Why Waiting to Buy a Home Is Costing You Thousands | Mortgage Pro Sava Shqutaj Explains

SAVA SHQUTAJ (00:00)
You’re waiting and everyone else is waiting, like, what do you think is going to happen once interest rates drop? We’re going to see a repeat of 2020. So you’re going to be able to get a house that call it 5.5%. But if you’re paying an additional $80,000 for that exact same house, it doesn’t, like, is it worth it? So that’s, that’s, I guess that’s a messaging that we try to get across.

Kristen Knapp (00:16)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (00:25)
It’s just if you look at any house, you know, at any given period and you look five years forward, there’s a high probability that it hasn’t gone down the price. It’s gone

Kristen Knapp (02:10)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Sava Shqutaj. She is the VP at Hoot Home Loans. She’s also at VS Capital Group. We’re getting it all into loans, borrowing, first time home buying and everything in between. So thank you for being here Sava.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (02:26)
Thank you for having me.

Kristen Knapp (02:28)
So let’s just start at the beginning. What got you interested in the real estate market?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (02:33)
So long story short, I started my career while I was in college in life insurance. So I was actually going to door to door selling life insurance in some very sketchy areas. And then I transitioned to property and casualty. So officially started making my way into college, know, corporate America or desktop America. ⁓ It was actually one of my clients who I was helping insure their home ⁓ that introduced me to the mortgage side.

And we went back and forth for about four months before I actually sat down with them and had a real conversation around ⁓ joining the lending space. And after sort of seeing the opportunity, it was honestly a no brainer. That was 10 years ago. you know, needless to say a lot of things progressed to get me to where I am now, but it was one of my clients.

Kristen Knapp (03:20)
And then.

Yeah, and so like what did that look like when you were first starting out in the industry? When did you first kind of have the thought of like, this can actually be my full-time thing?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (03:32)
Yeah, so I, you know, once I made the decision to transition from insurance to mortgages, ⁓ everything kind of happened pretty rapidly. ⁓ When I got my license, that all that between studying the state exam, everything else was about a month turnaround time. There was about three months of training ⁓ within the organization that I was with before I was basically put onto the selling floor. And it was kind of like

your traditional call to call center, ⁓ where it was very high demand, long hours. ⁓ But it was great. That’s where I started my career, and it was probably one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made. And I some incredible people along the way.

Kristen Knapp (04:20)
I love that. And when did you transition into investing yourself?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (04:25)
So not so long after I entered a mortgage space in early 2016, I actually purchased my first investment property in 2015, or I’m sorry, in 2017. And then I’ve picked up about, I’ll call it about 17 to 19 properties since then. I may have pretty much most of them.

Kristen Knapp (04:46)
That’s amazing. And you have some in the US and then also some abroad, correct?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (04:50)
So I started investing in open plans in Dubai a year ago. So I don’t know if I call myself a Dubai investor just yet. I only have two, but I am in a good shape.

Kristen Knapp (05:01)
That’s That’s a Dubai

investor.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (05:07)
But it’s, I’m so excited because it’s such an incredible, I went there a couple of years ago and just the culture and the energy and the environment and it’s just so completely different. So long-term, don’t know if I’m ever gonna retire, but when I do, know, slow down at some point, having a couple of places there or at least one place, ⁓ I’m excited for it.

Kristen Knapp (05:36)
That’s amazing. Can you tell us a little bit about the Dubai housing market?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (05:41)
Well, what attracted me to it is, you know, actually the tax benefits. ⁓ So you don’t pay any taxes on the acquisition. don’t, there’s basically no taxes with, there’s like a small government fee, but there’s no taxes when you purchase or when you sell. ⁓ And with these, you know, new construction builds, both of my projects are anticipated to be completed at the beginning of 2028.

So typically what happens with these projects is, you know, once you purchase, put 20 to 30 % down initially, you’re paying a percentage for the, you know, call it three to five years, depending on how long the project takes to complete. And then you have the option to either like refinance and get into another mortgage or pay it off in that duration. But what typically ends up happening in that timeline or what we’ve seen with past projects, which again, know, past performance doesn’t always indicate future performance.

But typically the properties sell out, so by the time they sell, even if you want to keep it, you’ve already gained quite a bit of equity. So you usually have a good return right off the bat. And did I mention all the tax benefits?

Kristen Knapp (06:48)
Wow, yeah.

that’s amazing.

Yes. Yeah, that’s amazing. mean, that was like such an exciting market to get into.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (07:01)
It really is. I almost feel like it’s so not necessarily on tap, but there’s a lot of people afraid to make investments outside of the US, even if the opportunity is abundantly clear. And it was.

Kristen Knapp (07:18)
Yeah, and

how do you even go about that? Are there special things you need to do to invest abroad or can anybody do it?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (07:31)
That’s the crazy part. mean, especially working in lending, because when we get a proof or a loan or when we want to do something, it’s like a complicated process. It’s a 30 day process. Dubai government has just simplified. There’s it’s just some. Pardon me, it’s such a simplified process where like all the extra unnecessary paperwork is like eliminated. The entire purchase agreement was like three page, know, call of five pages. ⁓ Simple language.

Kristen Knapp (07:40)
Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (08:01)
covers A to Z without all the amendments and all the hypothetical scenarios and everything else that we have to disclose in the US and it’s like a 40 page document. And then with the funds, as long as it’s no different, then you just gotta verify that the funds are illegitimate and then the transfer is usually a couple of days wire transfer. It was such an easy process and communication was like.

Kristen Knapp (08:14)
Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (08:29)
extremely professional, but like direct to the point. I love the way they communicate because there’s no

unnecessary

I don’t know if that makes sense. I think a lot of us are, and I get emails all the time where it’s like AI generated, where it’s like, that entire email could have been come down in like five words. But like you had, we have AI trying to make us sound more professional. It’s like, just a simple communication. It makes all of our lives easier. And yeah.

Kristen Knapp (08:45)
Yeah.

I’m

Well that’s all right.

No, keep going.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (09:11)
I was just going to say, and they actually have it all figured out. It’s like to the point and quick and that’s like my, like that’s my speed. So I ended up getting another deal, but you also want to make sure that you vet the people that you were working with. What I’ve honestly, a bunch of the professionals I’ve worked with, I’ve actually come through through social media, as well as just been able to like verify them through LinkedIn. And then once, know, not necessarily that LinkedIn is.

Kristen Knapp (09:20)
Yeah.

wow.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (09:40)
a way to verify anyone, it kind of gives you little bit of a idea of who you’re working with and their background. ⁓ And then the UAE also has like where you can actually verify that they’re licensed directly. There’s like, they have apps for everything. So the government, you can verify information like automatically.

Kristen Knapp (09:48)
Mm-hmm.

Wow.

Yeah, so it seems like they’re really incentivizing people to buy property.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (10:07)
Yeah, and I gotta go please. ⁓

Kristen Knapp (10:09)
Yeah, that’s amazing. That’s really exciting. And so kind of going back to the home lending, ⁓ who sounds like such an exciting venture? ⁓ What advice would you give to somebody? What are the mistakes that you see people make when they’re trying to money? I’m sorry.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (10:13)
I’m so-

Hey, it’s the little thing.

I mean, I think one of the biggest mistakes that I’ve seen is people all that often try to qualify themselves and end up disqualifying themselves without having any cause. There’s this perception that home ownership is really expensive. Like truthfully, I’ve owned two dozen homes just in the last less than 12 years.

Kristen Knapp (10:44)
Hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (11:05)
Interest rates are definitely higher. No one’s gonna dispute that rates are high right now. But trying to time the market, 99 % of the time ends up working and working against you. You have to be very analytical to be able to predict the market and we’re in a market like we’ve never seen before. So trying to correctly predict it is almost impossible. Everyone obviously can make some educated guesses, but no further than that. One thing that is guaranteed,

Kristen Knapp (11:19)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (11:35)
is that rents are gonna continue to go up. So you either lock in an interest rate that might be a little bit higher than what we’ve seen in the market in recent years with the hope of it going down and you can refinance or you can guarantee that your landlord is gonna continue to raise the rent prices. then at what point does it become too expensive? And what’s the alternative? Because houses are not gonna get cheaper. Historically,

Kristen Knapp (11:38)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (12:03)
If you take a look at any house in a five year duration, there’s a high probability that ⁓ it’s almost doubled in equity or price.

Kristen Knapp (12:12)
Right. Yeah, I hear so many people who just kind of want to wait and they’re always like, well wait until it’s better. Wait, wait, wait. What would you say to those people?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (12:22)
Yeah, and then we hear it all the time too. And it’s like, again,

you’re waiting and everyone else is waiting, like, what do you think is going to happen once interest rates drop? We’re going to see a repeat of 2020. So you’re going to be able to get a house that call it 5.5%. But if you’re paying an additional $80,000 for that exact same house, it doesn’t, like, is it worth it? So that’s, that’s, I guess that’s a messaging that we try to get across.

Kristen Knapp (12:42)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (12:51)
It’s just if you look at any house, you know, at any given period and you look five years forward, there’s a high probability that it hasn’t gone down the price. It’s gone

regardless of what the market or what the rate is. I think there’s this misconception because we went from, you know, call it under 3%, which should have never happened. Like truthfully, that was a mistake on our leadership, on the leadership line.

So we went from 3 % to 7 % in a matter of six months, and then we stayed at 7%. So there’s this idea that we’ve seen 3%. There’s a prop up probability that we can see 3 % again. But if you look at historic rates, we’ve never had it before. And there’s a high probability that it’s not going to come back around in our lifetime. I hope I’m wrong. I really do for all of our sakes. But you have homeowners that haven’t been, you know.

Kristen Knapp (13:35)
Mm.

Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (13:50)
I’m in that position myself. I’m contemplating selling my home. But at the same time, I’m at 299. So it’s like, even if I do sell, where do I go? So it’s…

Kristen Knapp (14:04)
Right.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (14:09)
If it makes financial sense and you can afford it, don’t wait for property values to

Kristen Knapp (14:16)
Right. Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (14:17)
Because if you’re waiting,

everyone else is too.

Kristen Knapp (14:20)
Totally. Yeah, and I also, I think people have an expectation that all the set-in prices are just gonna drop. Like in the next month, they’re all just gonna fall, and it’s really more of a gradual shift in the market.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (14:36)
Again, I don’t see anything that would cause interest, like property value. Like even if interest rates go down, there’s this misconception that like, because rates are high, that homeowners are going to be forced to drop their rate, like drop their prices. They’re not. They’re sitting at under 3%. They can rent the property house, buy another property, and have the landlord pay for essentially for both homes.

Kristen Knapp (15:03)
Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (15:04)
because of where rent prices are. Construction prices are skyrocketing. Inventory is getting limited because of the tariffs. So construction is not being built faster to meet the demand. Homeowners are not underwater with their mortgages. Most homeowners have a lot of equity. We’re not in 2008 where everyone was underwater with their homes. Majority of homeowners who purchase, call it 2020, are probably sitting on, you

Kristen Knapp (15:25)
Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (15:34)
half of their house paid off with the rest just free cash. So even if they’re financially struggling, they can just take out online a credit or tap into their equity. There’s nothing that’s gonna cause property values to drastically go down.

Kristen Knapp (15:38)
Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (15:51)
So the idea that there’s like this magical pill that’s gonna fix the real estate industry, it’s unfortunate, but that’s not happening. Again, I hope something, in order for property values to go down, we would have to see a significant amount of foreclosures. Nothing else is gonna cause that and we’re not seeing it. There’s no foreclosures on the.

Kristen Knapp (15:51)
Right.

Right.

Totally.

Mmm.

Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (16:18)
on the horizon because again, everyone has equity. have a chance to sell and walk away with equity or are against the equity if there’s a job loss or sickness or God forbid something else that’s come around that was on first aid.

Kristen Knapp (16:29)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no, I totally agree with you and it’s really good insight on the market. I would love for you to talk about Hoot, Hoot Home Loans and kind of what makes you guys different and what makes it different to go with someone like you rather than maybe a more traditional establishment.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (16:48)
So one of the biggest benefits of just working with a broker in general, ⁓ so we’re licensed in 25 states. We’re actually a brand new brokerage. We’re VC funded, so we’re funded by Streamline Venture, which also funded DoorDash as well as AppLoving. ⁓ So they’ve ⁓ seen, I guess seen our vision or the Who business plan as one of the best.

Kristen Knapp (17:14)
Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (17:16)
that have come in recent years. One of the biggest benefits of working with a broker is we do the shopping for you. So we’re funded by, we have 36 funding partners. So we have access to every single program.

the biggest difference between a broker and a direct lender, a direct lender evaluates their risk and that’s the only clients they wanna take on. So typically it’s your good credit score, your cookie cutter clients that have never had life happen to them. I can tell you the amount of times I’ve had people who were turned away from like their own bank or credit union where we were able to help out and put them into a home. So one of the…

Kristen Knapp (17:51)
Mm-hmm.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (18:03)
biggest benefits with working just with a broker directly is having more options and typically much better cost-stomp price combination as long as far as who we actually have some of the most influential people who have been in the industry in our executive suite.

Everyone who’s been working on this project is very passionate about what we do. And one of the biggest benefits working directly with Who is truly just the men and the women that are a part of this. The way everyone has come together, the way our clients are treated, our process is on match, as well as we have exclusive pricing and programs. So we actually…

You know, our website, we’re getting ready to launch. So I don’t want to, I don’t want to just close more than a, more than a, more essentially than what we, but it’s just a matter of time before, you know, you’ll start seeing our little org, our little purple owl absolutely everywhere.

Kristen Knapp (19:06)
Hahaha

See you

SAVA SHQUTAJ (19:19)
But we have, again, very exclusive pricing. We’re on average, we’re able to help homeowners about $300 $500 a month on their, on the first year in their mortgage, as well as about 2 % lower than where the market is and then 1 % lower on the second year. So we have the programs, we have the products, we have the savings, we have the incredible men and women that are working on this. So yeah, it’s gonna be.

It’s to be one heck of a project and I’m so excited for it.

Kristen Knapp (19:50)
That’s so exciting. Congratulations. And you guys have some unique programs for first time home buyers, correct?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (19:51)
Thank you.

So basically what we call it a two one buy down. We have in-house real estate agents. we’re able to on average save about three to $500 the first year you’re in a home versus our competition, which is huge especially as you’re making that transition and know, furnishing a brand new home and whatever else life throws at you.

Kristen Knapp (20:03)
Okay.

Yeah. And what do you wish more new home buyers knew about borrowing money?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (20:32)
I think just truly is just not making sure that you have the right team behind you. Most homeowners ask about rate because I almost feel like that’s all we know how to ask. But at the end of the day, we don’t pay an interest rate. We pay a dollar amount. So understanding how the process works, understanding how to

separately vet your real estate agent and your mortgage advisor and all the people that are going to guide you and direct you to make one of the largest financial decisions that you make. So, you know, just like anything else, when we shop on price, we don’t always get the value. And in our industry, it is very common where, you know, I wish it wasn’t as common, but it is relatively common where beta switcher happens.

especially if you’re not aware on what to watch out for. So what ends up happening is you’re given one set of numbers and then by the time you get to close, all those numbers change, but you’ve already been in process for, know, probably 30 to 45 days where at that point you’re just gonna take whatever’s on the table versus trying to start the whole process over. So I think properly vetting the professionals that you’re working with and their credibility versus

just going off of the numbers is huge. Because if they don’t have any digital footprint, there’s a high probability that they’re brand new and just, or rebranded because something else happened. You know, again, just properly vetting the professionals that you’re working with, I think is crucial. And don’t ever take the first person that tells you no as face value because there’s a ton of other people that can have so much more flexibility.

around what they can do. ⁓ You don’t want to take the first no you hear just like anything else. You don’t want to take the first no and take it to heart or take it personal. You will certainly don’t ever want to disqualify yourself because you think your credit is struggling or you don’t have enough for the down payment. ⁓ Or you have people in your family and I know we all have where it’s like we get really bad financial advice from the people that really care about us sometimes.

⁓ because the world they live in is very, different than the world we live

Kristen Knapp (22:58)
Yeah.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (23:00)
You know, what made sense financially for our parents is not the world we live in. We can’t plan the same way they did because we’re not in the same market that they were. So even though they mean well, you know, talk to, talk to, talk to professionals is the best advice I can give.

Kristen Knapp (23:21)
Absolutely, I think that’s such great advice and it seems like you guys have a really good handle on everything. It would be great partners to work with. ⁓ How can people find you?

SAVA SHQUTAJ (23:22)
Thank

So I mean, our website at food.com, my name ⁓ is across all socials. actually go, I do live streaming three times a week. So I’m live Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 6.30 PM Eastern under Sava the Lender on TikTok. And then all my social handles are first name, last name. And then I’ll provide you with all my contact information. Feel free to drop it in the comments or the caption.

words. But yeah, I’m actually the only Sabbath shoes high in the world so I’m pretty easy to find. ⁓

Kristen Knapp (24:01)
Definitely.

wow.

That’s amazing.

Well, that’s amazing. Thank you so much for being here and I hope that everybody learned something and definitely reach out to Sava. She has so much information to share with everybody. That’s awesome that you do so much online that people can, you know, get some tips and tricks for free. So thank you for being here today.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (24:32)
It’s been an absolute pleasure. Hope you have a wonderful.

Kristen Knapp (24:35)
Yes, awesome. Well, everybody, please. Thank you for tuning in. Please check out Sava and Hoot and we will see you back next time. Bye.

SAVA SHQUTAJ (24:44)
Have a good one.