excited. It's ally they
Speaker 2: do mortgages and their customer service is great. So so
Speaker 2: we've gotten approved, we're in contract, but the lender now
Speaker 2: is going to do an appraisal. And this is one
Speaker 2: thing to keep in mind when you're buying at market.
Speaker 2: So the bidding wars are happening, you know, you're putting
Speaker 2: in a higher offer. We didn't get into any you know,
Speaker 2: a serious bidding war. What was I going to say? Oh,
Speaker 2: the appraisal. So I was I'm worried. I was a
Speaker 2: little bit worried. I'm like, Okay, what if the appraisal
Speaker 2: comes in. You know, the bank wants to know that
Speaker 2: if they give you this loan, that they will be
Speaker 2: able to recoup it if something happens right, So that's
Speaker 2: why they do their own appraisal of the property and
Speaker 2: they get their own value of the house. And if
Speaker 2: you're in a in a hot market, you know, if
Speaker 2: that appraisal comes in lower than what you've been bidding,
Speaker 2: there is something written in our contract that gives us
Speaker 2: an out that we can you know, leave the table
Speaker 2: at that point because the bank isn't going to give
Speaker 2: us a loan for the amount that we need. You know,
Speaker 2: we'd have to basically make up the difference in cash.
Speaker 2: You know, Let's say the house we put in a
Speaker 2: bit of like five hundred thousand, but the appraisal says
Speaker 2: it's worth four twenty, then the bank would be like,
Speaker 2: we're only going to give you four twenty, so I
Speaker 2: have to come up with the other eighty grand And
Speaker 2: I'm you know, this is a hypothetical buying going to
Speaker 2: do that, so I would walk away. But that's you know,
Speaker 2: our lawyers, you know, made sure that clause was in
Speaker 2: our contracts. We can get out, and that's sort of
Speaker 2: my That's the question I have now is what's it
Speaker 2: going to appraise for? Because if it's not what we're
Speaker 2: buying it for, I am not.
Speaker 1: Of course, no, no, now here's the thing. This is
Speaker 1: the mistake that I made with a house that we
Speaker 1: loved in the beginning. That what I wish I would
Speaker 1: have gotten my inspection before the appraisal, because you have
Speaker 1: to pay for the inspection and the appraisal, and I
Speaker 1: had them both done on the same day. And I
Speaker 1: found out that the inspection that day, like our inspector
Speaker 1: was like, yo, this house.
Speaker 3: Is falling apart.
Speaker 1: And so now if I would have known that, I
Speaker 1: could have not had the appraisal. The appraisal was like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe like nine hundred dollar. So I
Speaker 1: paid for that on a house that if I had
Speaker 1: just gotten inspected beforehand, I could say, you know what,
Speaker 1: no appraisal needed, We're not getting.
Speaker 3: This house, so that's just yeah, that's something go ahead.
Speaker 2: We actually got our inspection the same week or offer
Speaker 2: was accepted.
Speaker 3: Okay, I did it.
Speaker 1: Yes, the appraisal is not I mean expection. So but
Speaker 1: that's something I didn't realize. I'm like, oh, I should
Speaker 1: have had the inspection done ahead of time, so just
Speaker 1: so we don't have to even go through any of
Speaker 1: this stuff, because if the house wasn't gonna you know,
Speaker 1: if it didn't pass, I didn't have to spend all
Speaker 1: this extra money I ended up spending. Honestly, when it
Speaker 1: was all said and done, it was like over two
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in the process, to only find out later
Speaker 1: this house is not you know, livable basically, And I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, it was such I know, it was
Speaker 1: such a hard pulble swallow, but it was a good
Speaker 1: lesson because there's things you have to pay for along
Speaker 1: the way, like you know that you know, I you know,
Speaker 1: had I known, like I said, I wouldn't have done.
Speaker 1: But you know, you living with you learn And I
Speaker 1: was just like, ugh, just just as mindful for you
Speaker 1: who are thinking about purchasing a property, make sure you
Speaker 1: get your inspection first and foremost.
Speaker 2: And so far, I'm finding out all the averages you
Speaker 2: read on the internets are higher in real life, at
Speaker 2: least in New York. Like my inspection was six hundred dollars,
Speaker 2: but then once you factor in the pest inspection and
Speaker 2: this raid on test, which to this day, I don't
Speaker 2: know if you know I really needed it or not.
Speaker 2: We spent eight hundred dollars on the inspection and I
Speaker 2: was and I walked I don't know if you walked
Speaker 2: through with your inspection person, but I we walked the
Speaker 2: entire house with them, and it was a man and
Speaker 2: his son, and they were like incredibly thorough. It was
Speaker 2: like a two and a half hour, you know experience,
Speaker 2: and I felt really good and Solid's like I wanted
Speaker 2: the inspection right away and so fast because it wasn't
Speaker 2: it is an older house. It was built in nineteen
Speaker 2: forty seven, and I I just want a peace of
Speaker 2: mind that we were going to be, you know, not
Speaker 2: investing into something that was like you know, falling.
Speaker 3: Upon the part YEP.
Speaker 2: And then once we had that. Then we were like, okay,
Speaker 2: all systems go, let's do this thing. And the appraisal, Yeah,
Speaker 2: the appraisal, that's part of your closing costs down the line.
Speaker 2: I'm excited slash terrified.
Speaker 1: I know, no, I don't worry, like yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: if your if your inspection passed, then from what I've heard,
Speaker 1: appraisals usually like are in alignment. You know that's good though,
Speaker 1: keep us informed. I can't wait, broc here at your house.
Speaker 2: Oh don't chanse it, but yeah, for sure, all right.
Speaker 4: All right, it's time for Winds.
Speaker 3: Hallelujah. It's Wayne and Winds.
Speaker 2: Should we share this one or do you have you
Speaker 2: know I like, I would definitely like to share this one.
Speaker 2: We can share this one. So if you guys haven't
Speaker 2: checked your iTunes app lately, you might see some familiar faces.
Speaker 2: iTunes showing the love to brand ambition once again. They
Speaker 2: put us on the Black History Months featured list on
Speaker 2: the podcast page, which is so exciting. Yes, very exciting,
Speaker 2: so check it out. Well, you're already listening, so you
Speaker 2: know you probably saw it or you've already been a fan.
Speaker 2: But thank you for your support, and thank you to
Speaker 2: iTunes for the love anything you want to add.
Speaker 3: To No, it was just nice to see.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, wow, it's so weird, Like I like
Speaker 1: I say every week, I just feel like I'm just
Speaker 1: talking to you Manny like yeah, girl. And then so
Speaker 1: it's weird when someone's like, oh my god, I love
Speaker 1: my ambition. I'm like, that's right. It's recorded, it edited
Speaker 1: and shared, just because I'm just so like, you know,
Speaker 1: it just feels like us, like how we would talk
Speaker 1: if we see each other, hang out or whatever. So
Speaker 1: it's just dope that, you know. It's like our friendship
Speaker 1: is I don't know, interesting, and I just love that.
Speaker 2: And so entertainment that's what we are. We meet together. Money,
Speaker 2: but pot.
Speaker 3: So let's talk about how we can get Ally as
Speaker 3: a sponsor. We're putting it out there if you work
Speaker 3: for ALLYA.
Speaker 2: Wait, is that some sort am I gonna get A?
Speaker 2: I don't want to. I don't want to violate any
Speaker 2: Oh that's fine laws. I'm not trying to bribe anybody.
Speaker 1: No, I'm just saying no, no, no, I'm just saying, like,
Speaker 1: you know, because I love Ally, you love Ally.
Speaker 2: Hey, that's true, we're fans.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so you know I'm just putting it out there.
Speaker 1: If you know of any other brands that you're part of,
Speaker 1: they don't have to be financial brands. If you've heard
Speaker 1: us talk about something about our hair, nails, whatever, and
Speaker 1: you think that would be cute, cute little sponsorship opportunity,
Speaker 1: definitely hit us up on our website, which is brandabishoppodcast dot.
Speaker 3: Com dot com.
Speaker 1: Got it, Yeah, and then you know, because you just
Speaker 1: never know, You just never know what listeners are listening
Speaker 1: out there, So you could certainly contact us there and say, hey,
Speaker 1: my company would love to sponsor an episode or year
Speaker 1: or two for dollars.
Speaker 2: Yes, and thanks to everybody who filled out the listener survey.
Speaker 2: I'm going to post another link on well, you can
Speaker 2: still check it out on our Facebook page. It's just
Speaker 2: like eight or nine questions really quick for us to
Speaker 2: get to know you guys better. And I'll post a
Speaker 2: link on the website as well, so if you haven't
Speaker 2: filled it out, you still have time. And thank you
Speaker 2: for the couple hundred people who've already taken part.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we love you guys.
Speaker 2: Love Happy Valentine's Day.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, Happy balance Valentine.
Speaker 2: Galentine with the end, Happy Valentine, Oh, got it. Bye,