- ♪ I need some real talk, oh, I need some real talk. ♪ ♪ Give me some of that real talk. ♪ ♪ ♪ - Today's Real Talk, the show focused on the North Carolina Real Estate, Justin Kasepa, Claudia Ogrisic of Compass Real Estate. Back at it another week, another Monday in the marketplace, moving along. She's trying to avoid it, but she won't be able to. More or less, will there be more or less inventory this week than last? - With the amount of houses I showed this weekend, I will say more. - Visibly, you feel like you saw more inventory. - Well, more my clients have a good budget. No, I'm, yes, I would say so. We had many options. And I was able to get many showings that were within their target price and house, so I would say more. - Okay, so do you believe these or know of whether, 'cause you probably wouldn't know the sense of 'cause should you work? And are these homes that you looked at this past weekend still active, or are they already under contract? - I looked at some of them, it's I would say half and half. So some are still standing and actually I, and I'll talk about these clients, but I started planning earlier the week and then I waited until Thursday evening to start because I was showing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So I only booked Thursday night and when I woke up, two of them were canceled because they were under contract before the weekend. So they came on the market on Thursday 'cause I didn't want to do it too early 'cause I thought, okay, if I look at them on Tuesday by Friday, I did it Thursday night and when I woke up, two of them, I don't know, I had 12 houses day one, two were already under contract and I had to rearrange my route. - Firm exclusives or just actively in the MLS? - These were all actively listed all to the general public. - Okay, how's it going on the firm exclusives side? Is that moving deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole or? - Yes, and it's happening and we are, am I allowed to allegedly, we are working hard on making it more and more and more private exclusives. - It's hard to see it not going the other direction just with these rule changes in the way that certain things now have to adapt to and it will become important for having the right network almost necessarily that you're working with because for a long time, it almost shifted toward it. It didn't matter, right? The market was moving so fast, there was so much inventory, everyone's buying, everyone's selling, it's moving at such a pace. You could, it didn't matter really what firm you were with unless the kids, something special you liked about yours in particular. But now it's almost seeming like toward the future, at least in the short term, may well observe and see how the market continues to evolve, but that being with a particular firm is going to matter. - I guess I am a visionary because like, but on a serious note, it was one of the things that made me move to campus was the amount, even though they didn't allow me to look at it, I just briefly saw the number and I'm like, this is where I want to be because it gives me the advantage if I am a buyer agent to show my clients houses that nobody else can see. - Okay, so that's internally as far as the brokerage game, why you like that particular firm. Let's talk about buyers and why they like our particular area. What are they saying these days to you? The one's coming from out of state because you're working with some from out of state. You've had some come into town literally to look at houses and say, I've heard about this place, I'm coming here once and I'm going to move here. - Actually, this weekend in particular, I had planned and kind of blocked as much as I could for them coming from Brazil and they are coming on an EB-5. Do you know when an EB-5 is? - No. - Not at all? - Is it a visa? - It's a visa. - Okay, it sounded like a good technical term like a government technical ID number or something. - An EB-5 is an investor visa. So it's people with money willing to invest in the United States that are many rules. I don't know all the rules because I'm not an immigration attorney, but... - There's a process. - Oh, there is a long process and theirs is about to be ready in a few months, probably four months. So they should be allowed to move here. And then also, if you follow all the rules, so you do have to invest a certain amount of money, a lot of money kind of stays in a kind of an escrow immigration account. I think for two years, the pent, which I think it's pretty unfair being Brazilian as well, but depending on the country, and again, I don't know all the rules, but depending on the country you're coming from, you have to put more money or less money into this kind of an escrow account for two years, I think. So if you're Brazilian, I think it's about 800 to a million dollars that just stay there for a while until you prove that you are following the rules. So I know you have to invest, you have to, I think, employ people. So you have to come and not only live, but create jobs and create, let's say, more money and pay taxes and do the whole thing. So these clients are on the process of getting the visa. And then if they followed all the rules, two years from now, I think they can apply for a green card and then follow the rules for the green card to have permanent residence, right? Because you always get the first green card. It doesn't matter. Like when I got married, two years, and then I had to prove that it was a real marriage that we were an actual couple. And then I got the five year and then the citizenship. But they think with investors, many rules to follow. And then if you follow all the rules, basically employing people and generating money, just not using your money, you got to stay. And looking here, particularly in North Carolina, this was the interest for them. Kind of. So it's, we are, they spent one week here, three days in, three, three and a half days in Orlando, three days here because they had heard about it. And when they came here, because we had talked about things, lifestyle, what they want to do, we kind of chose three areas, Lake Norman, uptown-ish, around uptown. So Plaza Midwood, East Over, Chantilly, Chantilly, blah, blah, blah, and Valentine. So we spent one day in each area. And yesterday, actually, we spent the morning and early afternoon in Valentine and surrounding areas. We say goodbye because then again, they are going back home today and then put pros and cons about Orlando and Charlotte. We are winning and make a decision. But then they called me mid-afternoon when I thought they were just hanging out in Valentine and they said, we're back in Lake Norman, we really love it. I'm like, yay. And actually, they love my neighborhood, but they love some other areas in Huntsville, actually. So I might have neighbors. Did you talk to him Portuguese all day? Of course. Yes. That's going to be cool. Yes. It is nice to speak your own language. But yeah, it doesn't matter. They are fluent. They're ready to come. We went, we had lunch together. They didn't ask for my help because they could be a little tense, especially even though they know I'm Brazilian, but they did not ask for any help at all. Because many times people look at me kind of expecting me to, let's say, order or whatever. It didn't matter that I was with them, which is pretty nice. So they are ready to move. They love Charlotte. They said it's prettier, more welcoming. It feels more like a home than Orlando. So I think they're going to choose Charlotte, Lake Norman, more homey for buyers and it felt like from your visual over the weekend that there was more inventory to choose from. We'll find out if she's right. We'll find out more or less active and coming soon in the local MLS. That's canopy MLS. Do you know? No, I haven't even looked at it. I have not looked at it. Because I see you're looking at the computer. No, I've logged in, but I have not pulled the numbers yet. We're also going to talk about sellers because sellers right now, are they still dominating the marketplace? Are they still taking charge of what they can and can do? Are they disclosing properly? That's another question always every single day. Oh my gosh. More of today's real talk coming back talking about North Carolina real estate. We'll be back with more of today's real talk hosted by Claudia O'Greezick and Justin Cazephas in just a moment on one oh five nine one hundred point seven W S I C. Now more of today's real talk with Claudia O'Greezick and Justin Cazephas on one oh five nine one hundred point seven W S I C. Local starts here. Today's real talk the show focused on North Carolina real estate. Justin Cazephas Claudia O'Greezick of Compass real estate hanging out in the studio today talking about the market talking about buyers talking about how people are coming here from all over the world because they love the area. What about sellers? Are sellers giving up their property? Because where are they going to? That means they got like leave or they got to move to another place. I couldn't imagine doing that right now, but that's just me. I think it's coming if interest rates came down a little we I think we are around if you qualify if you have good credits core if your debt to income ratio is not too crazy. Even below six right now to reasonable expectation right now. Yes. So now I think it's the time that we were talking about where it might make sense for sellers that pay close to nothing in rates, but don't need to be in their house anymore. So they could downsize or move or now I think it's not as bad as it was eight percent. So I think we might see a wave of sellers. So a six at the front, you'll trade out a two or three at the front for a six of the front. That's a little more easier to swallow I guess as compared to a seven or an eight. Yes. And if it gets down to a five in front. You think that that moves the needle. I might do it. Actually one of the houses I looked at in Cornelius this weekend, I'm like, I want this house but it would make yes. It's just silly. Unfortunately, it's a six bedroom house, which makes no sense for a family with people. If I could cut the upstairs, I would put an offer too bad you can't do that. You know, the primary on the main was amazing, the kitchen, the yard, like everything. Unfortunately, six bedrooms, I don't need it. We don't need it, but it was an awesome house. You could turn one into an office, right? That could be one. Yeah, but you meaning in terms of there is a dedicated office. So no, I don't need that because it's there on the main floor. So literally, if we could, I mean, I would still need one bedroom for Nina, but the first floor would, if I could put stairs outside and create a kitchen upstairs and rent the upstairs, that would be awesome. You mentioned Nina. So we're talking about your daughter. Yes. And so for those with kids, right, we talk about, you know, school is starting back up. You kind of get into this fall rhythm. Happy fall, by the way, yesterday was the first day of fall. So today's fall. Happy, who's happy? So happy fall, we're closer to Christmas, which is we're closer to cooler temps and nice potential snow. No, no, no, no. From now on, or yesterday, even though it was 90, I started aiming at my trip to run away from winter. So it's like how many, yes, I think it's 89 days, yes, I'm like Siri, how long until my vacation? It's like 89 days. So from now on with the fall, everybody celebrating fall, I have the target, the plane to leave winter. So 89 days. So for the other remaining people that will stay here for when it's cold outside at Christmas time and possibly selling and looking through the market and looking at this cycle now and coming back to, I don't want, I can't call it a normal cycle because I don't think anybody knows what the new normal will be or if normal will ever be again, for at least what we believe it to be. So going forward and seeing, okay, it's fall, school started back up, uptick of listings potentially we'll find out today, that's how it's feeling. But conversations, right, happen before the units even hit the market. What's it like when you talk to people about the potential of selling? Is it just solely focused on rates right now? Is that the main thought? In my particular case, no, it's just the opportunity. So people that are able to afford, let's say, a better house, decided to sell, people moving, you know, empty nesters, deciding to move to the beach. I have a few clients doing that, getting ready to list. So it's all about, I think more, I don't think people are worried about the market itself and yes, I do think that soon people will think about the interest rate as a bonus for moving but right now it's just life changes and they don't want to wait if it makes no sense for them to wait for the market and there's always a market because we have not only people here moving but people from out of state because we have lower taxes, lower home insurance, lower prices, but people that just life changed and they're ready to downsize, move, make dreams come true of, let's say, living at the beach or lake house. All right, seasons change and so do the weather and that's what happens. And we always, I hate using all the real estate cliche but it is true that, yes, usually we have more houses in the spring market because many people, especially people who have kids, they want to move during summer so you're ready for school but we have a lot of people that don't have kids anymore or still don't have kids that can move literally at any time. So you may have fewer, you know, it goes up like listings go up as more buyers hit the market and then let's say in the fall, usually you have fewer listeners and we were listings, fewer buyers but ready to buy, qualified, ready to buy. So it goes in waves but I think everybody can time and can do a great deal and make money if you do the right thing. There's an emphasis of hope there's got to be units to buy, there's got to be a supply, we'll find out if there's more or less this week coming up in a little bit, all right, we're talking buyers, we're talking sellers, interest rates in general for buyers then because going back to them, that's an important part is that our buyers qualified to buy these units in here. We are seeing people from out of state that are able to afford it from a different perspective and so for the people that are here and it's tight, right, it's tight. They want to be able to move in market, let's say, and they want to find these other spots. You mentioned Belmont, right, which is too far gone at this point, are we okay, is Belmont still doable but not as good as it used to be because it's amazing and people found out though. Like a lot of the places around here and so when we're looking at interest rates and you're talking to buyers, what are they started, are we getting close to that buy side consideration? I think people should do it now, like now because I will keep saying number one, I said that close to the election, I've been saying this for months that when we got close to election day, interest rates would come down and they have. I wouldn't gamble and wait for five and a half or five because I still believe that once and if we don't know if we're going to do it and when we're going to do it but I do know that when we do it, everybody will come and try to get a house. So it's going to be crazy, it's going to be multiple offers, it's going to be above and we already have above ask so, don't wait, don't wait and especially if you're renting you're throwing money in the garbage. So you might start your homeowner life paying, I don't know, 200, 300, 400 more a month at a six point something, interest rate versus five point five or five but you are throwing away $2,000 a month in rent, so if you put them side by side, I tell all clients that sometimes I make, I love a spreadsheet, like I'm a spreadsheet fan, I get the numbers for people that are not good at spreadsheets, right? I prepare one and I show them like in one year how much you paid extra because interest rate is not as friendly as you would like versus what you're spending on your rent and I mean it's an easy decision and the most important thing in my opinion is if you're thinking about buying, even if it's not now, don't try to guess what the steps are, don't try to guess if your credit score is good or not, 580 and you can get a house. So talk to someone, don't try to guess, don't believe the miracle people that make it sound too easy to buy like on YouTube, I'm not saying that get a trusted professional, be educated of the actual things and then make a plan, not saying, of course some people will not be able to qualify right now, it doesn't matter, talk to a realtor, talk to a loan officer, understand where you stand right now, you might be ready, tons of programs to help, first time buyers, first responders, so down payment assistance, there's so many options for so many different people, do not try to guess where you stand, they'll try to guess if you qualify or not, ask a professional, you have the no, so why not see if you have the yes? You've got to have that network of people you can turn to in the situation in the process, you being the broker, you're often handling the nucleus of all of it, what are the other players in the transaction, what are you hearing from your lender partners, what are you hearing maybe even from your other vendors that you work with quite often, what are they saying anything new on their perspective in the marketplace? Let's talk because I think the big moving part right now is the interest rates, my lender partners are saying they are beginning to get busy again, not only with new buyers, but a lot of people trying to refinance their houses, so people that bought it last year or two years ago paid eight percent, seven and a half percent, many are reaching out to see if it's time to, because it's not always good to refi, so this is something important as well, if you think, okay, six percent, does it make sense, depending on your situation, it's just not worth it, it depends on your plan, how long you're going to be in the house, how much are you actually paying right now, if the difference makes an actual difference because you have the closing costs, and there are closing costs, don't believe if a lender says there's no closing costs because you are paying. They're built into the law. They are building, they are adding to your principal, so do not believe you're not paying because you are. One of the things definitely to be interesting is the term of the loans, and as we get farther and farther down the chain away from an eight percent interest rate, let's say, and then resetting of some loans if they came in the product, or if they're just literally moving the interest rates and keeping the remaining term and move forward, so some of that will definitely, it's a technical process, and it is a mathematical equation. I mean, you take the difference of the payment you're paying if you reduced it, and over the cost, you know, it's broken down by the cost total, based on the closing costs, then you know how long you got to be in the house longer. What if it's another 10 years? Are you going to be there another 10 years if you got to be there to make up that difference? I use this spreadsheet, and you can see it. It's charted out. I love it. I love a good screen waiting for another call to another buyer, another seller to show in the marketplace. You seen first time home bars any last week at all? No. Okay. Because I was blocked my time. I had blocked my time for the Brazilian people. You were making a maintenance Monday, weren't you? That's what you were working on. Yes. There's more of today's real talk with Claudia O'Greezick and Justin Cazepes on the way from 1059 100.7 WSIC. We're back with more of today's real talk with Claudia O'Greezick and Justin Cazepes on 1059 100.7 WSIC. Today's real talk to show focused on North Carolina real estate Justin Cazepes, Claudia O'Greezick of Compass real estate. Back at it again. Are you going to have a maintenance Monday today? Yes. Very important. How deep is it going to go? Because people... How do you know there is some kind of depth to it? To taking care and making sure that you are making sure your property is taken care of basically. Not to the topic. You said something about it. Oh deep level. Deep. So it's something that has a certain depth to work and it's related. Let's see if you can guess so it's related to fall and there's a certain depth to it. To work. Pools? No. Digging holes? Oh okay. We're digging holes okay. Yes. So can you guess what it is? I can't. I'm afraid of seeing the wrong way. Landscaping? No. Well yes. It has to do. Travery. Just preparing the grass for the winter. How do you say it? Aerating. I say aerating. I don't know if that's right. Aerating? Aerating? I don't know. I would say aerating. Pulling plug. Aerating? I would say aerating. Did you buy the spikes off Amazon? You could just put it on the shoes. No I have a monthly service. I mean I pay monthly to be honest I'm not 100% if they come at a certain... I know that every year they send me the calendar they come whenever needed. So now I know they're coming. So they a few weeks ago they put fertilizer I think, I don't know. Now they're going to come for aeration. Yeah. So they pull the plug so and then whatever comes next. They seed. Seeds. Birdless. Line. Topsoil or pay or whatever it is you want to use. Do you want me to use my southern accent to say this? Yes. Topsoil. Topsoil. Get you some topsoil. Topsoil. But they're coming so right now if you have a monthly service like I do they're going to come and pull the plugs. If not you better buy something at Amazon or Lowe's and do it because it's important to do it. So you have I don't know the technical explanation but some fresh air and stuff and then you can fertilize put seeds so next year you have beautiful grass and just be careful with the kind of grass you have. If you have Bermuda if you have Fescue don't make a mistake so do you have a service or you do it. I do it myself. Do you do? My aerate. Not put seed. Aerate. Aerate. Aerate. We don't know how. Can we have in the morning show not not the word of the day not how the explanation but how to say it. Yeah we're working on it we were aeration. That's pretty good and are you finding that you're having to let's let's bring it back to real estate are you having to teach terms to buyers and sellers in the process do you try to do that like yes let me tell you about this I'm a pain yes I'm a pain I am teaching it's it's one of my things to my clients on Instagram I do want to teach people and I want them to know what they're buying or sell not necessarily buying the house but you know understanding the process understanding terms understanding everything that is involved in a in a transaction as much as possible of course. But yes I do teach them I explain I make them like the diligence fee I explain I'm like now you know what it is I yeah I love jeopardy so I do a kind of a jeopardy thing with my clients. Back and forth. Yes. I'm sure they appreciate it in the long run there's no doubt about that maybe not maybe not at the moment but you know in the future they're like you know what it was good because I didn't know and now I know so they understand. Do you find most buyers at least the ones that you're working with that they're thinking about it as okay if I sell in five years or is that a point like you have to bring up with them. I have to most of the times I have to bring like I am constantly talking about it most of the times I don't think because people are very cute and very naive and they always believe they're buying the forever home so I have to make them aware that their forever home will probably last five years and they're going to move because of life changes. Because life changes they make more money or they made so much money in the house that why not get a better house a larger home a lot can change in five years yes and if something went bad same thing they can use the money they made to downsize if needed or move from out of state or to a different state so the forever home isn't most likely never forever. That's where even the refinance conversation because point like we talked about right if you spend so much money on a refinance now you know the math works out that hey if you stay there less than you know six five more years then at that point you'd be in theory like having to spend more money in order to accomplish your goal and so talking with a professional and knowing what's going on what are some options out there what are the options that exist it's not necessarily it's definitely not about pointing them into one particular direction it's about letting them know all of their options and keep them in force how much time are you spending having to like educate yourself in this market right because that's a part of it part of it you obviously have to do continue education things like that but it's is it more like articles and staying in the know of policy and what's going on from a AI and technology and tools for your sellers and things like the right all that stuff exists yes it's it's a little bit of everything today I was at a training a compass and we were talking about planning for the last quarter for 2025 how to do it how do you manage things and I told them because we were brainstorming right and I told them about the Pomodoro technique do you know what a Pomodoro technique is never heard of it so it's I don't know there is a rule for it I just don't know exactly what what is the certain number I do at 15 minutes so every morning first thing I do when I sit in front of my computer I turn on the timer on my phone and I have posted a list of things I do every day that I have to do so repetition without fail every morning every morning I go and I'm like at least to begin my day because then the days get crazy sometimes I have show me all day sometimes I have continuing education so I can't really predict my day all days because it it varies with my clients and everything but every morning first thing I do I sit in front of my computer and I have so it's like 15 minutes answering emails 15 minutes erase it's funny but it and it is true going through my pictures because I use my pictures not only of course I'm always taking picture of homes and things but also as reminders so if a client says hey can you help me find a contractor to do whatever I take a screenshot of the conversation so I make because I get so many messages so many texts Instagram DMs I have to keep track otherwise I go crazy so 15 minutes of that 15 minutes of learning fifth and then with the learning either I read articles or I listen to podcasts or book but 15 15 15 so for an hour and a half on average six tasks and then depending on the day I do you know it could be more educating more education it could be more showings it could be all kinds of stuff but every morning my timer grows every 15 minutes I do the it's awesome it helps a lot because it's kind of like I don't do anything else other than let's say the first 15 minutes answering emails compass has an amazing system with the tasks so I have all my deals at the same time and of course there's a bunch of stuff people who have no idea we do during a transaction so right now thanks to compass I have everything because it was my mind my handwritten calendar and reviewing so every morning I kind of like get all my deals and is this ok so now I have a task so 15 minutes going through the tasks make sure everything is getting done so this is an awesome thing and I do it again a little bit every day every day every day every day and creating that routine has just enabled you to become cyborg level broker of helping everybody that you've you've dominated yes and my clients know and I make sure they know that it's still me it will always be me they text me they call me it's me answering with all I got how much of your time are you because on the listings item curious because as we've talked about multiple times from the commission the real North Carolina Real Estate Commission they've put out like as far as the complaints against brokers a significant percentage relate to material fact how much time with your sellers are you having to spend explaining and going through the property disclosure and really like helping them understand what is even being asked of them because I think that can get complicated too because did I did do you know I was a teacher back in the day I don't know if you know that I did know back in the day I was a teacher so I think because I am I have this the teacher in me I explain why and how and because I'm also very proactive silly things like how old is your age back and people don't know I I show them you go out to the unit let's go look at this so you know don't be here just check put on Google and you find it so in my clients they know a roof still popular conversation in the transaction yes yes how about moisture is moisture there yet okay all right I just didn't know if those things were happening I have a little moisture reader machine hey more or less what do you think you got more seconds more more or less more units on the market this week the last we'll find out next we'll be back with more of today's real talk hosted by Claudia O'Greezick and Justin Kazepes in just a moment on 1059 100.7 WSIC it's today's real talk with Claudia O'Greezick and Justin Kazepes on 1059 100.7 WSIC local starts here today's real talk show focused on North Carolina real estate Justin Kazepes Claudia O'Greezick time has come Claudia there's no turning back now the market is going to continue to move and people need to know are there more or less units this week on canopy MLS 500,000 or less active in coming soon by county always starting with Mecklenburg County as compared to last week last week we had 1,703 which was a huge drop from the previous week with 2,241 something happened there something happened don't know I don't know it could have been me fat fingering it and I just I just remembered that I think this week is the best I don't know there was something online saying that this coming week I think is the very best week to buy a house I swear the actual best week yes if you're going to do it now's the time today yeah this week is so give me a call let's buy house alright so this week are there more or less more than 1,700 for sure and you are correct yeah you're right 1,738 oh which is not good so 35 units up again remember but we're doing this by county 500,000 or less Mecklenburg County has a population of 1.1 million so we're talking about 1,738 active and coming soon units on market because it's in the MLS 500,000 or less 500 or less which is I think it's actually pretty good because our price point is going up and up and up so the fact that we do have more than 1,700 I think it's so the fact that we are adding more units under 500,000 is the positive here that we are moving in the direction and again people keep in mind don't guess if you can afford a house or not I cannot count the number of times I talked to people because they've heard my Instagram whatever and they found out they could buy so they were just wasting money on rental because they were assuming they couldn't apply they couldn't get approved remember 3% down you can buy a house 3.5% down you can buy a house sometimes zero down you can buy a house or talk to someone don't guess the other thing I find for most people is it really does take planning to know when is the right time to buy a house it isn't a I'm going to do it tomorrow thing for some people it may work out that way right like literally it could but for a vast majority of people it is months of planning and preparing and so to have certain conversations earlier make a lot of sense for example if you know you're going to buy the big thing that you're always worried about probably on the financial side of fad to guess is the credit pool right like that's certainly a thing talk to a lending professional Brad rotary does a show here as well as one of them and there's many others that Claudia can get you connected with that are good in the marketplace and maybe you can find out the other factors related to borrowing and then know the time frames of when to start having your credit pool because it only lasts so long in your credit report or you could have multiple pools within a certain time frame if it's related to a concept so getting with the professionals is very important that do you find it's you having to introduce the people to these other professionals in the chain that are necessary I do think and it's not because but I do think that the best conversation the first initial conversation is better with a realtor than with a lender because I think the lender will be more focused on the money side of it that's it and we have a whole idea of yes the money but money life situation life expectation everything so I think start with a realtor who will then guy take you to talk to a lender this is number two for sure so realtor number one lender number two no doubt about it but even talk about credit score things that people most people don't know about but yes the credit pool people are terrified of it but you also have to understand I kind of try to explain a credit pool to see if you can qualify for a house is not as harsh as one when you try to open a credit car or buy a car why because when you're buying a house you are investing you are creating assets so it's not as bad as when you open a credit card or when you buy a car that in 99.9% loses value you are spending money so in one you are creating or investing in the long term in one you're spending your money so a credit credit credit score pool for buying a house is not as bad and yes you can talk to a lender at least in the beginning the initial conversation just to understand and have a kind of a not official not official pre-qual or anything but at least an idea yes you could be ready or no let's wait you can do it you can have a conversation without any credit pool at all and it's really about trust because a lot of the conversation stems around things that are pretty personal pretty deeply personal hey how much money do you make each year yes how much debt do you have do you have a bunch of credit cards hey those student loans that that we talked about are those there oh you got some medical bills too oh you just bought a new car these are very intimate things and and it does take a level of trust yeah yeah and by the way if you're thinking about buying a house in the near future don't buy a new car period use that's like your number one rule you'll start with this is my number one yes I do think it's the same I tell my clients that are thinking about selling a house it doesn't matter if you're I had a kind of a laid back listing appointment last week and they want to list in May it's a huge house they have three kids tons of toys tons of baby clothes and I said I hope you hire me but even if you don't I said start donating selling and throwing away today if it's a box a day or a week start today because if you don't it it gets overwhelming at the end so it it might sound crazy but it's the right thing to do it's the same thing oh I'm going to start getting ready working on my credit score saving money to buy a house a year from now start making the right decision about money now and yes I know I'm not average I'm a pretty frugal person but try to train your your life on everyday situations do I want this and then try not to get it or do I need this I had I think we talked about it here before I did January a dry January and February I don't drink so it's it wasn't about drinking it was about buying and I didn't buy anything unless I really needed meaning you know gas and food I didn't buy absolutely anything in January and February did I want to do it yes so many times I go like oh I'm not gonna do it just to train I didn't need to do anything but as a training and I know it's crazy but training my discipline I'm like I'm not gonna buy it so do that and I think it helps any money you save I know many people say oh you know don't don't have your Starbucks and in one year you saved and you would still don't have money to for me it's the opposite I'll like save the four dollars and in the long term little by little you will save enough money okay that's the journey to get to the part of buying the house once you buy the house you've got to maintain the house yes and you've got to do that by actually taking some type of action yourself or hiring somebody to do something from time to time what you got for us on maintenance today the plug the aeration oh we already talked you already did it yes oh drink more of your soda you need caffeine I guess wow that one got away from me yes yes so do it again because again even if it's not like a technical maintenance it is because having a nice lawn sells houses because it's about the curb appeal now it's time to see you know yes because if you have a yard and to have a nice yard from an ugly one to a nice one you can spend thousands of dollars so yes maintaining a nice lawn and yard makes a huge yes it is it is a difference when you're selling the house do you call that curb appeal still is that is that what we're allowed to call it the curb appeal of a home okay as far as I know okay I'm just making sure it's not a term if it's a long term now I'm not aware I just didn't know I just wanted to check it with you what could what else could we say about it I don't know um the home the home glamour the glamour effect well yeah if we're using ai yes you would say the house boasts fresh lawn there you go I can't do it like I'm not are you seeing ai photos at all when you're scouring the internet yes yes for me it's still painful the pictures the descriptions and I know many agents think you have to do it I clearly see it and it's so annoying for me it's like take 10 minutes and write the description use your words because you can clearly see because there's a list that every single ai listing uses the same words and it drives me insane what about virtual tours are those still popular at all or when for your clients particular that are out of this day now but I feel like honestly I think most people prefer instead of the virtual I think the video of the house instead of the virtual 3d thing there are some people that like it but I always ask my clients and I think most people get a little annoyed trying to do the virtual thing so I think the visual of you with a camera walking and showing the flow of the house is better it's more pleasant than a 3d virtual tour you have you had recently because obviously you did from through covid and after and for years after probably sight unseen that's still a thing at all it is a thing I'm not a fan I avoided and I was able to make it happen without I don't I don't like it because as I can I can know my buyer as much as I can and the house I always say the house the the location can be perfect the the layout might be perfect but there's a smell there's a natural light there's things that a camera will not be able even if I'm like FaceTime camera won't show and the feeling I don't know I don't know the kind of smell you like so the house has and I'm gonna talk I'm not talking about like grow smells but just smell in general so I'm I'm not gonna I you know it wasn't for me I made my clients I was able to make my clients see the house in person and it worked because oh it would kill me if I found out that the smell was something and then they my clients are unhappy because they hate the the natural or the lack of natural light or so no I didn't do it but yes there are people that do it are we getting are we getting close back to an equal market no buyer I don't think just not even not even I don't think so many people are talking about a shifting market and I'm still going to say it's not about a shifting market it's just about the buyers being more selected that's all okay it's still a selfish market in my opinion because inventory is low inventory is low we'll find out if that changes next week more or less that'll be back next week we'll be back
