Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Other channels I'm about to go live on.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: And we are live.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: And we are live.
Hey guys, I am Heather with Head in the Clouds.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: Andres and see yes. And co host here. Real Talk we have then Andres and.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: We are streaming live today, guys. We are live on TikTok, we're live on Instagram, we're live on Facebook, and we are live on YouTube.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Outstanding, man. This is Heather. I gotta say, man, I gotta jump right in. Last week we had so many things going on in our schedule that on Tuesday you. You took over, you did the podcast by yourself. On Thursday you had a couple of things over. I had the podcast and I invited Jesse to have a conversation about cold calling.
But we're back together and I'm excited for this week, Heather. We have so much great stuff to share. So.
So, man, it's good to be back, huh?
[00:01:01] Speaker A: It is, it is. It was funny how it worked out last week, Cali. Tuesday you were like, hey, can you do it alone? I'm like, yeah, no problem. And then Thursday I was like, hey, remember how I did Tuesday by myself?
Guess what?
[00:01:13] Speaker B: I can't today.
But it's, it's. It worked out great. I think we put a great stuff up here and.
And we still were able to get the things done that we needed to get done. So. And still to fill our promise of being here, showing up every day. So that's what it's all about. You got to show up every single day.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: It really is. I think that's the message for today is it doesn't have to be perfect, doesn't have to be pretty. It just has to be there. And you can apply that to almost anything. If you're waiting for it to be perfect, it's never going to be perfect. It's never going to be a hundred percent like you want it. There's always something to be tweaked.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Absolutely. I'm actually based on that right now I'm going through a book they called the 1% rule. Right. Just getting 1% every single day, 1% better. It's never going to be perfect. Sometimes we're not going to get the outcome that we want. But as long as we keep trying to get better, at least 1% every day, you know, just got to show up to do that.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: And you're actually at a new construction site today?
[00:02:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm actually. I had a one. A friend of mine that works for a builder, Davison Homes, asked me if I can step in to cover for Sunday, Monday and today.
So, yeah, I'm at a new construction site covering here. Hopefully we get some good traffic coming in, get some buyers, help them out. Some great product out here, some great, amazing, incredible houses at a very, very great price.
So it's incredible to see what 350, 360k can get you in one state compared to what it can get you in some other states. Because man, this property in some states is, is over, over a million dollars easily.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: Oh yeah.
Even sometimes just different parts of the state in general can be a huge difference in price of a house and what a house will go for.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Even here. Now I've been living in this area for almost three years now. Two and a half years.
Two, two years, eight months or so and I've been visiting. My brother was living here prior to me moving to this area and I've been visiting the area for about five years and man, it's incredible to see the change in this area with the problem and how much it has grown from apartment complexes to new construction homes.
Companies moving into this area and also see the increase in prices on the property.
If you talk to anyone that has been living here for more than five years they could tell you that it's going crazy.
It's great for the state, great for the economy here.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: So tell us about the new construction homes that you're at now. Are they slabs, are they basements? What's going on with those homes?
[00:04:20] Speaker B: No basement here, it's a slab.
This particular model that I'm in is a four bedroom, 2700 square feet, you know, very, very open floor plan. In the first floor you have the multi use room where I'm sitting at now, which is an office at the moment.
Very open, very airy, the windows top to bottom, very elegant. It looks very homey and comfort.
Right. And then upstairs you have the four bedrooms in the master bedrooms, no family room upstairs, but all their bedrooms have a decent size. So it's four bedrooms, three and a half bath, master bedroom. Of course one of the bedrooms upstairs has a bathroom in itself and then you have the additional bedrooms in between the two bedrooms. It's not exactly in Jack and Jill because we don't have access through but the bathroom is right in between them and of course the laundry room upstairs. So it's very, very comfort, very good flow to the property, good energy, nice large windows, so have a lot of natural lights.
It's a really, really good product especially for the price at around 358, 360. So I great, great, great property action.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: That is nice Is it downstairs kind of an open floor plan or is it more closed off?
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Open floor plan.
As you come in to the left of the property to the main entrance, you have this room right here which is the office.
Straight ahead you have to the left to this you have a half bathroom.
And then you have a full open floor plan where you can look at the landscape and see the living room, kind of a breakfast dining room in the middle. And then you have the big island with the kitchen there. So it's pretty smooth. I wish I could. I have to pick up my laptop and switch the camera around so that I can show you guys. Sure. If I'll be able to switch the camera to the other side here, I'll try to figure it out. If I can, I'll switch that over and, and walk you guys over.
[00:06:45] Speaker A: I like closed floor plans. I know I'm probably like the only one. I'm very old school, like obviously old fashioned looking things. If it looks haunted, I would love it. I'm not a fan of the open floor plan, but that seems to be all the rage these days. Everybody wants that open floor plan.
[00:07:01] Speaker B: They do. I like when it has the formal dining room, right. And then you have kind of the breakfast area or the dining room separated.
It's open, but yet it feels like it's okay. That area there is the dining room. This particular floor plan is just one large space where you have the dining room kind of in between the kitchen and the living room.
So. But one of the, I was going to say one of the other models is a three bedroom, three bedroom, three bath, two and a half bath where it's more like that. Upstairs you have a family room, you have the three bedrooms.
Downstairs you have the, it's. Yeah, it's open floor plan but the dining room kind of feels away from the living room and, and you have the living room by itself.
And it's a three car garage at around 328, 2200 square feet.
That's a good deal for a three bedroom.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: That is a good deal.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: And the second floor I can say it has a family room, the three bedroom and it's kind of sort of has two family rooms. One of them you can turn into a bedroom by putting a door, but it's more like two. It's like a family room and a game room upstairs on top of the three bedrooms. So good use of the space up there with a three car garage, you know. So it's, it's, it's a great deal. I don't I don't recall seeing a property like that in California or Rhode island at this time of the year nowadays for that price range.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: Yeah, you, you'd be kind of hard pressed to find in California a house of that stature in that price range. I know. And this was years ago, years ago, probably like 20, almost 20 years ago now.
My mom always has this story that she likes to tell about how we, they bought the house originally in California and it was a big house, nice house, pool in upland. And they bought it for, I want to say like around 300 something when they, when they purchased it. And then when they sold it, which, which would have been about 20 years ago and moved to Georgia, they sold it for about 600 something.
So when they sold it, my mom was like, I always wanted to live in a half a million dollar home. I just never knew it was the one I was living in. And I always thought that was so funny that she had these like aspirations of living in this half a million dollar home and she'd been living in it the whole time.
[00:09:44] Speaker B: It just shows you the expectations we have of what a half million dollar property is.1 million dollar property is on a mansion, right?
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Because you in that perspective, she wanted a million dollar home but did not realize this. Her property was over a million dollar, get conditions and where she was at.
But we have this vision, okay, this is my dream home. Like it's like my wife, my wife always tells me she wants a big house and I'm like, how big of a house do you want really? At least 4,000, let's say 4,000 square feet. I'm like, okay, that's pretty big. Are you gonna be throughout the house all day, every day?
Because when you decide to clean up the house, man.
Yeah.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Who's gonna be cleaning this house?
[00:10:37] Speaker B: She's like, well if, if I can afford the house then I'll probably hire a company to go clean now. So. Okay, that's not starting to make sense.
Right, but it's just like you said, wishing and having this vision of what a million dollar, half a million dollar property is. And I see, you know, you're already living in.
Happens. It happens rather quickly and we very unexpectedly, you know.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: It does.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: So yeah, when it comes to home buyers, imagine, you know, you have a vision of what a million dollar, half a million dollar property is and okay, I want this type of property and exchange, you know, that property that they envision for half a million property, half a million is now 1.5 million.
Got to pull myself back a little Bit.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: It's interesting when people have, you know, before they've talked to a lender, they have an idea of what they want, but they don't know what they qualify for. And they're like, I want this house, I want this, I want this, I want this.
But they don't really have any idea of what that actually translates into when it comes to getting the loan and getting approved for a mortgage. And it kind of shows the importance of talking to a lender because you don't know what you can afford until you speak with a lender. You know what you want, but you don't know what you can afford. And let's say you're. You can borrow up to $400,000. Well, $400,000 today is not the same thing as $400,000 was, you know, two years ago. And it's not the same thing as it's going to be in another two years. The market is constantly changing. House values are constantly fluctuating. And unfortunately, something I, I'm going through right now in my divorce, if I would have sold the marital home a couple years ago, it would have fetched a much higher price than it's gonna fetch now when it sells. And that's sadly the case with the way the market shifts. You never know, the same house can just go up in price and go down in price, go up in price and go down in price. And that's just insane the way things fluctuate.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: It is, it is. And, and, and I can tell people now, look at this property. 358, 000, right?
In three years, two years from now, you think you're going to be able to get this house for 358,000?
Most likely not.
You know, five years from now, is 300,000, 350,000 gonna get you the same thing that you're gonna be able to get here?
No, there's.
I don't think so. Not at all.
I'm about to listen on property that was bought just about five years ago for 370,000, and today that property is 160,000.
You know, so, so just looking at that statistics over the past years, you know, it's very likely that that property, this property, or you're not going to find another property at 358,000 this size of property in that case, right, you're going to be able to find a property, but most likely not this property.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: And speaking of finding a property, let's focus and talk a little bit about the differences between new construction and resale. And when you're working, whether it's a first time home buyer or a home seller who's looking to upgrade, downgrade or whatever it is they're looking for, there's a huge difference between shopping for new construction and shopping for resale. So resale for our listeners that don't know would be a home that you purchase that somebody's already lived in. Like you're driving down the street, you see a cell sign, a for sale sign in the front yard, that would be a resale home. And a new construction home would be when you go to the brand new subdivisions that are being built, most of the time they have like flags and a trailer out front and it says, you know, coming soon and whatever builder it is, you go in, you walk the model. A lot of times if you haven't purchased too late in the building process, you can pick all your, all your aspects of the home that you want.
But let's talk about that. Specs. Yeah, let's talk about that and talk about the difference and what buyers should be kind of on the lookout for if they're kind of trying to decide do I want new construction or do I want to resell.
Let's start with the, with the cons, I guess, of a, of a new construction and then we'll go into the cons of a, of a resell.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Look, even when you walk in a new construction site, you already see someone resale properties already in the neighborhood.
Right on the street where I'm at, there's about three properties that are for resale. And I had someone on Sunday say, hey, can we see those property? I'm like, no, that, that's a whole different, that's a whole different vendor right now.
But I think some of the, some of the pros I, I definitely see is, look, everything is new in the property.
You have a one year warranty, builder's warranty on any structure on the property.
And then all your appliances, you have the manufacturer warranties on it. So you can definitely look into that. There's nothing that you need to do on the property.
Move in ready.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Those are good things.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: I thought we're going with the pros.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Oh, well, we can, let's go with the pros since that's what we're doing. Let's go with the pros.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Pro. So, yeah, ready to go. Everything's new.
There's really nothing to look into it as far as cons. Right. This property is ready to go. One thing that you have to pay attention to is I always Say, space between neighbors, and I have to step out for a second because I have somebody at the door.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Yep, that's the money phone or the money door. Go, Go answer. Go answer. And I'll just. I'll keep going and I'll talk a little bit about the cons and pros of the new construction.
So, like Andres was saying, the pros is that, yes, everything's new. You got your new appliances. Nobody's lived in the home. So if you're a germaphobe and you're like, I need everything to be, like, completely clean. Nobody's lived in the home, so you're not having to worry about any type of mess, contamination, or anything like that. The history of the house, because it is brand new.
However, just because it's brand new doesn't mean that there's not a history in that house. I've toured, I want to say, like, two or three new constructions now where we've seen where they've had to go in and make repairs because of flooding or other things that have happened to a new construction home before anybody's even lived there. There was some condos that we toured that had flooded, and they had fixed those. So just because it was brand new doesn't mean it doesn't have a history. Oh, that was fast.
We can't hear you. You're. I think you're on mute.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Yeah.
Can you hear me now?
[00:18:02] Speaker A: I can hear you now.
[00:18:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
Just another agent coming by for some water.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Ah, gotcha.
Gotcha.
So today, Andres, I know we mentioned this earlier, but today he is sitting at the new construction site. So he may have to pop in and out like that so that he can talk to buyers that are coming in to look at the new constructions. And then hopefully later today, we'll get a tour of the home. And we can post that later, like, a different video. We can post some of the new constructions that he's at, and if you guys are interested in those new constructions, then hit up Andres and he can help you out with that.
One of the cons, I was thinking right now, and I don't know if it's the same way for you in Alabama or you're a specific builder that you're at right now, however, in Georgia. So if you're a resale buyer, you have what's called earnest money. You put your earnest money down, and that's basically to show you have skin in the game.
And what you do is you put this money down, and then you have a due diligence period and during that due diligence period, you can do your home inspection and you have a window of time to change your mind. And if you change your mind within that set time frame that's agreed upon by both parties and you decide, I don't want this house after all, you get your earnest money back. You don't lose that earnest money unless you're after that time frame. If you're after that time frame and you change your mind, then you risk the seller keeping your earnest money because compensation for taking their house off the market and basically wasting their time.
Now, some new constructions out here don't do earnest money. They do deposits. And those deposits are non refundable. So you always have to make sure. If you're an agent and you're working with a client who says, I want to go do new construction, I want to look at new construction, if they like one, you want to make sure you know, a, is this a deposit and is this deposit refundable? Because I have had clients even though I explained to them, hey, this is a deposit, we're putting this deposit down, it's non refundable. They're like, okay, got it, got it.
Then they decide to go a different direction and they lose that money. And I've gone to bat a couple of times trying to get the money back for them. I think one time we actually did get some of the money back. The other time, no, they signed a paper, it's a deposit. You're not, you're not getting it back. So is it like that there in Alabama?
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Yeah, it is. And, and, and depending on, on the incentives they may have going on at the time, sometimes some, some new construction you need is $500 earnest minus to get things going. Now of course, if you are, that's if you're selecting one of the models already built, right? Ready to go. But if you are building from scratch, then there's a set of three other deposits.
For this particular vendor, there's a set of three other deposits that, that are taking place when you start selecting all the specifications of the property. Right.
And I know every, every vendor slightly changed the quantity and the, and the process. So it's very important to, you know, learn those details from each vendor as you're going and handling those conversations.
Because like you said, you don't want to, you don't want to lose that deposit if you're, if you are going past a grace period that you have to cancel the contract. So I think that's why it's so important with a buyer to sit down from the beginning and determine exactly what, you know, what it is that they're looking for. Because of course, things happen that are out of our control.
But you want to take all measurements beforehand to ensure everything goes smooth. And if you need to step up for any reason, you already have something in place to help them out.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Also with new constructions, most new constructions have what's called preferred lenders, which are their lenders that they partner with and they want you to get pre approved with their lenders. One thing I've run into here in Georgia is I'll have my buyers that have their own lender or they're using the lender that, you know, I work with and they're pre approved with that lender. We have that pre approval letter and they want to use that lender. They formed, you know, a bond with that relationship with that lender and they're like, hey, this is my lender. I want to use this, this lender.
At the new constructions, sometimes they charge a deposit or a fee to use an outside lender. So whenever I'm calling new constructions to make sure we can see the models, get the keys, whatever, I always ask, is the deposit refundable and is there a deposit or is there a fee to use your own lender?
Most of the time there is. I've run into. Most of the time there is a fee to use your own lender. And it can be quite hefty sometimes very, very hefty to use your own lender. Now they give you a lot of incentives to use theirs. You'll get money back. You'll get things with the house in the form of, for the house and closing and stuff. Not just like, hey, here's, you know, money. But there are incentives. So I'm not necessarily saying it's a bad thing. However, you always need to get your pre qual from your lender and then get one from the ones at the new construction and look at them side by side and see all. Are the incentives that they're giving you worth whatever's in that loan agreement or are you going to actually just be paying more in the long run going with their preferred lender? So just make sure you have an agent that can sit down and say, hey, this is what's going to be best for you in the long run. Because that's what it's about. What it's about is making sure that the client is in the best position possible. Whether that's going with the new construction lender or whether that's going with another lender.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: You got to step out for a second. Hold on.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: Yep.
Hey, make that money. Make that money.
Most people, when they go to new constructions, don't have their agent with them. A lot of them will go and say, oh, I have an agent. But most of the time they're just kind of like driving through somewhere and they see a new construction site. So they, they go inside.
If you have an agent and you go see a new construction, make sure you tell the new construction people, hey, hey, I have an agent. This is my agent's information. Because even if your agent isn't there with you at the time, you want to make sure that they know you have an agent so that your interests are look out for because your agent is there to help you, to guide you, to make sure that you're covered, to make sure you're taken care of. You want to make sure that you're working with an agent that you know is looking out for you and has your best interest at heart. That way you know that they're not going to do anything that's going to compromise you. So if they, if your agent says, hey, don't go look at this. No construction without me, there might be a reason why. There's been some crazy contracts that I've seen with new construction.
There was one contract where it was super crazy. It was like, no agents allowed at the inspections. And I'm like, why, why can't. Why can't agents come to the inspection? That seems like a weird thing to me.
I'm trying to think of that contract. There was other things on there that were just so. It was like no flashlights.
It was. It was a crazy. And it wasn't a big builder, it was a smaller builder, one that I had not worked with before and have not since.
It was crazy. The things that were on this contract and me personally, I always like to read every single contract, every single word. I know a lot of people just sign things. I always tell our buyers, I'm like, don't sign anything until you send it to me. So if your agent tells you that, it's not because they're being like controlling or critical. They're like really trying to make sure that you're taking care of. When we're working. New construction.
New construction most of the time, handles the contracts and the paperwork. We don't do that as agents now. In a resell, we do. So in a resell, I would write. If I'm working with the buyer, I would write the contracts and I would send Them over to the other side with the resale. A lot of times it's them that does the contracts, and then they send them to you to sign. They don't always send it to your agent first. I always say, hey, send me the contracts first, and I'll send them on to my clients.
Doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes they just send things straight over to my clients. So I always tell my clients, don't sign anything. Send it to me. Let me read it, Let me make sure it's okay. And then we can send it to you to initial once everything's good because we might initial and sign. Everything's good because we might have to make some adjustments. And new constructions are negotiable. People think that they're not. They are not as much as resells, but they are negotiable because everything is a no unless you ask. If you don't ask, it's a no.
So I actually learned that is really interesting. A new construction was my second deal as a real estate agent.
And at that time, a lot of people had the mindset that new construction weren't. They were not negotiable. You just went in, you paid the price, and it was like going to the store. You basically go in, this is a sticker price, and this is what you pay. And that's just how it was. Well, I guess out of, like, being naive, because I was a baby agent and I didn't know anything yet, and my.
My client wanted a new construction. We went and looked at the new construction, and they gave us the price. And she's like, yeah, I just. That I don't really want to pay that much for this. And I was like, okay, no problem. So I was just telling them, hey, this is what she'll pay. And this is what we would like. And we would like this, this, this, and this.
And they said, okay. And they're like, okay, that's fine. They came back a little bit on one thing, and we compromised. But everything else, they said okay, too. And so when I was at my office and I was just kind of, you know, happy about my second deal, and I was telling people, they're like, on a new construction, I was like, yeah. And they're like, oh, oh, that's cool. Now it's. I think it's more. But it was a crazy time in real estate at that point.
I became an agent right when nothing you learned in real estate school mattered anymore, because everything was just crazy.
So it was a different time.
But I'm Stuck on that contract that I'm trying to think of all the crazy things in there so I can give you guys more, more examples. It was insane. It was truly insane. We sent the contract to our broker and we were like, have you. Like, should we send behind this? This is crazy. And they're like, well, I mean, if you want that. If they want the house. And they did, they really did want the house. It was basically their dream house. And so they, they. We went with it and we did it and they bought the house. But it was, it was an interesting crap, interesting contract. Thank God everything worked out because it was, it was crazy. And if you're an agent and you're ever not sure about a contract and you're looking at a contract and you're like, I, I don't know what this means or I'm just kind of confused about this. Send it to your broker. Just send the contract. If you're in a coaching program, send it to your coach. If you're not in coaching program, send it to your broker, your team lead. Just send it to somebody that you know, that you think, hey, can you just lay eyes on this and tell me if you think it's good or not.
Better to ask somebody than mess up your client's investment because you don't want that.
But let's get back over to the new constructions. And I know I'm kind of talking a lot about the negatives and I would actually say they're negatives. I would say they're more like warnings or like just so you knows. You're back. Andres.
[00:29:30] Speaker B: Yeah, sorry. We had some, one of the builders in the area, they're doing a final walkthrough on the new property that just closed. So.
[00:29:47] Speaker A: That's always awesome.
[00:29:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it is, it's. It's exciting. Just imagine for, for a homeowner, you're walking into a brand new property.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: It is, it's really.
It kind of has that like new car smell, except for the, the new house smell. I remember when our Stephen Ming with home team, the home inspector was here, he said, even on a new construction, make sure you still do a home inspection. And I still highly recommend home inspections on new constructions.
[00:30:18] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. I was showing a property on Sunday to a buyer. He really liked the property he saw and they're so excited looking at the property.
And I walked the property earlier that day and identify a few things and I. And I brought it up to him. He's like, oh, I didn't even notice that. And they looked like there Was some water damage on the edge of the, on the panels inside the property. And I said we need to have an inspector do that.
That is something that we need to bring up before, you know, you can bring it up before you go on the contract. It's get resolved. But you certainly we're going to have an inspector looking to that so that they can further investigate what happened there. If it was weather damage that happened during the construction.
But, but those little things, the homeowners did not even notice those details.
And when I brought him on, he was like, okay, yeah, that's certainly we need to fix that before we get on here.
And sure enough, I had another property where a new construction.
There was a number of shingles on the roof that they left paper, plastic wrap underneath that they were lifted.
Didn't look from the naked eye like it was a big problem. But think about it, farther down the road, there's water going through there, causing some water damage long term.
And it's important to have the home inspector go in because they have the keen eye to look at all those details that as an agent, as a home buyer we tend to miss because we are caught up looking at other things in the property and they know what to look for.
So regardless whether this is new or resale property, always get the home inspection because you never know what could be right below the surface.
[00:32:19] Speaker A: Another thing with just a difference, not really a pro or a con, just a difference between new construction and resell is that with new construction, unless it's already complete and depending on the phase it's at in which you're purchasing the new construction, you're looking at build time. So you have to allot yourself for build time. And I mean build time just, it just depends on the home. Could be anywhere from like, you know, one month, three months to a year sometimes and expect delays. When we built our new construction, they said three months it which turned into four, which turned into five.
So we were going almost into our six month waiting to get into the new construction just because of rain, just because of delays on getting things in, getting appliances in.
So sometimes you have to kind of expect the delays and think about where you're going to be. So if you know that you need to sell and you need to be out by a certain point, you gotta make sure that you have a house lined up that's going to be ready in time or have somewhere to go in the meantime. Because if you're waiting for that house to be built, you can't be homeless in the Middle.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: Yeah, very true. I had one of the guys that were just coming that just looking to move over here that was on here on Sunday.
One of the situation is debating on whether I'm over ready or, or new construction.
And one key component of that is they're listing their property in another state. Right.
So if you're looking to move into the area and you're looking for, and just. And you think you want a, a new build and you listed your property and you think oh, my property is going to sell in four months.
Well, what happens if your property sells in two months and, and you get an offering three weeks in after you list it, you know, and you're closing and the buyer wants to close in 30, 40 days?
You know, those are little details that sometimes are overlooked because now you're looking, okay, I gotta move over here. My property is not ready into, you know, five months after I close this one. Now I gotta rent out.
Now I gotta find a month to monthlies, you know. So all these little details are so important to look into when you're making a decision on do I go into a new build, do I select all my details, do I go into a, you know, ready to go property and just move and sell my property if I'm able to do that. So these are all important details and a conversation that needs to happen before you even, oh yeah, you know, get started. Because if that happens, what are your options?
You sell and rent out, you know, furniture wise that's an additional storage, you know, so you are putting additional costs into that transaction there.
You know, if it was planned correctly, you could have saved several hundred bucks.
So it's details that are that go notice. I always, I always say you got to pay attention to the detail. There's so much in there that could happen that gets overlooked and conversation that people don't have.
And then there are like, okay, I wish I would have known this.
You know, you just got to ask better questions, right?
[00:35:47] Speaker A: And sometimes it's hard to know the questions that need to be asked when you're, you know, going through this process. Which is why it's important to find an agent that knows what they're doing and that you trust and that, you know, is looking out for you and that knows how to ask the questions and advocate for you. Especially when it comes to a new construction. A lot of times you'll have people will go into a new construction and okay, and nothing directed at you because I know you're the agent sitting there right now today, but a lot of times people go in and they're like, oh, the agent there was so helpful. And I'm like, yeah, of course they were for the builder, because they're the builder's agent. Like, like, yes, they're going to show you around. Yes, they're going to give you. Give you the tour, and they're going to, you know, be. But they're not your agent. Do you ever kind of run into that working on a buyer side of it, Andres, when someone's like, oh, I went and I saw, you know, the agent at the new construction, and they seem great. And then they kind of feel like they have two agents. They have you and the other agent at the site.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: That's exactly what happened on Sunday. Like, the agent was here representing the person. Right. I had somebody else that the person had more question about a specific bill. Like, they're moving from out of state. They're selling the property. They like a property that is here right now.
But the question was, do I get into this one?
Because I still got to sell my property first before I purchase one, but does it make sense for me to start a build? Right.
And they're asking some questions, and I step aside and I. And I. I'm not representing the builder, one of the representative. The builders here.
And. And I'm looking at the situation and I'm like, look.
And I started asking questions on behalf of that. Of that buyer, because I. I know the questions that he had, but he couldn't put them out there. He was not able to get those questions out there. And what. The agent wasn't even thinking about this. And I'm like, look, the question in place is, if you were to get on the contract with this property, can he step out? What is the grace period to step out of the contract? Because it's all dependent on the sale of his property.
All right? And if he does start a new bill, is he losing his deposit?
Because of course, he doesn't know the time frame and when he sells or sells. So at the moment, his property makes sense, but he doesn't want to commit to it because his property is not on the contract yet. So there's different variables, different ways to approach that.
And both the league, the buyer and the agent were like, okay, now we're asking the right questions, that perspective.
So I opened the door for that. And then they dive in and get all the answers that need it. But it was questions that they were.
I could tell that there was some confusion into what are the next steps because of the current situation. You know, they certainly want the house, I want to move in, but it's all dependent on the sale of that other property.
So it's those little details that have come to hand. And then same thing, that other property that, that I know that has some water damage on there.
You know, they sell one particular corner and I'm like, look, go to the other rooms spread out through the whole side of the house. So that is a concern that you guys need to bring up to the builder and then make sure you get an inspector. I'm not here represent, I'm representing the builder.
But I'm also thinking of your best interest person buying the house.
So you got to look at all these details and make sure that whoever you're working with, you get it an inspector and they check all of these areas.
So, yes, to answer your questions as a builder, a lot of the agents are here and they're going to try to sell your house, right? They want to put you in the best house that fits your needs.
But there's also an interest from the builders. And, you know, so you gotta have, you gotta ask the rest question because they may not understand what your situation is, and they're gonna try to get you into a house as soon as they can, right? So I always have an agent that understand what you're going through to help you make the best decision, whether, you know, even holding on for the next two weeks or trying to ask the question, do you have this particular model that will be finished at this time frame? What are the specifications on that model? You know, all right, that, that will be done in two months. That makes more sense rather than getting into a contract for one that you have available now.
So, so it's finding all those little details to make it work for you, right?
[00:40:50] Speaker A: I always explained to the buyers and the sellers, it's like having attorneys. You each have an attorney representing you when you go to court, right? You, I mean, most of the time when people go to court, they have an attorney. They don't go to court and try to defend themselves. And if you did go to court and try to either defend yourself or, you know, sue somebody without an attorney and they have an attorney and you don't, you wouldn't ask their attorney for legal advice. You wouldn't go to the other side and be like, hey, this is what's going on with me. What should I do?
You wouldn't do that. That'd be crazy. That's, that's the other side.
So don't do that with an agent. With an agent. They're representing their client, and you're being represented by your agent. So you want to make sure that the advice you're taking, the advice you're following is from your own agent.
[00:41:37] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
You have to.
It's a big investment, right?
It's a big investment, and you want it to make sense.
And when you move into the property. And like I said a few weeks ago, a few weeks. Months down the road, a month, a year down the road, two years, three years down the road, you want to feel like you make the right decision always. Like you're in the right space. You know, I would hate that feeling that you move into poverty and a year later, you.
You're not satisfied with what you. Where you at. That.
Yeah, that's not the way I.
I will hate that feeling for. For any of my buyers or sellers, you know, because I love the.
I love walking through a property and start planning the decorations, Start planning the barbecues.
That's what I'm all about.
[00:42:36] Speaker A: The barbecue.
[00:42:38] Speaker B: Yeah, It's. Let's make it happen.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: You need to start telling everybody that buys a house on the new construction. They have to invite you over to the barbecue. You're gonna be, like, just eating every weekend at the new construction.
You're gonna tell Ellie. We're like, I'm working.
[00:42:55] Speaker B: I'm networking, right?
So I just. I just ask her, hey, do you have any plans for the next couple of weeks? Week is. I'm planning a weekend.
I'm planning a weekend mastermind.
And she was like, okay.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: One thing I've had people tell me about new construction, too, is I've had people that have bought new construction and say, oh, well, my agent didn't do anything for me at the new construction. They didn't really help me at all for the new construction.
[00:43:31] Speaker B: Or.
[00:43:31] Speaker A: Or they say, I don't need a new. I don't need an agent when I look at new construction, because I go. I look at the house, and all we do is sign the. Sign the paperwork. And to that, I would say you probably had the wrong agent. Or they just didn't tell you what they were doing when they were doing it. I know for me and Tony, when we have new constructions, we're. We're tor. We're setting up those new constructions. We're touring those new constructions with them. We're making sure, like you said, the inspection is going on correctly, and then we're making sure all the paperwork looks correct. Because you wouldn't actually. You would not be surprised how many Times, there's little errors in new construction contracts that we have to address and make sure are correct. We have to make sure all the different deposits are correct. Because with new constructions, a lot of times you have several sets of deposits that you're putting down. You want to make sure all those are correct. You want to make sure when you're doing these walkthroughs that these things are addressed correct correctly. Want to make sure that everything they're promising is being delivered. Making sure that when they go to the design center, everything there goes smoothly. And that actually translates into going into the house.
There's a lot of things that can go. Go sideways on a new construction real quick.
[00:44:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Imagine they put the bathroom.
Oh, the granite the wrong way, or they put the wrong granites on it.
Like I mentioned earlier, the agent came by. It turns out they were doing a final walk through, and the agent didn't know about that. It was today.
The homeowner just came over and did the final walkthrough, and they did notify the agents.
So it's. It's little things like that that are so important that you got to stay on top of it. Like, I notified you. Notify me. I notified the buyers and stuff. And the buyers. Right. Like, you stay on top of it because you want to make sure you. You are there for your buyers and that the seller, the builder fulfill on the promise on what the property is or any repairs that they needed to be taken care of before the. The final walk.
So it gets overlooked. Some people think it's not important. Some. Some buyers may say, hey, the agent wants in there. But it's also, it's building that trust, that relationship from the beginning that's gonna make the big impact. Because if the buyers feel like the agent wasn't there, then that trust wasn't built from the beginning. Right.
Every client that I come across, they become part of my family. That's. That's my goal, to continue to expand my family. Because I'm not just helping a client. I'm building relationships. I'm building the family. And.
And for them to feel like they're part of my family and I'm going to help them each step of the way. In the process, they know that if something happens, they come like, the clients I helped out, they closed the deal in June.
Every time they get a letter or something that they don't understand, that doesn't make sense.
They call me and send me the picture, hey, what is this? What is this about?
Like, they ask me questions every Time they get something comes up, they call me and say, hey, what is this about?
So.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: But that's good. That's how it should be. If you've built that rapport and that trust with your clients, they, they do, they, they lean on you for answers to the questions that they don't know. And that's what you want. You want them to be able to trust in you, that, hey, I know that Andres has us and he'll know the answer to this. So I'm just going to give him a call or shoot him a text real quick. That's exactly what you want?
[00:47:18] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's what it's all about for me is to be able to help families and build that trust, build that relationship.
[00:47:28] Speaker A: And new constructions are beautiful.
I feel like I was very like this, this, this, this and this about new constructions. But no, I think new constructions, if that's like I've bought a new construction, if that's the route you're wanting to take with the new construction, just make sure you're careful about it. You know what you're getting into. When you get into it, you have an agent that you trust looking out for you and that you know all of the due dates for all the deposits, you know, all the steps along the way, all the things that you have to go to.
It's an experience.
It's, I wouldn't say any more or less stressful than a resale. I think the stress of buying a home is the stress of buying a home. It's just a different experience because it's new.
But definitely some of the most beautiful homes that I've seen have been new constructions. Again, not the style that I particularly like, but they are very beautiful.
[00:48:21] Speaker B: Absolutely. And like I said, we're gonna, I'm gonna put the video up. We're gonna put the video of the current property that I'm in and then I'll share the link of the vendor in this neighborhood to anyone interested can and take a look at what, what360,000 can get you.
Right?
Amber, Heather, I know we've been diving into new construction and things, but I wanted to take a moment to dive in into what we're talking on Thursday because we have a special guest coming in Thursday and that will be Phyllis Jenkins out of Dallas, Texas.
She's gonna be great. She has a non profit organization there.
And I can't wait for you guys to dive in because this is, this is something that is right on the money, right on the line with, with why we decided to do this podcast, right?
And that is to not only talk about real estate and be able to help buyers and sellers in the real estate space, but also to share the stories, share our stories, different moments in our lives that are so impactful that are not only to us that at the time sometimes didn't make sense whatsoever. Right?
But the farther down the road we can reflect back on that and see how that particular event influenced our decision to down the road. And, and now it makes sense. Now it's like, okay, that's why you know, and I know she's going to dive into what her organization is, how her story got her to that point, and how her organization is helping other people share that. So I'm excited to hear what she has to say, excited to share that with you guys because just having a conversation with her yesterday was so impactful and man, it's incredible to hear other people's stories.
[00:50:31] Speaker A: It really is. And if you guys are interested in being a guest and being spotlighted, showing what your business is, showing your small business, your big business, your entrepreneurship, whatever it is that you've got going on, like we said before, you show me a business and I can show you a way it relates to real estate. So whatever business you have, we have the links connected. Go ahead and fill out an application. If you would like to be a guest and appear on Real Talk with Andres and Heather. And we would love to hear about you and your business and what you guys do.
[00:51:03] Speaker B: It's really magical when something that, that she shared yesterday and I'm gonna bring it up on Thursday and, and I heard these before and on listening to some podcasts and motivational aspect, Alexa Mossi said said these ones, it's.
People don't relate to, to. To the end goal on what you have accomplished. People relate to, to your journey. Right? People are inspired by your journey on, on what it took you, all the obstacles, all the dragon that you slayed to get to where you're at today.
And I'm all about that because there's so many things that happen in my life I could say and things that I don't quite remember vividly.
And I remember some aspects of it that I could have easily head in many different directions, complete opposite to where I am today.
And along the way, I know there's people that have gone through the same thing, people that are probably going through situations like that.
And it's not to say that, man, I had a horrible childhood.
Not, not at that. I'm so grateful in so many Ways for things that happen, because that's who I am today, you know, so.
But, Heather, what's one story, one short story that you could share that.
That didn't make sense when it happened, and you can reflect back today and say, man, okay, I'm glad it did the way it did.
[00:52:57] Speaker A: So. Okay, well, one story that I haven't told on here before, I don't think, is that when I was growing up, I wanted to be in the Air Force Academy, like, and I did everything I could do. I trained. I was set to go. I had got my letters of recommendation, and I was going to go into the Air Force Academy. I was in the police Explorers when I was a teenager, and I wanted to fly, actually. So I was super, so stoked, super excited to go into the Air Force Academy.
Well, I ended up getting pregnant my senior year in high school, so you can't take your baby with you to the Air Force Academy.
So I decided that I was going to have the baby, going to have my baby, and the path of going down the Air Force Academy path was no longer an option for me. So it's actually very humbling to call the people who had written me letters of recommendation and tell them that I was pregnant and that I wasn't going to be able to go to the Air Force Academy after all.
And at the time, it didn't really. You know, I was a teenager, and I was upset that my path of what I wanted to do in life was now not going to happen. However, now looking back, I wouldn't change anything. I have an amazing daughter. She's married to an amazing man, and they have two beautiful little kids. They have two beautiful babies. So I have two grandbabies. And just my life with Belle has been so amazing and just put me on a completely different path than I would have been on.
So it's insane how a teen pregnancy was something that did not make sense at the time, but now it's. It's my life, and I would not change any of that.
[00:54:40] Speaker B: That's awesome.
And.
And I can imagine the frustration during some of those early years where you're like, you know, man, why'd I do this? Why'd I do that?
And. And you wanted the Air Force so badly. Right.
[00:54:59] Speaker A: And then. But, you know, sometimes I think you don't always get what you want, but you end up getting exactly where you need to be in life and exactly the path I think God put me on, the path I needed to be on.
Belle is such an amazing person. This world would not be the same without Belle. So I am so glad that I actually did have a teen pregnancy because they gave me her and I wouldn't have her without that.
[00:55:29] Speaker B: There you go. It's awesome. I have.
[00:55:32] Speaker A: What about you?
[00:55:34] Speaker B: Similar story with the service actually because I did join after high school I joined.
I joined the National Guard on Rhode Island.
I, I went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for a boot camp and in the process I was doing well. Like that's passing all my tests. I got all my.
And on the final qualification for the weapons my sounds like man you suck. You couldn't even qualify.
But on the final qualification I did not qualify with my weapon. I was having problems. My weapon jam.
I was frustrated so I missed. I missed the mark by about four shots.
Like prior to that I was doing good, almost expert, two shots away from expert.
So they sent me back four weeks and sent me to another platoon. Rather than allowing me to just qualify with the other platoon and graduate with my class, they completely sent me back a whole month.
So I joined the platoon, I met some great friends, incredible people and next thing you know, two weeks later, somebody else that you know, they take away my weapon, they assign my weapon to somebody else.
He tried to qualify again and guess what? They determined that my weapon had was missing the firing pin.
So it's no fault of mine. The reason I didn't qualify, he was given another chance to pre qualitative qualify again and graduated with a class.
I was frustrated. I'm like why didn't they give me another chance? And right away they sent me back to another platoon.
Well, so happened that because they sent me back, my unit back in Rhode island was deployed because there was.
I missed the graduation time and the time frame to go to my MOS training and graduated in time to deploy with my platoon. I stayed back with my rear detachment.
Right.
My real detachment is a small group that stayed back in Rhode island at the time.
So I didn't qualify. And my platoon, my unit in Afghanistan at the time has some casualties. I went through some incidents that I most likely would have been part of had I qualified for my weapons and so on.
So fast forward a couple of months, they told me, hey, with the rear detachment we're going to plan to go to San Diego Border Patrol in 2 South 2007 Border Patrol at that time there's a lot of things happening with the cartel.
Very, very tough moment.
As we get closer, they cancel the trip because half of the rear detachment volunteer to get deployed with another company and that trip was canceled.
So Fast forward six months. I ended up moving to San Diego.
I had never, like, visited San Diego like, a month before, but I made the decision to move over just like that. And I said, you know what?
If things don't work out, I still have a year in the service. I'm gonna switch over to active duty and just go off that whole year that I was here in San Diego. My first year in San Diego, you know, got my citizenship. I knew exactly what the unit was. And all they kept saying is, like, oh, we can find your paperwork.
And I'm like, okay. They called me up like, two weeks before my contract was due. The following year, hey, you're gonna show up for the next year. We've got you in the system. I'm like, my contract expired two days after the drill. There's nothing for me to show up. And they're like, no, I'm good then.
So. So for me, I've always wanted. I always wanted to make service my.
Like, I was gonna commit 100% to it.
But seeing all these rec likes things that happen, it was for me telling me I need to step out, guiding my. Guiding me away from the service.
And my son, now he's in the service.
You know, I.
My brother went into the Marines, my younger brother, I encouraged him to be in the service.
It's a great aspect if you come into it 100.
So much do you learn from it.
But the way things happen for me, it wasn't just. It wasn't meant for me to be in the service. So I didn't keep pushing, you know, for me to be part of it. So it drove me out. I just kept myself out of it. But. But I am so grateful for.
For the things I learned there and the people that I met there because I was so impactful. And I keep saying attention to the detail, something that I got from there because. Because those details make a difference. And I applied the same rule with everything that they taught me and got me out. Attention to those details that are pushing me out of certain situations and take it for what it is.
[01:00:58] Speaker A: It definitely seems like there is a hedge of protection over you, but I know that was frustrating when you're like.
I'm sure it was like, double frustrating. One, when you, you know, didn't qualify with the weapon. And then two, when you found out that it wasn't even your false. The other guy got the second chance. And you're like, what the hell?
[01:01:17] Speaker B: Yeah, when I took the test with the other company, I passed on the first try.
And. And Even the sergeants, my training instructors were saying, why didn't they let you take the test with somebody else?
They were like, why they send you over here? You. You pass everything so far. Normally they allow you to take the test with another company. They just didn't. They put me back for four weeks, which set in place all the other things that happen along the way, which I am grateful for. It happened the way it did. So. But, but yeah, at the moment is, oh man, I was frustrated because, you know, I had relationships in that platona with that team. I had things that I wanted to accomplish.
I wanted to get back home. My dad was going through some stuff at the time and, and I had a lot of pressure on me, wanting to get back home and help him out.
But, you know, sending me back was, was a very tough spot, but I learned to appreciate those things that.
That happened, how they did. But very frustrating in the moment.
But yeah, it's. It's one of those things. Like I said, our stories can be so impactful and we get to hear more about Phyllis story on Thursdays. And, and again, if anyone that's listening want to share their stories, please plug into us, let us know, fill the form and we'd love to have you here as a guest and hear your stories because not only can we learn from each other, but we can also inspire others.
[01:03:00] Speaker A: Yes, I'm super excited for Thursday to hear Phyllis's story and I'm really excited to hear from the community and just be able to put out there members of the community and what they're doing. And it's a great way for you to just get in front of people to grow, grow your reach, grow your network and let us hear your story.
[01:03:22] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Absolutely.
[01:03:25] Speaker A: And I think that's about us for today here on Real Talk with Andres and Heather. Don't forget to like share, follow and subscribe. Do you have any last minute parting words for us today?
[01:03:36] Speaker B: Andres, man, thank you. Thank you for, for everyone that keeps following us. Thank you once the ones that are subscribing for listening to us as we continue this journey on this podcast and continuing to learn from one another. I'm excited to bring more, continue to bring value, continue to hear other people's stories. So thank you for plugging in. I look forward to Thursday.
Hope you guys can join us and we're going to open up the room so you can ask fearless questions and although we have it for 30 minutes, we'll try to keep it as long as we can so we can answer some questions.
Sure she'll be excited to have you guys some more and have the audience for some questions. So excited for that.
[01:04:22] Speaker A: I think so. All right, guys, thank you so much. And we will see you guys on the next one.
