City on The Bay
“If what YOU did yesterday still looks Big Today, YOU haven’t done much Today” -Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University Basketball coach for the non-March Madness fans) Happy Friday peeps!!! Here's another video for you to enjoy as well as some great content from our friend in the banking industry! Mention the newsletter if you reach out to Alan to see how he can help you! Hope you all have a great weekend!
Spotlight on Banking
This week we wanted to put the spotlight on a friend of the minngo family and talk about some of the topics you might be curious about related to banking in real estate! Alan Coddington is a banker with First Republic Bank in San Mateo and we hope this information helps you! First Republic offers private banking, private business banking and private wealth management, including investment, trust and brokerage services. Services are offered through preferred banking or wealth management offices primarily in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Los Angeles to name a few. First Republic offers a complete line of banking products for individuals and businesses, including deposit services, as well as residential, commercial and personal loans. Here is our interview with his contact info to reach out! A fun question to kick off the interview, where do you see the future of Bitcoin in banking? Bitcoin is somewhat of a gimmick asset that caught on for a short period of time as a short trend. This sort of asset is not backed by any government and will continue to lose value as it becomes more and more regulated. What is the one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to get a new home loan? Review your debt to income ratio to qualify to purchase a home. This can be impacted by high balance student loans, Auto loans, credit card usage, etc. Of course these are direct obstacles between families and a new home purchase which banks can require as much as 43% debt to income ratio to qualify. Paying down the higher interest student loan or refinancing a high balance student loan should be the initial primary goal of any young professional. Refinancing as early as possible can have long term ramifications such as the difference between being in position to buy that new home during a favorable rate time period or paying off that debt during an economic upswing which can increase home pricing and interest rates. What would you say are the top 3 questions you get asked in a week from customers and what is your response?
Why did the bank put a hold on my check deposit? Checks are negotiable instruments which are a representation of a request to transfer funds, not the actual funds. When a check is deposited it takes time for a bank to contact the other bank to collect on the money, usually a few business days. Of course banks will use discretion on how long this hold period will be based on the activity in the receiving account. History of bounced checks or NSF occurrences can increase the hold time. The amount of the check is also a factor. From the banks perspective, they are just mitigating the risk to both the client and the bank.
Should I put my accounts in my Trust, or what is a trust? Typically Banks cannot advise on this question directly, because of the legality behind the subject. I advise clients to seek out an attorney to start this type of dialogue. Most clients with sizable assets such as deposits and properties usually structure their accounts under a trust or multiple trusts. Fortunately, for clients of the bank that want to keep everything managed in house, First Republic Trust Company services are available along with normal banking solutions.
Why isn’t First Republic Bank located in every state like some of the big banks?Just like smaller banks, First Republic caters to a specific sector or proximity. The reason for this is to align the financial planning of the firm to the opportunities available in the market, while taking into account the amount of saturation in each market. For instance, First Republic knows it can best serve their client base in the SF, LA, NY, and Boston metropolitan areas. Expanding any further could impact the effectiveness of the banks performance, thus effecting the banks main client base, or ability to serve the client most effectively. First Republic is a highly conservative bank that has a strong value proposition within the markets it serves and growth is primarily stemmed from referrals of current clients for new clients of the bank.
Home mortgage refinance, what are some options/goals?
Increasing interest rates – Homeowners will be more inclined to lock in their rates before they rise to the point that this action would be negligible. Any households borrowing against their homes using a variable rate loan such as a home equity line of credit will realize an increase in their monthly payments.
Cash out refinance, investment opportunity – A cash out refinance can help with locking in the rate while allowing a household to pull cash out of the property like a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) would. Households planning to renovate a home should explore the cash our refinance in order to lock in the rate and capture the exact amount of money required for necessary home improvements.
HELOC – Great during a low interest rate environment for cheap lending, but as the prime rate goes up so do the required monthly payments.
Reach out to Alan to see how he can help you with your banking needs! Alan Coddington First Republic Bank 1111 South El Camino Real | San Mateo, CA 94402-2803 Office: (650) 571-8388 Email: ACoddington@FirstRepublic.com For our next newsletter, we are going to bring the lender to you with an interview from Alex Miller!