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George
Look at this mortgage hack. Every time I do makes me laugh. And that's why I do these react videos. You know, everybody thinks they're a real estate mobile these days. But just because someone scrolls Zillow like it's their full time job or binge watches every season of Selling Sunset, it doesn't mean they actually know what they're talking about. So today I'll react to some TikTok mortgage hacks to let you know what's legit and what's a quick way to land on HGTV's next spinoff, House poor and afraid and also naked for some reason. Hey, none of my business. Property Brothers. You do you Property Brothers gonna Property Brothers. But before we get into it, go ahead and hit that like button and subscribe button because then Nickelback control Chef's Kiss and shout out to our new channel sponsor. Delete me. That's right, we're going steady now. Little more. Almost there. Perfect. I'll tell you more about them later on. Let's get to the reacts.
Jazz
Before you buy a house, let me show you a quick hack. Congrats on buying your first house. Don't mind me asking, but how can you afford the mortgage? Didn't you just graduate college? Yeah, thank you, but I'm actually gonna live in this house for free. You just signed a contract with the bank saying that you're gonna pay 1500 each month. What do you mean you're gonna live in this house for free? Hey Maria. So I remember that you told me you can't stand living with your parents anymore. I got a house. You want to come rent a room? Yeah, just like 500 bucks. For sure. You want to move in tomorrow? Okay. Hey, Lily. So I just heard you broke up with your boyfriend. Do you need a place to stay? Yeah, I just bought my house. Yeah, 500 bucks. Okay, I'll go to the store for some ice cream. Kevin, I just bought my house. Hey, I remember that you said that your lease is almost up, right? You're paying like 900 for a bedroom. How about this? Come live with me for 500 bucks and. Yeah, let's go. How is this not illegal? Yep, it's called house hacking.
George
First of all, you're going to let Kevin live in this house? That's a wild move. That's, that's a choice. I'm just going to say that. Okay, house hacking has been around for a long time. We just gave it a cool stupid name to make it sound less dumb. But here's how it works, right? You Buy maybe a duplex. Maybe you just live in the house with these people, like in this scenario. But this idea that you're going to go buy a four bedroom house with nothing down and they're just going to give you all the money and then you're going to magically get three roommates to pay all of this and it's going to go perfectly well is an absolute pipe dream. Which makes it great for a TikTok video, doesn't it? Here's what you're not thinking about them destroying your house. Vacancy, maintenance, repairs, insurance, being the landlord while you live in the house. It's not going to be all fun and games. And I doubt these numbers would ever make sense in in today's world. So thank you, Jazz, for the fun little skit, but no thank you. I'm gonna hard pass on this just for the sake of Kevin. A really big turn off that Kevin's gonna be living there. Let's see if the comments agree with me here. Yep, Lou said it's fun and games until they're late pay. Thank you for that. Remember to put them on a contract, though. 4x5 exclamations, 6 exclamations. The question I have here, your friend just went through a severe breakup and you're like, money, please. Also, let's get ice cream. Wild behavior, Jazz onesie. That's even more wild.
John
Hank, I'm here to make my first mortgage payment. Great. Your monthly payment will be $2,000. Actually, I think I'll pay you $1,000 bi weekly. Oh, that's so much trouble. Listen, pay me monthly and we'll call it even. No, really, I insist. $1,000 every two weeks. But that's the same as $2,000 monthly. Not exactly. By making biweekly payments, I'll be done with this mortgage in 24 years versus 30, and I'll save close to $100,000 in unnecessary interest payments. What?
George
No, no, no.
John
Oh, yeah. 52 weeks. In a year, I make 26 payments, meaning I pay you $26,000 in a year. If I made monthly payments, I would pay $2,000 over 12 months, which means I pay you $24,000 by making one extra monthly payment a year. By paying biweekly, I will save close to 100 and be done with this thing six years early. Would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for John's finance tips. A fellow real estate investor who's helping
George
you save some money from the big banks. Okay, here's the deal. This is true I actually don't have a problem with this video other than it's a big psychological mind game to make you think you're playing a fast one on the banks. Here's all you're doing. You're just paying extra, so just do that intentionally. The way I did it, I just put extra on top of the principal. So if you're going to pay 2000 bucks a month, just do 2200 bucks a month. After 12 months, you paid an extra $2400. So you don't have to trick yourself into doing this by making it biweekly and then making 26 payments instead of 24. Just simplify it and put extra on the principal. With most lenders, there's not going to be a penalty to do that. You just want to make sure to market toward the principal and not interest one person, which just is true. Banks don't let me do that. I tried yesterday. They will not take partial payments. Now what? Some banks don't allow this. My bank doesn't allow it. Does this principle apply to car loans? Okay, we've digressed here. So a lot of banks won't allow this, but what they will allow is paying extra on the principal along with your payment each month. Simple. Good work, John.
Ecom Jess
If you want to remove PMI from your mortgage, watch this. Hello, lender. I'd like to remove the PMI from my conventional mortgage, please. Yeah, no, we don't just remove pmi. Sorry. Actually you do. Under the right circumstances. Housing prices are super high right now. I put in some work over the last couple years and I know my house is worth more now than what
Melissa
I bought it for.
Ecom Jess
For that reason, I'd like to order an appraisal. If my suspicion is correct and the appraisal comes back high enough, I'll have more than 20% equity in my home. Which means you can remove the pmi. You are absolutely right. Are you following Ecom, Jess? Actually, I am Ecom, Jesse.
George
Yeah, this one is true. A lot of lenders, once you hit that 20% equity level, you can remove PMI. Now, is it as simple as just asking? Sometimes you'd hope so, but this is America and so sometimes they make it difficult. One person in the comments correctly said FHA loans do not qualify. So if you got a conventional fixed rate loan, this is possible. And if you don't know what PMI is, don't worry about it. Just kidding. It's private mortgage insurance. And if you put less than 20% down on a house, the lenders are going to put this little tax on you to protect themselves. The insurance is for the lender, not you, because you are a riskier borrower because you have less money down. I love if you could put 20% down or more to avoid this, but if you can't, once you hit that threshold, I would get it removed as soon as possible. Thanks Ecom Jess.
Sean
On closing on your first home, your loan is for $300,000 at 3.5 interest and your monthly mortgage payments is $1,347. Sounds good, but I'm actually going to be paying you $1,500 per month. Why would you do that? Well, I know that if I just made the regular monthly mortgage payments, then I'll be paying about $185,000 in interest over the lifetime of the loan. Yes, that's correct. But if I pay an additional $153 per month, my total interest reduces to $151,000, saving me $34,000 over the lifetime of the loan. Plus I'll finish off paying a loan in 25 years and one month versus the traditional 30 years. It's pretty significant savings for just putting in an additional $5 per day. Wow, that's pretty smart. How did you find out about this? I heard it from Sean. He makes real estate easy and that's why I followed him.
George
Gosh, guys, you know what? You can hate me, but at least I don't do that at the end of all my videos. Where'd you hear that? I follow. George came. That's what you want to do when you see that. But I actually like this video. This is one of the least anger inducing real estate tiktoks I've seen in a long time. We talked about this earlier, but paying extra on the mortgage is clearly going to save you on interest. I want to show you just how much you could save using the Ramsey mortgage payoff calculator, which I will link in the description if you want to try this with your own numbers. So let's check this out. Original loan amount. Let's use his numbers. $300,000. Date of first payment. Let's say it's February 1, 2026. The loan length, 30 years. In this case, 3.5% interest. Which pipe dream? It's really going to be 6%. Continue. This is wild. That $300,000 loan at 6% will cost you $647,000 after those 30 years if you just make that payment every single month and no more. But let's say we want to put an extra thousand dollars a month toward it. 12 grand a year if you can do that. And let's start the payments the same time we took it out. So 20, February 1st, 2026, calculate results. That is wild. The interest savings alone, $216,000 on a $300,000 mortgage, mind you. So instead of paying almost 650 gr. Four hundred and thirty grand, that is some serious savings for consistently paying extra on the mortgage. And obviously you're debt free way faster. Instead of 30 years, you got 2026, 2038, you shave 17 years off that bad boy. If you're paying extra on your mortgage, you're clearly a smarty pants. So why not upgrade your actual pants too? Well, Enter Cozy Earth, a sponsor of today's episode. Their brushed bamboo joggers are the smartest, most luxurious item in my wardrobe. Plus super comfy, ultra breathable and temperature regulating so you can stay cool while making those extra mortgage payments. And right now, you can get 20% off those brushed bamboo joggers and everything else on their site. When you go to cozyearth.com george and use promo code GEORGE at checkout or click the link in the description below. And before we get back to more mortgage hacks, there's another kind of hack you need to know about. If you've ever googled yourself and saw your home address pop up, that means your personal info is just floating around the Internet, making you a prime target for spammers and scammers. But that's where today's sponsor, Delete Me comes in. They find and remove your info from hundreds of data broker sites. And then they'll send you a detailed report showing you exactly what they removed and how much time they saved you. So go take control of your privacy online by going to joindeleteme.com George and if you do so, you'll get 20% off their annual plans. You can also click the link in the description.
Tiffany
You should never put 20% down when you're buying a home. You should put 5% down instead. And this is why, when you put less than 20% down using a conventional mortgage, you're actually going to save money on the cost of the interest rate that you're going to receive. So if you want the lowest rate, 20% is not the way to get there. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to speak to your lender beforehand and make sure that the mortgage you're receiving is eligible for a recast. A recast means that you can make a lump Sum payment toward the principal balance on the mortgage after you close at any time. And that's going to reduce the balance, the payment and eliminate the mortgage insurance that you're having to pay for running less than 20% down. So here's the plan. You put down 5, 10 or 15% immediately after closing. You put down the difference of what would have taken you to the original 20% you wanted to put down. Lowers the balance, lowers the payment, gets rid of the mortgage insurance and allows you to keep that lower interest rate for all 30 years of that mortgage.
George
My brain is broken after watching this man and 1000% chance those are not real glasses. I don't know what he's. Why are these like. These like Facebook metaglass? Is he filming a second angle there? And why is he constantly moving? Slow down dude. I don't even understand how this math would work. If you're putting down the same amount, the balance is the same, the interest rate is the same. Not sure where he's getting this. The recast doesn't change the interest. You're just updating the payment based on the current balance. That's it. The balance stays the same, the term stays the same. I'm just curious if there's other sane people in the comments. I disagree. Don't continue giving your hard earned money to your lender. Pay as much as you can down or pay cash. Hey Bruh, the monthly payment is egregious. Don't do this guys. Your monthly payment is more important than the down payment you're going to pay. PMI have to pay that for 2 years minimum. Truth. FHA will always have PMI. PMI was now life and Loan. I disagree with you about a rare win for the comment section. And by the way, my comment section of my channel, you guys are just a gift. A real blessing in my life. So drop a comment below, give yourselves a little round of applause. Put those little digital hands together for doing the Lord's work by having a positive comment section that isn't filled with a bunch of scam artists like this guy. Get some real glasses. Tiffany spelled T I P H A N I E. Take that with a grain of salt, she commented. It doesn't lower the payment, it just re amortizes the current loan. And another one from Jimmy Crickets to round it out. Never take financial advice from a bro wearing a baseball cap backwards. That coupled with the fake glasses, unhinged behavior. Zero stars would not recommend straight to jail. It's a civil law. No one's gonna go to jail. Haven't even started it yet. I just wanna call this out, this title naming convention of banks Hate this mortgage trick. It's a little played out. Okay, I don't think the banks care. What they care about is if you avoid them completely and pay cash. But let's see what she has to say.
Jordan
Big banks don't want you to know this trick because it could cost them over $100,000 in interest payments from you. If you have a 30 year fixed mortgage, grab your statement now find your principal and interest payment. Ignore the taxes insurance of pmi. Here's the magic formula. Take that P and I number and divide it by five. Let's say your principal and interest is $1,800 per month. Divide by five, that's just $360. Now here's what you do. Make that extra $360 as an extra principal only payment every month. Make sure it's marked principal only or the bank might apply it wrong. This one simple move cuts 10 years off your mortgage without refinancing, without qualifying again without paying closing costs. On a $300,000 loan, this saves you approximately $133,000 in interest over the life of the loan. Most loan officers will never tell you about this because they only make money when you refinance with them, not when you pay off early for free. Follow me for more mortgage strategies that no one talks about.
George
Okay, well, we already talked about this, so I think people are talking about that paying off your mortgage early saves you interest. But thank you for the salacious naming convention to get me to watch it. It worked, Melissa, if that even is your real name. Okay, so she is right in that if you put extra, like 360 bucks extra on top of your principal, like we showed you in the calculator, you will pay off your house faster and save a boatload in interest. I mean, the loan officer who got you the loan, their job is done. They're not making money off your interest anymore. The lender who holds the loan is. The loan officer has moved on with their life. Melissa. And also the banks make money off origination fees too. When you get the loan, they're making money every which way. They're going to find a way to make money, but you can really stick it to them by getting rid of it completely. And that's what I did. I paid off my mortgage extra fast and I did the math. This was back in 2019, and the math is I would have paid well over $100,000 in interest on the 15 year loan. But because I paid it off super early, I paid less than 10,000 in interest. And that's how I like it. What did I do with that extra 90 grand that I would have spent? None of your business. Never gonna tell. I just wanna, just for fun, just wanna like see what the comment section's saying about this. Cat, I did this. It works. I also applied my entire tax refund to the principal every year. Way to go, cat. What a responsible move. Someone else. This is how I paid off my first house by the age of 36 on a 40,000 per year income. Way to go. Property number two is almost paid off. This is fantastic. Another one? Sure, I'll just pluck three bills off my magical money tree. Easy. Who? Oh man, the replies are juicy on this one. Love this fantasy. She suggests, okay, there's two types of people. The type of person who goes, yeah, I'll find the money and make it happen and make it a priority. And then you've got the magic money tree guy who goes, must be nice to have an extra 300 bones, you know? That's how he sounds. Yeah. Another who has an extra three a month. Guys, most of your car payments are, are well over 360 bucks a month. So if you sold the car and, and drove a cash car for a while, you could easily come up with this money. I'm sick of these excuses. Working on this with my therapist. All right?
Melissa
I will never shut up about this. If you're a small business owner or you're an influencer and you're trying to buy a house, please don't go to a bank and I'll explain why influencer first. If you're new here, I'm the new lender. I've been a lender for 10 years. Let's get into this. Can we just nerd out for just a hot second and then I promise it will all make sense. So in the world of mortgages, there are things, regulations, guidelines, rules, like boxes you have to fit in for most of these banks.
George
Is there a 2x speed button on TikTok? Can we vent that yet? We're, we're like 4%. Three and a half minutes. You guys sent me a three and a half minute video. I'm aging like Obama in office over here watching these videos. Come on, cut me some slack.
Melissa
Now with the rise of social media influencers, TikTok Creator Fund, YouTube, just owning a small business, being a hairdresser and making a ton of money in your community, you're going to write Off a lot of things on your taxes, especially if you get a really good tax accountant. Now when you go to your big bank that you've been banking for forever, you have your business account with, they have this cute little tiny box to fit you in that if you don't fit in I love, they can't issue you a mortgage. And the biggest guideline that they have, the most common is that in order to calculate your monthly income, they use the last two years of your taxes after all those write offs. So you might make $500,000 a year, but you wrote off $490,000 so that you're not paying Uncle Sam way more than you probably already do. But on paper you only classic example here. So that is the income that they have for that one year. Let's say you did the same.
George
So first make a half million dollars and commit tax fraud. Got it? Check. Also be an influencer. This is a very specific video. If you're an influencer making $500,000, watch this. Otherwise keep scrolling.
Melissa
Last year and you wrote off more than half of your income. Well, that is the income that they have to use in order to qualify you. It doesn't even matter if you have 50% for the down payment because there's not enough income there for the monthly for them to be able to prove that you can make the payment. Okay, so why am I even telling you all of this?
George
That's what we're all wondering.
Melissa
It's called the bank statement. And actually at Cross Country Mortgage, which is the bank I just moved to 10 months ago, is because we are the leading lender in this, like they do 64%. It's like insane. So instead of the last two years of your tax returns, we take the last 12 months of your bank statements and we calculate your income by the average deposits that are in those bank statements. I cannot tell you guys how many creators, influencers, self employed people, people who sell watches, people who. I just did one for a big gambler over the summer. Big gambler, so many more.
George
And watch sellers. What is. Are you dealing with a cast of uncut gems? What is this?
Melissa
Qualify to buy a house with this. Now historically, because these are called non qm, non qualified mortgages, they're just called literally like outside of the box loans. They are said to be more expensive in interest rate and just overall in the cost of the loan. That is true at most places. But here at Cross Country Mortgage, which is literally why I came here, we do everything in house so we don't have to broker that loan.
George
She legit said, I'm not like the other guys. We're different.
Melissa
Which means there are a lot less costs in that loan. So if you're going to do 25% down for a home, the rate that you're going to get is very similar, if not the exact same rate as if you just did a normal conventional loan and you did fit in the box. I will never shut up about this loan because a lot of people just don't even know that it exists. But also a lot of people, unfortunately, especially if you're in a position
George
in
Melissa
cash and hope to buy that house in cash because they don't think that they can borrow money, which that just doesn't even make sense. Even if you have the money to buy a house that's $500,000 all in cash, why would you when you could invest that money? I mean, we could get into.
George
That's a whole other video.
John
But.
George
Send this to the guy selling watches in your community making half a million dollars.
Melissa
Click the link in my bio to get started and follow me along here for more mortgage tips.
George
I will never get back that 210 seconds. Never. It's never going back. It's just gone. It's in the past. What's done is done. And you know what she kept saying? She's never gonna shut up about this. And that's the most true thing she said in this video. Sometimes it's wise to just shut up that there's wisdom in not sp. Go read proverbs. A lot of books about fools running their mouth, but the wise quiet. Everything you said is true. Way apart, does the hobbies. If you're writing off 90% of your revenue, you shouldn't be buying a house. LOL. There we go. Of course all the realtors and mortgage people are like so true. Girl never shut up. Love the content link. Please psa. If it feels too good to be true, it normally is. Tread carefully. Thank you.
Jazz
Facts.
George
I just bought a million dollar home through a bank statement program. As a small business owner, it's absolutely possible. Okay, Jordan, Manifestation expert. I don't buy it. All right, so if you are a manifestation expert influencer, this is for you. I'm done. I'm done with this video. He's done. Done. As per usual, producer Alex has provided a surprise bonus clip. And the only thing he told me is that this was a popular trend on TikTok. I am not up with the trends. So I'm about to be up telling my old man I'm not going to be able to pay the mortgages this month. Laughing emoji, crying emoji. Okay, I need to tell you something
Jazz
serious and I don't know, I'm gonna tell you this.
George
What is it? I'm not gonna be able to pay
Jazz
the mortgage this month.
George
All right, well, in that case, bye. What? This guy could not be bothered. He barely gave her a smirk. That's so much. He did not buy this first comment. Indigenous men are beautiful. Who am I to disagree? It's a good looking guy. Perfect skin, beautiful hair, love the vibe, cool tattoos, everything. I'm not. What does that make me then? Am I just digioness? I don't know. What's the opposite of indigenous? Oh, that's why this is viral. Everyone's attracted to this man. So far, all the comments, respectfully. He got a brother, cousin, uncle papa. He's so pretty though. Ma', am, with all due respect. Okay, not gonna even read that one. I'm just waiting for one comment about the actual joke about her not being able to pay the mortgage this month. Nope, still. Nope. Still just people thirst trapping this fella who didn't ask for. He's more than just a beautiful indigenous man. He's a soul, he's a mind nothing. Literally nothing. Just a bunch of ladies who can't keep their eyes off of him. I'm still looking, I'm still going, guys, thousands of comments and all about his looks. And you know what that reminds me of my comment section. For once, I want someone to say, george, fantastic financial advice, super helpful. Love the budgeting tips. But instead it's all stuff. It's stuff like this, guys. And honestly, I'm flattered, truthfully, but it just gets old. When I walk around, I'm in the street and people are like, george, oh my gosh. Like this is the most beautiful man I've laid eyes on. And I'm like, guys, can I just get a drink at Starbucks? Like, can I be harangued and harassed just out in public? Anyways, great hack. I assume the joke is that she doesn't pay the mortgage and that he handles it and therefore it's a WTF moment. Why the face? Is that what's happening? I gotta watch this other one related to see, hey, I'm not gonna be able to pay the mortgage this month. I ain't gonna have the money to pay it. Have you ever Frank? You ain't never made a house payment in your Frank life.
Ecom Jess
I'm not gonna be able to pay the mortgage this month.
George
Well, hell, you don't ever pay the mortgage anyway. Why is every dude's reaction expletive anger? Clearly there's some built up resentment. This guy is very upset. Okay, so the joke is that women traditionally aren't handling the major finances. And so it's hilarious to be like, hey, I'm not gonna be able to make it this month, so we gotta figure that out. But I think there's a lot of women out there who actually are the smart ones financially. And we get calls like this and they are handling, they're running the finances, but the husband hopefully is very much involved. So be on the same page. It's fine if one of you clicks the button or has it on autopay, but it is a funny trend. It's a funny, I'll give you that. All right, stupid hacks aside, your mortgage is not something to mess around with. For most people, your house is the biggest purchase you'll ever make. And the way you handle that mortgage can either save you tens of thousands or even over 100,000, or cost you even more. And if you really want to save money on your mortgage, here's the real hack that's not really a hack at all. Put down as much as you can as a down payment. 5 to 10% is okay for first time home buyers, but I love shooting for 20% or more to avoid that PMI and reduce the amount you need for a mortgage, which also reduces your payment. Also choose a 15 year fixed rate mortgage where the payment is no more than a quarter of your after tax monthly income. What that does is it keeps you from buying more house than you can afford. And it also forces you to pay off that house at most in 15 years. But likely you'll pay it off early if you follow those parameters and then pay it off as fast as you can. Just put extra on the principal like I did. And remember, the more you can pay, the better. And if you're in a season where you can't, that's okay. So there you go. You don't need to say some secret word to your lender to magically unlock savings. You don't need to do a triple backflip and recast and heloc your way out of this thing. You just need a budget, a plan, and enough margin to make extra payments. Because building wealth is not about hacking the system, it's about doing simple things consistently over time. And if you want to know how to pay off your house in 10 years or less, click here to watch this video. Up next, where I break it down or click the link in the description. Be sure to share this video with someone who's banking on their five and a half roommates to make their mortgage, including Kevin. Thanks for watching. We'll see you in the next video. Should I look away a little more? Butt rock, if you look. What? All right, there it is.
Podcast Summary: George Kamel – "Money Expert Reacts to Dumb Mortgage Hacks"
Date: February 20, 2026
Host: George Kamel (Ramsey Network)
Main Theme:
George Kamel entertains and educates as he reacts to popular “mortgage hacks” circulating on TikTok and social media. With his signature pop-culture-infused snark, George separates fact from fiction, busts mortgage myths, and debunks risky or outright wrong advice commonly marketed toward first-time buyers and aspiring real estate "moguls".
This episode is all about “hacks” to save on your mortgage or buy a home with little money down—common claims on social media. George walks through several viral videos, dissects the validity of their advice, points out pitfalls, and shares the straightforward methods he recommends for building wealth through homeownership.
[01:03]
[03:22]
[05:21]
[06:42]
[10:34]
[13:33]
[17:01]
[22:36] onward
[25:21]–end
On House Hacking:
On Biweekly Payments:
On Recast Hack:
On Non-QM Loans:
On Mortgage “Tricks”:
George keeps the episode light with plenty of sarcasm, pop culture jokes, and playful digs at the TikTok real estate “gurus.” He manages to both amuse and inform, cutting through hype with clear, actionable financial wisdom and an emphasis on tried-and-true best practices.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone who feels overwhelmed by slick “mortgage hacks” on social media. George’s advice: Don’t look for magical shortcuts—just stick to solid principles, make extra principal payments when you can, put as much down as possible, and ignore advice from influencers with backward baseball caps and “meta” glasses. Take your mortgage seriously and avoid becoming “house poor and afraid (and also naked, for some reason).”