Scott Smith: Demystifying Home Loans, From Credit Scores to Entrepreneurial Resilience in Real Estate Finance

Unlock the mysteries of the mortgage loan process with none other than Scott Smith from New Destiny Mortgage, who joins us on the Good Neighbor Podcast. This episode promises to shatter the illusions surrounding credit scores and down payments, as Scott walks us through what really matters when you're looking to make a house your home. From the initial steps of applying for a mortgage to the deeper implications of your credit report, we've covered it all. You'll come away with a new perspective on FHA loans, conventional loans, and why that three-digit number can make or break your dream of homeownership.

Ever wondered what it takes to navigate the choppy waters of the real estate market? Well, Scott's here to share his wealth of experience, from running fitness franchises to entering the mortgage battlefield. His entrepreneurial spirit not only shines a light on the intricacies of dealing with FHA loans in a skittish seller's market but also serves up some hard-earned wisdom on how to emerge victorious in the face of adversity. As we discuss the balancing act between professional success and life's simple joys, you're sure to find resonance whether you're a cinephile, foodie, or just someone trying to find the perfect work-life harmony.

Finishing strong, we delve into Scott's personal saga, where a motorcycle mishap became the catalyst for a lifetime of entrepreneurial grit. It's a tale that exemplifies the power of resilience and the importance of transparency in business. At New Destiny Mortgage, honesty isn't just a policy—it's the foundation of a service dedicated to helping you navigate the home buying journey with integrity and confidence. This episode is more than just a guide to mortgages; it's a tribute to the indomitable human spirit and a testament to the value of genuine connections, both in business and beyond. Join me, Mike Sedita, for a truly enlightening conversation, set to inspire and inform in equal measure.

At New Destiny Mortgage, our mission is to set a high standard in the mortgage industry. We are committed to quality customer service - putting the people we serve first. Our goal is to carefully guide you through the home loan process, so that you can confidently select the best mortgage for you and your family from the many mortgage options that are available today. After you select the loan that is best for you, we will work continuously on your behalf to help you achieve your dream of homeownership.

At New Destiny Mortgage we strive to make you a client for life. We want to be your first choice each and every time you need a home loan. We always try to go above and beyond for you so that you will always feel confident referring your family and friends to us for their mortgage financing needs.

​https://www.newdestinymortgage.com/
(813)991-1166

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.

Speaker 2: 0:12

Hello and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, Mike Sedita. Today we are joined for episode number 164 by Scott Smith. He is the owner of New Destiny Mortgage. Scott, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3: 0:23

I'm doing excellent, mike, thank you.

Speaker 2: 0:25

So glad to have you on the Good Neighbor podcast. In case you don't know what the Good Neighbor podcast is, if it's new to you, the Good Neighbor podcast was started back in 2020 during COVID, as a way for business owners to get their messaging out to the community while still being socially distant, and in the last four years we've grown into a national brand. We have podcasts from Philadelphia to Colorado to Atlanta, everywhere in between. I'm the person here in Tampa that gets to talk to business owners like you. So, with that said, first and foremost, tell us a little bit about New Destiny Mortgage.

Speaker 3: 0:59

Well. As an independent mortgage broker, I take the time to understand my clients' goals and financial situations and then try to offer customized solutions, recommendations that fit their needs. Since I have access to a wide network of lenders literally dozens I can offer borrowers usually a variety of options tailored to their specific needs, and therefore it can be usually a little more competitive on rates and terms. The expert guidance I can provide, along with personalized service, make the mortgage experience, in my opinion, more smooth and stress-free as possible.

Speaker 2: 1:36

So in the process, just garden variety. I mean, I'm assuming you have a kind of an operating procedure. A new person calls you up on the phone and says hey Scott, I'm looking to buy a house, do you? Is it like, first we need to run your credit, second, we need to know how much cash you have down and then get those results, or is there more layers to it than those two things that gets them into, like, because once you have those two things, or is there more that you can basically kind of figure out what's available, what's not available?

Speaker 3: 2:05

Yeah, that's a good question. Basically you're right. I usually tell them that in this business everything starts with and revolves around the credit score. So I try to find out where they're at and a lot of times people will think they have a score that's better than they actually do. But usually we start off with the credit score to find out where they're at generally, because their credit score is going to determine what type of program they qualify for and then what type of interest rate they qualify for within that program. And after that we need to find out, you know, what their goals are. If they're wanting to purchase, we try to find out how much home can they afford. So we get into their income a little bit. We find out, you know, what their debt to income ratio is. You know that's important.

Speaker 3: 2:47

Lenders all want the loans to be under a certain debt to income ratio and once we get all those ratios, in order and lined up we communicate with the realtor, and if they don't have any, I have some partners that are excellent, I can refer them to, and then we just go play it by ear from there partners that are excellent.

Speaker 2: 3:06

I can refer them to, and then we just go play it by ear from there. So two questions from that is number one. It seems like there used to be like like I worked in the car industry, you know, I don't know 30 years ago, and it was like hey, we're going to run your FICO. Now there seems like there's 12 different versions of FICO. There's a FICO 3, a FICO 2, a FICO 8, a FICO 10.

Speaker 3: 3:29

What is the standard scoring system that you guys go off of for a mortgage. Well, we just go on to a credit providing service and it's generally obviously it's the score that's designed for mortgages. So it may be a little different if they go to a car dealer and get a credit score there or they apply for a Best Buy car or something like that. It's going to be different and the three bureaus will all give us a score and then the lenders usually take the one that's in the middle to determine and use that to determine what programs and what interest rates they can qualify for.

Speaker 2: 3:59

And then garden variety again I'm a novice, you're the expert. Conventional mortgage variety again I'm a novice.

Speaker 3: 4:07

You're the expert. Conventional mortgage um generally it's 20 per like.

Speaker 2: 4:08

I mean the general. I know there's programs, but generally is it still like 20 down payment? And then you said the income income to debt ratio. What is that ratio? What is that number for someone if they're shooting for a target, or does it vary based on cash down and all and the credit score and all that stuff?

Speaker 3: 4:25

Yeah Well, conventional mortgage can go anywhere from usually 5% down they even have a 3% down now for some conventionals up to 20% or more. It's just that 20% figure is what people hear a lot, because that's when you can eliminate the mortgage insurance. Okay, but you can eliminate the mortgage insurance, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 3: 4:44

But you can definitely get less than that, provide less than that down for a conventional. But the debt to income ratio they're going to look at what that proposed mortgage payment would be principal interest, taxes and insurance and they're going to add to that all their monthly payments they're making on their credit cards, like the minimum payments, their auto payments, any personal loans they might have up. They add up all that debt and divide it into their gross monthly income and that gives them a ratio and usually the conventional lenders will want that ratio to be under 50% or less. They go with an FHA loan, which is the most popular loan out there. They can usually get up to 55 or even sometimes 56 percent of a debt to income ratio.

Speaker 2: 5:28

It's a little bit more flexible and forgiving.

Speaker 2: 5:31

So the first question I have regarding FHA loans well, two questions actually. So if we're looking at that income to debt ratio, I know when lenders are looking, they're looking back to a certain period because we tell buyers, hey, don't go buy that car while you're in the middle of buying the mortgage, Don't go take out another line of credit while you're in the middle of doing this, that and the other. How far back do they look? So if I'm sitting here right now and I know I have some credit card debt, I want to pay it off, and then what's the window of time I need to keep it at zero when it will really affect that income to debt ratio?

Speaker 3: 6:03

Well, you want to keep it all the way to a closing, generally, you know.

Speaker 2: 6:07

How far back are they going to look to see it?

Speaker 3: 6:10

Oh okay. Well see, when we run your credit report, whatever is on the credit report is going to get reported as a debt figure, right? So if it's on your report and you still have outstanding balances on your cards, it's going to be there for however long you've opened that card. If you have, you know, a bankruptcy, it's going to be there for seven years or more. You know. If you have derogatory comments, you know late payments, things like that, that's all going to show up on the report and it's going to affect the credit score.

Speaker 2: 6:41

Okay, so then. So two great questions then. So the derogatory stuff and all that bankruptcies and stuff that lasts generally seven years. After seven years that kind of falls off, right, or you have to have somebody help. You take it, make sure it drops off.

Speaker 3: 6:53

It depends. Usually they can fall off, but I've seen them just stay on report, where then the borrower has to actually contact the, the, the, bureau and get that removed for them.

Speaker 2: 7:06

And then the next question, based on what you're saying, if I'm hearing it correctly, if I know, I'm going to buy a house in the next two months and I pay my credit cards off completely, so everything has a zero balance. And then I come to you and we run that report. We run it, the income to debt ratio is going to show better because there's nothing on. There's not going to look back six months and say, oh, six months ago you had X amount, whatever it is when they run it, and then you guys run it again right before closing, right? Is that kind of the deal?

Speaker 3: 7:30

Yeah, many lenders will do a soft pull on their person to make sure they didn't go out and get all their furniture and put it on the car. You know right before that kind of thing. And a little thing I might want to mention about that because I don't want borrowers to be misled that a lot of times having a zero balance on your card is not always the best option, because the lenders are looking for a credit history and how you've had credit. 10% balance on a credit card, for example, 10% of your credit limit, will give the algorithms on the bureaus a higher score many times than having a zero balance, and it's strange, but that's sometimes the way it happens. A lot of people will say well, 30%, we've heard 30%, have your balance 30%. Well, that's better than 50% or 80%, but the algorithms will give you the highest score with a 10% or less balance on your um, on your debt, when it comes to credit cards and is that just to show?

Speaker 2: 8:32

like is that giving them? The algorithm I'm assuming goes up to showing that you're actually paying consistently on time with a balance.

Speaker 3: 8:38

Yep, 35% of your score is paying on time. So that's the most important thing and that will be the most that hurts you the most if you have a lot of late payments. The second thing that is most important is that 30% of the score is the utilization. How much of your available credit are you actually using? So if you've got five cards and they each have a thousand dollar limit, so you've got $5,000 available to you and you've got $4,000 in your card, that's a high utilization and so the algorithms are gonna give you a lower score there. That's where I'm sleeping. Keep your balance 10%.

Speaker 2: 9:14

The perfect world scenario based on what you're saying is if you have five cards with a $1,000 credit limit each, if you had $90 on each card, you, if you had $90 on each card, you're less than that 10% utilization. It's showing that you're using roughly 10% of your available credit. Like those two big components are what might get the algorithm to show your score higher.

Speaker 3: 9:38

Yes, yes, Because it's showing the lenders that you're being responsible with your money. You know how to use debt. You can use the cards all you want, but make sure that you pay them down at the end of the month as much as possible anyway, to less than 10% of the balance. Now see what.

Speaker 2: 9:51

I've been doing is I've been using, like I have a couple cards. I've been using a card or two, but then I pay it off at the end of every month. So you almost use it like a charge card, like an Amex, as opposed to a credit card. But that's not showing that credit payment history. That might not be as beneficial as I thought it was to driving my score as high as possible.

Speaker 3: 10:12

Well, I've seen scores like that, Mike, that have 800 scores, that people do the exact same thing I'm just saying.

Speaker 3: 10:17

You know there's not a one size fits all, but in general most people have some debt on their, you know, with credit cards and so on. So the point is, if you do, if they do, try to keep that balance under 10% by the end of the month, because most of the creditors will report the first two weeks of every month. So if you can pay that down under 10%, well, and if you can't, I understand that, because you know we're in an economy that can be challenging. But then try to do at least 30 percent.

Speaker 3: 10:45

OK well, the 30 percent is better than 31 percent.

Speaker 2: 10:49

You know it's so funny that in all this technology we have and all these different markers, that we use this one score. Whatever you call it FICO 6, fico 8, fico 10, beacon, whatever you want to call it that one score drastically affects wealth in this country. For individuals, it's the difference between, in today's market, a 7% interest rate on a house and a 12% interest rate on a house, which equates to, over the 30-year mortgage, tens of thousands of dollars out of somebody's pocket, just because that one score might be at 698 instead of 705 or whatever. It is just so crazy. And the timing of that number moving, like you said, first two weeks of the month, if you kind of get through that statement close period with a bounce, it drastically affects what you do as a mortgage expert. Yeah, it drastically affects what you do as a mortgage expert.

Speaker 3: 11:42

Yeah, and another thing borrowers should know is that the statistic is over 80% of people have inaccurate information on their credit report. So it's important to go to freecreditreportcom or something like that or one of those types of sites that you can get a copy of your report and check it every so often, you know, maybe a couple times a year, just make sure that you know. With all the fraud and identity theft out there, it's important to monitor that report, you know, make sure everything is accurate on there. But yeah, you know it can be a difference of. Most lenders will have tiers. So if you're at a 620, you're going to fall into this interest rate level and if you go over 640, now you're up into another tier and you'll get a little bit better rate and it might only be an eighth or a quarter point, but it's still, like you say, over a 30-year mortgage. That adds up to tens of thousands of dollars. It's amazing.

Speaker 3: 12:32

And, of course, most of that interest is paid in the first seven to 10 years.

Speaker 2: 12:35

Right, exactly, and the length of time generally people stay in a home. You're essentially not really paying down the actual principal on the house if you move every seven years or whatever that number is.

Speaker 1: 12:46

There's all sorts of statistics around that.

Speaker 2: 12:48

So you had mentioned something about partnering with realtors. Do you? Because, on the front end of this, do you partner with firms that help people with their credit? Because you might get somebody that, hey, maybe has a bunch of cash but their score is a little low, or maybe their score's a little low but they don't know how to save that cash. Are you working with people, too, on the front end? Or if you look at them and you're like, ah, it's just not working, you kind of put them on the back burner and wait until they get it together on their own. Or do you have partners that help you out on the front end too?

Speaker 3: 13:16

No, I definitely have partners and I've been in the business long enough now coming up on over a decade but to know I can look at a report and pretty much see what's going on and give some pretty good advice as to what they can do to boost that score when we run into challenges that might be a little bit more complicated. I have partners that are in that business. They charge a fee for it, of course, but it's well worth it to get that and sometimes they can take someone from a you know, mid to high 500s and get them up into the mid to high 600s within 30 to 60 days.

Speaker 3: 13:50

And that makes thousands of dollars of difference in their score and what rate they're qualified for. So yeah, I always try to utilize professionals in that industry whenever needed.

Speaker 2: 14:00

And the last thing I'll ask you about the industry, before we kind of move on, is that you had mentioned FHA loans are the most popular loans right now. In a past life I had my real estate license and at the time FHA loans were the biggest pain because there were so many more requirements and hoops to jump through to be able to get that loan, that home, that property to qualify. Have you seen FHA kind of loosen the reins a little bit Like? I remember working on a deal where the I can't remember the specifics but it was so silly something around the way the fence was in the yard FHA wouldn't finance the property because the fence didn't meet a certain requirement. Is it still like that or has it loosened up a little bit for FHA?

Speaker 3: 14:44

I think it. Personally, to be honest, Mike, I haven't experienced anything like that. What I have experienced usually comes from the part of the seller. A lot of sellers don't like FHA because when the appraiser goes out there or the inspector goes out there to look at things and they find different things that are wrong with the property or they make notes of, a lot of times the FHA won't do anything with it until those are repaired Right, Because usually the seller is the one responsible for making those repairs and so a lot of times.

Speaker 3: 15:13

I've seen contracts where people won't even accept an FHA and to me that fills up a red flag because, okay, well, what are you hiding? Right, right, right, you know, if it gets you money one way or the other, why does it matter if it comes from an FHA loan or a conventional or whatever? Usually it's because there's some type of repair that they don't want to fix.

Speaker 2: 15:33

I did see that like end of 2021, into 2022, when the market here was just so haywire with cash buyers or people that were coming in and making these astronomical offers. I do recall seeing a talking to a lot of people that were like, yeah, this seller won't even look at an FHA buyer. It's got to be, you know, cash or 50. They have to have a real good income verification and all this other stuff, or else they just won't even accept the offer because houses were moving so fast at that point that you know the seller had all the leverage.

Speaker 2: 16:06

But the market has actually swung, you know. I mean there's maybe not as much inventory, there's more inventory than there was then, but it's still. It's still a more balanced market now than it was in that window. So that's what you guys do, that's your expertise. Tell me a little bit about your story. How do you get into this? Were you like, did you love playing Monopoly as a kid and financing properties, or was it? Did you just kind of end up in this from another career? How do you get here for the past decade?

Speaker 3: 16:35

Well, my past life. I've owned several successful companies, you know, over the years and where the need to understand loans and mortgages was important. One of my sons is a Green Beret in the Army and that motivated me to focus on helping veterans with purchases and refinances. And then that just grew into helping every type of individual, including realtors, investors, you know, and everyday people.

Speaker 2: 17:01

So in your past life, what were some of the successful or what were some of the businesses ventures that you were in that you that you worked on the periphery of this?

Speaker 3: 17:09

OK, well, my biggest claim to fame was I started a fitness center back in the early 2000s. We went worldwide with our. We franchised it. I was the founder developer, developed the equipment, everything, and it went worldwide. We were in the UK, bahrain, we were in Canada, all throughout Canada. We sold over 300 franchises in the first couple of years, you know, had some great income coming in and so on. And Time Magazine called me and did a story on me at that and so we were actually in the oh, let me think I think it was, I want to say, november 2003,. Time Magazine did a little article on us, so that was kind of a fun experience there. We've opened my wife and I. We've opened several canning salons. We've had martial arts schools I'm a fourth degree Taekwondo master, so we are heavily involved in martial arts at the time and opened some schools there. We did self-serve frozen yogurt franchise. We created that kind of thing we get. We're in travel businesses, you know, and so on and so forth.

Speaker 2: 18:14

And so which? Which business was the biggest pain in the in the backside? Is it the gym business, because of the amount of equipment and investment that goes along with it? Was it the tanning business, just because the clientele is so vain in that line of work? Which one was the one when you were like out of it? You were like, yeah, I'm good being out of it.

Speaker 3: 18:32

Yeah, I would have to say it was the franchising business. Even though it was a fun and I learned a lot, and you know the school of hard knocks definitely was there. You know working with franchisees can be challenging. You know spending 50 to 75 to a hundred thousand dollars a year on attorney's fees just trying to keep, you know franchisees you know compliant with that kind of thing. So when that finally, you know I ended up selling that off to an investment company out of Fort Lauderdale and you know it wasn't too sad to move on to the next project.

Speaker 2: 19:08

I mean, it's like everything. It's like everything, not everything, but it's like a lot of things that have their cycle in your life. You know, like they say, the joke is always with people who own boats, right, Like what's the two favorite days of a boat owner's life? The day he buys the boat, the day he sells the boat, right. So you know, it's the same thing with business. You get into something, you develop it, it kind of becomes your baby.

Speaker 2: 19:32

It goes through the cycle and grows and then at some point the diminishing return not so much necessarily on the investment side, but the emotional diminishing return of being involved in this entity just gets to a point where you're like, yeah, you know what I want to get into something else, which one's the most fun? I mean, I know what you're doing now I get that. But like, out of owning businesses and being an entrepreneur entrepreneurs listening to this what would be one of the businesses you would say, hey, look, that was actually pretty turn I don't say turnkey, but pretty easy to run and operate. Food business always seemed to be tough for me. It always scares me.

Speaker 3: 20:06

the food business, yeah, that would be the one that you enjoyed the most well, you know it's strange, even though the fitness one was the one that gave me the sometimes the hardest challenges, it was actually the most fun as well, because we have the opportunity to travel to other countries to, you know, help open up their franchise, to meet all kinds of people. You know, they would come into, uh, into our headquarters and we would do the training and and that part of it, the people side of it, was really fun.

Speaker 3: 20:35

Yeah and you know it taught us a lot about business and accounting and and uh and and all that kind of fun stuff and franchising. So it was kind of both sides of it on that end. Retail the yogurt business was frustrating. You know you're paying $10,000 a month in rent just to be in a mall. It was, you know, hard, you know, to keep up to that when you're selling $7 yogurt cups.

Speaker 3: 21:03

The volume game, yeah. And then people you know doing things stealing product you know, you know all the stuff that goes along with retail. It can be pretty frustrating. So I kind of vowed to stay out of retail after that.

Speaker 2: 21:18

So let me ask you this last question last question on the franchise stuff, cause it always fascinates me. Last question on the franchise stuff, because it always fascinates me Owning and operating a gym, similar to like I worked in the car wash business with another person I did business with on their marketing and he would tell me, listen, there's an investment to build this facility. But once I hit number X on my continuity program, this business is on autopilot. Like it's the attrition that comes in it outweighs the number and it just kind of it kind of just makes money because as long as you have someone there to manage it, operate it and have someone that can fix things when they break, is there a number? In a gym you go to, you know you've done this, you've rolled it out, you've rolled out hundreds and hundreds of these gyms. When you sit down with a franchisee do you say, once you get your membership to X, the business is kind of at a status where it's maintaining. Is there a number in mind? Because that's the metric always fascinates me.

Speaker 3: 22:15

Well, I mean that's a good question, but the way I would answer that is no, we usually don't get into that because you have to be very careful making an earnings claim for a franchisee and because you tell them hey, you get to 300 members and you'll be good and they don't, they sue you. So we try to stay away from that. Some franchisees will put an item 19 in their Agreement. What do you call it? Oh my gosh, it's still from mine now their disclosure document.

Speaker 1: 22:49

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:50

And that's where they can make an earnings claim from usually corporations, their own corporate stores or from franchisees, and then that's fine. But we, most franchisors, choose not to, we chose not to, and it depends what part of the country are you from? A franchise up in Connecticut or New York is going to have a lot higher need, a lot more members to break, even than you know. Someone in you know maybe.

Speaker 2: 23:15

Just because of operating expense in a higher market, a higher rent market.

Speaker 3: 23:19

Yeah, yeah, I mean all the variables are so wide that we just try to stay away from that, yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:26

Des Moines, iowa, versus Bridgeport, connecticut, it's going to be a different world, yeah. So that's great stuff. That stuff always fascinates me. Thank you for thank you for getting into that. So tell me a little bit about you know in. You know in the mortgage business right now. What's one of the biggest misconceptions you run into when someone dials you up and says I'm ready to get a mortgage?

Speaker 3: 23:54

Where are you doing the most educating and correcting them on some of the things they're thinking? Well, let's see, I would imagine that I've heard that a lot of people think brokers cost more to work with than banks or retail lenders. And you know, for many banks and lenders, fees like underwriting or origination processing, you know, could be thousands of dollars that are charged to the clients, of course, and then that just adds to the cost of buying a home. Mortgage brokers we've got access to the lowest rates in the industry. We receive wholesale rates right from the end investors.

Speaker 3: 24:24

So, generally speaking, mortgage brokers usually have low overhead, they have thinner margins, which allows us then to pass those savings on to the clients. So the lower costs, lower overhead, usually result in a lower than average rates that we can provide for them overall. And I think another myth is one we touched on earlier thinking that they need to put down 20% to buy a home and in reality they can put down 3%. They can put down 1% or even no money down. I'm in Pasco County and Pasco is loaded with no money down areas that people can take advantage of, and I can even a lot of times have options where I can get the lender to make the down payment for them through a down payment assistance program.

Speaker 2: 25:07

In those instances, though, if someone doesn't have the cash, if they're going to put little to no money down, they have to have the income level to cover the PMI and all the other stuff that goes with it. Correct, I mean, you got to be able to, you know have to work for them.

Speaker 3: 25:22

Sure yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 25:24

So all this stuff, I mean you work in a very you know numbers, you know not to steal the line from the Wolf of Wall Street very like high frequency numbers, daily working with that stuff. But when you're not in the office and you're not grinding these numbers for people and watching the interest rates daily tick up and up more than down, but hopefully more down soon, what do you like to do when you're, when you're out having some fun?

Speaker 3: 25:51

uh well, let's see. You know, with six children and 16 grandkids, it's hard to find time, but only 16 scott, only 16 grandkids only 16. Yeah, I, I tried to you know. Educate them in what's causing these kids, once they catch on. I think you know.

Speaker 1: 26:10

But who?

Speaker 3: 26:10

knows, but my wife and I we like to go out to eat and go to movies. Pretty simple lifestyle, to be honest. That's pretty much it for us.

Speaker 2: 26:19

All right. So two things off of that Number one what's the last movie you saw and give us a quick review.

Speaker 3: 26:27

Oh, my, yeah, I know you might ask that I haven't been to the movies in forever.

Speaker 2: 26:31

I've been so running around recording podcasts and meeting with folks that I haven't had a chance to sit down in the movie theater. I find now, at my age, the movie theater is tough. If I get the movie theater with the reclining chairs, I either fall asleep in the first 10 minutes of the movie, wake like Oppenheimer. I woke up and they were dropping the bomb. I had to watch it again, or I have to get up and use the bathroom, like four times in the movie, because they give me a drink that's the size of like a bucket. But I haven't been in a while. Have you seen anything good lately?

Speaker 3: 27:02

Oh my goodness, yeah, we have. But you know, I'm going to ask for your forgiveness, I just can't recall. Maybe it's a senior moment I'm having.

Speaker 2: 27:12

I'll go to one of my all-time favorite questions. When somebody tells me they like to go out to eat, you're in Pasco County. Whereabouts in Pasco County are you Land?

Speaker 3: 27:20

O'Lakes, land O'Lakes. I'm about six miles north of Highway 54 on Land.

Speaker 2: 27:26

O'Lakes Boulevard, 54 and 41 is my favorite intersection in all of Tampa. What's the last place you went? What's a go-to place that you go to eat that people listening to this in Pasco County can say oh, I can have a night out what's one of your favorite spots to hit.

Speaker 3: 27:44

We have two. If we're kind of in a hurry, we'll go to Chili's out there off of you know, I'll go east off of on 54. Yeah right.

Speaker 2: 27:55

Coming up on Collier Parkway there right.

Speaker 3: 27:57

Exactly. Yeah, they have a pretty good menu. We like we know all the way through servers and that kind of thing. Then if we have a little bit more time we'll keep going east and we like Texas Roadhouse. They have, I think, probably the best steaks we've been able to find and we're hooked on those muffins and their cinnamon butter.

Speaker 2: 28:16

Yeah, the rolls they bring out at Texas Roadhouse are really good Right in that area, because I used to live right up in that area too, I mean.

Speaker 2: 28:23

Barber 33 is pretty good. They have a pretty wide menu of stuff. Um florida brewing company across the street from there is pretty good as far as the food goes, and just the service every time I go in there is terrible. So for me, like I, I could love the food in a place. If it takes me 40 minutes to get it, it just kind of puts a damper, like you said if you have time.

Speaker 2: 28:46

But there are so many cool things between where you are in lando lakes, going all the way back to wiregrass mall, and now there's um, uh, what is it? Copper, copper ridge or copper landing, whatever, the? There's a winery right there, right by the audi dealer. There's so much stuff along 54, 56, you could eat at a different place you know every week and not run out of spots to go to. So so you like doing the foodie thing, you like going to movies, even though you can't remember them.

Speaker 2: 29:14

I get it. I actually I do the same thing. I'll be like I saw that movie. I know I've seen this and I have to look up IMDB to remember a lot of the details in it. So one of the questions I always love to ask entrepreneurs and it seems like you've been through some of this and you sort of touched on it a little bit when has there been a time in your career, either personally or professionally, that you've been sort of tossed a curveball or come up on a challenge where you were like you know what, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get over this or get through it, and how you get through it, and how did you get to the other side, to where you're at right now wow, how much time you got.

Speaker 3: 29:51

No, uh, there have been, you know, several actually. Um, I've discovered, like you said, life is going to throw us a lot of curve balls and, um, the challenges physically, mentally, emotionally can really do a number on a person's thought process. But, uh, after a near-death experience I had from a motorcycle accident, literally back in 1972, I was shown three life keys during that experience that we don't have time to get into here but when implemented, I have caused me to be able to rise above these, uh, circumstances of life. I call them, and you know, find more purpose and direction and, literally operating a power mic I never knew existed. So that's a short answer for that. You know, I just have been been able to figure out a few things that have helped me overcome some of these curveballs.

Speaker 2: 30:39

Well, and I guess that's that's kind of the thing finding that inner strength, guidance you know wherever it comes from, from, to give you that resolve to get through the things that are difficult, when the franchisee is trying to rake you over the coals over your partnership agreement, when you know the employee is stealing from you know your retail store. While those things are difficult events in the moment, I think for me one of the things is kind of removing myself from the high stress situation in that time to realize in the big picture of things how detrimental is this to the big picture of what I have going on. And that's, you know, using that inner strength to do that. I love hearing that, because you're telling a story of not relying on some outside thing to give you the power that drives you to do the right thing, to get to the next level, which I very much appreciate. That's a life lesson for anybody listening to this. So go ahead.

Speaker 3: 31:43

Sorry, scott, I'm just going to say you know, the more I talk with people, I, you know, I I discovered that we all have some kind of superpower inside of us. You know, we have some purpose or a calling in life and a lot of people they get confused over that.

Speaker 3: 31:56

They, you know, they don't know what it is, and and so it can be a challenge to really discover that. So it was just that again, these three keys that I mentioned, that just been able to help me figure some of that out. And then, when I was able to implement some of those keys, it was just a way for me to get more clarity on what my own superpower is and been able to help people also out there as well.

Speaker 2: 32:21

Yeah, what your, what your superpower is internally, how to actually access it when you need to access it and be able to transfer that to help other people. So, speaking of helping other people, if I'm someone in the market and they've heard your story here and understand how you've grown businesses, how you're an entrepreneur, how you understand the market that you work in, that you've been working in currently for over a decade, I need a mortgage. How do I get to you?

Speaker 3: 32:50

Well, in other words, how can they learn more about?

Speaker 2: 32:52

what we do. If I want to find out more about New Destiny Mortgage and set up an appointment with Scott Smith, how do I go about doing that?

Speaker 3: 32:59

All right. Well, we can be found at newdestinymortgagecom. That's probably the easiest way, you know people can go there check out the different loan products that we have available. You know, sometimes they don't even need tax returns, you know. So we have all types of options available. Doesn't cost anything to talk to us and you know, mike, I'd be honored to serve them you know and as a.

Speaker 3: 33:20

Christian-based business. I just want people to know that we're committed to transparency and honesty, right so we work hard to provide clear and accurate information for them and provide loan options as clear to them, hold their hand all the way through it and that they can trust us. We have their best interests at heart.

Speaker 2: 33:38

So, folks, if you're listening to this and you're in the market and you're deciding, hey, I'm gonna bite the bullet, I'm gonna date the rate and find the house that I love, marry the house that I love, marry the house that I love. Date the rate right now. I'm going to contact Scott. I'm going to get into a home and then, if I need to refinance in a year or two, when the rate comes back down, that's what I'm going to do. If you're at that point right now and you're ready to be a homeowner, you need to contact New Destiny Mortgage. It's newdestinymortgagecom. His name is Scott Smith. He's been with us today. Scott, thank you for being a good neighbor. Thank you for being on the good neighbor podcast. I appreciate your time, my friend.

Speaker 3: 34:10

Thank you, mike, it was an honor.

Speaker 1: 34:13

Thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast Pasco. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP Pascocom. That's GNP Pascocom, or call 813-922-3610.