The Myplace Playbook // 076

Hey Everyone,

Last week I opened with Netflix asking if you were still watching. A few of you wrote back, which means yes, you were. A few of you sent me recommendations of what to watch, which I also very much appreciate.

So let me stay on the TV theme, but go back further. Before streaming. Before the algorithm decided what you wanted.

Remember call-in shows?

Late-night broadcasting where someone with a great voice took questions from strangers at midnight. The local cable channel with the phone number on the bottom of the screen and a host waiting for lines two and three to light up. TV shows where you'd sit through a busy signal six times to ask your one question, and then freeze when they finally picked up.

That was the deal. You had a question, you called in, an actual person answered it on the air, and everybody listening learned something because they had the same question and were too shy to dial.

I miss that. So I'm bringing it back, mortgage edition.

Here's how it works.

The lines are open. You have a mortgage question. You hit reply and ask it.

No busy signal. No caller screener deciding you're not interesting enough. No being put on hold while they go to commercial. You type it, you send it, done.

I'll take the best ones and answer them in the next edition. Names off, always. And I promise you the thing every good call-in host used to promise:

There is no dumb question. The person asking "how does an amortization actually work" is asking the same thing as the person too embarrassed to ask it. One of them just picked up the phone.

To get you dialing, here's the kind of stuff people are afraid to ask out loud.

"Everyone keeps saying fixed or variable like I'm supposed to already know which one I am. What's the actual difference?"

"My renewal letter came. Do I just... sign it? Is that bad?"

"What's a stress test and did I already fail one without knowing?"

"Can I even move if I've got a good rate, or am I stuck in this house?"

"My kid wants to buy. Where does someone like me even start?"

"What does a broker actually do that my bank doesn't? And who pays you?"

Any of those hit a nerve, that's your question. Ask it.

And if yours is nothing like those, even better. The ones I can't predict are the ones other people have been sitting on too.

Why I actually want these.

Every week I write about what I think you need to know. That's a guess. An educated one, but a guess.

Your questions aren't a guess. They tell me exactly where the confusion is, and confusion is expensive in this business. The person who doesn't understand their renewal letter signs it. The person who thinks they're stuck in their house stays in it. Not knowing what to ask costs people real money, quietly, all the time.

So consider this the opposite of Netflix. Nothing here is trying to keep you watching. I'm trying to get you an answer and get you on with your day.

The lines are open.

Hit reply with your question. One line is plenty.

I'll be here, waiting for lines two and three to light up.

-Andrew