Sean Harper: Homeownership, Equity, and Beating the Housing Crash

Sean Harper (00:00)

the market’s gonna crash. And they’re actually shocked in what I say. I turn around and tell them, who cares? And he’s like, what? I’m like, who cares? Who cares if the market crashes? I can’t predict the future, okay? I can’t sit here and tell you what’s gonna happen tomorrow or the next day. But what I can do is look at the past.

and seeing how the housing market, what happens to the housing market.

So if you can’t find that in your sofa, go get a house.

Kristen Knapp (01:32)

Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Sean Harper, who is a mortgage lender in the state of Arizona. Thank you for being here, Sean.

Sean Harper (01:40)

Thank you for having

me. I appreciate it.

Kristen Knapp (01:42)

I’m excited to talk to you about just educating people in a very interactive way. I know that that’s your specialty.

Sean Harper (01:48)

Yes, definitely love educating people. To give them the correct information, think social media has really misled individuals to make bad decisions.

Kristen Knapp (01:57)

Right, mean there’s a lot of people, anyone with a phone can post something on social media, so I think there’s a lot of bad information in a lot of different areas.

Sean Harper (02:05)

absolutely. I can sit here and tell you in my career that, you know, I’ve come to people like that place yourself in a bad financial situation. We’ve had to get them into the proper product to help them out. And then obviously asking where they obtain their information from. tell me social media and I just kind of look at them like, no, you shouldn’t do that. so I reach out to us and ask us questions. We’ll give you the right answer. And if we don’t have it, we’ll go get it.

Kristen Knapp (02:21)

Yeah.

⁓ gosh, that’s bad.

Right. mean, TikTok is not the place to be getting your financial information.

Sean Harper (02:36)

No, no, you wouldn’t let them do a heart surgery on you, would you? Same thing in financial world. Social media is not your guru to financial, seek a professional such as myself or anybody in my industry.

Kristen Knapp (02:40)

Exactly.

Right, it’s good advice. So tell us how you got into the lending business.

Sean Harper (02:58)

That’s a funny story. It was an accident. Believe it or not, I used to work in the music industry for about a good 10 years. Yes, I worked with major artists and what happened was technology changed. ⁓ This might be before People’s Times. It came out with Digio, which was a Pro Tools that you can buy at your house. technology changed it, which reduced half the staffing ⁓ in the industry.

So I was forced to leave California and come back home. Went to a temp agency and started out as a temp in 2003 as a processor at a financial institute. Lo and behold, it’s 2025 and I’m still in this industry. I just got so amazed about it and how many layers there were to it and how people look at it as black and white and they’re ignoring the grays.

Kristen Knapp (03:48)

Yeah, what about it is really not only drew you into it, but is keeping you so motivated.

Sean Harper (03:53)

absolutely. Just to educate people. You know, one of things I do, I see people in apartments and I’m not your traditional home buying educator. I’m bit different and direct because I’m not going to sit in here and give you any fluff. think it’s, you know, people are really quick to rent, but they’re very hesitant to buy. And the benefits of property is being an owner.

The benefit of having a property is turning around and utilizing the equity. And some people don’t know what equity is, but you can utilize that. We’ve helped people retire utilizing their equity in their homes and they retired with no bills. And they did that utilizing their home. We’ve helped people turn around and bounce back from divorces where half their assets were taken due to a divorce and basically utilize their home.

We restructured it where, hey, you know what? We’re going to help you retire. And when you retire, your house is going to be paid off. So I love it because there’s no other product that can really do that. You can’t buy a car and do that. But you can buy a house, and those are some of the elements that you can utilize it for to strengthen your financial future.

Kristen Knapp (05:49)

Yeah, what would you say to somebody who’s hesitant to buy just because they think the market’s going to get better?

Sean Harper (05:55)

Okay, I’m actually really, really happy you brought that up. One of the things I get at my classes and people tend to ask is, know, the market’s gonna crash, the market’s gonna crash. And they’re actually shocked in what I say. I turn around and tell them, who cares? And he’s like, what? I’m like, who cares? Who cares if the market crashes? I can’t predict the future, okay? I can’t sit here and tell you what’s gonna happen tomorrow or the next day. But what I can do is look at the past.

and seeing how the housing market, what happens to the housing market. And one of the things that’s consistent about the housing market is every time there’s a recession, the housing market comes back with a vengeance. So what I tell people is, look, get your umbrella out. Just make it through the storm. Once you make it through the storm, you’re gonna reap the rewards.

I can’t predict the future, but this is what the past shows every time there’s a recession with the housing market. What happens to it? Comes back with the vengeance. I’ll talk about COVID. COVID, housing prices went up 45%. Just to make it easy for numbers, let’s say you had a $300,000 house. During COVID, you made an extra $300,000. So if you can’t find that in your sofa, go get a house.

Kristen Knapp (07:04)

Yeah, I hear it’s the best time, the two best times to buy property, the first is now and the second is 20 years ago.

Sean Harper (07:12)

Yes,

and I said this before, one of the things I tell people look up, do your homework, is you’re gonna see that corporations are alarmingly buying residential properties, okay? They’re doing this on purpose. It’s one of the most secure investments you can make. Although it moves like a roller coaster, this roller coaster goes up more than it goes down, okay? It’s more secure.

And what they also realize is they buy an abundance of properties in the same area they can actually establish and control the value. So me stepping back as a corporation, if I was that corporation doing that, would I let my product go down in value? No. So I tell people, look it, get into these houses. They’re estimating 10 % by 2030. Get into these houses and let these corporations drive up the value so you can make money for you.

Why should you be left out in the rain?

Kristen Knapp (08:00)

So the corporations will own 10 % of the market.

Sean Harper (08:03)

They’ve estimated by the time 2030 is here that they will own 10 % of the market. Currently in Atlanta, Georgia, they own 7 % of the market. Okay, so it’s crazy because they understand that there is money in it.

Kristen Knapp (08:14)

God.

Sean Harper (08:19)

There’s so many platforms in which you can make money with your home, even if you didn’t live in it. Okay? You got halfway homes, you got juvenile homes, you’ve got section eight, you’ve got traveling nurses, you got Airbnb, you’ve got rentals. The list can go on and on. You can’t do that with your car. Okay, so those are where the grades are.

Kristen Knapp (08:38)

Yeah.

And then what would you say to somebody who just thinks they don’t have enough money or thinks that they have to have a huge amount to get started?

Sean Harper (08:48)

Well, I’m going to sit here and say right now is probably one of the best times to buy a house because currently it is, it’s a buyer’s market. And what I mean is as a buyer, you have more control. You can sit in here and say, Hey, you know, I want you to meet me on my closing costs. You either pay it all or pay it half. Hey, I want you to pay for my home warranty or Hey, I want to reduce the price. Don’t act. Don’t be afraid to ask. only thing they can say is no.

You know, but right now there’s so many houses on the market. could be like, okay, I’ll go to the next one.

Right now it is a buyer’s market. So you can sit here. I will give you a story of me and my ex are really still good friends. Chief recently bought a house. They were asking 500. And I said, what’s the address? I looked at it I’m like, nope. She goes, why? And I’m like, it’s been on the market for a year. And they’re there. You can, they reduce the price every month. I said, you’re going to offer.

Kristen Knapp (10:06)

you

Sean Harper (10:13)

475 she’s not gonna do 475. I said she won’t do 500 and I said then you’re gonna tell her you want her to pay your closing and You wanted to pay your first year in your warranty and she goes you think she’ll do it I’m like if she doesn’t run with it, but most likely she’s gonna meet you halfway

I said, I’m pushing her that far because I wanted to meet you halfway. And sure enough, she paid the first year warranty. Sure enough, she paid 50 % of her closing costs and she reduced the price to 480. So I saved my ex $12,500.

Kristen Knapp (10:44)

Wow, that’s pretty good.

Sean Harper (10:44)

So what I’m trying to tell and

plus she has about 20 grand in equity. Okay, so I tell people, heck yeah, it’s a perfect time. Stop worrying about the recession. I know it’s a scary, you the two most expensive things you’re gonna purchase in your life are, is your kids and buying a home. Now where I work, I can help you get a home, but raising your kid, you’re on your own. But those are costly.

purchases, you know, I’m not saying you’re purchasing your kid, when you the bank of parents never goes away.

Kristen Knapp (11:13)

Yeah.

Sean Harper (11:14)

Let’s just be honest. So a kid is an investment that you’ll always make probably till the day you die. At least you have a stop mark on a house.

Kristen Knapp (11:20)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And in terms of just first time home buyers, what are the lending options? Like what are some of the good things you’re seeing out there?

Sean Harper (11:32)

Well,

this is what I will say, especially us. We’re really trying to, we understand what’s going on. We are focusing dedicated strictly just to Arizona and no other state. We’re an Arizona financial institute dedicated to the people in the state of Arizona.

Sean Harper (00:00)

We do have a program right now where we do offer 100 % financing for first responders, for teachers and administrations in the education. This means…

that they don’t, you when you say 100 % like no one does that. Not just that, we’re actually taking away what we call PMI and that’s called private mortgage insurance. People don’t know about this, but as financial institutes, if you’re not putting 20 % down or more, you’re gonna pay PMI. For a house that’s about 450, you’re gonna pay about 330 to 360 in PMI per month, right?

With this particular program, there is no PMIs. So you’re going to lose that $350, that $300 addition onto your house because we’re going to remove that on this particular product. And those, I heard you say, people who don’t have the money, yes, this is costly and you have more of a negotiating room. But also I tell people seek out DPAs, which are down payment assistance programs. right? You want a DPA grant. You do not want a DPA loan.

And the reason is a grant you don’t have to pay back.

So and be careful about your DPA loans or your DPAs because some will actually add points on top of it. So ask the right questions to make sure you’re not being penalized for getting a DPA. Sorry about that.

Kristen Knapp (01:23)

How do people qualify for these grants?

Sean Harper (01:26)

I’ll be honest, you can give us a holler at CreditUnionUS and submit an application and let them know, like, hey, I want to see if there’s any programs out there where I can get some assistance. because there are several, there’s several out there, and there are some that we can sit here and look at and be like, okay, you fall into the category, but there’s others that we don’t know until you actually have the application, until we submit it see which ones you actually qualify for. And I tell people, don’t be afraid to submit an application.

When it comes to the real estate world, especially at Credit Union US, I don’t believe there’s a no. We might give you a not right now, but you’re not going to get a no from us. And the reason I say that is because when we tell you, ⁓ these are your hurdles, we’ve given you the blueprint to correct that decision.

So it’s like, it’s literally in your hands. all I have to do is this and this and this. I’m like, yeah, and you’re golden. So if you get denied, I’m not going nowhere. I had a customer, held their hand for 13 months. I checked on them once a month to see what they were doing to make sure we’re in line. If they had any hiccups, we would look for alternatives, you know, but we’re different. I tell people, seek a credit union and no disrespect to the banks, but there is a difference on how much you’re going to get financially. The big banks are given three, five, seven grand.

I have a down payment assistant program right now for what they call the low income, which I’m giving a max up to $32,000. Staying in home five years, that $32,000 goes away. You never have to pay it back. Now there are qualifying incomes that you’re going to need, but I tell people, if you don’t make a lot of money, this is the down payment assistant program for you.

Kristen Knapp (03:00)

Wow, mean, yeah, it seems like, you know, going to the bank, you’re a lot more limited and your line of work is really interesting because I think people think of it as very cut and dry, but there’s actually a lot of creativity involved and there’s a lot of different scenarios that can happen.

Sean Harper (03:15)

Absolutely. We had this discussion before where I talked about like my introduction to this industry was just like, oh, you could do that. It was an eye opener. you know, I wanted to learn more. I literally my first few years had a customer. They kept on coming back to me for year after year. So basically I want to start an industry. I was doing what they call home equities and I call them the millers because I cannot remember their name.

But I do remember the experience because it was something that stuck with me and so they came in they were doing an equity You know and they turned around they pulled the money out and we got through the conversation like, you know What are you gonna do with the equity and there’s like, you know, we’re gonna buy some land up north and Prescott and so they bought like an acre acre and a quarter up north and Prescott What they did they paid down their Equity aggressively, they didn’t pay it all off by the time they came back to me, but they paid down a significant amount

property value went up so they had a lot more equity available. So they came back again, they pulled more equity out. And I’m like, what are you doing? So we’re building a three bedroom, two bathroom house on that property up in Prescott. And I’m like, that’s beautiful. Okay. They called me back literally three years later and I’m like, are you guys taking another equity? says, no, no, we’re just telling you it’s been a great experience and bye. And I says, what do you mean? They said they sold their house. Yes, they only walked away with $65,000, but they were moving up north on an acre of land.

three bedroom, two bathroom, and they had no bills.

Okay, they retired free and clear based on utilizing their equity in their home. Okay. A call, say it again, a car can’t do that. A house can. There’s more levels to it. Literally, I had a guy come to me a few weeks ago who went through a divorce. I tell a joke about it, but it’s not funny, but it is because he had a 401k, which turned into a 200.5.

And everybody’s like, what does that mean? I’m like, well, his wife took half. So it’s not a 400, it’s not a 401k, period, no more. It’s half of that. His plan to retire changed significantly because the finance that was supposed to be there, it wasn’t going to be there anymore. The fact that he felt like his house is going to be paid off now was not going to be paid off. And so he was stressed. He was like, I don’t want to be a greeter at a grocery store at 67, 70 years old.

You know, I asked for his paperwork, looked at his house, got his amatuerization, which lets you know how much you pay and how much it goes down. And the reason I did that, I was trying to look for a way that he can retire and pay his house. And this is what we came up with. We was like, you need to buy another house. And he’s like, I need to buy another house. I’m like, absolutely. Your amount, your house cannot be no more than $430,000. And he’s like, why? I’m to explain to you later.

He’s like, what am I going do about my other house? I says, you’re going to rent it, sectionate it, do something where someone else is making the payment, just not you. Okay. And I says, two years before you retire, you’re going to sell that house and I’m going to take those funds and you’re going to allocate it to the house you rent. should literally cover all your mortgages left or majority of it. Okay. So now you don’t really have a house payment and you only own one house. Although you still working for two years.

I say you still want to make your house payment to yourself.

He was looked at me lost and I said, explain why you’re going to retire. Your house is going to be paid two years before you retire. You’re going to still make the payment. So then when you do retire on top of your 401k, your pension, your house being paid off, you’re going to have an extra $78,000. I said, that’s just the ribbon on top of the present.

Yeah

Kristen Knapp (06:40)

If he had not talked to you, he would not have known that.

Sean Harper (06:44)

You know,

no, and like I said, everything happens for a reason. I met him through a mutual friend. He was like, let me run something past you. And I was like, good question. I love the challenge. Get back to you in 24. Because obviously we don’t always have the answers. And if we don’t have them, we go get them.

You know, so we definitely search. Yeah. And I’ll be honest, if it’s not a good financial situation for you, we’ll let you know. Well, I’ve done that before where people went and they wanted equities. And I’m like, this is not good for you. I’ll explain to them why, even to the point like this time at interest, you’re going to obtain. Okay. Like, do I want the loan? Yes. But more so I want you on a better financial situation more so than anything else.

because you’re not in a good financial situation, you’re not good for yourself, you’re not good for your family.

Kristen Knapp (07:28)

Right. Absolutely. And that’s like the best way to have clients that want to keep coming back to you.

Sean Harper (07:35)

We hope so. It’s a very competitive market. You have everybody like, want to be your helper. I want to be your helper. I just think we’re a bit different because we really do. It’s funny because I had one guy help so well. He’s like, you want to go to Vegas? And I’m like, no, I don’t gamble. So I think it would be a waste of your time and money. You would be very disappointed if I went with you. But I do appreciate the offer. But believe it or not, because we go that extra mile, we get a lot of offers like that.

Kristen Knapp (08:01)

We’ll find you and work with you.

Sean Harper (08:02)

Definitely you want a Well, credit union West definitely give us a call. We’re up on social media. You can also go to ⁓ see you West dot org. Go into the mortgage. I tell people look at. Put in an application. You know, even if you don’t know where you’re at, entering application is not a life or death situation. What it’s doing is if you don’t know where it’s at when you enter application, you’re turning on the lights so you’re going to know where you’re at. You’re going to know if you’re there.

Are you gonna get the directions where to go to get there?

Kristen Knapp (08:33)

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for all of your insight. And I think people learn a lot.

Sean Harper (08:38)

Please do call us at Credit Union West. We’re here to help.

Kristen Knapp (08:41)

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here and everybody. Thank you for listening and we will see you back next time.

Sean Harper (08:46)

Thank you for having me and have a great day.