(upbeat music) - On today's podcast, we dive into three easy hacks to save money on your mortgage, and the best part, all of them cost little to no money at all. Let's dive in. Hey, what's up for Closure Fix Family, and welcome to another episode for Closure Fix Podcast, where our goal is to help one million homeowners successfully navigate foreclosure. I'm your host, DJ El-O-Gel, and on today's podcast, we are giving you hacks to help you save money on your mortgage. Now, if you have not been listening to our content, you don't know, but this is the number one place to get help if you are facing foreclosure. And so with that, like, subscribe, and share our content with someone who you know it may benefit, it helps the algorithm, and it helps us get the word out to those people who may need it. Also, you can grab a copy of our latest book, called the foreclosure fix, 12 proven steps to beat the bank, escape foreclosure, and turn your property into a profitable asset. Y'all may realize that I'm not in the normal studio that I'm at, or is my home office. I'm actually traveling, I'm at a conference, but I had to get this content to you, because in the last couple of days, I have recently received three different letters from my mortgage service. And I know if you're facing foreclosure, you're tired of getting mail from your mortgage servicer. But today, we are just having a little bit of spin on that, because some people have face foreclosure, and now you're on the other side of that foreclosure. And you're saying, okay, I can make my monthly payment, they modify my loan, and things are going good, but you get a pesky letter in the mail, like I did, and I actually got three of them, that just said, we are adjusting your escrows. This is your escrow statement. And now, my taxes are going up, and my insurance is going up, and now, every month, I have to pay more money on my loan. Even though it's not going to lower my principal, it's not going to benefit me in any way, it is them increasing the amount I have to put into the escrow account every month. So first of all, if this has happened to you, it is something that's normal, something that's common, and you're not alone. Like I said, I just got three of them in the mail for three different properties, and all of them, my mortgage payments are going up by anywhere between 100 and 200 dollars, which is a lot of money. So with that, I want to provide you with three simple hacks to help you save money on your monthly mortgage payment. Specifically, these are going to help you with your escrow payments. Hack number one, is to shop your homeowners insurance. Hack number two is to appeal your property taxes, and hack number three is to keep up with your property maintenance. And now all of these seem very, very simple, which they are, but they are nuanced. And you won't believe how many people I talk to never ever shop their insurance, never ever look at their tax bill, and never ever complete the basic property maintenance that can save them 1000, 1000 of dollars on their home. All right, so let's talk about shopping homeowners insurance. Every year, you should shop your homeowners insurance. And if you are with a big company like a progressive or state farm or all state or things like that, they typically just send you out your renewal and they say, this is the new amount you're gonna pay for your homeowners insurance. And if you never look at it or you never even pay attention to it because maybe it goes to your mortgage servicer, then you are doing yourself a big disservice. Every year, you should go out and see what prices other people are quoting you for your home. You will be surprised that sometimes some carriers of insurance may say, oh, now that you're in Texas, I don't like Texas anymore. We've had a lot of claims in Texas. So now all of the properties we ensure in Texas are gonna be 20% more than they were last year. Versus another carrier may say, I love Texas. Our claims have been very low in Texas. And so our rates and premiums are stand relatively fat. Maybe they're going up by one or two percent. And so you can get a much better deal sometime from other carriers just by shopping your insurance. One thing you should do is look at the big players like the state farms, the all states, but also go to the brokers. The brokers can help you do this process very easily because they just don't look at one carrier. They'll look at all the carriers for you that have saved you some time and some effort and some petition. In addition to that, there are tons of online carriers and online websites that you can go to put in your property details and get quotes back. Now what I will tell you is that those websites do require you to put your email in and those insurance companies may be reaching out to you. So that could be kind of a pesky thing with using some of those sites. But if you're saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars, it's definitely worth it just to take a couple of spam calls. In addition to that, one thing that people do not often do is look at the coverages on their insurance. We get our house, we're excited, we move on, and things have changed. Our house is aged or maybe we put on a brand new roof and we didn't tell anybody. And so because of that, we need to always look at our coverages so we can also see what our deductible amount is. Because if you have a higher deductible, maybe say a thousand versus 500 or maybe even 5,000 versus a thousand dollars, that could save you a lot of money on your homeowners' insurance policy. And if you are only using that deductible for something catastrophic like a fire or flood or something large, having a larger deductible may be a real benefit to you as you think about saving money. So the first hack, which is a free hack, is to shop your homeowners' insurance every year. Don't just let the escrow come in and say, oh, now you're paying a thousand dollars more or now you're paying $200 more over the course of the year. It's very important you shop your homeowners' insurance. Now going to that second hack, it's all about property taxes. I don't know about you all, but I have seen property taxes go up across our entire portfolio. And because of that, it is so important that you understand the process by which taxes are assessed in your local area. Now I live in Georgia and so some of the stuff I'm going to provide you on the next few slides are Georgia-specific things. But I'm sure that every county, every state has a process for one, appealing taxes, but then also, too, being able to really figure out and hone in on what the value of your property is. Also, if you are a senior or you are someone who is disabled or you are living in a property that is your home and you don't have multiple properties, not a rental property, you could be eligible for different exemptions. Sometimes you can get a senior exemption, which allows you not to pay taxes for the local school districts because you don't have any kids of school age living in your house. You could also get a homestead exemption, which basically says because this is where you live, we're going to give you a slight discount on your taxes. And so all those things are so important. The other thing that you need to do is you need to really understand your tax bill. Again, in Georgia, every year, you will get an annual notice of assessment. And that annual notice of assessment basically says, this is what we think your taxes are going to be for this year. You need to make sure you review that. You need to make sure it's going to the right address and you need to make sure that you are not waiting to appeal to the last minute. The next thing, in addition to that, you need to make sure that you understand what the deadline is because sometimes, especially in the state of Georgia, each county could have a different deadline. So if your house is in one county, your deadline could be May 1st. But if your house is in another county, it could be June 1st. And so you need to make sure you know your specific details for your property and for your house. The other thing you want to look at is you want to look at how to get additional information from the tax assessor about your property because you want to know what comparables they're using for your property. You also want to know how they came up with the amount that they're assessing your property for, whether it's lower or higher or whatever else may be the case. In addition to that, you want to make sure that you understand the process. And if you don't understand the process, I would definitely recommend getting help. There are numerous companies out there for a nominal fee that will help you to speed your taxes. And the way a lot of these companies work is that they don't get paid unless they get you something reduced on your taxes. So a lot of them will say, hey, we are going to charge you a flat fee of X dollars if we're able to help you get a reduction. And then in addition to that, we may want, you know, 25% of whatever savings we help you get in year one. And so all these companies do this. And so you need to make sure that if your taxes are going up, you need to dispute them. You need to fight it. You need to make sure that your property is being assessed at the right value. And I'm going to just tell you a little secret. Taxes are the one area, specifically property taxes, are the one area where it's okay, the tax assessor says your house is worth less because you're not trying to sell it. So I don't want you to be like some people I've seen where they go and argue with the tax assessor saying, hey, you sent me a tax assessment of $350,000, but my house is worth $500,000. I want you to increase my taxes. Don't do that. If your tax assessor sends you an assessment where your taxes are lower, well, your taxes are lower this year. Just let it ride, all right? So make sure you are being wise in the way you do this. But that being said, if you get an assessment and you know your properties worth $350,000 because the one next door just sold for $350,000 and they're assessing you for $500,000, then you need to make sure you dispute that. You need to make sure that you are taking the right steps and getting the help you meet. The last thing is that you want to make sure that your property doesn't have different conditions than other properties that you're being assessed by. Again, if every property around your property is a brand new new construction house and yours is a house that's been there since 1900s, of the early 1900s, then you want to make sure you're getting a discount for that because your house is not like the ones around you. But when you think about tax assessors, they are doing this in bulk. They're using big software, they're using big data to be able to say, all right, a parcel in this neighborhood, in this area is averaging out at this. And so since your house is this many square feet, we're going to multiply it by the average and this is how we're coming up with what the value of your property is. And so they're not always going and looking at your specific house. So it's very important that you go through that process and make sure that you are appealing your taxes, all right? The last thing to that, you want to see what the estimated taxes do are for you. And what I mean by that is that in Georgia, we have like a military. So you may be assessed at $250,000, but when they apply the percentage and the military, your end taxes end up being maybe $3,000, whatever. And so although in year one, you may be valued at $265,000 and your taxes at $3,500, the next year, you still may be valued at $265,000, but your taxes may be $4,000. And the reason is because the military may change. And basically that military is basically what all the different light items on the tax bill are getting for their taxes for that year. So some years school taxes go up a little bit or sometimes they may have a different tax or the sewer and sanitation tax may be higher or whatever else might be the case. So keep that in mind, the last hack is property maintenance. And I know some of you may say, how does property maintenance save me money on my mortgage bill? And it doesn't necessarily always save you money on your mortgage statement, but it definitely saves you money on your investment of your home. And the other thing is that if you are facing foreclosure and your property is overgrown, you can get coal violations that are added to your payoff and are added to your deferred balance. So it definitely can be a problem for you. So don't let it happen. But there are certain things with property maintenance that I have to bring to your attention because a lot of people don't know. And this is one of those things where doing basic small things can save you lots and lots of money in the long run. The first thing I think about are cleaning your gutters. I go to a lot of houses where people actually have plants growing in the gutters because they haven't been cleaned for so long. It is so important that you clean your gutters, especially if you only have like a one-story house where you can just do it yourself and get on a quick ladder. I know if you have a two-story house that's really big, you have to pay in professionals, that may cost, but it is very important you clean your gutters because what happens is that when the water is going over your gutters and it's not draining properly, you start getting a lot of wood rock and wood damage. And wood is a durable material, but after a while, everything succumbs to the pressure and power of water. And so it's very important that you keep your gutters clean and that you have water going away from your house, that it's not going into your basement, that it's not causing mold, or to say that it's not seeping into your crawl space, that it's not going underneath your slab, but it's draining away from your house. It's so important and cleaning your gutters and making sure that water can flow easily from your roof down when it's raining is one of the easiest but most important things you can do. The other thing is changing your air filter on your HDAC. If you change your air filter regularly, that will help prolong the life of your HDAC system. And you know HDAC systems are very expensive and they are big ticket items and you don't want to have to replace one prematurely. The other thing you could think about fixing are minor leaks. Sometimes we have like little leaks that are like dripping on a faucet or little leaks that are dripping underneath our cabinets and things like that. It is so important that you get a plumber out there to fix those minor leaks. And I would tell you YouTube University is your friend. With Shark Bite fittings and different fittings that are very easy for homeowners to use, a lot of these things you can do yourself. Now, if you are not handy or you don't have someone in your family that's handy, I definitely recommend you get a professional or a handyman to come out to help you with things like plumbing because you don't want to try to save $2 and be penny wise but pound foolish and cause a $2,000 leak. But do not let leaks continue in your property. Landscaping, another big thing is landscaping. You know, when it comes to ground covering and making sure that you have grass or pine straw or mulch in different places, that's so important because that goes back to water intrusion into your house. And so you want to make sure that you have enough landscaping around your property. So that way when it rains, it's being sucked up and the water has somewhere to go and it's not just pooling, looking for the lowest point and causing damage. And also making sure you cut your grass, making sure you don't have pests and rodents running through your house. Again, these sound like simple things but every day I encounter people who don't do these things. And so I'm just reminding you that doing these basic maintenance things can save you a lot of money and a lot of stress on your home. That last and final thing as it pertains to property maintenance is just decluttering. Oftentimes we put stuff in our garage, we put stuff in our basement, we put stuff in our attic and we forget it's there. We don't use it. And I'm not talking about Christmas lights where we go to once a year, we know we need them just during the holiday season. When I'm talking about that shirt that we're never gonna wear again, those records that we're not gonna listen to again, that stuff that we should probably give away but we go buy a storage unit and rent it out and pay all this money for, decluttering. If you have extra stuff in your house, if you have a storage unit and you have a house, then it's a problem because you should not have that much stuff just sitting in storage, paying every month on. It is so important that we utilize the space that we have wisely and that we give away stuff that we're not going to use. I know it's hard because we want our kids, trophies from when they were three and four and we want our high school yearboats and stuff like that, I get it, but we don't need all the stuff that we have in storage 'cause we're not even using it every day. So that is the three hacks to help you save money on your mortgage statement every month. Y'all, that brings me to my favorite part of the podcast, which is our bow tie round. It's where you, our listeners, get to tie one on with your host, DJ Alojo. The B and bow tie round stands for your best advice for somebody facing foreclosure. The O stands for one thing you're grateful for, the W stands for your wildest or most interesting foreclosed related story. All right, the B and bow tie round today, my best advice for someone facing foreclosure is utilize those three hacks to lower your monthly mortgage payment. Do not let your escrows get out of control and make sure you are keeping up with the property condition of your house. The other hack I will say is if you go to www.theforeclosurefix.com, you can actually download a copy of our property inspection list so you can grade yourself on all the different areas of your house so you can know exactly what places you may need to improve. Also, if you have a copy of our book, you can definitely check out that list in the book as well. All right, the one thing I'm grateful for, I am grateful for time. And when I say time, I'm talking about time apart, time to think, time with my family. I'm grateful for this thing called time because it's finite and it's a reminder, a consistent reminder. Every second is important. Every minute's important and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to listen to me talk about foreclosure and help homeowners. So time, I'm grateful for your time, I'm grateful for time. My wildest, almost interesting foreclosure-related story actually goes back to what I just talked to you about today. It's about taxes. I actually had a property that we were able to decrease the value of the property with the tax assessor by 30%. Yes, 30%, which decreased our tax bill by thousands of dollars. And so basically in 2023, we got a tax bill on one of our properties and the tax bill was significantly higher than the previous tax bills. And so what we did is we looked at the cops and we appealed the tax bill, but the county was so backed up that we didn't get a resolution to this situation until just this month, so June 2024. And so we had a meeting with the board of equalization and the tax assessor, and they agreed to reduce the property tax bill by 30%. I didn't have to pay anybody, I didn't have to do anything besides appeal and come prepare to the appeal, and I'm saving a lot of money as a result. And so my wildest, or most interesting story today is all about using what you have and what you know to decrease your expenses. And that's exactly what I deal with that property, is save us thousands of dollars and it's going to be something I continue to do for my entire career. Y'all, that brings me to the end of another podcast. I am so grateful that you are tuning in, that you all are listening, that you all are subscribing, that you all are liking. If there's something you want us to cover, something you want us to talk about, something you're interested in, please let us know. Shoot us an email and help at the foreclosure fix, or shoot me a DM. I'm available, I'm here. LinkedIn is actually my favorite place, but I'm on all the socials, so how that should boy, right? With that being said, y'all make sure y'all like and subscribe, share the content with someone you know can help, and do me a favor, y'all have a blessed day. I love you, God bless you, and I will see you soon. The views and opinions on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice. 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