The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Seth Buer, Ricardo Cruz Duran & Megan Fincham Joined Alex Urpí & Xavier Urpí On "Today y Mañana!"

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

Seth Buer, Owner of Precision Craft CNC, and Ricardo Cruz Duran & Megan Fincham, Branch Managers at Total Mortgage Services LLC, joined Alex Urpí & Xavier Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana” airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Emergent Financial Services, LLC, Craddock Insurance Services Inc and Matthias John Realty, with Forward Adelante.

Good morning everyone and welcome to Today y Mañana. I'm Alex, this is Xavier. We're very excited to have you joining us on a warm, humid day here in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is Virginia weather, to be sure. Absolutely. But it's still a great day. It's a little cloudy, which means it's a great day to grab your traffic on leche, settle into a preferably air-conditioned location, and enjoy some Today y Mañana because we have three fantastic guests that are going to be joining us later in the show. We're going to be joined shortly by Seth Buehr.

He's the founder of Precision Crafts. And then later in the show, welcoming back Amido del Programa, Ricardo Cruz Duran from Total Mortgage, along with Maiden Fincham from Total Mortgage, two fantastic people that we're really excited to have on the show today. It's going to be a great show, so remember to like and share, and you can even subscribe. Exactly. By the button on there. Exactly.

If there's a button there, you can subscribe. If there's a button, do it. Because it is there. I just had to do that once. At least once. At least once. Of course, a couple of shout-outs.

Thank you to our presenter, Emergent Financial Services, to our fantastic partners, Mattia Sione Realty, Charlottesville Opera, Credit Series Insurance, Forward Adelante, and of course, thank you to our viewers. Thanks to the Seattle Seville Network. Love being here.

Absolutely. And having our fantastic guests. How have you been? I know it's been a couple of weeks since you and I were on. That's right. I've been great. I've been great. Like I said, this is a time of year that I enjoy. The days are longer. The energy is higher.

I seem to do more this time of year than any other time. So I'm having a lot of fun. And I always love being here. With you, with Michael. Love it. With Nicholas, although I rarely do. I don't, I think. Have you ever done a show, maybe just one?

I think I've done one. One with Nick. I was just going to have to, you know, make it happen. We're just going to have to push it. Yeah, we were just going to have to push it. Just going to have to make it happen, you know. Michael and I will both pull that thing. Oh, we did the one.

We did the one with the director, remember? Oh, the Charlotte's the Opera one. No, no. Oh, with, yes with Michael and Ben. And Ben. And then he criticized him and said he never got any word in. He had all these questions. I said, yeah, but your questions are such that people would say, what is he asking?

Yeah, and they're just going to be like, no, what did you do about this composer and this piece of music that he did? And then he'll spoil the end of the opera and say, what did you do about the end when this happened? And he'll be like, oh, come on. He just spoiled it for everybody. Sometimes it's best. Exactly. Already got some fantastic people tuning in, which we appreciate.

Maiden Smith, thanks for liking the show this morning. James Smith, thanks for liking the show this morning. Brenda Cruz Duran, muchísimas gracias for watching the show this morning. And Marta Duran, muchísimas gracias. We got some fans tuning in. We certainly do. You know, and definitely probably some for Seth

who's coming up and some for Ricardo coming up. So I think everyone's excited for today's show as they should be. Absolutely. As they should be. So I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go ahead and jump right on in. Yeah, I'm really interested

because, you know, he's got even some samples here. So I'd love to hear what he does, how he does it, and what got him into it. Absolutely. So we are excited to welcome to the show this morning Seth Buehr. He is the founder of Precision Crafts. Seth, thanks so much for coming on this morning. Thank you for having me. No, we're glad to have you on.

So for those who don't know you, haven't met you yet, maybe tell us a little bit about yourself and how you first became interested in woodworking. So my name is Seth Buehr. I am the proud founder of Precision Crafts. I recently just graduated high school with high honors. Summa cum laude. Thank you. And down in Crozet, Virginia. So what I do is CNC routing, first off, stands for computer numerical control. And basically, that means you design something on an app like Carbide Create or a website. You design stuff like this.

This was the first thing that I've designed, which was my name on wood with a V-groove little thing. It kind of makes it a little bit 2D or 3D. So you design it on Carbide Create, and then you go ahead and send it via to the router, and that's when you'll actually program it to actually print it out. And it's actually one of the most satisfying things I've ever seen throughout my entire life.

And even this, this is definitely one of my favorite pieces. This is a vertical house number, basically, where it actually engraves into the wood the numbers and the little squares and whatnot. It's amazing. I'm very passionate about this. Then we also do, for my business,

we also do a little bit of woodworking. I'll definitely make hammers and stuff like that and then maybe footstools. Then we also do coasters. For instance, and stuff like that and then like maybe footstools and then we also do like coasters like you'd have like you know for instance like coasters like on slate or pine or like like leather like on like it could be a picture of you like your favorite like jet it could be a something that you admire really much like really well like maybe something in the music area or something just related to that, we can

easily print it for you. That's fantastic. Go ahead. So you design the object, so you talk about you can make the object, and then once the object is there, the coaster, the slab of wood for the name tag, the stool,

and so then you create the design and then a laser or something will then... What actually makes that? How does that happen? When I talk about coasters, we can do coasters on the CNC router. I've done a graduation coaster where it actually prints out.

It would basically be wood, but when we're talking about leather and others like slate and stuff like that, that would actually be on a laser engraver. Okay. Because I don't think the router... No, no. Think about slate.

I don't think the router would... The router would definitely not engrave through a slate, like a slate thing. It could break the piece, like the bit. Yeah. But yeah, we also do make some custom signs, definitely quote signs, something like a quote that you really like from a movie or a TV show. I did one

from Christmas Vacation last December as a little Christmas gift. It turned out really, really well. Then every piece of wood is always sanded through because we want to make sure that the product that I sell is perfect.

It's made with American pride. It's basically as smooth as a table. This is pretty much already done. Actually, this was made with a coat of wood. And before that, it was made with a whole... Before it was sanded. And so we don't want people opening the box and it's like oh like we don't you know this is really sharp I'm going to return

yeah it's not it's not like you know it's not satisfying like we just want like I want to make sure that every customer gets exactly what they want in the most precisional way so and the wood it can be any particular wood or is hardwoods better so it depends on the wood so I

mainly use recycled wood. And I actually, and shout out to my engineering teacher, Mr. Matheny, from Western Alamo High School. He gave me, like, a couple boxes of wood to, like, actually use, because he knew that I was passionate about this. Like, he knew that I could get somewhere with this. And he actually, like, was like, here, take as many pieces of scrap wood as you can. I think one of these, I can't remember which one of these are, but I think one of them are actually

scrap or recycled material. I think it's good for the environment if you think about it. It saves money. Putting to work pieces of wood that might otherwise just be tossed. Then it's going to go to the dump or the pile or something. And for the most part, I use hardwood for the most part.

That actually does work with my router that I actually bought on my own. And I definitely will use some other woods like pine maybe, but I would have to be very careful because pine, I think, can be a little bit loose. It's not as strong as hardwood. It's soft. And you've got the resin on pine too. Yeah, exactly.

I would assume that wouldn't be good on your router if it's running through some resin. It's starting to stick in a little. So how did you decide? You kind of fell in love with this project, this type of woodworking. How did you decide to say, hey, you know what? Let me start something with this. Let me be entrepreneurial with this.

Like what's my story? Yeah. So, I mean, when I was a senior literally just a couple of days ago, because I just graduated. My graduation was May 31st at Western Alamo High School. So you started this company in the last two days. No, no, no. That's really amazing. No, no, no.

I started this way before. It was literally the beginning of my senior year, pretty much, probably a month into my senior year of high school. Like I said, I recently graduated, summa cum laude. I took a class known as Engineering 1. The teacher there was Mr. Matheny. Him and I got along really, really well. And basically, you know, before I even took that class, I didn't, like, other classes I took, like Ceramics 1

and like a bunch of other of those classes related to that. Maybe like on the art style. It just, it wasn't really, it wasn't something that I wasn't, like I wasn't passionate about any of that stuff. Like, it was just like, it just, it wasn't really, it wasn't something that I wasn't, like, I wasn't passionate about any of that stuff, like, it was, it was just like, you know, I just need to take this required to, you know, get my graduation credit, you know, and so, you know, you know, just before my junior year ended, I was picking out my classes with my counselor, and I was just like, you know what, I'm just gonna try one more, you know, one more elective class, see where it takes me. And that was Engineering 1. And so Engineering 1 basically meant it was like the beginning of working into wood, laser engraving, a little bit of foundry, and definitely on the CNC routing part of that.

And like I said, I met him on the first day of school. We got along really, really well. And so one day, he signs one day he brought one of his CNC routers into the classroom, because he has a couple of them scattered around his wood shop, and basically he showed us how to program, how to design your name on wood, which is, like I've shown y'all, this piece, this was actually, this is what I got

help designing. That was like my first ever project on the CNC router. And so then he sent, like after he designed it, he sent it to, like after he designed it, sorry, after he designed it on Carbide Create, which is what I use to design my products,

he sent it over to the CNC router. Basically, he used an app called Carbide Motion, which is an app that you use that actually sends in all the coding and data and whatnot to print out the design that you've uniquely designed. And so then a couple minutes later, after he was showing us how to line up the wood, make sure everything was on together, because we had to use double-sided tape to make sure that the wood wasn't flying off when it was being carved. Oh, that's really interesting.

Yeah, yeah, because it makes sense. Or use little tighteners or put screws through the wood. But double-sided tape's better. But as I was saying, like, he started printing it, and my mind just was like, oh, my God. Like, I have never, like, you know, I was just, like, blown away. I was like, I can't, like, I cannot, this is, like, one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Like, and. You kind of knew then. Yeah, like, and I didn't, like, and at the time things I've ever seen like um and I knew then yeah like and I didn't

like and at the time I just like I you know for the past couple of years my parents and I were just like talking about college and just like I because I didn't know what I wanted to do at that time like I was still figuring out my whole life like um and so as soon as he was printing his I was like this is probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my entire life. And before then, I wanted to be a pilot, a private pilot, maybe work for the Air Force or fly people privately around the United States. And then that just started to kind of leave off my shoulder. It just started to disappear. And it was just like, oh, well, now I, you know, that doesn't sound fun anymore. And so now this

is like, you know, and this is when actually like, I was like, oh my God, this is really cool. And then I decided to print mine and I guess, I mean, I had a picture of the, I was going to say I had a picture of like, of when my when the sign that I showed y'all was printing. It was just, because I was using one of his routers before I bought one. And he just, I was just like blown away. And I was like, all right, this is what I want to do. And so eventually I actually bought my very own CNC router, which is actually, first off, it was a guy down in Richmond that I bought it from.

And it was like $900. And usually, CNC routers are like a couple grand. It's like they're super, super expensive. Oh, yeah. Well, because remember, it's like a lot of, I mean, you've got the router itself that you can buy probably at Lowe's, but then you've got the whole little bars and whatnot moving around. It's a lot of computer programming and whatnot. I mean, it was a couple we ran,

but, like, the guy, I bought it off of Craigslist, and, like, the guy was saying, I mean, this guy looked really trustworthy when I went down, it was, like, in downtown Richmond, he was saying, like, you know, I've only used this twice, and it was from, like, 2019 when he bought it, so basically, I got one heck of a deal. Nice deal like yeah because like i because and mr matheny like him and i like were looking at cnc routers because i knew i wanted to buy one and i was saving my money at the time and you know he found that on craigslist like you could be you could buy it you could potentially buy it the only problem was i did not know where to put

it because i live in a duplex so it's like and CNC routers are super super loud like you're gonna have to like wear earring hearing protection and yeah I mean woodworking in general it's super loud yeah um but like you're actually like it's it's just so it's so it's so loud through it's ripping yes yes and also like eye protection is so so important because when when it's carving as let me just put this for example, as for this, like, when it was getting through, like, you know, like the indents right here. Yes. Like, it just, it was like the wood, it's just like, it's coming, it's flying everywhere. Yeah.

That's the word, yeah. It's flying, like, everywhere. And so, like, eye protection is so important. And so, I remember just driving to Richmond and back in one day, I was just pretty exhausted. It's a long drive. If you think that's like two hours. Back and forth. Yeah, well, four probably in total, I guess, if you think about it.

Because two and from Richmond or one-way trip is like four hours. So I got back. And then the next day, it was like a Monday, I think, or Tuesday, I actually brought the CNC router to my school because my teacher was okay with me just keeping it there for the time being. And he's saying, and then after that, he was just like, kind of fast forward, like, I would say like maybe a month or so later, he, you know, he, he immediately knew that this was like something that I was really, really passionate about and was like, all right, well, so since you really, really like CNC routers,

or since you like really engraving all of this, I'm going to just, you're going to make stuff, and I will put it in the grade book for you. You don't need to do any of the assignments I assign you. You can just print stuff so that you can get the skills to obtain. Yeah, and I was like, you know, that's a really huge, it was a really big deal because, I mean, like if you didn't do your work, you know,

you're going to fail the class, right? So like, because that's how he did his grading system. And so like basically, it was like extremely, extremely helpful when he did that. And just then kind of fast forward a little bit, or actually go a little bit back, probably December, November, I think, Mr. Matheny gives us an assignment called business website. And basically that's, he

was saying, like, I want you to design a business website, and that's where you're going to put all of your accomplished work. And part of it was for, it was easier for him to grade all of that stuff, as a matter of fact, because, I mean, power school can be a lot. I mean, just grading assignments in general. If you're, like, the lead shop teacher, you're going to be grading a lot of stuff, right? Right. It made sense, right?

So I was working on the business website, and, you know, I was making a lot of stuff. I made, like, a sign called Native Plant Garden for a student that was in a science academy or whatnot. I think that's what it was called. And I used this big router. And basically, so in general, I think,

I don't know how to put this. You started realizing that maybe there was an opportunity to actually sell some of these things and make them for other people? Yeah. And also that's kind of where I got my name, Precision Crafts, was because precision means it's another word for accurate. I remember learning it in chemistry class my sophomore year in high school.

And precision or precisional is like another word for accurate. And that's what every customer needs is accuracy and even with like the products that i sell it must be accurate or else it will not sell yeah yeah and then crafts i mean i'm i'm designing stuff like it's a craft yeah like even like all these like like the designs i've i've made like a boot slide which basically like with the help of mr mcfeeny he basically it's another way it's another fancy way of taking your shoes off. You actually press on this piece of wood, and you put your shoe through a little... It kind of looks like a horse shoe, and you slide, and you just...

It's like you take your shoe off in the most helpful way, where you don't even need to bend your back down. It's actually... And I'm like, I'm definitely going to sell that. It is very unique, yes. That is neat. Because the older you get, the less you want to really bend to bend your back down. It's actually, it was like, gee, and I'm like, I'm definitely going to sell that. It is very unique, yes. That is neat. Because the older you get, the less you want to really bend. I know.

Exactly. Is that something people can get from you now, even? I mean, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I have the file on my computer, and I mean, I'm still working on a little bit of editing details. But, yes, like, I'm still designing things. Like, I'm, you know, like, I'm definitely, one thing, I'm going to give you a little sneak peek. I'm designing something for, like, kids. It's basically, you know, like, when you have, like, one of those puzzle matching things where, like, it has, like, a car or, like, has a plane or, like, has those shapes and whatnot.

That's what I'm trying to design right now. And so it's, like, a mix and match type of thing that I'm still designing. I'm still figuring out a few coding things. Let's see. So you do a combination for when people want to work with you. So you do a combination, I guess, of projects and things that people

may be able to use or move around or take off their shoes. But then also some artistic things that people say, okay, I want something to hang outside my front door. I want a cool sign for my house number. Yes, this, outside your front door. Exactly. And I can put any paint on it, like wood

paint on it, and it's going to charge and it's going to be a little extra, but it's going to look so much better. Absolutely. Even with wood, I mean, this is with wood coat, okay? This is very very, very clean. It's not like, if I didn't have this wood coat on, it basically just would have been like a plain old piece of wood. It just

would have not shined enough. What's nice is, one, you already have the creativity. Obviously you're creative. You have the creative mind, which means you can take somebody's idea ‑‑ somebody would come up to you and say, this is more or less what I'm thinking about. And you have now the ability to say creatively, this is how it should look. And then you can translate it into a piece of wood, which they could actually choose if they want, right? I suspect. Or you can say, this is the best. This is the option.

This is the best kind of wood to use. And then go there and just do your magic with programming and then let the C route do its magic. Yeah. So, and I mean, people, like, definitely part of this business is that people can DM me. Like, my DMs are open on my business page. They can DM me and like, hey, like, I want a sign that says this and that. And I'm like, all right. I'm sorry to interrupt. What does DM mean? Because I'm an old guy. What does DM mean? DM, sorry. It means like you, you're like, your personal. Oh, direct message. Oh, direct message.

Yeah, direct message. You basically, you send someone like a direct message to like kind of like, I'm an antique, so. No, you're totally fine. You're not the only one. I understand that. It's an easy way, yeah.

Direct message. What's the direct message type? Direct message, yeah. DM means direct message, yes. So they direct message you with whatever they're interested in and then you can try to work with them to say, okay, what are you looking for? Yes, and I can work with them personally and just say, all right, we can do this and that and I can take pictures of what I have on CardBag Create and then ‑‑ because

it shows a simulation of like ‑‑ of like what it will actually look like before ‑‑ like after you print it. It's very, very useful. Almost like a proof of concept. Yes, it's kind of like a simulation, yes. It's very, very helpful to give me an idea of what it will look like after. Because sometimes I have messed up and I have messed up to the point where the router is just moving weirdly and I'm like, this isn't right. And it's like, basically I misaligned something or it's like, it can be very, very complicated. But the finished work is fantastic. The finished work is always probably one of the most satisfying parts. Even watching it in general, just like printing is probably

very, it's just so satisfying. And that's what I love about this. And I just want to mention like to the people out there that don't know what they want to do or not sure what they want to do, you please don't stress about it because you literally have all the time in the world to figure out what you really want to do

and what your passion is. Like don't let people force you into like the traditional ways or like whatnot. You need to do what's like what your passion is like don't let people force you into like the traditional ways or like whatnot you need to do what's best for your heart like you need to like I mean look college is very beneficial I have been considering it for a very very long time even bvcc or uva down the road like stuff like that I'm just not going right now because I need to take time to like you know I've been in high school for God knows how long. Like, I mean, even like COVID-19 was really an effective year.

And like, you know, junior and senior year were probably my best years because like that's where I was starting to find my passion. But like you don't need to stress over your life. You literally have all, you have your whole life to figure out what you want to do. So I'm just going to say it. That's great. I mean, listen, you just graduated. You've got the summer, right, to really develop and continue to explore your options here. Yeah.

And – And have great business, a little business while doing it. Yeah. Like you need to – like don't let anybody push you around. You need to listen to your gut and just figure out what's best for you. Exactly. Like college or not, sure. Like, I mean, I've talked to my parents about college for, like, for God knows how long, like the past couple of years, and I'm finally kind of figuring out what I want to do. And it's like, oh, like, I never knew that, like, you know, I had to listen to my gut and whatnot.

They've been telling me this whole time. It's just like, oh. Absolutely. Well, this has been absolutely fantastic, Seth, before we let you go a couple people still watching some shout outs, Issa Jason, Miel Uput Siva Patel, thanks for watching Vanessa Parko, thanks for tuning in this morning

always appreciate our great viewers, Monica Miller from Montana tuning in, Elizabeth Irby tuning in, so definitely appreciate everyone tuning in this morning where can people like find out more, see your website, see what you do, and reach out to you? And where can they go to DM you? All right.

So unfortunately, I'm still developing my business website. It will be released in probably the next month or so. But there's just a lot of adding in images and just all this sort of crap. It's just a little bit of a pain in the butt. A behind-the-scenes video. But, yeah, it is behind the scenes. Right now, you can follow me on Instagram at PrecisionCraftCNC, I believe.

I think you guys must have gotten it. And that's where I've got a few posts up and actually describing what is CNC routing because I know a lot of people do not know what that is. Just going to say it's computer numerical control, just one last time. But yeah, you can follow me on my Instagram at PrecisionCraftCNC.

And that's actually where I made my business ad as well. That's talking about what I'll sell and some of the things that I've made with American Pride and Accomplishment. Can people DM you through Instagram? So yeah, a couple people, probably two at least, have DM'd me about a few things that I know, Can people DM you through Instagram? do that. And then there was another person that was requesting a house number or something like that. It's like, oh, wow. So that's a good way to get in touch with me. So it's kind of, remember,

so remember, businesses do take a while. They start off slow. You've got to get people. You've got to get profit. It's a lot of work and effort. I'm still developing this business. I still have to do a bunch of

I mean it's required by law register with the state and taxes I'm still working on that but it's it's probably almost there it's almost ready to be an actual thing

that I'm passionate about well we're excited for you congratulations be sure to check out Precision Craft CNC actual thing that I'm passionate about. That's wonderful. Well, we're excited for you. Congratulations. Be sure to check out Precision Craft CNC on Instagram. Seth, thanks for coming on. Thank you for having me, guys. I appreciate it. And as we go ahead and do our

swap-a-roo here, we'll rotate from one great guest to another. Always love featuring... CNC. I remember that. Yep, Precision Craft CNC on Instagram. And that's where you can, I'm sure people who know Instagram know how to do that. That's amazing what things can happen today, right? I mean, if you have the wherewithal of computer science and, you know, you're also somewhat savvy and technical and creative, it's amazing what you can do.

What you can do. Exactly. Exactly. That's great work. Great work. Nice to see that. Definitely appreciate it. Young entrepreneurs.

Nothing like it. Yep. Absolutely. We love it. We love it. And then I also dropped Young entrepreneurs, nothing like it. Absolutely. We love it. And then I also dropped off some more people tuning in. Muchas gracias for watching the show this morning. Always love the great fans that we have tuning in.

From one great guest to two more, one of whom is Amito, the programmer that we're really glad to have back. We are excited to welcome to the show this morning Ricardo Cruz-Duran and Maiden Fincham from Total Mortgage. Ricardo, Maiden, thanks so much for coming on this morning. Thank you for having us. Now, we're glad to have you guys back. I just have to say one thing, though. Ricardo could have sent us a memo that's saying that Thursday is Hawaii. Hawaii.

I wouldn't have worn my Hawaii shirt. Don't look bad. I didn't bring mine either. But we do this company wide every day. Jerry got the memo. Jerry's looking good. Jerry's looking like in the studio. Looking like the season. So he got the memo this morning. So Ricardo, I mean it's been a little bit

since you've come on and made it and this is your first time. Maybe for the viewers that haven't seen you guys yet, tell us a little bit about yourselves and how each of you came to join Total Mortgage. Yeah, I'll let Megan go first. I was going to say, I'll let Ricardo go first. So

Ricardo and I used to work at a local credit union here in Charlottesville, and that's both where we got our start in mortgages, what, five, six years ago? Yeah. And we just became fast friends, and we both fell in love with the business, and we both started families around the same time. We got little kids, and thank you. And my family moved. We're in Chesterfield now so but I just you know I really

love the real estate business it's my family's passion my my husband and my father-in-law are both real estate appraisers Woody's on the show frequently so you know and oh yes, he's often on Real Talk with Pete Smith. Yes, he is. That's my father-in-law. He's on pretty frequently. Love him, I have to because we're related. But no, he's wonderful. And when Ricardo started with Total, he reached out to me and was like, I have this awesome business opportunity with this wonderful company,

and I really think that we can help people. And that always perks my ears up. And I had taken some time away with my boys, and I thought that I was ready to come back. And that's how I ended up at Total, and we've both been really happy there. That's fantastic. Yeah, absolutely. And same, same. As Megan said, I started my mortgage career with a local credit union here in town. And, yeah, so I came about Total Mortgage through a real estate agent that uses Total Mortgage and told me about the opportunity.

And that's how, you know, I reached out, and they were super happy that I reached out. And, yeah, they had a great opportunity to continue helping families locally. But not only that, but with the large gamma of products, you know, because they have national products and a lot of different products that I didn't have before that could use a lot of families, especially in today's hard market that we're in. Yes. You kind of have to be creative and think about what are ways to help families where

there's just so many headwinds that may be coming their way when it comes to actually getting a mortgage, buying a house. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so one of the things i want to ask you both is obviously now you're both you're two experienced people we're here with two experience in the mortgage space and what particularly i would imagine in this time it's it's not as straightforward as maybe it would have been you know bad three years ago where Well, yeah, I want to refinance. Everybody.

Right? What are common questions that people will often come up to you both with now? Yeah. Given this environment, what are a lot of things you're hearing from just people that are reaching out to you both? Well, for me, the biggest question that they're asking is, is it the right time to buy? Yes. Yeah. that they're asking is, is it the right time to buy? That's like everybody that's coming in and they're applying is they're asking, hey, tell me how much I qualify for, what would my rate be,

and what my monthly payment would be. And then tell me whether I'm doing this thing right. Is this the right time to purchase or is it not the right time and should I wait? And so a lot of people are hesitant right now because the market is tough. I work in the mortgage business and I hate the rates. We all hate the rates. Absolutely. And so, you know, oftentimes people apply and I tell them, hey, you know, homes have been appreciating for a long time now

and it's been a very steady appreciation. And the sooner you get into homeownership, the sooner you can build equity, the sooner you can build wealth, even if it costs you a little bit more in the beginning, but later you could, you know, refinance, later you could do a lot of different things to keep you, you know, so that you can continue to afford that house. So that's usually my response. And then obviously partnering with a local professional that has a lot of different ways to make today's current environment work. And, yeah, so that's my response to them. One thing that I'll add, if you don't mind,

from your presentation that you all gave us, I thought one of the best takeaways from that is that if you try to time the market, any market, the investment market, the real estate market, you're going to fail. And the only thing that you're missing out on is just not being in the market. There were people back in the 80s when rates were very high as well. They're just waiting, waiting for rates to come down. Well, it went on like that for a decade. And if you are

waiting potentially for rates to come back down, we have no control and we have no way of knowing when and if they will come back down. We all assume that they're going to eventually, but we don't know when. And you could miss out on a ton of equity and financial security for your family if you don't make that jump. And I know that Total, one of the things that they're doing that I think is great is offering some renovation loan products because maybe a solution for people right now is to get into a home that they otherwise wouldn't have and you know something that is a little bit beat up that needs a lot of work just so you can secure that financial asset for your family make it what you want it to be and get in now

and then potentially refinance and let it grow, let it appreciate. What I was going to say is, I mean, what you mentioned before was right, both of you. First of all, you know, trying to figure out is this the right time. The only person that can answer that question is yourself. Can I afford this house? And if the answer is you can afford it, then the answer is it's the right time. And second of all, for whatever reason, the two years

where interest rates were at 3%, 2.75%, that was an extreme anomaly. I mean, you go back in history, that just didn't exist. When my parents bought their home back in the 60s, the rates were 5.5%, 6%, 6.25%, right? When I bought

my first home, it was 15.75%. I'm saying, oh, my Lord, how lucky my parents were. Now, like, you look at 6.75% and 7%, people say, oh, my God, it's so high. It was like 3%. But the answer is, this is just an opinion, right? My answer is that I think that going forward, we're not going to see two and three quarters and three percent. We're going to see somewhere between five and a half and seven and a half percent is what mortgage rates are going to be. So the idea is like, maybe I should wait till next year because the Fed's going to lower rates maybe. It's a losing battle. Like you said, from here to next year, that home

went from, you know, $600,000 to $700,000. You just lost out on $100,000 worth of equity, right? And I think the issue is a lot of people now, because I think we were spoiled by those couple of years, they see, like, they're worried that a 6% or 7% mortgage rate might not be a good investment. But if you think about it, you've made this point, what else can you get a bank to invest in your future at a rate

looking like that? If you go to bank for a personal loan, it's not going to be... My husband says that all the time. It's going to be 10-11. If you go to bank for a business loan, it's going to be 9-10-11. It's just funny, and if you think about that compared to rent, right? At the beginning of when you're a new homeowner, the percent of what of your monthly payment

that is equity is small. It grows over time. But no matter what it is, it's infinitely more than the percent of equity you're building when you're paying rent. So if you're paying rent, you're building zero percent equity. So zero to anything is basically an infinite jump. So there are good reasons

and this can be still a good investment for people, even if they're worried about the timing and so forth. It's really like you said, it's the time in the market that has a lot of this. Yeah. And I just wanted to add,

I figured maybe we could do a little bilingual because we've got a great guest here that can do that. Because sometimes the Hispanic community has different questions. Yes. But what are the frequent questions

that you receive about it? I like that he started laughing right away. Yes, of course. I have an idea. que reciben ustedes sobre... Me gusta que empezó a reír enseguida. Sí, sí, claro que sí. Yo tengo una idea. Pero, ¿cuáles son las preguntas frecuentes de la comunidad hispana que reciben ustedes sobre el proceso de obtener

una hipoteca o los tipos de hipotecas que son accesibles para la comunidad? Well, mainly en español, ¿no? Ah, sí, podemos decirlo en español. En bilingual. There you go. Well, la pregunta más común,

the most common question that I get in Spanish, is they, oftentimes they ask, how do I trust you? Like, you know, ¿cómo yo puedo confiar en usted que usted me va a ayudar bien? Porque en el pasado han tenido otras personas

que no les explicaron tal vez, no les ayudaron de la mejor forma. Entonces, in the past, probably they've had different people that have helped them but not to the best way possible or didn't explain a few things.

And so that's a common question that I get. I don't get it a lot, but it's oftentimes coming up. And then obviously they also have the same question is, how much money do I need? What's my monthly payment going to be? But what I'm getting from Hispanic clients is they're not worried too much on the rate. I'm getting more of, okay, this is going to be my monthly payment. This is how much I'm going to need. Okay, how do we make it work? That's the mentality of the Hispanic client. And it goes

to say with the current housing trends on the Hispanic homeownership, they've just been growing recently. For over eight years now, it's the only racial demographic to have been growing consistently in homeownership. Right now, it's 49.5% of all home sales or home purchases in the United States, 49 and a half. So that makes you think whether or not our current housing has the right solutions for these people. If you think about it, almost half of the entire housing is Hispanic. So in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, we need to find solutions because this is a big number. This is not a small number. We need to find a way to find the solutions to meet these clients, the Hispanic clients.

So that's what I'm getting right now from Hispanics is, okay, tell me how much I qualify for. Tell me how much I need. What's my monthly payment? Okay, do I need to add another family to this deal? Do I need to bring in my cousin? Do I need to bring in my aunt? Okay, we'll make it work somehow, but we've got to make it work. And that's when a loan officer comes in that can explain everything to them.

How it works. And how it works, yeah. So that's what I'm seeing. That's amazing. It's funny it harkens back because I think I was reading an article that back in 1940s, 1950s, almost like most homeowners either got assistance from their parents

or actually bought their parents' house. And the deal was, you move into my house, this house will become yours, but grandma's living with you to just go. move into my house, this house will become yours, but grandma's living with you to a stretch. You're not sending her to a nursing home, but this is her house. It will become yours.

But I think the beauty of the Hispanic community, A, already has that kind of let's work together as a family to make this happen. What do we need to do when they just need a loan officer that's willing to work with them? And I think the other thing is, let's face it, especially if What do we need to do? And they just need a loan officer that's willing to work with them on that. And I think the other thing is, let's face it, especially if you're a Spanish-French, if you've come from Latin America recently, these illustrates are not new here. You're like, oh, man, if you come from Argentina, you're like, oh, this is great. I mean, that was some crazy 14%. So, I mean, depending where you're coming from, it's not a phase.

It's not phasing you because they're not coming with that background of, oh man, three years ago I could have got two and three quarters. They're coming from, well, if this was back home, it would be much more expensive. So this is, I'm not worried about the interest rate. I'm worried about what can I actually afford as a monthly payment.

I was going to say, part of you have to take your hat off, right? To think that, you know, that large percentage. Here we are in a market that is so difficult, right? Where the homes, you know, the supply is limited, right? Correct. And you still have so many people looking to purchase homes. And the Hispanic community is finding ways to do that. And I think it's part of their culture, which is what you mentioned.

In other words, it's a family culture. In other words, I want my family to, we want to live together. We want to grow here in this country. And it's like they just get together. How do we make this work? And that's the key. How do we make this work? That's the system. These are the rates.

These are the prices. I'm not going to go back and complain and moan all day long about how it's not fair. It's like, how do I make it work? I think that's the most beautiful thing. It's like having people like Ricardo and Megan to be able to explain the process,

to be able to say, here's how it works, and then put the numbers and say, yeah, you know what? We're $10 short, but we'll find a way. We'll find a way. A couple people tuning in. Johnny Kate watching the show. Peter McFerrin says, great to join this wonderful show. Flores Ronald

says, Ricardo, and he's different like that. Yes. So what, I mean, do you guys have particular, what kind of advice do you often work with people, particularly Latinos or it could be others, that maybe they're looking, this is their first time. They've never gone through the process of getting a mortgage before. What do you kind of guide them through and work with them as to what advice do you give to them? Well, there's so many things because each family is different, right?

Each family has a different situation. Some may qualify immediately, others may not. It really depends on each situation. And that's, you know, once we meet in the table, I always ask them, you know, what's your biggest worry about buying a house? Is it that you need a lower total cash to close, or is it that you need a lower monthly payment? Tell me what you need, and let me see what I can do, you know, because I want to understand where they are and how a loan program will fit with them. And then I'll give them all the options, and it's up to them if they choose one versus the other.

So pretty much that's what we do. That's what I do there. And in the end, I don't tell them to give up because when they meet, I'm always telling them, you know, continue to work hard. Now that you sat with me, now you know how to make it work. Okay? So if it didn't work now, let's create a plan, a month, two months, three months, whatever it takes, but we'll get you a house. You know, and that's the plan that Hispanics are following. And I have a lot of clients waiting because they didn't qualify at the moment,

but we have a plan set for them so that they qualify. And I think that's the difference between, you know, like not to toot our own horn, but between us and maybe another mortgage lender is like we're not just in the business of closing loans. Everybody here wants to close a loan. Everybody here wants to get paid. Everybody wants to get you in a house. But we are committed to relationship building. Ricardo has

worked with people, and I have worked with people, who they don't qualify initially. But I know where your heart's at. I know what your goal is for your family. And we will spend however long is necessary helping you get to that point. It might be a year from now, working on your credit, you know, getting you into maybe a better job, whatever it is, we're there to, you know, help and advise you and to get you into that spot. We're not just going to be like, well, you waste my time, you don't qualify. You know, we want you to buy a house and to have that financial security for your family. And I think nobody does that better than Ricardo especially.

And I mean, I can speak to that personally. I mean, I had worked with Ricardo, I mean, back even when you were at your previous position. You had less options than you do now, right? Yes. What I love is that, you know, I mean, anyone who's an entrepreneur knows that when you're an entrepreneur, you don't get a mortgage. It's not as simple as like, here's my W-2. And it's like, here you go. And Ricardo, I mean, you were the best as well.

I remember sitting there with you and I'm like, okay, well, change it to this. What if it's that? And you must have run me like five different options. My finance line to take home, knowing that, okay, it wasn't going to happen that day. But let's take it home. That's right. Let's go forward. Because, I mean, I wasn't going to happen that day, but let's take it home. That's right. Let's go forward. Because, I mean, I wasn't even in the process of immediately buying a house.

I had just been married, was really early in the process. And I was like, that's okay. I'm going to work with you. Here's all the different things. And you just helped me to know, well, okay, here's what I need to get my ducks in a row to make this happen. And it just, I appreciated it y yo, porque ese fue otro nivel de estar ahí con la gente y construir relaciones.

Y puedo decir que algunas personas lo ven y se sienten igual, porque Ricardo Cruz de la audiencia recomienda todo lo que ustedes dicen. Gracias. Martha Duran de Cruz tiene una pregunta de la alianza. Y su pregunta es, ¿puede una persona que no tenga social aplicar para un crédito para comprar su casa? Excelente pregunta. Muchas gracias. That's my mother, by the way.

She's getting me now. She's learning. She's learning. Well, yes. In fact, I'm very passionate about this. And that's why I brought this up about the 49.5% is because we now, if you think about it, lenders that are trying to survive or trying to make loans now, they really need to start thinking about how we can help this community

because a lot of Hispanics, they don't have social. They have tax ID numbers. They have the ITIN, right? They have the ITIN, yeah. Yeah, ITIN. Which I don't know if a lot of people know, but an ITIN is just a tax ID number that the IRS issues. It's also nine digits, similar to a social security number that you can use

to report your income taxes. Okay? So, and you can also build credit on this ITIN, which is nice. Now, but not all lenders have that solution to help these families. And a total mortgage has a ton of solutions. I can't even count them or remember how many because there porque son tan muchas para ITIN. Y para responder esa pregunta para mi madre, sí, tenemos los préstamos con Tax ID. Aunque, para ser honestos, no todos los préstamos tax ID son competitivos, ¿verdad?

Hoy en día, con el mercado que estamos, es un poco difícil tener tanto dinero necesario para poder invertir en una casa con tax ID. So I'll say that in English. In today's market conditions that we're in, it's really tough for a tax

ID person to be able to afford that total cash to close. So that's where lenders need to see this percentage because the next time a real estate agent gets an offer, it's most likely going to be a Hispanic client. And do they have the right staff to support that? Do they have the right staff to help these clients? I mean, that's the kind of questions that I'm thinking here in my mind for total

mortgage here locally. I got me, but I also need more LOs that speak Spanish to continue to help that community because we want to help them. It's a long-winded... No one wants a lender, whether they keep the mortgage or whether they sell it, the eventual owner of the mortgage, right, does not want a mortgage that will go back.

Sure, yeah. So the more you can do to help them, the more that you've made that mortgage a reliable either income stream for the lender if they keep it or an income stream for whoever gets that mortgage a reliable either income stream for the lender if they keep it or an income stream for whoever gets that mortgage in the end, whoever receives in the financial markets the interest from that mortgage. So you want good mortgages.

You want, okay, what do we do to make this work so that it is a good mortgage, both for the homeowner, the Spanish homeowner, and for the ultimate owner of that mortgage, whether it's bond loaned or not. So two things. One is, I mean, if you look at historical default rates on mortgages, the Hispanics have one of the better, you know, some of the lowest default rates ever. And, again, because it goes back to family, I mean, this is their home. They're going to do anything possible. The second was really kind of a question, Ricardo, in other words, or Megan, if somebody takes out a loan using the ITIN only number, can they eventually also refinance if rates come down? And is that still possible for them? Absolutely. Same as somebody

with a social. Okay. So there's no penalty for having ITIN in that. Absolutely not. Well, there is lenders that will offer you the ITIN loan, and you need to be careful with who you get it with, and make sure you ask questions like the one you post, which is, do I have to pay a fee to refinance, or do I have to, is there prepayment penalties, is this a balloon payment? I mean, all those things you need to ask to make sure that you get into the right loan that is going to help you trust is so key because we've had some people

that have doubled as their financial advisor they've double checked with us I mean even recently we've had a couple people that say yeah my lender is offering me like 8% arm and I'm like wait but this is the deal for me and it's like no no no let's talk about this is offering me like 8% arm, right? And I'm like, wait, wait, wait. But this is the deal for me.

And it's like, no, no, no, no, no. Let's talk about this. Let's talk about this because I'm pretty sure that's not, that's not a deal. So in other words, the trust of someone, because there's probably going to be, you know, it's a big market, right? And you don't want to bash the financial markets. And they did enough bashing in the news, financial industries.

Yeah. For me to add to that. But it is a big decision. And so you want to make sure that you trust the person you're dealing with. Because occasionally there are, just like any other business, there's occasionally going to be unscrupulous people, right? Or people that don't have a lot of options or products. And they're going to try to shoehorn you into one of theirs, even if it doesn't fit you.

So the beauty is, I mean, here you have the two of you, you're trusted, you're trustworthy, and you have actually a lot of options. Yeah, and I think that was one of the reasons why we landed at Total. You know, Ricardo is so passionate about this. He's been passionate about it ever since I met him, helping this, you know, group of people, people with ITIN, you know, helping his community get into homeownership.

And we wanted to, you know, form a company and a branch here that could serve that community. Not just, okay, you do qualify for this. Like you said, you don't want to get stuck into something that just because you could qualify for it isn't the best thing for your family. So having the options and not being limited just because you, you know, don't have a Social Security number I think is really important.

Absolutely. No, it's true. All right. Just one last question. So given the fact that, you know, in the past, typically short-term rates are lower than the longer-term rates, and they used to have, you know, the arm mortgages, the teaser rates, and things like that. Does that still exist considering where the market is? Or are, in today's world, are most people saying, give me the 30-year fixed, because that's probably the best thing to do? I think it still exists. Like Ricardo said, it exists because every buyer is different.

You don't know necessarily why somebody might go into an arm or fix. Maybe they have taken a job that's temporary in a different state or something. A lot of times those people want some sort of maybe an interest-only payment or something like that. They're not planning on being there a long time. Sometimes something like an arm or something short- term makes sense because of your life circumstances. But in a traditional sense, people wanted it because it had much more attractive rates than the long term. But right now, they're pretty much the same. But it could still make sense for somebody because of where they're at in life.

Yeah, I agree with that. That's fantastic. So for people who are interested in reaching out to you guys, is there a specific area that you only cover, or could it be how vast is the area that you guys can work from? We're all over the place. We're going. Yeah, we pretty much can do, we pretty much, well, right now I should say we're licensed.

The branch is licensed in Virginia. Our branch here in Harrisonburg, that's where our branch is. It's a physical location. Physical location. We're licensed in Virginia, in Connecticut, in Massachusetts, I believe is the other one, and Florida for now. Oh, okay. So anywhere. We're in four states and we're working. If you want to get a vacation home in Florida, we can help you.

All the humans watching. Yeah, yeah. And so I'll get you a cafe con leche. So yeah, just reach out. We're happy to help. And yeah, so we're working to continue to add states. Trying to get most of the East Coast. It just takes time to get your branch licensed

there. Your branch has to get licensed first, then we have to get licensed there. Pretty much anywhere in Virginia. Yeah, I mean, we have the physical location in Harrisonburg. If you want to go see Ricardo's pretty face, go to Harrisonburg. But he also, you know, can drive all around Charlottesville and meet you wherever. We have another loan officer there, AJ, as well. And then I'm based out of Chesterfield, Richmond area.

So, you know, I work remotely most of the time. But I also, you know, we're licensed and we're also competent in these areas. I have lived all over the state of Virginia, and Ricardo has as well. But we can cover anything in the entire state. Awesome. That's fantastic. Lucrecia Morales watching the show this morning from Sombreros, right here on the down there. Merilyn Torpeño, thanks for watching. Oh, my wife. That's my wife.

That's your beautiful wife. Medium Duran watching. Leo says, Ricardo's the best. Peter McFerrin says, great interview. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. Last question, as usual for you guys. What's the best way for people to get in touch with you? Well, for me specifically, you can reach out directly at

434-365- 8978. You can also look us up on social media, so Facebook, Ricardo Cruz Duran, I'm sure you'll find it. If not, just put what's my new title here? I always forget.

Just search Ricardo or just reach out or text me at that number. I'm pretty sure if you type Ricardo on Facebook, it pops up. Yeah, it's coming up as Ricardo Cruz-Duran, Senior Mortgage Loan Originator and Branch Manager. Nice. I had to read it off because it's too long. To be honest, that's why I kind of just put the two of you in there. I said, by the time I finish reading these titles.

It's going to be too long. Yeah. Yeah, So we have a branch website address, and if you go to Total Mortgage and you look up in Virginia, you can find our branch page there. We both have Facebook pages.

Mine is just Megan Fincham and Total Mortgage on Facebook. If you search that, my page should come up, and then you can also reach me at my cell phone number, which is 540-848-5197. So we are there. Lots of ways to get in touch. Lots of ways to get in touch.

Very impressive that you both remember the phone numbers. It's so hard now to remember your own phone numbers. Very impressive. Leo.com says, great job, guys. Oh, yeah, Leo. Thank you, guys. A lot of our viewers are already watching on your Facebook page. Oh, nice. Thank you, guys. So they are already connected. Perfect.

Give me a follow. Yeah, yeah. My email and everything should be there as well. Yep, absolutely. So thank you both so much. Thank you. This has been wonderful. Congratulations and the best of luck. I mean, thank you. You guys are going to do great. I just know it. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Well, it's been a fantastic show. Really enjoyed it. Next week, we've got some more great guests coming on. We're going to be joined by Danny and Kathleen Belcher from Sivo Opera. We talked about The Music Man. Their musical that is coming up

soon. Very soon, yeah. I think right here. In a week or so, right? Yeah, in the month of June. You can go see The Music Man. So be sure to check us out next week. We're going to be talking with them. I think right here. In a week or so, right? Yeah, in the month of June. You can go see The Music Man. Be sure to check us out next week. We're going to be talking with them. I don't know if it'll be Nick or you or me. We'll find out. You'll find out what hosts are on next week. It's with Seville Opera. We love Seville Opera so much that I think we all kind of fight

to see who gets to host that show. Always appreciate all our great guests. Everyone that supports the show. Appreciate being here on the I Love Seville Network. Judah Wittkow behind the camera, making us all look good. Our great partners, Mattia Sione Realty, Charlottesville Opera Credit Series Insurance. Our fantastic presenter, Emergent Financial Services. Appreciate being on with you.

Thank you, same here. Always enjoy it. Always enjoy it. Appreciate all of you who tuned in. Really thank you. Did want to give an extra shout out. We had a couple other. Brenda Kruster-Anh is sending congrats and things.

I did want to say, Vanessa Parco, you had some great comments. We will definitely pass them on to Seth. I missed them during the transition. But she had some encouragement for those like Seth who are interested in technology careers. It's the Penn College of Technology, a Penn State affiliate. So she has some great thoughts there. So really appreciate that. Sorry that I missed that right as I was switching from one list to another.

But I really appreciate everyone who tuned in today, all your great questions and comments. We look forward to seeing you next week. But until that time, as we like to close it out on the show, hasta mañana. Thank you.