VA Loans Explained by a 30-Year Mortgage Expert

In this episode, we sit down with Ed Parcaut—Navy veteran, CEO of Lending for Living, radio host, and author—to unpack his nearly 30-year journey in the mortgage and real estate industry.

Ed shares how his time as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy shaped his ability to guide clients through high-pressure financial decisions, and how he unexpectedly found his way into the mortgage world in the early 90s.

💡 What you’ll learn in this interview:

• How Ed built a thriving mortgage business serving veterans, seniors, and business owners
• Why his AM radio show Real Estate Jerky generates 50% of his business
• The power of building authority through podcasts, media, and publishing
• Insider tips and myths about VA loans (including how fast they can actually close!)
• What’s really happening in today’s market—and why homeowners feel “stuck” in low-rate mortgages
• Why some investors are shifting toward gold and silver for security

📘 Ed is also the author of Financial Freedom: Building Personal Wealth Through Homeownership, where he breaks down how to qualify for a home loan and build long-term wealth.

Whether you're a veteran, homebuyer, investor, or entrepreneur, this conversation is packed with real-world insights, strategy, and perspective you won’t want to miss.

👇 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more conversations with industry leaders!

#RealEstate #VALoans #MortgageTips #Veterans #FinancialFreedom #EdParcaut #HomeBuying #Investing #Entrepreneurship 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

When we went through the pandemic, everybody was like, This is an amazing time. And I'm like, Going, okay, we're going to take existing home sales from eighty-five percent of the market down to like forty to forty-five. Well, I was wrong. We took it to thirty-five because we wrote all these loans with really low interest rates. And I call it the abusive relationship. I have people that I put into houses. Now they have four kids and they're in a two-bedroom and they're like, finally, okay, we have to move out of this. We don't have a choice. And that's what you run into. And I've never seen in my history of being in this industry rates go up five percent that fast in a six-month period. Normally we see one and a half to two percent over you know, fluctuation in the rate, and it doesn't affect purchases. 26% of all people have a mortgage over the of six percent, and 20% have a mortgage in the three percent or lower now. So that's changing. Not everybody's keeping that rate anymore because they understand life has changed. You have to do more, you have to move on, and that's what you run into.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Well, I think what that's probably just people that have to do life. They like you just said, something changes in their life.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

All righty, hey everybody, welcome to Home Guys Podcast again, Home Guys Nation. Um, and Ed, how do you say your last name? Ed Parko. Parko. Okay, um, today we are here with Ed Parco. Um he's the founder and CEO of Lending for Living, a Navy veteran, uh a talk show or talk show radio host, a two-time podcast host, and one of the most respected names in the mortgage industry. He's got advanced degrees in marketing and international business. But what really sets Ed apart is what he learned serving as a hospital corpsman in the United States Navy, how to show up for people when the stakes are high and the process feels overwhelming. Um, you've got nearly 30 years in mortgage.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Yeah, 20 years. Yeah, that don't remind me. I started when I was like 12. But you know, right.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Well, well, right out of the gates, that's uh thank you for your service. Because that's one of the things that we do all the time. Uh we see anybody with a uh Vietnam uh hat on, we always say welcome home, sold soldier, soldier.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Welcome home. My dad always says give a welcome home.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

So that's uh that means a lot to us. So appreciate that. Um, I I did uh I didn't really finish, but I was telling you, I have about three years overseas. Uh I was one of those guys that went over as a civilian uh contractor.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

And uh we I was a firefighter over there, and so stuff would fly over the fence and then we would put it out. So that was my job.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, I I was fortunate enough not to go into combat. And I say that because anybody goes in combat, yes, it's yeah, I I do a podcast called Helping the Brave, and I interview so many people, and the stories I hear from the last war, why we were in it for so long, was for a lot of the officers to get their next advancement because it looks so much better on their career when if they got their bar their star two-star during a war time than the other time, and that's why they left on huh.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Yeah, why they're in country, they get they they get yeah, yeah. I got some stories for you over there too. If you ever want uh another interviewer just for that, um I uh got some some crazy crazy stories that I probably need to talk about a little bit more. I'm getting better at talking about. Um, but yeah, it's it was a little different over there.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Well, the problem, what I'm just getting at is people wonder why you know that we're in wars for so long. It's all profitability. I'm in California, it's like the homeless. They they get all this money for the homeless, and then our population for homeless doubles. And the reason is because there's money to be made with them, they never want them to go away, they want more of them so they can have that money for other things. And and and that's that's just how we where we live now. And so what what do we do? We just build houses, you know, do do what we do in the mortgage industry, and you do what you do in the real estate industry, even though that stuff is going on. You just have to focus on what you do and what's best for your family and move on.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Yeah, absolutely. Um, so Ed, take us back to the beginning. Um, how did you get into the mortgage industry? How did you know, I guess being in the Navy kind of put you down that path? Or how did you no?

SPEAKER_00 4:22

I was a hospital court. I would join the Navy to get in the medical field. Um, after uh few years of that and some stuff that I've seen, I ran away from the medical industry, which I didn't understand at the time, till we won't get into all that other stuff. That's a totally different toy. Um, and then I realized so I got I ended up getting my bachelor's and master's, and then I got in the real estate industry and then got out of the real estate industry. Um, because that when I got into it, it was in the 92, which was a bad time, and then 93 and then 94 was even worse. Hold on a second here. I think I got somebody outside making noise. Uh if you can hear it. I don't know if you can hear that, but uh it's trash day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Trash day. Where you know what, we just do life, like whatever happens, happens, and we just kind of well.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Normally I don't have our window open in my studio, but it was nice and cool out today. It was 46. I'm like, I need some cold air in here.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

See, that's a heat wave for us here in Minnesota. We're like, woohoo, shorts and t-shirts at 46.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Yeah, and all right, so then uh, so I I fell in into the mortgage industry. First, I started in the military exchange system selling computers through the military exchange system when back then when you couldn't customize computers a long time ago. And then that whole thing fell apart. And my neighbor owned a mortgage company, and he's like, Why don't you come see if you like it? And actually enjoyed numbers. I didn't realize that I enjoyed it that much that I was helping people get into homes that changed the trajectory of their family and their life, owning a home. And this was in San Diego, and so I really enjoyed it, and so I stayed in the industry for as long as I've done it. Because if you look back over the last 25, 27 years, truly there's only about I don't know, 15 years of really good time. The rest of it, there's something that's happened. We had 2008, we had the you know, the great inflation thanks to Biden, and then we, you know, if you go back further than that, we had the SNL crisis, and then we had in '91, '92, there was that crisis, you know. So there was a lot of crises during that period of time that also made a lot of opportunities to buy real estate and do other things at the same time. But the actual mortgage industry, because if you look at rates and where they were at, there's only a handful of times they were really good.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

I didn't even just made me all of a sudden think that you're right. There's only some really, really good times where you're just, you know, writing mortgages left and right, and then the other times is you're you're you're scrapping, right? Um, because everything's not moving.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Right. I so I in when we went through the pandemic, everybody was like, this is an amazing time. And I'm like, oh, okay, we're going to take existing home sales from 85% of the market down to like 40 to 45. Well, I was wrong. We took it to 35 because we wrote all these loans with really low interest rates. And I call it the abusive relationship. It's so comfortable, no matter how hard it is for you to stay in it, you're staying into it. Like, people, I have friends, people that I put into houses, now they have four kids and they're in a two-bedroom, and they're like, Finally, okay, we have to move out of this. We don't have a choice, and that's what you run into. Luckily, right now, luckily or not, luckily, 26% of all people have a mortgage over the of six percent, and 20% have a mortgage in the three percent or lower now. So that's changing. Not everybody's keeping that rate anymore because they understand life has changed, you have to do more, you have to move on, and that's what you run into.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Well, I think what that's probably just people that have to do life. They like you just said, something changes in their life. Uh, they have to move. You're not getting the ones where during COVID, I called it COVID window, right? Um, people got tired of looking out the the same window that they've been looking out because they said stay home. Well, wait a minute, my house is going up. Um, I have all this extra money that I didn't spend on vacation, didn't spend on extra gifts. I want to move, you know, and so I called it COVID window. They're just got tired of looking out of one window, they want to go look out another window.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

And and for us, like a lot of people moved from the Bay Area. I mean, close to the Bay in California, in Northern California, and they move to outer areas away from people. Well, it's always a three-year window where they do that, and then three years later they don't want to commute anymore, or they had to go back to work, and now they have to sell that. And it's always pretty much a three-year window when that thing's so if you whatever's happening now, three years from now, it's gonna change. Three years from now it's gonna change. The only thing that was different is we saw rates go up five percent over the last um, whenever, and please, I'm not trying to get political, but when Biden came in and shut down that pipeline, I knew there was gonna be inflation, but most people had no idea what inflation was. If you weren't 55 or older, you had no idea what inflation could do to stuff, and that's why people didn't understand what was going on. And I've never seen in my history of being in this industry rates go up five percent that fast in a six-month period. Normally we see one and a half to two percent over you know, fluctuation in the rate, and it doesn't affect purchases, it affects refinances, but people still purchase after that. People are like, I ain't gonna buy something at seven and a quarter, eight and eight and a quarter, and then luckily we're back down to where we're the lowest rates we've been in the last four years.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

And what are we at as of today of March 7th?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Well, you want me to add in the Iran part to that too. Um, because what people understand is everything's the oil right now, it's been going up because of the the Strait of Hormuz, they're threatening they're gonna blow any ship out of there that has oil in it. So that's 20% of the oil going through the system. So that is what caused oil to go up. When that and normally, what typically happens when we have stuff like this, when 9-11 happened, rates dropped drastically. I know it was a horrible time, but the first thought in my head, because I was a owner of a company, going, man, we're gonna have a refinance boom, and we did because rates dropped, and that's what normally the safety is what people put their money into bonds for safety. The problem right now is people are not doing that, they're putting into gold.

SPEAKER_02 10:11

What is with that gold and silver, too? I I heard because you can touch it. Oh, it's good, it's it's um there's a tangible, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Tang you can stuff, fill it, touch it, everything, and you can see it, and you can hold it. You can go dig a hole, put it in the ground, and know exactly where it's at at all times.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Yeah, now that you say that, I I I've heard that before.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah, it well, it just but normally it was so the problem with gold and stuff like that was you have to buy it through a company that does that. It's not like going and buying raw gold, it's already been produced so that you know exactly what it's worth and everything else. So in the past, people didn't want to do that. Well, now because it keeps going, it's over five thousand dollars an ounce, they're gonna do that. And uh I remember as a kid, an investor always said, Don't buy gold because it's always the price of a really good suit, and it was forever, right now it still is, unless you go to the Philippines or you know, Singapore to get your suit, then it's only a couple hundred bucks. That's beside the point.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Right. Um, so you started your own mortgage company, and I mean, obviously, we like we've talked about how it fluctuates. How do you kind of pivot? How do you stay, you know, in business basically, you know, when it gets hard, what separates you from you know others that don't make it?

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Because and I'll just kind of feed right onto that because I've heard so many times it's it's hard to hear a guy that's been in this business for 30 years and gone through the ups and downs. So you obviously have figured out how to manage that. Um, because I know too many people, a couple people from the bar that you know, where they got into the mortgage business and then they had to get out because the minute the minute it shifts or it gets bad, they're you know, they they've got a bail.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

But um, so yeah, what what do you look for? How do you manage that?

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Uh what changed in 2018. Somebody came to me and said, Hey, would you like to do a radio show? Um, first thing I asked them was, Do people still listen to radio back in 2018? And come to find out, talk radio, am radio is huge, it's a last free press, it is so big. So if you can get on AM radio as a talk as a radio show host for real estate finance, you'll do very well. I get 50% of my business from my radio show. And because I and so what so I started that show, it's called Real Estate Jerky. We give you something to chew on from like I said, and and people will I don't what's the name of the radio show? I say one time everybody remembers because of that. That was a blog in 2010 when everybody told you, do a blog, start a blog. So I came up with a real estate jerky blog, and then I didn't do anything with it. And then the radio show came, and then now it's they they were like, when they asked me what we should name the radio show, I told I said, I'm just gonna throw this out there if you don't like it, no big deal. And then they're like, Oh my god, we can do Smokehouse Studio, and blah, and so our opener is really amazing. And I started in 2018 with one co-host, went to another co-host, and went uh a lady who was my agency person for a while, and then now I have a co-host who's a who's been in the real estate industry longer than I've been in the more uh mortgage business. Oh, wow, Mike Kelly, and we have a just we work off each other amazing, and so people know who we are all over this area, and it goes all the way to Stockton and up into the foothills, and then because radio gives you so it's all about being the authority. Well, how do you become an authority? Well, if you're on radio, you must know what you're talking about, and perception, right, and that's what it is, and and I do, I understand certain things I've been doing this long enough. Plus, what I've done from the radio show, there's two things that I've gotten from the radio show. I got a documentary that was in about real estate and finance, which is unheard of for a mortgage guy to be in the documentary, but uh uh the Avengers out of LA got this documentary company who's done some amazing documentary. They want to know how people made money in the real estate industry. And I was at an event in San Diego, um, and I was introduced to them, and the lady was talking to me, and I told him what I did. She's like, You have a radio show, and I'm like, Yeah, it's a mortgage guy, blah blah. I want you in my documentary. So the following weekend I had to fly back down for the documentary, and now I can say that that I'm in the doc, you know, because and that helped me. Then I did my book, Um, Financial Freedom, Building Personal Wealth Through Home Ownership. It's the way I do qualifications for someone to get into a house. First thing I look at is, you know, which is normal, but most real estate books is all about how to buy, not about qualifying to buy. And a friend of mine's dad's like, this is the first real estate book that talks about how to qualify for the transaction. And first thing I look at is credit, because if your credit's not there, we got to fix it. Then I look at your income. If your income's not there, we got to get you a better job. And then we look at down payment. Well, that's easier to get than what people understand for the down payment part. But the other two, you got to have. And so I go through the whole process. And those, so those three things is what help me stay in the industry. Plus, I do 14 shows a week now. Uh from so I do five shows a week from the radio show that's uh live Monday through Friday, 8:30 on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. That gets cut up, put all over the place. And then I also do a podcast called Helping the Brave, which is for us veterans. Once we take the uniform off, we talk about transitions and what they're going through. And then I found out like 50% of veterans own businesses, and so we talk about their business and that kind of stuff, and that's helped out a lot. The other thing I also have another podcast called Inner Edison, which is your greatest accomplishments come from your greatest defeats, and that one's been going on as long as the other ones for about five years. And then I think I have what do I have? I have also one that's called ACES 53, which has to do with sales. I know you're looking at me going, that's how I I do everything.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

This is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Well, no, what it is is I've the more because people are like, I always see I'd go live, it always goes live, and you know, and that's what it is. You're always in front of people who are connected on social media, and it doesn't matter if they watch the show or not. Yeah, um, it's the fact that they constantly see me popping up on their phone because I'm going live or whatever. But my other podcast, Ace of 53, is with a friend of mine called Brian Galkey, and he's a face recognition guy. Like when I first heard who he was a few years ago, I was like, I don't I don't want to need to know about this, but he talks to you about like eyebrows. If you have round eyebrows, you think about the people around you first. So for real estate people or who are ever going to connect with people, it's amazing stuff that this guy does. So we do a podcast that's about connecting and of how to be the authority in the industry. And we do that on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. So after we're done here, I'm jumping right over on that one. And and that those things have helped me out drastically because I'm all over. Then I have a team of VAs, virtual assistants, not veterans. Um we got a team too that do I have a pod who handles a bunch of stuff, and then I have a person oversees my pod, then I have another person oversees all those people, and those help me out a lot. Um, but I'm at the point where I'm doing so many things right now that I'm trying to make it to where I need so someone told me there's going to be a billion-dollar company because of AI of one person, and I said challenge accepted.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Hold my bear.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah, because I mean, I I created two websites I told you about originally. You know, websites uh who cares? Well, with AI, you can put stuff in them that is just amazing, that it's more than that, it's a tool. And one of the websites, my you said I'm with Lending for Living, which is a company I've had for a while now. Well, I turn that. So, how do you know who your perfect, you know? Everybody says Avatar. I hate that. It's who your perfect client is. Well, mine are veterans, then it's reverse mortgages because it all has to do about dignity, giving dignity back or or get showing them dignity. Yeah, and then my third one is business owners because most of the veterans are business owners, so and they have usually have a different take on how things are. Plus, I'm a business owner, I understand about off-year corporations and all that. And I had a guy come to me who was with B of A, and I don't mind saying this, for 60 days and they couldn't approve his loan. I had them closed in nine days, and the reason is because I understood his how he took income. They had no idea because they weren't a business owner. So if you're not going to somebody who would understand certain things, you're going to the wrong person. So, what I was trying to explain. So, my lending for living, I thought had this idea separate all my businesses into three different websites. Lending for Living is all about reverse mortgages only. So, when you go there, it's all about reverse mortgages. My uh loan squad's all about veterans and VA loans and everything that has to do with VA loans that you always want to know about, but nobody could answer, or you have to they have to go search. It's all there for you. You don't have to think. And then my third one, which I'm finishing up, is just for business owners, to whether it's bank statement loans or you know, the DSCR, all those different things.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

This is amazing. Like you, yeah. Um, so to touch on the VA one, like we talked about a little bit before we started recording for the third time. Um we uh, you know, that's an important one for us. And and we just recently our like mentioned our daughters in the Army National Guard. Um, and luckily we had a resource. Um, someone who um was National Guard, former military, got into real estate and he's kind of a local VA loan expert. Um and she and her husband bought a house at 19, but you know, money that she'd save from the military. They had the down payment, they got into their house looking to move. Um and if it hadn't been for him, like they're like, Well, we have to sell this house to get into the next one. We need the down payment. He's like, Why are you selling that great area? Keep it as a rental. She's like, We're 22 years old, we can't afford that. He goes, Well, yeah, you can, and explain to us how the VA loan really works, like what it really looks like and the benefits of it. Um, and I don't think people don't know that. I mean, they have they don't explain that to them. I mean, everybody has heard of the VA loan, but so why don't if you could maybe touch on that a little bit because I know um that's that's a great resource for people that just don't understand.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Well, the so the VA loan in the past was the worst loan out there because it never kept up with the value of homes, and so nobody ever used it because of the fact, like in California, and the whatever the conforming loan limit, well, the VA wasn't the same, and then they changed it a few years ago. It used to be by county, and then you'd have a county line where the people across the street they were up to the 600,000, but the people on the other side of the street were only 350 or 400, and they finally changed it with the Blue Water Act, which had to do with Vietnam veterans and stuff, to where it can go up to like 2.5 million for no money down now. But the difference is it goes there's regular and then jumbo. So the regular is whatever the conforming loan limit in the area or the high conforming loan limit in the area, so that you know 1.2 or whatever, and then above that, you have to do different factors. But the most important thing is what people understand is your down payment is because you signed on the line and you said I would go to war for this country. Whether or not you did or not, that has nothing to do with it. That's why there's no down payment needed. But a lot of older real estate agents, and I run into this all the time, remember the old VA loan that is so difficult. So this and that. It's not that difficult. I have one right now where it's on five acres, it's got a house, it's got an accessory unit. I know for a fact there is active pests are going to spray me done. The VA appraiser went in there and said, no problem. There were outbuildings and everything else that everybody thought was gonna be a problem. But you can also, this in southern states and in California, there is a short form VA pest report that just says there's no active pests. And so all the people we know, and then I and I tell everybody I don't care if there's a clear pest report at all. I just want the short form. And the reason I want the short form is I don't have to wait for you guys, I don't have to wait for the copy of the report, I don't have to wait for the clearance. The report, I just get this active nope. No, it's a NPT 3430. I'll forget the number if you need it. I can tell you, but it's Google it. It's a short form VA pest report. It's the best thing to do on every transaction, period. That's all I do on any VA loan. I want that. No matter how clean the house could be, I don't care. I can get the docs and close without waiting for you to do everything you have to do on it.

SPEAKER_02 22:34

So, Ed, on that note, how do you, as an agent, or talking to I I only work on loans, I don't do I don't do real estate at all. Oh, you don't you don't work on uh well you're right, but you're doing loans for somebody. Well, I guess here let me let me see if I can uh figure out the question.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Um I just was trying to clarify because I can do real estate, I have my broker's license in California because when years ago when we had mortgages, we had to have a DRE broker license to be in the own mortgage company. They've changed it now, but I still I'm under the DRE because I like it better and have more control.

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Well, well, I guess what I'm saying is is uh when somebody comes to buy one of our properties and they're using a VA loan and I'm up against a conventional loan. Um I'll be honest with you, sometimes we don't want to, as agents, we don't want to go to that VA loan because we know it's gonna be more of a pain in the butt to get through, at least perspective or our yeah, like you said, it's that that is but that is that is the problem right there.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:30

I can do a VA loan in eight days purchase, right? That's because it is not that difficult. The problem is the people doing it is the problem. Anyone who thinks they need to write a contract for 30 to 45 days because it's a VA loan has no idea how to do a VA loan.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

But how do we get that to the general public or gener, not general public, uh other agents, I guess you could say, because you know, I'm I've been guilty of it. No, I I've also been guilty of let's give this to the veteran and let's uh try super hard. It all depends on if it's one of my properties or one of my clients' properties, right? Right. Um so that's our I guess the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

It's just how do we change that perception? Well, that what's the message we can give to people?

SPEAKER_00 24:14

I know I'm gonna get that. But before I do that, so the short form is the MPMA-33. That's the form you want to use for the short form. So if you have, well, they need a pest. Well, no, we don't. We really don't need a pest report. You know, we have to everybody wants to know what pest is, but we don't need it repaired, we just have that form. The pest company has to be willing to do that form. That's all the VA wants. You get that? That there goes the pest issue. But people don't understand veterans have money, they just don't have to use it. So I tell people, tell the other side the reason you're gonna see no down payment is because they sign online, but they have money in case they got to make up the difference in the sales price or if they got to ever do repair, they have the money, they're just not using it for the down payment. Everybody assumes because they're not putting any money in the transaction, they have no money at all. And don't be wrong, uh, 20-30 percent of them don't have any money. That's why they're asking my closing costs. However, that's beside the point, but it doesn't mean all of them are that way, and that's the biggest no misnomer out there is the VA loan is the best loan there is, it's guaranteed. I all I wait on is the appraisal and I can close. Not and if I can do an eight uh VA loan in eight days, what do you think I can do with a conventional or the easy ones? Those are the easy stuff. This but and the VA is not difficult, it's just getting that thought out of people's head that it's a difficult loan. Well, a conventional 20 down, I have more room. Not necessarily, they're the first ones gonna walk. The fact a veteran, when they sign that contract to be in the contract, they're gonna do everything in their power to perform on this transaction. You can't say that about the general public. And so, and because you look and just look at the foreclosure rate on VA loans, it's the lowest of any loan out there. Because again, when we sign on the line to do something, we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

I don't know if that answered that question, but it's really changing you, and you need to have it does it helps, yeah, because it just again getting that message out and changed changing that perception. I mean, like I said, when our daughter she was able to use the VA loan um to buy their second house, and and it was it was easy. Like there was we went into it thinking this is gonna be complicated, you know. It's like FHA, they peeling paint and all the different things. They came in, they made sure everything did the appraisal, and they're like, Yeah, you're good.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

So here's something I've run into before. Let me go to the peeling paint first. Yeah, the peeling paint's a problem for any house 78 or right, yeah, older, period. Right, period. It doesn't matter conventional, whatever. If there's peeling paint, that could be a problem for anything, and that's usually where it's on the older homes. Yeah, and so that so when someone says, Well, we gotta worry about peeling paint, that's for everybody. Conventional is gonna say the same thing. Hey, this is a safe a safety hazard, we have to have this looked at, tested, all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

I'm sorry, James.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

Yeah, no. Um, so one of the other things that happens to us as agents is when they do that um the appraisal, right? They come in and then I've had some of them where they don't see a thing, and I'm like waiting for them to call shit out because sometimes you rather have them call it out, fix it, then then just start working on something, and then you're you didn't have it have to do anything in the first place. My my point being is that's where we struggle too, is because I've had out where they come out and they do an inspection and then they send somebody brand new who picks out something different, and it ends up being a uh an appraisal thing, you know. And and again, I don't have that problem as much uh at all on the conventional. I'm just telling you that there's these are problems that we run across that your typical seller and agents, because it's the agent's job, right? To coach that person along, like, hey, don't worry about this, or hey, you can do this, or don't do that. Um, but that's one of the things that we struggle with. And again, I wish there was something else bigger out there that we could tell people like, hey, this is a veteran, like you said, they signed the dotted line to fight for this country. This is can we give them first dibs on on this house? And not because it's uh you know, we're we're not giving it away, we're trying to give them the same chance, it's all the other obstacles you have to go through to get there.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yeah, well, I and I get that. What I just right now, who uh they took a conventional offer first, and I told my people and and the agent told them to let's put us in backup position, actual sign backup position, because I know 50% of the time on certain properties in certain areas, there's a potential is going to fall out. Well, guess what? They got it uh two days later because the conventional people are nitpicking the place, right? That's the other issue. What would you want a solid buyer, or do you want somebody who has nothing into this game and doesn't care? And that's the difference. And I know it's hard to get across, but it's important to have loan people in your area. And okay, back to the appraisal thing. Most VA appraisers have been doing it forever because they don't hire many other appraisers until somebody leaves. Right. You can't there's only so many to get on the VA appraisal board takes forever. And so they and that because I have friends of mine who are on it, and they're like, Yeah, it took me eight years to get on it, and so it just depends on how many people are being because most people who do VA appraisals don't want to not do VA appraisals because it's 750 bucks that they don't split with anybody versus the other appraisals done conventional and everything else, where you know they go through a management company or they're a panel appraiser, they get a they get a part of that fee taken off of it, they don't get the full price. And conventional though, lately I've been getting waivers, so appraisers aren't even coming out right now.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Oh wow, you still get waivers because is it for COVID, or what is no?

SPEAKER_00 29:57

We're gonna know because Fanny and Freddie have so many appraisals in the books. Uh they know exactly how much a property is worth or if it's close to what it's supposed to be worth, and you're getting the so I uh I'm getting them pretty much on every refinance I'm doing and purchases.

unknown 30:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

So I know we're getting kind of close on time here a little bit, and you've got another thing to get to, but we got 20 minutes. Kind of, yeah. Last question here. Um I don't know, our daughter's got a friend right now going, Oh, I can't, I can't buy a house, I can't afford whatever, and gainfully employed, whatever. But um really no issues, and we keep trying to tell her it's okay. Like, but what would you tell someone who thinks that they just that home ownership is nope I'm not ready or I don't have this, I don't have that? What what would you what kind of advice would you give to someone, or how could we even help people who think that they're you know it's out of reach right now for them?

SPEAKER_02 30:51

The same myth of like you know, oh I can't do it, and they don't even know why they can't do it, they just know that they're young and they can't.

SPEAKER_01 30:58

They see like, oh, I'm I'm young, I can't buy a house. Well, why not? Why can't you buy a house?

SPEAKER_00 31:02

So those are the perfect ones because those are always the ones who can buy a house. Yeah, it's the people who think they can buy a house that can't buy the house or why and so it's it's how that works. It is how that works. I can't buy uh you make 120 grand a year and you have no debt and no kids. How can you not buy the house? And you got 50,000 in savings, but I can't buy a house. It's usually what uh first thing I would say, and I'm not trying to promote my book, get my book. I've had many people read my book and go, Wow, I can really afford it. My co-host gonna promote your book.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

Go ahead and go.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

My co-host, he he sent it to his son, and his son's like, Wow, I can I think I can I can really buy now, I should be purchasing a home. And and because I have set up to where you understand how easy I try to make it easy, and that's I want people to go, wow, that was so easy. I go, Yeah, I want you to do it again. That's why I make it so easy, is I want you to instead of you know, it's like childbirth the first time, it's like, oh, I'm never gonna have another kid, and then eventually you forget about it and have another kid. Well, I don't want that, I want you to have enjoy the whole process through, and that's why I I wrote the book that I did because that's how I do with it. And I can't do everybody's transaction, but I so I'm like, okay, here, read the book, go through where you can go through. If you're I only do loans in California, I used to be approved in all the states, but I when I looked at my numbers, I pretty much did 90% of my business still in California, and so that's why I focus on California.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

Plus, plus about a almost a what is it, 23% of all loans are done in California. That's enough for me.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

Well, and along those lines, like I Well, if you want my book, just go to my website's Ed Parko, my name at E D P A R C A U T.com. Click the book, you can buy it, or you can email it, just reach out to me through the show, say you heard me on the home guys, and I'll send it to you for free. If you guys have people who want it, just send me their address, I'll mail it to them for free.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Um, well, and I was just gonna say, um, how can people get in touch with you? But there you go. And then throughout the show, we'll um have Brady, our content guru, upstairs. He'll drop all the links to all of your different uh podcasts and and information, and um, yeah, he'll put our information on here too.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

And yeah, my website has all my podcasts, all the radio shows and everything. So you just have to go to one place. Um, and then you know, again, Lindy. If you the one thing about my whole lending for living and loan squad was like even if I can't help you, I want you to be able to get the information so that you'll go get the stuff. I was gonna write another book just for VA loans. I'm like, but why I can just have it all in one place now, and you don't need to read a book.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Yeah, so I was gonna ask you. Um, for those that don't like to read, we like to listen. You're not on audio, are you?

SPEAKER_00 33:43

Yes, or for which for the book? No, the book I have not done audio. You can listen to so here's you can just listen to all my stuff. I pretty much go over the same stuff over and over. There you go. And my and my YouTube channel has like tons of like separate little things for how to you know reverse mortgage, what different little things, and uh or just call me. How about that? That's yeah, I'm old school. Just pick up the phone and call me.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Those little boxes you can actually use on the case.

SPEAKER_02 34:07

Well, that's so funny that um if if anybody ever needed a mortgage guy, I mean that's California's where it's at, right? I mean, you're gonna probably know more from California. So we're in Minnesota, right? And so we've we figured California, Minnesota, and New York, everything you guys start these new laws, they skip all those other states and come right to Minnesota, then they skip all those other states and go right to Minnesota.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Well, we're talking about mortgages, are we talking about stupidity?

SPEAKER_02 34:34

No, it's pretty much the stupidity part, yes. You're you're right.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

So a lot of times you guys all know about uh what's the problem with California is love them or hate them is Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was in and he was getting ready to go out. He he pushed a thing on the ballot to it was supposed to be for the top, only the top two parties need to be on the ballot. Well, it slipped, and they put the top two people, and that's how we became a one-party state to where it's only Democrats run in most of these areas because it's only two Democrats on there, not two different parties. That's how that's how our so he was a Republican who who tried to keep Republican in power but messed up. And of course, no Democrat's dumb enough to go ahead and say, No, let's make a fair now.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

No, it's not, it's no no one's gonna do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

And that's the problem.

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Yeah, and this is this has been uh educational and entertaining, and it's been great chatting with you. And um, yeah, we'll let you know when this is live and um people can reach out and yeah, we'll yeah, thanks for helping us grow this.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

This is something that we're uh we're jumping into big hardcore, just so you know, um we're franchising our model. And so we already uh we're in uh three other states already, um Texas, um Florida, and Tennessee. And now we're those all happen organically, uh just from being on a couple podcasts and different things, and now we're we're really pushing it. So that's Jen and I are are pushing that. Um we have our normal business that's here that runs itself. Uh somebody else runs it, and this is our next adventure. So thanks for being part of that. Um and uh best of luck on anything else that you do.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on the show today.

SPEAKER_02 36:21

Awesome. Thanks, Ed. Thanks, Ed.