Mortgage Mistakes That Can Kill Your Real Estate Deal Before Closing
Show summary
In this insightful interview, mortgage expert Stevin Ozier shares his extensive experience in lending, the importance of discipline and process, and strategies for growth and community engagement in real estate.
Key takeaways
- Do not open new debt (furniture financing, car loans, etc.) during a mortgage transaction; it can change your debt-to-income ratio and jeopardize your clear to close.
- Avia Lending is licensed to lend in 49 states (all except New York), with a home base in Los Alamitos, California near Long Beach.
- The business splits between first-time homebuyers and investors building portfolios, including one-to-four-unit properties and small apartment complexes in the five-to-eight-unit range.
- When a borrower's financial profile changes late in the process (e.g., a buyer purchased furniture before closing and raised their monthly debt), a lender with enough experience can pivot to a different loan structure to still close the deal.
- Stevin has worked in nearly every role in mortgage lending over 15 years: underwriting, processing, sales, loan officer assistant, branch manager, and now running his own lending operation.
- Avia Lending's next goal is expansion, adding culture-first team members to grow its footprint beyond Southern California nationwide.
- Community involvement (Stevin participates in the nonprofit 100 Black Men, which mentors young men) has generated organic referrals and repeat business for his lending practice.
In this episode
- 00:00Cold open: the debt-to-income trap before closing
- 02:05Introduction of Stevin Ozier, Avia Lending
- 03:20What Stevin does: financing homeownership and portfolio growth
- 04:45Markets served: nationwide lending (48 states, not New York), SoCal home base
- 05:38Building a disciplined, well-oiled lending process
- 07:39Deal gone sideways: a buyer who bought furniture before closing
- 10:28Next big goal: expanding the Avia Lending team
- 11:26Community and network: 100 Black Men mentorship and referrals
- 15:08Contact information and close
About Stevin Ozier
Stevin Ozier is a mortgage lender with Avia Lending, based in Los Alamitos, California near Long Beach. He has 15 years of experience in the mortgage industry, having worked in underwriting, processing, front-end sales, loan officer assistant, and branch management roles before starting his own lending operation. He is also a former D1 basketball player and is active in his local community through the nonprofit 100 Black Men.
Listen to the audio
“What’s on your credit report? If you have a car payment or any other home payments things like that all of that matters into what’s called your debt to income ratio and that debt to income ratio needs to stay under a certain point for qualification so we always tell people do not go open more debt during the transaction.”
Stevin Ozier
“If you’ve got enough experience and enough wisdom there’s a solution that’s a ramen corner.”
Stevin Ozier
“Whenever we align ourselves with the thing that we’re supposed to be doing in our world, the community tends to show up for us in ways that we didn’t even really imagine or see fit.”
Stevin Ozier
Questions answered in this episode
Why can opening new debt before closing kill a mortgage deal?
Stevin Ozier explains that lenders qualify borrowers using a debt-to-income ratio, which must stay under a certain threshold. Any new debt, like a car payment or furniture financing, raises monthly obligations and can push a borrower over that threshold, jeopardizing the loan even after a clear to close has been issued.
What happens if a borrower's debt-to-income ratio changes right before closing?
In the example Stevin shared, a first-time homebuyer bought furniture for their move before closing despite being told not to open new credit. The increased monthly debt required the lender to pivot to a different loan structure and terms in order to still get the buyer into the home.
What markets and loan types does Avia Lending focus on?
Stevin is based in Los Alamitos, California, near Long Beach, but Avia Lending is licensed nationwide in 49 states (all except New York). Their business mix includes a lot of first-time homebuyers as well as investors building portfolios, from one-to-four-unit properties up to small apartment complexes in the five-to-eight-unit range.
What is Stevin Ozier's background in the mortgage industry?
He has 15 years of experience in mortgage lending and has worked in nearly every facet of the business: underwriting, processing, front-end sales, loan officer assistant, branch manager, managing people, and now running his own lending operation, Avia Lending.
How has community involvement helped Stevin grow his lending business?
He is heavily involved in his local Southern California community and participates in 100 Black Men, a nonprofit that mentors young men into adulthood. That involvement has led to organic referrals and repeat business from people in the community who later needed help with additional home purchases or investments.
Resources and links
- AVIA Lending’s Website
- Stevin Ozier on Instagram
- Stevin Ozier’s Email Address: stevinozier@avialending.com
Full transcript
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (00:00)
What’s on your credit report? If you have a car payment or any other home payments things like that all of that matters into what’s called your debt to income ratio and that debt to income ratio needs to stay under a certain point for
Qualification so we always tell people do not go open more debt during the transaction, right? So ⁓ The unfortunate, you know truth of the scenario is is not everyone always Heeds that some people get a little bit excited and they want to go in go ahead and buy that furniture before Closing day and open that account and that’s exactly what happened
Michelle Tack (02:05)
Hi everyone, I’m Michelle Tack. I am here with Real Estate Pros, which is fueled by Investor Fuel Company. And I have with us a great operator, Stevin Ozier. I hope I pronounced that right, Stevin, from Avia Lending. We’re super happy to have you here.
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (02:17)
That’s correct.
Michelle Tack (02:22)
some of our listeners, I think, would be super interested in your approach to lending, how you go about it, and the areas where I really enjoyed about our conversation prior to the podcast was your level of discipline within the process itself, and the fact that you’ve done everything in the mortgage lending business from
you know, starting out at the very beginning to, you know, working in the heavy paper load in old days or what have you of, you know, compiling everything in the back office to then, you know, getting things approved to being a lender yourself, carrying a bag and also leading people. And, you know, that’s rare that you find someone of your caliber of, you know, 15 years. So what I’d like to do is just dive in. And so first off,
people who may not be familiar with your world, can you give us the short version of what your main focus is these days?
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (03:20)
Yeah, absolutely. Again, Stevin Ozier with Avia Lending. Thank you so much for that fantastic introduction, Michelle. I really appreciate that. So in my world, I am a mortgage lender. So I help people finance real estate transactions to achieve their homeownership goals, to achieve their portfolio goals if they’re looking to expand. So when it comes to the money for a transaction, that’s where I come in.
Michelle Tack (03:26)
You’re welcome. You’re welcome.
what markets you operate in and if it’s not just geography geography and Sort of the areas that you like to specialize, but perhaps it’s a size of home or not Maybe you can just talk to that a little bit
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (04:45)
Yeah, absolutely. So I’m physically based out of Los Alamitos, California, which is in SoCal down by Long Beach, but we are a nationwide lender. So we can lend in 49 states. The only one we don’t do is New York, but we are a nationwide lender. So wherever you are, we can help out with. Of course, my main focus and my main market is right here at home in Southern California, but wherever you are, I love to help out. And so what we generally focus on, we have a little bit of a mix of business from a lending standpoint, but we have a lot of first time homes
buyers come through our way because education and guidance through that process is something that I’m extremely passionate about. And then the second half that we do is a lot of investor portfolio builds. So people looking to expand their portfolio with investment properties, one to four units, or even getting into small apartment complexes, that five to eight unit range, that’s really where we kind of shine.
Michelle Tack (05:38)
And you know, that’s, you know, I love it. in terms of, you know, we talked a little bit before this call about, you know, your diligence in the process and making sure, you know, for the team here, ⁓ Stevin, you can’t tell, but he’s 6’8 and played D1 basketball. So, ⁓ but we talked about the process of, you know,
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (05:58)
Yes
Michelle Tack (06:04)
having a well-oiled machine and your strength in that, can you sort of like break that apart for us so we understand that in more detail?
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (06:12)
it.
Yeah, absolutely. So again, you touched on it with me being 15 years in the Morgan industry. I have been in every facet of lending from underwriting to processing to the front end sales to being a loan officer assistant to a branch manager to managing people to now starting our own imprint. So ⁓ the processes for me and for us, it’s extremely important that we are as diligent as possible to make sure that we’re not just asking application questions, but seeing
this mortgage fits into your greater goal of whatever you’re trying to accomplish right if it’s just First time homebuyer. I wanted to break to cycle and get into a home We’re more than happy to do that and we can do that efficiently You know from start to finish or if it’s about I want to own ten properties You know inside of the next seven to eight years then you know we take our time to make sure that each mortgage is structured and positioned in a way to allow you to take advantage of that in a greater scheme of
of your goals. So you did touch on me being six foot eight and having a basketball background and being a D1 athlete. So all of those skills translate magnificently to the discipline that’s required, the self-awareness and reviewing your systems and processes to make sure that you’re doing it as efficient as possible from start to finish to make sure that the customer gets the highest level of service and the best loan for them for their scenario.
Michelle Tack (07:39)
Thank you for that. ⁓ You’ve been at this for a long time and every operator has a moment, regardless if they’re a mortgage lender or are a real estate entity where a deal went sideways and they had to pivot fast and correct a situation. Do you mind sharing one of those moments recently that you’ve had or in the last year or so? Okay, great, thank you.
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (07:55)
Mm-hmm.
No. Yeah, of course not at all.
Yeah, not at all.
So one that immediately jumps to the forefront of mind and if you’re not an industry or if you haven’t had a mortgage before you it may not ⁓ resonate immediately, but I promise I’ll walk us through it. So when you’re getting a mortgage the debt that you carry makes a difference, right?
What’s on your credit report? If you have a car payment or any other home payments things like that all of that matters into what’s called your debt to income ratio and that debt to income ratio needs to stay under a certain point for
Qualification so we always tell people do not go open more debt during the transaction, right? So The unfortunate, you know truth of the scenario is is not everyone always Heeds that some people get a little bit excited and they want to go in go ahead and buy that furniture before Closing day and open that account and that’s exactly what happened
in in the in the example that I’ll give First time homebuyer extremely excited to to move into their new home. We have a clear to close We have a closing date
and they thought that they were fine even though we already talked about it but they went ahead and started purchasing furniture for their move-in so they could try and time it. ⁓
And unfortunately, the amount of furniture that they got increased their monthly debt. And so we had to pivot to a different type of loan, a different loan structure that still allowed them to get into the home just on a little bit different terms than what they were used to. being that flexible and having the industry expertise to say, slot A may not work or loan guideline A may not work, but we’re going to go ahead and pivot to another one that we can get you in to still get the home because that’s the ultimate goal is to get people into homes.
⁓ that is a great example of how things don’t always go the way you want them to but if you’ve got enough experience and enough wisdom there’s a solution that’s a ramen corner.
Michelle Tack (10:28)
So in terms of, you know, what’s your next real big goal that you have ⁓ for yourself, your team, etc. Can you talk to that as well?
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (10:42)
Absolutely. So the next big goal that we have here at Avialyn is going to be expansion. So we started this just about a year and a half ago and the goal is to obviously build something that outlasts myself, that I can pass on to my son and my future generations. our next goal, and it’s going great, so our next goal is to continue to add members to the team that are culture first.
great overall people that we can train and to understand what we’re doing here, what the end goal is here, and how that fits into the market that we’re dealing with right now. So adding some members to the team to increase our footprint, not just in Southern California, but nationwide, is really our focus right now.
Michelle Tack (11:26)
understood, you know, that’s
huge. That’s a big next step for you. ⁓ Especially when you’ve already got your situation in place, there’s always, you know, things can be compounded and get sort of gnarly, ⁓ you know, fairly quickly. And that reminds me of another topic that we often forget about discussing on these podcasts is the nature of your network. And, you know, whether that’s community is the
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (11:30)
That’s it.
You
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Tack (11:54)
or other real estate agents or who has been ⁓ really, you know, not by name necessarily, but in terms of the network that you’ve built out, ⁓ I don’t know what that looks like, but can you talk about that a little bit in terms of those relationships that really, ⁓ you know, are helping to foster that level of growth?
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (12:03)
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely, man. This is a great question. So
And I’m going to touch on a little bit of a personal note here because whenever we align or I believe that whenever we align ourselves with the thing that we’re supposed to be doing in our world, the community tends to show up for us in ways that we didn’t even really imagine or see fit. So with me being located here in Southern California, Los Alamitos, right by Long Beach, I am heavily involved in my local community. ⁓ You know, being able to guide our community into homeownership and into investment strategies to create
⁓
realist generational wealth through real estate. It’s something that I’m very passionate about and so one of the things that I’m involved in it’s a nonprofit organization called 100 Black Men and the purpose of the 100 Black Men is to mentor our young adults and teenage boys into adulthood and foster a sense of community that they can continue to grow into. So that has been absolutely paramount in not just
Michelle Tack (13:02)
cool.
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (13:19)
Filling my cup to make sure that I give back to my community but also having these men in this community and the people that we deal with come back to me and reach out to me in terms of you know what I’ve got a house but now I want to you know go on to this next investment or my sister needs to buy a house in another state like I cannot send them to you so that Genuine authentic connection of just wanting to enrich my community has repaid itself to me tenfold in networking and business
And wasn’t something that I went in intentionally doing but I am glad that that I’m able to be a part of it because it is it has paid great dividends for me
Michelle Tack (14:39)
You know, this is why I love what I do, because I love what you’re doing. And I’m a big believer that we’re here not just to make money, but to leave the earth a better place that we found it. And that’s to service to others. And so I really respect what you’re doing. And, you know, this is great. ⁓ In terms of before we close our session today, ⁓ could you make sure that you provide your contact information?
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (14:50)
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Tack (15:08)
for folks that are on the podcast today and in the future so they can reach out to you.
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (15:12)
Absolutely, first and foremost the easiest way to get a hold of me of course is through Instagram. It’s just my first and last name so it’s at Stevin Ozier super easy to get into and it’s Stevin with an I so it’s S-T-E-V-I-N O-Z-I-E-R or you can you know reach out to me via email at Stevin Ozier at Avialending or you can just go to the website itself Avialending.com and all of my contact information is there as well.
Michelle Tack (15:38)
Well, look, I’ve really we’ve really appreciated it. I’m sure the team has as well. That’s on as you’ve really gotten into detail. We’ve covered a lot of different items. I want to thank you greatly for those that are on the podcast. I want to continue to avail themselves of this great content. Please make sure that you subscribe. Thanks again, Stevin.
Stevin Ozier – Avia Lending (15:40)
Thank
Of course, thank you so much.
