1602: First-Time Homebuyer Mortgages & Cash Flow Deals with Elysia Stobbe

Robert Plank 0:00 Elysia Stobbe is here, returned guest, national keynote speaker, favorite. She has a spotless and enviable reputation in the real estate and mortgage industry, with more than $300 million in residential mortgages closed, and she is going to tell us just what we need to know about real estate investing, making money, running a business, living life, and everything in between. So, there's Elysia. Glad to have you back after so long.

Elysia Stobbe 0:27 Thanks, Robert. It's actually Elysia. So, I don't know if you want to redo it, but I should have said that. Elysia. I need

Robert Plank 0:34 to, like, I see the word, and it's like my brain wants to say it. So, so Elysia, like, spelled like that, that other first name, but we don't like that spelling, right? We like the way that it's spelled for you, and I should, you're like a third time guest, so I should know that. But Elysia, Elysia Stobbe, okay? And so,

Elysia Stobbe 0:52 Yeah, it's from Elysia Fields. My mom got it out of a some baby book.

Robert Plank 0:58 Oh, cute. And those are the best kind, right? Where it's like it's simple enough and short enough, but it's not too weird, because especially the millennials and the Gen Z's, they just gone off a cliff. We're like, let's just add an H at the end, let me put a Y where an I should be. They go crazy, but I like your first name quite a bit. And so, when people see and hear your name, Elysia Stobbe, what is happening with you? What have you went up to? What would, what would people think of you when they've looked at your accomplishments lately?

Elysia Stobbe 1:29 Well, hopefully happiness and joy, that's pretty much the goal these days, but also obviously real estate and mortgages and real estate finance is definitely my focus, so I'm grateful to be able to help people every day with that, so keeps me busy, and you know it's, I think, a tumultuous time in real estate in the United States, to say the most, best, east, east, worst, whatever, so that's always interesting too, and it's just interesting too, with real estate right now, you know, there are pockets all across the country that are still pretty busy, and then there are those that are slowing down, and it's a great time to buy, because it's a good deal, so.

Robert Plank 2:12 So just be on the lookout for those opportunities and make the best of a situation, yeah, and it seems like no matter what the decade or the year or the generation, like, like, you can easily find someone complaining about real estate, and you know, the, the ups and downs, but it's like, well, that's your chance for opportunity, and so, as far as, like, your, your specialty, your area of real estate, it's residential, correct?

Elysia Stobbe 2:40 Residential, absolutely, and I would say, I mean, I love helping first-time home buyers and veterans, but also cash flow real estate. I work with a lot of investors, so you know, helping them find that sweet spot where the numbers make sense, where the property cash flows, so that's definitely sweet spot for me.

Robert Plank 3:00 Yeah, and I think about that concept every now and then. Just when, when you take the emotions out of money and you run the numbers and do the calculations, sometimes it's very counterintuitive, right? Like, what, what feels like a good deal is bad, and vice versa. And it's kind of fun when there's someone that knows their stuff, can run the numbers and say, hey, this is something that on the on the surface it doesn't seem like it would make sense, and maybe that's why this this opportunity was available to you, but like here's something that can make sense, and so as far as like the those recent real estate adventures in the cash flowing or the investing or the first time home buying, like what's interesting, what's been exciting you?

Elysia Stobbe 3:43 Well, it's interesting, because most real estate deals, not necessarily even investor, fall apart over $2,500 They can't bridge that gap, whether it's a $400,000 deal or an $800,000 deal. It's kind of crazy, and that usually has a lot to do with people's emotions, especially, you know, the seller getting tied up, and the investor, sorry, or the buyer wanting a good deal, but investors, they really don't have any motion, right? Hypothetically, that's the best way to operate, because you look at the numbers, either it cash flows as it is, or it's going to cash flow if you put down a bigger down payment, or you're going to rehab and flip it, right, so there's definitely a lot of interesting ways to get into real estate, and buying notes also is another one. If you don't want to be a landlord or deal with tenants and toilets and all the rest of that, you can just hold the notes, right? Hard money notes are an opportunity that are out there as well for investment properties, not for a primary and second home, but for investment properties, so yeah, so it's interesting. I think just certain pockets, I mean, Cleveland's definitely one of them, Birmingham, Alabama is definitely a good pocket, where I spent a lot of time, and Jacksonville, Florida, is definitely getting overplayed. But it's also still a growing city, so there's opportunity there, but then, yeah, there's so many places, just as the numbers make sense, and that's why it's like, yeah, what do you, what are the opportunities, and it's interesting, because I have some clients that, for example, live in California, but they invest in Jacksonville and Alabama, and then they're looking at other places because it makes sense, it just makes sense in the property's cash flow, and they can be good landlords and be good stewards of the property, and, and you know, have nice places for people to rent, so because people need that affordability, home affordability is a big problem right now.

Robert Plank 5:39 Yes, and you're here to help solve that affordability problem, and it's amazing that we don't have to depend on location so much now, right? Where if you have that, that, that team in place, you can trust and run things, then you can say, well, even though, even though I'm 1000s of miles away in California, and you know, you always hear the problem with California is like, well, you kind of have to have like 500,000 and up just to have like one property, or if you have the squatter, they can like stay for six months, and it's like, well, if you don't like any of that, well, then you don't have to participate, you can go and find geographically some area where it maybe suits your business plan better, and so is there anything that maybe you wish people knew about real estate? Is there anything that drives you crazy about these people that maybe they jump in without a plan versus someone like you who are like you're so up to date on what's possible? What do you wish people knew?

Elysia Stobbe 6:37 Well, it's interesting because there's been a lot of growth in what's called a DSCR loan, which stands for debt service coverage ratio, and basically, if the market rents cover the mortgage for the property, including, you know, its principal, interest, taxes, and insurance, if it covers that, then you get the loan, and it takes a lot of other factors out of it, right? If you actually are able to manage a property, and you do have some, have to have some experience as a landlord, but for the most part, the rates are actually better than traditional convex conventional loans for investors, so that's one thing that people think they can't get into real estate, and it's like, actually, you can, you can, and it's pretty easy. So that's an amazing tool that we have access to all around the country. And then I think, just like you mentioned, right, you, if you might feel most comfortable in your backyard, but then the numbers may not work there, so I mean, what a great excuse to go travel and see somewhere new.

Robert Plank 7:48 Oh yeah, of course.

Elysia Stobbe 7:49 Because you can, right? Because even your second home, you can write off legally tax deduction. I'm not a CPA, full disclaimer, but you can write off two visits a year, you know, to a second home, so I mean, for investment property, if you go check on it, you know, go if there's somewhere that you like or want to spend more time. What a great opportunity to, you know, grow inner, you know, intergenerational wealth. I just think real estate, there's, you know, whether he liked the president or not, he's a real estate president, so you know, he just finally was able to put in his own chairman, even though he actually elected the former chairman, he appointed, sorry, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, but you know, when there was a change there, and then they were disagreeing, but we'll see what the new one has to do, because the bottom line is, if you know he's doing a lot of pressure to lower the rates, so the more they lower the rates, the better it is for real estate values, because you know you have one piece of that puzzle going down, so it enables you to have more buying power, so we'll see how that sorts out.

Robert Plank 8:58 Yeah, and it's all the more reason to keep an eye on those things, and you know, you've mentioned a little bit here about how just like up to date you stay, right? There's different like programs, and and then changes in in politics, which then leads to changes in the laws, and so like once you're kind of like information digesting news habits, are you like, do you watch news all the time? Do you watch it like you watch like the Reddits, or like how do you stay up to date with what you need without driving yourself crazy?

Elysia Stobbe 9:32 Great question. I try to, you know, obviously I follow news on the interest rates and mortgage-backed securities, and then also I follow stocks, also. So, just because there is typically a relationship with there's a correlation between the stock market and bonds, and therefore interest rates, because even though the federal reserve sets the interest rate, the interest rate that the federal reserve sets is actually the over and. Night interest rate, the overnight rate that banks loan money to each other overnight, so they actually don't set mortgage rates, but their influence on what they, you know, the banks loan money to each other overnight, obviously affects interest rates, so there's a trickle down effect. So I do follow, you know, a lot of mortgage news, Mortgage daily housing wire is a great one to follow, and I would say, you know, I try to ingest 30 to 60 minutes a day, usually in the morning, you know, most of it, and then check in the afternoon, see if anything big changed, how that's affecting things, what the outlook is, and then also just I talk with a lot of clients, I talk with a lot of realtors, still see what's going on in certain markets and where things are going, so, and you know, it's one of the things I geek out on, so I definitely find it probably more interesting than other people, and it helps make me a great resource for my clients, both mortgage clients and then coaching clients alike.

Robert Plank 11:02 Well, it's good to have that fulfillment, right? Where someone might be bored to tears, and you're like, oh no, with the overnight interest rate, and it's something that you can geek out on, so you're in the right profession, right? Some people geek out over model trains or coin collecting, but you're like, oh, what's that interest rate today, or what are the what are the banks lending yet? And so when someone comes to you, like, what's the conversation usually like? I know you said there's, there's like first-time home buyers or there's investors, but are they like saying, like, well, I've got this amount of money saved up, or do they know what kind of property they want to buy? Is it a mix? Just like, what are people coming to you with?

Elysia Stobbe 11:38 Yeah, great question. So, it is typically a mix, so the first time home buyers really need a lot of hand holding, which you know that that was the first book I wrote, How to Get Approved for the Best Mortgage, without sticking a fork in your eye. So I do love helping the first time home buyers, because I do believe it is the first step to intergenerational wealth. So there's that. I mean, I do think you need a combination of assets, but I think, obviously, I believe in real estate, because I, you know, own a fair amount myself. But so those conversations are great. I love helping people understand the whole process, because it is a process for sure. And then also, you know, the other part of it is, I love working with investors, because that's really numbers, and then we can kind of get into the nitty gritty, right? There's not so there's not so much emotion there, but you know, more numbers, right? Or the first time home buyer, the most important thing is, okay, can you afford this payment? And then a lot of times it's like, how does that new mortgage payment equate to your rent, and does that make sense, right? For where you know, are you going to be able to work from home remotely, or whatever, for the next few years, or are you not in that flexible position, and you might get transferred, so maybe, maybe it's not a good, good fit, but there's that, and then a lot of times I definitely enjoy working with, like, I mentioned, the investors, and then also veterans, so, but I would say it's, it's definitely a fun mix, and you know, one of the things that definitely has changed with me, even more so, I would say, in the past decade, is just having fun with people, because it is a very serious transaction, and I don't want to make light of the transaction, but I think when I first got into this 23 years ago, I thought I really had to be like a stuffy banker, and I wasn't happy doing that, and you can still have a lot of sense of humor. The other thing that also comes into play, especially right now with the people have a lot of equity locked in their home, you know, maybe they bought in like 19, 2020, 2019, 2020-21 when the rates were lower, and now they need some cash, just running those numbers, so again talking about geeking out, I had a realtor, you know, send me a message, actually just before, like an hour ago, so just before I got on with you, and they are trying to figure out with their client, and of course, we'll get the client on the line and run the numbers, do they want to do a cash out refi to pull out some of that equity, or would it be better to keep their current note and then do a home equity line of credit, you know, so we would have to figure out what the rate would be on the home equity line of credit, what their current rate is, and what the blended rate really would be, or would it make sense for them to just do cash out the whole thing instead of having a first and second. So that's definitely some, some numbers geek stuff, and I feel very useful when I'm able to help people like that yesterday, good.

Robert Plank 14:46 Oh, just, yeah, it's good to be of use, right? It's a, it's a weird feeling, right? It's like there's, you think that being selfish is better, but in real life, like helping out others, it just gives you a way better sustaining feeling.

Elysia Stobbe 15:01 Definitely, I love to help others, because it is, you're right, so it's a more sustainable feeling, and you know, I'm a big Tony Robbins fan, so he, you know, he believes that if you're serving others, you, you, you can't be unhappy right during that mental process, whether it's whatever, Feed America, I'm volunteering for, or you know, anything. It's just, if you're focused on something else besides yourself, it's pretty easy to feel good about what's happening, whereas if you focus on I don't have this, or I don't have that, or I didn't get this done today, or whatever the case may be, like that's not helping you, so.

Robert Plank 15:41 Yeah, and then what you focus on grows, so you just get more of that negativity, and so if you want more of the good, then then hang on to the what percentage of good you have and focus on having more of that, of course.

Elysia Stobbe 15:54 Yeah, where focus goes, energy flows,

Robert Plank 15:57 Heck yeah, 100% 1,000,000% and so you're mentioning about this idea of having fun, and I just, it's, I really enjoy, like, like it's like attorneys and, and realtors that have, like, the larger than life personality, right, and it's like every town has, like, there's like the bus benches are on the bus stops, right, and there's, and the realtors, especially, there's like the arms cross to the side, and it's like it's just such a silly, yeah, it's such a like an expected thing, but I, it seems like it's only only some amount of realtors do that, right? So many of them, you never hear about them, you know, know their name, don't know their photo, but then there's the ones that are like kind of the kind of like they get more attention, but it's like it seems like, like you don't have to do that, right? You don't, you don't have to go on the news like you have, or you don't have to put out the books, you don't have to kind of do the even like this podcast, right? You didn't have to, and so like, what do you think about all that, like just the like the more like long term publicity to maybe make it eat, make have the inflow of people coming to you better, or like, what's your motivation for the publicity that maybe is not required, but you enjoy doing?

Elysia Stobbe 17:11 Well, I think it all stems from I do enjoy what I do, so why wouldn't I want to help more people, meet more people, you know, be able to serve more people, and I just think, yeah, when you're in it for the right reasons, which is, you know, some sort of fulfillment, right? We all, we all need a paycheck, and we all need to get paid, and there's all that, and there's so many ways that you can get paid, and these days, even more, there's so many different things you can do, right? You can have a podcast, you can do audio books, you can do all the rest of it, which is awesome, because you know, here we are conversing, and we do two totally different things, and right, we're helping each other right now, so yeah, I just think it's, I just think it's so fascinating to all the different opportunities there are right now in our time, right, for just how you can do whatever, so, so many opportunities.

Robert Plank 18:07 And the kids' DCS will never understand just that what's possible now in minutes, seconds, so used to take days, right? You'd have a computer or take 10 minutes to turn on, wasn't even hooked up to anything, and then meanwhile I was just, I was driving this morning, and I just, I had, like, I like to have, like, YouTube's playing on my phone, which, that's another technological innovation, but I just, YouTubes were playing, and they were talking about how, when, like, Blackberry phones became big, they were like, "Hey, you know, you can check your email on your phone, and you couldn't do anything else, couldn't even text, but, oh, but you could check your email, and like, just that was such a huge leap, and now we just, we take these things for granted. So you're saying that, well, imagine how someone 3040 years ago at your age now would feel about all the opportunities. Why wouldn't you take advantage of the YouTube, social media, podcasting, LinkedIn, and all those other things? And so if someone was like hesitating about that, or if someone you know was a young buck in real estate, and a lot of the Gen Z's, they're like afraid to even look away from their phones, and if they say, "Oh, Elysia is so outgoing and has the spunk and personality, I wish I had that, like I know you were like an army kid, so that kind of toughens you up quickly, but like, were you ever shy, or did you have to develop these skills?

Elysia Stobbe 19:27 Oh, yeah, I was super shy, super, super shy kid when I was little, and also I was smaller than most of the kids, because I was a little younger compared to the rest of the kids in my grade, in kindergarten, first grade, and all that, so I used to get picked on, and I used to not like, want to go on the school bus, and when the bus would come, you know, to pick to pick us up, I would hide in the bushes and pretend I missed the bus, because they used to pick on me, so yeah, so and I. Say, I was, you know, I don't want to say like most kids in high school, but in high school I was definitely awkward, and then you know there was college, and I think my first job was in radio sales, so I wasn't a good networker, like all of that, and then when I got into mortgages as my second career, I took Business Networking International, so I learned a lot of you have to speak every week at those weekly meetings, and so I learned a lot through there, and then a lot through the Tony Robbins environment, and then when I had my first book launch, I had done some work in radio, but you know, radio's faceless, at least it was then, right? It's not now, right? Because the cameras in the studio, so it's definitely not faceless. But I think when I started my first book tour, and I had to be on television and speak a lot, you know, I did a lot of work to, you know, just become comfortable with that, because I definitely would get nervous, and you don't want to say the right thing, and then you know you have like three minutes, and that's it. And I will say one of the things that was always helpful is they were always kind to me whenever I did interviews, and I don't know if I thought it was going to be like slightly on the spot or anything, but I never, I never got that vibe, so that worked out, but I think you know it's a long journey of also just becoming comfortable with yourself, and then that's why it's like, as some, you know, if there's that young buck out there, go do it, man, go be you, because there's only one you, and so trying to copy somebody else is a compliment to that somebody else, for sure, but you'll never be able to be that somebody else, because you're you, so just focus on being the best you you can be, and how you can add value to your clients, whatever the profession is, right? Real estate, for sure, you want to add value, and I think also have patience and allow for grace, because you know it'll come through when you least expect it, and you know sometimes when you most expect it, it comes through. Who knows? So, but it's always there for sure.

Robert Plank 22:11 Heck, yeah! I admire the self-awareness, and you're saying that sometimes you have to push through that messy middle, and a lot of us have gone through that, right? The awkwardness of public speaking, and everyone's a beginner at some point, but it's a skill that can be developed, so put in the reps and and learn what you need to, and get in the orbit of other people who are where you want to be, and as you say, not to copy, just to be in proximity, and have those people who, who maybe understands how difficult it was for them coming up, so that way they can support you, and then when it's your turn to help the others, and you can be like what you're doing, as far as the educating, and you know, just being a source for others, and so we've been kind of jumping around all sorts of different fun, interesting subjects, right, there's there's real estate, there's believing in yourself and your own self development, but in these final few minutes of our conversation, do you think there might be a missing question that I should be asking you? I just don't know to ask you?

Elysia Stobbe 23:12 A missing question, maybe. Goodness, I don't know. You asked so many good questions. I think maybe a missing question would be how to find calm in the storm.

Robert Plank 23:37 Oh, how do you?

Elysia Stobbe 23:38 Because I, I just feel like, right, I just feel like on a daily basis we're bombarded these days with so many negative this and negative that, and then you know the economy's to say it's unstable would be an understatement, right? So I think we take a lot of things for granted, and it's just like we're talking about when you're serving somebody else, you can't be miserable yourself, but also I just feel like these days, I mean, how many of us are really starving? Okay, there's definitely a part of the population that is, and there's a lot of outlets and support for that part of the population that is suffering, unfortunately, but there's there's resources out there, and I just think on average we take so many things for granted, besides our health, you know, but even if somebody doesn't have a roof over their heads, they're usually not starving these days, thank goodness.

Robert Plank 24:41 Yeah.

Elysia Stobbe 24:42 I think just counting our counting our blessings, and yeah, focusing on what we have right now and being present here helps defray a lot, right, of what you could get stuck in.

Robert Plank 24:54 Oh, yeah, yeah, because it seems like the negativity is built in, right? Your, your brain has been evidently. Oceanary train for millions of years to look for the danger and to be miserable, because in caveman times, if you weren't miserable, then you'd say, oh, I'm just going to kick back, and I don't, don't need to go and catch the fish, I don't need to go and kill the bear or start off the fire, but now we're hopefully grown out of that, and so it's time for a different way of thinking, and it might not be easy, but it's like retraining, and, and I, it still sticks with me. The very first time we met, you said that it was all about gratitude, and I still get all these like principles and concepts from you today, and so it's, it's definitely worth reminding ourselves and keeping this in the forefront of our mind, just how important some of these simple concepts are for us, right? Optimism and gratitude, problem solving, being kind to others, and everything else that goes with that. So, if somebody says, I was so informed and inspired by what Elysia had to say today about real estate and about life, and I want to check out her books, her website, etc. Where should they go? What are some next steps?

Elysia Stobbe 26:05 Thanks. So, definitely people go to can go to elysiastobbeinc; so E L Y S I A S T O B B E i n c.com and there's also Elysia Stobbe Book, so E L Y S I A S T O B B E B O O K S.com and that'll be the books, so yeah, there's you can book me to speak, there's all kinds of opportunities there, and coaching as well, so.

Robert Plank 26:31 Very cool. And then you also have a healing business as well, right?

Elysia Stobbe 26:37 Yeah, so it's interesting, I was recently, well, I shouldn't even say recently, it's probably been over a year and a half now. I was exposed to balancing harmonics, so it's quite fascinating, and it's one of those things where you're like, oh, that's, you know, woo woo, that's out there, but it's actually not. It's the same science that NASA used to monitor the astronauts in space, so you can actually do amazing things remotely for healing health and balancing, and actually Mayo Clinic is starting trials on on that right now, and but there's actually been all sorts of information available for over a decade now, for sure, with proven results. So, it's fascinating. Yeah, I mean, it's just amazing how you can heal people remotely. I mean, it's basically energy. So, if you think about it, right, cell phone, right? So, this is going all day long. This is bad energy for us, right? Forget the fact that you get sucked into all the social media drama, or maybe you choose not to, which would be awesome, but it's always available. But also, you know, the electromagnetic frequencies that come from the phone are not good, but you actually just the way there are bad frequencies that can come through, you actually can transmit good frequencies that actually align your body and allow it to heal itself, and can aid in the healing. So, yeah, I've been very fortunate to help a few people. Actually, was able to pull a kid out of a coma, so that was a big amazing thing last year. So he'd been in a coma for 30 days, and we started working on him, and he came out, he was moving his hands and fingers within 24 hours, opened his eyes within 48 hours, came off the ventilators within like three days, and fully awake within, I think it was like five to seven. So he's made an amazing recovery, one of those weird just blood diseases that they really didn't know existed, so kind of crazy. And then actually last night I was helping somebody who's been in the hospital for two weeks and getting ready to put in a full-time trach. She has pneumonia, and I started working on her last night, and all of a sudden she's breathing on her own. So it's pretty amazing, pretty amazing when you're open to the possibilities, what can happen for health wise? It's, I mean, then if you think about it, why not? I mean, there's so many amazing progress in health these days. It's really, it's like it's a bonanza, right? You just get to pick, do you want traditional, do you want, you know, holistic, you know what's what's in the middle, so it's fascinating to me, and I love to help people, so.

Robert Plank 29:29 So it connects with all of it, right? But helping people with real estate and with their health, and so, like, is this a service you provide, or is there a website, or how does someone find out more about that?

Elysia Stobbe 29:40 Yeah, I would say if people just want to message me directly, either on LinkedIn or Facebook, that's probably the best way to get an appointment, and I can do a scan and see, and if there's anything I can do to help. Yeah, I would love to serve more people.

Robert Plank 29:58 Wonderful, don't. We all, but it seems like it doesn't happen by accident, right? Like you mentioned at the beginning, like even if all you're doing is volunteering at the soup kitchen, you don't fall into that. You have to choose to say, "Well, what, where's the soup kitchen? and take time out of my day and how to do it, and show up. So it's important to, to, to look into and put our focus and spend time on some of these activities that they don't make a lot of selfish sense, right. It's like it helps others, it's long term, and it's so easy to make excuses and say, "Oh, well, I'd rather I need to do this other thing for myself instead. Well, yeah, but maybe that's why you're so miserable, because you've been too optimized and too thinking about yourself, maybe it's time to think about how you can help others, which seems like has been a theme in our conversation today. And so, if you want to take some of those first steps and contact Elysia Stobbe, you can find her on LinkedIn and Facebook, as she said, first name E L Y S I A, last name S T O B B E, and we said that's elysiastobbeinc.com is the main website, elysiastobbebooks.com that way you can check out how to get approved for the best mortgage without sticking a fork in your eye. There is the mortgage loan officer book, there's the 52 weekly habits you can master journey to success, and so wherever your path, your lane is, check out those books, check out Elysia website. But before I let you go, Elysia, it's time for the scary part of the show, where I try to stump you. I try to put you on the spot by asking about a fun or interesting quote or lesson that has served you. So, what comes to mind as far as a fun or interesting quote or lesson?

Elysia Stobbe 31:41 Oh, that's a good one. I'm gonna go with Albert Einstein. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

Robert Plank 31:54 I like it. Explains a lot about real estate, doesn't it? Very good.

Elysia Stobbe 31:59 Oh, explains a lot about life, Robert.

Robert Plank 32:01 Yeah, yeah, it is what you make it. You think about what's good about this, and many times it's a learning opportunity, or a chance to do something different and better. And so, if you want to have that conversation about real estate, or healing, or mindset, or business, find Elysia Stobbe on LinkedIn, or elysiastobbeinc.com It's been such a blast having you for the third time now. Thanks for being here, Miss Elysia.

Elysia Stobbe 32:27 Thank you so much for your time, Robert. I appreciate it very much.