Loans Elevated

The standalone single-family home with a big yard and a white picket fence in a prime Wasatch Front neighborhood is officially a thing of the past. Post-COVID, Utah’s housing market entered parabolic, "hockey-stick" growth, shifting core metro areas closer to the reality of major hubs like Denver. 

But sitting on the sidelines waiting for a crash is only putting homeownership further out of reach. In Episode 191, we break down why shifting your mindset from a simple transaction to a long-term wealth strategy changes the game completely. If you want to win the game, you have to get on the field and play it. 

In this episode, we cover:

• The New Rules of "Starter Homes": Strategic pathways to enter the market right now, including house hacking, pivoting to townhomes or condos in commercial growth zones (like Saratoga Springs), and shifting to rural outskirts. 
• Creative Financing Case Study: How we restructured a real client's financial picture to comfortably boost their purchasing power from a $2,400 budget to a $3,000 mortgage without adding a single dollar of extra out-of-pocket monthly expense.
• The Power of ADUs & Mother-in-Law Basements: A massive qualification hack that allows lenders to use projected rental income to help you buy a bigger, more functional home. 
• Multi-Generational Wealth: Pooling family equity to secure highly appreciating assets in top-tier Utah locations.

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🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

Should you buy your next property in cash or aggressively pay off your current mortgage early?

On this episode of the Loans Elevated podcast, Broch and TJ look past the emotional "debt-free" headlines to break down the hidden risks of tying up all your liquidity in a single asset. Did you know that 40% of US homeowners are completely mortgage-free, and 27% of current buyers are paying in cash? While running away from a 6% or 7% interest rate sounds like an immediate return on paper, doing it at the expense of your liquid reserves can put you in a dangerously volatile financial position.

We dive layers deep into the numbers behind strategic debt, opportunity costs, and how to utilize your home financing to maximize your long-term wealth potential.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Consumer Debt vs. Strategic Debt: Why a mortgage is a tool to be optimized, not toxic debt to flee from.
• The Illiquidity Risk: How dumping all your cash into a home leaves you completely exposed to everyday financial storms or sudden job loss.
• The Opportunity Cost of Cash: Comparing mortgage rates against historical, low-double-digit S&P 500 portfolio compounding.
• The Silver Lining of Higher Rates: How higher interest payments translate to massive tax advantages and larger deductions at the end of the year.
• Who Should Pay Cash? The specific scenarios (and risk tolerances) where oversimplifying your debt load actually makes strategic sense.

🔗 Resources & Links

• Grab Your Free Copy of Our HMP eBook: 
  https://www.loanselevated.com/holistic-mortgage-planning
• Visit Our Website: loanselevated.com
• Connect with The Lassig Team: email: [email protected] | phone: (801) 713-4000

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

The playbook has officially been flipped on its head. In this episode of the Loans Elevated podcast, we break down the massive philosophical shift under new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh following his explosive first SEP press conference. From refusing to participate in the dot plot to declaring an end to forward guidance, Warsh is entirely changing how the financial markets operate. We discuss his direct, data-driven approach, his explicit acknowledgment that current policy is restricting the housing market, and the launch of new AI-backed task forces designed to completely modernize Fed analytics. 

Closer to home, we dive into the latest Utah real estate data. Despite serious economic headwinds and market volatility, Utah’s median home price has climbed to $525,000. We look at why inventory is up, why houses are selling faster, and how savvy buyers are leveraging historic concessions to secure incredible returns on investment in today's market. 

What We Cover in This Episode:

• The death of forward guidance and why the markets will now guide the Fed. 
• Kevin Warsh’s direct, non-political approach to true Fed independence. 
• Dismantling antiquated data: The rollout of AI and real-time private sector analytics task forces. 
• What the "left of the decimal point" focus means for the 2% inflation target. 
• Utah Market Update: Prices rise 1.9% month-over-month while days on market drop. 
• How an 80% or 62.5% ROI is completely realistic for Utah homeowners right now. 
• Case Study: How a recent client secured 9% in concessions to slash their pricing and closing costs. 

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

In this week's episode of Loans Elevated, we are joined by an incredibly special couple who flew in just for this conversation: retired U.S. Army 3-Star General Doug Gabram and his wife Lori, an Army Veteran and combat nurse. Together, they share their raw, inspiring journey of military service, from dating in college and deploying to Desert Storm, to Lori's time as a head nurse treating the captured Black Hawk Down pilot, Michael Durant. 

But beyond the high-adventure stories, Doug and Lori expose a shocking reality that affects military families across the nation: a massive gap in long-term financial and real estate education. Despite utilizing their VA benefits multiple times throughout a 38-year career, they had absolutely no idea that VA Construction Loans existed until they went to build their retirement dream home in Montana. 

Tune in as we break down the complex, underutilized strategies of VA financing, why the system is failing to educate exiting service members, and how you can use optimized leverage to build massive wealth. 

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

• The $0-Down Custom Build: How VA construction mortgages allow you to build multi-million dollar properties with zero down payment and zero loan limits. 
• The "Unfair" Seller Concession Hack: A wildly powerful strategy in today's market where you can negotiate to have the seller pay off your personal credit cards or car loans at closing. 
• Overcoming the Stigma of VA Disability: Why claiming your earned disability rating is critical for your future health, and how it instantly saves you thousands by waiving the VA funding fee. 
• The Reality of Military Sacrifice: Lori shares what it's really like managing a family and moving bases alone while a spouse is deployed for years at a time. 
• Inside the Ranks: What a "humble cut" looks like when rising through the ranks to become one of only 40 to 45 3-Star Generals in the entire Army. 

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

The Big Lie About Utah’s Data Centers? Are Utah’s massive new data center projects an environmental threat to our natural resources, or the biggest economic opportunity of the decade?

In this episode of the Loans Elevated podcast, Broch sits down with land preservation expert, real estate developer, and former Chair of the Quality Growth Commission, Jarren Davis. Together, they pull back the curtain on the massive AI and data center boom taking over Utah, including the highly controversial Kevin O’Leary project. 

Jarren breaks down the real numbers behind closed-loop water systems, behind-the-meter natural gas power generation, and how these facilities actually impact rural Utah economies. If you want to cut through the media hype and emotional headlines to see the actual data on national security, MIDA, and infrastructure, this is an episode you can't afford to miss. 

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Math on Water Usage: How modern closed-loop data centers actually compare to Utah's alfalfa farms and golf courses. 
• The Power Grid Debate: What "behind-the-meter" power generation means and why these projects won't double your residential utility bill. 
• Economic Lifelines for Rural Utah: The reality of high-paying jobs and massive property tax revenue for underserved local communities. 
• Debunking the Heat Map Myths: A real-world look at the controversial "23 atomic bombs" heat claim. 
• Nuclear Energy & National Security: The upcoming Gen 3 nuclear reactor test in Emery County and the geopolitical need for massive compute capacity. 

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

Why didn't ChatGPT rank a top 1% national mortgage team as the best in Utah?

In this episode of the Loans Elevated Podcast, we sit down with Kimber Walton, a Keller Williams expert obsessed with AI, research, and understanding what the tech revolution means for real estate professionals. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of new AI tools, this conversation is the filter you've been looking for. 

They pull back the curtain on why traditional SEO is shifting, how Google's newest review guidelines might actually be penalizing your business growth, and why visual aesthetics matter far less to algorithms than raw data. They also map out the exact platforms AI models pull from, how to build an "agentic" workflow using Claude Cowork, and why the future of real estate ultimately still belongs to relationship-driven professionals. 

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

The Federal Reserve just entered a brand-new era with the swearing-in of Kevin Warsh as Chairman. But the transition is anything but standard. Former Chair Jerome Powell is pulling a rare move not seen since 1948, refusing to leave the Fed completely and staying on as a governor.

In this week's episode of Loans Elevated, the Lassig Team breaks down this historic, razor-thin 54-45 Senate vote and what it means for your wallet. We contrast Powell’s reactive, "rear-view mirror" leadership style with Warsh's proactive, hawkish "windshield" approach. More importantly, we dive into the data to explain why standard inflation metrics are lying to you, what the "Trimmed Mean PCE" actually says about the economy, and why trying to time the real estate market to find the "bottom" is a massive financial mistake.

What we cover:

• The historic and highly divided swearing-in of Kevin Warsh.
• Why Jerome Powell is staying on the Board of Governors (and the 1948 Truman precedent).
• Powell vs. Warsh: Moving from economic defense to proactive offense.
• What is the "Trimmed Mean PCE" and why it shows inflation is closer to 2% than you think.
• The critical difference between the Fed Funds Rate and actual mortgage rates.
• The $3,000 mistake: Why market timing and catching a "falling knife" ruins liquidity.
• Holistic mortgage planning strategies to weather any economic storm.

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

Are you shopping for a mortgage based only on getting the lowest interest rate and monthly payment? You might be walking straight into a predatory lending trap. 

In this week’s episode of Loans Elevated, we strip away the emotional manipulation of the mortgage industry and break down the tactical, holistic reality of how loans are actually structured. Discover why standard billboard rate quotes often hide tens of thousands of dollars in sneaky upfront fees, how to spot an unbinding pre-contract "loan summary" bait-and-switch, and why buying down your interest rate might actually be lighting your family's money on fire. 

What we cover in this episode:

• Why mortgage shopping feels so incredibly confusing
• Where mortgage rates actually come from (the reality of the secondary market)
• The math behind the 42-month break-even trap on rate buydowns
• Opportunity cost: Mortgage payments vs. investing in the market 
• Section A lender fees vs. third-party fees: What your lender actually controls
• Case Study: How a Montana buyer saved tens of thousands without a new loan

Want to make sure you aren't getting ripped off? Use our Strategic Mortgage Audit tool. It’s 100% complimentary, requires no obligation, and we will give you a completely honest second opinion on your loan structure.

https://www.loanselevated.com/mortgage-audit 

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

Self-employed buyers often get blindsided during the mortgage process — not because they don’t make enough money, but because of how their taxes are structured.

In this episode, we sit down with CPA and real estate tax strategist Dan to break down:

•  Why tax write-offs can hurt mortgage approval 
•  Bank statement loans vs conventional financing 
•  Cost segregation & real estate tax strategies 
•  Real estate professional status explained 
•  The biggest mistakes business owners make before applying for a mortgage 
•  How CPAs and lenders should work together 

If you’re self-employed, investing in real estate, or advising clients who are, this episode is packed with strategies most people never hear about. 

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.

Most self-employed borrowers assume they don’t qualify because their tax returns don’t show enough income.

But what if the problem isn’t your income… it’s how lenders are measuring it?

In this episode, we break down how bank statement loans work, why they can be a game-changer for business owners, and how holistic mortgage planning can dramatically increase buying power.

We also walk through a real scenario where a borrower went from showing $30K/year on tax returns to qualifying with over $84K/month in income using bank statements.

If you’re self-employed — or work with self-employed clients — this is an episode you need to hear.

Send us Fan Mail

🎙 Loans Elevated Podcast

Clear, strategic conversations on mortgages, real estate, and home financing — designed to help you make confident, informed decisions without the hype.

Hosted by Loans Elevated, presented by The Lassig Team at CrossCountry Mortgage.

🔗 Resources & links: https://lassigteam.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @loanselevated

Hosts:
Broch Lassig - Branch Manager | NMLS 340314  
TJ Heidenreich - Sales Manager | NMLS 1802412  
Ryan King - Loan Officer | NMLS 1870771  
Branch NMLS 2048956

Equal Housing Opportunity.
All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions may apply.

CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC | NMLS 3029  
www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Consult a qualified professional regarding your individual situation.