Podcast: One-On-One With LaTrease Price-Gistard Of ACI Mortgage In Texas
Sometimes when a person loses their job, they find success by starting something new.
That’s what happened to LaTrease Price-Gistard. She is a licensed broker-owner and managing member at ACI Mortgage, based in Sugar Land, Texas, a suburb of Houston.
Price-Gistard has called the Houston area home since 1998 and began her career in finance in 1999. She worked in investment operations and investment accounting for 14 years.
In 2013, Price-Gistard entered into retail finance as a finance manager and later obtained a residential mortgage loan originator license in 2018, working as a mortgage loan originator until December 2022.
She said at that time, mortgage interest rates were starting to take off and she was laid off because the lender she was working with was losing business.
“They were connected to a builder, and they were losing a lot of contracts, and so they had to cut back. I was a part of that. I was looking for new opportunities and I just decided to go ahead and give it a try and to see what I can do independently. I have worked as an entrepreneur before, and so I just figured out with this, give it a try again and see how it goes,” Price-Gistard said of founding ACI Mortgage.
Price-Gistard recently sat down with The Mortgage Note’s Scott Kimbler to talk about the clients she serves and her thoughts on what will happen in the housing market this year.
Price-Gistard said she has gotten to the point now where she’s carved out a few ways of doing business that are not necessarily completely hinging on just where interest rates are.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of challenges. Property values are up and there is still a lot of competition in her market. Rising costs for food, gas, and medications impact the ability of her clients to achieve their financial goals.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say I have a target clientele because I’m here to help anyone who qualifies and is willing to give me the opportunity to help them. But I will say that the majority of the clientele that come to me would be more of the first-time homebuyers, as well as senior citizens who may need to refinance and take out equity on their home to help with debt that they already have. Or they would kind of like to have a little bit more money coming in so that they can live more efficiently,” Price-Gistard said.
She has some advice for people who are thinking about getting into the housing market or refinancing this spring.
“The main thing I would say is to make sure that you have your credit in order, and that you’ve been monitoring it well enough for you to know where it stands and be involved in that particular process. Because sometimes I’ll have people that will call and say they I have a 620 or 640 or what have you, and then we go to go pull it up and it is quite a bit lower,” Price-Gistard said.
She explained that those individuals may not necessarily have the most up-to-date scores, or it has been a while since they checked it.
Often, people can work on improving their credit scores before approaching a broker. Paying down debt can increase their score.
First-time buyers will want to make sure they have enough money saved so there is a reserve after the home purchase. They will also want to have at least two years of work experience.
Price-Gistard is optimistic but says nobody can foresee what will happen in the housing market this year.
“To be perfectly honest with you on that, people don’t really know what is ahead. No one really knows what conditions could hit. There are so many changes proposed that could have an impact on a lot of people. Possibly even cause people to lose their jobs,” Price-Gistard said.
If enough people lose their jobs – or are worried they could lose their jobs – there could be a reduction in demand.
Price-Gistard said when it comes to her job, she gets excited about the prospect of helping people every day.
“I do get a lot of gratification from helping people,” she said. “For a lot of people, this is their first step towards generating wealth. Some people come from backgrounds that don’t necessarily have any wealth at all, and for them to be able to become a homeowner and start that process, it’s a very good feeling.”