VA Construction Loans, Eligibility and Veteran Resources: Christopher Armantrout on WSGI’s One Street Over

01:58 And remind me your name again. Chris. Chris. Chris. I was trying to get the last name. I started Chris Armantrout. That's right. Secret Armantrout. You got it. I just, I actually looked at Scott and I was like, Scott, I've gone blank on your name. And I'm sure Gwen's just laughing at that. But anyway, I did that. I like, I was telling you, I did it to David Mitchell one time and I've known him 20 years, but you just sometimes do that when you get older. And then we got to talking about how old I am versus how old they are I'm much older so we just leave it at that but now Chris has got a birthday coming up yeah oh so how how long till your birthday about a week so next week oh well early you're an Easter birthday okay see my brother just had his birthday he was a first day of spring birthday you know on the 20th and we had a big big snow the day he was born

02:50 up in Kentucky like I don't say how many years ago but anyway Scott's here Chris is here and this is VSO Day which is the acronym for what Scott veteran service office thank you and we I live in the world of acronyms with all the school stuff you know and I mean it's just acronym acronym you know but and Chris had to remind me that we had met before and the in it was the Gideon Project? Close. Gideon Rescue Company. Okay. And does that have something to do with what you're doing now? It does, kind of. Kind of, sort of? Yeah. I moonlight as the treasurer for the organization, so they go hand in hand. One's a hobby and one's an occupation. And this is something that we have been talking about. I've been talking with Barry Richards a lot about the benefits of loans and things from a veteran's perspective.

03:50 And I don't know if you and I kind of talked about that last time you were in. Is that what prompted him joining us? But this is real interesting that you're here because the topic has come up a lot over the last month. So talking about the VA loans and things like that, right? That's what you work with? Yeah, that's one of the main products we work with. So yes, ma'am. Very cool. So what prompted you to bring him in, Scott? I think in the past, we've always done typically the, you know, Terry or myself, someone from the office will come and sit down and we'll talk about the happenings and what's going on. But I know something the Chamber's always pushing and as well as other organizations out there, what are your local resources?

04:32 And so what we're trying to do is kind of bring in a little bit of what we see in the office, the questions we get in the office. My subject matter expertise is in VA disability. Right. My wheelhouse is where I'm fairly comfortable, been doing it for nine years and retired after 20 years. And so when someone comes in and says, hey, Scott, can I do this or that with a VA home loan? Good question. I've got a point of contact. Right. So, you know, I'm not going to know every answer, but I try to know where to point you. And I got you know was fortunate enough to link up with Chris a couple months ago we had lunch so we talked and my wife and I have been looking off and on for three years for a house I want more property out of an HOA and you know beautiful house but 400 houses in a neighborhood is too many and so and we all love our HOAs yeah I'm so glad I don't have one yeah exactly

05:30 all my children do I'm trying to get there so Chris and I were talking and hey I said Chris My wife told me that we could look at a piece of land and purchase the land and then have a house built, and then we don't have to start the payments or whatnot until everything's done. I thought my wife didn't know what she was talking about, and she's smarter than me. But I said, that can't be possible. And Chris said, no, you can do that. And there's just a lot of things in the home loan world, but especially VA home loans, I think that are a great advantage to traditional. And so that's why I said, if I have questions and I didn't know, I can't be the only one. And so that's why we invited him here.

06:23 And for the next couple of months, we'll try to bring other guests on with us that, like the Operation Stand Down last month. I thought that was a great show. Excellent, yeah. There's a ton of resources to stand down, especially with the homeless that we see in our office, which can be hard. We don't have resources at our back and call.

06:45 But yeah, that's why I asked Chris to be here and kind of fill in the basics and some gaps and what are the advantages, pros and cons, and so that's why I asked him here. Very good. Now, the thing that you mentioned about getting a loan and not making payments on it until things were done. Is that something that's available to everybody? Because I don't think I've ever heard, that's a VA thing specific, isn't it? It is a VA thing specific. Yeah. Because I know that whenever we bought, that was a struggle when we bought our property and we were trying to get the house together and we were paying rent and a mortgage. And that's a lot. And I've got a friend that's, child's dealing with that right now. That they have basically two mortgages because they're you know where they're living plus their building and all of those things so that can be I mean that's just something that we deal with so when you said that I'm like oh I know that's not

07:38 available for us regular folks I didn't think it was so that's a great benefit for veterans I had no idea how does that work so essentially you're the interest that's accruing so like when you've closing the loan you are the veteran doesn't have to make any payments but as they make draws that interest is being folded back into the loan. So they're not making payments, but they're still having to pay for the money that they're borrowing. But it does give them that privilege of, like you said, not having to have two payments every month. The same product for someone who's not a veteran, they're having to pay interest only payments as they're constructing that house. So there's pros and cons both ways. Okay. So as a normal citizen, then if I did that, I could pay just the interest on the loan you'd only be able to pay the only the interest while the home is being constructed okay I didn't know that was a thing but once it's done okay and yeah you've got okay mortgage payments for 29 years in a month I gotcha okay interesting interesting

08:41 because I mean I've got a veteran son and his the things he's done for his homes have all been really great but I'm trying to get him to move up here yeah you know I'm trying to get him to move up here and build on our land. And they got one of my grandkids now, especially now. But so I don't know if he's aware of that. So that'll be something that I'll make sure he watches the show and to understand that, hey, that's an option for you. It's an awesome option. And this isn't a program that every lender wants to pick up. So it's kind of a niche product, if you will, for certain lenders. And so it, a lot of times when I hear veterans who have said they don't want to dive into this is like, they can't find anybody who actually does this. So most banks who do VA loans, they don't carry this. I actually have a contact with a, a larger, lender who they, they prioritize veteran loans and she refers them to me, because their office doesn't

09:46 do it gotcha so you know where to point them you're like okay this company will this company will that that kind of thing are there several that they can choose from or is it they're just they're just there's a handful that will do it yeah but even the ones who have the capacity to do it because it can be an intensive process it's not just I mean getting a mortgage is intensive can be depending on the like who you work with right but then you add extra layers of, hey, I want to build, you're throwing a general contractor in there. Oh yeah. You're throwing, it's not just land, it's land plus a house that doesn't exist yet, house plans, budget, like it's a whole process. So a lot of companies are, hey, I want to get a file in and out in like 15 to 30 days. So that's how we make money, right? And so this process, it can be done in you know 30 days 45 days but if you're if you're building a house typically you're building

10:45 a almost a custom house for you and so it's not just necessarily let me get some plans off the internet someone said okay this is what I want and they're going to a general contractor and saying how much is this going to cost and so it's it's a little bit more white glove I guess is the best way to put it right it's it's not let's go to a builder and buy a cookie cutter house and throw it up in a neighborhood gotcha that's possible but there this allows a lot more flexibility so okay very good and how how would you do what how can people contact you do they need to reach out to Scott or do you want to give some information out no they're welcome to to give me a call or go on my website my phone number is 615-671-9178 or you can go to valor.mortgage is my website valor.mortgage and do the phone number one more time 615-671-9178 and we'll do those again but I just want to go ahead for anybody that because sometimes people

11:49 will drop in and they'll listen for 10-15 minutes and then they have to drop out and all of that so we'll go over that again but I mean that's fascinating is there like a an acreage limit on it no typically with this product it's more or less as long as there's comparables in the area just like if you're buying a house you have to go through comps so as long as I mean even barndominiums that's probably been a big ask barndominiums yeah one of the guys that did this he actually I think the last two that I've done have been barndominiums where I mean you you build out a shell like a barn and you interiorize it like you would for a standard house one of the it's contacted last night by a guy who he has a house that most likely actually has to be torn down and then rebuilt and the cost of the teardown could be included in the construction of the new home so there's I said there's a lot of flexibility with it

12:47 okay that's cool I mean because I mean it's been a long time since we went through this but I know our process of purchasing land and all of that and get I mean because we didn't have a dwell there was when we bought our land there were houses on it but they were not livable they had to be destroyed they had to be demolished we we moved a house okay yeah because we had to have we couldn't you know maintain rent and a mortgage so we bought a house from the airport authority because they had condemned a bunch of houses in Nashville moved LaRue House Movers moved it in two sections we built the like the the lower well we built a lower it's not it was a split level okay so we built a block downstairs put the split level on that and then put the because it's like almost like a three level thing right it's really when people remember there's some folks in the area that remember that us moving that house it was a trip but it was we we were able to move in

13:46 within a week oh wow you know I mean it was just because I have a brother-in-law's a pipe fitter and came in and they just plugged the electric I mean it was a trip I mean getting it getting it going yeah but you know we moved in pretty fast but it was a lot of work to be done when you bought your land how much do you have to put a certain amount down yeah okay we had to do a down payment okay so this there's a cool process with this is for veterans there's no down payment Oh, wow. So there's no, I mean, honestly, if it's the contract is written correctly, a veteran could buy a land, build a house, and have it flipped to permanent financing with putting very little or anything at all down.

14:26 Wow. So 100% finance, new construction, complete. When are you moving, Scott? We're looking. Trust me, we're looking. Now, I'm sitting here because we kind of jumped into the process itself. What can you, I'm putting you on the spot here, But what can you tell me, what makes someone eligible? Is every veteran eligible? Not every veteran is eligible. There are criteria. And I'll admit, I don't remember everything off the top of my head. I do have to look at resources. Income, of course. You've got to have some income. Yeah, you have to have a stable income. And a cool thing with a veteran loan in regards to income is, in comparison to other products, veterans' loans, they don't necessarily have a hard stop on what we call a debt-to-income ratio. So looking at your income, it's like with a conventional loan, some products max out at like 50% of your gross monthly income.

15:19 A veteran's loan can be pushed out to 60%, 70% of your gross monthly income. Not that I would recommend that, but it can allow for situations. One of the veterans I served, he was buying a house and wanted to keep his current house so that him and his wife, elderly couple could move at their leisure and then turn around and sell at their leisure that way it wasn't a hard day of get in get out right and you know your stress levels out of the wazoo right but typically for if you're looking for a VA loan you to qualify for your VA loan you have to serve for 90 consecutive days of active duty or 181 days of active service during peace time or six years of service in the National Guard or 90 days under Title 32 orders and there's probably other other caveats to that as well but there's it's kind of the the main the main vein if there's any question then I'd be happy to to talk to someone get a copy of their DD-214 or

16:28 their current service orders and then I can apply for your certificate of eligibility myself and be able to come back and say, yeah, you're qualified. This is how much you're qualified for. So it can be a very simple process to get started. Okay. Very good. So I was going to say, do you have any other questions? Oh, I know what I was going to ask you. Is this the only thing? Valor is the name of your company. So do you only handle VA? Because to me, Valor, that speaks to military. It is targeted more towards military. My uncle was Green Beret. My grandfathers were both Air Force. I didn't necessarily dive into that, but there's another story we could talk about another day. But no, Valor Mortgage, VA loans are a piece of what I do. Anywhere from a lot of the buyers in this area are first-time homebuyers. So 100% financing can be possible without a VA loan.

17:30 VA loans are typically your crème de la crème of financing. But USDA offers 100% financing. There's a THDA program that offers 100% financing. There's FHA, conventional. If somebody wanted to get into investing, we're talking about acronyms. That's what I'm throwing around right now. But a DSCR, if an investor wanted to buy, they wanted to buy rental properties, but they wanted to qualify only through the rent income of that house, that's possible. So it's a debt service loan. So short answer is no. There's a variety of stuff that we can do. And if it's not challenging, it's not fun. So I have no problem with the harder, more challenging files as well. I got you. That's very cool. I mean, it's very interesting.

18:29 It's something that's always fascinated me. One of our full-time longest-running sponsor is Rebecca and Barry Richards with Exit Prime Realty. And so we talk a lot about real estate and buying and selling and all that kind of thing. And one of the first things they always tell everybody, you've got to get pre-qualified. You've got to figure out how much you can afford. Because so much of that debt ratio comes into play whenever you're looking. I mean, you can have your eye on something, but if you can't make the numbers work, it just ain't going to happen. A hard thing to remind people of is you can go look at houses, but as soon as you fall in love with that house and then you recognize what the payment's going to be, one of you is heartbroken, the other one's sleeping on the couch.

19:16 That's the thing. You got it you got to get that pre-qualification in and to see what you're you know just how much you can bring to the table and if you're going to have to have down payments and all that that was one of the biggest shocks when we went to buy our property is everything was going great and it's like oh you need this down payment and I'm like what right yeah I did I you know I didn't know and so but we were able to work it out you know so you know that's that's there's there's ways to help with that too and there's whether it be if you have a loving family member who's willing to gift you some funds for a down payment there's down payment assistance programs I don't know about specifically for land that's a different one so the the VA one-time closed new construction that we've been talking about there is an option for that for conventional for non-veterans that is a five percent down so typically with when if you're working with a

20:11 bank and you're just straight up buying raw land, they're going to want 15 to 25 or percent down plus. If you're looking to buy land and build right away and you're not a veteran, then the minimum down payment is 5%. So it could be a lot healthier than you said with your situation, you're buying raw land. I don't know what the standards were at that point for you guys. Our, the gentleman, Lloyd Kite, that sold us the property actually loaned us, did a personal loan for our down payment, and we made payments to him, I'm wanting to say, for about five years, and then had a balloon payment due. Okay. And so we worked it out with him because he was wanting to sell the land, you know, and move on. And so he just, you know, he really helped us out.

20:59 He worked with you. Big, big time, big time. But, yeah, and so that's what this is. And there's all kinds of situations like that that you come into. But, you know, there's just all. I think it's probably maybe a little bit easier now than it was for us at the time. But it's still, if you don't have somebody that's helping you with this, guys, your eyes will glaze over because there's so much when it comes to the paperwork and making sure those t's are crossing those I's are dotted you just got you've got to do that so how long have you been doing this I started the industry in 2015 okay okay so you've been at it a minute I've slept on it a couple times yeah there you go there you go well very cool very cool so you guys are looking for land yeah any particular area do you want to put it out there somebody because I mean I know because we've I had Mayor Vogle in here yesterday and he was

21:55 talking about they're trying to find land to purchase for middle school and for the the TCAT and all different ones like that so I know trying to find land is very difficult in this county but what do you have a particular place you're wanting to go are you wanting to come to robertson or we're looking we're looking out this way okay you know my son he's a machinist he builds aircraft parts oh and does very well as a 20 year old and he works out there off of Briley in Nashville okay and so it'll be a further drive we come out here but we've been looking at Adams we've looked at Cross Plains or Orlinda but something that I'm thinking of Chris is if if let's say my wife and I were thinking about it what can we afford so we come and see you we see what we're eligible for up to does it affect my credit how long is it good for […]

23:01 Typically what your pre-approval is good for is based on how long your credit and is good for so typically investors are going to want to see your your credit report isn't older than 90 to 120 days so you have you have time to shop and just because you came and talked to somebody in my office doesn't mean we have to pull credit day one the the idea is to to give give you as the buyer a a ballpark idea of what's possible and then if if you are comfortable with what's possible and what we think is is possible then we can we can go to the next step of actually pulling credit the the big thing is as long as your documents haven't expired like pay stubs are good for say 60 to 90 days

24:03 if like I've got a friend of mine from college that she wants to buy a house she's already got it picked out I've kind of soft pre-approved her if you will by looking at documents six months ago well things can change in six months I had a client who we were under contract and he got laid off last week things change it stinks but to be able to say okay this is a ballpark idea of where you're at allow you to be able to go go see what that buys and then come back and say, okay, I think we're in the serious mode. Then, okay, I'll pull credit, we'll verify, we'll do more of a hard verification of everything and move forward from there. But it starts with just a simple conversation, just to say, hey, what's possible, and go from there.

24:52 I think in the same area, how long is that COE or that Certificate of Eligibility good for? It's a good question. Your eligibility doesn't change unless you've done something drastic. So it should stay good. But typically what I'll do is, even though I've accessed your certificate of eligibility six months ago, I'm going to go get a new one to just kind of restart, if you will, to make sure that everything's clean. Because the goal is to try and remove as many bumps as possible before we start. And I know that I know that if you're on the on the veteran side being able to qualify for a VA loan period with has certain benefits but then also if you're a service connected disabled veteran tell me about that so if you're a service if you're disabled service of disabled veteran most VA loans are VA loan comes with what's called a funding fee a funding fee depending on if you've used it before or if this is a a reuse if you will

26:01 that fee can be up to like three and three and a half three point three percent of whatever you're borrowing and a lot of times you know veterans will go in and like I want to borrow the full amount well you borrow the full amount that's an extra fee that gets financed into your loan well if you're a service disabled veteran then you have the that gets waived and so if you that's a huge fee that just disappears so you you literally are just borrowing 100 of the value of the home or up to the value of the home on the flip side if you're refinancing if you're wanting to pull equity out of your house a standard loan is only going to allow you to cash out up to 80 of your the value of your home whereas a veteran's loan is going to allow you to be able to get the full value of the home so there's there's added benefits another another benefit is with with a VA loan typically your interest rate is you could on average a quarter to a half

27:02 percent cheaper on your monthly payment for your interest rate than a standard conventional loan or other products so you get cheaper interest rate if you have a disability service related disability you've got no funding fee and on top of that you've got no mortgage insurance so your payment as a whole is allows you with no mortgage insurance no funding fee and a cheaper interest rate it allows you to be able to purchase more house so there's a lot of benefits that come with a VA loan I knew that the interest rate you get a little bit of break on this because my son had mentioned that I guess I think what kind of got the whole thing started a couple weeks ago as my son started questioning he goes what's your interest rate mom because he's always you know talking to me about finances and stuff and ours is in the threes yeah you're good it's like 3.5 I think and so because he was bragging about his interest rate I'm like I really think mine's in

27:59 the threes he goes and and I think his is so you know I mean and right now you're looking what are the interest rates right now oh you're probably mid-sixes that's what I was thinking a conventional loan even what for a VA would it be the same or would it be in the fives you're probably high fives low sixes okay you've got I mean if you're if you're getting quotes from multiple companies I would strongly encourage someone to get them all the same day like as back to back to back as possible right and the reason for that is if a political leader makes a statement or a a change in how America runs the country that can have a major impact like say two three weeks ago we were we were at the three years best interest rate right we have best rates we've seen in three years but an action that happened over in the Middle East actually resulted in interest rates going back higher okay so if you're if you're not getting

29:00 if you're not getting quotes on the same day you're not comparing apples to apples because there could still be a major adjustment between okay very good so we're talking about all things VA loans and all the different options now I don't want us to forget that Scott's here representing the local VSO veteran service office is there anything that you've got coming up other than what we're going to talk about with because I'm let me kind of do you know who Susan Hunter is. She is an author that did. Yes. Okay. She wants to pop in for a minute because she's going to be on Lee-Marie's show. So when she gets here, I'm going to have her just pop in and kind of talk about what's going to be going on with Vietnam Vets Day. Absolutely. It's coming up. It's actually on Sunday, but what they've done now with the Memorial Gardens up here and the memorials that we're doing, rather than trying to keep it on Vietnam Vets Day, which is what

29:52 they've done so far we're going to do it the weekend prior to Vietnam Vets Day so that means that we're going to actually have our the event observation that's going to be on Saturday starting at noon now there is a fun run there's a poker run for Jeeps and all kinds of things that you can also do that are fundraisers that that are going through the Springfield Memorial Gardens Then we have the candlelight vigil on Friday, starting at 6. So it's 6 Friday night, noon on Saturday for the events. And Susan's going to be at some part of that. So we're going to let her come in and just say that, if you don't mind. Yes, ma'am. But nonetheless, do you have anything that we need to cover other than maybe the Vietnam thing? Well, I know they have some really good guest speakers that will be there.

30:44 I know our newly elected congressman, Matt Van Epps, is going to be there. And our Tennessee Department of Veterans Services commissioner is going to be there. So it'll be good. It'll be a great day. It is. 4 to 6, I believe, on Friday is the meet and greet. Yeah. We'll go right across the street and do the reading of the names on Friday that evening. And then on Sunday, I should be doing the fun run, but I'm not going to be doing the fun run. I thought the fun run was on Saturday. It is. It's fun rounds on Saturday as well as the Jeep poker yeah you said something about Sunday I'm a mistake okay I was I thought maybe so everything is on Saturday but Vietnam Vets Day is actually Sunday yeah this year but but the events are all happening Friday and Saturday and I'll be set up in the parking lot of the Robertson County Annex Plaza where we work out of right across from the mayor we'll have our VSO tent set up that is the the last stop for the poker

31:44 run when the Jeeps come through so I'll be out there to field any questions for in general veterans non-veterans have some handouts and whatnot and there'll be another team there to lead the poker portion of it and then after that's done we'll you know we'll fold up and I'll head over to Springfield Memorial and get to share in the rest of the festivities they're going to have there okay but I do some of the big things we've got coming up with the American Legion are is the turkey shoot of course the american the riders spring turkey shoot it starts 8 a.m to 12 p.m starts April the 4th and that'll be every Saturday in April traditionally the the turkey shoot at the legion has done very well a lot of shooters have come out and said it's the best run turkey shoot that's in the local area so it's usually packed I would suggest getting there early yeah they have a good breakfast that you can purchase is

32:50 very cheap but the traditional biscuits and gravy and you can get signed up and earlier you get there the quicker you get to put your name on the list for what times and lanes you want to shoot. So early is good. Then I've got the Coffee and Camaraderie. We do that on the third Tuesday of every month. That is just something where veterans, someone from our office is there every month. We get together, we socialize, we talk about what's going on, what's new. Certainly if you have any disability questions myself or Abigail are typically there to fill those we can bring our laptop if we want to look at your case while we're there right so that's and that's from 8 30 as soon as the credit union opens Robertson County Credit Union to 10 a.m on the third Thursday of every month so but you know just kind of putting And a couple things out there.

33:55 The American Legion, they meet on the first Tuesday of every month. And it's from, let's see, from 5.30 to 6.15, the social time meeting starts at 6.30. Again, that's the first Tuesday of every month. And then you've got the monthly VFW meeting, which is the third Saturday of every month. And those organizations, I was thinking this morning, it is many, many, many hours of work and sweat that is poured into those organizations through modifying the building, events, fundraisers. None of the offices that help run those organizations, none of us get paid to do it. And and the whole premise is it's about giving back right that's all they do so anything that the VFW the legion makes as far as fundraising it goes back to the community in some way right there are a lot of things that our office does and the legion and VFW does no one ever hears about whether that's paying electric bills or a mortgage they know get an uber to a hospital visit or a ramp to a house because now they're veterans in a wheelchair so there's a lot of

35:24 things that go on and on purpose I don't just say hey this is what we're doing if asked I will definitely happy to bring up but I don't just advertise to say look at us but there's a lot of behind the curtains things that go on and so just support your legion of VFW you've got I say you because I'm in Sumner County Robertson County has a huge some some voting and and that's going to be going on here soon with the new county mayor and some of the county commissioners but I'm I was just shocked to hear Keith Hoover at a at a engagement he spoke at say that roughly eight to twelve percent of Robertson County turns out of the registered voters in Robertson County turn out to vote eight to twelve percent and there's 55 000 registered voters yeah just floored me. So just, you know, sidebar, please get out and vote. And if you have to, this is something that a lot of men and women far better than me have fought and bled for, and some not

36:46 come back so that we have this, you know, democratic opportunity to, you know, put who we want into a seat who's going to help the community and help us so it's just please remember to get out and vote absolutely and that's come we were talking with that with Mayor Vogle yesterday about how quickly it's in may early may the primary I think I forget what day but that primary is coming up and with the county mayor's seat being up for re-election up to be because of course Billy is not going to be running again but so since it's going to be an open seat and there's some county commissioner seats that are open our own Bill Jones is running for you know we have Bill Jones in here all the time historian Bill Jones so he's running for county commissioner so there's just all kinds of of things going on so absolutely I appreciate as that reminder for sure so where do we want to go from here guys I'm sorry I'm kind of

37:48 keeping my open for Susan because she's going to come popping in here for a second what are we missing Chris as far as what you what you've got going on anything that you want yeah that's a real thank you that's a great great great question so my office is located on Main Street if you're familiar yeah you're in town if you're familiar with the the newly renovated newly coming the movie theater okay I'm actually yeah two doors to the right of the movie theater so I didn't realize that yep I'm nestled in between I think Willow Oak was there before I was there so the old it's their old location I think they had both sides I think Brown & Brown pushed over and took more office space and then yeah we built out and put an office in for one of the sides of very cool very cool yeah you come I would encourage you to call before you come If you're going to come and stop by my office, I actually have a six-month-old, and I like

38:44 to work from home, but I use that as an opportunity to be able to meet with people face-to-face. But yeah, if somebody has questions, Sunday through Friday, I'm always open to answer questions, but my phone number again is 615-671-9178, and my website is valor.mortgage. Okay so no.com just valor.mortgage I love it and I would have thought like I said I'm so glad to know that you handle things other than VA loans because you know I had thought just when we first when he when y'all first started talking when you came in I thought oh this must be your bread and butter are you a veteran I'm not but you've got all these family members that are yeah my my uncle was Green Beret grandfather was Air Force grandfather the other side was Air Force and I I dabble in I guess you could call it it's been called Navy SEAL literature evangelism it's a okay I need to know what that is yeah it's say that again Navy SEAL

39:50 literature evangelism so it's it's do you know what he's talking about okay so the premise being that if I was to go knock on someone's door and say hey I want to introduce you to Christ right now if if well if your world is good you're you're like you know I go to church I'm good like I've got I've got my people however if something major happens to you let's say your house gets taken out by a tornado the first question you're going to ask is why so at that point you're very open to you're open to the gospel you're open to spiritual things wow okay and so the crew that I work with they're actually based out of Oklahoma But we've gone anywhere from Turkey, after the earthquake in Turkey several years ago.

40:38 I've been in Haiti after an earthquake. Wow. And it's all nonprofit-driven. The company is actually how I came up with my branding for my company. Okay. And so there's a deeper story there. But the idea is that after a school shooting, a natural disaster, people are more alert. They're more open to right to what's going on in spiritual things versus so that's a good nutshell okay very good that's interesting okay I love that I did see Susan has popped in I tell you what for my seat huh you want to give her your seat okay if you don't mind and we'll just bring her in for a few minutes I'm going to do an ad while y'all kind of make the switch and let her come in and we'll talk to her for a few minutes and you can come back in we'll wrap up yes ma'am that sound good all right thank you Scott and so go ahead and bring Susan in and while they're doing that we're going to talk about Barry and Rebecca Richards with Exit Prime Realty and you

41:32 probably know them because they've got they've got a location come on in and sit down Susan they've got a location there on the square as well because Barry's office now he is a broker in Springfield and his office is right there on the square as well so you can come in and see him […] But if you're looking for something as far as they're going to tell you, they'll point you to Chris. They'll say, hey, go see what you can pre-qualify for before you start looking. That is one of the big things that Barry and Rebecca talk about all the time. If you're going to come to the table and you want to talk about getting a home, what can you pre-qualify for? You need to

42:33 talk to a lender first and foremost. Now, if you've got property to sell, you need to get a free market analysis from Barry and Rebecca. And they can take a look at it and see exactly what you can qualify for or what your home will bring based upon what everything is selling for in the area because if you price it too high, you're not going to get anybody to be able to get the financing for it. So many things that you need to cover. If you want better photography and videography and photos and the drone footage and all that, Barry with his marketing background for 17 years, he was a media marketing vice president in Nashville. He's an expert at it and he can make sure that your property is seen in the absolute best light so it won't get looked over. Now, they've got a home that they've got listed right now that they've had. There's been a price drop on this one or price improved is what they're saying. It's $330,000 and it's up in White House,

43:28 which is a really, you know, very desired location. They're going to have an open house this Sunday from 1 to 4 and it's at 310 Cardinal Drive in White House. Again, that's from 1 to 4 Sunday. Rebecca's handling this property, but it's up in White House, 310 Cardinal Drive in White House if you want to go check it out and so it says price improved go and check it out and you know maybe you'll be moving to White House here pretty soon if you want to connect with them go to sellwithbecky.com sellwithbecky.com or buy b-u-y robertsoncounty.com and please always let them know U-Turn sent you on that phone number we'll go through that 615-504-7425 615-504-7425 or 7424 and again let them know U-Turn sent you Susan we've got you for a few minutes and we'll have to bring Scott back in, but just tell them what you're going to be up to this weekend.

44:18 Well, there are plenty of events this weekend celebrating and honoring our Vietnam veterans because it is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. On Sunday, right. Yep, on Sunday, on the 29th. However, there are events on the 28th and 29th in Robertson County, Sumner County, Williamson County, throughout. So good idea to seek one of those events out. And it's a great way to honor our Vietnam veterans and their families for all that they have endured and sacrificed and done for our country amen but particularly in Robertson County we have the Orange Heart Medal Foundation and with their annual event taking place at the memorial right there on the highway and they have a meet and greet and a candlelight vigil the night before on the 27th and that's a beautiful event where we say the names of every single person that's on that memorial and candlelight vigil there and then on the next day is the annual event that begins at noon and I believe it's a whole series of events actually including a poker run

45:24 a Jeep poker run which is super cool and a run a 3.2 mile run or walk if you prefer right but it's a lot of activities to invite the whole family because honoring our veterans is a family event absolutely so that they do a great job the Orange Heart Medal Foundation led by the fearless and tireless leader Ken Gamble and you'll learn a lot from not only the veterans that are there but the the keynote speaker and just the the honor and tradition that is so deserving and we we just need more of that in this country because we are who we are because of those who have chosen to take the oath and wear the uniform on behalf of every single one of us. So we can never thank them enough. But one great way to do it is to attend these events.

46:18 You bet. Now, what is your involvement this weekend? Are you going to be here or are you somewhere else this weekend? Well, actually, I was supposed to be in Delaware. Okay. So I am not scheduled to be at the events. Excuse me. Allergies are killing me. Thank you. I have to eat these all the time because of allergies. But I had my fingerprints on planning the Orange Heart Medal Foundation event on the 28th and the Sumner County event on the 29th. And that one is going to be at the Palace Theater in Gallatin. And they're going to be utilizing some of the videos that I've made for my YouTube channel. Okay. The interviews from the veterans. So I particularly won't be because I will be doing my real estate open houses and things like that but certainly I would love to encourage everybody to go out and attend these events and get to meet some of these veterans hear about them and simply just give them a thank you yeah just love for their bravery and service if I could just inject two two points of

47:27 information that a lot of people are not aware of. And this is why it's so important that we we love on them, as you say, and never enough. When these men came home from Vietnam and women, but mostly the men, when they came home from Vietnam, they were not met with welcome home parades and honor and all the things that you typically think of with veterans. Quite the opposite. In fact, just to give you an idea of the disdain that the media had laid on them and nurtured, our government, when it came to building a memorial down in D.C. For them, which they built a beautiful one for the World War II and for Korea, when it came to Vietnam, our government was not going to build them a memorial. That's how much disdain we had nurtured for these men, who most of them were sent over there. It was a draft scenario. So can you imagine having the government saying, we sent you over there, but we're not even going to build a memorial for you? So our Vietnam veterans raised the money themselves to build their own

48:33 memorial. And that is the beautiful memorial down there called The Wall. That is a place for healing for so many. A place for learning, but also- I did not realize that, Susan. Yep and and one more just and this is just to show you this speaks volumes when our boy when our and I'll say boys because it was kind of a child's war they average age being 19 when they came home and you you go to a place like the VFW Veterans of Foreign War which now everything's fine and we're all good but when they first came home the Veterans of Foreign War would not let them join. So our guys had nowhere to go to just kind of figure out what just happened. And it is quite, I mean, it's still true today that, you know, those who served in combat speak a different language and they have this understanding amongst each other that we civilians, and I don't know if you're a civilian, but I am. Okay. So we civilians don't understand. And you know, the sacrifice of

49:35 a military family, quite intimately. And so these guys had nowhere to go. They were literally banned from Veterans of Foreign War. Couldn't be anything more foreign than Vietnam. Unbelievable. So this just speaks volumes. And this is why I'm on this mission. And I get very emotional about it because that is the biggest stain in our country. And we're not perfect. We've had blips here and there. But this, how we treated our guys when they came back is our biggest stain. And so we can never do enough to make amends for that. So that's my call to action is go out there and love on our Vietnam veterans and their families who had to endure an awful lot. Yeah, for sure. And just as you sit there and talk about it, and I had no idea that The Wall was paid for by our veterans that is bizarre and I mean we've all visited and etched the names that are you know done the little etchings of the names Kenneth Pease of course from you know was our

50:38 hired hand that died he he went he was 19 but he turned 20 while he was there so but he was only there in 69 so he was he was he wasn't there hardly at all before he passed but you know but yeah he was he was 19 when he was drafted so right out of high school that's the average right out of high school and to barely 20 when he when he when he passed when he died and give a comparison the average age of World War II was 25 so huge difference in the physicality the mental the yeah the emotional capability the leadership skills you know so they were quite young and they were still trying to develop what's right and wrong and everything they had been taught yeah you know they were now exposed to and told to do the opposite so we we owe them quite a bit You better believe it. So tell them how to get your books. Tell them about how The Bravest

51:31 Generation was written, because Lee-Marie was telling me the story behind that. And then tell them about 77 Letters, then we'll have to get Scott back in here for a minute. You bet. So The Bravest Generation is really a legacy book. It's a legacy book that should be in every military family's library, but at the very least, every Vietnam veteran's family library. And the reason being is because the son or daughter of a Vietnam veteran or the grandson or granddaughter may not be interested in reading it right now, but maybe two years from now or three years from now, they are. And you want to have that handy because this goes over, basically, I call it The Bravest Generation, which is a moniker I've placed on this generation of veterans and the book makes the case as to why they're deserving of this moniker and they have they went through things that no generation of veterans before or since have had to endure and it's quite fascinating in fact Vietnam veterans themselves read it and they are saying wow you

52:32 know didn't realize we were really up against all these changes in technology changes in the pace of war due to, you know, the, the, the assault weapons, you know, the high, high velocity assault weapons, the pace of war due to the Hueys being able to drop them off and bring them out, you know, quick, right into the hot zone. So, this is a book that really should be in every military family, should be in every library across the country in school. And so this is a legacy book and I make it, as you see, it's not overwhelming. So it's not intimidating to anybody. It touches upon the different talking points and then it gives you a resource if you want to learn more about such and such you know check out this book or this video or what have you so this is a quick read and it's a legacy book and compiled from research but also the interviews I did around the country for the better part of two years I that's all I did is travel the country

53:28 interviewing anybody who intimately lived through that war and then this whole mission began with discovering hundreds of letters in my mom's attic and I found 77 hundreds but 77 were just from one soldier in particular who had four tours in Vietnam I ended up having a reunion with him with my mom virtually because she neither one of them could travel at the point at that point but anyway this is an amazing book because it's their letters their letters in real time so it's not even like a 50 year faded memory yeah and so this is a beautiful book it it has interest being made by a movie so Travis Mann who produced Reagan, Sound of Freedom, I Can Only Imagine he has he sat down with me for half an hour and he said you know I want to be the first to read your screenplay when it's all polished up so this is a beautiful story true story and it portrays what these guys went through accurately most accurately yeah because

54:28 it's in real time their letters yeah mostly focusing in on Bob but I do sprinkle in a couple of other letters but yeah so that's that is really what got me on this mission I knew nothing about the Vietnam war prior to finding these letters in my mom's attic yeah which is a shame but also shows you how much disdain that our country put on our guys who had they were completely the scapegoats for a mismanaged war and and a false flag that got us into the war you bet and that's why we're going to honor them this weekend and that's why we do it every year so be a part of it so we we're just going to be out of time here in just a minute so reach out how can they find the books oh sorry yeah oh both are available on Amazon.com yeah just go Susan Hunter you'll find her yep yeah and please the books look for me on social media so look for the

55:18 movie and look and pray for that movie to happen we still need to get some green lights yeah I think it'll happen so it's you've just done an amazing work and I just love that you found out about all this through you know taking care of your mama yeah it's just so beautiful it's just such a beautiful story I wish we had more time to talk about it but let me switch back and get back in here to finish up with VSO stuff and so good to see you again Susan God bless you thank you again and while she's making her way out and Scott's making his way in Chris let's kind of revamp going back to valor mortgage and remind everybody how they can get in touch with you give them all your particulars again first off is my phone number is 615-671-9178 you can find my website is valor.mortgage v-a-l-o-r.mortgage or my office is actually on Main Street in Springfield two doors down from the movie theater very good and this is what I was saying in the ad while ago

56:13 if you're going to start house shopping go talk to him first see what you can qualify for and you don't have to get a VA loan he handles all the different types of loans and can talk to anybody but if you're a veteran and you're thinking about doing this get in touch with him and find out all the crazy awesome things that they have for you we're taking better care of our veterans than we ever have I really think don't you Scott yeah and so a lot of veterans still are not aware of some of the benefits. There's a lot of Vietnam vets that still don't understand their exposure to Agent Orange, what it did to them, and what is available to them. I've got a home visit tomorrow to go see one. It blows my mind. A lot of the times, when I'm up in Kentucky, I'll run into veterans. If it's a Vietnam vet, I always ask them if they knew Kenneth because he was you know a part of that community and I'll oftentimes run into them that did and then

57:11 I'll ask him I'll say how are you doing and and I met one I think I told you this in Cracker Barrel when I was with my mother when she was still living and had a you know a Vietnam hat on and he knew Kenneth and he was sick he had cancer I said you know that you're probably sick because of Agent Orange oh that's what some people tell me yeah but he didn't have a good VSO office to go to and I encouraged him to to dig in and reach out so I don't know what you know ever happened but I know y'all get that all the time so what would you say to people who know veterans that need to talk to you I think a lot of it for the ones listening right now but also push the word out it's word of mouth yeah they're there some counties kind of lock down or tailor their services to their county if they're having problems getting their own county members in

57:58 to come see them for benefits. Our office doesn't do that. It never has. I don't plan on doing that. It's not difficult to give us a call. It's best to make an appointment because that way I can dedicate however long I need to, to discuss in your issues and how we can help. Certainly there's walk-in Wednesdays, 8 a.m. Before 30. We work through lunch on Wednesdays, eat if we can. Yeah and and like my veteran called me yesterday he takes care of his wife and he's laid up himself he said Scott I I it's so hard for me to get out and I said well I'm gonna come see you so tomorrow towards the end of my day I'm gonna go visit him at the house and we're gonna chit chat and see if we can do anything but you know that that not all offices do that That's something.

58:48 I don't want any veteran to go without benefits they've earned if I can help in any way. Yeah, got it. And so remind them again of the hours. Let's do that. Remind them of your hours, how to get in touch with you, and we do yours one more time, and then Lee-Marie's going to run me out of here. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. To 4.30. That office has someone in it. Walk-in Wednesdays, same time, 615-382-6506. 615-382-6506 We are right across From where we used to be In the Robertson County Plaza If you know where the mayor sits Billy Vogle We're right across the hall from him He was bragging on y'all's offices yesterday He said if you haven't been by To see the VSO office I'm like I'm good friends with Gwen And I haven't been And she's going to get me We do I got to get by there We do well Number six in the state So we're doing pretty good I believe you're not number one Yeah I think we're higher

59:42 I think you are too I mean, you are the best. Now, tell them again how to get in touch with you, Chris. All right. Stop by our office, two doors down from the movie theater on Main Street. Give us a call, 615-671-9178. If you want to schedule a time, you can go to schedule.valor.mortgage. Very cool. Very cool. Well, thank you, guys. And as you know, Susan is going to be the guest for Lee-Marie. She just wanted to come in here and just remind everybody what's going on. And do check out her books. If you love Vietnam veterans and you want to honor them, see what Susan's written and share those. I read the 77 Letters in part to some of my students from time to time because they don't know enough about Vietnam. They don't know enough about our soldiers, and we just need to remind them.

1:00:27 Lee-Marie's going to talk to you more about it, so stick around. We've got another full hour of local programming coming up right here on 1100 WSGI. God bless you. Stay tuned for Lee-Marie and the Go Show, and have a wonderful day.