Whether you want to get into your first home, upsize, downsize, or just change your neighborhood, Kelly and Aaron Garcia have the tools you need to make it happen, even when you wonder if it is possible. Visit their website.
Emmalou Penrod 0:00
I’m talking to Aaron and Kelly Garcia today. Kelly is a realtor and Aaron is a loan originator. And that sounds like a marriage made in heaven. So Aaron, and Kelly, welcome.
Aaron and Kelly 0:17
Thank you.
Emmalou Penrod 0:19
So I’m wondering if the marriage came first or the business partnership?
Kelly Garcia 0:27
So I’ve been in real estate since 2006. And Aaron, how long have you been doing loans?
Aaron Garcia 0:35
Since 2001.
Kelly Garcia 0:37
And we actually, were just married in 2017. So we met through real estate.
Aaron Garcia 0:45
And when we met, I did a lunch and learn. That’s something we used to do. As loan officers, we would go to realtors offices, and have a topic to discuss and share that information, something going on in our business with the realtors. And that’s where I met Kelly was at one of our lunch and learns that we did for her a real estate office.
Emmalou Penrod 1:07
Awesome. And now you are a team in many capacities.
Kelly Garcia 1:14
Absolutely, powerhouse team.
Emmalou Penrod 1:18
Awesome. Well, I understand Aaron was telling me that your slogan is We Make Home Happen. Can you talk about that? What does that mean?
Aaron Garcia 1:29
You know, we came up with that. It’s, there’s just so many obstacles, it seems in life, in general, right? And then when you go buy a home, it seems like those obstacles are amplified, for whatever reason. It’s an emotional thing. You know, and that’s one thing we talked about. We had to deal with people at their most emotional state. When we make friends with somebody, we make friends with them at their most emotional state in what we do. So it’s a little bit unique that way the relationships before, but our whole, the whole idea behind what we do is, you know, it’s the American dream. It’s something that people want, it’s something that we strive to just make it happen, right? So we make home happen for you, no matter what the obstacle is, no matter what your circumstance. If you can’t do it right now, we’re going to put you on the road to homeownership. If you don’t think you can, we’re going to show you how you can. If there’s something that comes up, we know how to solve it. So once again, we make home happen, because that’s what we do. We’re professionals, we’ve been doing this forever, we’ve seen most of everything that you can in what we do. And that’s where we came up with the slogan.
Emmalou Penrod 2:41
I can relate to what you were saying about an emotional critical time. I have heard the saying that if you can, if your marriage survives, you know, buying a home or remodeling a home, then you have got a good strong marriage.
Aaron Garcia 3:01
The house that we purchased two years ago, we’ve been remodeling it since the day we moved in. In fact, we finished our last project, I’ve been told, or been promised, this will be our last project for at least, you know, a couple months. But we have been under renovation in our home for two years. And we’ve made it through and it’s been a lot. Our house doesn’t even look the same. It’s not even recognizable. So we understand that we go through the same things everybody else does that we help.
Emmalou Penrod 3:33
Been there, done that.
Aaron Garcia 3:35
Yeah.
Kelly Garcia 3:36
And that’s one great thing about having a realtor with vision, is you can go into any home and vision what it can be or what it can turn into, especially right now with prices being so high. You know, most of my buyers, especially first time homebuyers, are having to go into a home and vision what it can be, because the nice new homes right now are out of their price range. So it’s been fun to experience that for ourselves. So we can go in and have that knowledge to help our clients.
Emmalou Penrod 4:11
I like that hope you give them because I know there are a lot of young families that are wondering, will they ever be able to have their own home, you know. They’re seeing homeownership as unrealistic, and yet you know it is, and you know how to get there.
Aaron Garcia 4:31
Correct.
Kelly Garcia 4:33
Yes, absolutely.
Emmalou Penrod 4:35
Well, that sounds like a very valuable service for families, getting into your first home. But you’ve also talked about how, you know, families grow and houses don’t.
Kelly Garcia 4:50
Absolutely. That is true.
Aaron Garcia 4:55
You can find yourself in a, no there’s even within the neighborhood that we live in. We can see, we can see that shift. And normally think of it as it’s your first home, and you need more space, right? You need room to grow, you’ve had more kids, you need a bigger backyard, maybe you live in more of a metro area, you want to be in this in the suburban area, whatever that might, that’s what most people think of when they think of purchasing a new home. But what we’ve seen, there’s that, obviously, but we’ve seen, you know, people who built a bigger home, you know, 20 years ago for their big family, and now their families moved out of the home, and live in different parts of the country, and they just don’t need that much space anymore. So now they’re looking to, to downsize to, you know, condo or townhome, or a single level home, you know, just life changes in so many different ways. When you’re buying a home, the circumstances are so unique to that couple. And it doesn’t always just mean it’s your, your next house or your forever house. Sometimes you’ve been in your forever house, and now you need to go back to your retirement home or, you know, just something smaller, that’s easier to maintain. So we, that’s the fun part of what we get to do we get to, we get to help people on all stages from the beginning of their stage and at the end.
Emmalou Penrod 6:13
You said something I really liked. You talked about the individual, that it’s unique to each family. So it sounds like you’re really getting a deep understanding of what their situation is, what it is that they want, and then coming up with several options for them.
Aaron Garcia 6:35
And that’s exactly how that works. And typically, because we’re a team, the first part and quite honestly, the finance stuff, that’s the most stressful, you know. That’s the most, that’s the least fun thing to do when buying a home is getting the financing part done. So what we like to do is get that out of the way at the very beginning. Usually I will meet with our client and go over their situation, go over what their goals are, go over what’s comfortable for them, as far as a house payment. Most people don’t understand. Most people think of what’s the purchase price of the home. I’m paying $400,000 for a home. When in reality, that’s not true, right? It’s what your monthly payment is, that’s what you need to be comfortable with. So we go over all that stuff. I collect all their documentation, and we lay out a plan. Well, this is based on what you’ve told me and and a little bit I know about your family to this point. This is what you should be looking for as far as price range goes, because that price range equates to this dollar amount that you’re responsible for on a monthly basis. So we get all of that done at the very beginning of the process. And then Kelly takes over. And that’s really where they get to have fun, right, looking for a house. It can be stressful, though. Don’t get me wrong, but that’s the fun part. Knowing that you’ve got your finances in order, that you’ve been pre approved. There’s something emotionally that comes with that, too. They’ve been pre approved. So now we can relax a little bit. As we start looking for houses with Kelly, she’s a lot of fun to look for houses with. So,
Emmalou Penrod 8:08
She gets to do the fun part.
Aaron Garcia 8:09
Yeah, she does all the fun stuff.
Kelly Garcia 8:13
But you know, it’s so important to start. And I want to emphasize with buyers that using a realtor is free for them. But it is so important to start with the loan officer, because as soon as you find that house that you are in love with and you want to put an offer in on, if you don’t have your finances together, and have met with him, well, number one you don’t know if you qualify for that home, if that’s in your budget. And two, we’re in a seller’s market right now and a seller’s market means that there are so many buyers out there and not enough inventory. So sellers are having multiple buyers and multiple offers. And in order to be competitive in this market, you have to already talk to a loan officer, given them your documentation, and be through that first stage of underwriting so that you can close quickly. You can provide a competitive offer, and your offer will look a lot stronger as well.
Emmalou Penrod 9:21
I, you know, how many sales have fallen through because the person didn’t qualify? I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that sad story. So, how sensible! And between the two of you, you have several years, decades, of experience. And, as you pointed out, you’ve been through just about every possible situation.
Kelly Garcia 9:48
Absolutely, absolutely. And some have been, you know, heartbreaking for some especially as we’ve gone through COVID and there’s been job losses and cut hours, which will definitely affect them qualifying for homes. So it is our job to prepare and to negotiate and get them into the right spot that they will be comfortable with and find the perfect home for them at this time. Especially working at home, that’s something that is taken into consideration as well. Some people are moving because they need more space to work from home.
Emmalou Penrod 10:21
Well, yes, and it’s one thing, if you’re only home in the evening and weekends, but now we are really using them. I want to go back to what you were saying earlier about you can, if they don’t qualify now, you can help them prepare.
Aaron Garcia 10:45
That’s actually, that’s a really important part of a loan originators job. It’s not just to tell the client why or that they don’t qualify. It’s to tell them why and how they can get to that point where they do qualify. So that’s one thing that I think makes us a little bit more unique than others is we do spend the time. I think a lot of loan originators, we’re all busy right now. And some, some originators will think, well, man, you don’t qualify, so I’m not going to waste my time with you. Right, come back to me when you’re, when your situations improve, or I’ll check in with you in a year. To me, that’s not acceptable. Right, I am busy. But part of that is I’ve, I’m committed to providing a service to my clients, right. I make home happen. Well, that doesn’t just mean if you’re qualified when you first meet with me. Making home happen means that if you don’t qualify, I take the time to go through your credit, right. We come up with a plan. We are very fortunate, the credit service that we use, helps us lay out a roadmap for them to get their credit score up to a certain level. Or maybe they’ve realized that they don’t, they’re at the wrong job, right. They’re not making enough. They can make a switch there. Maybe they’ve passed over this other job they’re looking at, or maybe they can pick up, whatever that might be. And typically it is a credit issue. Seems like most people have their income in place, but they don’t quite, they’re just, they’re just below that threshold of being able to be approved for a decent loan. And we always want to provide the best. So decent isn’t good enough either. We want to show them what to do. But like I said, our credit services, show them what to do. It’s called Way Finder. We show them the way to get to where they need to be. It’s a very detailed plan. Sometimes it takes a few months. Sometimes it only takes a few weeks. But that’s a really important part of my job is to help them find that out and get them on that path to homeownership.
Emmalou Penrod 12:42
Well, that reflects a high level of commitment to helping families. I like that I really respect that because I know that’s, you know, when you think about how to help a family, having a home of their own, in a safe neighborhood. I think most people would agree that this is critical.
Aaron Garcia 13:05
Yeah.
Emmalou Penrod 13:05
For families.
Aaron Garcia 13:06
Absolutely.
Emmalou Penrod 13:06
And you covered the full spectrum from the newlywed to the empty nesters.
Aaron Garcia 13:13
Yep. Yeah, absolutely. And it’s a, every one of them are unique. And every one of them have different needs. And, you know, and I work, and I do, I work with clients at the very beginning. I work with clients that maybe a spouse has passed away. And they’ve got to figure stuff out there and save some money. And then we work with them in between where they’re building their dream home. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a privilege to do it. But it’s a responsibility we take very, very seriously on our side.
Emmalou Penrod 13:43
Wonderful, wonderful. So how do people contact you?
Aaron Garcia 13:49
So the easiest way is through telephone. So my cell phone is 801-618-9833. Text always works as well. And then we do have a website that’s https://highqualityrealtors.com/ So that has both mine and Kelly’s information on it. And then Kelly, if you want to give your number.
Kelly Garcia 14:14
Yeah, my phone number is 801-499-7626 call or text. And one thing I just wanted to stress is so important. Our website we came up with was high quality realtors.com. And there are a lot of realtors. There’s a lot of loan originators out there. But it is so important that you find a high quality one, we felt like that was important to give because this is one of the biggest transactions in your life. And it’s one of the most important transactions that you make sure you take seriously and part of that is finding a high quality professional to work with. There’s a lot of things that can go right. And a lot of things that can go wrong. And that’s what we are here is to make it a smooth transaction for you so that you can walk into this new house of yours feeling so excited and not stressed.
Emmalou Penrod 15:14
That is an excellent point. And I’m glad you made that, that it is a complex, it is a life changing process, you do need an experienced expert.
Aaron Garcia 15:27
Yep. Especially if you’re a first time homebuyer, there’s a lot of misconceptions. And I have found this is true. It seems like most people these days get their information from the internet, right? If they search something on the internet, they find Oh, well I can do this or that. You need to talk to a professional, right. Get off of the internet, call your professional, either schedule a zoom call or face to face, whatever that is that works best for you. But you need to talk to a professional because, especially with the loan side, there are so many loan programs, especially for first time homebuyers. There’s a misconception that you have to put 10-20% down to buy a home and you have to have an 800 credit score, that’s just not true. There are plenty of programs that will take care of your down payment, we will take care of your closing costs. If you do have money to put down, you know, we have the best loans, you know, and rates that are available for that. But talk to a professional, ask them the questions that you’ve been searching for online. Because that can get confusing as well. There’s a lot of bad information online, especially right now with COVID. You know, there’s advice for people to not make their payments and go into forbearance. There’s just a whole host of things that you can get caught on if you’re just relying on the internet for your information. Call the professional. We can help you. We can walk you through what’s available, what not to do, what to do. That’s going to be your best option always is to call a professional.
Kelly Garcia 16:53
Absolutely. And make sure that you contact well, us. We love when people contact us with any real estate or mortgage questions, even if you’re not ready, or you’re just considering it or you just think oh, I have this dumb question. Absolutely call us. We are more than happy to help you, guide you, walk you through any step of the way, any questions you have, because they’re huge steps and there are no dumb questions ever. I have a lot of people reach out to me and say, “Hey, I’m looking to buy a home in the next year. Do you have first time homebuyer tips?” Absolutely, I’ve got that for you. I can email it to you. We can talk about it over the phone. Because those are important things to know and to prepare for. When you know, okay, I’m going to be getting married, I would like to buy a home. What do I do, nobody knows what to do. And it is so important to start now. Start learning and being educated now. So when the time comes, you are ready to rock and roll really, right?
Aaron Garcia 17:59
On that, when you’re building a home, that’s such an exciting time. You need your own realtor when you’re building a home. Don’t ever go to the builder’s office, their real estate office, without your own representation. Remember, it’s free to have your own realtor, 100% free. Doesn’t cost you a dime as a buyer, not a dime. But, if you think about it from the builders perspective, it’s in their best interest if you don’t have your own representation, and you’re just going through their people. So if you are thinking about building a home, please get your own realtor and take them with you to that meeting. That is so important. You have no idea how important it is. Building is such a fun thing, but it’s very complicated. And builders are very savvy. So you want to make sure you have somebody on your side that’s protecting your best interest. And that’s what a realtor does, right. They protect your best interest, not the sellers best interest, not the other agent’s best interest, you. And that’s very important to know that, you know, it doesn’t cost you a dime. And it’s so beneficial.
Emmalou Penrod 19:05
I agree. So what area do you cover?
Aaron Garcia 19:11
So primarily, Salt Lake, Davis, and Weber Counties.
Kelly Garcia 19:15
Box Elder, we’re in Box Elder a little bit, but not as often.
Emmalou Penrod 19:20
Okay, all in Utah?
Kelly Garcia 19:21
Yes.
Aaron Garcia 19:22
Yeah. All in Utah. We’ve even, you know, I actually have a couple of transactions I’m doing in St. George. That’s the beauty of everything being online these days. It really doesn’t matter where you live in the state of Utah, we can help you. And if we are physically there for the loan side, it’s not necessary for me to be physically there. Most of everything’s done online anyway, in a secure environment. On the realtor side, we have affiliates throughout the state that we can recommend you to somebody that we would trust with our own home buying experience in any part of the state. So,
Emmalou Penrod 19:55
What a very valuable network. I love the valuable advice you are making available to families going through this very complex process. You know, as a retired school teacher, I’m all over education, there’s power in education. So you’ve got it! Thank you.
Kelly Garcia 20:22
And you know, the knowledge that we gain is from the experience we’ve been through. There’s so many new agents out there and the things they are experiencing, I just smile at them, because I’ve been there, done that and experienced that. And, unfortunately, sometimes hiring a brand new agent, it can be a little intimidating throughout the process. But that’s where we come in is we’d like to train other agents as well and help them through the process. So we are here for you through the whole step of the way.
Emmalou Penrod 20:57
Awesome. From loan origination to closing on the home.
Kelly Garcia 21:03
Yep, absolutely. And even after that Aaron does a lot of refinances when the interest rates drop and helps them save even more money on their mortgage payments.
Emmalou Penrod 21:14
That’s good to know, too. Good information. Well, Aaron, and Kelly, thank you so much. I appreciate your sharing some of your expertise and supporting families in this way, and yes.
Kelly Garcia 21:27
Absolutely. Thanks for having us. And if there’s any questions that anyone has, we are more than happy to help. So you can reach us. Our phone number is 801-499-7626 or
Aaron Garcia 21:43
High Quality Realtors.com
Kelly Garcia 21:44
high quality realtors.com and our information on that website as well.
Emmalou Penrod 21:48
Thank you and you both have a great day!
Kelly Garcia 21:51
You, too!
Aaron Garcia 21:52
Thank you. You, too!