Watch Patrick and Chris to learn more.

From the February KATV interview with Patrick Dennis and Chris Kane

No Headphones.  No Problem.  See below for transcript.

From the station that's on your side

this is channel 7 news good morning

Arkansas hey all so today we're talking

mortgage rates and also some helpful

checklist items to make sure you have

and we got to take advantage folks if

you can of these historically low rates

Patrick Dennis a loan officer a bank a

little rock mortgage is gonna tell you

why sounds good

coming up on today's show we're gonna

talk about mortgage rates and a helpful

checklist to make sure you're taking

advantage of historically low rates so

patrick dennis is in loan officer at

Bank of Little Rock mortgage to walk us

through that and why getting

pre-qualified is really important in

this process it's just part of the

checklist okay coming up next after the

break we're talking historically low

mortgage rates and a helpful mortgage

checklist so you can take advantage of

those rates we'll be right back

alright so the time now is nine thirty

eight welcome back and good morning

Arkansas mortgage rates have fallen to

their lowest level since twenty sixteen

so now it's probably the time to take

advantage of that and make sure that you

get that new home that you've always

dreamed of and if you are able to do

that we're gonna talk about a checklist

you need to have before you go through

the process Patrick Dennis a loan

officer at the bank of Little Rock

mortgage is here we're gonna go over

that checklist so you can take advantage

of first of all Patrick welcome to the

studio thanks for being here thank you

much why the historically low rates

right now Rises twenty we've seen this

drop back down since 2016 right so since

October of 2016 yeah what was the last

time we saw these historic rates you're

looking at an average of a three point

four five on a 30-year fixed loan and

two point nine seven on a 15 year you're

talking about historically low you

talked to folks who are buying homes in

the 80s 70s they even the 90s I it's if

you would have told them back in you

know Time Machine you go back and say

hey guess what in 2020 rates are gonna

be at three point four right they

wouldn't believe you would they would

it's it's just that stark of a

difference from what they used to be

absolutely in the 90s I think the

average rates were between twelve and

fourteen and even in the 80s there were

around seventeen or eighteen in Cresco

it's an amazing difference yeah okay I

know that you've come up with a

checklist today we're going to go over

this checklist because if you're serious

about buying a home and if you're

serious about getting that home of your

dreams are taking advantage of this

these are just important things to have

so that you can go through the process

with a little less stress because we

know buying the home can be stressful

for a lot of folks out there it can be

if you do it in order and you let us

help you with it it doesn't have to be

as stressful I think the first thing you

want to look at is your credit score

okay and simple things to do as far as

credit goes is making sure your your

capacity to your revolving credit your

credit cards is that fifty percent or

less that's going to give you an instant

boost as far as credit goes that's one

of the big keys a pre-qualification yeah

I just won't go through that process and

why is it so important reclassification

is everything any realtor wants you to

do that so so the first step is either

see us online give us a call takes 15

minutes to do an application will ask

for some basics driver's license social

security card pay stubs and once we get

that we really have an idea of you know

what direction to go as far as a loan

goes well your credit score looks like

and also what you're going to qualify

for okay and when it comes to

pre-qualification - I understand when

you're going through and looking at

homes a lot of Realtors will ask

beforehand before you even go to the

home because they want the serious

homebuyers a lot of times right that's

correct that's why you want to get this

checklist in order so you're coming to

me first as far as doing and doing the

application getting that ready get

yourself you know have an idea of what

you can afford mm-hmm not just what you

qualify for but right you can afford

which is a key I was gonna say

qualification and affordability don't

always match up right yes they're

looking for that home alright next on

your list it says research loan types

what kind of loan types do people need

to be probably the most cognizant of as

they go through the process there's a

couple things once we have that

pre-qualification it really gives me an

idea of what direction we we send you in

as far as what types of loans you'll

qualify for it's about 30 15 or the

other types of loans 30 or 15 or what

kind of programs such as we have

different programs like Rural

Development where that's a hundred

percent loan low mortgage insurance it's

geographically designed where it's

usually on the outskirts of the city

yeah based on certain maps and

but they're not so rural as they as they

disclosed to be we also have home

possible home ready for a low to

moderate income first-time homebuyer

okay you put down three percent you can

also with that it keeps a low rate as

well as a low mortgage insurance rate

Wow and that's key too because we're

talking about you know mortgage

insurance PMI yes you know you don't put

down that twenty percent right that's at

the mark that's correct an PMI until

that twenty percent is reached or is it

up even past that twenty percent of it

there's officially seventy eight point

now if that's the case yeah but you can

start petitioning your mortgage company

to release it at eighty percent when you

get there okay and I see identify your

ideal home yeah so I think your key

there is is once we have the application

we'll figure it out kind of a loan

program to go with now you know what you

can qualify for and we said what you can

afford as well because they're not one

in the same and then that really

pinpoints you don't want to waste your

time looking at a home's all over these

websites and waste the time of a realtor

Yeah right yeah out there that takes I

have an effort absolutely a money yes

and a key is to go with that realtor

because that realtor is very valuable to

help you find that ideal home in the

right neighborhood assemble your team so

realtor part of that but also I mean

loan officer I mean you're part of the

team all right everybody works together

yeah so with us you want somebody with

experience who knows the market who's

gonna not waste your time get you go and

close alone within thirty days for you

as well as a realtor they are very key

to the operation you want one with

experience who knows what they're doing

and also here's another key the seller

pays for the realtor yeah buyer does not

pay the fees to the realtor so

conceivably rural development home va

loan you could get in with no money down

paying no closing cost and not paying

the realtor and that we're experienced

realtor is key in the negotiation of the

property we appreciate you coming in at

this point Patrick thank you so much

having its checklist that you need to

have folks that you can contact bank a

little rock mortgage for more and

they'll take great care of you over

there make sure you have everything you

need before you start that process or

even during and after of course they're

there for you at blr mortgage on twitter.