by Ben Anderson
Homeowner NOW
The 7 True Steps To Home Ownership
Ben Anderson
America’s Favorite Loan Officer
For details on how to be a Homeowner NOW visit
www.Homeownernow.com
Copyright©2019 Ben Anderson
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America First printing, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-692-03626-6
Ben Anderson
9920 Research Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
DEDICATION
I want to give a special "thank you" to my wife, Morgan, who has loved me through all of the market ups and downs, sharing the pain and celebrating the success. I have worked many long days and nights, and none of it would ever have been possible without the support and understanding you have given me. You are the greatest partner a man could ever have. I love you eternally.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................13
CHAPTER 1 RULE #1: NEVER QUIT ........................................21
CHAPTER 2THE GREAT RECESSION
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED .......................................................27
CHAPTER 3HOMEOWNERSHIP BOUNCES BACK
BUT THE PROCESS IS STILL BROKEN ......................................31
CHAPTER 4YOUR CHOICE IS BROKEN, TOO .......................37
CHAPTER 5BEWARE OF HOME OWNER SITES...................47
CHAPTER 6ALL THE “RIGHT” MOVES.................................55
CONCLUSION HOW WE CAN FIX THE PROCESS,
TOGETHER ..................................................................................67
MY GIFT TO YOU..........................................................................71
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................73
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ................................................................75
FOREWORD
by David Meltzer
Americas #1 Business Coach & Strategist
The homeownership process today is disconnected. It appears that long gone are the days when one relies solely on relationships to buy and sell, nowadays you’ll find companies and corporations trying to eliminate the real estate sales professional, both loan officer and realtor.
I have bought and sold over 100 million dollars in properties over the years and have always relied on my relationships to maximize every opportunity. I would much rather rely on the advice of a trusted friend and expert than machine learning and artificial intelligence. This book will show you why home buying needs to get back to the fundamentals of using local experts.
Working with and creating a friendship with Ben Anderson, the author, I have seen his situational knowledge and relationship capital in action. There are many homeowners today that wouldn’t have homes without Ben.
If you are reading this book and desire to be a homeowner, you will learn how to make all the right moves and Ben will teach you how to land your dream home.
My advice for today’s aspiring homeowner is to shop with a real expert. Sit back enjoy this book, you’ll see homebuying in a whole new light, I know I did.
Dave Meltzer Founder/CEO Sports 1 Marketing
PREFACE
"The most important purchase you will ever make is your home." Virtually no one will argue with that statement. But the problem is, the process is broken and you, the consumer, don’t have control. In a modern world, buying a home still requires a lot of hand-holding for the consumer to navigate the process that nowadays is like a minefield. And why is that?
Did you know that very few home buyers get the best deal? That’s right, many get a bad deal; they get ripped off and the saddest part of all is they don’t even know it – until it's too late to do anything about it. Then they're stuck with a loan they can't afford, or a house they didn't really want – absolutely, positively, not their dream loan and especially not their Dream Home.
Some buyers even fall into a ruthless trap that will cause them identify theft, or credit fraud. As a result, many of you will spend thousands of dollars and years of your lives trying to fix your disastrous credit rating which disqualifies you from buying a home.
"No more!" I say. Because I am going to help you avoid these pitfalls when you set out to buy your Dream Home.
My name is Ben Anderson, I'm America's Favorite Loan Officer; and in this book I'm going to show you what you
can do to beat a broken process. I'll teach you how to get the best deal, and take control over your own home buying future. You are going to learn the tricks and tactics that many loan officers and realtors aren’t willing to tell or show you. I am going to hack into the process and expose what you should do, and what you should avoid, in order to come out on top.
These secrets will ensure you get the best deal. Why am I so sure and why should you listen to me? Out of over 1 million loan officers in the U.S., I've been in the Top 20s consistently for years. I’ve closed $3 billion dollars helping my clients obtain the very best, and for 15 years and they continue to come back to me. I am also the #1 coach for loan officers in the U.S., because not only do I coach, mentor, and train loan officers around the U.S., I am still originating loans myself, so I am coaching and playing which allows me ultimate perspective.
It's time for the truth! I am going to open my vault of knowledge and experience, and show you how to beat the badly broken process. But be careful what I am about to show you may just force you to question everything you think you know about loan officers or real estate agents and the home buying process, and will leave you wondering why you’ve been forced do to things their way for years.
INTRODUCTION
"From the ghetto streets to the executive streets," my good friend, Burrel Lee Wilks III (Floyd Mayweather’s business partner) has said of me. And it applies to my journey all too well.
Inner city crime and injustice is not just a made-for-TV show – it was my reality. "What does this have to do with the home buying process?" you may be wondering. I'll get to that.
One might think war exists only on a battlefield captured by a reporter and aired on the evening news. Not so. I grew up in a war zone, Richmond and Rodeo, California. It's not called Richmond because people are Rich, and it's not called Rodeo, because of Rodeo Drive.
Both of these cities have their inner-inner cities, where there is poverty and crime. Gangs and violence were the norm. For example, at 16 years old I was coaching a youth baseball team of 11-13 year olds – that’s right, they were only three years my junior. Why did I coach them? Nobody else would, so I did.
One day at practice, our center fielder didn’t show up.
I asked the other kids, “Where’s Tianni?”
The answer: “He caught one,” which is aka a "drive-by" shooting. And it was considered business as usual.
The very next day is our championship game. We drive to and play a team in North Richmond, the deep hood. We win the game! But talk about poor sportsmanship: the fans of the home team start throwing beer bottles at my kids!
We run to our van and I floor it to get the heck out of town. I'm driving as fast as I can and still be safe; the kids are screaming in the back of the van. The North Richmond ballplayers are chasing us on their bikes, swerving, trying to get me to pull over. If there's one thing I know it's never pull over when the enemy flags you down. They're not gonna say, "Hey, you left town without your trophy!" So I step on the gas even harder.
Wha
t happens next? The van's back window gets blown out. The kids hit the floor, close their eyes and pray they don’t take a bullet. I just keep driving, totally focused on getting the kids home safe and sound.
When the bikers realize I won't stop for nothing, they peel off and go back home. By the grace of God, none of my kids "caught one".
This was our reality, tomorrow is promised to no one. And this is one of my driving forces for giving it my all in life. I live every day like it could be my last, because I know that it could.
When you grow up in the inner city, you soon discover that tolerance for injustice is different than elsewhere. Real injustice to me is when someone’s survival is threatened. My first encounter with injustice, long before the drive-bys was when my parents were getting divorced in 1986. I was four when I first caught my father abusing my mother. They were arguing outside of a crack house where my father was staying, while my brother and I sat in the car. I saw him strike her to the ground, then he was standing over her, screaming at her. I watched this from the backseat of our 1960’s beat-up station wagon parked in the driveway, with my brother Charles who was two.
When I realized what was happening, I immediately got out and ran over to them. My mother was sobbing and my father was yelling at her, “This is all your fault!”
I got in between my parents, looked my father right in the eyes, and said, "If you try to touch her again, you’ll have to go through me to do it."
He got the message and backed off.
My brother and I were the youngest of 16 or 17 kids. You see, I'm not really sure how many kids my father had, but I know it was a lot. I realized later that he never wanted to
have my brother and me. He'd already been married five times before my mother. Hence the abusive behavior as he rebelled against my mom’s desire to have us. So without knowing it I was fighting for a life I almost never had in the first place.
*
I didn’t have to be born in silver-spoon America to know that it was my moral obligation to stand up for what's right; and for those who could not stand up for themselves. And ever since then, I’ve been doing my utmost best to live a life of preventing real injustice. Sometimes this has gotten me into trouble, and a few times it's even allowed me to save someone's life. But either way I've always followed my heart.
I took that fight for life into athletics, where I played college baseball, and was offered a pro contract, which I would eventually turn down – more on that later. While in college and playing ball in the off season, I also worked in a gym as a personal trainer. One of my best clients, Steve Silvestri, was a manager at a mortgage company. He loved to tell me about these 20-year-old kids who were making $10,000 a month. Silvestri was secretly putting a bug in my ear. And it was working. That kind of money was very enticing to a college kid making a few hundred bucks a month. He knew it was my desire to be a pro ball player, but Steve also saw something else in me: strong people skills.
He'd tell me, "If baseball doesn't work out for you, Ben, keep me in mind. I'll give you a job."
I trained him throughout my college career and the more he talked, the better the mortgage business sounded.
After I finished college I had a pro tryout and was given a contract offer. Right then it became real. I had to decide if I was going to be all-in and pursue baseball as a career for the next 10 years, or enter the business world. Was baseball what I really wanted, or was it what I thought I wanted? Many people go to school thinking they want to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a teacher, and face their own life-changing-decision crossroads. Many wrestle with, Do I use my degree – is that what I really want? Or would I rather start a business? Or try something else I've never done, just because it seems like it'd be more fun?" This was my dilemma too. Baseball was no longer just for fun. Outside of college it's run like a business.
The pro life of a baseball player when you get offered a contract, or get drafted, is nothing like the NBA or the NFL. In the NBA there are 2 draft rounds, and in the NFL there are 7 draft rounds. Baseball has 50+ rounds, then they will sign hundreds of free agents. In the end, you are one of thousands who are trying to make it every year.
I was offered a free agent contract at $700/mo. Was baseball my dream? Yes. Was I young and ambitious? Yes. But I was also realistic, and the reality sunk in that I'd have to be pretty damn lucky; I'd be living in a remote area where I knew nobody, and I'd have to wait years and years playing in the minor leagues (Triple A, then Double A, then Class A) just to have one shot at becoming a "Rookie" and being called up to the big leagues; and then having to prove myself there, so I didn't get "sent back down to the minors."
I didn't want to sit back and watch all of my friends land jobs making good money and having a ton o' fun while I was alone in a strange, faraway town (that's why it's appropriately called a "farm" team). I was the hardest worker on every team I'd ever been on, and still I was not a first round draft pick., My sense of reality told me: "Maybe this effort, if placed elsewhere, will get me farther, faster." So even though baseball was my dream I was willing to give that up because I wanted to be in control of my own destiny. I wanted to own my future, not give that power away to some minor league coach, or a scout, or a pro coach, or a general manager, or a team owner – which is the chain of decision making one has to go through in baseball.
Another thing: Pro sports is largely about politics, and as hard as I was willing to work, I didn’t quite have enough
pure talent alone – again, I'd need to get real lucky, and I wasn’t willing to wait what could take up to five years or more to find out if someone with clout thought I had game.
Baseball was my first love and it was hard to give up. I had a big cry when I made the no-turning-back decision to hang up my cleats, for good. But I knew it was time to grow up and pursue something where there was a direct correlation between how hard I worked and how much I earned.
So I turned that contract down and chose home financing and mortgage instead. That's where I felt I could not only earn what I deserved, but also help people, my other love. I was intrigued that I could make money fast, but also help people finance their Dream Homes. In essence, I took my fight from the battlefield of life into the battlefield of sports into the real estate marketplace; and today I fight for justice for the home buyer.
CHAPTER 1
RULE #1: NEVER QUIT
I’ve never been a quitter. Even when the odds were stacked against me. When I was twelve, I was playing EA’s video game John Madden ’95, and even though I was down 5 touchdowns in the first quarter against my cousin, Dom, I firmly believed I could come back and win. Dom was talking trash and I thought to myself: I just need a turnover, a long punt return, or some sort of splash play.
Then it happened: I made an interception and ran it back for a TD. Next set of downs he fumbled and I scored. One hour later we were tied, and man was Dom mad!
I ended up losing in Overtime, but it felt as good as a win because I'd taken Dom's premature celebrating, quickly turned it around, and made him sweat bullets.
For those who haven't played it, Madden ’95, for my money, is the best video game of all time. It was available on Sega Genesis, Super NES, and Game Boy. Okay, I may be dating myself, but I’m still a Millennial. Here's the upshot: No matter the final score I was determined to finish with pride in having given it my best – and never quitting even when I was so far down it looked hopeless.
*
I came into the mortgage business in 2004 – and I feel it bears repeating – after I had turned down a pro baseball career because I wanted to be in control of my destiny, and I wanted to work directly with people and make an impact on - their lives.
So how did I switch gears? My first gig was at Secured Funding Corporation, a huge mortgage bank. It was the movie “Boiler Room” in real life. It was young, exciting and a world that would change my life forever. Secured Funding employed 2000+ people and had over 800 loan officers – meaning lots of competition, and I love
d that. In fact, the mortgage business would become like a competitive sport for me, so I was still in my element. Steve Silvestri (my personal training client) was the sales manager. But the VP, Howard Regent, had the last word on hiring me, so I had to interview with him
My one and only suit, gray pinstriped, was a graduation present my mom had bought me from Men’s Warehouse. I wore that suit to the interview like it was my birthday. Howard looked at me and said, “You should stay at 24-Hour Fitness. I don’t think you have what it takes to be a loan officer.”
My heart started to race as though I was in the batter's box with the game on the line. The chip on my shoulder just got a little bit bigger. I looked Howard in the eye and said,
“You may not know me, but I will be your number one loan officer.”
"Sorry kid," he dismissed me, "you're just not Secured Funding material."
Luckily, Steve still believed in me and had my back. It took a week, but Steve went to bat for me and finally convinced Howard to give me a shot, and then I was a part of the mortgage draft class of 2004. Let the games begin!
*
Starting day 1, I was a man possessed, learning everything I could about the business. It took me just five months to become the # 1 loan officer in the company out of 800 – because I worked, and I worked and I worked. When I say worked I mean I never took a lunch, never took a break, I never really ate; I competed. I was always first in and last out. In college, I was never the best student, so I had to work twice as hard to learn new things. And if I was willing to give up baseball, my first love, there was no way I was going to fail at mortgage. When my colleagues left the office at 5 PM to hit the bars, I'd stay until 8 PM calling 100 more clients.
